Fig. 43.—A Standing Drum. (From the Cortesian Codex.)
Fig. 44.—Graphic Delineations of Drums.
Fig. 45.—The yax and other Feather Signs.
Few glyphs are more frequent than No. 1, Fig. [45], either alone or in such combinations as Nos. 2 and 3. The guesses as to what it represents have been singularly divergent. Brasseur said, a kind of gourd; Seler, a tree; Schellhas, the zapote; Rosny and Förstemann, the phallus, etc.
None of these suggestions seems to me tenable. I believe it represents a common feather decoration made of short green or blue feathers, attached to a style or staff. It is frequent on Mexican and Maya figures, and in No. 4, Fig. [45], I copy one from a Maya war dress. The lower portion represents the ornament to which I allude. It was called yax kukul, and this gives the phonetic rebus value of the sign, which is yax, green, and (metaphorically) new, young, fresh, strong, virile, etc.
Care must be taken not to confound this with the character seen in the sign of the dog (see p. 70), which really represents the ribs and breast-bone, although called a “phallus” by Rosny, an “article of food” by Thomas, a “breastplate” by Allen, and a “vertebral column” by Seler.[[122]]