Page:A Study of the Manuscript Troano.djvu/191



Before attempting' to explain any of the written characters I will notice some other figures which are true pictures, but were not specially alluded to when speaking of the figures in the spaces; others which may be classed as pictographs, and some which appear to be true symbols.

Foot-prints.—These appear to have two or three different significations in the various manuscripts.

First. A journey made, denoting not the road, but the fact that some one has passed on in a given direction, that a journey has been partly or completely accomplished. This use is common in some of the Mexican Codices.

Second. That so many periods of time have elapsed. This appears to be their signification on Plates 34 to 38 of the Borgian Codex and Plates 25 to 28 of the Dresden Codex.

Third. To denote movements to be made during certain religious festivals. This appears to be one object of their use in the Manuscript Troano, as, for example, on Plates III and VI. Another is to indicate journeyings.

The machete or hatchet (bat in Maya) is represented in the Manuscript in two forms (Fig. 1 8, a and b). As it is not likely the artist intended to be strictly accurate in minor details, his only desire being to represent the implement with sufficient exactness to insure its recognition, we may not be warranted in assuming that these two forms indicate a difference in the hatchets. The one marked a may be the conventional figure, and b an