~!I 
ANCIENT SCULPTURES OF GUATEMALA. 1 
Fig. 24. Large stone slab, about nine feet high by six wide. The sculpture 
represents some religious ceremony. ‘Two men are carrying between each other a 
standard, and appear to deliver the same to a third person. The standard is orna- 
mented by several appendices, one being especially large and circular, and having 
in its midst the face of a monkey. In the margin of the stone are seen several 
round rings with glyphs or signs, but all are so effaced that no correct delineation 
is possible. This slab is yet standing upright in a mound, and was originally entirely 
covered with earth, but at present the larger part of the face is uncovered. 
Fig. 25. Stone slab found in the grounds of Virgilio Pais, on the plain of 
Quayabo, near Santa Lucia. Drawing made after a sketch by Dr. OC. H. Berendt. 
The central figure represents a chief richly dressed, with a girdle round the waist, 
one extremity of the bow ends in a snake-head extending toward the woman stand- 
ing infront. One of the legs of the chief is ornamented; the other bare. The head- 
dress, behind which is seen a large bird, perhaps the common black vulture of 
Central America, is large and ornamented with many feathers. In front of the man 
stands a woman, evidently emaciated, as her ribs are plainly seen. She appears 
entirely naked, except a girdle round the loins. Her hair is elegantly dressed and 
tied with ribbons. Behind her is seen an evil spirit, or other mythical personage, 
with claws on hands and feet, and a very pronounced male member. The chief has 
his mouth covered with a bandage. 
Fig. 26. Original from the grounds of Virgilio Pais; the d rawing after a 
sketch by Dr. C. H. Berendt. Represents a sepulchral tablet, on which are seen 
the portraits of perhaps man and wife, their different head-dresses, ete., indicating 
decidedly their different sexes. From the mouths of the respective portraits extend 
as usual curved figures with notes or nodes. A similar speech writing is found in 
all Mexican manuscripts, as can be seen by a reference to Lord Kingsborough’s Mex- 
ican Antiquities, for instance, Tom. II, p. 26. This writing is entirely unknown in 
Maya sculptures and manuscripts, but is seen on some sculptures at Chichen, 
Yucatan. 
Fig. 27. From the same locality, and after a sketch by Dr. C. H. Berendt. 
A stone tablet, most likely, like the former one, a sepulchral tablet, having in its 
center a forced deadhead, with outstretched tongue. Above the same are seen two 
crossed bars, perhaps meant to represent two crossed bones. 
Figs. 28 and 29. The two sides of a sacrificial font or altar. The front is 
twenty-four inches high, ornamented with a face like that of a dead man. The ears 
