Page:Myths of Mexico and Peru.djvu/237

 rattlesnake symbol, and the second Förstemann believes to represent a lapse of time. That it may represent futurity occurs; as a more likely conjecture to the present writer.

The figure denoting the spring equinox was traced because of its obvious representation of a cloud from which three streams of water are falling upon the earth. The square at the top represents heaven. The obsidian knife underneath denotes a division or period of time cut off, as it were, from other periods of the year. That the sign means "spring" is verified by its position among the other signs of the seasons.

The sign for "week" was discovered by reason of its almost constant accompaniment of the sign for the number thirteen, the number of days in the Maya sacred week. The symbol of the bird's feather indicates the plural, and when affixed to certain signs signifies that the object indicated is multiplied. A bird's feather, when one thinks of it, is one of the most fitting symbols provided by nature to designate the plural, if the number of shoots on both sides of the stem are taken as meaning "many" or "two."

Water is depicted by the figure of a serpent, which reptile typifies the undulating nature of the element. The sign entitled "the sacrificial victim" is of deep human interest. The first portion of the symbol is the death-bird, and the second shows a crouching and beaten captive, ready to be immolated to one of the terrible Maya deities whose sanguinary religion demanded human sacrifice. The drawing which means "the day of the new year," in the month Ceh, was unriddled by the following means: The sign in the upper left-hand corner denotes the word "sun" or "day," that in the upper right-hand Rh