hibits a numeral on either cheek under the eyes, seeming to
convey the idea of dualities. The two circular ear ornaments, united by a
band above the head, and the two nostrils united in one nose, seem to
convey the idea of the union of the dualities, whilst the lower half of
the face, which is rendered strikingly different to the upper, by being in
higher relief and marked with perpendicular lines, exhibits a mouth from
which a flint knife, with symbolical eye and fangs carved on it, is
hanging like a tongue. I have already shown that the flint knife was
regarded as the sacred producer of the "vital spark." I may add here that
I have also found, in the Codices, tecpatl-symbols on which the curved
symbol of air or breath was figured. To my idea the sculptured face is
meant to symbolize the dual creator, the dispenser of the spark and breath
of life, whilst the human skull on his back betokens that he is also the
giver of death. Though unable to enter fully into the subject here, I
would nevertheless state that I can produce further data to prove that the
human face was frequently employed for a symbolical purpose by the native
American races who were evidently entirely under the dominion of the idea
of duality, of the Above and Below and the life-producing union of both.

[Illustration.]

Figure 19.

[Illustration.]

Figure 20.

The question why the spider, named "tocatl" in Nahuatl, should have been
adopted as the chief symbol of Mictlantecuhtli, occupied me much until I
found the clue to its significance in the Maya language. In this the word
for North is _Aman_ and the name for "the spider whose bite is mortal," is
_Am_. This striking fact may be interpreted as a positive proof that the
spider-symbol, employed by the Mexicans, must have originated in Yucatan,
from the mere homonymy of two Maya words.

On the other hand shell-gorgets exhibiting the effigy of a spider, and
obviously intended to be worn with its head turned downwards, have not
only been found in Illinois but also in Tennessee and Missouri. On the
gorgets from the latter States a cross is carved on the body of the spider
(fig. 22, _a_). As certain spiders exhibit cross-markings, it is, of
course, possible that it was chosen as a cross-symbol for this reason
only, in some localities, just as the butterfly was evidently adopted i