650 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



Behind / stands g, doubtless a person of lower rank, belaboring 

 himself with his scourge and rejoicing in his bone. I can not explain 

 the four glyphs 16 to 19 before his face; 16, with the closed eye, 

 generally indicated death or the death god ; 17 seems to be composed 

 of the signs for the north (^the region of death) and for flame. I 

 venture no conjecture concerning 18 and 19. Can this whole group 

 be an allusion to himian sacrifice? 



We now come to the four personages to the left of the prisoner. 

 The black one, (L, recognizable as chief priest by his headdress, seems 

 to lay claim to the prisoner. T venture no suggestion as to the two 

 signs 10 and 11, apparently belonging to him; perhaps the first, as 

 Mr Dieseldorff thinks, refers directly to the priest. 



Next comes the interesting personage c^ a short, stout gentleman, 

 whose face is not in the least couA^entional, but, on the contrary, very 

 individual, which suggests the idea that the artist in this case, as 

 possibly also in that of the other personages represented, had certain 

 individuals in mind. His jaguar-skin cap and perhaps the black 

 balls hanging below his ear and over his breast indicate his high rank, 

 and sign 9 (ahau, " lord ''), close before his forehead, confirms this. 

 If signs 7 and 8, as I suggested, refer to the feast, then the former 

 indicates the presiding officer, for which his corpulence well befits him. 

 This personage seems to me to have something humorous about him. 



c is accomi)anied by the fire-kindler. h, who seems to give his opin- 

 ion in regard to the quarrel between priest and Avarrior with the look 

 of an experienced official. Of the three glj^phs alloted to him, 4 to 6, 

 the last at any rate gives his rank, while T have tried to attribute to 

 1 the kindling of the fire and to 5 the banquet. 



There still remains, on the extreme left, a subordinate figure, «, Avho 

 was not deemed worthy of a glyph, and who has an extremely stupid 

 face and an open mouth. His livery, confined wholly to his head, 

 must have seemed comical even to the Mayas themselves. 



I suppose that this discovery is the more valuable because we 

 possess hardly any representations pertaining to actual human life 

 from the Mayas, except perhaps in some parts of Codex Troano- 

 Cortesianus. 



