Note 102 — PART I. ETHNOLOGIC AND ARCHÆOLOGIC. (continued 2)
Reading edition
The Codex Ramirez, p. 24, a most excellent authority, is quite clear. The picture-writing—which is really phonetic, or, as I have termed it, ikonomatic—represents the Coatepetl by the sign of a hill (tepetl) inclosing a serpent (coatl). Tezozomoc, in his Cronica Mexicana, cap. 2, presents a more detailed but more confused account. Duran, Historia de las Indias de Nueva España, cap. 3, is worthy of comparison. The artificial inundation of the plain to which the accounts refer probably means that a ditch or moat was constructed to protect the foot of the hill. Herrera says: “Cercaron de agua el cerro llamado Coatepec.” Decadas de Indias, Dec. iii, Lib. ii, cap. 11.