oann] MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN AND BRITISH HONDURAS 91 



bowlders and eartli, among which nothing was found l)nt scattered 

 patches of charcoal, with a few small red pots, so rotten and friable 

 from long exposure to the damp that it was found impossible to 

 remove them. Had there over been bones in the chamber, as seems 

 probable, they must have completely disintegrated Jong before from 

 contact with tlie damp cla}-. The floor was composed of flags of 

 shale. About the center of the west wall a recess was discovered 

 2 feet wide b}?^ 1^ feet high. This was half filled with earth, in which 

 the following objects were found: 



(1) The model of half a bivalve shell in liglit-green jadeite, very 

 well executed and polished both inside and out (pi. 16, a). On its 

 outer surface, following the contour of the outer edge, are seven 

 glyphs, the chief component of each of which is a grotesque human 

 face.' 



(2) A small mask of light-groen jadeite, well polished on both 

 surfaces, measuring approximately 7 cm. in both diameters (pi. 16, h). 

 Inscribed on the forehead in shallow lines are the glyphs shown 

 in figure 35, somewhat enlarged from the actual size. Around the 

 edge of the lower haK 

 of the mask are seven 

 minute perforations, 

 while running across the 

 back of the forehead 

 from ear to ear is a larger 



'^ Fig. 35.— Inscription on mask, plate 16, 6. 



hole, evidently used lor 



suspension. No doubt this mask was used as a breast ornament, 

 similar to those portrayed in the codices and on the monohths, the 

 small holes being intended for the suspension of the aUigator-head 

 beads f omid with the 'mask, which again may have been connected 

 along their outward-pointing snouts by the cylindrical beads. 



(3) An ax head, or celt, of light-green stone, finely polished through- 

 out (pi. 16, c), 21 cm. in length by 6.5 cm. in breadth at the cutting 

 edge. One side is engraved with hieroglyphs done in shallow lines, 

 much less carefully and neatly than those on the shell. The lower 

 two-tliirds of the engraved side have evidently been subjected to con- 

 siderable attrition, as the surface of the stone, especially along the 

 lower third of the ax, has been so worn away as to render the fines 

 almost undecipherable. This inscription, somewhat smaUer than the 

 original, is shown in figure 36. With these engraved o])jocts were 

 a number of cylindrical beads, pierced in their long diameter, made 

 of very pretty mottled light and dark green jade, well polished. 

 They varied from 1.2 to 1.6 cm. in length, and the substance of 

 the stone from which they were made was distinctly crystaUine 



1 This shell has already been reproduced in the Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology, pi. lxix. 



