SEIER] THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 31 



which our study of the Cortes codex, pages -11, 42, suggested, thiit 

 the hieroglyphs a to //, figure 1, are indeed to be coordinated in the way 

 already stated by Schultz-Sellack — that is, that a to rZ, respectively, 

 denote the east, north, west, and south. 



Here w^e do indeed encounter a difficulty which nuist l)e overcome 

 before we can with any confidence profit by the knowledge thus far 

 acquired. Schellhas has already (Zeitschrif t f iir Ethnologic, volume 18, 

 page 77) drawn attention to the hieroglyphic elements t to v\ figure 1, 

 which are coordinated with the cardinal points in such a way that, 

 according to the cardinal point, they form the variable constituent of 

 a hieroglyph otherwise similarly constituted. Thus, in the Dresdeji 

 manuscript, pages 30J and ?>lh and pages 'IQc and 306% the hieroglyphs 

 11 to y, figure 1, are invariably combined with one of the hieroglyphs 

 of the four cardinal points. And so, too, on pages SOc and 81c we see 

 the same elements of t to ui (always changing with the cardinal points) 

 forming part of another hieroglyph otherwise not clear. Finally, the 

 same elements are (Dresden manuscript, pages 317> to ?Ah) added to 

 the principal glyph of Chac itself and combined with the same cardinal 

 points. I have alread}^ suggested in my earlier work (Zeitschrift fiir 

 Ethnologic, volume 20, page 4) that these hieroglyphic elements chang- 

 ing with the cardinal j)oints are meant to denote colors. We know 

 that the Mexicans, like the Mayas and many other American nations, 

 ascribed certain colors to the cardinal points, and that the objects or 

 beings whose various forms were supposed to reside at the difl'erent 

 cardinal points were distinguished by the color appropriate to the 

 cardinal point in question. 



Thus in Landa, in speaking of the xma kaba kin ceremonies, accord- 

 ing to the year — that is, according to the respective cardinal point — 

 a yellow, red, white, and black Bacab, a yellow, red, white, and 

 black Uuayayab, a yellow, red, white, and black Acantun is men- 

 tioned!. But if this be the case, then the element of v/', figure 1, nmst 

 denote the color ek, "black". For in both the above-mentioned 

 passages of the Dresden manuscript the rain god (Chac) is repre- 

 sented in black color below the glyph provided with this element 

 (while he is left white elsewhere). The element v- (same figure), on 

 the contrary, is most probably to be described as expressing the color 

 zac, "white", for it forms the characteristic element in the glyph 

 of the month name Zac, h. The element ^l may be taken to express 

 chac, "red", for it forms the characteristic element in the glyph of 

 a goddess, w, a companion of Chac, who is represented in the Dr(>sden 

 codex, pages 67« and 71, in red color and witii tiger claws. Finally, 

 the gly])h t (same figure), seems as if it must be intended for Uan, 

 "yellow". This is proved by the similarity of the element to the 

 figures by which gold, the yellow metal, is represented in Mexican 



