246 DAY SYMBOLS OF THE MAYA YEAR [ETH. ANN. 16 
the representation of the mat both in symbols and figures in the Mex- 
ican and Maya codices. Some of these are shown in our plate LXVI, 
21 to 24. The first, 21, is from the Mendoza Codex, and is found also 
in Tro. 20*d. These are undoubtedly intended to denote mats or some- 
thing of a kindred nature. The same figure is seen on the roofs of 
temples and houses, one of which is shown in LXVI, 22, from Tro. 10*c, 
In these instanees they appear to indicate the thatching with which 
the roof is covered. The form is sometimes varied, as in LXYVI, 23, from 
Tro. 10*a. The symbol which, it is presumed, refers to the mat as seen 
in Tro. 21*d, is given in Lxyt1, 24; that representing the house in Tro. 
10*e¢ is seen in LXVI, 25; another of a slightly different form, from Tro. 
7*e, in LXVI, 26; and another, referring also to a house or to the roof, as 
Dr Seler supposes, is given in LXVI, 27. 
There can be no question that plate LXvI, 21, is intended to represent 
a mat or something of that nature, nor that the character shown at 24 
is the symbol used to represent this mat, straw, or plaited fabric; nor 
can it be doubted that the figures shown at 22 and 23 are conven- 
tional figures for houses of some kind. It must also be admitted that 
the characters shown at 25, 26, and 27 are symbols denoting these 
houses. According to Dr Seler’s interpretation, figures 24 and 27 are, 
in some cases, used “to denote a seat on a mat [24]; sometimes the 
mat roof of the temple or the temple itself” (27). In his opinion these 
characters, especially 27, contain ‘“‘the element of the mat and a symbol 
of carrying—the hand or elements which have been borrowed from the 
figure of the hand—and in these hieroglyphs the transition of the real- 
istically delineated mat into the character ben may be distinctly traced.” 
That the upper part of plate LXvI, 25 and 26, and of other similar fig- 
ures in the codices which might be shown, do make a close approach in 
form to the ben symbol, must be admitted. But there is one break in the 
chain which needs to be closed before the evidence is entirely satisfac- 
tory. Does the upper part of these house symbols (25-26) indicate roof 
mats or thatching? An examination of the house figures shows these 
supposed mat figures to be something standing on the top of the roof— 
something rising, as it were, perpendicularly along and above the ecmb 
or crest. Now, precisely such battlements or elevated crests appear to 
have been common on the roofs of the temples or structures which have 
been preserved to modern times. We see them in the figures given by 
Charnay, Stevens, and other explorers; and what is worthy of special 
notice in this connection is, that they sometimes consist of openwork 
or trellis-like figures. Therefore, if we connect the upper part of the 
house symbols with the ben glyph, it is still by no means certain that it 
is derived from, or bears any relation to, the mat character. We notice 
further that in the figures of houses this supposed mat figure is not 
used to indicate the thatching, but is clearly distinguished from it. 
Again, if the upper characters of LXVI, 25, 26, are intended to signify the 
thatching, roof matting, or roof, and are simple ideograms drawn from 
