. Discovery. Science. 184 DISCOVERY Acosta states that Tczcatlipoca's idol was made of obsidian, and he is represented in one of the manu- scripts as wearing obsidian sandals (footgear often indicates the nature of a person or deity in Mexican heiroglyphic painting). He was certainly the god of the sacred obsidian knife of sacrifice, and he is oc- casionally symbolised by that implement, which some- times takes the place of one of his feet. I believe, too, that the net-like garment worn by this god above his other attire is a development of the mesh-bag in which Mexican hunters carried flints
. Discovery. Science. 184 DISCOVERY Acosta states that Tczcatlipoca's idol was made of obsidian, and he is represented in one of the manu- scripts as wearing obsidian sandals (footgear often indicates the nature of a person or deity in Mexican heiroglyphic painting). He was certainly the god of the sacred obsidian knife of sacrifice, and he is oc- casionally symbolised by that implement, which some- times takes the place of one of his feet. I believe, too, that the net-like garment worn by this god above his other attire is a development of the mesh-bag in which Mexican hunters carried flints for use as spear- and arrow-heads. But there is a much stronger connection between Tezcatlipoca and the obsidian stone. From this mineral mirrors were cut and polished, not only for the ordinary purposes of the toilet, but for the use among wizards and sorcerers as aids to divination. Into the depths of these the wizard peered to read the riddles of the future, just as the modern crystal-gazer " scries " in her polished globe. One variety of this stone was called tepochtli, or " wizard-stone," from which, it seems to me, by a process of etymological confusion, Tezcatlipoca may have received one of his minor names, Telpochtli, " the ; Acosta and other writers tell us that this god was represented with a magical mirror called tlachioloni, " his glass to look in," in which he was able to witness the deeds of all mankind, precisely Jis the priests were supposed to do. Tezcatlipoca is frequently referred to as "a shadow," " a ghost," and this aspect of him, I believe, refers to the misty shapes seen by the sorcerer in the magic glass. Thus, from the shape beheld in the seer's mirror, Tezcatlipoca came to be regarded as the seer himself. The wizard-stone became personalised and developed into a god, and its reflections became his attributes. But Tezcatlipoca as the obsidian also came to be thought of as one of those ma
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