[137]. See Cod. Dres., p. 50. Precisely the same design recurs in the (Mexican) Codex Borgia, published in Kingsborough’s Mexican Antiquities. No. 11 is also a Mexican calendar sign (Gama).
[138]. I hesitated some time to assign the flint knife to the East, but believe the evidence is in its favor. As Chavero has pointed out (Antiguedades Mexicanas, p. xxxv), in Mexican symbolism, the tecpatl belongs decidedly to the West.
[139]. The Native Calendar of Mexico and Central America, p. 4 (Philadelphia, 1893).
[140]. “Kan: cuzcas ò piedras que servian à los indios de moneda y de adorno al cuello.” Dicc. de Motul. I owe this identification to my late friend, Dr. C. H. Berendt, a profound Maya scholar. Its correctness will be confirmed by examining Cod. Cort., p. 12. Cod. Dres., p. 48, etc. This circulating medium of the Mayas is mentioned in the Relacion de Valladolid, 1579, cap. 33. In purchasing a wife the expression was ah coy kan, “he who must pay kans,” as these were the consideration. (Dicc. Motul.) Other meanings of kan are: yellow, and hence ripe fruit, the yolk of an egg, cooked maize, etc.; anything precious or valuable; a measure of length; a set task; a net, and to fish or hunt with one.
[141]. Variants of the chuen are extremely frequent in the mural inscriptions, and its correct interpretation, therefore, highly important. As stated in the text, I believe they generally stand for chun, which means “the foundation, the beginning, the first, the cause.” We find such expressions as tu chun che, “at the foot of the tree;” tu chun uitz, “at the base of the hill,” etc. In Tzental, chu is the teat or mamma, chunel, to suck the teat. In many inscriptions the position of the chun is antithetic to the pax, the one indicating the beginning, the other the end of a series.
[142]. Nuñez de la Vega, Constituciones Diocesanas, p. 10. The story was that Been inscribed his own name upon them. I have not ascertained that this locality has been examined by modern travelers. It might offer valuable material.
[143]. E. Pineda, Descripcion Geografica de Chiapas, pp. 7, 8.
[144]. See Förstemann, Entzifferung, IV, S. 15.
[145]. Seler observes, on doubtful premises,—“Tzec scheint der Zermalmer zu bedeuten.”
[146]. “Mac, tapa de vasija.” The opinion of Allen that the sign represents the extended arms, the “great span,” is inappropriate. The measure called mac was much greater (doce brazas, Pio Perez). Another meaning of mac is the sea turtle and its shell (galapago y concha del).