SCULPTUKES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHlJALPA. 555 



homes lay. In that case this composition would have not mordv a 

 ritual but also a political signiticance. Among the details of the design, 

 the following may be noticed. On the headdress of the high pritst 

 there is a crab (Taschenkrebs), over his foi-ehead, a symbol whose par- 

 allel is not known. Feather tufts (Federballcn) are braided into the 

 hair, and to it is attached an object reaching nearly to the ground, 

 which looks like the tail end of a serpent. At the ])ack of the wooden 

 girdle there is a representation of a serpent's head looking backward, 

 and in place of the breechclout we see knotted serpents passing round 

 the body, with their heads and tails hanging down. Snakes phiy a 

 great part in all these compositions. The object upon which the 

 high priest seems to be standing is regarded by Habel as the car- 

 cass of the victim. There is certainly something wrapped round it 

 which resembles a breechclout. But there are also three holes which 

 are hard to interpret; and since the lower contour of the object seems 

 to have ])een mutilated in the original, we can not well make out what 

 it is. It will be noticed that to this object, as well as to the sacrificial 

 knife that the high priest holds in his hand, the sign of discourse is 

 attached. Above, in the middle of the plinth, there is a raised disk 

 upon which there is a grate-like figure from which depends a hook. As 

 already remarked, no interpretation of this sign is forthcoming; and 

 the same may be said of the shape under the foot of the upper right- 

 hand assistant. It is wrapped up and tied, and an arrow seems to pro- 

 trude from it. 



The plinth just described agrees with the other s-even in size alone. 

 Those seven all represent the same performance, namely, the invoca- 

 tion of different divinities. They are shown in figs. 2 to 8. Figs. 2 

 and 3 are from our casts; figs. 4 to 8 are enlargements of Habcl's 

 drawings. 



No. 2. The divinitj^ who hangs from a serpents jaw, is surrounded 

 with flames. From its rich necklace is suspended the disk of the sun, 

 also surrounded with flames. Its fingers have claw tips. It is tiie 

 divinity of the sun, conceived in view of its destructive eflects in the 

 tropical coast regions. The hand of the priest's raised arm is co\ered 

 with a human mask. On the back of the feather mantle whicii falls 

 behind can be seen, close to the priest's wrist, a human head with hair 

 bound together in a tuft. Noteworthy are the civsccnt-shaixMl incis- 

 ions on the knee of the left leg. Whether mere wrinkles of the skin 

 are intended is questionable. This plinth is the only one into which, 

 beside the priest, a second smaller figure is introduced, which pn.bably 

 has merely a symbolic signiticance. It is another human >l<.letnn. 

 Death, which, however, like the priest, wears the wooden gir.Ue. 

 Its left arm reaches down and its hand is covered witii a mask m^ the 

 form of a snake's head, while the right arm is stretched uj). From 

 the mouth of the skeleton to that of the priest extends a shape hk.- 



