MANUSCRIPTS OF MEXICO SPINDEN 431 



form a veritable labyrinth. (See fig. 1 for typical diagrams.) 

 These meandering texts can be handled conveniently only in the 

 screen form of the originals, which permits a sequence of pages to 

 be spread out. 



Unfortunately the Bodley and Sclden codices are not available at 

 the present time to the general student except in the century-old 

 reproductions of Kingsborough, where each fold occupies a page.- 

 His first publication in black and white omits the guide lines, but 

 these are added in the colored reissue. There is an urgent need for 

 facsimile editions of both Bodley and Sclden codices for the freehand 

 drawings of Kingsborough arc often in error. It is even possible 

 that dates and other important details now faint or invisible in the 

 original manuscripts could be refreshed by special photography. 

 The Zouche codex has been reproduced acceptably although some of 

 the colors, especially the beautiful turquoise blue, are not correctly 

 brought out. The Vienna codex has recently been published in 

 irreproachable fashion.^ 



ARE THE PICTURES THOSE OF MEN OR GODS? 



The contents of the Zouche codex were explained as history by 

 Zelia Nuttall in her original brief commentary, although she thought 

 the pictured text might be only a mnemonic aid to the recital of tra- 

 ditional epic chants. Her suggestions as regards the biography of 

 the conqueror Eight Deer were amplified by J. Cooper Clark in his 

 " The Story of Eight Deer in the Codex Colombino." * He covered 

 the entries regarding this person in the several manuscripts now under 

 consideration. More important still was the chronological arrange- 

 ment of the various genealogies in the British Museum manuscript 

 by Eichard C. E. Long.^ 



In contrast to these writings Walter Lehmann in his recent com- 

 mentary on the Vienna codex (p. 18) denies that an historical expla- 

 nation of the matter in these ancient manuscripts is possible. Instead 

 he believes that the intervals between dates have an astronomical 

 import and that most if not all the named persons are gods rather 

 than human beings or if some are human beings then these are con- 

 cerned in religious or astronomical enterprises. 



^ The writer expresses his gratitude to tlio officials of tlie Bodleian Library for permis- 

 sion to examine in detail tlie original Bodleian and Sclden manuscripts and for photo- 

 graphs of certain pages ; and to those of tlie British Museum for similar courtesy as 

 regards the beautiful codex which was formerly the property of Lord Zouche. 



» The reproduction of the Zouche codex was by the Beahody Museum of Harvard Uni- 

 versity (Codex Nuttall, 1902, with an Introduction by Zelia Nuttall) ; that of the Vienna 

 (Codex Vlndabonensis, Mexic. I) by Max JafTe, Vienna, 1029, with commentary by 

 Walter Lehmann and Ottokar Smltal ; that of the Colombino (formerly the Dorenberg) 

 in Antiguedades Mexicanas of the Junta Colonibina in 1892 and that of the I'ecljcr under 

 the title " Le Manuscrlt du Caci(iuc ", by Ifenrl de Saussure, Geneva, 1892. 



* London, 1912. 



» The Zouche Codex, Joum. Roy. Anthrop. Soe., vol. 56, pp. 239-258, 1928. 



