141 



these images a great resemblance to Egyptian 

 mummies. It is almost superfluous in this place 

 to notice the general observation, that, in all the 

 Mexican paintings, the objects tied to a head by 

 means of a thread, indicate to those acquainted 

 with the language of the natives, the names of 

 the persons drawn by the artist. The natives 

 pronounce these names, when they see the hiero- 

 glyphic. Chimalpopoca signifies a bucklei* that 

 smokes ; Acaraapitzin, a hand that holds reeds. 

 Thus, to indicate the names of these two kings, 

 predecessors of Montezuma, the Mexicans paint- 

 ed a buckler and a fist tied by a thread to two 

 heads ornamented with a royal fillet. I have 

 remarked, that in the pictures made after the 

 conquest, the valiant Pedro Alvarado was drawn 

 with two keys placed behind the neck, in allu- 

 sion, no doubt, to the keys of St. Peter, whose 

 images were every where seen by the people in 

 the Christian churches. I do not understand the 

 meaning of the marks of feet, in the genealogical 

 picture, behind the heads. In other Azteck 

 paintings, this hieroglyphic indicates roads, mi- 

 grations, and sometimes the direction of a move- 

 ment. 



A Lawsuit in Hieroglypkical Writing. 



Amidst the enormous quantity of paintings 

 found among the Mexican nations by the first 



