214 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY fntTLL. 28 



Philosophical Society, and followed the rows back and forth, always 

 connecting directly with the last end. But there seems to be a 

 hiatus at the left end of the third row. The writer must have begun 

 anew here, that is, at the right of the fourth row. In the manuscript 

 of the American Philosophical Society a woman's head is likewise 

 always joined with two days. Thus the shifts of workers must +here 

 also have been changed every two days. There are no numeral with 

 the heads. 



The chief service i-n which women have been employed among all 

 the tribes has always been cooking. With the Mexicans this was an 

 especially important office, as the chief article of diet, the tortilla 

 (tlaxcalli), could not l)e prej)ared in large quantities to be kept, like 

 our bread, but was freshly prepared by a somewhat elaborate process 

 for every meal, and eaten fresh and hot. The American Philosophical 

 Society's manuscript clearly and distinctly shows that this is the 

 feminine office alluded to in our manuscript, because in one instance 

 beside the woman's head a mealing stone (metlatl) is depicted with 

 the pulverized grain on it, followed by the baking slab (c>, figure 40), 

 and in another the head is followed by a dry measure, p, wdiich in 

 Mexican painting denoted a fanega of corn (see q, taken from a 

 page in the Aubin-Goupil collection, Goupil-Boban atlas, plate 27). 

 On the page referred to there are five such measures with the little 

 flag above them (20), and the Spanish text below explains that this 

 means 100 fanegas of corn (que se entiende cien hanegas de mahiz). 

 But since not only the mealing stone, but also the corn measure, was 

 drawn beside the women's heads, I think it can be safely deduced that 

 the account represented in the American Philosophical Society's man- 

 uscript noted not merely the service performed, but also the material 

 delivered. 



In our fragment XIII (plate xviti) no such objects are drawn 

 beside the women's heads. But the writing on the reverse side of the 

 page proves that the reference is to similar services. The manuscripts 

 in A. von Humboldt's collection are, as I have already stated, with the 

 exception of the first, pastinl upon large sheets of pajjer of the size of 

 the atlas of which this is the descriptive text. In examining frag- 

 ment XIII (plate XVIII ), which is rather thin paper, it first occurred 

 to me that there must be writing on the reverse side. I began cau- 

 tiousl}'^ to detach it, and by calling in expert assistance I succeeded in 

 removing the sheet uninjured from its backing. On the reverse side 

 I found the following document: 



Digo yo diego hermano del mayordomo deste pueblo de misquia- 

 guala q. resebi del sefior manuel de olvera coregidor deste dicho 

 pueblo 101 peso y medio de las yndias quelles q. an hecho tortillas en 

 su casa y me a pagado todas las demas q. han servido hasta oy. fecho 



