SELBR] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT I 145 



As to the sum of the articles delivered during every quarter of a 

 year, in the first twenty-eight quarters, during which entries were 

 made only in column c, 10 gold bars, 2 square and 2 triangular gold 

 plates, and 2 bowls of gold dust were delivered in every quarter. 

 Beginning with the twenty-ninth quarter, that is, if our computa- 

 tions given above be correct, beginning with the year 1511, there was 

 a new payer of tribute, as it seems, the chieftain of a city, who is repre- 

 sented in column e {m^ plate iv) at full length, with his name hiero- 

 glyph and the hieroglyph of the city itself. In the principal column, 

 c (/I, plate iv), the sum of the payments delivered every quarter is 

 lessened by one long triangular plate; but, on the other hand, Ave 

 find in column d (/?, plate iv), beginning with this square, entries for 

 every quarter of a year consisting of a bundle of textiles, a square and 

 a long triangular gold plate, and a bowl of gold dust. Beginning 

 with the thirty-third square, in the year 1512, a second new tributary 

 seems to have been added, the chieftain of the city of Zacatlan, who 

 is also portrayed in column e {q, plate iv) at full length, with his 

 name hieroglyph and the hieroglyph of his city. From this square 

 onward, the amounts paid during every quarter are doubled in col- 

 umn n. There are 2 bundles of textiles, 2 oblong rectangular and 2 

 long triangular gold plates, and 2 bowls of gold dust. Beginning 

 Avith the forty-fifth square, three years later (1515), we have a third 

 new tributary, the chieftain of Tenanco, who is depicted in the corre- 

 sponding section of column e (/', plate v) at full length, with his name 

 hieroglyph and the hieroglyph of the city of Tenanco. After this 

 section the amount of tribute paid in each quarter is increased by a 

 bale of articles of clothing, 2 long triangular gold plates, and a bowl 

 of gold dust, which are regularly entered in the fifth column, e. And 

 finally, beginning with the sixtieth section, the ]nonth Tlacaxipeua- 

 liztli of the year 1519, the last payments, those set down in colunni e 

 (plate vi), are also doubled. This is the first section in column o in 

 which a figure occurs. Thus the entries go on imiforndy up to the 

 seventieth section, the last in which entries were made. 



The question now arises. To Avhom were these regular quarterly 

 payments made which are entered in colunnis c to e. At the outset, 

 it should not be supposed that the name of the receiver of the tribute, 

 whether a city, a king, or a temple, or whatever else, is given on the 

 tribute list, for the entries Avere undoubtedly made on a list which 

 Avas in the hands of the receiver of the tribute. Thus, in the Avell- 

 l^noAvn list of tribute paid to the kings of Mexico neither the kings 

 nor the city of Mexico are mentioned. On the first page of the trib- 

 ute list (Mendoza codex, page 19) the last Tlatelolcan kings are only 

 mentioned incidentally, together Avith the contemporaneous Mexican 

 monarchs. However, our manuscript is not a tribute list like those just 

 7238— No. 28—05 10 



