No. 22.		Cacauak or cacauche. The wild or cultivated cacao. Found a number of times in the Dresden Codex, sometimes as represented in the marginal figure a and sometimes as in c, and always in connection with figures holding in the hand a fruit of some kind. It appears once in the Cortesian Codex (Plate 36), as shown in b, in connection with a fruit of precisely the same kind as that figured in the Dresden Codex. It is found also on Plate XVIII* of the Manuscript Troano, but is apparently used here to denote an action.

There can be little, if any, doubt, judging by the figures in connection with which it is found, that this symbol is used in the Dresden and the Cortesian Codices to denote the cacao. Whether it refers to the tree or to the fruit is uncertain; possibly the different forms in which it is found are intended to denote these distinctions. In some of the figures the capsule appears to be indicated; in others the seed. The prefix to figure c apparently indicates the heaping or piling up of the fruit on the dish held in the hands of the individuals figured in the same connection, as, for example, on Plates 12 and 13 of the Dresden Codex. If this supposition be correct it gives us a key to the signification of this prefix. Reference to its use in the upper division of Plate XVIII*, Manuscript Troano, will be made further on.

In this symbol we find another of Landa’s letters, and, if phonetic, agreeing precisely with his interpretation.


No. 23.		Ekbalam according to Rosny. The variety marked a is found twice in the Manuscript Troano, Plates XVI and XVII, and that marked b once in the Dresden Codex, Plate 8, each time in connection with a spotted, leopard-like animal.

The black markings on the symbols render it probable that Rosny’s interpretation is correct. The numeral before the first form may possibly be explained by the fact that this symbol is used once (Manuscript Troano, Plate XII) to indicate the day Ix.


No. 24.		Moo. The ara, a large species of parrot. This symbol is found but once, and that in Plate 16c, Dresden Codex, in connection with the bird shown in [Fig. 379].

Fig. 379. The moo or ara from Plate 16. Dresden Codex.

The conclusion in this case is based on the following evidence: In this series there are six groups of characters, four compound characters in each group, arranged as in the annexed diagram: