. Bulletin. Ethnology. 72 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 28 explain awa}^ the Bilimec picture, an attempt which must seem in the highest degree fantastic to all who are familiar with Mexican subjects, is proved by our figure 6 to be false in all its premises. So, too, is the argument recently set forth by Doctor Uhle, that "warriors in battle, who, like the Mexicans, carried their own banners, would not have car- ried a banner likely to prove a hindrance in battle from its size or the manner of carrying it"". The Mexicans did not consider such "practi- cal points of vi
. Bulletin. Ethnology. 72 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 28 explain awa}^ the Bilimec picture, an attempt which must seem in the highest degree fantastic to all who are familiar with Mexican subjects, is proved by our figure 6 to be false in all its premises. So, too, is the argument recently set forth by Doctor Uhle, that "warriors in battle, who, like the Mexicans, carried their own banners, would not have car- ried a banner likely to prove a hindrance in battle from its size or the manner of carrying it"". The Mexicans did not consider such "practi- cal points of view". The armor which the more prominent warriors assumed for battle was the dress of a deity of whose power they became possessed when they put on his array, and to be assured of this power was probably the first "practical point of view" for the Mexi- cans. If the costume of the god required a bird with outspread wings. Fig. 12. Mexican feather ornaments. to be worn, it would have been woru without much question as to whether it was practical or not. As far as form is concerned, how- ever, the banner which King Axayacatl and the Bilimec warriors wore on their backs, and also the bat dancer (a, figure 12) from the Duran Atlas (Tratado 2, plate 8), to which 1 drew attention in my first com- munication, ma}^ of course l)e used for purposes of comparison in studying the meaning of the Vienna ornament quite as well as the headdress apanecayotl of the god Tezcatlipoca in the manuscripts in the Biblioteca Nazionale. The horseshoe-shaped curve, on which Uhle lays such especial stress, prolialily onl}' occurs in the Vienna ornament in consequence of its imperfect state of preservation, the golden beak which originally belonged on tlip front ha\ing now Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the orig
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectethnolo, bookyear1901
