seler] 



MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT I 



133 



of two eyebrows surroiiiuliiig the liole of the spindle, supposed to be 

 the e,ye. Compare /■ and /, figure 31, taken from a list of persons in 

 the towns of Uoxot/.ineo and Xaltepetlapan (Mexican manuscript No 

 3 of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris) and denoting persons of 

 the name of Olin. The whole character stands for the word olin, 

 " that which rolls "''. It is the seventeenth of the twenty day signs of 

 the Mexicans, and was regarded as standing in sj^ecial relation to the 

 sun. The forin which the character takes in our picture or, plate ii, 

 most resembles that which we see in Codices Telleriano-Remensis 

 and Vaticanus A (see /, figure 31), and it is not wholly without sig- 



Fio. 31. Variations of tlie Mexican seventeenth day sym]jol. 



nificance in deciding the question of the origin of the picture writing 

 inider consideration. 



The second sign of colmnn a, which I call yS (plate ii), represents 

 the head of the wind go/l, Ehecatl, or Quetzalcoatl. He has a pro- 

 truding, trumpetlike mouth, for the wind god blows (see also (\ d. 

 and e, figure 41). Generally speaking, this figure suggested whirls 

 and circles. Hence his temples were built in circular form. The cap 

 which he wears is cone-shaped. The ends of his headband and his 

 breechclout are rounded. His head ornament is the spiral snail shell. 

 He w^ears snail shells as a necklace, and his breast ornament, the eca- 

 ilacatzcozcatl," as well as his ear ornament, is carved from a huge 



" Veriiffientlichungen aus dem Koniglichen Museum fiir Volkerkunde zu Berlin, v. 1, 

 pp. 128, 129. 



