Chapter X: Old World (3)

Tiger, in stone, with human head and hollow depression in back, found in
Yucatan and Mexico, 95;
on sculpture from Mitla, 163;
“Tiger’s arm,” title of prince in ancient Mexico, 163;
head, symbol on monolithic doorway at Tiahuanaco, Peru, 165;
heads, at end of swastika;
on sculptured doorway, 166;
in headdress on sculptures, 167;
warrior caste of Mexico;
temple of, at Chichen Itza, 212
(see Puma, Jaguar and Quadruped).

Tikal, 210;
classification of ruins, 215.

Timæus, 445.

Time, Egyptian sign, circle with dot, 387.

Tinamit, on Usumacinto river, 215.

Tionontaté or Tobacco Nation, 197.

Titicaca lake, as place of first appearance of Incas, 133, 539.

Tititl, name of Mexican feast, 79.

Tizoc, stone of, 9, 172, 212.

Tlacaxipehualiztli, ritual at festival of, 12.

Tlachtli, courtyard in shape of double tau, 87;
ancient Mexican game, 176.

Tlaloc, title of god of rain, 78, 99;
designated by surrounding his eyes with two blue rings, 81.

Tlatoque, literally, “The speaker” title of chief of clan, 178.

Tlaxcalla, republic of;
government of, army of, 75;
recumbent stone figures bearing circular vessels, found in, 93;
small republic of Mexico, name signifies bread;
hieroglyphic sign is maize-cake, 272.

Tloquenahuaque, title of “Creator” in texcoca, 163.

Tochtli, one of the four year symbols, 76;
rabbit, 78;
tochtli-gods, agents of Cihuacoatl, 78.

Tollan, abode of Quetzalcoatl, 217;
native name for Cholollan, 275.

Toltecas, representatives of high civilization of ancient Yucatan, 89;
master-builders, 234, 253, 254, 529.

Topiltzin, title of supreme pontiff, of Quetzalcoatl or divine twin, 77,
96.

Torquemada, 54, 55, 60, 67, 77, 95, 96, 150.

Tortoise, among the Iroquois, 197;
in Mexico, 279;
Maya word for _ac_, 281;
in Chinese symbolism, 296.

Totemism, North American Indian, 154, 197;
Peruvian, 157, 201;
Quiché, 164, _note_;
Zuñi, 201, 204;
Copan and Zuñi, 227;
and Quirigua, 233;
Fire people of Mexico,—the ocelot; Air people,—the bird, 254;
in relation to signs of zodiac and to the stars, 255;
in Babylonia, 348;
alligator totem in India and Mexico, 520;
among the Semites, 521, 522;
serpent totem among Semites, Mayas, Nahuas, and Peruvians, 522, 523.

Toxcatl festival, Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli, jointly honored, 97.

Traditions (see “Myths and Traditions”).

Tree symbolism, tree of life in Vienna Codex, 103;
in Dresden Codex, 110;
in ancient America, 186;
among the Incas, 186;
among the Mexicans, social organization represented by, 187;
Above and Below, 188;
serpent and Polaris, 189;
embodied male and female elements, 188;
shape of human figure, 189;
used to signify lord or governor, also ancestor, 189, 190;
sacred tree of the Mayas, 191;
among Peruvians, Mexicans and Mayas, image of social organization, 192;
in symbolic carving from Brazil or Guiana, 224;
symbol of tribe in America, 235, 236, 237, 242, 213, 507, _note_;
symbol of the year in Mexico, 241;
ché, Maya word for tree, zin-ché=cross, literally tree of life or of
power, 278;
quahuitl, Nahuatl word for tree, symbol of Centre;
homonymous with _quaitl_, meaning head, 279;
recapitulation of meaning of symbol, 281;
compared with Chinese symbol of “wood,” 294;
in Buddhist religion, 321;
in Babylonia and Assyria, on bas-relief at Nimroud, 360;
as sacred symbol, 361;
tree worship, by Hebrews, Phœnicians, Assyrians, 362-364;
celestial tree of life in garden of Paradise, 365;
the ash-tree of the Norsemen on the summit of the Hill of Heaven, 472;
symbol of star-god, Polaris, 474;
tribal trees in India, Egypt, Mexico, Central America and Peru, 499;
the celestial tree of the Norsemen and Semites, 503;
in ancient America, 506, 507.

Tribute stone, Mexican “Sacrificial” stone, 259.

Triskelion, companion symbol to swastika;
formed by polar constellations at winter-solstice, 27;
not used in the South but with swastika in the North, 28;
on pottery from Arkansas;
on spearhead from Brandenburg;
on bronze brooch from Scandinavia, 28;
formed by combination of star groups, 30;
sign of winter solstice, 37.

Trocadero Museum, 104, 174, _note_.

Troncoso, Francisco del Paso y, 13, 82, 250, 252.

Troy, vases from, having swastika or cross symbol, 459.

Troy, spindle whorls with swastikas and allusion to pole-star god, Tur,
498.

Tschudi, 134.

Tuch-pan, name of capital of Maya colony, 125, 207.

Tula, 60;
city of, 95.

Tulapan, 210.

Tullan, 173;
name of culture hero’s home, 68;
meaning of, in Maya language, 68;
identity not established;
beautiful land of the Aztecs, Mayas, Kiches and Cakchiquels;
Cakchiquel legend regarding;
Maya migration from, 88, 268.

Tullan Cholollan, ancient seat of civilization;
probable place where scheme of organization was evolved, and where
traditions of destruction of earth originated, 268, 274,
275.

Turanian, originally a northern race, (see Phœnicians), 517.

Turtle, at Quirigua, 234;
in Egyptian symbolism, 398.

Tusayan, ceremonies, symbols and myths compared with those of Central
America, 200.

Tuscaroras, 196.

Tutulxius, 211;
immigrants into Yucatan, tradition concerning, 210.

Twin, divine
(see Dual Divinity).

Twin serpents, on Mexican Calendar Stone, symbolizing dual forces of
nature, and quadruplication, 257;
on dual statues, on summit of great Temple of Mexico, 266.

Tylor, E. B., 196, 363.

Tyre, destruction of, by the Greeks, 527.

Tzendals, culture hero of, 60, 71, 72;
calendar signs, 180;
social organization and numerical system, 181, 182.

Tzilan, ancient capital in Yucatan, 234.

Tzitzimi-Cihuatl, name of Quilaztli, 60.

Uhle, Max, 167-169.

Upsala, university of, 230, _note_.

Urhye, Chinese dictionary, 292.

Ursa Major, myths concerning, 8, 11, 12;
meaning of name in Nahuatl, 8, 9;
four positions of form swastika, 14-22;
nearer to pole-star in remote antiquity, 21;
rotary motion, 22;
positions of, scratched on rocks, beginning of astronomical records, 23;
Tezcatlipoca and ocelot associated with, 26;
in relation to sacred numbers, 29;
resembles s-shape, 34;
in relation to idea of Above and Below, 40;
ancient Mexicans claimed descent from Ursa Major and Minor, 57;
on calendar stone, 246, 250;
identified as star-god, “Youal-tecuhtli” mentioned by Sahagun, 279;
among the ancient Chinese, 284, 285, 291, 298, 302;
in Hindu religion, 319;
in Babylonia and Assyria, 358, _note_;
in Egypt, 378, 382, 384, 385, 397, 400, 410;
Akkadian title, Akanna=the Lord of Heaven, 394;
Greek name for Helice, 447;
as sailing guide in ancient Greece, 451, 452;
became circumpolar about B.C. 4000, time of adoption of swastika symbol,
461.

Ursa Minor, S-shaped figure sign of, 11, 29;
connected with Tezcatlipoca, 12;
rotation of, 18;
suavastika formed by, 19;
in relation to sacred number, 29, 33;
represented by recurved sceptre, 34;
represented by Maya glyph, Hun-Imix, 35;
in connection with Polaris, 36;
in relation to idea of Above and Below, 40;
symbol of;
s-shaped breads made in honor of, 46;
ancient Mexicans claimed descent from Ursa Major and Minor, 57;
in Copan swastika, 224;
in Egypt, 382;
in Babylonia-Assyria=Kakkabu, 400;
in ancient Greece as sailing guide, 451.

Usumacinto river, 235.

Uxmal, House of the Doves, symbolism of, 131;
symbolic hand on garment of chieftain, 184;
the serpent city of America, 214;
ruins in, 216.

Valentini, P. J. J., 256, _note_.

Valera, Padre Blas, 151.

Varuna, name of supreme god in India, 312.

Vase, or Bowl, symbol of earth mother, 100;
emblem of the rain priests or Octli gods, 102;
worn in nose as emblem;
meaning of, 103;
containing rabbit or flint knife, 104;
as conventionalized serpent jaw, resembles horseshoe-shaped stone
“yoke,” 104;
considered sacred among Zuñi Indians, 105;
reason of vase decoration, 105, 106;
grave made in shape of;
buried with dead to propitiate earth-mother;
used as burial urn, 106;
stone “seats” indicate analogous cult of earth-mother south of Mexico,
107;
Maya day-sign, Caban, 107;
in Maya codices, 107, 108;
figured as day sign, ch’en, 110;
associated with seeds and germination, by Mayas and Mexicans, 111;
in Vienna Codex, 123, 124;
sacred bowl among Pueblo Indians, 132;
in hand of ruler on Copan sculpture, 222, 224, 225;
bowl of water, preceded use of obsidian mirror, in divination, 225;
Maya supreme priest called “Lord of the Vase or bowl,” 226;
on Tablet of the “Cross 2,” at Palenque, 236;
recapitulation of meaning of symbol, 283;
used for Astronomical purposes among pigmy races, and in Phœnicia,
Assyria and Egypt, 339;
large terra-cotta jars found at Nippur, and in temple of Solomon, 344;
canopic vases in Egypt, 372;
same idea embodied in pyramid, 386;
in zodiac signs, 395;
symbol of god Amen-Ra, 408;
in cult of Egyptian goddess, Isis, 424.

Vedas, 312, 314, 452, _note_, 494, 496, 497, 499, 500, 505, 521, 522.

Vega, Garcilaso de la, 136, 137, 150, 151.

Vega, Nuñez de la, 180, 181, 182.

Venice, compared to Mexico, 84.

Venus, temple of Mexico dedicated to, planet of, 53;
on Calendar-stone, 252.

Vikings, cult of Polaris, 474.

Villavicencio, 150.

Virgins of the Sun, in Mexico and Peru, 194.

Vishnu, cult of, 314.

Volcanoes, as probable cause of traditions of destruction of earth,
270-275.

Von Herder, 449, _note_.

Von Luschan, 342, 358, _note_, 359, 360.

Von Schroeder, L., 484, 458, _note_.

Votan, culture hero of the Tzendals, title “the Master of the Sacred
Drum,” 60, 71-72, _note_.

Vulture, totem of Quiché chieftain, 164;
in Egyptian symbolism, 398, 425, 426.

Wales, Druidic Celi Ced corresponds to Egyptian Amen-Ra;
dual power;
Central ruler;
numeral seven in Welsh legend, 471.

Wampum belts, Iroquois, 197-199.

Wan, Chinese word for swastika, 309.

Warburg, A., 119.

Waring, 459.

Warren, William F., 475, 566.

Water, sacred pool in temple of Mexico, 225;
in connection with star cult, 226;
associated with fire-drill and socket in Old and New World, 505.

Water era, one of the four eras of the world, 253.

Water goddess, called Chalchiutlycue, 91.

Water and air design, encircling the mitre of the Lord of the Above;
on mantles of Montezuma’s predecessors, 125;
emblem of cult of Above, 126.

Weaving, art of among the Huaxtekans, 207-208, _note_.

West, Cihuatlampa (in Nahuatl)=place of the women, 38;
in Cosmos=Calli=house, yellow, earth, darkness, 42;
door of the Underworld, 54;
female region, 64.

Webster’s Dictionary, 419.

Wheat, stalk of, year symbol in China, 291.

Wheel, emblem of the Deity and of rotation, among ancient Mexicans, 33;
represented by Mexican dance, 59;
the four-spoked wheel of Shamash in Babylonia and Assyria, 332, 356,
365;
symbol of axial rotation and time in Old World, 500;
associated with pole-star in Japan, 501;
use of, known in Japan and China from the earliest times, 501-502;
in Scandinavia, 502;
first religions and their royal symbol—possibly evolved from the stone
fire socket, 503 (see Axial Rotation).

Wheelwright, E. M., 514, 515.

Whitney, J. D., 449 _note_, 452, _note_.

Wickersham, James, 288, 292.

Wiener, 132, 146.

Williams, 288.

Wilson, Sir Daniel, 540.

Wilson, Thomas, 19, 23, 28, 50, 318, 459, 460.

Wind-god, symbol of, 34.

Windows, symbolism of, in Mexico, Central America and elsewhere, 120, 121.

Winged disk, in Assyria, 356, 357.

Winter solstice, triskelion sign of, 27, 28.

Woman, origin of idea of inferiority, 65;
position of, in Peru and Mexico, 194;
“Corn Maidens” and “Mothers” in America, 276;
in China, 286, 287;
in Babylonia-Assyria, 341;
in Greece and Rome, 345 in Egypt, 426-436.

Writing, cursive and ikonomatic of the Old World;
picture writing adopted by Spanish missionaries to New World, 534-535,
_note_;
Egyptian hieratic script, 535, _note_;
numerical value of letters in Greek alphabet;
Maya calculiform hieroglyphs;
geometrical figures used by Phœnicians, 536, _note_.

Wu, Chinese empress, 309.

Wylie, Alexander, 303, 335, 481, _note_.

Xicalango, 211.

Xilomaniztli, another name for the festival “Izcalli;”
meaning the birth or sprouting of the young maize, 241.

Xiuhtecuhtli, Mexican lord of the year or of fire;
emblem of, figured and described;
called the turquoise;
or grass-green pyramid, 129, 214, 223.

Xius, tribe of ancient Yucatan, 211.

Xonecuilli, native name for Ursa Minor (see Ursa Minor).

Xoxouhqui-ilhuicatl (Nahuatl)=the verdant or blue sky, a title of
Huitzilo-pochtli, 72.

Yang and Yin, in Chinese religion;
belief of the modern Chinese concerning, 286.

Yaou, Chinese emperor who divided China into four provinces, 298.

Year symbols, in Mexican calendar, acatl, tecpatl, calli and tochtli, 76;
glyphs on Copan stela or katun, 220;
Maya name for=Ah-cuch-haab, 220;
in Mexican Calendar-stone, 253;
in Mexico, bunch of grass or maize shoots;
in China, stalk of wheat, 291.

Yoalticitl, mother of the gods in ancient Mexico, 123.

Yop-at, Maya name for “a mitre,” symbol of divine ruler, 118.

Yope or yopi, Mexican peaked headdress or cone 117.

Yopico, name given to temple and monastery in courtyard of Great Temple of
Mexico, 118.

Youal-tecuhtli, star-god mentioned by Sahagun, identified as Ursa Major,
279;
name signifies, “lord of the night,” also “Lord of the circle or wheel,”
279.

Yuoalahua=lord of the wheel, 71.

Yu, Chinese emperor;
divisions of China, 292, 299.

Yucatan, cult of Polaris, 44;
Mexican culture-hero, Quetzalcoatl, came from, 67;
social organization, older than that of Mexico, 67;
Twin-brothers personifying the Above and Below, 68;
serpent symbol, more ancient than in Mexico, 70;
ancient map of, 85-90;
early peoples of, in contact with those of Mississippi valley, 112;
traditions about Kukulcan’s journey to Mexico, 206;
traditions of tribes who came from the south, 210-214;
meeting ground of Maya- and Nahuatl-speaking people, 214;
not cradle of Maya civilization, 214;
ancient monuments of, 216;
fourfold divisions, 218, 494;
Mayas compared with Maghas of India, 509, 519;
ancient civilization, 528;
ruder forms of culture alongside of the perfected social organization,
531;
period of warfare and pestilence, 539
(see Chichen Itza, Mayapan, etc.).

Yupanqui, founder of Cuzco, who introduced worship of the Creator, 135,
161, 186.

Zamorra, Fray Geronimo Roman y, 275.

Zarate, 150.

Zeller, Edward, 484.

Zenith, nepantla, 38.

Zigzag or undulated lines, symbol of water, 126.

Zikkurats of Babylonia, seven-staged towers, 327-331;
oriented to the four cardinal points, 332;
together with “Great basin of Apsu,” formed image of Cosmos, 361.

Zilan, Maya centre of female industry 208, _note_;
name signified “embroidery,” 210;
stone monoliths, 216;
ancient centre of culture in Yucatan, 217.

Zip, glyph on Copan altar, 227.

Zmigrodski, 19.

Zodiac composed of twenty day-signs, 255;
in Chinese calendar, 285.

Zumarraga, Bishop, 264.

Zuñi, conception of Cosmos, Above, Below, Centre and Four Quarters, 41,
100;
ceremonies typifying the fecundity of the earth, etc., 101;
vase used as emblem of earth-mother, 105;
cult of Above and Below;
swastika symbol in use among;
cult of Polaris;
Zuñi idol compared with Mexican lord of fire and lord of the under
world, 128, 129, 130;
twin brothers, war-gods, compared with counterparts in Mexico and
Yucatan, 130;
colors assigned to cardinal points, 192;
creation myth, 200, 223;
modern, ceremonies, symbols, etc., compared with those of Mexico,
Central America and Peru, 200;
Sky-father and Earth-mother;
Macaw or winter people, and Raven or summer people, 201;
linguistic affinities with Nahuatl and Maya, 201;
myth about building the town at the stable middle of the earth, 202;
social organization, 203, 205;
symbol of seeds of life, compared with Mexico and Maya, 223;
numerical divisions, social organization, symbolism, etc., identical
with that of Mexico, Yucatan, Copan, Guatemala, Peru, etc.,
226, 493;
spider’s web as image of numerical divisions;
colors assigned to four elements, compared with Mexico and China, 293;
use of quadruped to symbolize cardinal points and divisions of state
compared with similar symbolism in Mexico and Central
America, 295;
the pueblo represents a “seven in one,” a counterpart of archaic
kingdoms in India, Persia, Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, Rome,
etc., 529.

NOTE.

I am indebted to the eminent Prof. Paul Haupt, of Johns Hopkins University, for drawing my attention to the existence of an extremely important and interesting ancient map of Babylonia on an unfortunately broken and mutilated clay tablet also inscribed with cuneiform characters. This tablet is reproduced in photogravure and illustrated by a pencil drawing on pp. 100 and 101 of the Notes on “the Book of Ezekiel” (translated by Prof. C. H. Toy), which forms Part 12 of the monumental polychrome edition of the Bible, which is being edited by Prof. Paul Haupt, with the assistance of Dr. Horace Howard Furness. Although designated as a “Babylonian map of the world” it obviously represents Babylonia as a Middle Kingdom, traversed by the Euphrates and containing Babylon, surrounded by other cities situated in the Euphratean valley.

Babylonia is enclosed in two large concentric circles representing the sea, designated in a cuneiform inscription as the “Bitter stream” or “Salt water river.” Triangles extend beyond the outer circle, recalling the four “rays or spokes” of the image of Shamash (fig. 65). Cuneiform characters, in one of these triangular spaces, designate it as an island. Professor Toy states that “there seem to have been originally seven of these triangles, but most of them are broken away.” In point of fact only one of the triangles is whole, and distinct traces of three others are preserved. As the mutilated condition of the tablet forbids certainty as to the original number of triangles, I venture to point out that it seems more likely that instead of seven there were originally six triangles around the central disc and that the map of Babylonia constitutes an image of a confederated state, like those of India and Persia (see pp. 480 and 484), conceived as formed of “six dependent and allied states surrounding the seventh ruling state in the centre.”

Referring the reader to p. 348 of this work where “the seven kings” of Babylon are mentioned and seven-fold organization is discussed, I merely state that the importance of the Babylonian map can scarcely be overrated as a proof of the application in remote antiquity of the cosmical scheme to territorial divisions. It will be for Assyriologists to determine for us the relative ages of the Sippara tablet (p. 332 and fig. 65, 1), and the Babylonian Map tablet and to define their respective connections with the “four regions” and “seven directions,” or with quadruplicate and seven-fold schemes of organization. It is my hope that their researches will lead to definite knowledge as to the date when these cosmical schemes were employed in the Euphratean valley.

In conclusion I draw attention to the two interesting wheel-shaped maps of the world also published in the “Notes on Ezekiel” (p. 105), and the remarkable diagram (p. 197), showing the allotment of the land of Canaan according to Ezekiel. On p. 204, in the Notes of Chapter 48 of Ezekiel, there are valuable details concerning the geographical distribution of the tribes of Israel, and the position, in the centre, of the sacred reservation and the symmetrical arrangement of the gates of Jerusalem, which were associated with the cardinal points and tribal representatives.

Z. N.

FOOTNOTES

1 The Swastika. Report of the U. S. National Museum, 1894. Washington,
1896. During the preparation of this paper I also consulted the
following works, from which some forms of swastika are likewise
reproduced on pl. II: Le signe de la Croix avant le Christianisme.
Gabriel de Mortillet. Paris, 1866. Zur Geschichte der Swastika.
Zmigrodski, Braunschweig, 1890. La migration des symboles. Comte
Goblet d’Alviella. Paris, 1891.

2 I would insert here that it was only when the present investigation
was almost completed, that my attention was arrested by a reference
in Professor Wilson’s work, already cited, to a short article on the
Fylfot and the Futhorc tir by H. Colley March, M.D.

Having succeeded in obtaining a copy of the Transactions of the
Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society (vol. 4, pp. 1-12,
1886), in which it appeared, I had the extreme satisfaction of
finding that a specialist working in another field and approaching
the problem from another direction had come to two of the identical
conclusions that I had reached in a totally different manner. This
fact constitutes, in my opinion, the most powerful support of the
correctness of the views we hold in common after having formed,
expressed and worked them out in such a different way, as can be
verified by a comparison of our two works.

Referring the reader to his valuable and suggestive communication to
which I shall revert, I shall merely mention here that Dr. March
recognizes, as I do, that the “essential suggestion [of the swastika
and fylfot] is of axial rotation.” He attributes the original of the
swastika to the nocturnal (not as I do, to the annual) rotation of
the Ursa Major around Polaris, and likewise refers to the fact that
about four thousand years ago, the circular sweep of the circumpolar
constellations was far more striking than at present. After meeting
on this common ground our lines of investigation part company and go
wide asunder, nor am I able to follow some of Dr. March’s
conclusions such as, for instance, his opinion that the fylfot was a
sign of a “diurnal rotation” suggested by “the rising and setting of
the sun and moon when the spectator looked at them with his back to
the north.” On the other hand I am indebted to him for much valuable
information relating to the rune or futhorc tir, to which I shall
refer later.

3 Besides the word _coatl_=twin, the Mexicans had another term to
express some thing double, in pairs. A plant with two shoots was
named xolotl. Double agave plants, or maize when occasionally met
with, were regarded with superstition and named me-xolotl. The
pretty little parroquets, popularly known as “love-birds” from their
habit of constant association, in pairs, were named xolotl. The
circumstance that the term for birds’-down was also xolotl may
explain why the down-feathers of eagles and other birds were
employed and played a certain rôle in ritual observances. They
expressed and conveyed the sound of a word which meant something
double and could therefore be used to symbolize a variety of
meanings relating to multiplication or propagation. That the
Mexicans figuratively connected birds’-down with generation is
proven by the well-known myth of the birth of Huitzilopochtli from
the union of a ball of birds’-down and a goddess named “she with the
petticoat of serpents” (Sahagun, book III, chap. I).

Tufts of birds’-down figure, in the B. N. MS., on the shield of the
female ancestress of the human race, one of whose numerous titles
was toci,=“our grandmother,” to express which the figure of a citli
or hare was sometimes employed in pictography. Of her it was said,
that she bore only twins, a figure of speech meaning great
productiveness, just as the female divinity is also termed “the
woman with 400 breasts” (text to p. 29, Vatican Codex, Kingsborough,
vols. II and V). In the text to the Telleriano-Remensis Codex
(Kingsborough, vol. I, pl. 24), we find Xolotl, a deity wearing the
shell-symbol of Quetzalcoatl, directly named “the god of twins.”

4 The full meaning which may have been attached to the eye-symbol in
both Nahuatl and Maya languages is set forth in the following notes
which I give merely for the suggestion they convey of a deep meaning
having been attached to the eye-symbol. The Nahuatl word for eye is
_ix-telolotli_, but in pictography it represented the phonetic value
of _ix_ only. It may, therefore, have been employed as a cursive
sign for face=_ixtli_ and the fact that it figures in the centre of
the symbol _ollin_, where a face sometimes occurs, confirms this
surmise. In the Maya language the word for eye is _ich_, which is
practically identical with the Nahuatl _ix_, and this enters into
the composition of the following words, the meanings of which are
worth considering in connection with the fact that the eye is shown
to have been employed to convey the meaning of star, in both
languages: Ix-machun=eternal, without beginning, ix-mayam=forever,
continuously, without interruption. ix-maxul=perpetual, without end.
The fact that each of these Maya words exhibits the prefix _ix_ and
that an eye is employed to express this sound and stands for star,
is certainly interesting, since it suggests that the natives
associated the idea of eternity with the stars.

5 This native belief is beautifully illustrated by the two “highly
artistic shell-gorgets representing winged human beings,” which are
described and figured by Mr. Wm. H. Holmes, in Part II of his
instructive and extremely useful “Archaeological Studies among the
Ancient Cities of Mexico,” which I have received just as this paper
is going to press. I am much pleased at the possibility of drawing
attention, by means of a footnote, to the interesting fact that in
one gorget the human head is figured with butterfly wings, whilst in
the other it is accompanied by conventionalized feathers and a
butterfly wing. There can be no doubt that both gorgets are attempts
to represent the resuscitated souls of departed warriors, according
to the native ideas concerning them. It is nevertheless very
remarkable to see actually that the ancient Mexicans employed the
butterfly as a symbol of an immortal soul and had also evolved the
idea of a winged head, analogous to that of a cherub, to represent a
blest spirit, dwelling in celestial regions.

It is noticeable that the name of the Mexican priests was papa,
which syllables are the first in the word papalotl=butterfly. It may
be that a distinction was made and that the souls of the dead
priests were supposed to assume the shape of butterflies or moths,
whilst the warriors became celestial humming-birds.

6 In connection with Montezuma’s use of a litter it should be noticed
that, in the picture-writings, only the culture-hero Quetzalcoatl
and the bird god Huitzilopochtli are represented as seated on
litters. The two bars of Quetzalcoatl’s litter, figured in Duran’s
atlas (Tratado 2, cap. 1 a) terminate at each end in a serpent’s
head. The pair of twin serpents thus rendered, evidently convey an
allusion to his name, which would be equally comprehensible in the
Maya or Mexican languages. In another portion of Duran’s Atlas
(Trat. 2, chap. 2), Huitzilopochtli is figured as seated on a litter
masked as a bird, and a finely-executed native picture of the
bird-god, being borne on a litter, is in the B. N. MS. where he is
named “the precious lord” and is represented with a sceptre in his
hand surmounted by a heart. This latter detail is of special
interest, since it indicates that the Mexicans employed the heart
with the same symbolical and metaphorical meaning as the
Maya-Quiches and Tzentals. The latter had named their culture-hero
“Votan”=“the Heart” (of the people). (Brinton Hero-myths, p. 217.)
In the Popol-Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiches, the supreme
divinity is named “the Heart of the heaven, whose name is Hurakan.”
He is also named the “Heart of the Earth,” a title whose equivalent
in Mexico=Tepe-Yollotl, was applied to Tezcatlipoca and associated
with the bodiless voice, the echo, which was supposed to proceed
from the “heart (or life) of the Mountain.” The above data
undoubtedly prove the important point that Huitzilopochtli and
Tezcatlipoca were respectively entitled “the Heart of the Heaven”
and “the Heart of the Earth.”

7 Short triangular capes are worn to this day by the Mexican women,
and are called quechquemitl=shoulder capes. It is curious to find in
Molina’s dictionary, the following: tzimpitzauac=something figured,
which is wide above and pointed below, and tzimmanqui=something
figured which is pointed above and wide below, words which seem to
indicate that they refer to triangles and that these had different
meanings according to position.

8 The production of this drink was limited to the area in which the
agave plant could be cultivated. As set forth in my commentary on
the “Lyfe of the Indians,” the natives employed many other kinds of
fermented liquors, made from different fruits and plants.

9 The sacred symbols and numbers of Aboriginal America in Ancient and
Modern times. (Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, no. 2,
1894.)

10 Tribes of California, Stephen Powers. Contributions to North
American Ethnology. Washington, 1877. vol. III, p. 79.

11 Fourth Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology, p. 518. Washington.

12 Republicas de Indias, Fray Jeronimo Roman de Zamorra 1569-1575, ed.
Suarez. Madrid, 1898.

13 Pilz-foermige Goetzenbilder aus Guatemala und San Salvador, Carl
Sapper, Globus. band LXXIII, nr. 20.

14 For other examples see Borgian Codex, pp. 2, 5, 64, 66, 74.

15 Note on the Ancient Mexican Calendar System. Stockholm, 1894.

16 Biologia Centrali-Americana. Archæology, edited by F. Ducane Godman,
London.

17 The most striking example of this is in the Palace House, at
Palenqne, all wall-holes of which are tau-shaped. An elaborate
stucco ornamentation, richly colored, encloses two upright taus
surrounded by raised borders. One is a deep opening in the wall; the
other, next to it, is filled in and exhibits a horizontal line
resting on a vertical one. There can be no doubt that a profound
symbolical meaning was expressed by the entire motif, which has been
admirably reproduced by Mr. A. P. Maudslay (Biologia
Centrali-Americana, Archæology, part VI, pl. 18).

18 Veröffentlichungen aus dem Königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde, IV
band, I heft. 1895. p. 5.

19 Garcilaso de la Vega, Comentarias Reales, Lisbon, 1609; also
translation by Sir Clements B. Markham, issued by the Hakluyt
Society. Rites and Laws of the Incas (accounts by Molina,
Salcamayhua, Avila and Ondegardo), translated by Sir Clements B.
Markham; also Cieza de Leon, Herrera, etc. and MS. of Padre Anello
Oliva.

20 Attention is called to a curious error in the original text by
Arriaga, quoted by Rivero and Tschudi. Arriaga states that the two
statues stood back to back, but he makes the woman look toward the
“poniente” and the man to the “occidente,” thus making both figures
face the west. As “poniente” is the current Spanish phrase for the
west, it is evident that the author made a slip in the use of the
classical term, and intended to say that the man faced the
“oriente.”

21 The Terra-cotta Heads of Teotihuacan, American Journal of
Archaeology, Baltimore, 1886.

22 For this valuable list I am indebted to the kindness of Sir Clements
B. Markham, the President of the Royal Geographical Society of Great
Britain, who generously allowed me to study some of his MS. notes on
Ancient Peru.

23 “From what can be gathered and conjectured in considering the
traditions of the present time, it is not more than 350 to 400 years
since the Incas only possessed and ruled over the valley of Cuzco as
far as Urcas, a distance of six leagues and to the valley of Yucay,
which is not more than 5 leagues.... The historical period cannot be
placed further back than 400 years at the earliest” (Polo de
Ondegardo 1550-1600).

24 Lettre sur les Antiquités de Tiahuanaco, 1866, pp. 9, 17, 19.

25 Blas Valera, apud Garcilaso de la Vega, Comentarios Reales, Lisboa,
1609, lib. I, cap. XI, pp. 13, 14; lib. II, cap. VI, p. 42. See also
Garcia, Origen de los Indios. Madrid, 1729, lib. IV, cap. XV, p.
313.

26 Narratives of the Rites and laws of the Incas, translated by
Clements B. Markham, C. B., F. R. S., ed. Hakluyt Society, pp.
10-13.

27 It is the merit of the late distinguished philologist Dr. Buschmann,
in his invaluable work on Aztec names of localities to have pointed
out that although the Cakchiquel language is now spoken at
Cozumalhuapa or Cotzumalguapan, its name is unquestionably Nahuatl
(Cozamalo-apan). Ueber Aztekische Ortsnamen, VII, p. 34.

The largest number of illustrations of the beautiful bas-reliefs
found in the above locality have been published by M. Herman Strebel
of Hamburg, whose valuable publications and splendid collections of
ancient Mexican antiquities, preserved at Berlin and Hamburg, are
well known. Die Steinsculptures von Santa Lucia Cozumalhuapa
(Guatemala) in Museum fur Volkerkunde. Hamburg, 1894. Jahrbuch der
Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Austallen, XI.

Three of these remarkable bas-reliefs are figured in the valuable
publication by Geheimrath A. Bastian: Steinsculpturen aus Guatemala,
Berichte der Königlichen Museen zu Berlin, 1882. Dr. Habel’s
drawings were published in 1878, in the 22d vol. of the Smithsonian
Contributions to Knowledge.

Casts of these bas-reliefs are on exhibition in the Peabody Museum.

28 “The skins of lions, with the heads, had been prepared, with gold
ear-pieces in the ears and golden teeth in place of the real teeth
which had been pulled out. In the paws were certain rings of gold.
Those who were dressed or invested with these skins put on the head
and neck of the lion so as to cover their own and the skin of the
body of the lion hung from the shoulders.” _op. cit._ p. 45.

The wearing of puma and ocelot skins by one of the two highest
grades of warriors in Mexico is too well known to need further
mention here.

29 In connection with the three points proceeding from the eye, the
Mexican symbol for star, I would draw attention to the fact that in
the latitude of Santa Lucia only three equidistant positions of Ursa
Major, and, possibly, of Ursa Minor, would be observable, the
constellations being below the northern horizon when lying between
it and Polaris. The symbolical three points could have thus
originated in the same way as the triskeles in other countries, from
observation of the identical phenomenon.

30 This bas-relief is reproduced in vol. III of the Anales del Museo
Nacional, p. 302, and is discussed by Señor Sanchez.

31 Article Peru, Encyclopaedia Britannica.

32 Garcilaso de la Vega, The Royal Commentaries of the Incas, Hakluyt
ed. vol. I, p. 270.

33 Rites and Laws of the Incas, ed. Hakluyt, p. 86.

34 Rites and Laws of the Incas, ed. Hakluyt, pp. 77, 84.

35 The Heavens ... London. Richard Bentley and Son. 1883. pp. 287-289.

36 Historia Chichimeca, chap. XIX.

37 In Quechua the left hand was named lloque maqui and the right, pana
maqui. In the Chinchaysuyo dialect of Quechua the left hand was
hichoc maqui and the right, allaucay maqui (Vocabulario Padre Juan
de Figueredo).

38 Annals of the Cakchiquels. Library of Aboriginal Literature, vol.
VI, D. G. Brinton, p. 71. It is a striking coincidence which further
excavations may however destroy, that seven similar upright slabs
were found at Santa Lucia, six complete ones of which exhibit
individuals whose left hands bear special marks. What is more, these
figures are accompanied by animals which agree with a native
chronicle quoted by Dr. Otto Stoll (_op. cit._ p. 6). According to
this some of the totems or marks of dignity worn by certain Quiché
chieftains were representations of pumas, ocelots and vultures. It
is, perhaps, permissible to advance the hypothesis that the
personages on the slabs are representatives of the seven tribes and
display their totemic devices.

I would add a couple of observations which seem to indicate that the
language of the people who sculptured and set up the Santa Lucia
slabs was Nahuatl. In the first case on the long slab, figured by M.
Herman Strebel as No. 11, a chieftain in a recumbent position is
conferring with a personage masked as a deer. The date is sculptured
on this slab, recalling the Mexican method of figuring numerals and
indicates that a historical event is being recorded.

The Nahuatl word for deer is mazatl and we know that the Mazahuas,
or “deer-people” is the name of a native tribe which inhabits to
this day the coast region of Guatemala. A town named Mazatenango=the
capital or mother-city of the Mazahuas lies between the lake of
Atitlan and the coast (tenan=mother of somebody; tenamitl=walled
city). A small village named Mazahuat also lies farther south and
inland on the Lempa river, in San Salvador. On one of the upright
slabs two sculptured heads resembling dogs’ heads are enclosed in
circles. The Nahuatl name for dog is itzcuintl; and a town of the
same name, corrupted to Escuintla, lies between the latitude of
Amatitlan and the coast of Guatemala, at about the same distance
inland as the town of Maza-tenango. As both places were within easy
reach from Santa Lucia, it seems possible that the slabs may refer
to some conquest or agreement made with the “deer and dog people.”
At all events the agreement is worth noting as a hint for future
research.

39 Ed. Brinton. Library of Aboriginal literature, p. 13.

40 It is to the superior authority of my distinguished and highly
esteemed colleagues Drs. Otto Stoll and Carl Sapper that I submit
the above considerations. It may be possible for the latter
enthusiastic explorer and for Dr. Gustavo Eisen, who is continuing
his valuable researches in Guatemala, to determine the locality of
the ancient Tullan, which should, I imagine, be sought for in a
region where the land inhabited by the Four Nations would converge
and at a point almost equidistant from the Four Tecpans.

41 In the Mexican collection at the Trocadero Museum in Paris, there is
a curious wooden sceptre in the form of a hand, which has been
figured by Dr. Ernest Hamy in his splendidly illustrated work on
this Museum.

42 See Brinton. The Native Calendar of Central America and Mexico, p.
49.

43 Bulletin of the Museum of Science and Art, University of
Pennsylvania, no. 3, vol. I.

44 Idea de una nueva historia general, Madrid, 1746, p. 117.

45 Native Calendar, p. 50.

46 Vergleichende Studien. Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie, bd.
III, 1890, and the Native Calendar, p. 19.

47 See Molina’s dictionary for further meanings of verb yuli, which
accounts for another form of primitive native symbolism.

48 See D. G. Brinton (American Hero-myths, p. 155) who, like other
authorities, has not recognized the difference between native
cross-symbols, denoting the four quarters celestial and terrestrial
and the tree of tribal life.

49 Dr. Hale states that these squares remind us of the similar Chinese
character which represents the word “field” (p. 241).

50 A Central American ceremony which suggests the snake dance of the
Tusayan villagers. Reprint from The American Anthropologist, vol.
VI, no. 3, July, 1893. _cf._ Bandelier, Final Report of
Investigations among the Indians of the Southwestern United States.
Archaeol. Inst. Papers, Am. series, IV, pp. 586-591.

51 Thirteenth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. Washington, 1896.

52 In abbreviated form I note here, inviting special comparison with
Mexico, that the Zuñi Upper world was symbolized by the sun, eagle
and turquoise; the Lower world by the rattlesnake, water and toad.

53 Landa states that Mayapan signified “the banner of Maya,” the latter
being the name of the “tongue of land” on which the capital was
situated. This explanation is, however, scarcely satisfactory, for
pantli is Nahuatl. If the entire word be regarded as Nahuatl, we
obtain “the banner of the hand.” As another Maya name for the
capital was Ho and this means five it seems possible that this
numeral and sound were actually expressed by an open hand and that
the Nahuatl name thus arose.

54 As throughout America four brothers are always found associated, in
consequence of the general spread of the quadruple organization, the
fact that three rulers only are mentioned here and that three
powerful tribes were found in possession of Yucatan, indicates that
these must have separated themselves from their original State. The
subsequent reduction of their number to two shows further
dissension.

55 It seems reasonable to refer to this date the expulsion of the Maya
tribe, the Huaxtekans, who founded their colony at Panuco, named
their capital Tuch-pan and carried with them their execrable
practices and ideas. At the same time they possessed and handed down
such a proficiency in the art of weaving that at the time of
Montezuma the most beautiful textile fabrics, furnished to him as
tribute, were the Huaxtecan “centzon-tilmatli” or mantles of four
hundred colors, “finely woven and covered with intricate and
artistic designs.” This circumstance points to a possible connection
with Zilan, the reputed Maya centre of female industry. It has been
stated by good authorities that the only antiquities thus far found
in America, which testify to the existence of a degraded and obscene
cult, are from the region of Panuco.

56 It is interesting to note in the above description absolutely no
mention of woman in the organization of Mayapan. It is therefore to
be presumed that they were excluded from this capital, and
inhabited, as in Mexico, their own town, under female rulership and
that of the “lords of the Night.”

57 See the Atlatl or Spear-thrower of the Ancient Mexicans. Peabody
Museum Papers, vol. 1, no. 3. Cambridge, 1891.

58 Relacion. ed. Brasseur de Bourbourg, p. 52. In a note the Abbé
states that the above description recalls the monoliths of Copan and
Quirigua.

59 We are told that the Cheles inhabited a province named Ah-bin-chel,
and that their capitals were Tikoh and Izamal (literally, Ah=they
who are of, kin=sun, chel=sort of bird and the ancient name of a
sacerdotal lineage in Yucatan). Thence the title Chelekat=holiness,
highness, grandeur, given to the head of this lineage (Brasseur de
Bourbourg). Ix-chel=the woman-bird, was the high-priestess or
medicine-woman and midwife. The Cheles, Tutul-xius and Cocomes were
the three most powerful tribes at the time of the Conquest. It is
noteworthy that they all had bird names and that the word chel, the
totemic bird of the Cheles, so closely resembles ché=tree, that the
combination of a ché or tree as a symbol of the tribe and the
chel-bird would have been suggested by the language.

60 According to Señor Garcia Cubas, “this peninsula of Yucatan must
have been united at one time, to the island of Cuba, the determining
cause of their separation being the impetuous current of the Gulf of
Mexico” (Atlas Metodico, Mexico, 1874, p. 32).

61 For a general account of the ruins of Copan and for a plan on which
the position of the different structures, stelæ, altars and
prominent sculptures are given, I refer to the Memoirs of the
Peabody Museum vol. I, no. 1, containing a preliminary report, of
the Explorations by the Museum. Cambridge, 1896.

62 Historia de la Provincia de Yucathan, by Friar Diego Lopez
Cogolludo, Madrid, 1688.

63 It seems to me that this statement establishes once and for all the
order in which these sculptured glyphs are to be read. It is evident
that in fastening them to the walls the idea was that of building up
the calculiform record by placing the stones above each other, in
the same manner that a stone wall would be raised. Accordingly, the
earliest records would form the base and the last be at the top.

64 See Biologia Centrali Americana, pt. I, Copan “a” pl. 9. Casts of
this sculpture and of two others nearly identical, from Copan, are
in the Peabody Museum.

65 It is my intention to reproduce these plans of Copan and Quirigua
and of other ancient American capitals in the publication I have
undertaken to make in co-editorship with Mr. E. W. Dahlgren of
Stockholm, of the beautiful map of the City of Mexico and its
surroundings, painted by Alonzo de la Cruz, the cosmographer of
Philip II of Spain. Mr. Dahlgren published an interesting account of
this map, which is preserved in the library of the university at
Upsala, in 1889, with its uncolored reproduction on a reduced scale.
In his monumental work on ancient cartography, Baron Nordenskjöld
also published an uncolored production of this map and, with Dr.
Bovallius, exhibited a beautiful facsimile of this precious
document, at the Historical Exposition in Madrid, in October, 1892.
During the previous summer at Stockholm, I had personally
superintended the painting of a perfect facsimile copy of the map
which I exhibited in the Anthropological Building of the World’s
Columbian Exposition in 1893. The original map was exhibited in
Stockholm during the meeting of the Congress of Americanists at
Stockholm in 1894, and I suggested that it ought to be published in
exact facsimile and in colors, particularly on account of the many
hieroglyphic names of localities it exhibits. It was thereupon
agreed by Mr. Dahlgren and myself that we should jointly publish the
map with an accompanying text in English, my share of the work being
principally the decipherment of the hieroglyphs of localities, the
classification of the tribes inhabiting them, as well as the
presentation of all historical facts connected with them that I
could obtain from the native and early Spanish chronicles. With
characteristic liberality the Duc de Loubat most kindly supported
the proposed publication by subscribing to twenty copies of it in
advance and depositing the payment for these at the Academy of
Sciences. The reproduction of the map has been facilitated by this
generous action and I take great pleasure in expressing here our
grateful appreciation to the Duc de Loubat, who has been patiently
awaiting the achievement of our undertaking. Both Mr. Dahlgren and I
have been prevented from completing this up to the present, by work
planned previously to the publication of the map. The present
publication will prove, however, that the social organization of the
Mexicans has been the object of my painstaking study and that, until
I had satisfactorily set forth the fundamental principles which
influenced not only the distribution of the population, but the
ground-plan of the capital itself, any text I could publish with the
map would be incomplete. As matters now stand, I propose to treat of
the City of Mexico as a type of an ancient American sacred city, to
compare its ground plan with those of other native capitals and to
trace, as far as possible, the localization of the various tribes
and classes of the ancient population, so that we can form an
adequate idea of the topography and machinery of the great state
known as the Empire of Montezuma. I hope and expect to complete this
publication in a reasonable period of time but dare not define its
limits, as all scientific research demands more time and strength
than can be determined upon in advance. In conclusion I would state
that, at the Congress of Americanists which took place at the city
of Mexico in 1895, the distinguished Mexican cartographer, Señor
Garcia Cubas, whose splendid maps of Mexico are well known, made an
interesting communication on this map, of which he had seen a copy.

66 It has been surmised that the name Palenque is of Spanish origin and
means “a palisade;” but it seems far more likely to be the
approximate rendering of the sound of the old native word by a
Spanish word, in the same way that the Nahuatl Quauh-nahuac became
the Spanish Cuerna-vaca, literally cow’s horn.

67 Brasseur de Bourbourg’s Maya Vocabulary contains an interesting
instance of a native tribe or lineage bearing the name of a bird:
“Chel: name of a kind of bird; ancient name of a great sacerdotal
family reigning at Tecoh (near Izamal, Yucatan). Thence the title
‘Chelekat,’ which meant holy, exalted, great, and was applied to the
head of this family.”

68 On a large tablet at Ixkun, the cast of which is now in Mr.
Maudslay’s collection at the South Kensington Museum, similarly
placed figures support on their bent backs and shoulders standing
personages, facing each other, and surrounded by glyphs. In this
case, however, the men who serve as footstools, are bound and
distinctly show a difference of type and costume, so that there can
be no doubt that the tablet commemorated the conquest of an alien
tribe.

69 Estudio arqueologico y jeroglifico del Calendario o gran libro
astronomico.... Mexico. 1889.

70 Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, III, 1, 60.

71 A somewhat disheartening consideration concerning the Stone of the
Great Plan deserves mention. The probability is that it was
originally painted with the colors of the four quarters and that
some of the records thus made are irretrievably lost. On taking the
first impressions with gelatine, in order to make his admirable cast
of the monolith, Señor Abadiano discovered many traces of color,
lodged in small crevices and corners of the carvings. Moreover, the
use of the symbolical colors on stone monuments is vouched for by
the great painted monolith which was, strange to say, re-interred
after having been discovered in the City of Mexico some years ago.
The reproduction of an obviously incorrect drawing made of this
stone during its uncovered state, has been published in vol. II of
the Annals of the National Museum of Mexico.

72 Relacion, p. 339, Kingsborough, vol. IX.

73 Leon y Gama advanced the opinion that the stone, supplemented by a
gnomon, served as a solar clock or dial, to mark the hours of the
days and the seasons, etc. He added that the stone may have served
further purposes than those he enumerated and hints that it may have
also recorded lunar periods. This distinguished scholar concludes by
acknowledging that the ancient Mexicans possessed enlightened
knowledge of the movements of the principal planets and methods of
observing them, in order to divide time for the purposes of civil
and religious government (Description de las dos Piedras. Mexico,
1852, p. 110).

The late Doctor Philip Valentini, in a learned discourse on the
Calendar-stone, read at New York in 1878, expressed his view that it
contained a complete and plastic representation of the division of
time employed in ancient Mexico.

The distinguished Mexican scholar, Señor Alfredo Chavero, has
published the most elaborate treatise which has been written on the
subject and discusses the views of Gama and Valentini with much
erudition. Referring the reader to his publications in the Annals of
the National Museum of Mexico I shall but mention his views that the
four symbols, contained in the quadruplicate central figure, record
four epochs of the native cosmogony, that the central head is an
image of the sun and that the monument itself is a votive tablet
which was erected to the Sun in historical time, two conclusions to
which I cannot subscribe. It is impossible to discuss fully the
valuable publications of Señores Troncoso and Chavero in these
cursive remarks, but I shall do so on another occasion. Meanwhile
there is one point upon which both of these authorities agree,
namely, in admitting the possible connection between the
civilization of Mexico and Peru and in recognizing that various
ancient people of America had the nahui-ollin in common. A passage
in Señor Chavero’s work claims moreover special mention, as it
contains his supposition that the sign nahui-ollin may have
symbolized not only the four movements of the sun, but also those of
the moon, which the writer seems to regard as the nocturnal or dark
sun. I am quite ready to agree with the above authorities on some of
the points mentioned, conflicting as their views appear to be at
first sight. Inasmuch as I regard the monument as the image of a
plan or theoretical scheme which colored and influenced all native
thought, I hail any recognition made by other students of its
all-pervading presence in the Calendar and in the cosmogony of the
ancient Mexicans. On the other hand I maintain a view which
materially differs from those of previous writers, namely, that the
entire plan was originally based on the primitive observation of
Polaris and in the conception of a stable centre: the seat of a
power extending over the Four Quarters and the Above and Below.

74 In the text, as published, Bernal Diaz states that this statue had a
face like that of a bear “un rostro, como de osso,” but goes on to
say that it was decorated according to the same mode as the other
“del otro.” I am inclined to think it more than probable that
instead of “de osso ” the text should also read “del otro,” as among
the many images of Tezcatlipoca that are extant, none show him
connected with the bear in any form or shape.