one end is a projection probably intended for a handle. This projection roughly represents an animal head with a slightly turnedup nose, as may be seen from the drawing (fig. 13, b). The mortar as a whole, may indeed, represent a turtle. The turtle is frequently and excellently shown in the art of western Mexico, particularly in metal work. The turned-up nose, however, suggests a connection with the profile heads that have just been described.

That the objects in the burial, in addition to the carved tablets, comprised a set of personal ornaments and toilet articles seems pretty clear. Beads of many kinds were found, some of which are shown in plate VI, c to t. One plain cylindrical bead of the usual bluish diorite measures five and five-eighths inches in length and one and five-eighths inches in diameter. The bore is five-eighths of an inch across. This head probably served as a breast ornament. Eight angular strips of shale perforated at each end for attachment were likewise discovered. These measure about three inches in length and half an inch in width. Rather obscure photographs of two of them are shown in plate VI, k and l, and a typical specimen is reproduced diagrammatically in figure 12, c. Close to the flat mortar, as the objects were placed in the grave, were found twelve bivalve shells about three inches in width and arranged in two rows.2 These shells, which were in a crumbled state, contained about six hundred flat circular shell beads which are shown strung in plate VI, f. One of these large shells contained a number of very minute beads and some crumbling bones that seemed to be those of a child. In addition to the contents of these twelve shells there were discovered fourteen olivella beads with a perforation through the side (g and j), four tubular shell beads three inches in length (c, e, s, and t), one curved shell bead (d), thirty-one more or less rectangular shell strips, three inches in length, with a hole bored in each end (h and i), one oval-shaped amulet and twenty-six square shell buttons with a hidden eye or perforation on the under side. Of the last item six specimens are shown in plate VI, m to r, and a

1C. Lumholtz, Unknown Mexico, 2 vols., New York, 1902, II, p. 414.

2 Some of these minor details are taken from a short account of the find printed in the Mexican Herald, of October 16, 1910.

diagrammatic drawing presented in figure II, e. These buttons are believed to be a new type in the primitive handicraft of Mexico.

A large obsidian core from which knives were struck off was found at one side of the grave. Fragments of obsidian implements are said to be rather common on the ancient sites. Other pieces of unworked material consisted of two conch shells, one of which was nearly entire. They showed no signs of ornamentation or of use.

HISTORICAL REFERENCES

While very little is actually known concerning the pre-Spanish ethnography of central and northern Guerrero, the region was in all probability a debatable and ambiguous ground between the Zapotecan-Miztecan culture on the southeast, the Nahuan on the east and northeast, and the Tarascan on the north and northwest. The historians usually refer to this large area as the province of Zacatollan, but even the indefatigable Bancroft threw up his hands in disgust when he tried to gather facts concerning it.

It is known that about 1497 the province of Zacatollan, named after the city of Zacatula at the mouth of the Balsas, was made tributary to Tezcuco through the reckless daring of Teuhchimaltsin.1 This region furnished much of the copper and gold3 used in the arts by the people of the highlands and for some t me had excited the cupidity of the conquering Mexicans. According to Orozco,* Zacatollan comprised the territory between the course of the Rio Balsas and the shores of the Pacific and in addition extended along the margin of the sea some distance toward the northwest. The Cuitlatecan language of the Nahuan stock was spoken over a large part of this area, particularly in the southeast, and is in fact still spoken in Ajuchitlan and Atoyac. There are, however, names of a number of other languages which have entirely disappeared."

1 Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, Obras historicas, publicadas y anotadas por Alfredo Chavero, Mexico, 1892, 11, pp. 279-281.

2 H. H. Bancroft, The Native Races, 5 vols, San Francisco, 1883, II, p. 473.

* Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Histoire véridique de la conquète de la Nouvelle-Espagne, Traduction par D. Jourdainet, Paris, 1877, p. 285.

4 M. Orozco y Berra, Historia antigua y de la Conquista de México, 4 vols., Mexico,

1880, II, p. 175.

Idem., II, p. 176.

Idem., II, p. 252.

Thus, it seems quite likely that the population was heterogeneous, and may have been made up of remnants of older civilizations crowded back into this mountainous and out-of-the-way corner of Mexico by the new nations that had invaded the plateau.

But the valley of the Rio del Oro and adjacent portions of the valley of the Balsas in all probability did not actually form part of this little known province of Zacatollan. There are many Tarascan place names in this region. For instance, Zirándaro1 means in Tarascan, "the place of the books or manuscripts." Coyuca,2 more properly Cuiyucan, means "the place of the eagles." This town is represented in the Codex Mendoza by an oddly shaped head wearing a golden ear pendant (fig. 14). Such human head glyphs often indicate a foreign tribe. Pungaravato3 means "the hill of the feathers," and the list might Coyuca. be continued.

FIG. 14. Place name hieroglyph for

The tireless Orozco, after considering at length the various extravagant claims for the extent of the Tarascan domain, admits1 that on the south it probably included some towns in the Mexican province of Zacatollan, the natural boundary of which was the Rio Balsas. Indeed, Zirándaro appears on all the lists of Tarascan towns given, and Coyuca receives prominent mention.

Fortunately we are able to fix the southern limits of Tarascan speaking peoples during the Spanish epoch beyond doubt. In the two volumes of the Theatro Americana of Joseph Antonio del VillaSeñor there is detailed information concerning the jurisdictions of the various divisions of the Catholic church throughout Mexico. This book bears the late date of 1746 but may well be based on church records of earlier date.

Approaching the region under discussion from the south we are told that the town of Ajuchitlan—already noted as a place where

1A. Peñafiel, Nomenclatura geografica de Mexico, Mexico, 1897, p. 333. 2E. Ruiz, op. cit., p. 54, footnote, and A. Peñafiel, op. cit., p. 69.

E. Ruiz, op. cit., pp. 334 and 339, footnotes.

4Op. cit., II, p. 211.

A. J. Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, descripcion general de los reynos y provincias de la Nueva-España y sus jurisdicciones, 2 vols., Mexico, 1746, 1, pp. 223-229.