1893.] duo [Brinton. 



the whole of man, his complete nature and destin}", and, mystic- 

 ally, to shadow forth and embody all the unseen potencies which 

 make or mar his fortunes and his life. 



I have already spoken of the various theories to account for 

 the 13-day period. Whatever one we accept, I am persuaded 

 that this period was posterior and secondar}^ to the 20-day period. 

 At any rate, it was distinctly so regarded in the divinatory sys- 

 tems. Cordova, speaking of the Zapotec Calendar, which was 

 certainly the most primitive in form, tells us that each of the 20 

 signs had not only 13 numbers each, but 13 names, or rather 13 

 varieties of the same name.* 



In the region of the Tzentals, Bishop Xuiiez de la Yega de- 

 scribes as a common figure in their books of divination the 

 demon Coslahunfox, who was painted in a sitting position and 

 with horns on his head, his name meaning " the demon with 13 

 powers." f 



In this garbled account we must correct Coslahu7\tox to ox- 

 laghun tox^ "the thirteen divisions" or "parts;";}; and the 

 " horns " to the plumed headdress of quetzal or other feathers. 



Just such seated and crowned figures are found on sculptures 

 from the ancient cities of Ocozingo and Palenque, in the terri- 

 tory of the Tzentals ; one from the latter seated on a double- 

 headed tiger, and another from the former where the tiger is 

 conventionalized into an elaboratel}^ carved block of stone. § 

 These, and others like them, represent the divinity of the day, 

 seated with empty hands to show that he is a ruler and is not 

 required to labor, precisely as the early missionaries tell us was 

 the native idea of sovereignty among those peoples. || 



* " Cada uno de aquellos auimales que eran veynte tenia treee nombres, y aunque todos 

 estos trece nombres eran en si como una cosa, diferenciavanlos con les anadlr 6 quitar 

 letras." Cordova, Arte de Lenpua Zapoiera, p. 203. 



t"Al que llaman Coslahuntox (que es el demonio, segnn los Indies dicen con trece 

 potestades) le tieneu pintado en silla y con astas en la cabeza como de carnero." Nuiiez 

 de la Vega, Constiiunones Diocesanas, p. 9. 



J The Tzental verb gVoj; means to divide, to separate, to split. See above, note to page 281. 



§The figure from Ocozingo is given by E. G. Squier in his Observations on the Chalchihidtl 

 of Mexico and dntral America, p. 11 (New York, 1869). The bas relief from Palenque is 

 familiar from the works of Stephens, Charnay and others. In the Museum of the Troca- 

 dero, Paris, are several small seated figures of a similar character, some bearing a day 

 sign upon. They were collected by M. Pinart in Tzental territory, and have by some 

 been remarked upon as similar to the seated statues of Buddha. I take them to be of 

 the same class with the images just mentioned. 



II See the remarks of Father Goto in his Diccionario de la Lengua Cakchiquel, which I 

 quote in my Essays of an Americanist, pp. 115, 116, note (Philadelphia, 1890). 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. 800. XXXI. 142. 2 M. PRINTED NOV. 21, 1893. 



