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279 N o t e s o f M i d d l e A m e r i c a n A r c h a e o l o g y a n d E t h n o l o g y Carnegie Institution of Washington Division of Historical Research No. 72 December 4, 1946 The Codex of the Derrumbe del Templo Mayor R. H. Barlow paco in uey atempa yua in uel iquac machiyaco in oyttaloque aquique yn oquiçaco yn oyttoque nima yquacquicacyninteyoynmoteuczomaintlacateuctli yuan tlanauati in chialo(z)q yn ompa auh in oyaque quiçaco yciuhca (q)ualtotocaque in cenpoualteca yn aquin tlaqual [sic] yn aoquin cochiz ynic qcaquitico yn moteuczoma. otlattoq inixpa in teteuctin in tlacateccatl atliacatzin tlacochcalcatl tepeuatzin yua tlatilolco quauhtemoctzin.” This may be translated: “In the year 1 Acatl the Spaniards arrived, the Marquis. Before anything else, they entered Texcalan [Tlaxcala ]; at once, it was said. For some time a woman of Cempoalla, and resident of Teticpac, had come interpreting . The second [nahuatlato] was called Tlacochcalcatl ; likewise from the first the Spaniards had him, when they first saw the land, when they had just come back there to the shore [following the Grijalva and Córdova expeditions]. It was just then that it came to be known that they had been seen by those who came out [to spy], that they were spoken to. The tlacatecuhtli Moctezuma heard the news about them immediately and ordered that they be awaited there, and they [the messengers] departed, they went rapidly . They followed the people of Cempoalla, without food, without sleep so that Moctezuma might come to know. They spoke before the lords Atlixcatzin the tlacatecatl, Tepeuatzin the tlacochcalcatl, and Quauhtemoctzin of Tlatelolco . . .” Short inscriptions occur at either side of the temple stair. On the left we read “malintzin nauatlato teucciuatl chane teticpac” (“Maliache, nahuatlato, princess, inhabitant of Teticpac”), which agrees with According to the text of 1553, Costumbres de Nueva España (1943:1, 57) “. . . llegado que fue el marqués del prendimiento de naruaez a su jente le halló herido a moteçuma y mandó el marques dar fuego a todos los cues y altares que tenián y como se quemauan se caían y al caer vn cu grande hizo gran ruido y preguntando moteçuma que ruido era aquel le dixeron que auia caido el cu y de este enojo murió . . .” In the accompanying plate we have a portrayal of the blowing up of the Temple of Huitzilopochtli, in a codex which I have provisionally baptized with a name derived from the event. The Nahuatl text refers to the Year 1 Acatl 1519, and beginning at the side of the uppermost building reads “ytecpanchan moteuczoma uei tecpa mexico tenochtitlan” (“Moctezuma ’s government house. The great government house of Tenochtitlan”). Below this first inscription is added “occecca yn ipilchan y moteucçoma tlacateuctli ” (“elsewhere, the princely house of Moctezuma the tlacatecuhtli”). Above the second building, the one intended to represent a pyramid with steps, appears the news that it is “ycal diablo quitleq . . . q qtlatique yn espa ñoles oca mexico” (“the Devils House which the Spaniards burned here in Mexico”). At the foot of this temple we read the principal inscription: “ypan ni ce Acatl xiuitl in vallaque in españoles yn marques y uel achto ocan calaquico in texcalan yn oqu iuh mitouaya. in ya uecauh in ualnauatlatotia ciuatzintli cempoualtecatl uel chane teticpac. ynic ome ytoca tlacochcalcatl. no achto canaco iniquac yancuican quittaco tlalli yn españolesme in çan ococan mocue- r. h. BarloW 280 Cristobal del Castillo, who states that Malinche was of Mexican parents, and had been sold by them in Teticpac, a town of Coatzcoalcos. On the right of the stair figures the name of the other interpreter mentioned in the long text: “tlacochcalcatl nahuatlato.” No drawings of these interpreters appear, however; and a brief note in Spanish concludes the collection of texts which Mr. Byron McAfee has helped me to translate: “Este año començo la conquista de la tierra don fernando cortes y sus compañeros.” Another drawing of Moctezuma’s government palace (Tecpan) appears in the Mendocino. The present version is rather fantastic, although the Mendocino agrees in giving the edifice two stories. The tracing from which the plate is published was lent by Sr. Guillermo Echaniz. It will be noted that besides the page which the artist traced in toto, specimens of other year glyphs appear on the bottom margin of...

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