GANX] MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN AND BRITISH HONDURAS 123 



Incense burners of the third type are decorated with a very crude 

 representation of the face only of the god, consisting in some cases 

 merely of slits for the eyes and mouth, with a conical projection for 

 the nose, on the outer surface of the vessel. Some of the faces are 

 represented conventionally by two ears,, with ear plugs, one on each 

 side of the vessel, or by knobs of clay on its outer edge, which repre- 

 sent the hair. Lastly, the incense burner, which may be recognized 

 by its hourglass shape, may be quite plain and undecorated. 



The third type is probably the latest in point of time ; ' this includes 

 the crude face-decorated bowls still used by the modern Lacandones,^ 

 among whom the ritual, as is so frequently the case, seems to have 

 survived almost in its entu'ety the faith which gave birth to it. 

 Tliis is the more readily comprehensible when we remember that the 

 manufacture and use of these ceremonial incense burners was practiced 

 commonly by all classes of the people, not having been restricted, 

 like most other details of the Maya rjtual, solely to the priests. 



f^ 



a b 



Fig. 71.— Small pottery vases found in Mound No. 26. 



Mound No. 26 



Moimd No. 26 was situated in a clearing about 7 miles to the south 

 of Corozal, m the northern part of British Honduras. There were 

 about 20 mounds, irregularly grouped, in this clearmg, varying from 

 6 to 12 feet in height and from 50 to 120 feet in circumference. The 

 momid was 8 feet high by 80 feet in circumference. It was built of 

 rough blocks of Hmestone, limestone dust, and earth, tightly packed 



I See TozzEE, op. cit., p. 87: " If we consider the t\-pe of bowl with the knob-like projection as a transi- 

 tion form, we are led to the conclusion that the most primitive form of incense burner was the bowl on 

 which was represented the whole body at first, and then the head of a person or animal." 



Ibid., p. 91: "The Lacandones assert that in former times the incense burners were made in other forms, 

 some possessing arms and legs. These arc seldom made or used now." 



- These face-decorated bowls -were in use as incense biu-ners among the Mayas of Valladolid, very shortly 

 after the conquest. See Relacion de la villa de Valladolid, p. 185: " Adoraban unos Idolos hechos de barro 

 d manera de jarillos y de macetas de albahaca, hechos en ellos de la parte de afuera rostros desemejados, 

 quemaban dcntro de estos una resina llamada copal, de gran oler. Esto les ofreclan d. estos idolos, y ellos 

 cortaban en muchas, partes de sus micmbros y ofrecian aquella sangre." 



See also Relacion de los pueblos de Popola, y Sinsimato y Samiol, pp. 44-45: " Usaban de adorar unos 

 jarrillos hechos en ellos rostros desemejados, teniandolos por sus ydolos quemavan dentro y ofresian una 

 resina llamada copal ques come trementina elada, de gran olor, y se cortavan en muchas partes para ofrecer 

 la sangre a aquel ydolo." 



