Page:The History of Ink.djvu/84

4 No. 61.—Wellington, June 19, 1815.

No. 62.—Lord Byron, Nov. 4, 1821.

No. 63.—Voltaire, July 29, 1757.

No. 64.—Edmund Burke.

No. 65.—William Pitt, March 27, 1803.

No. 66.—Wellington, April 21, 1834.

The colored engraving is an illustration of the picture writing of the Mexicans, from Lord Kingsborough's great work. The blue border represents a series of years, distinguished by the dots. The compartment with five dots representing the fifth year of the reign, that with ten the tenth, and so on. The pictures of the acts of the Prince being connected with each special year by means of a connecting line. The additional symbols have different significations—that of the flower signifying a calamitous year, &c. In this plate King Acamapich is represented in the first and sixth year of his reign; at the top of the page are warlike instruments, signifying his preparation for war; the figures below, on the right, are the four cities—Quahnahuac, Mezquic, Cuitlhuac and Xochimilco—represented by descriptive symbols. The four heads on the left are those of the respective kings or chiefs of these cities, beheaded by Acamapich, each distinguished by the iconographic symbol by which his name was expressed in this system of writing.