r.iESELDOHFr] POTTERY VASE WITH FIGURE PAINTING 643 



found it on a fragment of pottery at Canasec, near Coban. It appears 

 in Copan very frequently and in various forms, as a breastplate, on 

 the sides of the idols, and even as the basis of the glyphs on a stela, 

 to be read in the order of succession as the plaiting runs ; but it is not 

 to be found in the codices, from which we may infer that it refers to 

 men of distinction, but not to priests or gods. It appears in the 

 codices as a mat («, figure 130), which in all languages of the Maya 

 group is called pop, for which reason I call it the pop sign. Now the 

 title of a prince was Ahpop, the secular head of the Kiches was 

 called Ahau-ahpop, and that of the Cakchikels Ahpop-Zotzil (see 

 Ximenes, page oG ; Titulo de los Seiiores de Totonicapan, page 128 ; 

 The Annals of the Cakchikels, page 36). I therefore conjecture that 

 figures h and <?, plate xlviii, were secular princes, Ahpops. 



We may further expect to find the plaited pattern in the gh'ph 

 of the month Pop, which is the case in certain passages of the codices, 

 the wooden tablets of Tikal, and the Palenque tablets h, r-, and d. 

 figure 130, where, as in Landa's reproduction of it, e^ the character for 

 " j^ellow " occurs, consisting of five small rings in a circle, so that the 

 glyph signifies "yellow plaiting", wliich is synonymous with bast 

 mat, or pop. In some cases the center ring is missing, which may 

 often be explained bj'^ lack of space or indistinctness, but in other cases 

 it is intentional and perhaps stands with certain secondar}'^ signs for 

 the rank of Ahpop. 



In the picture there are 23 glyphs, of which those between a and 

 </, plate XLVIII, and those in front of e seem to refer to the action, 

 and the rest chiefly to the persons participating in it. For greater 

 clearness I will number them as follows: Those behind «, plate 

 XLVIII, in their order as 1, 2, 3; before &, 4, 5, (> (number 6 

 is Imix) ; before c, T, 8, 0; before <:/, 10, 11; before /, 12, 13, 14, 15 

 (12 is the jaguar's head) ; behind /, 16, 17, 18, 19 ; and before e, 20, 21, 

 22, 23 (the last is the sign for the year). Glyphs 1 and 10 are the 

 same, except that the latter has an affix, AAhich I translate by aj, 

 as I take 1 for the sign of the month Pop and 10 for the Ahpop 

 rank (see the sign of the month Pop in the Dre>:den codex, /, figure 

 130). Glyph 2 signifies a period of time, which is greater than 

 20 years of 360 days each, because it appears twice in the Palenque 

 relief in a place Avhcre a period of time and a date arc given and 

 in both cases the sign for 20 years of 360 days each, determined by 

 Professor Forstemann, stands next as indicating less value (Zeitschrift 

 fiir Ethnologic, 1891, page 150, and here //, A, and /, figure 130). 



Sign 3 is the glyph for yellow (kan). Sign 4 occurs with pre- 

 fixes as sign 17 and 21; the prefix of 17 signifies black, and as it 

 belongs to /, plate xlviii, which I regard as the black high priest, 

 sign 4 might read " priests ", which would harmonize with the fact 

 that figures h and e carry the staff used by priests to ignite the fire. 



