148 A STUDY OF THE MANUSCRIPT TEOANO. 



very little, slender, thin, or slim"; tzil, "divided, separated, torn, rent," 

 &c.; tzulche, "trellis, lattice-work, barred," &c.; tzic, "to part, cut, divide," 

 &c.; tzack, "to cut fine, to hash," &c; dzil, "to work mosaic, to weave, 

 plait," &c.; all of Avhich are words that have the hissing sound as their 

 chief phonetic element. 



On Plates II, III, VI, and elsewhere we see the fig.ure of the red- 

 mouthed god, which we can scarcely doubt is CMccJiac-cliob. On the head- 

 dress in the three plates designated is this same interlaced figure. 



On Plate XXV, lower division, is the figure of a serpent with rattles, 

 to which allusion has heretofore been made, which is marked with checkered 

 or cross-hatched spots; tzabcan, in Maya, signifies "a serpent with rattles"; 

 see also the serpent in the lower division of Plate V. We also see that the 

 apron, and appendage hanging between the limbs, is marked in the same 

 way, possibly denoting, as heretofore suggested, zihil, "birth," as the design 

 appears to be to symbolize the birth of the storm-cloud. 



I suggest as possible that the characters in the hand of the left figure, 

 upper division, Plate XXX*, one of which is the reticulated figure, the 



other that of Cauac, may denote cauche, the cultivated 

 foVM^ cocoanut. One reason for this supposition is that thef«^*.S«'l 

 — ^^ figure in the other hand (Fig. 69) appears to be the PI* It ^^ 

 i-iG. 69. liieroglyphic for onial, "bread," especially a certain fig. 70. 

 kind of flat tortilla, used in sacrificial ofi'erings. 



In the middle and lower divisions of Plate XIX we find the character 

 shown in Fig. 70, occurring several times. 



The figures in the spaces appear to be grinding paint in stone and 

 earthenware mortars. The pestle is straight, rather, slender, and cylindri- 

 cal in form, and is grasped by both hands. I venture the suggestion that 

 the circle of dots with the little oval in the center, indicates that the pestle 

 is to be turned or whirled round, and the changed direction of the curves 

 denotes to the right and left, or first one way and then the other. The 

 cross-hatching indicates a word with the sound of ch, tz, or z. As tending 

 to confirm this suggestion, we find, by reference to the Maya lexicon, that 

 dzic and dzical (adjectives) signify "left," and dziical, "left hand." (See 

 Fig. 48, p. 139.) 



