Notes for Song IV
A poem of unusually rich metaphors is presented, with the title “A Song of the Mexicans, after the manner of the Otomis.” It is a rhapsody, in which the bard sings his “faculty divine,” and describes the intoxication of the poetic inspiration. It has every inherent mark of antiquity, and its thought is free from any tincture of European influence.
2. miahuatototl, literally, “the corn-silk bird,” miahua being the term applied to the silk or tassel of the maize ear when in the milk. I have not found its scientific designation.
6. poyomatl; the poyomatli is described by Sahagun (Hist. de la Nueva España, Lib. X, cap. 24) as a species of rose, portions of which were used to fill the cane tubes or pipes used for smoking. He names it along with certain fungi employed for the same purpose, and it probably produced a narcotic effect.