SELEU] 



EXPLANATION OF WALL PAINTINGS 



319 



{(f, figure TO, from Diiniu, voluine 2, plate G, a), and of Paynal and 

 Atlaua as they are represented in the Aztec Sahao:un manuscript of 

 the Biblioteca del Palacio at Madrid (h and r, figure 70). It was also 

 ehai-acteristic of Mixcoatl. who. like Camaxtli, was god of the chase, 

 and in honor of whom the Mexicans celebrated the feast of Quecholli. 

 A picture in the Sahagun manuscript of the Bildioteca del Palacio 

 represents this feast, with the god and hunters wearing the costume 

 of the god, who perform a dance or march in procession before him 

 {a, figure 80). Finally, this characteristic is exhibited in exactly the 

 same way in the Borgian codex, by the god who is being sacrificed on 

 the ball ground on which the red and the l)lack Tezcatlipoca are at 

 play (Ik figure 80). It is also one of the attributes of the Mimix- 

 coua, the sorcerers, called Xiuhnel and Mimitzin, who, with their 

 sister Quilaztli, were found by the migratory Aztecs in the north 



dilat 



a he 



Fig. 79. Mexican deities, after Duran and Sahagun. 



("the land of the Mimixcoua ", Mimixcoua in tlalpan) below the 

 mesquites and hanging on the melon thistle cacti, and who became 

 their first tribute (yehuantin yacachto tequitizque), that is, they 

 were the first whom they offered as sacrifices to their god (a, figure 

 81)." Tlie characteristic is doubtless also indicated on the faces of 

 the captives adorned for the sacrificio gladiatorio, by whom the con- 

 quest and subjugation of a city or country is regularly typified in 

 the Codex Telleriano-Pemensis (see above, figures 55 and 56). 

 It is obvious that this black painting about the eye is connected in 



"Boturini codex, p. !). Tlio foremost prostriite flsure, that is. the one lyins farthest 

 on the ri^ht, whom the Aztec desisnated hy the hieroglyph Aztlan is RacrificinK, is 

 •quilaztli, that is, the earth goddess, recognizalile l>y tlie hlack color ahout the month. 

 Next follow her hrothers, the Mimixcoua, the lirst designated hieroglyphically by the pic- 

 ture of a fish, mimitzin, the other by the hieroglyph "turquoise (mosaic) " and small 

 individual pieces of turquoise, xiulinel. The three are dressed as Chichimecs in skins. 



