THE AZTECS 



201 



is a aecklace of alternating hands and hearts with a 



death's head pendant. The head of this monstrous 

 woman is the same on front and back and is formed of 

 two serpent heads that meet face to face. The forked 

 tongue and the four downward pointing fangs belong 

 half and half to each of the two profile faces. 



Fig. 70. Detail showing the 'Construction of the Face of Coat- 

 licue from Two Serpent Heads meeting End to End. 



Mexican Writing. The means of record employed 

 in Mexican codices are in part pictographic and in 

 part hieroglyphic. The sequence of the historical 

 events in these native manuscripts is often indicated 

 by a line of footprints leading from one place or scene 

 of action to another. Historical records of this type 



Fig. 71. Hieroglyphs of Precious Materials: left to right, gold; 

 turquoise; mosaic of precious stones; chalchihuitl, or jade; mirror of 

 obsidian. 



resemble old-fashioned maps and some are actually 

 called maps. The names of towns in these documents 

 are represented by true hieroglyphs and often the 

 character of the country is indicated by pictures of 

 typical vegetation, such as maguey plants for the high- 



