. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 235 opinion that the last-mentioned may be dated not much later than 1200. This means that all three originated in those districts which had been colonised by the Maya after they had left their original settle- ments in Guatemala and had been driven northward into Yucatan by racial pressure, and it is clear that all have reference to the same deities and arose out of one and the same religious impulse. The God of Death The god first encountered in this alphabetic sequence, God A, as he is generally described, is without doubt that grisly genius who in all m
. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 235 opinion that the last-mentioned may be dated not much later than 1200. This means that all three originated in those districts which had been colonised by the Maya after they had left their original settle- ments in Guatemala and had been driven northward into Yucatan by racial pressure, and it is clear that all have reference to the same deities and arose out of one and the same religious impulse. The God of Death The god first encountered in this alphabetic sequence, God A, as he is generally described, is without doubt that grisly genius who in all mythologies presides over the realm of the departed. He is readily to be recog- nised by his skull-like countenance and bony spine and the large black spots, denoting corruption, which cover the emaciated body. He wears as a collar the ruff of the vulture, the bird of death, and a symbol which usually accompanies him, but which ScheUhas was unable to decipher, undoubtedly represents the maggot, evidently a kind of hieroglyph for death. But the distinguishing glyph for this god is a human head with eyes closed in death, before which stands the stone knife of sacrifice. In one part of the Codex Dresden God A is shown with the head of an owl, the bird of ill omen, his almost constant attendant, and this recalls to us a passage in the Popol Vuh, a religious book of the Maya, which states that the rulers of Xibalba, the Underworld, " were owls," the inhabi- tants of a dark and cavernous place. I believe God A to be Ah-puch, the death-spirit mentioned by Father Fernandez. His name means " the Undoer " or " Spoiler," and he was also known as Chamay Bac or Zac, that is " white teeth and ; In some of his portraits he is decorated with a feather, on which are seen the markings of the flint knife, and I have deduced from this that the glyph for "feather" was synonymous with that " knife," a notion which I have substantiated
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