84 A STUDY OF THE MANUSCRIPT TEOANO. 



In the lower left-hand corner of the same division we observe the figure 

 of a deity, with a fiery red face, marked as the S5^mbol for Ahau, bearing 

 in his hand a torch and on his head what appears to be two Mttle wings 

 This I presume represents Kinch-Aliau-Itzamna (Kinch-Ahau, the lord of 

 the mouth or eye of the sun or day), one of the idols made during the 

 festival of the Ix years. Here it appears to be sinking out of sight below 

 the western horizon, casting back its fiery rays as indicated by the torch. 

 As it belongs to the Ix year, which is here brought to a close, it would of 

 course be retired. The headless figure immediately above it, and the Caban 

 or Cab which signifies "to descend" or "sink below," and the signification 

 of the blue figure, as heretofore explained, all agree exactly with this in- 

 terpretation. The wings [if such they be] on the head probably refer to 

 the Ara, the sun token. The bird in the center, seated on the head-dress, 

 may possibly represent or symbolize the "burnt bird," or "bird reduced to 

 ashes" (the meaning of the original is very obscure), of which Landa speaks; 

 the bill in the figure, it is true, is scarcely appropriate for a rapacious bird, 

 which the Kucli appears to have been, but exact representations are not to 

 be expected in this work. 



The color appropriate to the Cauac year (the one assigned to the 

 south), as indicated by the Maya word JEh, was black; according with this, 

 the large figure at the right of the upper space, and the bird in the lower 

 space, are of this color. 



The serpent, we know, was a symbol used in the Mexican Calendar to 

 denote a long period of time, especially the cycle of 52 years. It is also a 

 prominent figure on these plates of the Manuscript, being found, in three of 

 them, coiled under the clay vessels. (See both divisions of XXI, XXII, 

 and XXIII.) Under each of the vessels in XXIII, and that of the upper 

 division of XXII, it is in two coils; in the lower division of the latter the 

 head is thrust out, apparently in compliance with the solicitation of the 

 white personage to the right ; on Plate XXI (both divisions) Init one coil 

 remains; and on Plate XX we see nothing more of it. What is it designed 

 to represent on these plates ? That it is a symbol of some period of time 

 will scarcely be doubted ; but what period f 



