tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">292-† that in the month Yaxkin an old woman brought the little girls to the general feast. This old woman was dressed in a garment of feathers. It was understood that this devoted old woman was not permitted to become intoxicated293-* lest she should lose in the road the plume of her office.

The serpent appears as a head-dress exclusively with female figures and then usually when the woman is in the act of offering something or is associated with water or rain. The centipede occurs only with god D. Quadrupeds are employed as head-dresses only very seldom. The head of a deer is, in three places, used as a part of the head decoration of god M and the head of a jaguar appears in two places only.

Secular occupations. Animals appear frequently in scenes showing various occupations. These, although appearing at first sight as secular, have to do with the religion of the people and they show in every case acts undertaken in behalf of the deities. It is almost exclusively in the Tro-Cortesianus that these religious-secular occupations are shown.

Hunting scenes occur in one section of this codex (38-49). The whole aim of the hunt in these pages is to obtain animals for sacrifice. In almost every case the various animals are shown as being captured alive, either in a pitfall or a trap of the “jerk-up” type. This was undoubtedly in order that the animal might be killed the moment it was offered to the gods by having its heart cut out. Deer are most commonly represented in this hunting section although peccaries and armadillos also appear. Fishing is shown in one place at least (Dresden 33a).

The practice of agriculture is shown in Tro-Cortesianus 24-28. The sprouting grain is represented as being eaten by a vulture and a jaguar. Certain gods in this section which relates to the planting of maize are shown as being attacked by vultures and blow-flies. Another occupation of the natives depicted in the Tro-Cortesianus (103-112) is apiculture. This, again, has clearly some religious significance. Pottery-making is shown in the same manuscript (95-101). It is, however, a purely religious ceremony. The renewal of the incense-burners is shown. Animals occur very infrequently in this section. The quetzal and two vultures are noted seated on top of an oven-like covering under which is the head of god C, probably representing the idol. There are several other occupations shown in this codex such as weaving (79c) and the gathering of the sap of the rubber tree (102b), but as animals do not occur in any connection with these operations, it is not necessary to dwell upon them.

Animal glyphs. It remains finally to speak of the various animals which are represented in glyph form as well as drawn in full in the pictures proper. The creatures pictured in the codices are often accompanied by their glyphs which appear in the lines of signs directly above. In many cases, the animal pictured below is not represented by its glyph above and, vice versa, the animal glyph may appear without its picture below. The same is seen also in connection with the representation of the gods and their glyphs. Both the picture and the glyph usually appear but either may appear alone. Many times when the glyph, either of a god or an animal, is shown with no accompanying picture, the reason seems to be that there is no room for the latter on account of the numerical calculations which take up all the space.

There are some animals in the codices which are represented by glyphs very frequently. Among these are the screech owl (the Moan, the bird of death), which has several different glyphs by which it is recognized, the dog which, in addition to its own glyph, may be represented by the day sign Oc, the king vulture, the turtle, the bee (if we consider the day sign Cauac stands for this insect), and the centipede. Among the animals whose glyphs only seldom appear may be mentioned the macaw, the peccary, the tree-toad (god P), the quetzal, and the jaguar. The glyph for the black vulture (Tro-Cortesianus 26c), the ape (Tro-Cortesianus 88c), the deer (Peresianus 10), the eagle (Tro-Cortesianus 107c), and the serpent (Tro-Cortesianus 106c) seem to appear but once. It might also be well to mention in this place the glyphs for various molluscs which are used not to represent the shell but to give the value of zero to the numerical calculations.

In the inscriptions glyphs frequently occur which represent animals either showing the whole body or simply the head. In the eastern façade of the Monjas at Chichen Itza there are glyphs for both the king and the black vulture and the peccary. The macaw and the turtle seem also to be represented by glyphs in the inscriptions. The Tun period glyph shows vulture-like characteristics and the Uinal period glyph certainly resembles the lizard. The glyphs representing the various animal offerings have already been discussed under a special heading (p. 289).