or upper body garment, clear blue petticoats, with fringes, from which hung marine shells, and white sandals. In her left hand she held a shield and a leaf of the broad, round, white water-lily, called atlacuezona."[1]
Clavigero makes the following statement in regard to this goddess: "Chalchiucueje, otherwise Chalcihuitlicue, was the goddess of water and companion of Tlaloc. She was known by some other very expressive names, which either signify the effects which water produces, or the different appearances and color which it assumes in motion. The Tlascalans called her Matlacueje, that is, clothed in a green robe; and they gave the same name to the highest mountain of Tlascala, on whose summit are formed those stormy clouds which generally burst over the city of Angelopoli. To that summit the Tlascalans ascended to perform their sacrifices and offer up their prayers. This is the very same goddess of water to which Torquemada gives the name Xochiquetzal, and the Cav. Boturini that of Macuilxcochiquetzalli.[2]
The interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis says: "Chalciutli, who presided over these thirteen days, saved herself in the deluge. She is the woman who remained after the deluge. Her name signifies, 'The woman who wears a dress adorned with precious stones' They here fasted four days to Death. They painted her holding in one hand a spinning-wheel and in the other a certain wooden instrument with which they weave; and in order to show that of the sons which women bring forth, some are slaves and others die in war, and others in poverty, they paint her with a stream, as if carrying them away, so that, whether rich or poor, all were finally doomed to perish."[3]
We may therefore, I think, safely assume that the figure in our plate is intended to represent the Central American or Yucatec goddess Xnuc, who appears to be an equivalent for the Mexican female deity described, and that here, at least, she is but a symbol of the mountain range where the storms were formed, and from whence they rushed down into the valleys and plains below. Whether the large figure in the lower division of Plate XXVII is intended to represent the same deity is somewhat uncertain, but
