. in
which I also describe other known carved representations of the same
conception and point out analogous pictures in the Maya Codices. The
position of the limbs of the descending figure is best understood by a
glance at fig. 20, II, from the Dresden Codex. It represents a bar with
cross symbols from which a human body is descending. The feet rest on dual
symbols, about which more could be written than the scope of the present
paper allows. A tecpatl or flint knife, attached to the body by a double
bow with ends, may be seen between the dual symbols, and its presence is
of utmost importance since it proves that the Mayas also associated the
flint with the same figure. Instead of a head the body exhibits a sort of
equidistant cross with four circles. Strange to say, the only analogous
cross-figures I have been able to find in all the Codices are those
reproduced in fig. 20, I, III, and IV. The latter exhibits a curious,
conventionalized flower growing on the top of a pyramid. Its stem and
leaves are painted brown and are spotted, resembling the skin of an
ocelot. As there is a Mexican flower, the Tigridia, of which the native
name was ocelo-xochitl, it may be that it is this which is thus
represented. Fig. 20, III, from the B. N. MS., figures as a sacred cake,
alongside of the S-shaped xonecuilli breads which were made in honor of
Ursa Minor at a certain feast. Finally, fig. 20, I, represents a certain
kind of ceremonial staff which is inserted between the two peaks of a
mountain--a favorite method employed by the native scribes, to convey the
idea that the object figured was in the exact centre. This kind of staff
occurs frequently in certain Codices, sometimes being carried by a high
priest. It invariably exhibits a flower-like figure with five circles and
is surmounted by a tecpatl or flint knife. Without pausing to discuss the
subject fully I merely point out here that, collectively, these symbols
explain each other and convey the idea of the Centre and the Four Quarters
evidently associated with the tecpatl, the symbol of the north, and the
ocelot and xonecuilli=Ursa Minor. It is particularly interesting to note
that the outspread human body is made to serve as a sort of cross-symbol.
A careful study of the conventional representation of the face of "the
lord of the North," in fig. 19, gives the impression that it was also used
to convey the idea of duality, or the union of two in one. The upper half
of the face ex