6 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



the information in regard to the Oakley Springs' etchings 

 was obtained from Tubi, an intelligent Moki Indian, who 

 was formerly chief of the village of Oraibi. 



Observations on Aztec and Guatemalan Antiquities. 

 By OTIS T. MASON. 



Prof. Mason exhibited two large cartoons of Aztec and 

 Guatemalan antiquities, and stated that the object of his 

 communication was to draw attention to Dr. Habel's paper 

 just published as one of the Smithsonian "Contributions to 

 Knowledge," in which a remarkable group of sculptures in 

 southern Guatemala are described. 



The author of the contribution having affirmed that the 

 sculptures were not of Aztec origin, Mr. Mason took occa- 

 sion to show that they probably were. In order to do so the 

 attention of the society was called to- various points of simi- 

 larity between the symbols of the Habel sculptures and 

 those found upon the structures of the Aztec capitol. Es- 

 pecial stress was laid upon the symbol for speech, which is 

 exhibited on the Guatemalan slabs with a profusion hitherto 

 unknown. The speaker believed this to be a purel} r Aztec 

 device, and in confirmation of this view called attention to 

 the recurrence of the same symbols in the paintings of the 

 old Mexican Codices, but especially to an illustrated paper 

 by Senor Orozco y Berra, in the fifth part of the Andles del 

 Museo national de Mexico. 



The Catholic missionaries of the sixteenth century, impa- 

 tient of the delay occasioned by the difficulties of learning 

 the language of the natives, sought to convey to them the 

 truths of the Christian religion by symbols drawn from the 

 paintings of the church and the Aztec iconography** In one 

 of these manuscript pictographs illustrating the Lord's 

 Prayer, this very symbol of speech is given in a rude form 

 to indicate the prayer of the supplicant and the blessings of 



