Forms like Nos. 1 and 2, Fig. [56], and perhaps No. 3, are usually taken to represent a chopper or machete. The representation of this weapon or implement is seen in Cod. Tro., p. 17, where a man is killing a snake with one. In the conventional and negligent manner in which these characters are often written, it is not easy to distinguish them from others of different origin and meaning. Nos. 2 and 3 may be feather signs. Seler explains the machete as the symbol of striking or wounding (“Ausdruck des Schlagens”).
Fig. 57.—Supposed Bird Signs.
Characters like the above recur in all the forms of writing. No. 1 has been called by Seler the representation of “man,” but this is doubtful. It may be a variant of No. 2, which is a “closing hand” from Fig. [31], No. 3. Nos. 3 and 4, from Copan and Guatemalan pottery, follow closely the Codices. With a “comb affix,” Förstemann calls No. 4 “a well-known form of moan,” meaning the Pleiades (Entziff. IV); while Dr. Seler explains it as an owl symbol. The design enclosed is held to depict the bill of a bird.
The “Crotalean curve,” the outline of the jaws of the rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus, has been dwelt upon with emphasis by Allen and Maudslay as one of the most notable emblems in Maya art.[[131]] Fig. [58], Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, show some of its forms in the Codices, and No. 5, from Stephens, illustrates its radical. As a graphic element, it is less prominent than in architecture.
Fig. 58.—The “Crotalean Curve.”
Fig. [59], Nos. 1–4, are outlines of objects often seen in the Codices. No. 1, which looks like a carriage-wrench, is in fact a serpent wand, as can readily be seen by comparing Cod. Tro., pp. 6, 7, 31*, with Cod. Dres., pp. 40, 42, 43.
Fig. 59.—Objects Held in the Hand.