He is sometimes called
Cohuaxolotl Chantico, the snake-servant Chantico, considered by Gama as
one, by Torquemada as two deities (see Gama, _Des. de las dos Piedras_,
etc., i. p. 12; ii. p. 66). The English word _cantico_ in the phrase, for
instance, "to cut a cantico," though an Indian word, is not from this,
but from the Algonkin Delaware _gentkehn_, to dance a sacred dance. The
Dutch describe it as "a religious custom observed among them before
death" (_Doc. Hist. of New York_, iv. p. 63). William Penn says of the
Lenape, "their worship consists of two parts, sacrifice and cantico," the
latter "performed by round dances, sometimes words, sometimes songs, then
shouts; their postures very antic and differing." (_Letter to the Free
Society of Traders_, 1683, sec. 21.)
[139-2] Charlevoix, _Hist. Gen. de la Nouv. France_, i. p. 394: Paris,
1740. On the different species of dogs indigenous to America, see a note
of Alex. von Humboldt, _Ansichten der Natur._, i. p. 134. It may be
noticed that Chichimec, properly Chichimecatl, the name of the Aztec
tribe who succeeded the ancient Toltecs in Mexico, means literally
"people of the dog," and was probably derived from some mythological
fable connected with that animal.
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