SELER] THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 45 



day .sig-n ar^ obscure, l)ut 1 proved in my earlier work that the jiilyplis 

 o and y (same tio-ure) stood for "dog-". The dog plays an important 

 part in Maya manuscripts. He is the lightnino- heast, who darts from 

 heaven with a torch in his hand (sec Dresden codex, page 4(»/>). And 

 the death-l)ringing signiticance of the dog is also set forth in glyph ^^ 

 in which we tind the vertebral column of a skeleton, as also in /•, the 

 hieroglyph of the month Kan-kin, the yellow^, that is, the scorching 

 sun high in the zenith. The dog shares this role of lightning beast in 

 the manuscripts with two other creatures. One represents a beast of 

 prey, unspotted, with long tail, a rather long head, and the sign Akbal 

 over the e3"e, which is denoted in the Dresden codex, page 8(k/, by the 

 principal hieroglyph of the tiger and also by .s, a glyph, which is com- 

 posed of theda}^ sign Kan and the gl.yph kan, ''yellow", and therefore 

 probably denotes the j^ellow beast. I think that it is meant for the 

 lion or jaguar (coh), which is also, for instance, in Zapotec, described 

 as "the yellow beast of prey"" (pcche-yache). The other creature has 

 a head with a proboscislike, elongated snout, ??, and hoofs on its feet; 

 it is glyphically described by this same head and also by gl.yph u, 

 which is composed of an ax, a feather, and the abbreviation of a head, 

 or the sign uinal ("a whole man")". 1 take this creature to be tzimin, 

 ("a tapir"). We know that Central American nations connected the 

 tapir closely with the deities of the four cardinal points. We are told 

 of the Itzaex at Peten that the}" worshiped an idol "de figura de 

 cavallo (of the tigure of a horse)", which bore the name Tzimin-Chac, 

 Caballo del Trueno 6 Rayo ("horse of the thunder or lightning") and 

 was regarded by them as the god of thunder and lightning. 



Nunez de la Vega says of the great god Votan at Chiapas: Que en 

 Huehueta, que es pueblo Soconusco, estuvo, y (fue alii puso dantas 

 y un tesoro grande en una casa lobrega, que fabrico.a soplos. ("That 

 he was at Huehueta, which is a village of Soconusco, and that there he 

 placed tapirs and a great treasure in an obscure house which he erected 

 in an instknt.") Certainly, the conception of the tapirs supporting the 

 heavens and the words for it have penetrated even into Mexico. The 

 six tzitzimime ilhuicatzitzquique, angeles de aire sostenedores del cielo 

 que eran, segun decian dioses de los aires que traian las lluvias, aguas, 

 truenos, relampagos y rayos y "habian de estar a la redonda de Uitzilo- 

 pochtli ("angels of the air, upholders of the heavens; they were, as 

 we are told, gods of the air, who brought the rain, waters, thunder, 

 lightning, and sun})eams, and must have been in the neighl)orhood of 

 Uitzilopochtli"), which Tezozomoc mentions, are nothing else but the 

 plural forms of tzimin, "tapir", constructed according to the rules of 

 the Mexican tongue. From it, indeed, inversely, a singular form, 

 tzitzimitl, which is the title of a particular warrior's dress coml)ined 



"Scler, Ueberdu-BedoutvinKdesZahlzeiohens L'O in dor iMuya-Schrilt (Zoitschrift fi\r Ellinologie, 

 lU, Verhandlungen, pp. 238, 239). 



