seler] 



MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT II 



169 



Of the other ' persons, I will first mention the one in division 7 

 (plate vii), counting from the lower path, besides Quauhtemoc, whom 

 the explanatory note calls Don Martin Cortes Nezahual tecolotzin. 

 The name is not known to me from other sources. The head is drawn 

 with the hair hanging straight down, without the chieftain's hair 

 dress and the royal lieadV)and ; but above the head is the royal 

 lieadband of turquoise mosiac. This is the well-known symbol 

 used in the Mendoza codex for the office of tlacateccatl (see a, figure 

 88, page 17, of the Mendoza codex). The hieroglyph behind the 

 head corresponds exactly to the name Nezahual tecolotl, which means 



Fk;. .'^.s. Symlxjls of naiiips. 



" fasting owl ", for the back part of the hieroglyph shows plainly 

 the face of an owl, and the front part a ribbon, woven of many- 

 colored strips, with ends standing out, which is a familiar and 

 universally understood symbol for nezahualli "fasting" (see the 

 iiieroglyphs of Xezahualcoyotl, " the fasting coyote ", h and (\ same 

 figure, and Xezahualpilli, "the fasting prince" or "the fasting child", 

 d and e). Those marked h and d are taken from the Codex Telleri- 

 ano-Kemensis and c and e from the Sahagun manuscript of the 

 Academia de la Historia. The symbol was derived from the custom 



