612 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



to the above-mentioned figure of a priest, whether the costume is 

 indeed of feather work or, possibly, of separate strips of cotton which 

 are sewn together and hip over one another, any such doubt is pre- 

 cluded here by the fact that the feathers are indicated with perfect 

 distinctness on one of these figures, by outlines like those of «, fig- 

 ure 124. 



It is highly probable that these figures also represent priests, but 

 nothing analogous either to them or to the figure first mentioned is to 

 be found in the manuscripts or on the reliefs. 



Certain sitting figures in the same collection are equally remark- 

 able. The trunk is covered by a mantle without any ornament, 

 which leaves the upper part of the chest bai'e, and apparently con- 

 isists of nothing else but a large round covering with a hole in the mid- 

 dle through which to ]5ut the head (plate xlv, number 3), a rather 

 primitive article of dress, which, however, in the sitting figures shows 

 a strong resemblance to the accompanying illustrations from the man- 

 uscripts {c and (/, figure 123) . It is possible that the singular form of 



a h c d e 



Fig. 124. Figures showing dress, featlier worli, and neclilaces. 



this article of dress is only the result of a lack of artistic skill in the 

 maker of these figures, and that it really represents one of those 

 cloaks so frequently found in the Maya manuscripts and the Mexican 

 codices. Andagoya speaks of a similar article of dress in Nicaragua 

 (in Navarrete's Coleccion de los viages, etc.). He describes it as a 

 sort of cape with a hole for the head, which covered the breast as 

 well as the upper arm. 



Otherwise, the upper part of the body is nude as a rule in the fig- 

 ures of the collection as well as in the manuscripts. 



For iromcn. While Landa states that in many parts of Yucatan 

 the women wore an upper garment which covered the breast or a 

 kind of jacket which was fastened at the v,'aist by a girdle there is 

 not a single female figure to be found in any of the manuscripts with 

 the upper part of the body covered,^' and even the blanket which, 

 according to Landa, the women used to sleep under, and carried over 

 the shoulder when traveliuij. is nowhere to be seen. This fact is 



" Compare the figures Troano codex, pp. 15* and 16*. middle (men witli mantles), v.'itli 

 tlie figures, pp. 18*, 10*. and 20*, middle (women wifli slcirts, without upper garments). 



