36 



from the Codex Borgianus, fol. 58. I have co- 

 pied a whole page, in order to give a clear idea 

 of the distribution of this curious manuscript. 

 As we find nothing- among the Mexican hiero- 

 glyphics that announces the worship of the tin gam 

 (cp^AAcs), so we observe none of those figures 

 with several heads and hands, which character- 

 ize, as we may say, the mystic paintings of the 

 Hindoos. The man placed on the right in the 

 upper compartment is a priest clothed with the 

 skin of a human victim recently sacrificed. The 

 painter has marked the drops of blood, which 

 cover this skin ; that of the hands hangs on the 

 arm of the sacrificer, who hence appears to have 

 four hands. This costume, and the horrible and 

 disgusting ceremonies which it recalls to mind, 

 are described by Torque m ada* . A chapel, known 

 under the name of Vopico, was built over the 

 cavern that contained the human skins. We 

 have already seen, that the fourth Mexican 

 month tlacaxipehualiztli, which corresponds to 

 our month of March, had received its denomina- 

 tion from these sanguinary festivals. In the 

 Codex Borgianus, which is a ritual calendar, we 

 find in reality the figure of a priest, covered with 

 the skin of a man, under the sign o f the day 

 which indicates the vernal equinox -f\ The head 



* Mori. Ind. lib. 10, cap. 12 (vol. ii,'p. 271). 

 | Cod. Rorg. fol, 25 (Fabr. MSS. n. 105, 275, and 299). 

 See also vol. xiii, p. 290. 



