SIGNIFICATION OF THE CHARACTERS. 



.".51 



aud plant from jranii 



Chuplal. Woman or female. Tliis symbol is found in the Dresden 

 and Troano Codices, but most frequently in the former. The ap- 

 pendage at the right is sometimes wanting, and occasionally that 

 at the left, but when this is the case some other prefix is generally 

 substituted. 



If we examine carefully Plate,s lG-20 of the Dresden Codex, where 

 this symbol is most frequently repeated, and compare it with the 

 heads of the females there figured, it soon becomes apparent that the 

 scrolls with the heavy black dot are intended to denote the locks of 

 hair and that the symbol as a whole is, as usual, a modified or con- 

 ventional form of the head (see Fig. 376). 



Ofoch. A house or dwelling, or Tahaij; a hut or hunting lodge. 

 The symbol marked a is found in the Cortesian Codex on Plate 

 39: that marked b. on Plates 29, 33, and 34, same codex, and on 

 Plates XVI* and XXII* of the Manuscript Troano. The one 

 marked c is the usual form in the latter, as on Plates V*, VII*, 

 ! and X*. It is also on Plate 28 of the Dresden Codex. 



The relation of these symbols to the conventional 



figures of houses or huts inserted at the points where 



they are found, together Avith the form, which shows 



an attempt to represent the thatched or leaf covered 



oof, leaves no doubt that they are used for the purpose indicated. 



Buk (?). There are good and, it is believed, satisfactory reasons for 

 concluding that these symbols are intended to denote the action of 



« whirling a stick to produce fire or rolUng a pestle in grinding paint. 

 The first, marked a, is found only on Plate XIX of the Manuscript 

 Troano, and the second, on Plates 5 and 6 of the Dresden Codex. 



A copy of part of Plate XIX of the Manuscript Troano 

 is introduced here (see Fig. 377) to show the relation of 

 the figiires to the characters. If this interpretation be 

 correct, we see here an evident attemj)t on the part of the 

 aboriginal artist to indicate by the symbol the action nee- 



