179 



articles ; every where we see weapons, the in- 

 struments of conquest, between the figures of the 

 conquering- princes and of the conquered cities, 

 with the symbols of their names and of the years. 

 The last were arranged near the representation 

 of each event, in a sort of frame, which encircles 

 the paintings, and which contains the hierogly- 

 phics of a chronological cycle of fifty-two 

 years. 



" The accounts of the taxes form the second 

 part of the collection of Mendoza, composed of 

 the names of the tributary cities, and of the arti- 

 cles which each was bound to deliver in kind to 

 the treasury and temples, denoted at the head of 

 this list by the symbol of colli. These articles 

 consist of all the useful productions of nature and 

 of art : gold *, silver, and precious stones : wea- 

 pons, mats, cloaks, and blankets \ ; quadrupeds, 

 birds, and feathers ; cacao, maize, and vegeta- 

 bles ; coloured paper, borax, salt, &c. These 

 were represented either by figuring the thing 

 containing for that contained in it ; as vases ;£, 

 baskets, bags, chests, and packages of a deter- 

 minate size ; or by delineating the form of the 

 thing itself. The quantity is expressed by means 

 of numerical signs, which denote the units by 

 points and balls ; the twenties § by a character 



* PI. 68, Fig. 5. t PI. 68, Fig. 9. 



% PI. 58, Fig. 6. \ PI. 68, Fig. 5. 



N 2 



