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             PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

                               SERIES IN

                  Philology Literature and Archæology

                             VOL. III NO. 2

                              A PRIMER OF
                          MAYAN HIEROGLYPHICS

                                    BY

               DANIEL G. BRINTON, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Sc.D.

  PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN ARCHÆOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF
 PENNSYLVANIA, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT
                          OF SCIENCE, ETC., ETC.

                           “Hieroglyphics old,
           Which sages and keen-eyed astrologers,
           Then living on the earth, with labouring thought,
           Won from the gaze of many centuries.”

                                               —KEATS

                             GINN & COMPANY
             Agents for United States, Canada, and England
                   7–13 Tremont Place, Boston, U.S.A.

                              MAX NIEMEYER
                   Agent for the Continent of Europe
                          Halle, a S., Germany

                                PREFACE.

In the following pages I have endeavored with the greatest brevity to
supply the learner with the elements necessary for a study of the native
hieroglyphic writing of Central America. The material is already so
ample that in many directions I have been obliged to refer to it, rather
than to summarize it. This will explain various omissions which may be
noted by advanced scholars; but they will not, I believe, diminish the
usefulness of the work as an elementary treatise.

In conclusion I would express my thanks to the officers of the Bureau of
American Ethnology, Washington, and of the Peabody Museum of Archæology,
Cambridge, for various facilities they have obligingly furnished me.

                               CONTENTS.

                           _I. Introductory._
                                                                    PAGE

  1. GENERAL CHARACTER OF MAYAN HIEROGLYPHICS,                         9

  2. THE MAYAN MANUSCRIPTS OR “CODICES,”                              11

  3. THEORIES OF INTERPRETATION. “ALPHABETS” AND “KEYS,”              13

                    _II. The Mathematical Elements._

  1. THE CODICES AS TIME-COUNTS,                                      18

  2. THE MAYAN NUMERAL SYSTEM,                                        19

  3. NUMERICAL AND ALLIED SIGNS,                                      19

  4. THE RHETORICAL AND SYMBOLIC USE OF NUMBERS,                      24

  5. THE MAYAN METHODS OF COUNTING TIME,                              25

  6. THE CALCULATIONS IN THE CODICES,                                 29

  7. RULES FOR TRACING THE TONALAMATL, OR RITUAL CALENDAR,            31

  8. THE CODICES AS ASTRONOMICAL TREATISES,                           32

  9. ASTRONOMICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENT MAYAS,                     34

                     _III. The Pictorial Elements._

  1. THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT MAYAS,                               37

          Itzamna—Cuculcan—Kin ich—Other Gods—The Cardinal
            Points—The Good Gods—The Gods of Evil—The Conflict of
            the Gods.

  2. THE COSMOGONY OF THE MAYAS,                                      46

  3. THE COSMICAL CONCEPTIONS OF THE MAYAS,                           47

  4. PICTORIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF DIVINITIES,                         50

          Representations of Itzamna—Of Cuculcan—Of Kin ich—Of
            Xaman Ek, the Pole Star—Of the Planet Venus—Of Ghanan,
            God of Growth—Of the Serpent Goddess—of Xmucane—Of Ah
            puch, God of Death—Of the God of War—Of Ek-Ahau and
            other Black Gods.

  5. THE MAYA PRIESTHOOD,                                             68

  6. FANCIFUL ANALOGIES,                                              69

  7. TOTAL NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIONS,                                 70

  8. FIGURES OF QUADRUPEDS,                                           71

  9. FIGURES OF BIRDS,                                                72

 10. FIGURES OF REPTILES,                                             74

 11. OCCUPATIONS AND CEREMONIES,                                      76

                       _IV. The Graphic Elements._

  1. THE DIRECTION IN WHICH THE GLYPHS ARE TO BE READ,                78

  2. COMPOSITION OF THE GLYPHS,                                       81

  3. THE PROPER METHOD OF STUDYING GLYPHS,                            81

  4. AN ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS GRAPHIC ELEMENTS,                         82

          The Hand—The Eye and Similar Figures—The “Spectacles”—The
            Ear—Crescentic Signs—Sun and Moon Signs—Supposed
            Variations of the Sun Sign—The Knife Signs—The “Fish
            and Oyster” Sign—The Sacred Food Offerings—The _Ben ik_
            and Other Signs—The Drum Signs—The Yax and Other
            Feather Signs—The Cross-hatched Signs—Some Linear Signs
            and Dots—Linear Prefixes—The “Cloud-balls” and the
            “Cork-screw Curl”—Signs for Union—The “Tree of
            Life”—The “Machete” and Similar Signs—Supposed Bird
            Signs—The “Crotalean Curve”—Objects Held in the
            Hand—The Aspersorium, the Atlatl and the Mimosa—The
            “Constellation Band”—The Signs for the Cardinal
            Points—The Directive Signs—The “Cuceb.”

  5. THE HIEROGLYPHS OF THE DAYS,                                    109

  6. THE HIEROGLYPHS OF THE MONTHS,                                  116

  7. THE HIEROGLYPHS OF THE DEITIES,                                 121

                        _V. Specimens of Texts._

  1. THE GOD OF TIME BRINGS IN THE DEAD YEAR. DRESDEN CODEX,         127

  2. SACRIFICE AT THE CLOSE OF A YEAR. DRESDEN CODEX,                128

  3. END OF ONE AND BEGINNING OF ANOTHER TIME PERIOD. CORTESIAN
       CODEX,                                                        129

  4. THE GOD OF GROWTH AND THE GOD OF DEATH. CORTESIAN CODEX,        131

  5. AUGURIES FROM THE NORTH STAR. CORTESIAN CODEX,                  131

  6. ITZAMNA, THE SERPENT GODDESS, AND KIN ICH. DRESDEN CODEX,       132

  7. THE GODS OF DEATH, OF THE SUN, AND OF WAR. DRESDEN CODEX,       132

  8. CUCULCAN MAKES NEW FIRE. CODEX TROANO,                          133

  9. THE GODS OF DEATH, OF GROWTH, AND OF THE NORTH STAR. DRESDEN
       CODEX,                                                        133

 10. THE GOD OF GROWTH, OF THE SUN, AND OF THE EAST. DRESDEN CODEX,  134

 11. AN INSCRIPTION FROM KABAH,                                      135

 12. LINEAR INSCRIPTION FROM YUCATAN,                                136

 13. THE “INITIAL SERIES” FROM THE TABLET OF THE CROSS, PALENQUE,    137

 14. INSCRIPTION ON THE “TAPIR TABLET,” CHIAPAS,                     138

 15. INSCRIPTION ON A TABLET FROM TONINÁ, CHIAPAS,                   139

 16. INSCRIPTION ON AN AMULET FROM OCOCINGO, CHIAPAS,                139

 17. INSCRIPTION ON A VASE FROM A QUICHE TOMB, GUATEMALA,            140

                              A PRIMER OF
                          MAYAN HIEROGLYPHICS.

                            I. Introductory.

The explorations among the ruined cities of Central America undertaken
of late years by various individuals and institutions in the United
States and Europe, and the important collections of casts, tracings and
photographs from those sites now on view in many of the great museums of
the world, are sure to stimulate inquiry into the meaning of the
hieroglyphs which constitute so striking a feature on these monuments.

Within the last decade decided advances have been made toward an
interpretation of this curious writing; but the results of such studies
are widely scattered and not readily accessible to American students.
For these reasons I propose, in the present essay, to sum up briefly
what seem to me to be the most solid gains in this direction; and to add
from my own studies additional suggestions toward the decipherment of
these unique records of aboriginal American civilization.

              1. _General Character of Mayan Hieroglyphs._

One and the same hieroglyphic system is found on remains from Yucatan,
Tabasco, Chiapas, Guatemala, and Western Honduras; in other words, in
all Central American regions occupied at the Conquest by tribes of the
Mayan linguistic stock.[1] It has not been shown to prevail among the
Huastecan branch of that stock, which occupied the valley of the river
Panuco, north of Vera Cruz; and, on the other hand, it has not been
discovered among the remains of any tribe not of Mayan affinities. The
Mexican manuscripts offer, indeed, a valuable ancillary study. They
present analogies and reveal the early form of many conventionalized
figures; but to take them as interpreters of Mayan graphography, as many
have done, is a fatal error of method. In general character and
appearance the Mayan is markedly different from the Mexican writing,
presenting a much more developed style and method.

Although the graphic elements preserved in the manuscripts and on the
monuments vary considerably among themselves, these divergencies are not
so great but that a primitive identity of elements is demonstrable in
them all. The characters engraved on stone or wood, or painted on paper
or pottery, differ only as we might expect from the variation in the
material or the period, and in the skill or fancy of the artist.

The simple elements of the writing are not exceedingly numerous. There
seems an endless variety in the glyphs or characters; but this is
because they are composite in formation, made up of a number of
radicals, variously arranged; as with the twenty-six letters of our
alphabet we form thousands of words of diverse significations. If we
positively knew the meaning or meanings (for, like words, they often
have several different meanings) of a hundred or so of these simple
elements, none of the inscriptions could conceal any longer from us the
general tenor of its contents.[2]

It will readily be understood that the composite characters may be
indefinitely numerous. Mr. Holden found that in all the monuments
portrayed in Stephen’s _Travels in Central America_ there are about
fifteen hundred;[3] and Mr. Maudslay has informed me that according to
his estimate there are in the Dresden Codex about seven hundred.

Each separate group of characters is called a “glyph,” or, by the French
writers, a “katun,” the latter a Maya word applied to objects arranged
in rows, as soldiers, letters, years, cycles, etc. As the glyphs often
have rounded outlines, like the cross-section of a pebble, the Mayan
script has been sometimes called “calculiform writing” (Latin,
_calculus_, a pebble).

                2. _The Mayan Manuscripts or “Codices.”_

The hieroglyphic writing is preserved to us on two classes of
remains—painted on sheets of native paper, about ten inches wide and of
any desired length, which were inscribed on both sides and folded in the
manner of a screen; and engraved or painted on stone, wood, pottery, or
plaster.[4]

Of the former only four examples remain, none of them perfect. They have
all been published with great care, some of them in several editions.
They are usually spoken of as “codices” under the following names: the
_Codex Troanus_ and the _Codex Cortesianus_, probably parts of the same
book, the original of which is at Madrid; the _Codex Peresianus_, which
is in Paris; and the _Codex Dresdensis_, in Dresden. The two former and
the two latter resemble each other more closely than they do either
member of the other pair. There are reasons to believe that the two
first mentioned were written in central Yucatan, and the last two in or
near Tabasco.[5] This district and that of Chiapas, adjacent to it on
the south, was occupied at the time of the Conquest by the
Tzental-Zotzil branch of the Mayan stock, who spoke a dialect very close
to the pure Maya of Yucatan; they were the descendants of the builders
of the imposing cities of Palenque, Ococingo, Toniná and others, and we
know that their culture, mythology, and ritual were almost identical
with those of the Mayas. I shall treat of them, therefore, as
practically one people.

Although Lord Kingsborough had included the Dresden Codex in his huge
work on “_Mexican Antiquities_,” and the _Codex Troanus_ had been
published with close fidelity by the French government in 1869, it
cannot be said that the serious study of the Mayan hieroglyphs dates
earlier than the faithful edition of the Dresden Codex, issued in 1880
under the supervision of Dr. E. W. Förstemann, librarian-in-chief of the
Royal Library of Saxony.

The most important studies of the codices have been published in
Germany. Besides the excellent writings of Dr. Förstemann himself, those
by Dr. P. Schellhas and Dr. E. Seler, of Berlin, are of great utility
and will be frequently referred to in these pages. In France, Professor
Leon de Rosny, the competent editor of the _Codex Peresianus_, the Count
de Charencey, and M. A. Pousse, whose early death was a severe loss to
this branch of research, deserve especial mention. In England no one has
paid much attention to it but Mr. Alfred P. Maudslay, whose
investigations have yielded valuable results, forerunners of others of
the first importance. The earlier speculations of Bollaert are wholly
fanciful. In our own country, the mathematical portions of the essays of
Professor Cyrus Thomas are worthy of the highest praise; and useful
suggestions can be found in Charles Rau’s article on the inscriptions of
Palenque, and in Edward S. Holden’s paper on Central American
picture-writing.[6]

                    3. _Theories of Interpretation._

The theories which have been advanced as to the method of interpreting
the Mayan hieroglyphs may be divided into those which regard them as
ideographic, as phonetic, or as mixed. The German writers, Förstemann,
Schellhas, and Seler, have maintained that they are mainly or wholly
ideographic; the French school, headed by the Abbé Brasseur, de Rosny,
and de Charencey, have regarded them as largely phonetic, in which they
have been followed in the United States by Professor Cyrus Thomas, Dr.
Cresson, Dr. Le Plongeon, and others.

The intermediate position, which I have defended, is that while chiefly
ideographic, they are occasionally phonetic, in the same manner as are
confessedly the Aztec picture-writings. In these we constantly meet with
delineations of objects which are not to be understood as conveying the
idea of the object itself, but merely as representing the sound of its
name, either in whole or in part; just as in our familiar “rebus
writing,” or in the “chanting arms” of European heraldry. I have applied
to this the term “ikonomatic writing,” and have explained it so fully,
as it is found in the Mexican manuscripts, in my “_Essays of an
Americanist_,” that I need not enter upon it further in this connection,
but would refer the reader to what I have there written.[7]

The attempt to frame a real alphabet, by means of which the hieroglyphs
could be read phonetically, has been made by various writers.

The first is that preserved in the work of Bishop Landa. It has failed
to be of much use to modern investigators, but it has peculiar value as
evidence of two facts; first, that a native scribe was able to give a
written character for an unfamiliar sound, one without meaning, like
that of the letters of the Spanish alphabet; and, secondly, that the
characters he employed for this purpose were those used in the native
manuscripts. This is proof that some sort of phonetic writing was not
unknown.[8]

This alphabet was extended by the Abbé Brasseur, and especially by de
Rosny, who, in 1883, defined twenty-nine letters, with numerous variants
from the Codices and inscriptions.[9]

Two years later, Dr. A. Le Plongeon published an “Ancient Maya Hieratic
Alphabet according to Mural Inscriptions,” containing twenty-three
letters, with variants. This he applied to the translating of certain
inscriptions, but added nothing to corroborate the correctness of the
interpretations. Each sign, he believed, stood for a definite
letter.[10]

[Illustration: FIG. 1.—Landa’s Alphabet; after a photograph from the
original manuscript.]

Another student who devoted several years to an attempt to reduce the
hieroglyphs to an alphabetic form was the late Dr. Hilborne T. Cresson.
His theory was that the glyphs stood for the names of pictures worn down
to a single phonetic element, alphabetic or syllabic. This element he
conceived was consonantal, to be read with any vowel, either prefixed or
suffixed; and the consonant was permutable with any of its class, as a
lingual, palatal, etc. On this basis he submitted, shortly before his
death in 1894, to the American Association for the Advancement of
Science several translations from the Codex Troano. Previous to this, in
1892, he had announced his method in the journal “_Science_,” and
claimed that he had worked it out ten years before.[11]

An alphabet of twenty-seven characters, with variants, which the author
considered in every way complete, was published in 1888, by F. A. de la
Rochefoucauld.[12] By means of it he offered a volume of interlinear
translations from the inscriptions and codices! They are in the highest
degree fanciful, and can have little interest other than as a warning
against the intellectual aberrations to which students of these ancient
mysteries seem peculiarly prone.

In 1892 Professor Cyrus Thomas, of the Bureau of Ethnology, announced
with considerable emphasis that he had discovered the “key” to the Mayan
hieroglyphs; and in July, 1893, published a detailed description and
applications of it.[13] In theory, it is the same as Dr. Cresson’s, that
is, that the elements of the glyphs were employed as true phonetic
elements, or letters. In the article referred to he gives the characters
for the following letters of the Maya alphabet: _b_, _c_, _c’_, _dz_,
_ch_, _h_, _i_, _k_, _l_, _m_, _n_, _o_, _p_, _pp_, _t_, _th_, _tz_,
_x_, _v_, _z_; also for a large number of syllabic sounds which he
claimed to have recognized. With such an apparatus, if it had any value,
one would expect to reach prompt and important results; but, aside from
the doubtful character of many of his analyses, the fact that this “key”
has wholly failed to add any tangible, valuable addition to our
knowledge of the inscriptions is enough to show its uselessness; and the
same may be said of all the attempts mentioned.

A slight inspection of the Maya manuscripts and of almost any of the
inscriptions will satisfy the observer that they are made up of three
classes of objects or elements:—

1. Arithmetical signs, numerals, and numerical computations,

2. Pictures or figures of men, animals, or fantastic beings, of
ceremonies or transactions, and of objects of art or utility; and,

3. Simple or composite characters, plainly intended for graphic elements
according to some system for the preservation of knowledge.

I shall refer to these as, (1) the Mathematical Elements, (2) the
Pictorial Elements, and (3) the Graphic Elements of the Mayan
hieroglyphic writing.

-----

Footnote 1:

  In accordance with usage in this study, I employ the adjective “Mayan”
  when speaking of the whole stock, and confine “Maya,” in an adjectival
  sense, to that branch of the stock resident in Yucatan.

Footnote 2:

  This is also the opinion of Dr. Seler: “Es ist eine verhältnissmässig
  geringe Zahl von Bildern und Grundelementen, die in diesen
  Schriftzeichen wiederkehren.” _Verhand. Berliner Anthrop. Gesell._,
  1887, S. 231.

Footnote 3:

  “Studies in Central American Picture Writing,” in _First An. Rep. of
  the Bureau of Ethnology_, p. 210.

Footnote 4:

  Among those who have especially merited the thanks of archæologists in
  collecting material for the study of the monuments are M. Désiré
  Charnay, Mr. A. P. Maudslay, Prof. F. W. Putnam; and I shall hope to
  add Dr. Le Plongeon, when he makes public his material.

Footnote 5:

  The _Peresianus_ has been supposed by some to have been written in
  Guatemala; by others, both it and the _Dresdensis_ have been
  considered of Tzental origin. See Pousse, in _Arch. de la Soc. Amer._,
  1885, p. 126, and Paul Perrin, “Les Annotations Européennes du Codex
  Peresianus,” in the same, June, 1887, p. 87 sqq. Förstemann
  (_Entziff._ III.) gives several cogent reasons for believing that the
  Dresdensis was written in or near Palenque.

Footnote 6:

  The four Codices can be obtained by placing an order with one of the
  leading importers of foreign books in New York City. The four cost
  about one hundred dollars. The study of the German writers is
  indispensable. The contributions of Dr. Schellhas and Dr. Seler will
  be found in the numbers of the Berlin _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_,
  1886 and later. Dr. Förstemann has likewise published in the
  _Zeitschrift_, 1891, and also in the _Centralblatt für
  Bibliothekwesen_, in which remote quarter some of his most thoughtful
  contributions have appeared; and in the Proceedings of the
  International Congress of Americanists. Four of his articles bear the
  general title, “Zur Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften,” I, II, III,
  IV. I refer to them by these numbers. The articles of Professor
  Thomas, Professor Rau, and Mr. Holden are contained in the annual
  reports of the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, where they can be
  readily consulted by American students.

Footnote 7:

  The essays to which I particularly refer are: “The Phonetic Elements
  in the Graphic Systems of the Mayas and Mexicans;” “The Ikonomatic
  Method of Phonetic Writing;” “The Writing and Records of the Ancient
  Mayas;” and “The Books of Chilan Balam.” All these are reprinted in my
  _Essays of an Americanist_, published by Porter & Coates,
  Philadelphia, 1890. As to how far this or any phonetic system is
  consistent with the known differences of dialects in the Mayan stock,
  is a question which space does not permit me to enter upon. I can only
  say that the signification seems to me to have been fixed in the
  Maya-Tzental district, and thence carried to the Chortis, Quiches,
  etc.

Footnote 8:

  The first copy of Landa’s alphabet published in the United States was
  by myself in the _American Historical Magazine_, 1870. Twenty years
  later, 1890, in my _Essays of an Americanist_, p. 242, I reproduced a
  photographic fac-simile of it from the original MS. Though not without
  considerable value in certain directions, I do not think it worth
  while to dwell upon it here.

  Bishop Landa’s important work, _Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan_,
  written about 1570, must be carefully read by every student on this
  branch. It has been twice published, first by the Abbé Brasseur, at
  Paris, 1864, and more fully at Madrid, under the competent editorship
  of Juan de Dios de la Rada y Delgado, in 1884. On the relative merits
  of the two editions, see my “Critical Remarks on the Editions of Diego
  de Landa’s Writings,” in the _Proceedings_ of the American
  Philosophical Society, 1887.

Footnote 9:

  The Abbé Brasseur’s whimsical speculations are in his introduction to
  the Codex Troano, published by the French government in 1869. The
  chief work of de Rosny on the subject is his _Essai sur le
  Déchiffrement de l’Ecriture Hiératique de l’Amérique Centrale_, folio,
  Paris, 1876. He fully recognizes, however, that there are also
  ideographic and pictorial characters as well as phonetic.

Footnote 10:

  Dr. Le Plongeon’s “Alphabet” was published in the Supplement to the
  _Scientific American_, New York, for January, 1885.

Footnote 11:

  At the time of his unexpected death, Dr. Cresson had left with me a
  full exposition of his theory. His enthusiasm was unbounded, and the
  sacrifices he had made in the pursuit of archæological science merit
  for his memory a kindly recognition among students of this subject.

Footnote 12:

  _Palenqué et la Civilisation Maya_ (Paris, 1888). The “Alphabet
  phonétique des anciens Mayas” is on pp. 10 sqq. The author was at one
  time attached to the French legation in Guatemala.

Footnote 13:

  In the _American Anthropologist_, Washington, D. C.

                     II. The Mathematical Elements.

                    1. _The Codices as Time-Counts._

In another work I have explained the numeral system in vogue among the
ancient Mayas, as well as the etymology of the terms they employed.[14]
It will be sufficient, therefore, to say here that their system was
vigesimal, proceeding by multiples of twenty up to very large sums. In
the same work I have quoted from original sources the information that
the fives up to fifteen were represented by single straight lines and
the intermediate numbers by dots. This has also been discovered
independently by several students of the manuscripts.

The frequency and prominence of these elementary numerals in nearly
every relic of Mayan writing, whether on paper, stone, or pottery,
constitute a striking feature of such remains, and forcibly suggest that
by far the majority of them have one and the same purpose, that is,
_counting_; and when we find with almost equal frequency the signs for
days and months associated with these numerals, we become certain that
in these records we have before us _time-counts_—some sort of
ephemerides or almanacs. This is true of all the Codices, and of nine
out of ten of the inscriptions. Here, therefore, is a first and most
important step gained toward the solution of the puzzle before us.

But did this incessant time-counting refer to the past or to the future?
Was it history or was it prophecy? Or, passing beyond this world, was it
astronomy? Was it mythology or ritual, the epochs and the eons of the
gods? Perhaps the disposition, sequence, and values of the numbers
themselves, once comprehended, will answer these vital questions.

                     2. _The Mayan Numeral System._

Unfortunately, the old writers, either Spanish or native, tell us little
about Maya mathematics. They say the computation ran thus:—

         20 units     = one _kal_, 20.
         20 _kal_     = one _bak_, 400.
         20 _bak_     = one _pic_, 8000.
         20 _pic_     = one _calab_, 160,000.
         20 _calab_   = one _kinchil_ or _tzotzceh_, 3,200,000.
         20 _kinchil_ = one _alau_, 64,000,000.

The Tzental system was the same, though the terms differed somewhat: 20
units = one _tab_ (cord or net-ful); 20 _tabs_ = one _bac_; 20 _bacs_ =
one _bac-baquetic_ (bundle of bacs); 20 _bac-baquetics_ = one _mam_
(grandfather); 20 _mams_ = one _mechun_ (grandmother); 20 _mechuns_ =
one _mucul mam_ (great-grandfather), 64,000,000.[15]

No doubt in the numerical notation there were special signs for each of
these higher unities; but neither Bishop Landa nor the native writers
who composed the singular “Books of Chilan Balam” have handed them down.
Modern sagacity, however, has repaired ancient negligence, and we can,
almost to a certainty, restore the numerical notation of the aboriginal
arithmeticians.

The scholar who has worked most successfully in this field is Dr.
Förstemann, the editor of the Codex of Dresden, and I shall introduce a
condensed statement of his results, referring the student to his own
writings for their demonstration.

                    3. _Numerical and Allied Signs._

The first important discovery of Dr. Förstemann in this direction was
that of the sign for the naught or cipher, 0. It is given in Fig. 2.[16]
It has a number of variants, some ornamental in design. Next, he
discovered the system of notation of high numbers. This is not like
ours, but resembles that in use in the arithmetic of ancient Babylonia
and some parts of China. The numerals are arranged in columns, to be
read from below upward, the value of each unit of a given number being
that power of 20 which corresponds to the line on which it stands
counted from the bottom. This will be readily understood from the
following example:—

     _Maya      _Simple values._                                _Composite
   numerals._                                                    values._

 [Illustration]  8 (1 = 20^4, = 160,000; hence,  8 × 160,000) =  1,280,000

 [Illustration] 11 (1 = 20^3, =   8,000; hence, 11 ×   8,000) =     88,000

 [Illustration]  8 (1 = 20^2, =     400; hence,  8 ×     400) =      3,200

 [Illustration]  7  (1 = 20,  =      20; hence,  7 ×      20) =        140

 [Illustration]  0  (1 =  1,  =       1; hence,  0 ×       1) =          0

                                                                 —————————

                                                       Total     1,377,340

                         FIG. 2.—Maya Notation.

This would be according to the regular system of the Maya numeration as
given above; but in applying it to the calculations of the native
astronomer who wrote the Dresden Manuscript, Dr. Förstemann discovered a
notable peculiarity which may extend over all that class of literature.
In the third line from the bottom, where in accordance with the above
rule the unit is valued at 20 × 20 = 400, its actual value is 20 × 18 =
360.

It immediately suggested itself to him that in time-counts this
irregular value was assigned in order that the series might be brought
into relation to the old solar year of 360 days, composed of 18 months
of 20 days each, in the native calendar.

This correction being made, the above table would read:—

                 8 (1 = 7200 × 20 = 144,000) = 1,152,000
                11 (1 =  360 × 20 =   7,200) =    79,200
                 8 (1 =   20 × 18 =     360) =     2,880
                 7 (1 =  20)                 =       140
                 0 (1 =   1)                 =         0
                                               —————————
                                               1,234,220

[Illustration: FIG. 3.—Maya Numerals.]

An examination of the mural inscriptions showed that on them also the
same plan for the expression of high numbers had been employed, and Dr.
Förstemann was enabled to interpret with accuracy the computations on
the monuments from Copan, Quirigua, and Palenque; developing
incidentally the remarkable fact that the inscriptions of Copan contain
as a rule higher numbers and are therefore presumably of later date than
those of Palenque. The highest is that on “Stela N,” as catalogued by
Mr. Maudslay, which ascends to 1,414,800 days, or 3930 years of 360
days.[17]

The next step was the identification of the graphic signs for the higher
unities, 20, 360, and 7200,—corresponding to the native _kal_, _bak_,
and _pic_.

That generally used for 20 was identified by several students. It is
shown in Fig. 3, No. 3; another also employed under certain
circumstances for 20 is shown Fig. 3, No. 2. This was identified
independently, first by Pousse, later by Seler.[18] No. 4 is perhaps a
variant of it.

The signs for the _bak_, 360, and the _pic_, 7200, are not so certainly
established, but Dr. Förstemann has given cogent reasons for recognizing
them respectively in the two shown Fig. 4, Nos. 6 and 7.

Higher signs than these in the direct numerical scale have not yet been
ascertained; but such plausible reasons have been advanced by Dr.
Förstemann for assigning calendar values to certain other signs that
they should be added in this description of the numerals.

The first is that shown in Fig. 4, No. 8. It represents the katunic
cycle of 52 years of 365 days each, = 18,980 days. The second is No. 9.
This is taken to be the sign of the _ahau katun_, 24 years of 365 days,
= 8760 days. The third is No. 10. This corresponds to one-third of an
_ahau katun_, = 2920 days. The fourth, shown No. 11, is an old cycle of
20 years of 360 days, = 7200. No. 12 means an old katunic cycle of 52
years of 360 days, = 18,720 days, and No. 13 an old year of 360
days.[19]

[Illustration: FIG. 4.—Calendar Signs.]

There are also a series of other signs evidently connected with the
numerals, the precise value of which is yet undetermined. One of these
is a small right or oblique cross, or sometimes two arcs abutting
against each other, connected or not. It is usually by the side of a
single dot or unit, or between two such. In certain places, it seems to
be a multiplier with the value 20; in others, it would indicate a change
or alternation in the series presented of days or years. (See Fig. 5,
Nos. 1–4.)

[Illustration: FIG. 5.—Numeral Signs.]

[Illustration: FIG. 6.—The “Cosmic Sign” and its Combinations.]

Of somewhat similar value are the calendar signs [Illustration], Fig. 4,
Nos. 2, 3, 4, like an _S_ placed lengthwise. This is also understood to
be a sign of alternation or change of series of years or cycles.

Of an opposite sense is the sign No. 5, the spiral, and also the sign
No. 1, both of which are held to represent union.

This list exhausts the mathematical signs so far as they have been
ascertained with probability. Those for high numbers brought forward by
Brasseur,[20] have no evidence in their favor.

Mr. Maudslay has offered reasons for believing that the character in
Fig. 6, _a_, stands for the numeral 20 in a certain class of mural
inscriptions.[21] He further points out that the character _b_ is not
unfrequently united with _a_, and that it (_b_) almost alone of the
mural glyphs is found with a double set of numerals attached to it as in
_c_. One or both these sets of numerals are at times replaced by the
sign _a_, giving the composites _d_, _e_, and _f_. It is thus evident
that _a_ has some numerical or calendar meaning. As a character itself,
it is the “cosmic sign,” conveying the idea of the world or universe as
a whole, as is seen by the examples to which Mr. Maudslay refers, from
various Codices. The cross-hatching upon it means, as I shall show
later, “strong, mighty,” and is merely a superlative. It may very well
mean 20, as that is the number conveying completeness or perfection in
this mythology.[22] That it appears on what Mr. Maudslay calls the
“Initial Series” of glyphs (which I consider terminals), is explained by
the nature of the computations they preserve. Another combination,
belonging most likely to a similar class, is the following
[Illustration] where the “cosmic sign” is united as a superfix to the
_pax_ and the flint. It has usually been explained as a “phallic
emblem,” and by Thomas as “tortillas.”[23]

            4. _The Rhetorical and Symbolic Use of Numbers._

In the old Maya language we find that certain numbers were used in a
rhetorical sense, and this explains their appearance in some
non-mathematical portions of the Codices and inscriptions. The two most
commonly employed were 9 and 13. These conveyed the ideas of indefinite
greatness, of superlative excellence, of infinity, etc. A very lucky man
was a “nine-souled man;” that which had existed forever was “thirteen
generations old,” etc. The “demon with thirteen powers” was still
prominent in Tzental mythology in the time of Nuñez de la Vega. Other
numerals occasionally employed in a symbolic sense were 3, 4, and 7.[24]

All these occur in the Codices as prefixes in relations where they are
not to be construed in their arithmetical values, but in those assigned
them by the usages of the language or the customs of religious
symbolism. Thus, “twenty,” owing to the vigesimal method of numeration,
conveyed the associated ideas of completeness and perfection; and as the
month of 20 days was divided into four equal parts of 5 days each, by
which markets, etc., were assigned, these numbers also stood
independently for other concepts than those of computation.

                5. _The Mayan Methods of Counting Time._

Having ascertained the characters for the numerals, and having learned
that these records are mainly time-counts, the next question which
arises is: How did the Mayas count time?

About this we have considerable information from the works of the
Spanish writers, Landa, Aguilar, Cogolludo, Pio Perez, etc., which has
been supplemented by the researches of modern authors.

The Maya system was a complicated one, based on several originally
distinct methods, which it was the duty and the aim of the
astronomer-priests to bring into unison,—and the effort to accomplish
this will chiefly explain their elaborate computations.

Undoubtedly their earliest time-count was that common to primitive
tribes everywhere—a measurement of the solar year by lunations or
“moons.” The exact lunar month is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3
seconds; but primitive peoples usually estimate it at 28 days, and allow
13 months to the solar year, as do yet many North Asiatic peoples, and
as probably did the early Aryans;[25] or, they estimate the “moon” at 30
days, and allow 12 moons to the year. There are good grounds for
believing that the Mayan tribes were at one time divided in custom about
this, some using one, some the other method. At the time of the Conquest
they had undoubtedly reached a knowledge of the length of the year as
365 days; and there is considerable probability that some of them at
least made the correction arranged for in our bissextile or leap
year.[26]

This is all familiar enough and would create no difficulty in
deciphering these aboriginal almanacs; but a disturbing element enters.
The real time-count by which they adjusted the important events of their
lives, and which is most prominent in their records, had nothing to do
with the motions of the sun, or the moon, or any other natural
phenomenon. It was based on purely mythical relations supposed to exist
between man and nature. As the number 20 (fingers and toes) completes
the man, and as all the directions, that is, potencies, of the visible
and invisible worlds were held to be 13, these two numbers, 13 and 20,
formed the basis of an astrological and ritual calendar, by which
auspicious and inauspicious days were assigned, future events foretold,
the major feasts and festivals of religious worship dictated, and the
like.

This singular time-count of 20 × 13 = 260 days was adopted with slight
variations by every semi-civilized nation of Mexico and Central America,
and even the names of the 20 days are practically of the same meaning in
all these languages.[27] It constituted the _tonalamatl_ of the Nahuas,
the “Book of Days,” used in divination.

This sacred period was subdivided into four equal parts of 65 days each,
each of which was assigned to the rule of a special planet or star, and
to a particular cardinal point with attendant divinities; and each was
marked with a color of its own, white, black, red, or blue.

Each “month” of 20 days was subdivided into four periods of five days
each, again each having its own divinity, assignment, etc.

But the importance to us of the _tonalamatl_ is that its computations
underlay the measurement of long periods of time, the less and greater
cycles. These were estimated by the methods of the sacred year, in
groups of 13, 20, 24, 52, 104, 260 years, etc. These irregular numbers
had to be brought into unison with the lunar and solar years, with the
vigesimal system of counting by 20 and its multiples, and with the
observed motions of the planets, who were divinities controlling the
ritual divisions of time.

To devise a mathematical method of equalities and differences by which
these conflicting numbers could be placed in harmonious relations,
subsumed under common measures, and the ceremonies and forecasts which
they controlled assigned by uniform laws—this is the arithmetical
problem which fills the pages of the Mayan Codices, and in parts or at
length is spread over the surface of the inscribed monuments and painted
vases. We need not search for the facts of history, the names of mighty
kings, or the dates of conquests. We shall not find them. Chronometry we
shall find, but not chronicles; astronomy with astrological aims;
rituals, but no records. Pre-Columbian history will not be reconstructed
from them. This will be a disappointment to many; but it is the
conclusion toward which tend all the soundest investigations of recent
years.

Let us recapitulate the numbers which the Maya mathematician had to deal
with and adjust under some scheme of uniformity:—

  1. The “week” of 13 days,                                          13.

  2. The “month” of 20 days,                                         20.

  3. Its division into four parts (called _tzuc_), each,              5.

  4. The complete _tonalamatl_, 13 × 20 days,                       260.

  5. Its divisions into four parts, each,                            65.

  6. The solar year, counted as 18 months of 20 days each,          360.

  7. The solar year, counted as 12 months of 30 days each,          360.

  8. The solar year, counted as 13 lunar months of 28 days each,    364.

  9. The solar year, counted as 28 weeks of 13 days each,           364.

 10. The true solar year, days,                                     365.

 11. The bissextile year (?),                                       366.

 12. The apparent revolution of Venus (_Noh-ek_, the Great Star),
       days,                                                        584.

 13. The apparent revolution of Mercury (?), days,                  115.

 14. The apparent revolution of Mars (?), days,                     780.

 15. The _kin katun_, or day-cycle of years,                         13.

 16. The older cycle of years,                                       20.

 17. The newer cycle of years,                                       24.

 18. The _katun_ cycle of years,                                     52.

 19. The double cycle of years,                                     104.

 20. The great cycle of years,                                      260.

                 6. _The Calculations in the Codices._

The Codices contain numerous calculations intended to bring these
various quantities into definite relations as aliquot parts of some
arithmetical whole, which might be taken as a general unit. The scribes
appear to have begun by establishing a period of 14,040 days. This
equals 39 years of 360 days each, and also 54 years of 260 days each,
together, of course, with the divisors of these numbers, 13, 18, 20, 65,
etc. Then followed the determination of the period of 18,980 days, = 73
_tonalamatl_, = 52 solar years, so prominent in the calendar and ritual
of the Nahuas.

This number, however, could not be adjusted to the cycle of the _ahau
katun_, which was 24 years of 365 days each;[28] nor to the ceremonially
prominent revolution of “the Great Star,” Venus, which coincides with
the Earth’s revolutions in 2920 days, or eight solar years. To bring
these into accord with the _tonalamatl_ required a period of 104 solar
years, or 37,960 days; and to adjust under one number the _katuns_, the
_ahau katuns_, the revolutions of Venus, the solar year, and the
_tonalamatl_, three times that number of days are required, that is,
113,880, = 312 years.

This period had still to be brought into relation to the old year of 360
days, and this requires the estimation of a term covering 1,366,560
days, or 3744 years; and this extended era we find expressed in the
Dresden Codex, page 24, in the following simple notation, the
interpretation of which into our system of calculation, according to the
method above explained, I add to the right.

This long period allowed all their important time-measures to be dealt
with as aliquot parts of one whole, and would seem to be sufficient for
the purposes they had in view. The credit of establishing it from their
ancient writings is exclusively due to Dr. Förstemann, whose
demonstrations of it appear to be conclusive.[29]

             [Illustration]  9 (unit = 144,000) = 1,296,000

             [Illustration]  9 (unit =   7,200) =    64,800

             [Illustration] 16 (unit =     360) =     5,760

             [Illustration]  0 (unit =      20) =         0

             [Illustration]  0 (unit =       1) =         0
                                                  —————————
                                         Total,   1,366,560

This acute observer has, however, discovered some reasons to suppose
that the native priests occasionally contemplated a much more extended
era; some of their calculations seem to require an era which embraced
12,299,040 days, that is, 33,696 years![30]

No doubt each of these periods of time had its appropriate name in the
technical language of the Maya astronomers, and also its corresponding
sign or character in their writing. None of them has been recorded by
the Spanish writers; but from the analogy of the Nahuatl script and
language, and from certain indications in the Maya writings, we may
surmise that some of these technical terms were from one of the radicals
meaning “to tie, or fasten together,” and that the corresponding signs
would either directly, that is, pictorially; or ikonomatically, that is,
by similarity of sound, express this idea.

Proceeding on the first of these suppositions, Dr. Förstemann has
suggested that the character, Fig. 4, No. 8, signifies the period of 52
years, the Nahuatl _xiuhmolpilli_, “the tying together of the years,”
represented in the Aztec pictographs by a bundle of faggots tied with
cords. The Maya figure is explained as the day-sign _imix_, representing
the first day of the calendar, and, by a kind of synecdoche, the whole
calendar, with a superfix.

       7. _Rules for Tracing the Tonalamatl, or Ritual Calendar._

That the computations of the _tonalamatl_ underlie most of the numerals
in the Codices is shown by the rules for reading them, formulated by
Pousse with reference to the red and black numerical signs. These rules
are as follows:—[31]

1. If to a red number be added the black number immediately following
it, the total less 13 (or its multiples, when the total is above 13)
equals the next following red number.

2. When the red and black numbers are written alternately on the same
line, they are to be read from left to right; when written one above the
other, they are to be read from below upward; when in two vertical
columns, they are to be read passing from one column to the other,
beginning with the first black number on the left, passing to the first
black number on the right, returning to the second black number on the
left, and so on.

Sequences of this kind are governed by the following rules:—

1. In any of the above systems the beginning is always marked by one or
more columns of days surmounted by a number.

2. This number is always the same as that which ends the series, and
both are written in red.

3. The sum of the numbers written in black, multiplied by the number of
days with different names represented by the hieroglyphs attached,
always equals 260, that is, the number of days in the _tonalamatl_.

The above rules enable the student to recognize the relations of the
different parts of the Codices. They prove, for instance, that the pages
are not to be read from top to bottom, but that the separate parts or
chapters are to be read in many instances from left to right in the
section of the page in which they begin, without respect to the folds of
the MSS.; and that evidently in reading these “books” they were unfolded
and spread out. A good example of this is in Cod. Dresden, pages 4–10,
on which one chapter covers all the upper thirds of the seven pages.

              8. _The Codices as Astronomical Treatises._

A careful examination of Dr. Förstemann’s remarkable studies, as well as
a number of other considerations drawn from the Codices themselves, have
persuaded me that the general purpose of the Codices and the greater
inscriptions, as those of Palenque, have been misunderstood and
underrated by most writers. In one of his latest papers[32] Professor
Cyrus Thomas says of the Codices: “These records are to a large extent
only religious calendars;” and Dr. Seler has expressed his distrust in
Dr. Förstemann’s opinions as to their astronomic contents. My own
conviction is that they will prove to be much more astronomical than
even the latter believes; that they are primarily and essentially
records of the motions of the heavenly bodies; and that both figures and
characters are to be interpreted as referring in the first instance to
the sun and moon, the planets, and those constellations which are most
prominent in the nightly sky in the latitude of Yucatan.

This conclusion is entirely in accordance with the results of the most
recent research in neighboring fields of American culture. The profound
studies of the Mexican Calendar undertaken by Mrs. Zelia Nuttall have
vindicated for it a truly surprising accuracy which could have come only
from prolonged and accurately registered observations of the relative
apparent motions of the celestial bodies.[33] We may be sure that the
Mayas were not behind the Nahuas in this; and in the grotesque figures
and strange groupings which illustrate the pages of their books we
should look for pictorial representations of astronomic events.

Of course, as everywhere else, with this serious astronomic lore were
associated notions of astrology, dates for fixing rites and ceremonies,
mythical narratives, cosmogonical traditions and liturgies, incantations
and prescriptions for religious functions. But through this maze of
superstition I believe we can thread our way if we hold on to the clue
which astronomy can furnish us. In the present work, however, I do not
pretend to more than prepare the soil for such a labor.

A proof of the correctness of this opinion and also an admirable example
of the success with which Dr. Förstemann has prosecuted his analysis of
the astronomical meaning of the Codices is offered by his explanation of
the 24th page of the Dresden Codex, laid before the International
Congress of Americanists, in 1894.

He showed that it was intended to bring the time covered in five
revolutions of Venus into relation to the solar years and the ceremonial
years, or _tonalamatl_, of 260 days; also to set forth the relations
between the revolutions of the Moon and of Mercury; further, to divide
the year of Venus into four unequal parts, assigned respectively to the
four cardinal points and to four divinities; and, finally, to designate
to which divinities each of the five Venus-years under consideration
should be dedicated.

This illustrates at once the great advance his method has made in the
interpretation of the Codices, and the intimate relations we find in
them between astronomy and mythology.

Such a theory of the Mayan books which we have at hand is world-wide
distant from that of Thomas and Seler. Take, for example, the series of
figures, Cod. Cort., pp. 14^a, 15^a, 16^a.[34] Förstemann and myself
would consider them to represent the position of certain celestial
bodies before the summer solstice (indicated by the turtle on p. 7);
while Thomas says of them, “It may safely be assumed that these figures
refer to the Maya process of making bread!!”[35]

           9. _Astronomical Knowledge of the Ancient Mayas._

Our information from European sources as to the astronomical knowledge
possessed by the Mayas is slight.

That they looked with especial reverence to the planet Venus is evident
from the various names they applied to it. These were: _Noh Ek_, “the
Great Star” or “the Right-hand Star;” _Chac Ek_, “the Strong Star” (or
“the Red Star”); _Zaztal Ek_, “the Brilliant Star;” _Ah-Zahcab_, “the
Controller or Companion of the Dawn;”[36] and _Xux Ek_, “the Bee or Wasp
Star,” for reasons which will be considered later. In the Tzental
dialect it was called _Canan Chulchan_, “the Guardian of the Sky,” and
_Mucul Canan_, “the Great Guardian.”

The North Star was well known as _Xaman Ek_ (_xaman_, north, _ek_,
star), and also as _Chimal Ek_, “the Shield Star,” or “Star on the
Shield.”[37] It was spoken of as “the Guide of the Merchants” (_Dicc. de
Motul_), and therefore was probably one of their special divinities.

The historian Landa states that the Mayas measured the passage of time
at night by observations of the Pleiades and Orion.[38] The name of the
former in their language is _Tzab_, a word which also means the rattles
of the rattlesnake. In the opinion of Dr. Förstemann,[39] their position
in the heavens decided the beginning of the year (or, perhaps, cycle, as
with the Nahuas), and they were represented in the hieroglyphs by the
_moan_ sign (to be explained on a later page).

Certain stars of the constellation Gemini were defined, and named _Ac_,
or _Ac Ek_, “the Tortoise Stars,” from an imagined similarity of outline
to that of the tortoise.[40] This may explain the not infrequent
occurrence of the picture of that animal in the Codices, and its
representations in stone at Copan and elsewhere.

The terms for a comet in Maya were _Budz Ek_, “Smoking Star,” and
_Ikomne_, “Breathing or Blowing,” as it was supposed to blow forth its
fiery train; in Tzental it was _Tza Ec_, “Star Dust.” Shooting stars
were _Chamal Dzutan_, “Magicians’ Pipes,” as they were regarded as the
fire-tubes of certain powerful enchanters.

The stars in Orion were known as _Mehen Ek_, “the Sons,” doubtless
referring to some astronomical myth.

The Milky Way was spoken of under two different names, both of obscure
application, _Tamacaz_ and _Ah Poou_. Another meaning of the former word
is “madness, insanity;” and the latter term was also applied to a youth
who had just attained the age of puberty.[41] Perhaps the connection of
the word lies in the ceremonies of initiation practiced by many tribes
when a youth reached this age, and which, by fasting and the
administration of toxic herbs, often led to temporary mania; and the
deity of the Milky Way may have presided over these rites.

The moon in opposition was referred to as _u nupptanba_, from _nupp_,
opposed, opposite. When in conjunction, the expression was _hunbalan u_,
“the rope of the moon,” or, “the moon roped.” When it was in eclipse, it
was _chibil u_, “the moon bitten,” the popular story being that it was
bitten by a kind of ant called _xulab_. An eclipse of the sun was also
_chibil kin_, “the sun bitten;” but more frequently the phrase was
_tupul u uich kin_, or, _tupan u uich kin_, “the eye of the day is
covered over,” or, “shut up.” It is useful to record such expressions,
as they sometimes suggested the graphic representations of the
occurrences.[42]

-----

Footnote 14:

  See my Library of Aboriginal American Literature, No. 1: _The Maya
  Chronicles_, Introduction, pp. 37–50 (Philadelphia, 1882).

Footnote 15:

  Vincente Pineda, _Gramatica de la Lengua Tzel-tal_, pp. 154, sqq.
  (Chiapas, 1887). Pineda makes the multiplier 400 instead of 20, in
  which he is certainly in error.

Footnote 16:

  The object portrayed is evidently a _shell_, probably selected as a
  rebus; but the name of the species I have not found. The ordinary
  terms are _puy_ and _xicin_.

Footnote 17:

  Förstemann, _Entzifferung_, No. IV, and Maudslay, _Biologia
  Centrali-Americana, Archæology_. Part IV.

Footnote 18:

  According to Pousse (_Archives de la Soc. Amer. de France_, 1887, p.
  165), it is used to designate the particular day which falls on the
  20th of the month, that is, the last day of the month, and has
  therefore the sense of “last,” “final,” rather than of 20. It is
  written as an affix to the month sign. Thomas states that it is used
  with month symbols “only where the month (of 20 days) is complete or
  follows one completed.” _Amer. Anthropologist_, Vol. VI, p. 246. There
  is some doubt whether No. 4 is not an element of union. Compare Seler,
  _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, 1887, p. 57.

Footnote 19:

  Dr. Förstemann’s article, “Zur Maya-Chronologie,” assigning the
  reasons for these identifications, appeared in the Berlin _Zeitschrift
  für Ethnologie_, 1891.

Footnote 20:

  _Etude sur le Manuscrit Troano_, p. 220.

Footnote 21:

  A. P. Maudslay: _Biologia Centrali-Americana; Archæology_, Part II.
  Text, pp. 40–42 (London, 1890). The character _b_ closely resembles
  the day-sign _chuen_. This could readily be chosen to express
  ikonomatically _chun_, “the beginning, the first,” and my studies
  convince me that it repeatedly must be so understood. To this I shall
  recur on a later page.

Footnote 22:

  Since the above was written, Mr. Stewart Culin, Director of the museum
  of the University of Pennsylvania, has called my attention to the fact
  that the cross-hatching on the “cosmic sign” would, in Oriental,
  especially Chinese symbolism, convey the idea of the fundamental dual
  principles of existence,—male and female, upper and lower, etc. The
  same interpretation may quite possibly apply in the Mayan symbolism.

Footnote 23:

  See my _Native Calendar of Central America_, pp. 49–59 (Philadelphia,
  1893).

Footnote 24:

  The dictionaries give: “_bolon pixan_, bien adventurado;” _bolon
  dzacab_, and _oxlahun dzacab_, “cosa eterna.” The numeral “one,” as in
  English, had a superlative sense, as _hun miatz_, “the one scholar,”
  _i. e._, the most distinguished. Why a symbolic or superlative sense
  was attached to such numbers is a question too extensive to discuss
  here. I have touched upon it in my _Native Calendar of Central
  America_, pp. 8, 13, and in an article on “The Origin of Sacred
  Numbers” in _The American Anthropologist_, April, 1894. In another
  connection we find _maay_, odor from something burning; “_bolonmayel_,
  qualquier olor suavissimo y transcendente”—_Dicc. Motul._ Dr. Seler
  has suggested that the number 13 may refer to the thirteen heavens;
  but offers no evidence that the Mayas entertained the Nahuatl myth to
  which this refers.

Footnote 25:

  Schrader: _Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples_, pp. 307–9.

Footnote 26:

  To enter into this debated question at length would not be possible in
  this connection; but I would merely note: (1) The positive assertion
  of Landa that the Maya year “invariably” began July 16 (_Cosas de
  Yucatan_, p. 236), could not be true even for five years, unless the
  bissextile correction was made, which he asserts was done; (2) the
  example of a Maya year given by Aguilar (_Informe contra Idolum
  Cultores del Obispado de Yucatan_, Madrid, 1639), is actually one
  containing six intercalary days, “_seis_ dias que fueron sus
  caniculares;” and (3) Father Martin de Leon, in his “_Calendario
  Mexicano_,” pointedly states that the fourth year was a bissextile
  year (_Camino del Cielo_, fol. 100, Mexico, 1611). I do not maintain
  that this knowledge was general, but that it had been acquired by the
  astronomer-priests of certain localities. The investigations of Mrs.
  Zelia Nuttall tend to demonstrate this opinion.

Footnote 27:

  On these points I would refer the reader to my work, _The Native
  Calendar of Central America and Mexico; A Study in Linguistics and
  Symbolism_ (Philadelphia, 1893).

Footnote 28:

  Professor Cyrus Thomas, in his carefully written article, “The Maya
  Year,” in the _Bulletins_ of the Bureau of Ethnology (Washington,
  1894), has collected evidence that the same calendar system, based, he
  believes, on the year of 365 days, was used in Palenque, Menche
  (Lorillard City), and Tikal, as well as in the Cod. Dresdensis. That
  the Mayas had, at the time of the Conquest, long known the year of 365
  days, was demonstrated from the Codices by Dr. Förstemann. (See his
  _Erläuterungen zur Maya-Handschrift_, Dresden, 1886, p. 21, and his
  “Die Zeitperioden der Mayas,” in _Globus_, January, 1892).

Footnote 29:

  See especially his articles, _Die Zeitperioden der Mayas_, 1892, and
  his _Zur Entzifferung der Maya-Handschriften_, IV, 1894.

Footnote 30:

  The grounds for this opinion are stated in his _Zur Entzifferung_,
  etc., No. II.

Footnote 31:

  A. Pousse, in _Archives de la Société Américaine de France_, 1886,
  1887.

Footnote 32:

  In the _American Anthropologist_ for July, 1893.

Footnote 33:

  See her “Note on the Ancient Mexican Calendar System,” communicated to
  the Tenth International Congress of Americanists, Stockholm, 1894.

Footnote 34:

  As the pages of the Codices are generally divided into compartments by
  transverse lines, the custom of students is to designate these from
  above downward by small letters added to the number of the page.

Footnote 35:

  In _American Anthropologist_, July, 1893, p. 262.

Footnote 36:

  “El lucero de la mañana, que parece hacer amanecer.” _Dicc. de Motul._

Footnote 37:

  Like _chimal ik_, “north wind.” _Chimal_ is the Nahuatl _chimalli_,
  shield, so these terms must be of late origin in Maya.

Footnote 38:

  “Regianse de noche, para conocer la hora, por el lucero, i las
  cabrillas i los astilejos; de dia, por el medio dia.” Landa, _Cosas de
  Yucatan_, cap. 34.

Footnote 39:

  _Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften_, No. IV.

Footnote 40:

  “Las tres estrellas juntas que estan en el signo de Geminis, las
  quales, con otras, hacen forma de tortuga.” _Dicc. de Motul._

Footnote 41:

  These definitions are given in the _Dicc. Motul_.

Footnote 42:

  In Cod. Peres., pp. 18, 19, the sun is shown bitten by birds, snakes,
  etc. We probably have in this a reference to an eclipse. On a later
  page I shall show the hieroglyph of the double loop of the rope, which
  probably signifies the moon in conjunction.

                      III. The Pictorial Elements.

To understand the pictorial portions of the inscriptions some
acquaintance with the native mythology is indispensable.

                1. _The Religion of the Ancient Mayas._

The religion of the Mayas was a polytheism, but the principal deities
were few in number, as is expressly stated by Father Francisco
Hernandez, the earliest missionary to Yucatan (1517);[43] and these,
according to the explicit assertion of Father Lizana, were the same as
those worshipped by the Tzentals of Tabasco and Chiapas.[44] Both these
statements are confirmed by a comparison of the existing remains, and
they greatly facilitate a comprehension of the Codices and epigraphy.

The spirit of this religion was dualistic, the gods of life and light,
of the sun and day, of birth and food, of the fertilizing showers and
the cultivated fields, being placed in contrast to those of misfortune
and pain, of famine and pestilence, of blight and night, darkness and
death. Back of them all, indeed the source of them all, was _Hunab Ku_,
“the One Divine;” but of him no statue and no picture was made, for he
was incorporeal and invisible.[45]

_Itzamna._—Chief of the beneficent gods was _Itzamna_. He was the
personification of the East, the rising sun, with all its manifold
mythical associations. His name means “the dew or moisture of the
morning,” and he was the spirit of the early mists and showers. He was
said to have come in his magic skiff from the East, across the waters,
and therefore he presided over that quarter of the world and the days
and years assigned to it.

For similar reasons he received the name _Lakin chan_, “the Serpent of
the East,” under which he seems to have been popularly known. As light
is synonymous with both life and knowledge, he was said to have been the
creator of men, animals, and plants, and was the founder of the culture
of the Mayas. He was the first priest of their religion, and invented
writing and books; he gave the names to the various localities in
Yucatan, and divided the land among the people; as a physician he was
famous, knowing not only the magic herbs, but possessing the power of
healing by touch, whence his name _Kabil_, “the skilful hand,” under
which he was worshipped in Chichen Itza. For his wisdom he was spoken of
as _Yax coc ah-mut_, “the royal or noble master of knowledge.”

_Cuculcan._—In some sense a contrast, in others a completion of the
mythical concepts embodied in Itzamna, was _Cuculcan_ or Cocol chan,
“the feathered or winged serpent.”[46] He also was a hero-god, a deity
of culture and of kindliness. He was traditionally the founder of the
great cities of Chichen Itza, and Mayapan; was active in framing laws
and introducing the calendar, at the head of which some Maya tribes
placed his name; was skilled in leechcraft, and was spoken of as the god
of chills and fevers.

As Itzamna was identified with the East, so was Cuculcan with the West.
Thence he was said to have come, and thither returned.[47] In the
Tzental calendars he was connected with the seventh day (_moxic_, Maya,
_manik_); hence he is mystically associated with that number. He
corresponds to the _Gukumatz_ of the Quiche mythology, a name which has
the same signification.

In the myth he is described as clothed in a long robe and wearing
sandals, and, what is noteworthy, _having a beard_. In the calendars of
the Tzentals he was painted “in the likeness of a man and a snake,” and
the “masters” explained this as “the snake with feathers, which moves in
the waters,” that is, the heavenly waters, the clouds and the rains; for
which reason Bishop Nuñez de la Vega, to whom we owe this information,
identified him with the Mexican Mixcoatl, “the cloud serpent;”[48]
whereas Bishop Landa was of opinion that he was the Mexican
Quetzalcoatl.

_Kin ich._—As Itzamna was thus connected with the rising, morning sun,
and Cuculcan with the afternoon and setting sun, so the sun in the
meridian was distinguished from both of them. As a divinity, it bore the
name _Kin ich_, “the eye or face of the day.” The sacrifices to it were
made at the height of noontide, when it was believed that the deity
descended in the shape of the red macaw (the _Ara macao_), known as _Kak
mo_, “the bird of fire,” from the color of its plumage, and consumed the
offering. Such ceremonies were performed especially in times of great
sickness, general mortality, the destruction of the crops through
locusts, and other public calamities. It seems probable from the
accounts that Kin ich was a much less prominent divinity in the popular
mind than either of the other two solar deities, and his attributes were
occasionally assigned to Itzamna, as we find the combination _Kin ich
ahau Itzamna_ among the names of divinities.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.—The Beneficent Gods draw from their Stores.
(Photographed from the Cortesian Codex.)]

_Other Gods._—To Itzamna was assigned as consort _Ix Chel_, “the
rainbow,” also known as _Ix Kan Leom_, “the spider-web” (which catches
the dew of the morning). She was goddess of medicine and of childbirth,
and her children were the _Bacabs_, or _Chacs_ (giants),[49] four mighty
brethren, who were the gods of the four cardinal points, of the winds
which blow from them, of the rains these bring, of the thunder and the
lightning, and consequently of agriculture, the harvests, and the food
supply. Their position in the ritual was of the first importance. To
each were assigned a particular color and a certain year and day in the
calendar. To _Hobnil_, “the hollow one” or “the belly,” were given the
south, the color yellow, and the day and years _kan_, the first of the
calendar series, and so on. The red Bacab was to the east, the white to
the north, and the black, whose name was _Hozan Ek_, “the
Disembowelled,” to the west.[50]

_The Cardinal Points._—Much attention has been directed to these
divinities as representing the worship of the cardinal points and to the
colors, days, cycles, and elements mythically associated with them.
Uniform results have not been obtained, as the authorities differ, as
probably did also the customs of various localities.[51] Pio Perez
assigns _kan_ to the east, _muluc_ to the north, _ix_ to the west, and
_cauac_ to the south. The arrangement based on Landa’s statements would
be as follows:—

 _Cardinal            _Bacab._             _Days._ _Colors._ _Elements._
 point._

 South,   Hobnil (the Belly),             Kan,    Yellow,   Air.

 East,    Canzicnal (Serpent Being),      Muluc,  Red,      Fire.

 North,   Zaczini (White Being),          Ix,     White,    Water.

 West,    Hozan ek (the Disembowelled     Cauac,  Black,    Earth.
            Black one),

On the other hand, it should be noted that the names of the winds in
Maya distinctly assign the color white to the east, thus:—

          East wind,      _zac ik_, “white wind.”
          Northeast wind, _zac xaman ik_, “white north wind.”
          Southeast wind, _zac nohol ik_, “white south wind.”

The solution of these difficulties must be left for future
investigation.

_The Good Gods._—Divinities of a beneficent character were _Yum Chac_,
“Lord of Waters or Rains;” _Yum Kaax_, “Lord of the Harvest Fields;”
_Cum Ahau_, “Lord of the Vase,” that is, of the rains, who is described
in the Dic. Motul as “Lucifer, Chief of the Devils” and is probably a
name of Itzamna; _Zuhuy Kak_, “Virgin Fire,” patroness of infants;
_Zuhuy Dzip_, “The Virgin of Dressed Animals,” a hunting goddess; _Ix
Tabai_, “Goddess of the Ropes or Snares,” also a hunting goddess as well
as the patroness of those who hanged themselves; _Ah Kak Nech_, “He Who
Looks after the Cooking Fire,” _Ah Ppua_, “the Master of Dew,” and _Ah
Dziz_, “The Master of Cold,” divinities of the fishermen.

To this list should be added _Acan_, “the God of the Intoxicating Mead,”
the national beverage, that being its name; _Ek Chua_, “the Black
Companion,” god of the cacao planters and the merchants, as these used
the cacao beans as a medium of exchange; _Ix Tub Tun_, “she who spits
out Precious Stones,” goddess of the workers in jade and amethysts; _Cit
Bolon Tun_, “the Nine (_i. e._, numberless) Precious Stones,” a god of
medicine; _Xoc Bitum_, the God of Singing, and _Ah Kin Xoc_ or _Ppiz Lim
Tec_, the God of Poetry (_xoc_, to sing or recite); _Ix Chebel Yax_, the
first inventress of painting and of colored designs on woven stuffs
(_chebel_, to paint, and a paint-brush).

A minor deity was _Tel Cuzaan_, “the swallow-legged,” a divinity of the
island of Cozumel (“Swallow Island”).

On a lofty pyramid, where is now the city of Valladolid, Yucatan, was
worshipped _Ah zakik ual_, “Lord of the East Wind.” His idol was of
pottery in the shape of a vase, moulded in front into an ugly face. In
it they burned copal and other gums. His festival was celebrated every
fourth year with sham battles.[52] Probably this was a representation of
Itzamna as lord of the cardinal point.

The “Island of Women,” Isla de Mugeres, on the east coast, was so named
because the first explorers found there the statues of four female
divinities, to whom altars and temples were dedicated.[53] They were
_Ix-chel_, _Ix-chebel-yax_, _Ix-hun-yé_, and _Ix-hun-yeta_. The first
two have already been mentioned. The last two seem to have been
goddesses connected with the moonrise and sunrise, as the dictionaries
give as the meaning of _yé_, “to show one’s self, to appear;” as in the
phrases _yethaz y ahalcab_, “at the appearance of the dawn;” _yethaz u
hokol u_, “at moonrise;” _yet hokol kin_, “at sunrise.”

Prominent among mythical beings were the dwarfs, known as _ppuz_, “bent
over;” _ac uinic_, “turtle men;” _tzapa uinic_, “shortened men;” and
_pputum_, “small of body.” They are sometimes represented in the
carvings, an interesting example being in the Peabody Museum. A legend
concerning such brownies was that before the last destruction of the
world the whole human race degenerated into like diminutive beings,
which prompted the gods to destroy it.[54] One class of these little
creatures, called _acat_, were said to become transformed into flowers.

As I have shown elsewhere,[55] many similar superstitions survive in the
folk-lore of Yucatan and Tabasco to-day. But it is not safe to look at
such survivals as part of genuine ancient mythology. For instance, the
goddess _Ix-nuc_, or _Xnuc_, said by Brasseur to have been goddess of
the mountains, by Seler, goddess of the earth, and by Schellhas, goddess
of water, is in fact not a member of the Maya Pantheon. The name means
simply “old woman,” and was first mentioned by an anonymous modern
writer in the _Registro Yucateco_.

_The Gods of Evil._—In contrast to the beneficent deities were those who
presided over war, disease, death, and the underworld. Distinctively war
gods were _Uac Lom Chaam_, “He whose teeth are six lances,” worshipped
anciently at Ti-ho, the present Mérida; _Ahulane_, “The Archer,” painted
holding an arrow, whose shrine was on the island of Cozumel; _Pakoc_
(from _paakal_, to frighten) and _Hex Chun Chan_, “The dangerous one,”
divinities of the Itzaes; _Kak u pacat_, “Fire (is) his face,” who is
said to have carried in battle a shield of fire; _Ah Chuy Kak_, “He who
works in fire,” that is, for destruction; _Ah Cun Can_, “The serpent
charmer,” also worshipped at Ti-Ho; _Hun Pic Tok_, “He of 8000 lances,”
who had a temple at Chichen Itza.

Chief of all these evil beings was the God of Death. His name is
preserved in the first account we have of Yucatecan mythology, that by
Father Hernandez, and, according to Father Lara, it was the same among
the Tzentals, Maya, _Ah-puch_, Tzental, _Pucugh_. These words mean “the
Undoer,” or “Spoiler,” apparently a euphemism to avoid pronouncing a
name of evil omen.[56] In modern Maya he is plain _Yum cimil_, “lord of
death.” He was painted as a skeleton with bare skull, and was then
called _Chamay Bac_, or _Zac Chamay Bac_, “white teeth and bones.”[57]

The spirit (_pixan_) after death was supposed to go to the Underworld,
which was called _Mitna_, or _Metna_ where presided the god _Xibilba_ or
_Xabalba_, sometimes called _Hun Ahau_, “the One lord,” for to his realm
must all come at last.[58] Another name for this Hades was _tancucula_
(perhaps _tan kukul_, “before the gods,” _i. e._, where one is judged),
which is given by the _Dicc. Motul_ as an “ancient word” (vocablo
antiguo). The happy souls then passed to a realm of joy, where they
spent their time under the great green tree _Yaxche_, while those who
were condemned sank down to a place of cold and hunger.

_The Conflict of the Gods._—Between these two classes of deities—those
who make for good and those who make for evil in the life of man—there
is, both in the myths and in the picture writings, an eternal conflict.

[Illustration: FIG. 8.—The gods of Life and of Growth plant the tree.
Death breaks it in twain. (Photographed from the Cortesian Codex.)]

In the Codex Troano, as Dr. Seler remarks, “The god of death appears as
the inevitable foil of the god of light and heaven. In whatever action
the latter is depicted, the god of death is imitating it, but in such a
manner that with him all turns to nought and emptiness. Where the
light-god holds the string, in the hands of the death-god it is torn
asunder; where the former offers incense, the latter carries the sign of
‘fire’ wherewith to consume it; where the former presents the sign
_kan_, food, the latter lifts an empty vase bearing the signs of drought
and death.”

                    2. _The Cosmogony of the Mayas._

We know practically nothing of the cosmogony of the Mayas; but it is
instructive in connection with their calendar system to find that, like
the Nahuas, they believed in Epochs of the Universe, at the close of
each of which there was a general destruction of both gods and men. The
early writer, Aguilar, says that he learned from the native books
themselves that they recorded three such periodical cataclysms. The
first was called _Mayacimil_, “general death;” the second, _Oc na
kuchil_, “the ravens enter the houses,” that is, the inhabitants were
all dead; and the third, _Hun yecil_, a universal deluge, a term which
the _Dicc. Motul_ seems to explain by mentioning a tradition that the
water was so high “that its surface was within the distance of one stalk
of maguey from the sky!” Another term for this catastrophe was
_bulcabal_, _haycabal_ or _haycabil_ (destruccion, asolamiento y diluvio
general con que fué destruido y asolado el mundo. _Dicc. Motul_).

This would make the present the fourth age of the world (not the fifth,
as the Nahuas believed); and this corresponds to the prophecies
contained in the “Books of Chilan Balam,” which I have quoted in another
work. The scene of the creation of man, the “terrestrial Paradise,” was
known as _hun anhil_, and the name of the first man was _Anum_, both
apparently from the verb _anhel_, to stand erect.

Many of the high calculations of the priests must have been for the
purpose of discovering the length of the present epoch and how soon the
world would end. They seem to have thought this would take place when
all their various time-measures would merge together into a common
unity, which each could divide without remainder.[59]

                3. _Cosmical Conceptions of the Mayas._

The cosmical conceptions of the ancient Mayas have not hitherto been
understood; but by a study of existing documents I believe they can be
correctly explained in outline.

[Illustration: FIG. 9.—The Universe. (From the Chilan Balam of Mani.)]

One of these is the central design in the Chilan Balam, or Sacred Book,
of Mani (Fig. 9). It was copied by Father Cogolludo in 1640, and
inserted in his History of Yucatan, with a totally false interpretation
which the natives designedly gave him.

The lettering in the above figure is by the late Dr. C. H. Berendt, and
was obtained by him from other books of Chilan Balam, and native
sources. In Cogolludo’s work, this design is surrounded by thirteen
heads which signify the thirteen _ahau katuns_, or greater cycles of
years, as I have explained elsewhere.[60] The number thirteen in
American mythology symbolizes the thirteen possible directions of
space.[61] The border, therefore, expresses the totality of Space and
Time; and the design itself symbolizes Life within Space and Time. This
is shown as follows: At the bottom of the field lies a cubical block,
which represents the earth, always conceived of this shape in Mayan
mythology.[62] It bears, however, not the lettering, _lum_, the Earth,
as we might expect, but, significantly, _tem_, the Altar. The Earth is
the great altar of the Gods, and the offering upon it is Life.

Above the earth-cube, supported on four legs which rest upon the four
quarters of the mundane plane, is the celestial vase, _cum_, which
contains the heavenly waters, the rains and showers, on which depends
the life of vegetation, and therefore that of the animal world as well.
Above it hang the heavy rain clouds, _muyal_, ready to fill it; within
it grows the _yax che_, the Tree of Life, spreading its branches far
upward, on their extremities the flowers or fruit of life, the soul or
immortal principle of man, called _ol_ or _yol_.[63]

Turning now to the central design of what has been called the “Tableau
of the Bacabs,” in the Codex Cortesianus, Fig. 10, we can readily see in
the light of the above explanation that its lesson is the same. The
design is surrounded by the signs of the twenty days, beyond which the
field (not shown in this cut) is apportioned to the four cardinal points
and the deities and time-cycles connected with them.

[Illustration: FIG. 10.—Our First Parents. (From the Cortesian Codex.)]

Again it is Life within Space and Time which the artist presents. The
earth is not represented; but we readily recognize in conventionalized
form the great Tree of Life, across it the celestial Vase, and above it
the cloud-masses. On the right sits Cuculcan, on the left Xmucane, the
divine pair called in the _Popol Vuh_ “the Creator and the Former,
Grandfather and Grandmother of the race, who give Life, who give
Reproduction.”[64] In his right hand Cuculcan holds three glyphs, each
containing the sign of Life, _ik_. Xmucane has before her one with the
sign of union (sexual); above it, one containing the life-sign (product
of union); and these are surmounted by the head of a fish, symbolizing
the fructifying and motherly waters.

The total extension of the field in these designs resembles the glyph
_a_ in Fig. 6. It is found in both Mayan and Mexican MSS.,[65] and
expresses the conception these peoples had of the Universe. Hence I give
it the name of the “cosmic sign.”

             4. _Pictorial Representations of Divinities._

Turning to the Codices and the monuments with the above mythological
lore in one’s memory, it seems to me there is no difficulty in
identifying most of the pictures presented by them. That this has not
been accomplished heretofore, I attribute to the neglect of the myths by
previous writers, and a persistent desire to discover in the mythology
of the Mayas, not the divinities which they themselves worshipped, but
those of some other nation, as the Nahuas, Quiches, Zapotecs, or Pueblo
dwellers.[66] I shall pay small attention to such analogies, as the
Mayas had a religion of their own, and it is that which I wish to
define. We may turn first to the—

[Illustration: FIG. 11.—Monogram of Itzamna.]

_Representations of Itzamna._—I have no hesitation in identifying
Itzamna with the “god B,” as catalogued by Dr. Schellhas in his
excellent study of the divinities of the Codices,[67] and which he
believes to be Cuculcan, while the Abbé Brasseur, followed by Dr. Seler,
argue, that it is a “Tlaloc” or Chac, _i. e._, a rain god.[68] He is
extremely prominent in the Codices, being painted in the Dresden Codex
alone not less than 130 times, and in the others about 70 times. No
other deity has half so many representations, and we may well believe,
therefore, that he was the Jove of their Pantheon.

This at once suggests Itzamna; but a phrase of the historian Cogolludo
leaves no doubt about it. The “god B” is associated with the signs of
the east, and his especial and invariable characteristic are two long,
serpent-like teeth, which project from his mouth, one in front, the
other to the side and backward.[69] These traits enable us to identify
“B” with Lakin Chan, “the serpent of the east,” who was portrayed “with
strangely deformed teeth,” and this was unquestionably but another name
for Itzamna, the god of the east.[70]

[Illustration: FIG. 12.—Itzamna: from the Codex Troano.]

[Illustration: FIG. 13.—Itzamna: from the Inscription of Kabah.]

An abundance of evidence may be adduced to confirm this opinion. This
deity is represented in close relations with the serpent, holding it in
his hand, sitting upon it, even swallowed by it, or emerging from its
throat. As a “medicine man” he carries the “medicine bag,” and the wand
or baton, called in Maya _caluac_, “the perforated stick,”[71]
surmounted with a hand, hinting at his name above given, _Kabil_, the
Skilful Hand. He is often in a boat, to recall his advent over the
eastern sea, and he is frequently associated with the showers, as was
Itzamna, who said of himself, _itz en muyal, itz en caan_, “I am what
trickles from the clouds, from the sky.” As the rising sun which dispels
the darkness, or else as the physician who heals disease, he is
portrayed sitting on the head of the owl, the bird of night and
sickness; and as the giver of life he is associated with the emblem of
the snail, typical of birth.

He himself is never connected with the symbols of death or misfortune,
but always with those of life and light. The lance and tomahawk which he
often carries are to drive away the spirits of evil.

Besides the above peculiarities, he is portrayed as an elderly man, his
nose is long and curved downward, his eye is always the “ornamented
eye,” which in the Maya Codices indicates a divinity. He is associated
with all four quarters of the globe, for the East defines the cardinal
points; and what is especially interesting, it is he who is connected
with the Maya “Tree of Life,” the celebrated symbol of the cross, found
on so many ancient monuments of this people and which has excited so
much comment. This I shall consider later.

[Illustration: FIG. 14.—Itzamna: from the Dresden Codex.]

[Illustration: FIG. 15.—Mask of Itzamna (?).]

We know from the mythology that Itzamna, like most deities, was
multiform, appearing in various incarnations. In the ceremonies this was
represented by masks; with this in mind I class as merely one of the
forms or epiphanies of Itzamna that figure in the Codices described by
Dr. Schellhas as a separate deity, “the god with the ornamental nose,”
whom he catalogues as “god K.” I am led to this conclusion by a careful
study of all the pictographs in which this deity appears; they all seem
to show that it is Itzamna wearing a mask to indicate some one
manifestation of his power (see especially Cod. Dresden., pp. 7, 12, 25,
26, and 34, 65, and 67, where Itzamna is carrying the mask on his head).
That there is a particular monogram for this character merely indicates
that it was a separate mythological manifestation, not a different
deity.

A remarkable and constant feature in the representations of Itzamna is
his _nose_. Thomas calls it “elephantine,” but, as Waldeck and Seler
have shown, it is undoubtedly intended to imitate the snout of the
_tapir_.[72]

When we remember that this animal was sacred to Votan, who played the
same part in Chiapas that Itzamna did in Yucatan, dividing and naming
the land, etc.; and that the interesting slate tablets from Chiapas, in
the National Museum of Mexico, portray the sacred tapir in intimate
connection with the symbol of _the hand_,[73] that associated with
Itzamna,—we are led to identify the two mythical personages as one and
the same. According to Bishop Landa the tapir was not found in Yucatan
except on the western shore near the bay of Campeche,[74] which shows
that the myth of the tapir god was imported from Tzental territory.

It may be asked why the tapir, a dull animal, loving swamps and dark
recesses of the forests, should have been chosen to represent a divinity
of light. I reply, that it arose from the “ikonomatic” method of
writing. The word for tapir in Maya is _tzimin_, in Tzental _tzemen_,
and from the similarity of this sound to _i-tzam-na_ the animal came to
be selected as his symbol. No such sacredness attached to the brute
among the Quiches, for in their tongue the allusive sound did not exist,
the tapir being called _tixl_. This rebus also confirms the identity of
Itzamna with the tapir-nosed deity of the Codices.[75]

The annual festival to Itzamna was called _Pocam_, “the cleansing.” On
that occasion the priests, arrayed in all their insignia, assembled in
the house of their prince. First, they invoked Itzamna as the founder of
their order and burned to him incense with fire newly made from the
friction of sticks. Next they spread out upon a table covered with green
leaves the sacred books, and asperged their pages with water drawn from
a spring of which no woman had ever tasted. This was the ceremonial
“cleansing.” Then the chief priest arose and declared the prognostics
for the coming year as written in the holy records.[76]

We may well believe that the Dresden Codex, pages 29–43, which are
entirely taken up with the deeds and ceremonies of Itzamna, was one of
the books spread out on this solemn occasion.

_Representations of Cuculcan._—As I believe the reasons above given are
sufficient to establish the identity of the “god B,” of Dr. Schellhas’
catalogue, with Itzamna, so I think his “god D” is Cuculcan.[77] He
himself believes it to be a “night god,” or a “moon god,” while Dr.
Seler considers it to portray Itzamna.

[Illustration: FIG. 16.—Monogram of Cuculcan.]

[Illustration: FIG. 17.—Cuculcan, with owl head-dress.]

The characteristics of this divinity are: A face of an old man, with
sunken mouth and toothless jaws, except one tooth in the lower jaw,
which, in the Tro. and Cortes. Codices, is exaggerated as a distinctive
sign; he has the “ornamented eye” peculiar to deities; and to his
forehead is attached, or over it hangs, an affix, which generally bears
the sign _akbal_, which means “darkness,” because he is the setting or
night sun; for which reason his head-dress is often the horns of the
eared owl. He is clearly a beneficent deity, and is never associated
with symbols of misfortune or death. Indeed, he is at times evidently a
god of birth, being accompanied with the symbol of the snail, above
explained, and is sometimes associated with women apparently as an
obstetrician. He is connected with serpent emblems, and holds in his
hand a sacred rattle formed of the rattles of the rattlesnake.

All these traits coincide with the myths of Cuculcan; but when we
perceive that he, and he alone of all the deities, is occasionally
depicted _with a beard under his chin_, just as Cuculcan wore in the
legend, the identification becomes complete.[78]

The most striking of his representations, and that which is most
distinctive of his identity with the “green-feathered serpent,” is the
picture which extends over pp. 4 and 5, middle, of the Dresden Codex.
Here he is seen with face emerging from the mouth of the great,
green-feathered snake-dragon, indicative of his own personality, his
hieroglyph immediately above his head.[79]

_Representations of Kin ich._—As has already been observed, the sun at
noon, conceived as a divinity, did not occupy a prominent place in Maya
mythology; and this is also the case in the pictorial designs.

[Illustration: FIG. 18.—Monogram of Kin ich.]

There is no doubt as to his representation. It is accompanied by the
well-known ideogram of the sun scattered over his body and represented
above him. It will be seen on a later page.

He is richly arrayed with large ear-rings and a characteristic,
prominent nose decoration. He has the “ornamented eye” and a full head
dress. (God “G” of Schellhas.)

Proceeding now to consider other divinities of the beneficent class, I
begin with—

_Representations of Xaman Ek, the Pole Star._—This is the “god C, of the
ornamented face,” of Dr. Schellhas’ list, who suggests its identity with
the pole star. The very characteristic face recurs extremely frequently,
especially in Codices Troano, Cortesianus, and Peresianus. We have
evidently to do with an important divinity, and, as Dr. Schellhas says,
“one of the most remarkable and difficult figures in the manuscripts.”
That it is the personification of a star he argues, (1) from the ring of
rays with which it is surrounded, Cod. Cort., p. 10; (2) from its
appearance in the “constellation band;” (3) from its surmounting in
certain pictures the “tree of life;” and that it is the North Star is
shown by its presence in the hieroglyph of that quarter and its
association with the sign for north.

There is another, and, to me, decisive argument, which at once confirms
Dr. Schellhas’ opinion, and explains why the north star is represented
by this peculiar, decorated face.

The term for “north” in Maya is _xaman_, whence _xaman ek_, north star.
The only other word in the language which at all resembles this is
_xamach_, the flat, decorated plate or dish (Nahuatl, _comalli_) on
which tortillas, etc., are served. In the rebus-writing the decorations
on the rim of this dish were conventionally transferred to the face of
the deity, so as to distinguish it by recalling the familiar utensil.
For a similar reason it is also called “the shield star,” _chimal ek_
(like _chimal ik_, north wind); but as this is a foreign word (from the
Nahuatl, _chimalli_, shield), it was doubtless later and local. I shall
refer to this peculiar edging or border as the “pottery decoration,” and
we shall find it elsewhere.

That the figure is associated at times with all four quarters of the
world, and also with the supreme number 13 (see above, p. 24), are not
at all against the identification, as Dr. Schellhas seems to think, but
in favor of it; for at night, all four directions are recognized by the
position of the pole; and its immovable relation to the other celestial
bodies seems to indicate that it belongs above the highest.

The North Star is especially spoken of as “the guide of merchants.” Its
representation is associated with symbols of peace and plenty (removing
the contents of a tall vase, C. Cortes., p. 40; seated under a canopy,
ibid., p. 29). In front of his forehead is attached a small vase, the
contents of which are trickling into his mouth (?).

[Illustration: FIG. 19.—The North Star God.]

He is especially prominent in the earlier pages of the Cod. Peres.,
where his presence seems to have been practically overlooked by previous
writers; and it is true that the drawings are nearly erased. Close
inspection will show, however, that he is portrayed on both sides of the
long column of figures which runs up the middle of page 3. On the left,
he is seated on the “Tree of Life,” as in Cod. Troanus, p. 17, _a_
(which is growing from the vase of the rains, precisely as in Cod. Tro.,
14, _b_, where the star-god is sailing in the vase itself). On the right
of the column he is shown in the darkness of night (on a black
background), holding in his hand the _kan_ symbol of fortune and food. A
similar contrast is on page 7, where on the right of the column he is
seen above the fish, and on the left, in the dark, again with the _kan_
symbol. On the intermediate page he is seated opposite the figure of Kin
ich Ahau, which is head downward, signifying that when the sun is absent
the pole star rules the sky.

[Illustration: FIG. 20.—The Bee god. (Codex Troano.)]

_Representations of the Planet Venus._—In view of the prominent part
which the Venus-year plays in the calculations of the Codices, it has
surprised students that no pictorial figures of this bright star appear
on their pages. On this point I have some suggestions to make.

In one part of the Codex Troano (pp. 1*–10*) there are a great
many—nearly fifty—pictures of an insect resembling a bee in descending
flight. These pages have been explained by Thomas as relating to
apiculture and the festivals of the bee-keepers, and by Seler, who
rejects that rendering, as referring generally to the descent of deities
to receive offerings. Direction downward is indicated not only by the
position of the insect, but by the accompanying hieroglyph, which reads
_caban_, the first syllable of which, _cab_, means “downward.” My
suggestion is that in this bee-like insect we have an ikonomatic
allusion to the Evening Star, which, as I have already stated, was
sometimes called _xux ek_, “the bee or wasp star.”[80]

Not only is the picture phonetically appropriate, and the “sign”
consistent, but that a deity is referred to is shown by three
anthropomorphic pictures of the bee (two on p. 4* and one on p. 5*).
Furthermore, the “sign” or monogram of the bee deity (Fig. 20) appears
on the so-called “title pages” of the Cod. Tro. and Cod. Cortes.,
adjacent to that of the north star, indicating that another stellar
deity is represented.

The object toward which the insect descends is generally either a fire,
or that shown in Fig. 22.[81] This was supposed by Brasseur to be a
honeycomb, and by Seler, a food offering. It is almost precisely the
conventional representation of the clouds, as may be noted in the
interesting scene on Cod. Tro., p. 5*, where this object is placed upon
the earth, below which is the cloud symbol. Often it is yellowish, a
point which has been urged in proof that it is honey. Does it not mean
the golden-hued clouds of sunset, and the fire, the flame of the setting
sun, into which the Evening Star descends?

The sign _caban_, “downward,” naturally refers to the Earth.[82] Thither
sinks the star of evening to join the departed orb of day; hence this
star mythically becomes the Earth-goddess, the associate of the setting
sun. Cuculcan is very frequently depicted in relation to an old crone,
having, like himself, but one tooth, and, like himself, ever engaged in
kindly offices, good to men. She, I take it, is the Evening Star in her
epiphany as Mother Earth, source of life, ancestress of the race.

[Illustration: FIG. 21.—Monograms of the Bee God.]

[Illustration: FIG. 22.—Offerings to the Bee God.]

A striking verbal analogy supports this. In the Popol Vuh, the sacred
book of the Quiches, the “feathered serpent,” Gukumatz, is positively
said to be the bisexual principle of life represented by the male
Xpiyacoc and the female Xmucane, ancestor and ancestress of all that
is.[83] Here, _x-mucane_ is most likely the Quiche feminine form of
_muc_ (_ul_) _canan_, which is a Tzental name for the planet Venus, as I
have already mentioned.[84] My conclusion is, therefore, that the old
woman so frequently associated with Cuculcan is the Evening Star, in her
form as the Earth-Goddess. I shall recur to her on a later page.

I think all these representations of the bee should be interpreted as
indicating the movements of Venus, and the mythical conceptions with
which they were connected in the native mind.

_Representation of Ghanan, God of Growth and Fertility._—Bishop Nuñez de
la Vega tells us that in the calendar he discovered among the natives of
his diocese, the fourth “sign” or day corresponded to the Mexican
Centeotl, god of fertility and the maize harvests. This fourth day in
the Tzental calendar bore the name _Ghanan_, and on turning to the
Tzental Dictionary prepared by Father Lara, we find that _ghan_ is the
general term for the ear of maize; _aghan_, when the grains are still
soft.

His representations in the Codices are moderately frequent and quite
peculiar. They all present in a marked degree the flattening of the
forehead and prolongation of the occiput upward which is so striking in
many of the sculptures.

[Illustration: FIG. 23.—From the Head-dress of the God of Growth.]

Dr. Schellhas, indeed (who catalogues him as “God E”), is so impressed
by this that he argues that all such forms were imaginary, obtained by
the artists through copying the conventional drawings of an ear of maize
arranged as a head-dress. This, however, is going too far, as there is
evidence, derived from ancient skulls, that certain classes of Maya
priests used to have the head artificially flattened in this manner.[85]
Perhaps they were those destined for the service of this or similar
deities. The officiants on the Palenque “Tablet of the Cross,”
presenting offerings to the “tree of life,” are both deformed in this
manner.

The maize god is associated with symbols of food, of vegetable growth,
and of prosperity. He carries a vase or is drawing forth the contents of
one, Cod. Cort., p. 40; he is seen with the loom, Cod. Dres., p. 45, and
he generally has about him the _kan_ symbol, that of means and comfort.

_Representations of the Serpent Goddess._—One of the most striking
pictures in the Codices is the Serpent Goddess, whose familiar is the
rattlesnake, which she wears as a head-dress or as a girdle. She is
depicted as an old woman, her costume ample and often splendid,
decorated with embroidery and bells, with necklace and ear-rings of
jade.

In expression she is severe, her lips protrude in anger, and her hands
and feet sometimes end in claws. The sinister cross-bones sometimes
decorate her skirts. Her business is with water and the rains. She is
pouring from a vase (_Cod. Dres._, pp. 43, 67, 74); or water is flowing
from her armpits, hands, and mammæ; or she is ejecting it forcibly from
her mouth (_Cod. Tro._, pp. 25, 27, 34*).

She is, however, not always represented as in old age, or else there was
another serpent goddess in the mythology; for in a number of places a
similar serpentine head-dress is borne by a young woman who holds a vase
containing the rattles of the rattlesnake (_Cod. Dres._, pp. 15, 18); or
(ibid., p. 20), a figure which shows seven black dots. May this be a
sign of the constellation of the Pleiades, which in the Maya language
bore the same name as the rattles of the rattlesnake, _tzab_?

As to the signification of the serpent goddess, I think there can be no
question of it, from a study of her appearance, signs, and associations.
She was the _personification of the thunderstorm_. The vase she empties
is the descending torrent of rain, the rattles she carries are the
thunderclaps, her severe mien is the terror inspired by the din of the
elements. In Maya, the word for “thunder,” _pecchac_, is derived from
the noun _pec_, which means “a sound like that of a bell or rattle”
(_Dicc. Motul_).

_Representations of Xmucane._—A third goddess who can be clearly
distinguished is one with features of an old woman, her face wrinkled,
her mouth sunken, and but one tooth left in her lower jaw. She usually
wears her hair in a peculiar style, two wisps or ends of it twisted
above her head.

She does not appear in the Peresianus, and perhaps not in the Dresden
manuscript, but holds a prominent place in the Troanus and Cortesianus.
Her occupations are peaceable; she is weaving on a loom (C. Tro., p.
11), carrying a plate of cakes, etc. (Cod. Cortes., pp. 10, 11).

In appearance she is the female counterpart of Cuculcan, and is plainly
intended to represent his companion or wife. In the “Tableau des Bacabs”
of the Codex Cortes., these two alone are represented sitting under the
central “tree of life,” where they are placed back to back (see above,
p. 49); while in the section of the tableau showing the West, they are
placed face to face, she seated under a canopy hung with black and red
dotted lines.

In her, therefore, we have a person of great importance, the consort of
Cuculcan, intimately associated with the quarter of the West to which he
belongs. Dr. Seler has argued that she was the goddess Ix chel, and the
personification of the Earth. With the last supposition I agree, but not
with the name. Ix chel was distinctly by name and myth the goddess of
the rainbow. Much more probably we have in this ancient crone, as I have
already said, the personification of the Evening Star, and the Earth,
Xmucane, the companion of the sun when worn out by his day’s work, whose
home is with him in the West, and whom she soon joins.

_Representation of Ah-Puch, God of Death._—Next to Itzamna, god of Life,
the god of Death, Ah-Puch, is represented most frequently on both
Codices and monuments. In the former his picture is given about eighty
times, usually as a skeleton with tremendous jaws, always with fleshless
skull and backbone,—a true “God Barebones,” as the _Dicc. de Motul_
describes him.

His symbols are unmistakeable,—the head of a corpse and cross-bones, the
ill-omened owl and the ravenous dog,—wonderfully “European” indeed. He
has numerous costumes and head dresses, some quite fanciful, and
occasionally bells are attached to his ankles and clothing. Some of his
delineations seem to reveal a sense of ghastly humor, as we see in the
medieval “dance of death.”

[Illustration: FIG. 24.—The God of Death. (From the Codices.)]

He is associated with the north, because in that direction lay the
mythical home of departed souls; but he is also present in the other
quarters of the compass, for death knows no distinction of places or
persons. Besides the cross-bones, usually shown as in Fig. 25, No. 1, he
often bears the curious design No. 2,[86] which I take to be _a maggot_,
and his head-dress is sometimes as No. 3, decorated with teeth, or
flints, with rays.

[Illustration: FIG. 25.—Symbols of the God of Death.]

[Illustration: FIG. 26.—The God of War.]

_Representation of the God of War._—Frequently associated with the
figure of death is that of a deity with a black line across his face.
This is numbered by Dr. Schellhas the “god F,” and called by him a “god
of death.” Much has been made of the line across his face as identifying
him with the Mexican god Xipe, “the flayer;” but this is not a constant
mark of Xipe, as Father Duran neither mentions it nor portrays it. In
fact, it is nothing more than the line of black paint athwart the face
which meant “war” very generally among the American Indians. An
inspection of the pictures clearly indicates that this is a war god. For
instance, in Cod. Tr., 27*, 28*, 29* _c_, he is shown repeatedly at full
length, armed with a flaming torch in one hand and a flint knife in the
other, firing the canopies of princes, his body striped with war-paint
like his face, following the god of death, who goes before him beating
on a drum and singing a song of war (as shown by the lines issuing from
his mouth). In Cod. Dresden., p. 6 _e_, he wears a war helmet with
nose-piece, and his body is black-striped also.

Which of the gods of war I have named this leading one may have been, I
leave undetermined.

_Representations of Ek Ahau and Other Black Gods._—In the Codices there
are about fifty figures painted black, evidently intended to represent
deities supposed to be thus colored. Forty of them are in the Codex
Troano, which is in parts devoted to a prominent character of this hue.
He is depicted with a truculent expression, a reddish-brown band around
his mouth, and with a large, hanging under-lip. He is generally armed
and often fighting. His figure is sometimes drawn unusually large, of a
ferocious appearance, and carrying a huge spear, a shield, a tomahawk, a
lighted torch, or other fearful sign of war. (See Cod. Tro., pp. 24,
25.)

Previous writers have not been able to assign a name to this deity.
Prof. Thomas suggested that it was Ek Chuah, said by Landa to be the god
of the cacao planters; but to this, Schellhas objects that his warlike
traits exclude such a supposition.[87] So the latter refers to him
merely as “the god M.”

[Illustration: FIG. 27.—Ek Ahau, the Black Captain.]

About his name, however, there can be no doubt. The paintings correspond
precisely with what Nuñez de la Vega tells us of the Tzental divinity
_Ical Ahau_, Maya, _Ek Ahau_, names which he translates, “the black
chief,” or, “the king of the blacks.” He was reported to have been “a
famous warrior and most cruel.” He was depicted “in the figure of a
ferocious blackamoor with the members of a man.”[88] The “blacks” of
whom he was king were seven in number, and were painted in most of the
native calendars which the bishop found among the Tzentals. They were
the signs of seven days, beginning, he adds, with Friday, which may have
been an erroneous explanation of the “masters.”

Among the remainder of the seven were doubtless the god _Ek Chuah_, of
the cacao planters, and the god “L” of Dr. Schellhas’ list. The latter
is found in the Cod. Dresden., pp. 7, 14, 21, 24, 46; but not at all in
the Troanus. It is evident, however, that, as Dr. Schellhas observes,
several minor black gods are depicted, which is explained by the
statement of the Bishop of Chiapas, that there were seven of them.[89]

                       5. _The Maya Priesthood._

Not all the designs of the inscriptions and Codices are to be considered
deities, however. Doubtless the priests, their representatives, also
appear. These were numerous and of both sexes, called respectively,
_ah-kin_ and _ix-kin_, masters of days and mistresses of days, that is,
having power to predict auspicious and inauspicious days. The chief
priest was variously called _ah-kin mai_ and _ahau can mai_, the word
_mai_, dust, fragrance, vapor, referring to the sacred rite of blowing
substances through a tube in incantation, as we find often represented
in the Codices.[90] _Ahau can_, which at times means “rattlesnake,”
should perhaps here be translated, “master of words,” as another term
for the high priest was _ah-chun can_, which is rendered “one who has
the right of the first speech in business; also, high priest.” (_Dicc.
Motul._)

They were divided into a number of classes exercising special functions;
as the _ah-mac ik_, who conjured the winds; the _ah-uai chac_, who could
bring rains; the _ah-pul_, “fetchers,” who could cause sickness, induce
sleep, etc.; the _ah-uai xibalba_, who made a specialty of interviewing
departed spirits; the _ah-cunal than_, who conjured by magical words;
and others.[91]

[Illustration: FIG. 28.—A Maya Priestess, bearing the _Moan_ Bird. (From
the Dresden Codex.)]

In their rites they were accustomed to appear in masks, _koh_, and
dressed in skins of wild animals, as tigers, etc.[92] Their ceremonies
were often painful, as the old writers report, and as the words to
express them, _kup_, to cut, _ppeta_, to cry out with pain, testify.
This is also abundantly shown by the pictures of scarifying the body and
transfixion of the tongue and ears, on the monuments.

They are said to have worn their hair uncombed and long, often matted
with the blood of the sacrifices. The expression for this was _hunhun
buclah u tzotzel hol_, (el que trae largos revueltos y marañados los
cabellos como los traen los idolatras. _Dicc. Motul_).

                        6. _Fanciful Analogies._

It were easy in these names, myths, and pictures, to pick out abundant
analogies to the mythologies of Peru and Mexico, of the Pueblos and of
the Old World. It has been done over and over again, usually with a
total oversight of the only point in which such analogies have much
value—the similarity disclosed the world over by independent evolutions
of the religious sentiment. The effort by such resemblances to prove
identity of historical origin is to be deprecated whenever the natural
growth of myths and rites will explain the facts considered. For that
reason I shall say nothing about “Tlaloc deities,” “serpent gods,” etc.,
with which so many pages of other writers have been fruitlessly taken
up. That the adjacent nations of equal culture influenced the people of
Yucatan to some extent, was no doubt a fact. It could not have been
otherwise. But that the Mayan mythology and civilization were distinctly
independent, and were only superficially touched by their neighbors, I
am deeply convinced.

On the other hand, just how far the influence of this potent and
personal culture of the Mayas extended, it is difficult to delimit. I
have found no trace of its peculiar forms in South America, nor anywhere
in North America, beyond the boundaries within which that extraordinary
calendar was accepted, upon which so much of it was based; but this, as
I have shown elsewhere, included not less than seven entirely different
linguistic stocks.[93]

                 7. _Total Number of Representations._

The actual progress toward an analysis of the pictorial elements of the
Codices which the above identifications indicate, may best be shown by a
few statistics.

I find that the total number of figures of men and women, or of
anthropomorphic deities, which are preserved in the manuscripts, is just
about 950, of which 825 are males and 125 are females.

They are distributed as follows:—

                Codex Peresianus,  40  males no  females
                Codex Cortesianus, 157 males  6  females
                Codex Troanus,     345 males 47  females
                Codex Dresdensis,  283 males 72  females
                                   ———       ———
                                   825       125

Confining our attention to the male deities, the attributes of which
have been above described, we find their pictures are distributed as
follows:—[94]

    ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                      PERESIANUS. CORTESIANUS. TROANUS. DRESDENSIS.
    ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
    Itzamna,                    4           30       32         130
    Cuculcan,                               22       54          20
    Kin Ich,                    4            2        8          22
    Xaman Ek,                   7           20       20           5
    The God of Maize,                       16       60           6
    Ah Puch,                    2           21       25          29
    The God of War,             9            3       26          13
    The Black Gods,             2            2       39           4
    ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
         Total,                28          116      264         229
    ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

This gives a total of 638 figures which have been recognized; in other
words, more than three-fourths of the whole number.

Of the remainder a considerable portion are unimportant men and persons,
victims of sacrifice, captives, attendants, etc.; others are priests or
officiants in ceremonies; allowing for which, it is certain that no
prominent figure in Mayan mythology under the human form remains to be
discovered in the Codices. This is a satisfactory result, and shows
that, as far as their pictographs go, the contents of these once
mysterious volumes are scarcely an unsolved enigma.

                      8. _Figures of Quadrupeds._

The pictorial portions of the Codices contain delineations of various
animals, some of which are evidently introduced with symbolical
meanings, and others probably so.

The dog, Maya, _pek_, is one of the most conspicuous. It is the native
breed, with smooth coat and erect ears. In many instances it is
associated with the sign for night, _akbal_, and with the god of death
(Cod. Tro., pp. 2, 3, 32, 33); also with the storm and the lightning.
For that reason Dr. Schellhas and Dr. Seler regard him as a symbol of
lightning.[95] But I am persuaded that while not disconnected with this,
the dog represents primarily some star or constellation. At times he is
dotted with spots to represent stars, Cod. Dres., p. 21; the _akbal_
sign refers to the night. His body is often in human form, carrying a
torch in each hand, Cod. Dres., p. 39. (Compare Cod. Tro., p. 23*.) In
Cod. Dres., p. 40, he falls from the sky; and in ibid., p. 47, he is
slain by the shaft of Itzamna. (Compare id. 2, where Itzamna is sitting
upon him.) He plays on the medicine drum, Cod. Tro., p. 20, and is
associated with the rains, id. pp. 26, 27. He represents the end and
beginning of time-periods, Cod. Cort., p. 32.

The spotted leopard, the jaguar, Maya, _balam_, whose name is attached
to the Chacs, and which appears in the calendar and in many of the myths
of the Mayan stock, is represented in a number of passages of the
Codices, as Cod. Dres., pp. 8, 26; Cod. Tro., pp. 17, 20, 21, 22. In one
part, Cod. Tro., 14, he enters dressed as a warrior with a human body.

The monkey, _maax_, is not often depicted, but is found with astronomic
relations, Cod. Tro., 25*; his sign is distinguishable by the markedly
prognathic jaws.

Deer are numerous, especially in the Cod. Troanus, where the pages 9–12
are occupied with a series of pictures of the animal in snares. On page
14 a large one is shown, sitting on his rump, his organ erect and
prominent. I have little doubt these represent a constellation. In Cod.
Dres., p. 2, a composite figure with deer’s hoofs appears three times,
sailing through the sky on the serpent’s head. (Compare Cod. Cort., p.
14.)

The small edentate, the nine-banded armadillo, _Tatusia novemcincta_, in
Maya, _ibach_, is shown twice in the Cod. Tro., both times caught under
a trap, once, p. 9, under the wind sign, again, p. 22*, under the
_cauac_ sign. What it represents is unknown.

                         9. _Figures of Birds._

Birds had important symbolical functions, and a number are figured in
the Codices. In their identification I have had the advantage of the
advice of Mr. Witmer Stone, who has pursued his ornithological studies
in Yucatan itself. The following are recognizable:—

1. The red macaw, _Ara macao_, Maya, _moo_ or _ahlo_; the type is shown
in Fig. 29. This was the symbol of Kin ich.

[Illustration: FIG. 29.—Bird Symbols from the Codices.]

2. The horned or eared owl, a large raptorial bird of the genus _Bubo_,
Maya, _coz_.[96] He is usually shown in full face to display his ears or
horns, _e. g._, Cod. Tro., 18*. He appears as an associate of the gods
of death and war, and symbolizes clouds, darkness, and inauspicious
events. His horns frequently appear on the head-dress of Cuculcan to
indicate the departing sun and night, like the _akbal_ sign. (See Cod.
Tro., pp. 19, 29*, 35*.) He is often associated with the number 13, and
may represent in the calendar the 13–day period.

3. Two species of vulture, the king vulture, _Vultus papa_, and the
turkey vulture, _Cathartes aura_, both abundant in Yucatan, Maya, _kuch_
and _ahchom_. The former is the bird seated on the “tree of life,”
tearing out the eyes of the victim, Cod. Dres., p. 3; Cod. Tro., pp. 15,
17, or the entrails, Cod. Tro., p. 15, 17. The naked head and neck of
the vulture on a human body is seen Cod. Dres., pp. 8, 13, 19, 38; Cod.
Cort., p. 10, etc. His head is his monogram, frequent in Cod. Peres.,
pp. 4, 7, 9, etc. (See Fig. 29, No. 2.) Its body is sometimes black, at
others more or less white.

4. The quetzal bird, _Trogon splendens_, is distinctly shown in Cod.
Dres., p. 16, above the middle figure.

5. The crested falcon, _Spizætus tyrannus_, the _moan_ bird, in Maya
_muan_ or _muyan_. This has well-developed tufts of erectile feathers on
the head and resembles in the drawings the horned owl. It is believed by
Förstemann to be the symbol of the Pleiades; by Seler, to be associated
with the clouds and rains. Both are probably correct.[97] (See Fig. 28.)

6. The pelican or cormorant is drawn with a human body and the “fish and
oysters” sign in Cod. Cort., pp. 20, 21.

7. Blackbirds, of which two species live in Yucatan, are portrayed in
Cod. Tro., p. 31.

8. The wild turkey is easily recognized by his head and “wattle” among
the food offerings.

                       10. _Figures of Reptiles._

Among reptilians, the turtle or tortoise (Maya, _ac_) is one of the most
prominent. By Dr. Schellhas it has also been called a _Blitzthier_, or
animal symbolical of the lightning, basing his opinion especially on
Cod. Dres., p. 40, where a human figure with a tortoise head is seen
holding a torch in each hand. It is distinctly represented as a
celestial body in Cod. Cort., pp. 13, 17, 37, and 38; and when we are
informed that the Mayas called a portion of the constellation Gemini by
the name “the tortoise,” it is quite clear that we are dealing with an
astronomical, not a meteorological, emblem.

Dr. Förstemann has advanced the theory that at least one and an
important function of the tortoise was as a symbol of the summer
solstice, in accordance with which he explains Cod. Dres., p. 40; and
that on the earth-plane it indicated the northeast and northwest
directions. His arguments for this opinion, if not conclusive, certainly
attach to it a high probability.

Between the tortoise and the snail (Maya, _hub_ or _ut_) there is in the
Codices some mythical relation. In the Aztec symbolism the snail is
often an emblem of death; but also of birth. It is likely that the same
holds true of the Maya designs. The animal is associated distinctly with
the beneficent deities, notably with Itzamna and Cuculcan, Cod. Dres., 5
and 37. But it is also visible in close relation with the god of death,
Cod. Dres., pp. 9, 12, 13, 14, 23.

Regarding it as a counterpart of the tortoise, Dr. Förstemann has given
various reasons for holding that it symbolizes the winter solstice and
the directions southwest and southeast, and thinks it probable that it
is found in the hieroglyph of the month _mol_, which occurs about that
season of the year.[98]

The frog, Maya, _much_, _uo_, is a well-known symbol of water and the
rains. It is shown falling from the sky in Cod. Cort., p. 17; and on p.
12, Itzamna, in his character as a rain god, appears with the body of
one.

The scorpion (Maya, _zinaan_) is depicted several times, especially in
Cod. Cort., p. 7, and Tro., pp. 9, 13, where it is of large size. Its
symbolic sense is not clear. The Mayas applied the term _zinaan ek_,
“scorpion stars,” to a certain constellation, but it is possible they
derived it from the Spaniards. Another possibility is that the animal
represents _the earth-plane_. The word _zinaan_ is derived from the
radical _zin_, which means to stretch out, to extend; and the entire
earth, as one extended plane, was called _zinil_.

The rattlesnake appears to be the only serpent which is represented as a
symbol. It was distinctively called, both in Tzental and Maya, “the
Snake King” (Maya, _ahau can_, Tzental, _aghau chan_). Its rattles were
termed _tzab_, and hence its name _ahau tzab can_, also in use.
According to the _Dicc. Motul_, the natives believed there were four
varieties, corresponding to the four sacred colors, white, black, red,
and yellow.

It is shown in the Codices, realistically, biting a man’s foot, Tro., p.
7; astronomically, in the sky among the stars, Cod. Dres., p. 43; Cort.,
pp. 12, 13; as the head-dress of the serpent goddess, already described;
as the companion of Itzamna and Cuculcan, frequently; as the body of
Itzamna, Cod. Cort., 10, in Cod. Dres. and Cod. Tro. It carries the
“constellation band,” and may generally be regarded as one of the
symbols of Time.

                   11. _Occupations and Ceremonies._

[Illustration: FIG. 30.—A Religious Function. (From the Dresden Codex.)]

Among the illustrations are a number which throw light on the habits and
customs of the ancient Mayas. We see persons engaged in spinning and
weaving, Cod. Tro., pp. 11*, 16*, etc., Cod. Dres., p. 45; others making
idols, Cod. Tro., p. 12*, Dres., p. 6, etc. Various religious ceremonies
are pictured, as piercing the tongue, Cod. Tro., pp. 16*, 17*; baptizing
children, which was performed at the age of four years,[99] Cod. Tro.,
20*; and the important functions at the end of the years, depicted both
in Cod. Tro., pp. 20–24, and Cod. Dres., pp. 25–28.[100]

A curious scene is that Fig. 29, from the Dresden MS., p. 35.

In the center, resting upon an altar of three degrees surmounted by the
sign _caban_, earth, is the head of the god of fertility, his soul
escaping from his nostril. Below, on each side of the altar, are two
figures, one playing on a flute, the second on the medicine drum. Above
are also two, one shaking the sacred rattle, the second squatted before
a flaming altar, in one hand the holy staff, _caluac_, while the other
lifts above his head the “fish and oyster” sign, symbol of the products
of the sea. On the right hand are other offerings, the turkey and the
dog; and below them a ladder, _eb-che_, probably signifying the day
_eb_, on which this ceremony took or should take place. Its successful
result is shown in the picture which follows it in the Codex.

Those who would follow Förstemann’s (and my own) views in understanding
the Codices, must accustom themselves to look upon the animals, plants,
objects, and transactions they depict as largely symbolic, representing
the movements of the celestial bodies, the changes of the seasons, the
meteorological variations, the revolutions of the sun, moon, and
planets, and the like; just as in the ancient zodiacs of the Old World
we find similar uncouth animals and impossible collocations of images
presented. The great snakes which stretch across the pages of the
Codices mean Time; the torches in the hands of figures, often one
downward and one upward, indicate the rising and the setting of
constellations; the tortoise and the snail mark the solstices; the
mummied bodies, the disappearance from the sky at certain seasons of
certain stars, etc. A higher, a more pregnant, and, I believe, the only
correct meaning is thus awarded to these strange memorials.

-----

Footnote 43:

  The account of Hernandez is given by Las Casas, _Historia de las
  Indias_, cap. CXXIII. The monk says that the principal lords alone
  knew the histories of the gods.

Footnote 44:

  Lizana’s work, of which only one complete copy is known to exist (in
  Madrid), has been partly republished by Brasseur in the Appendix to
  Landa, _Cosas de Yucatan_. He says the votaries came from Chiapas and
  Tabasco, p. 359.

Footnote 45:

  The _Dicc. Motul_ defines _Hunab Ku_ thus: “the one true and living
  God; the greatest of all the gods of Yucatan was so named, and he had
  no idol, because they said that he could not be represented, seeing
  that he was incorporeal.” This dictionary, to which I shall often
  refer, is one of the Maya language, composed at the Convent of Motul,
  about 1570. A copy is in my possession.

Footnote 46:

  In my work, _American Hero-Myths_ (Philadelphia, 1882), Chap. IV, “The
  Hero-gods of the Mayas,” I have treated at considerable length the
  duplicate traditions relating to Itzamna and Cuculcan.

Footnote 47:

  “Todos conforman en que este (Cuculcan) entró por la parte del
  poniente.” Herrera, _Historia de las Indias_, Dec. IV, cap. 2. Looking
  toward the North, Itzamna was the right-hand god, Cuculcan the
  left-hand; hence, the arrival of the former was called _nohnial_,
  “right-hand coming,” of the latter, _dzicnial_, “left-hand coming.”
  (Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucatan_, Lib. IV, cap. IV.)

Footnote 48:

  “En los Repertorios mas generales tienen pintado el 7 signo en figura
  de hombre y de Culebra, que llaman _Cuchul chan_, y han explicado los
  Maestros que es culebra de plumas que anda en el agua.” Nuñez de la
  Vega, _Constituciones Diocesanas_, Parte II, p. 132.

Footnote 49:

  The word _chac_ means “strong; the color red; heat; water.” The _Dicc.
  Motul_ says: “Significa agua en algunas maneras de decir; tambien dios
  de las aguas, relampago y trueno; _chacal ik_, tempestad de agua,
  huracan.”

Footnote 50:

  Mr. J. Walter Fewkes is certainly correct in his argument that the
  “ceremonial circuit,” of the Mayas,—the direction of movement in their
  ceremonies—was sinistral, that is, from right to left, in most
  instances. This should be remembered in studying the pictorial portion
  of the Codices. See Mr. Fewkes’ article, “A Central-American
  Ceremony,” in the _American Anthropologist_, July, 1893.

Footnote 51:

  An article by Dr. C. Schultz-Sellack, entitled “Die Amerikanischen
  Götter der vier Weltrichtungen,” in the _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_,
  Bd. XI, may be profitably read in this connection, though some of its
  statements are antiquated.

Footnote 52:

  _Relacion de la Villa de Valladolid_ (1579), caps. I and X. This
  _Relacion_ was printed in the Compte Rendu of the Congress of
  Americanists, the Madrid Meeting.

Footnote 53:

  Landa, _Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan_, p. 72 (Madrid Ed.). The ruins
  of this ancient fane are still plainly visible from the sea. J. L.
  Stephens, _Travels in Yucatan_, vol. II, p. 358.

Footnote 54:

  Carrillo, _Historia Antigua de Yucatan_, p. 207.

Footnote 55:

  See the article “The Folk-lore of Yucatan,” in my _Essays of an
  Americanist_ (Philadelphia, 1890).

Footnote 56:

  In Maya, _ppuch tun_ means to stone to death, matar à pedradas, _Dic.
  Motul_.

Footnote 57:

  Beltran, _Arte de la lengua Maya_, p. 217. Another name he gives is
  _Ox kokol tzek_, “thrice beaten bones.”

Footnote 58:

  Dr. Seler (_Verhand. Berlin. Anthrop. Gesell._, 1886, S. 416)
  considers Hun Ahau to be a calendar name; but it is significant,
  without having recourse to this roundabout explanation. Xibilbay, “the
  place of disappearance,” is the Quiche name for the underworld,
  corresponding to the Mictlan of the Nahuas. Both the terms in the text
  may therefore be borrowed. See my _Essays of an Americanist_, pp. 127,
  143.

Footnote 59:

  There are some reasons to believe that at the time of the composition
  of the Cod. Dres. the priests calculated that the world had then been
  in existence 3744 years. See Förstemann, in _Compte Rendu du Congrés
  des Américanistes_, VII Session, p. 746. Elsewhere, however, another
  suggestion as to the meaning of that number is offered.

Footnote 60:

  See my _Essays of an Americanist_, p. 269; and also an article by me,