MALLERY. ] PETROGLYPHS IN MEXICO. 135 
successor, his name iconomatically represented by the headdress of the nobles, the 
tecuhtli, giving the middle syllables of ‘‘ Mo-tecuh-zoma.” No doubt is left that 
La Piedra de los Gigantes of Escamela is a necrologie tablet commemorating the death 
of the Emperor Abuitzotzin, some time in February, 1502. 
Mr. Eugene Boban (a) mentions manuscript copies, dating from the be- 
ginning of the century, of various sculptured stones in Mexico. These 
sculpturings represent native ideographic characters, among them the 
teocalli, the tepetl, the sign ollin, ete. 
On several of the plates which compose this collection are notes indi- 
cating the place where the monument, fragment, or ruin is found, from 
which the characters are copied; for example, one of them bears the 
note: ‘de la calle R! de la villa de Cuernabaca.” Several others bear 
annotations which show that they have been copied in the cemetery, 
in the streets of that town, or in its environs. 
Aside from these notes the plates are not accompanied by any informa- 
tion which could give a trace of the person who drew them, or the pur- 
pose for which they were intended. 
The same author ()) describes a large sculptured stone of Mexico, 
the designs on which have been reproduced in paintings on deerskin. 
After giving a detailed description of the copied MS. he speaks of the 
stone as follows: 
We deem it of interest to give some notes concerning the famous cylindrical stone, 
both sculptured and painted, known by the name Teocuauhricalli (the sacred drink- 
ing vase of the eagles) on which are found the themes of all the designs which have 
been above described. ‘This stone, buried at the time of the Spanish Conquest, was 
discovered in the first half of this century at the close of a series of excavations 
made in the soil of the Place d’Armes, Mexico. The director of the national museum, 
who was then M. Rafael Gondra, contented himself with taking the aimensions and 
making a hurried sketch of it. It was then reinterred, as the necessary funds were 
lacking to exhume it entirely and transport it to the museum. 
The name Teocuauhxicalli is composed of: Teotl, god; cuauhtli, eagle, and sicalli, 
hemispherical vase formed from the half of a gourd. It may be translated by, 
“The vase of god and the eagles,” or, rather, ‘‘The sacred drinking cup of the 
eagles.” 
“The Mexican monarch Axayacatl, jealous of his predecessor Motecuhzoma I, 
took down the Teocuauhxicalli which was in the upper part of the Great Temple of 
Mexico, and replaced it by another, sculptured by his order;” so says the eminent 
Mexican archeologist and historian, Don Manuel Orozco y Berra, in his excellent 
work, Historia Antigua y de la Conquesta de Mexico (t. 11, p. 348). This monument 
was also dedicated to the god of war, Huitzilopochtli. 
According to Duran and Tezozomoc, those stones on which gods were represented 
were designated by the name Teocuauhxicalli; i. e., divine cuauhxicalli. They be- 
longed to the class of painted stones, for they were covered with several colors. 
Orozco y Berra adds the following: ‘‘It is evident that the figures sculptured and 
painted do not represent armed warriors preparing for combat. On the contrary, we 
see that they represent gods. Among them is found Huitzilopochth (god of war) 
with his arms and attributes, having before him another deity or high priest who holds 
in his hands the emblems of the holocaust. 
“‘The figures of the upper part are not fighting and could not have known how 
to fight, if we judge by their positions; the chest is turned back, the face raised 
toward the sky, in which appears an object which resembles the astronomical sign 
cipactli. 
