seler] 



ANCIENT MEXICAN FEATHER OKNAMENTS 



67 



For .such ail object, the yopiueuetl, is actually a part of Xipe's 

 costume. 



In the drawing- of the Cozcatzin codex the lower appendages may 

 very well represent the feet of the ueuetl. The dotted upper portions 

 may be meant for a tiger skin — such, for instance, as serves in the 

 Borgian codex, page 55, as a drumskin for the ueuetl beaten l)v the 

 coyote-eared god represented there. To be sure, the square form of 

 the framework contradicts this theory, for the ueuetl is usually drawn 

 round, cylindric (see figure 10). If we reject this interpretation, we 

 can conjecture that it may be a quetzal comitl, a feather basket, which 

 Tezcatlipoca and other gods are often represented wearing on their 

 backs. 



The handle of the standard, which rises from this framework, in 

 the Cozcatzin codex is apparently dotted, like the wooden sword 

 which the king holds in his hand. We must suppose that the handle 

 was also meant to be represented as covered with tiger skin. This, 1 

 think, is the case with the Bilimec warrior. The handle of his stand- 

 ard is composed of three per- 

 pendicular lines. Between two 

 of them we see a diagonal strip- 

 ing, which led Mrs Nuttall to 

 read the meeatl here as " rope". 

 I think this diagonal striping, 

 like that on the Xipe shield {h, 

 figure T), is meant to express 

 the hairy belly of the tiger, 

 which should be indicated on the right hand, between the other two 

 vertical stripes, by spots, but was omitted in the original from which 

 the painter worked by an oversight such as often occurs in the 

 manuscripts. 



Lastly, the fan-shaped ornament which is fastened to this handle is 

 identical in character in both illustrations, except that in the Bilimec 

 warrior (c?, figure 9) an arrow is added to the base. But this can scarcely 

 have an}" special meaning. Perhaps it is only meant to accentuate the 

 reed frame which serves to support the ornament. 



How, then, are we to interfTret the device worn by King Axayacatl 

 in the Cozcatzin codex and by the Bilimec warrior? 



It may be accepted as a matter of course that it is ordy a further 

 completion of Xipe attributes. Those who are influenced b}^ Mrs 

 NuttalPs interpretation of the Vienna ornament may be led to con- 

 jecture that it is Xipe's headdress borne upon the pole, just as we 

 actually find the pointed Uaxtec cap, which is commonly the actual 

 head covering, also fastened on a frame as a device for the l)ack. " But 

 Xipe's feather headdress, at least in so far as we may conclude from 



Fig. 10. Mexican drums (ueuetl). 



oSee Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, 1891, v. 23, pp. 132, 151. 



