SELEK] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT II 173 



also represented in this way, r. The emoy of the king while he deliv- 

 ers his message is sticking feather tnfts upon the head of the caciqne, 

 Avho sits in his chair clothed in a rich mantle. Another brings him 

 the shield, \A'hich was also part of the equipment of those destined for 

 the sacrificio gladiatorio. 



In the next division, 15 (plate vii), w^e have a head with hair 

 hanging straight down, which is called Ixeuatzin in the accom- 

 panying note. Ix-tli means " face ", " front ", " presence ", " eye "; 

 euatl means " the skin ", and was also used especially to denote the 

 gala doublets, made of feather w^ork which were worn by Mexican 

 warriors of rank over the wadded armor, ichca-nipilli, which served 

 for the actual protection of their bodies. In f/, figure 30, I have re- 

 produced one of these military doublets of feather work which is used 

 in the Mendoza codex, pages 40 to 49, as a hieroglyi)h for the city 

 of Cozouipilecan '' where the people wear military doublets of yellow 

 feathers ". A true euatl, that is, the skin flayed from a man (tla- 

 caeuatl), is Avorn by the god Xipe, " the flayed one ", the red god of 

 the Yopi and Tlapaneca. The hieroglj^ph in division 15 of our manu- 

 script (plate vii), corresponding to the meaning given here for the 

 name, is an eye (ixtli) ; above and below it is a shirt, as shown in fZ, 

 figure 39, but having hands hanging from it and Avith a gash straight 

 across the breast and a few stains below. It is evident that this 

 drawing is not meant to represent a feather shirt, but a genuine 

 human skin, such as Xipe wore. The opening straight across the 

 breast indicates the incision wdiich w-as made to tear out the victim's 

 heart, and the stains are for blood stains. This is still more clear in 

 the kindred hieroglyph in division 24 (plate vii), where the red 

 stains — blood stains on a yellow groiuid, w^hich indicates the death 

 hue of a human skin — are plainly to be recognized. 



After division 15 comes division 16, with the head and hieroglyph 

 of Don Diego de San Francisco Teuetzquititzin, of which I have 

 already spoken. 



In division 17 is another head having the chieftain's hair dress, 

 temillotl. The note says coua-yvitzin, "" snake- feather ", and this is 

 represented in the hieroglyph by a snake covered with tufts of down. 

 The name Coua-iuitl is mentioned in the annals of Chimalpahin. 

 Chimalpahin tells us there that after the surrender of the city the 

 above-mentioned five princes of Mexico w^ere taken captive to Coy- 

 ouacan, and then adds: yhuan teohua Quauhcohuatl yhuan Cohu 

 ayhuitl Tecohuatzin Tetlanmecatl quintemolli (" and they sought for 

 the priest Quauhcoatl and for Couaiuitl Tecouatzin. Tetlanmecatr'). 

 It is not impossible that the Couaiuitl mentioned here, concerning 

 W'hom I know no further jDarticulars, is also the one referred to in 

 our manuscript. 



