i. 
HOLDEN. ] THE MAYA HIEROGLYPHS. 237 
iarity to which I personally cannot pertend—and that it is clear that the 
method to reach its full success must be applied by a true scholar in 
this special field. 
IX. 
TLALOC, OR HIS MAYA REPRESENTATIVE. 
Although there is no personage of all the Maya pantheon more easy 
to recognize in the form of a statue than Tlaloc, there is great difficulty 
in being certain of all the hieroglyphs which relate to him. There is 
every reason to believe that in Yucatan, as in Mexico, there was a family 
of rain-gods, Tlalocs, and the distinguishing signs of the several mem- 
bers are almost impossible of separation, so long as we know so little of 
the special functions of each member of this family. 
In Yucatan, as in Mexico, Tlaloes main sign was a double line about 
the eye or mouth, or about both; and further, some of the Tlalocs, at 
least, were bearded.* 
CUKULCAN was also bearded, but we have separated out in the next 
section the chiffres, or certainly most of them, that relate to him. Those 
that are left remain to be distributed among the family of rain-gods; 
and this, as I have said, can only be done imperfectly, on account of 
our slight knowledge of the character of these gods. 
If we examine the plates given by STEPHENS, we shall find many 
pictorial allusions to Tlaloc. These are often used as mere ornaments 
or embellishments, as in borders, etc., and probably served only to notify, 
in a general way, the fact of the relationship of the personage repre. 
sented, to this family, and probably not to convey any specific meaning. 
Thus, in Plate XX XV of STEPHENS’ work the upper left-hand orna- 
ment of the border is a head of Tlaloe with double lines about eye and 
mouth, and this ornament is repeated in a different form at the lower 
right-hand corner of the border just back of the right hand of the sit- 
ting figure, and also in the base of the border below the feet of the prin- 
cipal figure. 
Plate XLVIIL (of STEPHENS’) is probably CHALCHIHUITLICUE (that 
is, the Yucatec equivalent of that goddess), who was the sister of Tlaloe. 
His sign occurs in the upper left-hand corner of the border, and in Plate 
XLIX the same sign occurs in a corresponding position. 
Plate XXIV (our Fig. 60) is full of Tlaloc signs. The bottom of the 
tablet has a hieroglyph, 93 (Huitzilopochtli), at one end and 185 ( Tlaloc) 
at the other. The leopard skin, eagle, and the crouching tiger (?) under 
the feet of the priest of Tlaloc (the right-hand figure) are all given. The 
infant (?) offered by this priest has two locks of curled hair at its fore- 
head, as was prescribed for children offered to this god. 
*See KINGSBOROUGH, vol. ii, Plate I, of the Laup MS. 
