ANIMAL FIGURES IN THE MAYA CODICES 317 



oonnected with the idea of offerings as the body of a snake 

 is shown in several instances as the support of the jar con- 

 taining the various gifts in Tro-Cortesianus 34a, 34b, 35a, 35b, 

 36a, 36b, and possibly 52c (PL 9, fig. 3). 



Finally the serpent is to be noted in a number of miscel- 

 laneous connections: — in Dresden 36b (PL 19, fig. 11), as 

 being attacked by a black vulture,* in Tro-Cortesianus 40b 

 (PL 9, fig. 4) a rattlesnake is biting the foot of one of the 

 hunters, and in Tro-Cortesianus 66b, where the serpent has 

 a human head and arm coming from its open jaws. This 

 is a very frequent method of representing the serpent in the 

 Maya stone carvings. In Tro-Cortesianus 60c, lOOd (PL 9, 

 fig. 8), twice, 106a, and 111b, the rattlesnake is shown as a 

 sprinkler for the holy water in the hand (in the first, second 

 and fourth examples) of god D. Landa (1864, p. 150) f 

 describes in the ceremony of the baptism of children, that 

 the leader of the rite wore on his head a kind of mitre em- 

 broidered with plumage in some manner and in his hand a 

 small holy -water sprinkler of wood, carved skillfully, of which 

 the filaments were the tails of serpents, similar to serpents 

 with rattles. 



In spite of the importance of the serpent in the manu- 

 scripts and stone carvings, it never seems to appear as a 

 separate deity. With one exception, no glyph is to be found 

 representing this reptile as is the case with many of the 

 animals. Tro-Cortesianus 106c (PL 9, fig. 7) is this exception 

 showing the rattles of a snake which are found in the line of 

 glyphs above two of the bees. No serpent appears in the 

 picture. 



The Nahuatl day, Couatl, has the signification serpent, 

 as suggested before, in discussing the meaning of the name 

 Quetzalcoatl or Quetzalcouatl. This day sign occurs through- 



* Forstemann (1906, p. 15) agrees with Schellhas that this may be a 

 rebus for the name Quetzalcoatl or Kukulcan. As the bird is a vulture 

 rather than a quetzal this could hardly be the case. 



t "Y con isopo en el mano de un palo corto muy labrado,y por barbas 

 o pelos del isopo ciertas colas de unas culebras que soncomo caxcavales." 



