1881.] 6l1 [Brinton. 



the mask of an eagle, eoJibal ruvi hnlam ; the mask of a tiger, etc. (Goto, 

 s. V. Mascara vel Ga^ratula.) In Maya the same word is found, Koh, 

 and in the Codex Troano, one of the few original Maya manuscripts we 

 have left, these masks are easily distinguished on the heads of many of the 

 persons represented. Recent observers tell ns that in the more remote 

 parishes in Central America these hideous brute faced masks are still 

 worn by the Indians Avho dance in acc()m})anying the processions of the 

 Church !* Even yet, eveiy new-born child among the Kiches, is solemnly 

 named after some beast by the native "medicine man " before he is bap- 

 tized by the Padre, f 



This brings me to a name which has very curious meanings, to wit, 

 Tepeu. It is the ordinary word in these dialects for Lord, Ruler, Chief or 

 King. Its form in Cakchiquel is Tepex, in Maj^a Tepal, and it is probably 

 from the adjective root tep, filled up, supplied in abundance, satisfied (col- 

 mado, satisfecho, que tiene sutficiente, Brasseur, Vocabulaire Maya- 

 Francais et Espanol). In Kiche and Cakchiquel it is used synonymously 

 with galel or gagal and ahau as a translation of Seiior or Cacique. 

 But it has another definite meaning, and that is, the disease syj^hilis, the 

 buboes ov pox! And what is not less curious, this meaning extends also in 

 a measure to gnlel and aliait: 



This extraordinarj' collocation of ideas did not escape the notice of Xim- 

 enez, and he undei'takes to explain it by suggesting that as syphilis 

 arises from cohabitation with many different women, and this is a privi- 

 lege only of the great and powerful, so the name came to be applied to the 

 chiefs and nobles, and to their god. But I shall give this explanation in 

 his own words : 



" Y tambien como a Dios se le dan muchos epitetos de grande, de sabio 

 "y otras cosas, le dan el nombre de Tepeu, este significa las bubas, y en 

 " su gentilidad era grandeza de los Senores el tenirlos, porque era sefial 

 "de mas poder para cohabitar con muchas mugeres de adonde se suelen 

 " contraer, cosa que la gente ordinaria no podia.":}: 



Of course, syphilis has no such origin, but if the Indians thought it had, 

 and considered it a proof of extraordinary genetic power, it would be a 

 plausible supposition that they applied this term to their divinitj'' as being 

 the type of the fecundating principle. . But the original sense of the adjec- 

 tive icp does not seem to bear this out, and it would rather appear that the 

 cmplojnBent of the word as the name of the disease was a later and 

 secondarjr sense. Such is the opinion of Father Goto who says that the 

 term was applied jestingly to those suffering from sj'philitic sores because, 

 like a chieftain or a noble, they did no work, but had to sit still with their 

 hands in their laps, as it were, waiting to get well ; and when tliej- had 



* Die Tnlici'ier von Santa Catalina Isllavncan ; rin. Briim^ zur CuUin-gesihi hie der 

 Urbewohner Central Amerilcis. Vou Dr. Karl. Sclierzer, p. 9 ( Wien. ISoGj, 

 tlbid, p. 11. 

 t Escolios & las Historias del Origen de los Indios, pag. 157. 



