.^elek] 



EXPLANATION OF WALL PAINTINGS 



321 



of adopted forms, but signs purposely emploj^ed to enable the be- 

 holder to recognize the nature of the personage rej^resented without 

 the possibility of error. In the case before us there has simply been 

 drawn on the face of the deity the hieroglyph " night '\ as we have 

 learned to know it in figure 65 and «, figure 72; and it follows from 

 this signification and the designation given that the more complete 

 and correct symbol was that Avhich shows us the black surface bor- 

 dered by snuill circles. These small circles are doubtless the eyes by 

 which the Mexicans indicated the stars in the expanse of the dark 

 nocturnal sky. 



The deities on whose faces this hieroglyph was written have in- 

 deed a large number of traits in common, in spite of the fact that 

 their entities are apparently very divergent. The interpreter has 

 already laid stress upon the statement that the morning star is also 

 the lord of the evening twilight, and thus belongs to the region of 



Fig. 81. 



a h 



Sacrifices and tribute-bearer, from Mexican codices. 



the west. This is, moreover, an astronomic fact. The Indians of the 

 isthmus, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg,'' up to this day call the 

 morning star the '"transient sun" (le soleil passant). The gods 

 who were at home in the north, the region of darkness, were, from the 

 Indian point of view, moreover, merged in these deities of the twi- 

 light, that is, the time when the sun was not yet or no longer shining; 

 and, since in the north lived the roaming hunter tribes, the Chichi- 

 mecs, the god of the north was naturallv the god of the chase. The 

 merging of the deity of the morning star in the hunting god of the 

 north is actually carried out in the Tlauizcalpan Tecutli of the Ton- 

 alamatl of the Aubin collection, since the netted pouch (chitatli), the 

 javelin, and the attendant animal of the god Camaxtli aiv placed in 

 front of him (see 6, figure 73). The north is, however, also the king- 

 dom of the dead. Therefore, those who are destined for sacrifice, for 



" Voyage sur I'Isthme de Tehuantepec. 

 7238— No. 28—05 21 



I'aris, l.SGl, p. 8L 



