192 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [buli-. 28 



separate quarters, numerals have been set down: single marks, which 

 must mean ones; groups of five marks, of which, however, there are 

 never more than three sets ; and black circles, which must necessarily 

 mean twenties, and therefore stand here in the place of the little flag 

 which is generally the sign employed for the numeral 20. Where 

 more than five black circles occur five of them are connected by a line, 

 the number 100 being thus emphasized, liesides these numerals, 

 wherever space allows there is the drawing of the heart, yollotl, that 

 isliterally,yol-yo-tl, "having life ", so familiar in Mexican paintings. 

 Hence, it is clear that living beings, the human souls actually present 

 in the city, are being counted here. If we sum up, beginning on 

 the right side at the bottom, we have the folloAving numbers for the 

 main body of the town: 96, 86, 148, 79, 158, 155, or a total of 722 per- 

 sons. In the upper of the two separate quarters of the toAvn the 

 number is incomplete on the right side, the twenties being destroyed. 

 On the other two sides, begiiming below on the left, we have the 

 figures 86 and 18; total, 131 persons. For the lower of the two 

 separate quarters, on the right, left, and lower sides we have 84, 95, 

 and 50; total, 229 persons. If we increase the second sum to the 

 amount of the third by way of supplementing it Avith the missing 

 numbers, the total would amount to slightly less than 1,200. Are we 

 to suj^pose that this was the amount of the entire population of Tez- 

 cuco? I think not. The popidation had indeed greatly dimin- 

 ished after the conquest. A^^iile formerly, says Ixtlilxochitl, the 

 smallest village in the district of Tezcuco had 1,100 heads of house- 

 holds or more, as is proved by the ancient doomsday books and lists 

 of inhabitants, they noAv numbered scarcely 200, and some families 

 had died out entirely. I do not think, however, that at the time to 

 which we must attribute this page the number of inhabitants in the 

 capital could have dwindled to 1,200. This very passage quoted from 

 Ixtlilxochitl proves beyond a doubt that our fragment (plate xi) does 

 not contain an enumeration of individuals, but only of heads of house- 

 holds (vecinos). Therefore, for the period in which our fragment 

 was written, we ought to have a population of about 7,000, which is 

 probably in accordance with the true condition of things. 



I would further remark that the special arrangement of the num- 

 bers in this i)lan of the city jirobably oAves its origin to the distribu- 

 tion of the inhabitants into quarters, or gentes (barrio, oalpulli). 

 Each separate tally ^M-obably corresponds to a separate calpuUi, 

 of which Ave must suppose that there Avere six in the main body of the 

 toAvn and three in each of the tAvo detached quarters. 



Aroinul the plan of the town are seA^en sitting figures, six Span- 

 iards and one JMexican. A. von ITumlwldt already correctly under- 

 stood and has admirably characterized the general meaning of the 

 proceeding Avhicli is thus represented. He errs only in regarding the 



