On plate XVIII (we refer to the Peñafiel edition), in the second section of the plate, among other objects of tribute is a small bowl containing pieces of cut turquois (see fig. 1). In the explanation given by Purchas, this item is described as “a little panne full of Turkes stones,” and in the Kingsborough text it has been translated “a little vessel of small turquois stones.” On the plate published by Lorenzana is the caption, “Matlauac Rosilla con q. se tiñe azul.” The word matlauac is probably a corruption of the Nahuatl word matlaltic, meaning ‘blue,’ but the rest of the sentence in Spanish is confused, for rosilla means ‘reddish,’ and con q. se tiñe azul, ‘with which they dyed blue,’ seems to indicate that the phrase is incomplete. Accompanying the objects depicted as tributes are the hieroglyphs of the towns which paid them. These glyphs have been interpreted in the same manner in all of the reproductions of the codex, but we use the spelling adopted by Peñafiel, in preference to that given by Purchas or by Kingsborough. They are: (1) Quiyauhtecpan, “temple of rain or of its deities” Tlaloc or Chalchiuhtlicue; (2) Olinalan, “place of earthquakes;” (3) Cuauhtecomatlan, “place of tecomates;” (4) Cualac, “place of good drinkable water;” (5) Ichcatlan, “cotton-plantation;” (6) Xala, “sandy ground.” These places are given in the explanation as being “cities of warm provinces.”
Fig. 2
In the third section of the same plate (XVIII) are the objects shown in figs. 2 and 3. Peñafiel writes of fig. 2 as “ten little figures worked in turquois.” Only one object painted blue is depicted, the number ten being indicated by the ten dots. That masks form this tribute is clearly evident; in Purchas the description is “tenne halfe faces of rich blew Turkey stones,” and in Kingsborough, “likewise 10 middling sized masks of rich blue stones like turquois.”
PL. IV
HELMET OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON
Fig. 3