314 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



in figures 69 and 70. The fact that these figures occur in the rep- 

 resentations of the east side of this court, in the house of the sun. is a 

 proof of the correctness of my conjecture that this idol of Teotithm 

 is the sun bird, which conjectui'c I liave ah'eady mentioned above and 

 which was directly suggested by the name Teotitlan itself. 



Besides the sun bird two figures of the wand god, Quetzalcoatl, 

 strike us as significant on the east side of the court of Palace I, frag- 

 ments 7 and of plate xxxyii. They are recognizable from the ocelo- 

 copilli. the round, conical cap of jaguar skin, and from the winglike 

 feather ornament on the nape of the neck, concerning which I shall 

 speak farther on. In regard to the other remains of figures, various 

 heads of serpents are still rec()gnizal)le ; at the right end of frag- 

 ment 7 is a deity in a watery field, from the sui'face of which rise two 

 divergent branches, bordered by what seem to be curling wreaths of 

 smoke ending in bunches of fiowers or feathers; and in fragment 8 

 is evidently another deity, a counterpart to the first one. 



The whole of ])late xxxviii and fragments 1 to 5 of plate xxxix 

 are taken from the north, the principal, side of the side court of 

 Palace I. The border here, as on the .south side, is formed of simple 

 disks. The underlying idea of this design is doubtless that of the 

 stone disks (representing turquoise, emerald, or other precious 

 stones), which we find expressed in the headbands, especially in that 

 of the sun god, in the picture writings and stone figures. 



The representations on this north side of the court are uncommonly 

 rich and manifold, and it is only to be regretted that so large a por- 

 tion of the paintings are already destroyed, and also that we do not 

 know the particular form of the legends which are expressed in these 

 paintings. 



Undoubtedly the god Quetzalcoatl is the central figure of these 

 legends. His picture can be recognized in the painted fragments on 

 this side of the court no fewer than nine times (in fragments 3, 4a, 4b, 

 and 5 of plate xxxvii and in fragments 1, 3, and 4 of plate xxxix). 

 I have spoken at lengtli concerning the nature of this god and his 

 attributes in my article on the Tonalamatl of the Aubin collection," 

 and in my translation of the chapter on the costumes of the gods of 

 the Aztec Sahagun text.'' 



The god is represented in the painted fragments of Mitla, in every 

 instance, with the ocelo-copilli on his head, the round conical cap 

 of jaguar skin, in which are fixed the implements of castigation — on 

 one side, the sharpened thigh bone, from whose condyle blood flows 

 or a flower is pendent, and on the other side, the sharp, prickly point 



" Compte rendu VII. Session Congr&s International des Amtjricanistes, Berlin, 18S8, 

 pp. {>45-559. 



* Veroffientlichungen aiis dem Konlglichen Museum fiir Vtillierljiinde, v. 1, pt. 4, pp. 

 126-1 -JO. 



