No. 17		Chuplal. Woman or female. This symbol is found in the Dresden and Troano Codices, but most frequently in the former. The appendage at the right is sometimes wanting, and occasionally that at the left, but when this is the case some other prefix is generally substituted.

If we examine carefully Plates 16-20 of the Dresden Codex, where this symbol is most frequently repeated, and compare it with the heads of the females there figured, it soon becomes apparent that the scrolls with the heavy black dot are intended to denote the locks of hair and that the symbol as a whole is, as usual, a modified or conventional form of the head (see [Fig. 376]).


No. 18 		Otoch. A house or dwelling, or Tabay; a hut or hunting lodge. The symbol marked a is found in the Cortesian Codex on Plate 29; that marked b, on Plates 29, 32, and 34, same codex, and on Plates XVI* and XXII* of the Manuscript Troano. The one marked c is the usual form in the latter, as on Plates V*, VII*, and X*. It is also on Plate 38 of the Dresden Codex.

The relation of these symbols to the conventional figures of houses or huts inserted at the points where they are found, together with the form, which shows an attempt to represent the thatched or leaf covered roof, leaves no doubt that they are used for the purpose indicated.


No. 19		Buk (?). There are good and, it is believed, satisfactory reasons for concluding that these symbols are intended to denote the action of whirling a stick to produce fire or rolling a pestle in grinding paint. The first, marked a, is found only on Plate XIX of the Manuscript Troano, and the second, on Plates 5 and 6 of the Dresden Codex.

A copy of part of Plate XIX of the Manuscript Troano is introduced here (see [Fig. 377]) to show the relation of the figures to the characters. If this interpretation be correct, we see here an evident attempt on the part of the aboriginal artist to indicate by the symbol the action necessary in the work to be performed. It is probably a conventional sign, and not a phonetic character.


No. 20		(?) In all probability one of the symbols used to denote the act of walking or taking steps. Found but seldom in this particular form, though each portion occurs frequently alone or in other combinations.