PAPKHP i;r.I.ATINO TO ANTTinOrOLOOY. i>\1 



iii sqiiurc No. .')! ; tlio lliinl is (ouiul seated, and the tliree lieads are 

 likewise in the ^aine position. It has no inscription. 



No. 34. Here also is a liill, and at its IcCt is seen an individual ad- 

 vancing:- on loot towards tw(* others walkinfj in an opposite direction. 



Tiic inscri[)tion reads .riicittUt^ -.i word of Tarascan origin, bnt oC in- 

 scrntable si^iufication. 



No. ,3.") Tliislast sfjaare appears verj^ interesting to ns, lor it. clearly 

 shows the occupation of the Tarascans as miners. The two hills seen 

 here evidently contain the beginning or entrance of two ndnes. On the 

 opi)osite side a human lignre is digging with an instrument after the 

 manner of a crow-bar, and another party is already loaded from the 

 same point with a bundle, which jjcrhaps contains metals. In front of 

 him is seen a peison on foot, and in a very strange attitude. Another 

 individual is walking rapidly towards him or the mine. This^S(piare 

 has no inscription. 



The a])ove must notb«^ considered strictly as an explanation, but sim- 

 l)ly a statement of the idens which our I\Iichuacan studies have sug- 

 gested to us on examining the painting. Against the prehistoric aii- 

 ti(iuity of the painting lias been urged, First, the presenccof the inscrip- 

 tions; second, the construction of the houses and churches which are 

 painted in some of the squares. With regard to the first we have replied, 

 and shall add here, that the same thing is seen in genuine Aztec hiero- 

 glyphics, and of the second we said that the honses were sometimes drawn 

 hy the samei)erson who wrote the inscriptions. There is no doubt that 

 these are both posterior to the Comiuest, for, accordingto a manuscript 

 in possession of our learned and distinguished friend Sefior Don Joa- 

 (juin (Inrria Icazbalceta, entitled " l)escri[)tion of Tirii)it:,io by its cor-* 

 regidor, Pinlro de Monterdeoca, Septemiier 15, loS((, " (original 21 i)i>., 

 text illustrated by two small figures), we know that the dwellings of 

 the Tarascans had a very different form from those drawn in the map 

 or linen ot Ju(;utacato. 



Tiie third observation is touching the relative correctness of tlie 

 f!,i;ui-es and touching certain shades seen in some of them quit*; superior 

 to those of native origin. We know little of native ]\I(^xican ])ainting, 

 for, at a distance from tlie cai)ifal, we have scarcely learned the na-mes 

 of the ''Eodi<'e Vaticaiio," of Kinsboroug, of Aubin, etc. We have 

 seen something of the Mendocino, of the " Tira del Museo,"of the " Pe- 

 legrinacion del Vaile," and the atlas of Padre Duran, and we note the 

 sujieriority of execution in the linen of Jucutacato. 



11iis i)rejudiced us for some time, but^ we remember what Acosta La. 

 Pea, and P>eaumont say about the great ability of the Tarascans for 

 mnnnfacturing mosaics of feather; and, according to those who saw 

 tliem, there is a choice of colors and consequently middle tints, shades, 

 etc. If tliey made these in a masterly manner, wliy can we Jiot believe 

 that in their jviintings they tried to imitate in some degree what nature 

 taught them and obliofcd tliem to ])erform t 



