The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-11

stories is Eight Ehecatr' Cor Eight
Wind') whose face is always painted
yellow, red and black-doubtless with
some significance that must be a. nys-
terry until the key to the Aztec color
code is discovered-and who is inva-
riably represented with a he'll
met shaped like an eagles
head. Into his history enters a
woman of high rank, and as sort Of
secondary plot there is told the story
of the lady "Three-F Flint" which has
special value to the archaeologist as
showing, apparently, that woman oc-
cupied a position of social and politi-
cal equality with man in ancient Mex
leo, for she. with more than one other
female figure in the codex, is so dress
ed and so posed as to appear of the
same rank with the chieftains with
whom she is associated.
But indeed there is hardly an end
to the interest which one may take in
examining this extraordinary picture
manuscript in the light of its history
and meaning as they have been in
terpreted by Mrs. INITIAL. The story
of the way in which it was found is
almost romantic. Mrs. INITIAL first
suspected its existence from chance
remark which was made to her at
reception in Florence several years
ago by Senator Pasquale Villari, Ital-
ian ex-minister of public instruction,
professor and historian. Senator Viii
lari had seen the Codex at San Marco
more than thirty years before, when
it was brought to him by a friar. who
sought an explanation of its meaning.
Although not an expert in Mexican
archaeology, he recognized the great
value and interest of the manuscript
and kept himself informed of its
whereabouts for several years. Sen
ator Villari's reference to the Spanish
annotations already mentioned led
Mrs. INITIAL to believe that the CodeX
was one which had not previously
been examined. She found that the
book had left Florence and she traced
it, through several changes of owner
ship, to its final resting place in the
library of Lord Zouche, by whose
courtesy she was permitted to exam
inc and study it, first at the British
Museum and then at the Bodleian LII
brary at Oxford. Mrs. INITIAL saw at
once its superiority over the previously
discovered Mexican codices-even the
famous Vienna Codex, which has so
many points of resemblance in the
manner of its execution and contains
so many Identical dates, that it is con-
Jectured that the two are the work OF
the same artist, and they have conse-
quently been called the SISTER CO.
dices"
Photography could not be utilized in
producing the Codex INITIAL and the
entire text had to be traced and col
ored by the hand of an artist and lith-
ographed. 1t cannot be determined
whether this particular old deerskn
parchment originally had covers or
not, but il is known that several OF
the Mexican codices were provided with
rude bindings and the facsimile of the
codex has been put into boards
which are appropriately designed IN
accordance with the results of the
most careful research The expense
Of making this reproduction was. OF
course, very great-so that it mas
been necessary to put price of $40
on each of the few copies issued-out
the Peabody Museum was enabled TO
do the work through the generosity
of the subscribers to what is known
as the Fund for the Encouragement
of Mexican and Central American Re-
seach, in which Mr.. Charles P. Bow
ditch of Boston, a member of the fac
ulty of the museum. has for many
years taken special interest.