seler] 



EXPLANATION OF WALL PAINTINGS 



323 



lion of the forehead. In the hist figure on the riglit. Avhich differs 

 from the other forms of this side of the court in having a round eye 



of death, the face is divided length- 

 wise by a broad stripe, which re- 

 calls the drawing of Xipe, into a 

 light front half and a dark rear 

 half. The latter is covered with 

 concentric circles very much resem- 

 bling the divisions in the face paint- 

 ing which are generally seen in the 

 pictures of Quetzalcoatl. There 

 is in this case also evident varia- 

 tion of form or of conception of the 

 same deity. The way in which, on 

 one single strip of Avail painting, 

 the same deity is represented with 

 slight alterations, sometimes in dif- 

 ferent forms, and sometimes only in 

 calligrai)liic variants, closely follow- 

 ing one upon the other, recalls the calligraphic variants, or hiero- 

 glyphic elements repeated with slight alterations, which one so often 

 meets with in the ornamentation and hieroglyphic writings of the 

 Mava races. 



Fig. »2. 



The sun god, from the Borgian 

 codex. 



