74 A STUDY OF THE MANUSCRIPT TROANO. 



There are other plates on which these characters appear to indicate 

 the cardinal points, but what has been given is sufficient to show the evi- 

 dence upon which I base my opinion as to the meaning of the characters. 

 The presence of these on Plates 25-28 of the Codex, in the manner there 

 given, is perhaps the surest guide as to the quarters to which they respect- 

 ively belong; the fact they ai-e so often found occupying the four corners 

 of the spaces of the plates of the Manuscript is what leads us :o suspect 

 that they indicate the cardinal points. The chief, and, so far as I can see, 

 the only objection to this interpretation is the occasional change of order 

 in the spaces; but, as we have seen, this seldom, if ever, occurs where they 

 are in a line. The chief doubt is as to the points assigned then. 



If my explanation is correct, then it is possible that the Maya Avords 

 which they represent are as follows : 



No. 1 (Fig. 8), LiJcin, "east." No. 2, Xaman, "north." 



No. 3, Childn, "west." No. 4, Mct-yam, "the middle of the earth" 

 (south), or NoJiol, "south." 



The inverted character for Ahau in No. 3, and that for Maiiik in No. 1, 

 may raise an objection in the minds of some to this interpretadou, but the 

 reader must bear in mind that I do not yet insist that these caaracters are 

 the symbols for the words above given. They may refer to priests, uten- 

 sils, or other things connected with or used dunng religious ceremonies; 

 for example. No. 3 may be the symbol for Alildn, "priest," No 4, for Mayac, 

 "table"; No. 1 for Am, the sacred stone used in casting the horoscope, &c., 

 but at the same time these, by the relative positions they occupy during 

 ceremonies, may serve to indicate the cardinal points, and hence he days. 

 This being the case, the characters, by long usage for this purpose, would 

 ultimatel}^ become tlie symbols of this secondary signification. 



Referring again to Landa's account of the festimls, here- 

 tofore quoted, we observe that one of the idols -^^js finally 

 placed on the heap of stones at the margin of the filjige In 

 the lowest division of each of the plates — 25-28 o\ the Co- 

 ^^' ^' dex — we see an idol resting on a character like thi;^ (Fig. ^); 

 the idol on Plate 25, with a head somewhat similar to that of tie Tlaloc 



