SCULPTURES OF SANTA LlCrA COZUMAHUALPA. 557 



of flames, which show the evil qualities of the earth goddess upon 

 No. 3. The headdress of the priest runs out into three teeth, from 

 which proceed flames, and from his back there falls apparently the 

 skin of a beast of prey, into whose belly a lance is sticking. Seler 

 thinks that his interpretation of the divinity is contirmed by this fea- 

 ture, since the jaguar (if such it is intended to be) was, both with the 

 Mayas and with the Nahoas, the emblem of the sun; and he is shown 

 as stuck through with a spear, to indicate that the sun is robbed of his 

 power. So, according to Seler, the night gains its cause. Yet it would 

 be equally consequent to say that the destructive eftect of the sun is 

 overcome and a fruitful season, perhaps the rainy season, is brought 

 in. Seler himself brings confirmation to this interpretation in recall- 

 ing a Dresden design in which the wounded beast of prey, a puma or 

 jaguar, lies at the feet of the rain god. The left arm of the priest 

 is not stretched up, but the forearm is bent down, the hand being 

 covered with the mask of a beast of prey. Another such animal is, 

 according to Seler, depicted on the wooden girdle. If this be so, it 

 exceptionally looks upward, as plainly appears in Habel's drawing. 



No. 5. In this piece a rim surrounds the sculptured face. We have 

 before us only an indistinct cop}" of a bad photograph, for Habel 

 gives only a drawing of the lower half with the priest. The upper 

 half was subsequently found. The whole is, however, less well exe- 

 cuted than -the other pieces. Seler, who had the originals at his dis- 

 position, says that the ornaments above the divinity agree with those 

 which in old Mexico accompany the goddess of maize, named Seven 

 Snakes. She is one of the forms of the older earth goddess— the 

 mother of all that exists— having been differentiated in the course of 

 time among different races; Imt in all her transformations the eagle 

 continues to be a prominent accompaniment. The downward-shooting 

 eagle seen below, near the right leg of the priest, can be referred to 

 this fact, and so likewise can the eagle mask which covers the priest's 

 left hand, as well as the eagle upon the wooden girdle. The divinity 

 itself wears upon its head a braid of snakes; and from each arni there 

 springs a branch directed upward which seems to cori-cspond with the 

 sign of discourse. In the headdress of the priest there is a human 

 mask from which depends a long feathcT. 



No. 6. About this block, of which only the upper h-alf has been 

 found, there is a plain border. The divinity is surrounded by the 

 jaws of an alligator, which led Seler to suspect that it was the goddess 

 of water. As a confirmation of this he mentions figures of a crab and 

 of a fish which he savs are to be found among the blossoms ot the 

 branches which shoot downward from the arms of the goddess. Hut. 

 no such objects can be perceived in the reproduction ot a pliot.,graph 

 given by Seler. and Habel's drawing and description .show only he 

 crab and that at the fracture of the stone where the headdress of the 



