FORSTBMANN.] DAY GODS OF THE MAYAS 563 



American monkey. This Schellhas has recognized as a deity of the 

 north. We assume, therefore, that the Little Bear is conceived of as 

 a monkey which holds fast with its prehensile tail to the pole and 

 swings about the latter. 



9. Eb, p. This Maya word is doubtless connected with the Euob 

 of the Tzentals and the E. or Ee, of the Kiche-Cakchikels. Like the 

 Pija of the Zapotecs and the Malinalli of the Aztecs, it signifies a com- 

 bination of points, spines, or thorns, a row of teeth, stiff varieties of 

 grass, and the brushes or brooms made of them. 



The glyph of this day is a head, and therefore, no doubt, a deity. 

 By the side of the eye and the nose are seen either two lines running 

 from the top downward or, carried out more in detail, a row of 

 many dots like spines around these lines, so that the whole is not 

 unlike a broom, as in Landa and often in the manuscripts. 



What deity is denoted here we can not yet positively determine. 

 We must expect to find similar marking on its face. In connection 

 with day 4 (Manik) we have already alluded to the various kinds 

 of lines on the face of the god E. Here, too, the deity we are in search 

 of may easily have been confounded with the forms supposed to rep- 

 resent the god E. I recall, for instance, the figure draAvn on the left 

 at the top of page 5 of tlie Dresden codex, in which two glyphs are 

 unfortunately destroyed. It should also be remembered that among 

 the Mayas the cleansing of the dwellings for the feasts was a pre- 

 scribed ritual act. We are reminded of the herba verbenaca used by 

 the Romans at the lustratio. 



10. Ben, q. The meaning of reed, rush, or straw belongs to Acatl 

 in Aztec, to Quii or Laa in Zapotec, and to Ah in Kiche and Cak- 

 chikel. The significance of Ben in Maya and Tzental is unknown, 

 but caghben in Tzental means dried cornstalk (Brinton, Calendar, 

 page 30). 



The Aztec glyph, as usual, is very distinct. In the Maya glyph 

 there are several straight lines at right angles to each other. The 

 most probable meaning of this is a roof made of reeds or rushes, 

 and this opinion Doctor Schellhas expressed to me in a letter 

 years ago. It may possibly refer to the Kiche god Chahalhuc, the 

 god of dwellings (see Stoll, Ethnographic der Indianerstannne von 

 Guatemala in the Internationales Archiv fiir Ethnographic, 1880). 

 But it is more likely to refer to the Aztec patron of this day, Itztla- 

 liuhqui, whoisgiven asthegodof coolness and of drought, also of sin. 

 It reminds us that the roof is a protection from sun heat and pouring 

 rain, and hides secret sin from view ; for were not adulterers stoned 

 before the image of this particular god? I am far, however, from 

 wishing that this train of thought should be regarded in the light 

 of an assertion. After the explanation above written Professor 

 Brinton sent me his interesting work, The Pillars of Ben, but I must 



