THOMAS.] EXPLANATION OF FIGURES ON THE FOUR PLATES. 77 



A careful comparison of the chief figure in the lowest division of Plate 

 27 of the Codex with the left-hand figure in the lower division of Plate 

 XXIII of the Manusci'ipt convinces me that the two are intended as sym- 

 bols of the same idea or as representatives of the same person. That the 

 former is essentially different from the corresponding figures on Plates 25, 

 26, and 28 is apparent to any one who will take the trouble to compare 

 them. The cape is here in front instead of on the back. The anklets and 

 bracelets — which appear to be used as tokens of caste — are different from 

 the others. There is also a wide variation in the head-dress, which, together 

 with the exposed bone of the lower jaw, the docked nose, and lines of dots 

 on the limbs, indicate that this priest is here representing Death or the god 

 of Death. A cursory examination of other plates of both works where the 

 same figures will be found is sufficient to satisfy any one of the correctness 

 of this opinion. I refer the reader who may have the works at hand to 

 Plates XXX, XXXIV, IIP, XXII*, XXX*, XXXII* of the Manuscript, and 

 also Plates 6, 11, 12, 18, 45, and 53 of the Codex. 



A somewhat similar figure is borne on the back of the Chac in the 

 upper division of Plate 28 of the Codex, on which we see the same brace- 

 lets, head-dress, exposed jaw-bone, and lines of dots. Landa states, as will 

 be seen by reference to his account of the festivals of the intercalated days 

 heretofore given, that at the commencement of the Cauac year they carried, 

 among other things, a "dead man." According to the interpretation given, 

 Plate 27 refers to the close of the Cauac and commencement of the Kan 

 year, and 28 to the close of the Kan and commencement of the Muluc 

 year, which would place this ceremony in the year following that given by 

 Landa. 



Referring now to Plate XXIII of the Manuscript, which relates in part 

 at least to the Cauac years, we see in the lower left-hand corner of the lower 

 division a white figure with the same anklets and bracelets; and, although 

 portly and apparently clotlied with flesh, the ribs denoting death are plainly 

 marked. A hand is stretched out as if to catch the skull, which is dropping 

 from the head-dress that arises out of the earthen vessel. 



I note the following additional items in which they correspond; in the 



