68 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



existing illustrations, was of a different form (see J, figure 7). From the 

 arrangement of the whole ornament it also seems to me, as von Hoch- 

 stetter asserts for the Vienna ornament, that it is based upon the 

 idea of a bird swooping down from above with outspread wings, the 

 middle, higher, upright part representing the tail, the side parts the 

 wings, while head and l)eak are not indicated in the drawings in ques- 

 tion. The idea that the Deity came down from heaven in the form of 

 a bird is a widely spread conception that plays an important part in 

 the mythologies of Central American races. From the Xipe dress of 

 the Mexican kings, which I have described in my earlier article," it 

 follows that the god was regarded in three forms: as the red god (hav- 

 ing the color of the tlauhquecholli, the roseate spoonbill), as the ])lue god 

 (of the color of the xiuhtototl, the blue cotinga), and as a tiger (jaguar, 

 ocelotl), probably corresponding to the three regions (heaven, earth, 

 and underworld) or the three elements (fire, water, and earth). These 

 are, moreover, the same three colors or variations represented on his 

 tripartite shield described above. 



In the manuscripts Xipe himself is usually represented in one form 

 only, as the red god; just as Ixcozauhqui, the fire god of Tlatelolco, 

 only appears in the manuscripts in one form, as the burning, devour- 

 ing fire, although he, too, as we know from the description of his fes- 

 tival, was represented in twofold form, as the light-blue one with the 

 turquoise and emerald mask and as the burning one with the mask of 

 red shell plates and black tezeapoctli. On the other hand, we find the 

 god Tezcatlipoca represented in the manuscripts now as the red one 

 and again as the black one, and as both of these — for instance, in the 

 Borgian codex, page 18 — placed together. It is worthy of note that the 

 red Tezcatlipoca (Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca) is not only given as one of 

 the names of the god Xipe, but that occasionall}^ also, just where Xipe 

 should be drawn, a red (tlatlauhqui) Tezcatlipoca is drawn instead, as 

 in the Borgian codex, page 28, with the fifteenth day sign ((juauhtli, 

 "eagle"). The manuscripts originating in more southern regions, 

 Zapoteca and Mixteca, seem to lie more authoritative than the genuine 

 Mexican ones in regard to the represciitations of the deities in ques- 

 tion. Among the former, the manuscript preserved in the Vienna 

 library is the most important. In the first part of this we find the 

 god Xijie in his classic form, clad in the tia3'ed human skin, and des- 

 ignated by the date chicome Quiauitl, "seven rain". As in the Bor- 

 gian codex we have the red and the black Tezcatlipoca, so too we 

 have here a red and a l)lack god placed together, side by side or one 

 above the other. But in this case the conception is quite different. 

 The strangely formed face shows a tiger's jaw introduced into a human 

 face and eyes surrounded by serpentine lines. The red variant of 

 this god, designated by the date naui Mazatl, "four deer", is dressed 



a See Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 1891, v. 23, pp. 133, 134. 



