De, DAY SYMBOLS OF THE MAYA YEAR [ETH. ANN. 16 
Tlazoaloyan, in Soconusco, he constructed, by breathing or blowing, a ‘‘ dark house,” 
in which he concealed the sacred objects of his cult. In this myth we find an 
unequivocal connection of the idea of ‘‘darkness” and ‘‘honse.” 
Dr Seler’s explanation is substantially the same; he differs some- 
what, however, from Dr Brinton in regard to the derivation of the 
word votan (or wotan), as he obtains it from the Maya ol, wol, ‘heart, 
soul, will, ete,” and tan, “in the midst,” also ‘‘surface, level, extent, 
front.” He coneludes, therefore, if wo signifies heart, that wotan denotes 
“the inmost heart” or ‘“‘heart of the expanse.” It is proper, however, 
to call attention to the fact that Dr Brinton’s derivation of the name 
in his ‘American Hero Myths” is slightly different from that given in 
lis ‘‘ Native Calendar,” above mentioned, In the former he says wotan 
“is from the pure Maya root word tan, which means primarily ‘the 
breast,’ or that which is in the front or in the middle of the body ; with the 
possessive prefix it becomes wtan. In Tzental this word means both 
‘breast’ and ‘heart.’” It must be admitted that these explanations 
are apparently somewhat strained, yet it is possible they are substan- 
tially correct, as they appear to receive some support from the figures 
in the Mexican codices. 
Plate 75 of the Borgian Codex, which is in fact the lower part of the 
figure on plate 76, heretofore alluded to, although having reference to 
the underworld, appears to be m part a delineation of night. The 
large black figure probably represents night, the smaller star-like 
figures denoting stars, and the large one the night sun, or moon. The 
house in the lower right-hand corner, with the black lining, is the house 
of darkness. The wind symbol above the roof indicates relationship 
with the winds. Dr Seler interprets these star-like figures as sun sym- 
bols, but the number found together on this plate forbids the supposi- 
tion that they represent suns. Moreover, the association with the dark 
figure renders it probable that they are here used to denote stars. 
There is, however, a lack in these explanations of a connecting link, 
which seems necessary to render them entirely satisfactory. The name 
appears to be intimately associated with that for serpent; or perhaps it 
would be more correct to say that this mythological personage appears 
to be intimately connected in some way with the serpent. The title of 
the Tzental manuscript containing the myth was, according to Cabrera, 
“Proof that 1am aChan,” which signifies ‘‘serpent.” His chief city was 
Nachan, “the house of the serpent;” his treasure house was a cavern. 
Simply designating him by “the heart of the nation,” ‘heart of the 
village,” does not appear to furnish a full explanation of his attributes 
or characteristies. 
As the symbol of this day is frequently connected with cloud and 
rain-storm series, as in Tro, 25a, where it appears to be that from which 
rain is falling, its signification in these places would appear to be 
‘eloud,” which carries with it the idea of shade, shadow, and darkness. 
This being true, the most likely supposition in regard to the origin of 
the symbol is, that it was designed to represent the cloud breaking into 
drops and falling as rain—in other words, the weeping cloud. Such 
