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ity of the soul, and its existence after its earthly mission was accomplished. They believed that the sentient and intelligent principle, _pixan_, which inhabits the body, survived the death of that body, and was bound to return to earth, and live other and many mundane existences; but that between each separate existence that _pixan_ went to a place of delight, _Caan_, where it enjoyed all sorts of bliss for a proportionate time, and as a reward for the good actions it had done while on earth. Passing to a place of punishment, _Metnal_, it suffered all kinds of evils during also a certain time in atonement for its sins. Then it was to return and live again among men. But as the material body was perishable, they made effigies in perfect resemblance to it. These were sometimes of wood, sometimes of clay, and sometimes of stone, according to the wealth or social position of the individual; and after burning the body, the ashes were enclosed in the statue or in urns that they placed near by. Around and beside these were arranged the weapons and the ornaments used by the deceased, if a warrior; the tools of his trade; if a mechanic; and books, if a priest or learned man, in order that they should find them at hand when the _pixan_ should come back and animate the statue or image. To return to our investigations at Uxmal. On examining the ornaments on the cornice of the Eastern front of the monument known as "The House of the Governor," I was struck with their similarity to those which adorn the most ancient edifice of Chichen and whose construction, I judge, dates back 12,000 years. But what most particularly called my attention were the hieroglyphics that surrounded a sitting figure placed over the main entrance in the centre of the building. There were plainly to me the names of _Huuncay_ and _Chaacmol_, and on both sides of the figure, now headless, the name of the individual it was intended to represent, _Aac_, the younger brother and murderer. And on the North-west corner of the second terrace was his private residence, a very elegant structure of a most simple and graceful architecture, ornamented with his totem. I afterwards found a pillar written with his name in hieroglyphics and a bust of marble very much defaced. Around the neck is a
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