SCHELLHAS] NECKLACES, COLLARS, AND EAR ORNAMENTS 613 



all the more surprising because an upper garment is by no means 

 unusual among women in the Mexican manuscripts (see b. figure 

 124, Mendoza codex, page 69, for a jacket answering to Landa's 

 description). 



Nor do we find anything in the Yucatan collection which corre- 

 sponds to Landa's account. No actual garment for the upper part 

 of the body occurs here; there is only an occasional skirt, which 

 comes just up to the breasts, but leaves them free. Nor do we find 

 anything of the kind on the Yucatan reliefs, while a mantillalike 

 garment occurs in the representations at Palenque, with the well- 

 known pattern of crossed lines («, figure 123) repeated so often in 

 the women's dress seen in representations at that place and at Copan. 

 A peculiar article of dress, seen scarcely anywhere else, is worn by 

 ihe female figures on the well-known relief of the Cross and the sim- 

 ilar one in casa number 3 (after Stephens) at Palenque. It covers 

 the Avhole body from the throat almost down to the knees, but is 

 otherwise difficult to define. Knotted and twisted portions of this 

 garment seem to hang down on all sides. It is probably a garment 

 of especially solemn character, only to be worn at religious cere- 

 monies. 



NECKLACES, COLLARS, AND EAR ORNAMENTS 



This kind of apparel and ornament was, next to the head ornament, 

 the most popular and manifold throughout the whole civilized region 

 of Central America. Here again we find great similarity among the 

 various antiquities. 



Bead necklaces are very characteristic of the Yucatan representa- 

 tions of every variety, and this fact is all the more noteworthy 

 because these neck ornaments of chains or beads are rare iu the 

 Mexican codices. In the Maya codices, among the reliefs, and on the 

 clay images from Yucatan, almost without exception, we find on the 

 contrary, strings of beads in the most elaborate and varied shapes. 

 There seems to have been no j\Iaya Avho did not possess such an orna- 

 ment. Strange to say. Bishop Landa makes no allusion to this fact, 

 while, judging from the antique remains, and especially fi-oni the 

 manuscripts, we should expect that this ornament of all others would 

 have struck him and would haA e been described by him. 



The forms of these necklaces in the manuscripts very generally 

 resemble those worn by the figiu-es of the Yucatan collection. There 

 is often a medal-shaped middle piece upon the chain, which lies on 

 the breast. The simple form shoA\n in r, figjire 124, which appears 

 in all the manuscripts, is most frequent in the collection. In the 

 Troano and Cortesian codices this simple forni is found almost exclu- 

 sively (see 7>, (U and </, figure 120). 



In the Dresden manuscript, on the contrary, very elaborate and 

 varied forms are commcm, and we almost invariablv find the above- 



