664 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 2S 



signs Ben and Tx in reverse order. In the other, c, I think I recognize 

 without a donbt the day sign ()c. 



I am still doubtful about the upper character. But if we could as- 

 sume that the same connection between the picture and the glyphs 

 exists here that T have just proved to exist on the other vessel, we 

 might read the upper character in e as Chuen, and we should then 

 have in d Oc and Chuen, the two signs preceding Eb, in /, Ben and Ix, 

 the two signs following Eb, and could therefore assume that the 

 deit}^ in the snail shell, who is twice repeated upon this vessel, is 

 intended to represent or to express the day sign Eb. In that case we 

 should haA'e a very peculiar, hitherto unknown, form of the sign 

 Chuen to deal with. 



A third god is the bat god, who is also represented on two of the 

 Dieseldorlf vases. In an earlier article ' I assembled what informa- 

 tion I had at hand regarding this deity and pointed out that special 

 veneration was jjaid to it in Guatemala, among other places. I had at 

 that time only very cursorily seen the glyphs accompanying the pic- 

 ture of the bat god on the Dieseldortf vase. Opportunity now being- 

 afforded by the publication of the drawing to study them carefully, I 

 still consider the same reserve to be wise on m}' part which INIr Diesel- 

 dortf uuiintains on his in regard to their interpretation. I will only 

 remark that the picture of the bat, which is obvious in the glyph of 

 the uinal Zotz and in the other glyphs reproduced there, does not 

 appear here. If we designate the glyphs, as in plate xiii, volume 26 

 of the Verhandlungen, by the numbers 1 to (> from above downward, 

 then glyph 1 appears to me to be the principal one. It contains the 

 cloud masses of the cauac sign, which also occur everywhere on the 

 head of the bat in the glyphs on the Copan stehw'' The second glyph 

 may contain the skull of the character Cimi. The third seems allied 

 to the sixth, and both seem to contain the character Kan. The fifth 

 contains the character Imix, together with another element, which, 

 combined Avith Imix, occurs in another glyph on page 61 of the Dres- 

 den manuscript. But I can offer no suggestion as to the actual mean- 

 ing of all these glyphs. 



Mr Dieseldorif has rendered to science a conspicuous service by his 

 careful and expert excavations and by the publication of their results. 

 Had there been the same careful and thorough researches made in 

 many different localities of Mexico and Central America, we might 

 decide with much more certainty the problems which now occupy ns, 

 and we should more clearly comprehend the early history of these 

 interesting ancient races. May Mr Dieseldorif be enabled to continue 

 his iuA'estigations and may equally active and e(iiially successful 

 workers come forward in other places to increase our knowledge. 



« Vorliandlungen, v. 26, 1894, pp. 577 and followins,^ 

 "Verhandlungen, v. 26, 1894, pp. 583, 584. 



