ves," _i.
e._, obsidian (Duran II, p. 98).

What is more, Bernal Diaz relates that the image of Tezcatlipoca, which he
saw beside the idol of Huitzilopochtli in the hall of the great temple of
Mexico, had shining eyes which were made of the native mirrors=tezcatl.
"In connection with the shining eyes" of the god it is interesting to note
that when, as Duran states, he was represented under another form, his
idol "carried in its hand a sort of fan made of precious feathers. These
surmounted a circular gold disc which was very brilliant and polished like
a mirror. This meant that, in this mirror, he saw all that went on in the
world. In the native language they named it 'itlachiayan,' which means,
that in which he looks or sees" (Duran, _op. cit._, vol. II, p. 99).

Sahagun mentions an analogous sceptre which consisted of "a gold disc
pierced in the centre, and surmounted by two balls, the upper and smaller
of which supported a pointed object. This sceptre was called tlachieloni,
which means 'that through which one looks or observes;' because with it
one covered or hid one's face and looked through the hole in the middle of
the gold plate." This kind of sceptre is not exclusively associated with
Tezcatlipoca in the native picture writings, for it figures in the hand of
Chalchiuhtlycue "the sister" of Tlaloc and of Omacatl whose attributes,
the reeds and chalchiuite or jade beads, prove him to be also associated
with the water. On the other hand the same sceptre is also assigned by
Sahagun to the god of fire.

A clue to the truth and significance of this emblematic sceptre is
furnished by the fact that, in order to express the divine title
Tlachiuale, meaning "the Maker or Lord of all creatures or of young life,"
the native scribes were naturally obliged to employ the verb tlachia=to
look or see, in order to convey its sound. It is obvious that they
cleverly agreed to express this verb by picturing some object which could
be or was looked through. They therefore adopted a sceptre with a hollow
disc, as an emblem, which was carried by the living representative of
certain divinities, whose entire costume was in reality a sort of rebus,
and in the case of Tlaloc, the lord of earthwine and fertility and the
Tlachiuale or "Creator of young life," par excellence, they once and for
all designated his title by surrounding his eyes with two blue rings,
accentuating thereby the action of seeing or looking. But this probably
convey