430 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bill. 28 



Of course, the two solstices have not the great significance in Yuca- 

 tan which, Avith their extreme aUernations of light and temperatu.re, 

 they possess in the higher latitudes; yet by the alternations of dry 

 and wet seasons, by the varying length of the days, which differ by 

 two hours, and by the higher or lower position of the sun, as well as 

 by the deviation in the point of the sun's rising and setting, they are 

 sufficiently noticeable not to be passed over in silence in the ancient 

 Jiterature of a race so mathematically endowed as the Maya. 



We know from the Maya manuscripts that four animals — deer, 

 bird, lizard, and fish — were frequently placed in combination with the 

 four cardinal jDoints. To these must now be added, if my hypothe- 

 sis be correct, the tortoise as the representative of the northwest and 

 northeast and the snail as the representative of the southwest and 

 southeast. In Codex Cortesianus, pages 31a and 32a, the four ani- 

 mals appear, and immediately after them (page 33a) the tortoise. 

 On the so-called title page that has been much discussed, which con- 

 nects the Troano codex with Codex Cortesianus, to the days from Imix 

 to Kan, from Manik to Oc, and, lastly, Ben are assigned the four 

 cardinal points, while Chicchan and Cimi, as well as Chuen and Eb, 

 each have two unfamiliar signs, not the same both times, but different 

 ones, making four signs in all. Can these be the intermediate points? 

 Cimi, like death, would, as we have seen, be very appropriate to the 

 snail, while the sign for Chicchan in Codex Troano-Cortesianus (not 

 usually in the Dresden) has that latticework which, above, I have 

 alread}' connected Avith the tortoise. On the other hand, the relation 

 of Chicchan to the serpent's skin can not be denied. Moreover, I am 

 aware that the direction up and down is supposed to be indicated by 

 those two signs introduced between the cardinal points, a theory 

 which accords in so far with my hypothesis as these hieroglyphs 

 denotv3 the highest and the lowest position of the sun. 



