654 MOUNDS IN NORTHERN HONDURAS [ETH. ANN. 19 
a small circular jar, decorated outside with a human figure support- 
ing itself on its forearms, the legs being held up in the air. Of the 
animals, + are tigers, 1 of which is shown in plate xxxmr, 4, and 
in plate xxxvi. Each is 44 inches in height. The body is colored 
white and covered with red spots encircled with black. The head 
is red, the ears white, and the eyes black. Each has a collar of 
small, oblong pieces of pottery colored alternately green, white, and 
red. The male genital organs are prominently represented, as the 
animals are sitting up on their hind legs. Each figure is hollow, 
and is perforated at the back by a small round opening. There are 9 
alligator-like animals, 1 of which has already been described, as it is 
the exact counterpart of the one found in mound 2.‘ Others are 
shown in figures 3, 4, 5, and 7 of plate xxxrv, and in plate xxxv, 2. 
Four of the 9 resemble figure 5, and are evidently intended to repre- 
sent alligators, judging by the shape of the body and legs, the spines 
on the tail, and the double row of excrescences extending along 
the center of the head and back. They vary from 54 to 7 inches in 
length. The bodies of two of them are colored red, and of two, white; 
the eyes and spines of all are colored black. A black streak passes 
around the jaws, and the forefeet are divided into three toes by thin 
black lines. The bodies are all hollow, with a circular opening in the 
center of the back covered by a pyramidal stopper, seen in situ in the 
figure. Figures 3 and 4, plate xxxrv, are not unlike the preceding, but 
they have the curious curyed ornaments before noticed both above and 
below the eyes. The tails are bifid, and the figures possess a horn-like 
excrescence attached to the tip of the nose. The double row of tuber- 
cles extending along the head and back is wanting. Figure 7 and plate 
xxxVv, 2, differ from figures 3 and 4 in possessing a pair of lateral, fin-like 
limbs instead of four legs, and figure 7 has a single, triangular dorsal fin 
placed in the center of the back. The hole communicating with the 
interior is at the side, to allow for the dorsal fin, and there is no stopper 
covering it. The bodies of two of the last four animals are red, and of 
two, white. The ornaments above the eyes are painted light green, out- 
lined in red. Figure 1, plate xxx1v, is probably intended to represent 
a shark. The body, which is 7 inches long, was first painted white 
and afterward red, but most of the paint has worn off. Figure 3, plate 
XXX, Shows a small round pot, 3 inches in height, to the outside of 
which is attached a human figure supporting itself on its forearms while 
its legs are held up in the air above the head. On the head is worn the 
usual enormous feather-decorated headdress, and around the forehead, 
wrists, and ankles are bands of small round pottery disks. The face 
There can be little doubt that this animal, together with its @uplicate, also the double-headed 
alligator, and the turtles, are all intended to represent the Aztee Cipactli, a mythie animal at 
times taking the form of a swordfish, a shark, an alligator, and an iguana; it symbolizes the earth, 
and, as in the above eases, is often represented with a human head between the jaws to signify that 
all flesh returns to its original earth, and to death, 
