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224 god of gems. There appear to have been four war deities, Hunpiktok, Ahchuykak, Citchac Coh, and Ahulneb, while the Tzental war-god was called Chinax. Hunpiktok, who had a temple at Itzamal, is identified with Tihax of the Quiché and Kakchiquel, the god of the stone knife, and both were probably sacrificial deities also. One of these war-gods may be the God F of the manuscripts, who appears to bear a certain relation to the death-god and to sacrifice, and whose face-paint is not unlike that of the Aztec Xipe (Fig. 46, f). Like the Mexicans the Maya possessed a god of travellers and traders, Ekchuah, who corresponds to the Mexican Yacatecutli, though he does not seem to have been honoured with so elaborate a cult. Gods of medicine (closely allied with magic) were Itzamna, Citbolontum, Ahau Chamahez and a sun-god, Kinich Ahau, husband of Ixazalvoh. Kukulkan, according to one account, was the god of fevers, and with these deities was associated Ixchel, the. goddess of childbirth, wife of Itzamna, whose image was placed under the bed of prospective mothers in order to secure an easy delivery. There was also a goddess Zuhuykak, said to be a deified mortal, who was the special protectress of children. The Quiché venerated a number of disease-gods, connected with whom were the two deities Xpiyakok and Xmukane, counterparts of the Mexican Oxomoco and Cipactonal, who, like the latter, were supposed to have assisted in the creation and were regarded as the prototypes of all magicians.

We come now to the elemental gods, who seem for the most part to have been rather vague personalities, crystallized here and there (and rather robbed of dignity in the process into more sharply defined tribal protectors. These are the deities whom, I believe, the builders of the monuments chiefly worshipped, and whose portraits or symbols may be identified among the carvings which decorate the ruins. Among these, the most