Page:The Native Races of the Pacific States, volume 2.djvu/228

cowl. The statue represents him seated in a pensive attitude, apparently occupied in hearing the confession of a woman who kneels by his side.[116] His voice, to accord with his appearance, must have been of remarkable sweetness. Wixipecocha taught his disciples to deny themselves the vanities of this world, to mortify the flesh with penance and fasting, and to abstain from all sensual pleasures. Adding example to precept, he utterly abjured female society, and suffered no woman to approach him except in the act of auricular confession, which formed part of his doctrine.[117] This extraordinary conduct caused him to be much respected; especially as it was an unheard-of thing among these people for a man to devote his life to celibacy. Nevertheless, he was frequently persecuted by those whose vices and superstitions he attacked. Passing through one province after another he at length arrived in the Zapotec valley, a large portion of which was at that time occupied by a lake named Rualo. Afterwards, being entered into the country of the Miztecs, to labor for their conversion, the people sought to take his life. Those who were sent to take him prisoner, overtook him at the foot of Cempoaltepec, the most lofty peak in the country; but at the moment they thought to lay hands upon him, he disappeared suddenly from their sight, and soon afterwards, adds the tradition, his figure was seen standing on the summit of the highest peak of the mountain. Filled with astonishment, his persecutors hastened to scale the rocky height. When after great labor they arrived at the point where they had seen the figure, Wixipecocha appeared to them again for a few instants, then as suddenly vanished, leaving no traces of his presence save the imprints of his feet deeply impressed upon the rock where he had stood.[118] Since