September 23, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



175 



Thus, simultaneously with the knights of old in Europe, 

 the warriors of ancient Mexico "obtruded the blazon of 

 their exploits on their company." Mrs. Nuttall gives the 

 Aztec word totopalitoa as the equivalent of "to blazon 

 forth or proclaim one's own praise," and states that the 

 Nahuatl word for gala-shields was totopchimalli. It is 

 further evident from her researches that the ancient Mexican 

 shields proclaimed their owner's achievements as effectually 

 as the "coat of seas strown with palm-clad isles" granted 

 to the great navigator, Columbus, the towns vvith spii-es and 

 belfries" of the conquering Cortes, and the "augmenta- 

 tions " and "supporters" granted to the father and all the 

 descendants of the African explorer. Captain John Speke — 

 running water' superinscribed " Nile," with a crocodile for 

 crest, and a crocodile for dexter and hippopotamns as sin- 

 ister supporters. As a modern example of recognition of 

 noble achievements in the less adventurous paths of science 

 we may cite the bizarre shield of Sir John Herschel emblaz- 

 oned with the astronomical sign of the planet Uranus, "a 

 forty-foot reflector," observer's house, and other parapher- 

 nalia. It may be added that the gruesome emblems por- 

 trayed on the shields borne by the cliief-priestly warriors of 

 the Aztecs were as significant of official functions as the 

 mitre so often quartered in our episcopal arms. 



Many of the heraldic emblems of the ancient Mexicans re- 

 call those of Europe — "the eagle's claw on an azure field 

 borne by the sub-chiefs known as the "daring eagles," blue 

 serpents on a red field, the tiger's leg shield the insignia of 

 an order of chivalry carried only by the daring oceolotl or 

 tigers a " crack corps " clad in oceolotl skins. There is the 

 death's head shield of the "emperor" Tizoc, the allusive 

 feather- pellet shield of the war-god, Huitzilopochtli, bearing 

 reference to his mythical origin from a tuft of humming- 

 birds' feathers; the shell on that of the hero-god, Quetzal- 

 coatl, which reminds one of the three escallops quartered on 

 the coat of Darwin. The cross, often quartered on the shield 

 of Quetzalcoatl, was symbolical to the native mind of winds 

 blowing from the four quarters of heaven. In Mexico, we 

 are told, the gods were represented with emblematic shields. 

 The rain-god, Tlaloc, with a water-lily on a green field, the 

 death goddess with cross-bones on a red field. This is not 

 altogether surprising for, in many instances, they were the 

 deified chief-priests and supreme war-lords of bygone genera- 

 tions. In this connection we may recall the fact that coat- 

 armor was assigned to the Saviour and the twenty six quar- 

 terings emblazoned on an escutcheon in Mayence cathedral, 

 and also the coats "granted to ennoble" the disciples by 

 European heralds. (1.) 



There is Mr. H. H. Bancroft's authority for the statement 

 that Montezuma bore into battle " a banner with the strange 

 device" of an eagle with beak and claws of gold swallowing 

 a serpent, on an azure field. This was perhaps the first in- 

 stance of " spread eagleism " on the continent of America. 

 It was emblematic of the myth concerning the foundation of 

 the peublo of Tenochtitlan in the valley of Mexico, and the 

 design still forms the national arms of the modern republic 

 of Mexico. 



Animal designs are of frequent occurrence, and, like many 

 of those employed by European heralds, are just as great a 

 puzzle to the bewildered zoologist as the live lions at " the 

 Zoo " to that sceptical official of the Herald's College who 

 said he had " tricked'" too many lions in his day not to know 

 the real animal when he saw it. One of the most remarka- 

 ble of the Mexican emblems is that of the blue monster out- 

 lined in strips of beaten gold, rampant on a rose-red field of 



the beautiful feathers of the roseate spoon bill {Platalea 

 ajaja), the use of which was restricted to the decoration of 

 idols and supreme rulers. This fine shield was rediscovered 

 by Mrs. Zelia Nuttall last summer, preserved, with other ob- 

 jects, in a case labelled "Transatlantic and Oriental curiosi- 

 ties," in the castle of Ambras, near Innsbruck, in Tyrol, 

 where it has found a home for the last three centuries. This 

 historical shield has been clearly identified by her as that 

 described in the Spanish Inventory of 1596, which formerly 

 belonged to the Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, and as one of 

 the shields presented by Cortes to the Emperor Charles V. 

 It bears traces of the former existence of a fringe of the long 

 tail-feathers of the Quetzal, the use of which was also re- 

 stricted to supreme rulers in ancient Mexico. The device, 

 which is accompanied by the native picture signs for fire 

 and water, may represent either the blue oceolotl or the 

 Ahuitzotl, a fabulous aquatic monster dreaded by the Mexi- 

 cans. It bears a striking resemblance to the " heraldic wolf " 

 of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The shield is cer- 

 tainly a gala shield, and could only have been used by a 

 war-chief of the highest rank. It is the best preserved ex- 

 ample extant, and, to quote the exact words of our authority, 

 is "the only one possessing a valid, if shadowy claim, to be 

 that shield of Montezuma, which documentary evidence 

 proves to have once formed part of the famous collection of 

 historical armor of the Archduke Ferdinand, nephew of 

 Charles the Fifth." 



Another shield of wood, inlaid with turquoise and shell 

 mosaic, was also found at Ambras. Since attention was 

 called thereto by a communication addressed by Mrs. Nut- 

 tall to the Anthropological Society of Berlin [Zeitschrift fi'ir 

 Ethnologic, 1891, p. 485), this valuable relic has been re- 

 moved to the Imperial Ethnographical Museum of Vienna, 

 which also contains the historical piece of ancient Mexican 

 feather work which Mrs. Nuttall has elsewhere shown to be 

 a royal diadem or head-dress of the time of Montezuma, 

 although it was originally described as a standard or banner 

 by the late Professor F. von Hochstetter, who first recognized 

 its value and ensured its preservation. 



The centre or boss of a second specimen of an inlaid tur- 

 quoise mosaic shield is exhibited in the Christy collection in 

 the British Museum, where it is named, on what authority 

 is not known, a Mexican calendar; but Mrs. Nuttall is enabled 

 to state from personal examination that it is not a calendar, 

 and bears none of the symbols of the Mexican year. In all, 

 Mrs. Nuttall's industry and acumen have resulted in the 

 accumulation of figures or descriptions of hundreds of Mexi- 

 can shields from native and Spanish sources. Not more than 

 six specimens are actually known to be preserved in the 

 museums of the world. Her researches throw fresh light on 

 the status of the ancient Mexicans and their somewhat bizarre 

 semi-civilization. 



Colonel Garrick Mallery, in his interesting work on "The 

 Pictographs of the American Indians," reproduces native 

 representations of North American Indian chieftains on the 

 "War Path," carrying shields bearing the totem of the 

 tribe, a very useful distinction when different tribes unite in 

 raiding, as we know to be still the custom. We believe, 

 however, that Mrs. Nuttall's memoir on "Ancient Mexican 

 Shields" records the first evidence of heraldic emblems 

 borne in the western hemisphere "as boastful records of in- 

 dividual achievements." We are not aware that any evi- 

 dence has been discovered of the hereditary use of heraldic 

 devices in ancient Mexico, although there are frequent 

 references in her various and important publications to native 



