the most part unchronicled, were regarded by the individual as of greater importance, from the point of view that they had a more direct bearing upon his personal prosperity.
Naturally the worship paid to the divine powers varied very greatly in nature according to the mental and cultural status of the worshippers. Many of the myths are extremely crude, and evidently the product of a very low stage of civilization; but on the other hand, many of the prayers given by Sahagun show a high degree of spirituality. The existence of a professional priesthood carefully trained in astronomy and letters, together with the natural bent of the American mind towards poetic imagery, fostered the evolution of beliefs among the more educated which no doubt differed as much in quality from the superstitions of the populace as those of the higher classes in Peru or in India. Rites which in appearance were crude and savage possessed for the adept a symbolic and esoteric meaning which transformed, even if it did not entirely excuse, their barbarity. Symbolism is the keynote of American ritual, and it is this symbolism which makes the religious manuscripts so difficult of interpretation.
Though practically all the supernatural powers were personified in human form, yet traces are found of more direct worship of nature in Tlaxcala, where, according to Motolinia, altars were erected to trees, and four altars might be found arranged round a spring. Indications of tree-worship were also found among the Mixtec who were said to make offerings to the shadows of lofty trees. In Oaxaca, among the Mixtec and Zapotec, traces of a different kind of religion make their appearance. It is true that here too (in parts of the Mixtec territory) we have immigration legends, pointing to the supposition that a portion of the population came from the north; but other, and probably older, myths exist which narrate the birth of
