ong than
the threshold of the discovery, at all events. The Spanish missionaries
were very desirous of teaching the Indians the Pater-noster, the
Ave-Maria, and the Credo. Either the Indians themselves, or the priests
(probably the latter), hit on the device of using painted symbols for
the words and syllables of the church prayers and formulas. Thus in this
manner was painted the word Amen. The first sign is the conventional
figure for water, in Mexican "atl", which stood for A. For the second
syllable they put the picture of a maguey plant, in Mexican "metl." The
whole, then, was "atl-metl," which was as near as they could express the
word amen. We must observe, that this was after the conquest.<84>

Illustration of Historical Sheet.-----------------

The plate opposite is one of the paintings of the Mendoza collection.
This collection, we must remember, was made after the conquest, simply
to gratify the curiosity of the King of Spain. The matter treated of is
the events connected with time when Motecuma the fifth "chief-of-men"
held office. Around the edge we see the hieroglyphics of the years. We
notice he was chief-of-men from the year one calli to two tecpatl. About
the only thing recorded of him is the different pueblos he conquered.
In all he subdued thirty-three; but only eleven are shown in this plate.
The pueblos are indicated by a house toppling over--flames issuing from
under the roof. The other little hieroglyphics are the names of the
pueblos. The last one in the second transverse line from the bottom is
the hieroglyphic of Chalco, which we thus learn was reduced to tribute
under this chief. All the events indicated in this cut took place before
the discovery of America.<85>

Illustration of Chilapi--Tribute.---------------

A second part of this codex has reference to the tribute received from
various tribes. In this cut the left-hand figure is the hieroglyphic
of the town of Chilapi, and is an excellent representation of their
rebus-writing we have just referred to. It is a tub of water, on which
floats a red-pepper pod. The Mexican word for this last is chilli, for
water it is "atl.". The word "pa" means above. For the full word we have
"chilli-atl-pa." Contracted, it becomes chilapi. The figure to the right
is the tribute. The five flags denotes one hundred. Below is represented
a copper ax-blade--from which we infer that the Pueblo of Chilapi had to
furnish a tribute of one hundred copper