g analogy existing between the
representations of Tezcatlipoca held fast by the symbol of the North and
the prisoner attached to what is described either as "a temalacatl, stone
whorl" or "an image of the sun," my gaze fell on a small model of the
calendar-stone of Mexico, hanging above my desk, and rested on the symbol
Ollin in its centre. The learned director of the National Museum of
Mexico, Senor Troncoso (Anales del Museo Nacional, vol. II), had expressed
his view that this symbol was an actual figurative representation of the
annual apparent movements of the sun, and recorded its positions at the
solstitial and equinoctial periods. I had, moreover, submitted a drawing
of this same figure to the eminent English astronomer, Prof. Norman
Lockyer, and he had corroborated this view and established its
correctness. On the other hand, I had long noted that the _Ollin_ was
usually figured with an eye, the symbol for star, in its centre (fig. 2,
nos. 1, 3), and had also paid particular attention to the fact that the
Mexicans had conceived the ideas of two suns, a young day sun and an
ancient night or black sun. In the B. N. MS., on the mantas worn at their
respective festivals, the day sun is depicted in a somewhat fanciful
manner, in blue and red on a white field. The black sun is, however,
represented in classical style, so to speak, as on the sculptured
calendar-stone, with four larger and four smaller V-shaped rays issuing
from it. In this connection it is well to recall here that the Mexicans
had no specific name for the sun, beyond _Tonatiuh_, which merely means
"that which sheds light" and could equally apply to the stars. In the
picture-writings the image of the sun was employed to convey the word
_Teotl_. But we find that this word, assumed to be equivalent to their
"Dios" by the Spaniards, was also a reverential title bestowed upon
chieftains and superiors and was constantly employed in the composition of
words to signify something divine, supremely beautiful, etc. Whilst I was
pondering on the possibility that the symbol _Ollin_ might have
represented the movements of the luminaries of night as well as the orb of
day, my attention became fixed upon the four numerals in each of the ends
of the symbol and I was struck by a certain resemblance between their
positions and those of the four stars which form the body of the bear in
the constellation of Ursa Major. It was then that it occurred to me, as
mentioned in the