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 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 highlands and palms for the lowlands. The day or the year in which took place the foundation of the town or whatever event is intended to be recorded is usually placed in conjunction with the hieroglyph or picture. Conquest is indicated by a place name hieroglyph with a spear thrust into it or by a temple on fire, while warfare is a shield and bundle of lances encircled by footprints.
Fig. 73. Hieroglyphs of Precious Materials: left to right, gold; turquoise; mosaic of precious stones; chalchihuitl, or jade; mirror of obsidian.
Fig. 74. Phonetic Elements derived from Pictures and used in Mexican Place Name Hieroglyphs.
tlan from tlantli, teeth cal from calli, house mix from mixtla, cloud
A few examples of Nahuan hieroglyphs will now be given to illustrate this interesting method of writing. It must be remembered that there is nothing in the nature of a connected narrative. The hieroglyphs or word pictures are limited to geographical and personal names, including the names of gods, to months, days, numbers, objects of commerce and a few objects or ideas of ceremonial import. Some of the signs are in no degree realistic and have a definite meaning by common consent alone, such as the symbol for gold ([Fig. 73]). Others are abbreviated and conventionalized pictures of objects. Thus the head of a god or of an animal frequently appears as the sign of the whole. But the most important and interesting word signs are rebuses in which separate syllables or groups of syllables are represented by more or less conventionalized pictures. The whole word picture is a combination of syllable pictures which indicate phonetically the word as a whole. Very often advantage is taken of puns on whole or partial words, while color and position are also employed to indicate sounds and syllables.
Fig. 75. Aztecan Place Names.
Caltepec Itztepec Atepec Pantepec Mistlan Itzlan Petlatlan Tecalco
In [Fig. 74] are given a few of the more common syllable pictures. The name of the object represented is cut down by the elimination of tl, li, etc., that form the nominal endings. Thus, the picture of water, atl, becomes the sign for the sound a, that of stone tetl is cut down to the syllable te. Several of these syllable pictures are combined to represent a whole word.
Fig. 76. Aztecan Day Signs.
| Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli | Cuezpallin | Coatl |
| Crocodile | Wind | House | Lizard | Snake |
| Miquiztli | Mazatl | Tochtli | Atl | Itzcuintli |
| Death | Deer | Rabbit | Water | Dog |
| Ozomatli | Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl | Quauhtli |
| Monkey | Herb | Reed | Jaguar | Eagle |
| Cozcaquauhtli | Olin | Tecpatl | Quiahiutl | Xochitl |
| Vulture | Movement | Stone | Rain | Flower |
Fig. 77. Variant Forms of Aztecan Day Signs: a, acatl, arrow; b, mazatl, deer foot; c, malinalli, jaw bone; d, itzcuintli, dog’s ear; e, ozomatli, monkey’s ear; f, ocelotl, jaguar’s ear.
Fig. 78. Aztecan Numbers and Objects of Commerce: a, 1; b, 20; c, 400; d, 8,000; e, ten faces carved from precious stone; f, twenty bags of cochineal dye; g, one hundred bales of cocoa; h, four hundred bales of cotton; i, four hundred jars of honey of tuna; j, eight thousand leaf bundles of copal gum; k, twenty baskets each containing sixteen hundred ground cacao nibs; l, four hundred and two blankets.
The hieroglyphs of the twenty days of the month (see [Fig. 76]) are frequently represented, but those of the eighteen months are not nearly so well known. As for the gods, the faces are usually pictured, especially when these are grotesque, but sometimes details of dress or an object connected with a special ceremony is sufficient to recall the divinity. The Mexican system of numbers was based on twenties. The units were figured by dots, the twenties by flags, the four hundreds by a device like a tree that represented hair, and the eight thousands by the ceremonial pouches in which copal incense was carried.
[Plate XLVI.]
Page from the Tonalamatl Section of the Codex Borbonicus. The thirteen days run along the bottom of the page and up the right side of the large division. The period covered is one-twentieth of the Tonalamatl of 260 days. At the left of each day is seen one of the nine Lords of the Night, so-called, in orderly succession. In the divisions above or to the left of the days are the thirteen gods of the Hours of the Day in connection with the Thirteen Birds. The patron goddess of this division of the Tonalamatl is Itzpapalotl, the obsidian butterfly. The other pictures relate mostly to mythological instances and the details of ceremonies. For instance, the broken tree represents Tamoanchan, a legendary site, and the sacrifice of twenty birds is indicated by the flag attached to the bleeding head of a decapitated bird.