his hand.

According to Foerstemann, his day is Akbal, darkness, night.

Cyrus Thomas (Aids to the Study of the Maya Codices, in the 6th Annual
Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 1888, p. 358) thinks he is
the god Ekchuah, who has come down to us as a black deity. God M seems,
however, to correspond to Ekchuah (see the description of M).

M. The Black God with the Red Lips.

[Illustration: Figs. 45-48]

God M's hieroglyph is Figs. 45, 46; it seems to represent an eye rimmed
with black, though the figure of the god himself displays an entirely
different drawing of the eye (see Fig. 47).

The god is found in the Dresden manuscript only three times, namely in
Dr. 16b (with a bone in his hand) in picture and sign, in Dr. 13c
grouped with an animal, without the hieroglyph, and in Dr. 43a (with his
sign) while finally his hieroglyph alone appears in Dr. 56 (top, left) in
a group and of a somewhat different form.

On the other hand, god M appears with special frequency in the Madrid
manuscript, which treats of this deity with great fullness of detail.
While he is represented in the Dresden manuscript (16b) with his body
striped black and white, and on p. 43a entirely white, he is always
entirely black in the Codex Troano. His other distinguishing marks are
the following:

1. The mouth encircled by a red-brown border.

2. The large, drooping under lip. By this he can be recognized with
certainty also in Dr. 43a.

3. The two curved lines at the right of the eye.

His significance can be conjectured. He seems to be of a warlike nature,
for he is almost always represented armed with the lance and also as
engaged in combat and, in some instances, pierced by the lance of his
opponent, god F, for example in Tro. 3c, 7a, 29*a. The peculiar object
with parallel stripes, which he wears on his head is a rope from which a
package frequently hangs. By means of a rope placed around his head the
god frequently carries a bale of merchandise, as is the custom today
among the aborigines in different parts of America. On 4b and 5a in the
Cod. Tro. this can plainly be seen. All these pictures lead us to
conclude, that we have here to do with a god of _travelling merchants_. A
deity of this character called Ekchuah has been handed down to us, who is
designated explicitly as a _black_ god. In favor of this is also the
fact, that he is represented fighting with F and pierced by the latter.
For the travelling merchant must,