Brinton.] VOO [Nov. 4, 



"Le Chay Abali est sort! de Xibalbay, clu riclie et puissant Xibalbay. 



"L'homme est I'euvre cle son createur et formateur, et celui qni sou- 



" tiens le Createur c'est ce Chay Abah. Or il forma I'liomme et le per- 



"fectionna dans le douleur." 



The name of the hero-god Xbalanque is explained by the Abbe Bras- 

 seur to be compounded of the diminutive prefix x, halnm a tiger and the 

 plural termination que.^^ Like so many of the derivations offered with 

 great confidence by the worthy Abbe, this one is quite incorrect. There is 

 no plural termination que, neither in the Kiche nor in any related dialect ; 

 and the signification "tiger" (jaguar, Felix unca Lin. in Mexican oce- 

 lofl), which he assigns to the word halam is only one of several which 

 belongs to it. 



The name is compounded of the prefix, either feminine or diminutiA^e 

 X ; halam, or, as given by Guzman, balan;\ and queJi, deer. Tliis is the 

 composition given by Ximenez, who translates it literally as ' ' diminutive 

 de tigre y venado.":): 



From analogies easy to perceive, the name halam, was also applied to a 

 class of warriors ; to a congregation of priests or diviners ; and to one of 

 the inferior orders of deities. In composition it was applied to a spotted 

 butterfly, as it is in our tongue to the " tiger lily ;" to the king-bee, to 

 certain rapacious birds of prey, etc. 



1 quote the following entries in the manuscrij^ts before me : 



"Balam: tigre. 



"JBalani malax: mariposa grande. 



GuzMAK, Oompendio de Nombres. 

 "Balaniil cab : el ley de abejas. 

 "Balaniil cab: los sacerdotes del pueblo, cacique y regidores, que 



"con su fortaleza lo guardan. 

 "JBalamil cbicb: aves de rapina. 



" Diccionario de Motul. 



"Balam: el tigre, ZaJcbalam, tigre pequeno de su natureleza; ^«?ia balam, 



"el grande. 

 "Balam: tambien sig^ un signo deloslndios. Maceval ^ih P" balam, 



"6 Maria xbalam. Balam se llama el echizero. 



Varea, Galepino. 



In the last entry quoted, we find that balam was the name of one of the 

 days of the Kiche-Cakchiquel calendar. It was in fact the twelfth of their 

 week of twenty days, and in the Mexican calendar ocelotl stood for the four- 

 teenth of the twenty days. Queh, the deer, was also the name of a sign or day, 

 the seventh in the Kiche-Cakchiquel calendar ; but was also used to ex- 



* " Les Petits Tigres," MylJies de V Antiquite Amlrlcaine, § viii ; I'opol Vuh, p. Si, 

 note. 

 t Compendio de Nonibres en Lengua Cakchiquel. MSS. 

 X Las HLstorlas del Origen de los Indios, p. 16. 



