496 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



accepted and consumed it in his flame, all is forgotten." The men 

 have a similar custom. 



A single manuscript leaf of the Humboldt Collection, dated 1569 

 (pi. 1), shows the same idea of reminders together with true picture 

 writing. 1 It is a baker's account. Just as the baker in many coun- 

 tries notched a stick in keeping his record, so here he employs much 

 the same principle. The circles are tallies, the reminders of the num- 

 ber of tortillas or perhaps loaves of bread baked each day by the 

 women. The sign of the flag over several of the circles is a symbol 

 for 20. The circles containing the curved lines show the feast days, 

 the Sundays, coming six days apart. The Spanish method of keep- 

 ing time has been adopted in this case. 



The first step in the development of writing after the preliminary 

 stage of reminders is that of pure pictures. There is no lack of illus- 

 trations of this step in the manuscripts. Pictures are used simply as 

 pictures with no idea of sound entering into the meaning. They are 

 used not as symbols or signs of something else, but simply in their 

 objective sense. There is no trace of mysticism. The objects rep- 

 resented can not be treated as ciphers or cryptograms in any attempt 

 at their interpretation. A good example is found in a series of 

 pages (pis. 2-5) from a post-Columbian manuscript in the Mendoza 

 Collection, now in the Bodleian Library and published in Kings- 

 borough^ 183 1-1 848, vol. 1, pis. 59-62). 2 The pictures give a clear 

 account of the education of the Mexican boy and girl from the age 

 of 3 to the age of 15. The boy and his father are shown on the left 

 and the girl and her mother on the right. The years are indicated 

 by circles, and the daily allotment of bread appears in front of each 

 child. At the age of 3 a half cake or tortilla is the daily ration, 

 whereas at 4 it is increased to a whole one. 



Plate 2 shows the education from the ages of 3 to 6. Plate 3 indi- 

 cates the tasks imposed and the punishments given to children from 

 the ages of 7 to 10. Plate 4 continues the punishments for the elev- 

 enth and twelfth years and shows the tasks from the thirteenth and 

 fourteenth years. Plate 5, at the top, indicates that at the age of 

 15 the boy is turned over to an outside authority to continue his 

 education. The lower half of the same plate shows clearly by means 

 of pictures the marriage ceremony. The groom carries his bride on 

 his back into an inciosure and is accompanied by four women carry- 

 ing torches. The marriage rite consists of tying the corners of the 

 mantles of the two together. The marriage feast is also indicated. 

 The Spanish accounts of the ancient marriage customs are no clearer 



i This manuscript is called Fragment XIII of the Humboldt Collection and is described in Seler, 1893, 

 and also in his collected works, vol. 1, pp. 27&-283. This is translated in Bureau of Ethnology, Bulletin 28, 

 pp. 212-217, pi. 18. 



2 This series of pages is also published in Mallory, 1888-89, pis. 35-38. I am indebted for this series of 

 pictures (pis. 2-5) and also for pi. 1 to Mr. F. W. Hodge, chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 



