130 A STUDY OF THE MANUSCRIPT TROANO. 



"For sleeping-places they had bedsteads made in a trellis of canes, 

 covered with mats, and on these they stretched themselves covered with 

 their clothes of cotton. During the summer they usually slept on the fi-ont 

 extended on their mats, principally the men."^ 



What is shown in Fig. 26 possibly represents a small wooden adoratorio, 

 niche, or canopied seat, in which we see an idol. I judge the side wall to 

 be wooden by its form and by the characters on it. That these characters 

 are used to signify wood, and possibly a particular species, I think is evident 

 from the following facts : Running through the Manuscript we first observe 

 them in this figure on what we may justly assume to be an upright wooden 

 beam. We see the crosses or XX on what are evidently the ends of beams 

 in the upper division of Plate IX; and in another figure (Plate XXII*), 

 intended to represent the same thing, we see on the ends of the beams both 

 the squares and crosses. They are also on a tree in the right of the upper 

 division of Plate XV*. 



In the last-mentioned figure we notice that the tree is severed by a 

 machete or hatchet in the hands of a priest representing the god of death. 

 In the upper divisions of Plates XIII and XIV the same character is on 

 the benches upon which the personages are seated. The blocks, boxes, 

 hives, or whatever they may be, in the first division of Plate IX*, and the 

 blocks in the hands of the individuals figured in the middle division of 

 Plate XXII* are marked with the same character. 



The widely different forms and the diversity of uses to which the 

 things bearing this character are applied make it evident that if the char- 

 acter refers at all to the thing on which it is placed, it must be to the sub- 

 stance. As it is found, in some cases, on figures that we know must repre- 

 sent trees, the necessary conclusion is that it denotes wood. Whether it is 

 meant as a general term, or applies to a particular species, is a question I 

 am unable to answer with certainty. 



I will call attention to the character itself and its probable interpreta- 

 tion a little further on. 



The houses shown iu Plate XVI* (see Fig. 28) are probably the tem- 

 ])orary cabins mentioned by Landa in which the artists manufactured their 



'Landa's Relacion, pp. 110 and 111; see Appendix No. 4, where the original is <!iveu. 



