ALE SND ARCH AL OE@ Cx 
Top view of the Dragon showing the deep set, strangely embellished eyes with additional eyes at the right 
and left. Described in Part I of this article 
came, by a natural and inevitable ex- 
tension of unquestioned power, to have 
other and ulterior purposes in view. 
The Fateful Trend.—There is thus 
another side to the story of the func- 
tions of the idols and of the vast relig- 
ious establishments of the Maya cities. 
Under the undisputed control of an 
organized body of wide influence and a 
religio-political system hoary with age, 
the people doubtless believed them- 
[41] 
selves working for the common good 
and in obedience to the bidding of 
deities whose reality and authority 
were constantly impressed upon them. 
They had no means of arriving at a 
correct knowledge of the truth that the 
gods of the entire pantheon were mere 
fictions and that the revered priest- 
hood, although the embodiment of the 
highest wisdom, the promoters of learn- 
ing, and doubtless also the conservators 
