316 ANIMAL FIGURES IN THE MAYA CODICES 



head-dress is seen in Dresden 9c (PL 8, fig. 11), 15b (PL 8,. 

 fig. 12), 18a (PL 8, fi.g. 13), 22b (PL 8, fig. 10), and 23b (PL 8, 

 fig. 8). In the first case, the offering is a jicara or gourd of 

 some sacred drink (baltse?), in the second and third examples,. 

 the dish is clearly shown, but the offering is unidentifiable, 

 in the fourth case, maize (a Kan sign), and in the last, a fish 

 resting on a dish. In Dresden 20a (PL 8, fig. 15), a woman 

 with serpent head-dress is seen associated with the Moan- 

 headed figure, possibly in the act of offering it as a sacrifice. 



In Dresden 39b (PL 8, fig. 7), 43b (PL 8, fig. 9), and 70,. 

 a similar serpent head-dress is shown on a female figure in 

 the act of pouring water from a jar. In Tro-Cortesianus,, 

 the serpent head-dresses differ in type only, and in two out 

 of the four cases where they appear, water is shown flowing, 

 from the breasts (30b) of the female figure or from the mouth 

 (32b). The woman thus represented in connection withi 

 the water is god I, the water goddess of Schellhas. She is,. 

 as he notes (1904, p. 31) usually the figure of an old woman. 

 ^'Evidently, we have here the personification oi water in its 

 quality of destroyer, a goddess of floods and cloud-bursts."' 

 We are not at all sure that we have here a distinct god as similar 

 female figures with serpent head-dresses occur frequently in 

 the Dresden Codex with no suggestion of water. The failure 

 to find any distinct glyph for this goddess seems to strengthen 

 the view of not considering her as a separate deity. Finally, 

 in our consideration of head-dresses, the serpent is to be seen 

 in Tro-Cortesianus 79c on the head of the first woman wha 

 is weaving. Possibly, a conventionalized serpent forms the 

 head covering of the second figure who is represented as dead. 



The serpent in Dresden 26c-28c (PL 10, fig. 1) coiled 

 around the altar which rises from a Tun sign is not easily 

 explained. In 25c, the altar is replaced by god B and in 

 the former cases, the reptiles may stand for this god with 

 whom they are often associated.* The serpent seems closely 



* The reader is also referred to the bas-relief of the Lower Chamber of 

 the Temple of the Tigers at Chichen Itza where a serpent is shown behind 

 a low altar. 



