150 



A STUDY OP THE MANUSCRIPT TEOANO. 



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Codex; sometimes on the bench or form on which persons are seated or 

 lyi„g_see Plates XXXII, XXXIII, XXV*, XXXIV*, &c.; on the blocks or 

 square figures on Plates II* to X* which relate to the festival of the apia- 

 rists; on the foundation or substance 

 out of which plants and vines arise, 

 as on Plates XXXII and XXXIII; 



a u 



Fig. "4. and as a character into which the ma- 



chete or hatchet is thrust (Plate XXIV*). In the Codex it is found on the 

 wall and base of what appears to be a kind of house, or a niche in a temple 

 (Plates cO and 67); on seats or benches, and in one instance on something 

 laid on a pyramidal altar, on which a human head is placed, having the 

 "dead eye," as though representing the act of cremation. It is evident 

 that no one substance can be indicated in all these places. 



On the plates relating to the bee-keepers' festival, where it is figured 

 thus (Fig. 75), as on Plate VIII*, the block or vessel is red, or marked with 

 a red border, is suspended by cords, and a bee is 

 placed across it. Here it is probable that it should 

 be interpreted cab, "honey," or cabnal, "bee-hive." 

 But this explanation will not answer in one out of 

 a hundred of the other places where it is used. 



Where it mai-ks the substance out of which 

 Fig. 75. plants arise, as on Plates XXXII and XXXIII, it 



is probabl}^ used to signify the earth or soil. We find by reference to the 

 lexicons that cah has also as one of its significations "earth" or "soil," and 

 that cabal signifies "at the foot," "at the foundation," "at or on the ground," 

 &c. This will furnish explanation of all those cases where "earth," "ground," 

 or "soil" is applicable, or where it is on that out of which plants grow and 

 on which persons are seated or lying. In the lower division of Plate 

 XXXII are the figures of four seats or forms similar in outline to that 

 shown at a, Fig. 74, ; two are marked with the character interpreted ppec, 

 or "stone," and two with the character represented at a, Fig. 74. If two 

 are stone, as we have good reason for believing, the others must be wood 

 or earth. The fact that persons are represented lying down at full length 



