Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/271

pears to be a district of the realm known as Tulan Zuiva. A further point in confirmation of this may perhaps be extracted from the fact that certain tribes called Tepeu Oilman (Popol Vuh), or Tapcu Oloman (Kakchiquel annals), are associated with this particular region, while the inhabitants of the latter were known to the Mexicans as Olmec. Tulan, the starting-point therefore, cannot be identified with the Zuiva, or Tulan Zuiva near Nonoual, nor indeed is there any need that such an identification should be made. The original Tulan, wherever it lay, was regarded evidently as the home of a large number of peoples, and there is a tendency, visible all over the world, for migrating tribes to name their subsequent settlements after their original or legendary birthplace. Perhaps the best example of this propensity is presented by the number of Hawaikis scattered over the Pacific, Hawaiki being the name of the original starting-point of Polynesian migrations. That this Tulan Zuiva near Nonoual was an important kingdom in the youth of the Quiché and Kakchiquel peoples is obvious; the Kakchiquel admit defeat at the hands of its inhabitants, and though it is not expressly so stated, the account of the Popol Vuh seems to indicate that the insignia of temporal power were obtained from the ruler of this district, a chief named Nacxit. The name Nacxit is interesting, since Tezozomoc states that it was an appellation of Quetzalcoatl, and we have already observed the importance which the Mexican immigrants attached to Toltec blood as giving the possessor the right to reign, Tulan being closely associated with this god. That there were more Tulans than one seems evident from the Kakchiquel statement that there were four, although the number quoted appears to have a certain ceremonial reference to the points of the compass. That the Quiché and Kakchiquel had come in contact with the later Nahua immigrants into the Mexican valley seems evident both from certain