combination
was made in order to express, phonetically, that a celestial tree was
intended, the word kan=serpent, being made to express kaan=heaven. A
celestial tree, situated at the pole and bearing in some cases seven and
in others five blossoms, was frequently depicted and its symbolism is
obvious. In my commentary on the Hispano-Mexican MS. "The Lyfe of the
Indians," the "Gods," "Five Flowers," and "Seven Flowers," will be treated
in detail.

From Sahagun and Olmos we learn that the Mexicans employed the image of a
tree, metaphorically, to signify a lord, governor, progenitor, first
ancestor. Relations are designated as "issuing from one trunk." A branch
is literally termed "the arm of the tree," kab-che. Two kinds of trees,
the Puchutl and Aueuetl, signified, metaphorically, "a father, mother,
lord, captain or governor who were, or are, like shade-giving, sheltering
trees" (Olmos).

The above metaphors explain the frequent association of a head, the symbol
of a chief or lord, with the tree symbols. It is noteworthy that in
Nahuatl, the name for head=quaitl, is singularly like quauitl=tree, and
also recalls the word for serpent=coatl, facts which may have somewhat
guided the choice and association of these symbols. The native metaphors
recorded by Olmos, moquauhtia=an honored person or lord who has vassals or
dependents, and atlapalli=literally, leaf=a person of the lower class, a
worker, initiate us still further into the meaning of the native symbolism
and prove the antiquity of this, since the designation of a chief as a
tree and a vassal as a leaf was in current use. The presentation of the
tree issuing from a heart=yul-lotl is moreover, in perfect keeping with
native thought, since the chieftain or lord was entitled "the heart, or
life of the town or population."

The meaning of the bird, which is represented as perched on each of the
four trees in the Fejervary diagram, is likewise explained by the
metaphors recorded by Olmos who states that, "a son or child or a much
beloved lord or chieftain was compared to a beautiful and precious bird,
such as the Quetzal, the Roseate Spoonbill, the Blue-bird, etc., etc."
Surmounting the tribal trees in the diagram, the birds therefore typify
the lords of the four provinces and this is corroborated by the fact that
each different bird is figured again in the corner-loops in combination
with the symbols of the cardinal points. The association of the symbols
for lord or c