60 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 
churned the ocean," out of which was then produced the 
amrita, or water of life, and thirteen other gems.“ A 
variant of this account is given by Picart (of. cit., p. 415) 
who says that “using this serpent as a cable, they lifted 
up the mountain, and afterwards let it fall again, till they 
at last fore’d this haughty element [the sea] to restore all 
the wealth which had made it so proud.” (See Fig. 2, 
plate facing p. 62). 
Turning to the Dresden Maya manuscript we find, on 
page 37a, a representation of the Old Bald-headed God 
(the Moon God) with the shell of the tortoise on his 
back*”—an incarnation, in fact, of the god as a tortoise, 
But an even more striking picture is seen on p. 1gb. of 
the Codex Cortes. The illustration there given" shows 
the tortoise on the top of a churn-like structure about 
which is coiled an object resembling a snake (Seler calls 
it a rope, but it appears to possess scales). On the left 
side of the central object are two dark coloured gods or 
demons holding on to the snake ; on the right side, simi- 
larly employed, stands the Long-nosed God (= Chae, 
the Rain God), and another indefinite personage. Appa- 
rently seated on the back of the tortoise is another God 
(? Roman-nosed God) who also holds the snake. In 
describing this picture, Seler calls attention to the tortoise 
being marked with a hieroglyphic sign which occurs ia 
the wina/-name yax and yvax-kin, and which perhaps 
signifies “tree” or “ wood.” He further states: “ It [the 
re? C.F, Oldham, ** The Sun and the Serpent,” London, 1905, p. 58, 
regards ** the churning of the ocean,” alluded to in the ** Mahabharata”’ as 
**an allegorical description of sea- borne commerce in its early days” (quoted 
by Dr. G. Elliot Smith, ** The Migrations of Early Culture,” Manchester, 
1915, p. 82). 
'** Birdwood, of. cit, p. 57; Thomson, ** Bhagavad-Gita,” p. 147. 
'°9 Seler, Zeit. fiir Ethnol., 42, p. §1, f. 738- 
‘1° Seler, Z. fiir £., 42, p. 48, f. 724. 
