GG2 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



In another place (chaj^ter 5) Landa says, speaking of the ancient 

 buildings : 



That all these buildings were erected by the same Indies who live there 

 now o is plainly seen by the naked men portrayed on them in stone, whose 

 jirivy parts are covered with broad girdles, which they call in their language 

 ex.'' 



And we are told of the warriors that they went fcn-th to war " clad 

 in the skins of tigers and bears ". 



Concerning the dress of the w^omen, Landa says, after paying them 

 a very flattering and, we hope, unbiased compliment (" son en general 

 de mejor dispusicion qne las espaiiiolas y mas grandes y bien 

 hechas '')," that it consisted merely of a skirt, Avhich covered the body 

 from the hips down, while in some parts of Yucatan still another 

 article of dress was used, which covered the breast. A long, sacklike 

 jacket, reaching to the hips and fastened there by a belt, was also 

 worn by many. In chapter 3 he states further that the female 

 divinities of the country were represented " vestidas de la cinta abaxo 

 y cubiertos los pechos, como usan las indias ". Lastly, also a cover- 

 ing is mentioned, which the women use when sleeping, and which 

 " when they take journeys they commonly roll up and carry on their 

 shoulders ". 



The meager accounts of other authors for the most part agree with 

 the foregoing, for instance, Cogolludo in his Historia de Yttcatan. 

 Bancroft, The Native Races of the Pacific States, draws from 

 recorded statements the conclusion that the dress of the various 

 classes of the population did not differ greatly among the Mayas, 

 save that, of course, the material used by persons of liigher rank was 

 finer. Warriors were, however, as already mentioned, provided with 

 special articles of dress (skins), and the priests were also undoubt- 

 edly distinguished by their dress from the " profanum vulgus ''. 

 Landa says, in his account of the Yucatec ceremony of infant baptism 

 (chapter 2G), that the officiating priest "wore an overdress of red 

 feathers, decorated with feathers of various colors, while larger 

 feathers were pendent from it, and to the lower hem were attached 

 long strips of cotton reaching to the ground. On his head he wore a 

 sacerdotal cap of the same feather work and in his hand he had a 

 kind of asiDcrgill of wood, Avith elaborate carvings, upon Avhich, in- 

 stead of horsehair, rattlesnakes' tails were fastened ". One of these 

 sprinklers is depicted in Codex Cortesianus, page 26, lower middle. 



A glance at the representations in the manuscripts, the reliefs, and 

 the figures in the Yucatan collection is enough to show that, on the 



" This could not Lavo been accepted as a fact beyond a doubt even at that time. How 

 else could Landa have thought of bringing forward express testimony in Its favor? 



"* Ex in the Maya of to-day (according to Pio Perez) means " breeches ". 



<■ Moreover, other authors say the same; for instance, Cogolludo (Book IV, chap. (J) 

 and Herrera (Historia de las Indias Occident:i!es). 



