ld be elected for the Warres, with only giving him a
draught of that water" (_op. cit._, p. 53). It is well known that infants
also underwent a form of baptism.

The preceding and other evidence, which is scarcely required, enables us
to realize the full significance which the symbol of a bowl surmounted by
the glyph ik=life, breath, soul, was intended to express and convey.

The collection of rain-water in vessels, exposed so as to receive the
reflection of the one immovable star-god, was doubtlessly employed as a
test of the stability of the Middle of the Earth by many generations of
priest-astronomers. The sanctity attached to this water, as having
absorbed the divine essence of light and the attribution of life-giving
properties to it, was but the natural sequence of such star-observation.
As the title "the lord of the vase or bowl"=Cum-ahau, indicates, the
supreme priest of Heaven alone seems to have attended to all rites
concerning the sacred bowl and the distribution of its celestial
life-giving contents. The symbolical decoration of many native bowls will
be found to corroborate this view of their employment and of the virtue
attributed to their contents.

By this time I trust that my readers will realize with me that, at Copan,
the native set of ideas had long taken deep root and flourished. We have
seen that the identical numerical divisions of time and tribes and the
same symbolism prevailed as have been traced in Peru, Guatemala, Mexico,
Yucatan, Zuni, etc. The following monuments will still further establish
this kinship of thought. Copan contains two stone slabs which answer to
the description of an amay-tun, inasmuch as they are square and appear to
be memorial stones. Let us see whether some clue to their purpose can be
obtained from the carvings upon them.

On each of the four sides of altar K four personages are carved, all
seeming to be of equal rank. Of these 4x4=16 chieftains, eight wear a
breast ornament in the form of a double serpent, whilst the remaining
eight wear a somewhat plainer kind. On the west side the two central
figures face each other and two diminutive glyphs are carved in the space
between them. The most striking feature about the representation of these
personages is, that each of them is seated, cross-legged, on a different
composite glyph; some of these exhibit animal forms. This is a fact of
utmost importance, for it definitely connects distinct personalities,
obviously chief