SELER] VENUS PERIOD IN PICTURE WRITINGS 359 



was therefore ascribed to Motolinia by Chavero." Padre Sahagun 

 tells us that when the planet reappeared on the horizon it was said to 

 go down four times before it returned in its full splendor, shining like 

 the moon. AMien the morning star rose, says the same author, they 

 ttoi^ped up the chimneys and smoke vents, so that no harm of any 

 kind should enter the house with its light; but it was sometimes re- 

 garded as jDropitious (according to the time in which it appeared in 

 the east) .^ In the court of the great temple in Mexico there was a high 

 and massive column covered with a thatched roof. This was called 

 ilhuicatitlan, " in the sky ". The picture of the morning star was 

 painted on this pillar, and prisoners were sacrificed before it w^hen 

 the planet reappeared in the sky.'' Father Roman relates of the peo- 

 ple of Tehuacan, Coscatlan, and Teotitlan del camino that on the day 

 when the morning star appeared for the first time a human offering 

 was sacrificed, which the king of the land had to provide, and that on 

 each day at the hour when this star rose it Avas the duty of the priests 

 to burn incense and to draw their own blood, which they offered 

 up to it. As observation of the stars was the duty of the priests, the 

 morning star, it seeuis, was even regarded as connected with the deity 

 who was considered the first priest and the inventor of every art, of 

 art handicrafts as well as of the special sacerdotal art and science, 

 of the calendar and the soothsaying art, with Quetzalcoatl, the hero 

 of Tula, the king and lord of the Toltecs. When Quetzalcoatl, so 

 runs the legend, driven from his kingdom by the artifices of the 

 " magician " Tezcatlipoca, journe3'ed eastward and came to the sea- 

 coast, into the tlillan tlapallan, " the land of the black and red colors ", 

 that is, the land of writing or th^ land of the good example,"* into the 

 tlatlayan, " the place of burning ", he donned his ornaments, the 

 feather ornament (quetzalapanecayotl), and the mask of turquoise 

 mosiac (xiuhxayacatl), as the dead were arrayed in the ornament 

 and mask on the funeral pile, and cremated himself. The ashes im- 

 mediately flew upward and were metamorphosed into birds of all 

 kinds having brilliant plumage — spoonbills (tlauhquechol), cotingas 

 (xiuhtototl), tzinitzcan, aj'oquan, green parrots (toznene), red ma- 

 caws (alo), and other parrots (cocho). When the ashes Avere scat- 

 tered the heart also flew upward and, reaching heaven, transformed 

 itself into the morning star. " They said that Quetzalcoatl died 

 when the star became visible, and henceforward they called him lord 

 of the dawn (Tlauizcalpan tecutli). They said that when he died he 



" Anales del Museo Nacioiial de Mexico, v. 2, p. 339. 



* Saha:;uD, v. 7, chap. 3 



<■ Sahai?uu. v. 2, appeiulix. Edit. Bustamante, v. 1, p. 205. 



"See Anales de Chimalpahin ed. Remi Simeon, p. 29: Yn iuli ymamatlaciiilolpan in 

 tliltica tiapaltica quicuilotehuaqiie ("As they have painted (written) in their picture 

 writings with red and black colors") ; and Vocabulario de Molina: tlilli tlapalli nictlalla, 

 " dar buen exemplo (to give a good example)'". 



