ANCIENT SCCLPTrRES OF GUATEMALA. 



17 



Fig. 24. Large stone slab, al)Oiit nine feet high by six wide. The sculpture 

 represents some religious cereiuony. Two men are carrying between each other a 

 standard, and appear to deliver the same to a third person. The standard is orna- 

 mented by several appendices, one being especially large and circular, and having 

 ill its midst the face of a monkey. In the margin of the stone are seen several 

 round rings with glyphs or signs, but all are so effaced that no correct delineation 

 is possible. This slab is yet standing upright in a mound, and was originally entirely 

 covered with earth, but at present the larger part of the face is uncovered. 



Fig. 25. Stone slab found in the grounds of Yirgilio Pais, on the plain of 

 Quayabo, near Santa Lucia. Drawing made after a sketch by Dr. C. H. Berendt. 

 The central figure represents a chief richly dressed, with a girdle round the waist, 

 one extremity of the bow ends in a snake-head extending toward the woman stand- 

 ing in front. One of the legs of the chief is ornamented ; the other bare. The head- 

 dress, behind which is seen a large bird, perhaps the common black vulture of 

 Central America, is large and ornamented with many feathers. In front of the man 

 stands a woman, evidently emaciated, as her ribs are plainly seen. She appears 

 entirely naked, except a girdle round the loins. Her hair is elegantly dressed and 

 tied with ribbons. Behind her is seen an evil spirit, or other mythical personage, 

 with claws on hands and feet, and a very pronounced male member. The chief has 

 his mouth covered with a bandage. 



Fig. 26. Original from the grounds of Virgilio Pais; the drawing after a 

 sketch by Dr. C. H. Berendt. Represents a sepulchral tablet, on which are seen 

 the portraits of perhaps man and wife, their different head-dresses, etc., indicating 

 decidedly their diff'erent sexes. From the mouths of the respective portraits extend 

 as usual curved figures with notes or nodes. A similar speech writing is found in 

 all Mexican manuscripts, as can be seen by a reference to Lord Kingsborough's Mex- 

 ican Antiquities, for instance, Tom. Ill, p. 26. This writing is entirely unknown in 

 Maya sculptures and manuscripts, but is seen on some sculptures at Chichen, 

 Yucatan. 



Fig. 27. From the same locality, and after a sketch by Dr. C. H. Berendt. 

 A stone tablet, most likely, like the former one, a sepulchral tablet, having in its 

 center a forced deadhead, with outstretched tongue. Above the same are seen two 

 crossed bars, perhaps meant to represent two crossed bones. 



Figs. 28 and 29. The two sides of a sacrificial font or altar. The front is 

 twenty-four inches high, ornamented with a face like that of a dead man. The ears 



