362 ANIMAL FIGURES IN THE MAYA CODICES 



dance. Still another reference in Landa (1864, p. 260)* 

 mentions that in the months Muan and Pax dogs were sac- 

 rificed to the deities. 



Reference has already been made to the identification of 

 the four priests at the top of Dresden 25-28 as having the 

 heads of dogs rather than of opossums. It may be suggested 

 that in the role of the conductor to the other world the dog 

 is represented as carrying on his back in each case the year 

 which has just been completed and therefore is dead. This, 

 of course, would necessitate the identification of god B, the 

 jaguar, god E, and god A as representing in turn the four 

 years. 



The dog, according to Sahagun's account (p. 360) was 

 looked upon as the "Fire God's animal/' and as an emblem 

 of fire. This idea is seen frequently in the Maya manuscripts 

 where the dog with firebrands in his paws or attached to his 

 tail is coming head downward from a line of constellation 

 signs, as in Dresden 36a (PL 37, fig. 3), 40b (PL 37, fig. 1) 

 or is standing beneath similar signs as in Dresden 39a (PL 37, 

 iig. 2) and probably in Tro-Cortesianus 13a. His tail alone 

 has the firebrand in Tro-Cortesianus 36b. Firebrands are 

 carried by figures which have been identified by us as dogs 

 in Tro-Cortesianus 24c (PL 37, fig. 6), 25c, and 90a. Here 

 the animal is represented as in the air holding his firebrands 

 over a blazing altar beside which god F is seated. In two 

 out of the four cases, F is shown as dead. The dog in these 

 latter examples has his eye composed of the Akhal sign. This 

 same glyph can also be made out with difficulty on the fore- 

 head of the dog shown in Dresden 36a (PL 37, fig. 3). As 

 has been noted, Akhal means night and possibly death as 

 well. It is certain that destruction is indicated in the pre- 

 ceding examples as well as in Tro-Cortesianus 87a and 88a 

 (PL 37, fig. 4) where the dog is holding four human figures 

 by the hair. 



Beyer (1908, pp. 419-422) has identified the dog as the 



*"Donde sacrificavan un perro, manchado por la color del cacao . . . y 

 ofrecianles yguanas de las azules y ciertas plumas de un paxaro." 



