382 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY I bull. 28 



in altepetl, *' the king and the connnunity ", are always mentioned 

 together in the texts. 



The representations which occupy the. fourtli and fifth places in the 

 Dresden manuscript are apparently of an entirely different nature. 

 In the fourth place (page 49) it is the tortoise that is struck by the 

 spear, h. In the fifth place (page 50) we see the figure of a warrior 

 characterized by a peculiar involute marking running over the ej^e, 

 which is also distinguishable in the hieroglyph («, figure 101). 

 Here the last figure, at least, seems to me to be a parallel repre- 

 sentation to the one which occurs in the fifth place in the manuscripts 

 of the Borgian codex group. That a is particularly intended to 

 denote a warrior seems to me clear, from the fact that this is the 

 only one of the five figures struck by a spear who is represented in 

 the act of defense, hurling the spear and opposing his shield to ward 

 off the missile. 



The tortoise may also afford a basis for comparison. It has the 

 design of the sun on its shell (see h^ Avhich is taken from the Perez 

 codex, page 21). As a matter of fact, the box tortoise, widely dis- 

 tributed over North America, of which there is a particular variety 

 occurring in Mexico described under the name of Onychotria mex- 

 icana, has upon its shell a yelloAv radiate design, which might 

 easily be looked upon as an image of the sun. This may be the reason 

 why its hieroglyph, when this does not simply reproduce the head of 

 the animal, as in c\ has for its eye a design similar to the hieroglyph 

 of the sun. This is the case here (/?, figure 100) and in the hiero- 

 glyph of the uinal Kayab (^/, figure 101), which likewise contains the 

 tortoise's head as an element. This may also be the reason why the 

 tortoise is represcuied on page 40 of the Dresden manuscript with 

 torches in its claws. Perhaps on this account it was regarded as the 

 sun animal and as the royal animal. 



However this may be, in the first three of the figures struck by the 

 spear, and, in my opinion, also in the fifth, the analogies are perfectly 

 plain between the figures of jjages 40 to 50 of the Dresden manuscript 

 and those on the pages of the Borgian codex group which are devoted 

 to a similar representation of the 13X5 Venus periods. 



Now, what inference are we to draw from the fact that on these 

 pages the figures of the deity of the morning star — and of those dei- 

 ties, still to be discussed, that are depicted in their place in the Dres- 

 den manuscript — are represented thi'owing the spear, and that in one 

 case the divinity of the water, in others the jaguar, the maize god, the 

 emblem of kings, and warriors representing the community appear 

 struck by this spear? Forstemann propounds the question as to 

 whether this ma^^ be the struggle of the sun with Venus, ending with 

 the disappearance of the latter. This view seems to me to be pre- 

 cluded here, for, as we learn from the manuscripts of the Borgian 



