SELER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT VII 199 



had the pleasure of discovering on the reverse of the paper after 

 having separated the leaf from its backing. These words are written 

 there : 



Resebi yo micuel mayordomo de la comunidad deste pueblo de 

 misquiaguala del sehor manuel de olvera dos pesos q. monto en comida 

 desta pintura en quatro de fevrero de mill y q\ y setenta y un aiios. 



MiGTTEii DE Sang Ju". 



ante mi 

 Juan de p . 



(" I, Miguel, major-domo of the community of this village of Miz- 

 quiyauallan, received from Senor Manuel de Olvera 2 pesos, the price 

 of the provisions, which are here depicted, on February 4, 1571. 



Miguel de S. Juan. 



Before me, 



Juan de p .") 



(I can not wholly decipher this signature.) 



The village of Mizqiiiyauallan lies in the district of Actopan of 

 the state of Hidalgo. The name means " where the mesquite trees 

 (algaroba, Prosopis juliflora) stand in a circle ". It is therefore rep- 

 resented hieroglyphically by a mesquite tree bent in the shape of the 

 bow (see ^, figure 41), but occasionally merely by a mesquite tree, 

 or a mountain with a mescjuite tree upon it, h. The place was in 

 the Otomi territory and was early subject to the Mexican kings. 

 On the tribute list it is in the group Axocopan between the towns 

 of Tezcatepec and Itzmiquilpan. In the Pintura del Gobernador, 

 Alcaldes y Regidores de Mexico (Osuna codex), it is mentioned with 

 tliese and other places in the same region, but Mizquiyauallan was 

 subject to double authority, for it was a domain of the crown and had 

 an encomendro besides (see A, taken from the manuscript just 

 named, where this double relation is expressed b}^ the crown over 

 the hieroglyph and the head of a Spaniard beside it). The major- 

 domo who signed the receipt quoted above was no doubt responsible 

 to the crown. 



As for the persons themselves, I can not decipher the name of the 

 official in whose presence the act was executed. In a and ^, figure 47, 

 I have reproduced the signatures of the witness and the receipting 

 major-domo from tracings which I made. We shall later meet again 

 with the Manuel de Olvera mentioned in the text. The major-domo 

 was undoubtedly an Indian. Family names like this, borrowed from 

 a saint (or a diocese?), are often encountered in the lists of names of 

 persons. 



I would draAv attention to the fact that the sum of 2 pesos, 

 mentioned in the receipt, is the actual amount obtained if we add the 



