The Mexicans divided the universe into five regions. The locus classicus for the representatives of the gods who preside over these regions is the first sheet of the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer. The Fire-god occupies the centre of the picture, for just as fire occupies a space in the middle of the primitive hut, so does Xiuhtecutli maintain the central position in the universal disposition of things. From him four streams of sacrificial blood radiate in the direction of the four cardinal points, east, north, west, south, [70] which are situated at each corner of the picture, for he rules over all as well as over the centre, which is known as Tlalxicco. These bands of blood end in the four day-signs—acatl, tecpatl, calli, and tochtli, from which alone the years of the “calendar” or tonalamatl could be named, and which respectively agree with the cardinal points noted above. The four sides of the square are also associated with the four quarters of the universe. Thus the top square in the picture represents Tlapcopa, Region of the Dawn (the East), the right-hand side Uitznauac, Place of Thorns (the South), the bottom Ciutlampa, Region of Women (the West), and the left-hand side Mictlampa, Place of the Dead (the North). Within these squares are seen four species of trees, belonging to the four points of the compass. They resemble the trees seen in sheet 49 of Codex Borgia and sheet 17 of Codex Vaticanus B, from the first of which codices they can be more clearly described. The Tree of the East is represented as a highly conventionalized tree having two boughs, each with four branches which end in the chalchihuitl (greenstone) symbol. Round branches are twisted two ropes, green and blue in colour, set with golden bells. A quetzal bird perches upon the top and the trunk is decorated with the symbol for war, for the spirits of the sacrificed warriors were believed to dwell in the eastern heavens, where the sun rose. The tree springs from the body of the Earth-goddess, and the ornaments borne by it are symbolic of the rich and fruitful character of the Orient. The Tree of the North.—This tree is painted half-green, half-blue, but is set with thorns in every part. Bands of blood and darkness issue from the body of the Earth-goddess, in which it has its root, and these wind around its boughs. The eagle stands upon the top, each of its plumes bristling with a sacrificial stone knife. The Tree of the West.—This has a yellow star, and bears the magic bloom at the end of each branch. It is surmounted by the humming-bird, and its trunk is dotted with the stellar eye, in this case the evening star.