The figure over the man (l) represents a whale, with harpoon and line attached, caught by the narrator.
Many customs, such, for instance, as the peculiar arrangement of hair in any tribe, are embodied in their pictorial designation by other tribes and often by themselves. Numerous examples are presented in this paper.
In Lord Kingsborough, Vol. VI, p. 45 et seq., is the text relating to the collection of Mendoza, in Vol. I, Pls. LVIII, to LXII, inclusive, here presented as Pls. XXXIV to XXXVIII. The textual language is preserved with some condensation.
Pl. XXXIV exhibits the customs of the Mexicans at the birth of a male or female infant; the right and ceremony of naming the children and of afterwards dedicating and offering them at their temples or to the military profession.
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXIV
MEXICAN TREATMENT OF NEW-BORN CHILDREN.
As soon as the mother was delivered of the infant they put it into a cradle and when it was 4 days old the midwife took the infant in her arms, naked, and carried it into the court of the mother’s house, in which court was strewed reeds, or rushes, which they call tule, upon which was placed a small vessel of water in which the midwife bathed the infant; and after she had bathed it 3 boys being seated near the said rushes, eating roasted maize mixed with boiled beans, which kind of food they named yxcue, which provision or paste they set before the said boys in order that they might eat it. After the bathing, or washing, the midwife desired the boys to pronounce the name aloud, bestowing a new name on the infant which had been thus bathed; and the name that they gave it was that which the midwife wished. They first carried out the infant to bathe it. If it was a boy they carried him, holding his symbol in his hand, which symbol was the instrument which the father of the infant employed either in the military profession or in his trade, whether it was that of a goldsmith, jeweller, or any other; and the said ceremony having been gone through, the midwife delivered the infant to his mother. But if the infant was a girl the symbol with which they carried her to be bathed was a spinning wheel and distaff, with a small basket and a handful of brooms which were the things which would afford her occupation when she arrived at a proper age.
They offered the umbilical cord of the male infant together with the shield and arrows, the symbols with which they carried him to be bathed, in that spot and place where war was likely to happen with their enemies, where they buried them in the earth; and they did the same with that of the female infant, which they in the same way buried beneath the metate or stone on which they ground meal.
After these ceremonies, when twenty days had expired, the parents of the infant went with it to the temple, or mesquita, which they called calmecac, and in the presence of their alfaquis presented the infant with its offering of mantles and maxtles, together with some provision; and after the infant had been brought up by its parents, as soon as it arrived at the proper age, they delivered him to the superior of the said mezquita, that he might be there instructed in order that he might afterwards become an alfaqui; but if the parents resolved that when the infant attained a fit age he should go and serve in the military profession, they immediately offered him to the master, making a promise of him, which master of the young men and boys was named Teachcauh or Telpuchtlato; which offering they accompanied with a present of provisions and other things for its celebration; and when the infant attained a fit age they delivered him up to the said master.
In the plate a is a woman lately delivered; the four roses, b, signify four days, at the completion of which period the midwife carried forth the new born infant to be bathed; c, is the cradle with the infant; d, the midwife; e, the symbols; f, g, h, the three boys who named the new-born infant; i, the rushes, with the small vessel of water; j, the brooms, distaff, spinning wheel, and basket; k, the father of the infant; l, the superior alfaqui; m, the infant in the cradle, whose parents are offering it at the mezquita; n, the mother of the girl; o, the master of the boys and young men.