Sahagun MS. (Biblioteca del Palacio).—The ground of the face-painting is white, but portions of the face, especially the forehead, nose, and chin, and the region in front of the ears, are brilliantly coloured. The hair is puffed up and is bound with bands of quetzal-feathers. The ear-plugs are of gold. The large mantle which almost covers the body is decorated with the cross-hatching symbolic of water and has the red rim of the eye-motif. The shield bears the Greek key motif, such as is seen in the tribute-lists of the Codex Mendoza. In his hand the god bears the bamboo staff of the merchant or traveller, which typifies his nature and which was worshipped, as being symbolic of him, by all traders. FESTIVAL Panquetzalitztli.—Yacatecutli, says Sahagun, [329] was the first merchant and prototype of traffickers, so was chosen by the merchants as their god. They dressed his statue with paper and greatly venerated the staff he carried, which was of massive wood, or else of dark cane, very light, but strong, such as the merchants carried on their journeys. He had four brothers and a sister, also reverenced by traders. He was usually depicted as a man on a journey, equipped with such a staff as has been mentioned. Arrived at the place where they were to pass the night, the merchants laid their staves in a heap and drew blood from their ears and limbs, which they offered to it, burning incense before it, and praying for protection from the dangers of the road. At the festival of panquetzalitztli, thousands of members of the powerful Pochteca, or merchant guild, proceeded to the vicinity of Tochtepec, where they invited the Tlatelolcans of that place to a festival in honour of Yacatecutli. They decorated his temple and spread mats before his image. Then they opened the bundles in which they had brought presents and ornaments for the god, and placed them, along with their staves, before his idol. If a merchant laid two staves at the feet of the god, that signified that it was his intention to sacrifice two slaves, a man and a woman, in his honour; if four, he would devote two wretched creatures of either sex. These slaves were covered with rich mantles and paper. If the staff represented a male slave, it was also equipped with the maxtli, or loin-cloth, but if a female, the uipilli, or chemise, and the cueitl, or skirt.