206 



AZTECK HIEROGLYPHICS, 



FROM THE 



MANUSCRIPT OF VELETRI. 



PLATE XV. 



Of all the Mexican manuscripts preserved in 

 Italy, the Codex Borgianus of Veletri is the 

 largest, and the most remarkable for the splendor 

 and extreme variety of the colours. It is forty- 

 four or forty-five palms (near eleven metres) 

 long ; and has thirty-eight folds, or seventy-six 

 pages. It is a ritual and astrological almanack, 

 which, from the distribution of the simple hiero- 

 glyphics of the days, and that of the groups of 

 mythological figures, resembles altogether the 

 Codex Vaticanus, a page of which is given in the 

 thirteenth plate. 



The manuscript of Veletri appears to have 

 belonged to the family of Giustiniani. We 

 know not by what unlucky chance it fell into 

 the hands of the domestics of that house, who, 

 ignorant of the value of such a collection of 



