Part 10 (1/2)

[46-*] Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva Espana_, Lib. i, cap. 13. The Nahuatl text is more definite than the Spanish translation.

[46-] See my _Myths of the New World_, p. 154, _seq._

[46-] In the Nahuatl language the word _xihuitl_ (_xiuitl_) has four meanings: a plant, a turquoise, a year and a comet.

[46--] J. B. Carriedo, _Estudios Historicos del Estado Oaxaqueno_, Tom.

i, p. 82, etc.

[47-*] Alva, _Confessionario en Lengua Mexicana_, fol. 9.

[47-] Carriedo, _Estudios Historicos_, pp. 6, 7.

[47-] In the _Revue[TN-16] d' Ethnographie_, Tom. iii, p. 313. Some very fine objects of this cla.s.s are described by E. G. Squier, in his ”Observations on the Chalchihuitl,” in the _Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History_, Vol. i (New York, 1869).

[48-*] Diego Duran, _Historia de los Indios de Nueva Espana_, Tom. ii, p. 140.

[48-] In Kingsborough, _Antiquities of Mexico_, Vol. ii, Pl. 180. On the cross as a form derived from a tree see the observations of W. H.

Holmes, in the _Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_, pp.

270, 271.

[48-] ”Au Mexique, le cadre croise, la croix en sautoir, comme celle de St. Andre, avec quelques variantes, representait le signe de nativite, _tonalli_, la fete, le jour natal.” M. Aubin, in Boban, _Catalogue Raisonnee de la Collection Goupil_, Tom. i, p. 227. Both Gomara and Herrera may be quoted to this effect.

[49-*] See a curious story from native sources in my _Essays of an Americanist_, pp. 171, 172. It adds that this change can be prevented by casting salt upon the person.

[49-] Benito Maria de Moxo, _Cartas Mejicanas_, p. 257; Landa, _Cosas de Yucatan_, p. 193.

[49-] Pedro de los Rios, in his notes to the Codex Vatica.n.u.s, published in Kingsborough's great work, a.s.signs the sign, _cohuatl_, the serpent, to ”il membro virile, il maggio augurio di tutti gli altri.” It is distinctly so shown on the 75th plate of the Codex. De la Serna states that in his day some of the Mexican conjurors used a wand, around which was fastened a living serpent. _Manual de Ministros_, p. 37.

[49--] There is abundant evidence of this in certain plates of the Codex Troano, and there is also alleged to be much in the Codex Mexica.n.u.s of the Palais Bourbon. Writing about the latter, M. Aubin said as far back as 1841--”le culte du lingam on du phallus n'etait pas etranger aux Mexicains, ce qu' etablissent plusieurs doc.u.ments peu connus et des sculptures decouvertes depuis un pet.i.t nombre d'annees.” His letter is in Boban, _Catalogue Raisonne la Collection Goupil_, Tom. ii, p. 207. On the frequent identification of the serpent symbol with the phallus in cla.s.sical art, consult Dr. Anton Nagele's article, ”Der Schlangen-Cultus,” in the _Zeitschrift fur Volkerpsychologie_, Band xvii, p. 285, _seq._

[50-*] Cf. G. Tarayre, _Exploration Mineralogique des Regions Mexicaines_, p. 233 (Paris, 1869), and _Bulletin de la Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris_, Juin, 1893.