1881.] OdJ [Brinton. 



press two, thirteen, five or six clays, as is stated by Varea in tlie following 

 entry in his CaUpino. 



" Queh : el venado. Ha se estendido la significacion a mulas, caballas 

 "y machas. Sig'^ un cierto dia ; otras veces dos dias ; otras veces es signo 

 ' ' de trece, otras veces cinco 6 seis dias a la quenta de los Indios : xa hun 



"quell vcG ^ih, 6, cay qucJi, voo queh, valtaki, 6, oxlahuh queh. 



It is not easy to explain the principles Avhich governed the calculation 

 of time among the Kiche-Cakcliiquel tribes, only vague and contradictory 

 accounts concerning it having reached us, the analysis of which I trust to 

 undertake in another article. Suffice it to say here that the hero-god 

 whose name is thus compounded of two signs in the calendar, who is born 

 of a virgin, who performs many surprising feats of prowess on the earth, 

 who descends into the world of darkness, and sets free the sun, moon and 

 stars to perform their daily and nightly journeys through the heavejis, 

 presents in these and other traits such numerous resemblances to the 

 Divinity of Light, reappearing in so many American myths, the Day- 

 Maker of the northern hunting tribes, that I do not hesitate to identify the 

 narrative of Xbalanque and his deeds as one of the presentations of this 

 widespread, this well-nigh universal myth, guarding my words by the 

 distinct statement, however, that the identity may be solely a psychologi- 

 cal, not a historical one. 



It will not be without interest to trace the bcdam myth in its later de- 

 velopment. We see in the cpiotation from the Dlccionario de Motul, that 

 the title was applied to the priests, chief and rulers on whom the defence 

 of the city rested. There were also, in Yucatan, four certain divinities 

 closely connected with the Calendar, called the Bacahab. The myths of 

 these correspond in a genera] way with that of Xbalanque, sutficiently so 

 to recognize that they played a corresponding part, and the bcdam and the 

 bacab have been identified in modern Maya superstition. The four bacabah 

 were four giants (chaac) who sustained the heavens, presided over the 

 years, Avere the gods of rain and agriculture, who sent the winds on their 

 swift journeys, and hurled the lightning flash from the heavens. The 

 memory of these mighty beings is still preserved by the native Maj^as of 

 Yucatan, and even with all their devotion to the Romish Church, thej^ do 

 not neglect the pious rites to these ancient and beneficient national divini- 

 ties ; and what is to my purpose here, is the fact that they still paj- them 

 homage under this very name of the Balams. In Maya the plural termina- 

 tion is ob, and with the masculine prefix h, their name becomes Hbalam ob, 



I have in my possession a Spanish manuscript written in Yucatan about 

 twenty years ago, in which are collected various superstitions still preva- 

 lent among the natives. The accounts are from diff'erent sources, and as 

 the matter is both new to students of such matters and of importance in 

 tracing the development of the religious notions of the natives, I shall 

 give a translation of those paragraphs which describe the still prevalent 

 belief in the Hbalamob. The authorities given for the account are the 



