360 AIDS TO THE STUDY OF THE MAYA CODICES. 



connection with the "snake tongued," long nosed god of the Dresden 

 Codex, there is no doubt tliat the same deity is referred to. It is 

 worthy of notice in this connection that Plates 29-41 of the Dresden 

 Codex, which are devoted almost exclusively to this deity, refer very 

 largely to water, the god being figured in connection with water no less 

 than twenty-eight times. He is also twice colored black, probably to 

 symbolize the dark rain cloud, and twice blue, denoting water. It 

 is therefore fair to conclude that the author of this codex consid- 

 ered him the giver of rain. 



Fig. 382. Copy of head from the Borgian Codex (Quetzalcoatl). 



The following reasons given by Dr. Schellhas for supposing that 

 the deity indicated is Kukulcan apparently justify his conclusion, 

 though it is possible some other name may have been applied to him: 



He is represented in all the manuscripts, and far more frequently than any other 

 deity. His characteristic marks are always unmistakable. An entire section of the 

 Dresden Codex, pp. 39-43, and pp. 1 and 3, belonging thereto, treat almost exclu- 

 sively of this god, and wherever he is pictured thei-e we also find his name hiero- 

 glyph. He is always characterized by tlie double, snake-like tongue hanging from 

 his mouth and by the peculiar eye, two marks that are never absent, how nu- 

 merous and varied soever may be his rf|insi'ii(aticins, his symbols, and attributes. 

 We also find him with torches in his luin.ls as r,\ mlxils of fire; he sits on water; he 

 stands or sits in water or in falUng rain: he rides in a boat; he appears in company 

 with a fish as symbol of water or in company of a bird's head as symbol of the at- 

 mosphere, upon the day sign Cab as symbol of the earth, sitting, with the ax 



