T3. Goddess I is seated and holds the maize sign. In her 



hair is a knotted water lily. 



T4. In the absence of a picture the glyphs indicate the rule 



of Chac. It is the assertion of Thompson that the signs 

 indicate harm to the crops because even though Chac, 

 the maize and the moon dieties are present, strong sun 

 in the tropics is often harmful to crops. There are how- 

 ever a high proportion of favorable glyphs and augur- 

 ies. This would be decidedly to the advantage of the 

 shaman-priest in accounting for predictions. It allows a 

 margin of error in that it is enigmatic. 



Almanac 46 (p. 23b) Chants and offerings. 



T2. 



Gl. 1. Thompson suggests that the name r/?^/ is impli- 

 cated both as a homonymn for obsidian and for 

 Jalropha aconitifolia Mill. This member of the 

 Euphorbiaceae was stripped of its leaves which 

 were then boiled and eaten by the Maya. He 

 also suggests chaya, another Mayan name for 

 the same plant. Leaves had to be gathered at 

 the correct time and then pressed. As many 

 members of the Euphorbiaceae have toxic latex 

 at maturity, this was probably a usual mode of 

 treating the young leaves. Since a food glyph 

 followed by the eating sign occurs in four of the 



T3. Wh 



five t'ols this is probably correct. 



and eating. 



T5. Glyphs only are present, and repeat T2 and add the 



maize god and his eating. 



T6. Glyphs from T2 are repeated, as well as adding abun- 

 dance of maize and his eating. 



Almanac 47 (pp. I6c-17c) Divinatory, medical 

 T6. Gl. 4. Abundance of maize. 



104 



