262 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, the Mexicans sub- 

 jugated " the city of Micthi in the province of Huaxaca " in the 

 year 2 Tochtli, or A. D, 1494, and " the city of Teotzapothm, which 

 was the capital of the province of Huaxaca ", in the year 3 Acatl, or 

 A. D. 1495. This information is interesting because mention is 

 made here of the conquest or destruction of the Zapotec city of 

 priests and tombs, Yoopaa, or Mictlan, by the Mexicans in pre- 

 Spanish times. The picture writing itself « does not entirely agree 

 with this interpretation. In it only the conquest of Uaxyacac and 

 Teotzapotlan — which may refer, of course, to the entire province, 

 that is, to the whole valley — is expressed by the hieroglyphs of these 

 tw^o names and a prisoner of war adorned for the sacrificio gladia- 

 torio (figure 55). 



Fig. 05. Symbols from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis. 



In the coast land the expeditions doubtless extended through sev- 

 eral years, for the subjugation of the cities of the coast land is not 

 reported until the year 5 Calli, or A. D. 1497, and in this report 

 Chimalpahin, Codex Vaticanus A, and Historia Mexicana of the 

 Aubin-Goupil collection agree* Chimalpahin ^ mentions Xochitlan, 

 Amaxtlan, and Tehuantepec as the cities which were conquered in 

 this year by the Mexicans. Codex Vaticanus A ^ and Historia 



" Part 4, pi. 22. The name Uaxyacac is expressed here simply by the picture of the 

 algaroba tree ; the name Teotzapotlan, by the picture of the sapodilla tree. 



^ Ailales de Domingo Francisco de San Anton Mufion Chimalpahin Quauhtleliuanitzin. 

 Ed. Remi Simeon, I'aris, 1889, pp. 10 and 167. 



<^ Codex Vaticanus A, page 127. Amaxtlan is expressed by the combination of a breech- 

 cloth (maxtlatl) and the sign for water (atl), which are to be seen on the conventional 

 painting of the mountain. Xochitlan i.s eypressed bj' a flower (Xochitl) and an undeter- 

 mined element, which is perhaps intended to represent a row of teeth (tlantli). The 

 battle is represented in the former city, the victory in the latter. 



