1888.] 1^1 [Briuton. 



that of the Ojibwa3's, for example, we have the following three 

 characters : 



Fig. 7. Fig. 8. Fig 9. 



Of these, the Fig. 7 represents the sunrise ; Fig. 9, sunset ; Fig. 

 8, noonday. The last-mentioned is the full day at its height.* 

 Whei'e, in rock-writing ur scratching on wood, the curve could 

 not conveniently be used, straight lines would be adopted : 



Fig. 10. 



thus giving the ordinary form of the Triskeles. But the identi- 

 cal form of the Ta Ki is found in the qalendar scroll attached to 

 the Codex-Poinsett, an unpublished original Mexican MS., on 

 agave paper, in the library of the American Philosophical Society. 

 A line from this scroll is as follows : 



O O O 



Fig. 11. 



Here each circle means a da}', and those with the Triskules, cul- 

 minating days."!" 



* George Copway, Traditional History of the Ojibway Nation, p. 134. It will be noted 

 that in the sign for sunrise the straight line meets the curve at its left extremity, and for 

 sunset at its right. This re.sults from the superstitious preference of facing the south 

 rather than the north. 



t The triplicate constitution of things is a prominent feature of the ancient Mexican 

 philosophy, especially that of Tezcuco. The visible world was divided into three parts, 

 the earth below, the heavens above, and man's abode between them. The whole was 

 represented by a circle divided into three parts, the upper part painted blue, the lower 

 brown, the centre white (see Duran, Hisloria, Lam. 15a, for an example). Each of these 

 three parts was subdivided into three parts, so that when the Tezcuean king built a 

 tower as a symbol of the universe, he called it "The Tower of Nine Stories" (see my 

 Ancient yafiuatl Poetry, Introduction, p. 36). 



