THOMAS] THE FIRST DAY Pile 
extended jaws open upward, and into them a number of persons are 
marching in regular order. These apparently represent the thirteen 
months of the sacred year. One has passed on and disappeared from 
view, and the other twelve are following with bowed heads. It would 
seem from these to be not only symbolic of the earth or hades, but also 
to have some relation to time. 
For positive proof that it is sometimes used to denote the earth, or 
that from which vegetation comes, it is only necessary to refer to the 
lower right-hand figure of plate 12, Borgian Codex. Here is Tlaloc 
sending down rain upon the earth, from which the enlivened plants are 
springing forth and expanding into leaf and blossom. The earth, on 
which they stand and from which they arise, is represented by the 
figure of the mythical Cipactli. 
It is quite probable that the monster on plates 4 and 5 of the Dres- 
den Codex, which appears to be of the same genus, is a time symbol, 
and also that on plate 74 of the same codex. It is therefore more 
than likely that the animal indicated by the Mexican name of the day 
is mythical, represented according to locality by some known animal 
which seems to indicate best the mythical conception. Some figures 
evidently refer to the alligator, and others apparently to the iguana; 
that on plates 4 and 5 of the Dresden Codex is purely mythical, but 
contains reptilian characteristics, 
Dr Brinton, probably influenced to some extent by the apparent sig- 
nification of the Nahuatl name and symbol, explains the other names 
as follows: 
This leads me to identify it [the Maya name] with the Maya mex or meex, which is 
the name of a fish (the ‘“‘ pez arana,” “un pescado que tiene muchos brazos”’), prob- 
ably so called from another meaning of mex, ‘‘the beard.” . . . This identifica- 
tion brings this day name into direct relation to the Zapotec and Nahuatl names. In 
the former, chiylla, sometimes given as pi-chilla, is apparently from bi-chilla-beo, 
water lizard, and Nahuatl cipactli certainly means some fish or fish-like animal—a 
swordfish, alligator, or the like, though exactly which is not certain, and probably 
the reference with them was altogether mythical. 
Dr Seler, in his subsequent paper, gives the following explanation 
of the Zapotec name chilla or chijlla : 
For this I find in the lexicon three principal meanings: One is the cubical bean 
(wurfel bohne). “ Pichijlla, frisolillos 0 havyas con que echan las suertes los sorti- 
legos” [beans used by the sorcerers in casting lots or telling fortunes]; another 
meaning is ‘‘the ridge” (pichijlla, lechijlla, chijllatani, loma o cordillera de sierra) ; 
another is ‘‘the crocodile” (cocodrillo, lagarto grande de agua); and another “ sword- 
fish” (pella-pichijlla-tao, espadarte pescado). Finally, we have chilla-tao, ‘‘ the 
great Chilla,” given again as one of the names of the highest being. Here it seems 
to me that the signification ‘‘ crocodile” is the original one, and thus far suitable. 
For the manner in which the first day character is delineated in Mexican and Zapotec 
picture writing [our plate Lxrv, 16] shows undoubtedly the head of the crocodile 
with the movable snapping upper jaw, which is so characteristic of the animal, 
Attention is called to the apparently closely related word as given 
by Perez—mech, ixmech, ‘lagartija.” 
