356 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



work, of tlie constellations observed by the ancient Mexicans. In the 

 original Mexican text of this work, which is preserved in the Biblio- 

 teca del Palacio at Madrid, the dill'erent celestial bodies and constel- 

 lations mentioned in the text are also represented by pictures in the 

 respective chapters. Pictures are given of tonatiuh, the " sun " («, 

 figure 92) ; of metztli, the "" moon '' (b, same figure) : of citlalpol, the 

 morning star, the planet " Venus ", a; of citlalpopoca, the " comet ", d, 

 and of the star which the Mexicans called citlaltlamina, the " shoot- 

 ing star *', e. Among these, finally, are five constellations, of which 

 three — mamalhuaztli, /,* xonecuilli, i; and colotl, k — are marked by 

 the accompanying names as corresponding to three of the above- 



FiG. 92. Mexican flgure.s of the sun, moon, and certain stars and constellations. 



named constellations, while the other two, r/ and A, prove by their 

 form and design to be representations of the others named above, the 

 constellation of the Pleiades and the *' star ball ground ", the 

 citlaltlachtli. 



That marked /, mamalhuaztli, the " fire drill ", the " fire sticks ", is 

 designated b}^ Tezozomoc as the '" keys of Saint Peter "". It must be 

 a constellation in which t^^'o rows of stars meet at an acute angle. 

 In Molina, mamalhuaztli is translated " astillejos (sticks of wood) 

 constelacion ". Saliagun designates the constellation as " the wands 

 of the sky, which are near the Pleiades, a group of stars in Taurus" 

 (los mastelejos del cielo que andan cerca de las cabrillas, que es el 

 signo del toro). Gemini of the zodiac are called " astillejos " (sticks 



