Chapter IX: Tlaloc, or His Maya Representative

Although there is no personage of all the Maya pantheon more easy to recognize in the form of a _statue_ than _Tlaloc_, there is great difficulty in being certain of _all_ the hieroglyphs which relate to him. There is every reason to believe that in Yucatan, as in Mexico, there was a family of rain-gods, _Tlalocs_, and the distinguishing signs of the several members are almost impossible of separation, so long as we know so little of the special functions of each member of this family.

In Yucatan, as in Mexico, _Tlaloc's_ main sign was a double line about the eye or mouth, or about both; and further, some of the _Tlalocs_, at least, were bearded.[237-*]

CUKULCAN was also bearded, but we have separated out in the next section the _chiffres_, or certainly most of them, that relate to him. Those that are left remain to be distributed among the family of rain-gods; and this, as I have said, can only be done imperfectly, on account of our slight knowledge of the character of these gods.

If we examine the plates given by STEPHENS, we shall find many pictorial allusions to _Tlaloc_. These are often used as mere ornaments or embellishments, as in borders, etc., and probably served only to notify, in a general way, the fact of the relationship of the personage represented, to this family, and probably not to convey any specific meaning.

Thus, in Plate XXXV of STEPHENS' work the upper left-hand ornament of the border is a head of _Tlaloc_ with double lines about eye and mouth, and this ornament is repeated in a different form at the lower right-hand corner of the border just back of the right hand of the sitting figure, and also in the base of the border below the feet of the principal figure.

Plate XLVIII (of STEPHENS') is probably CHALCHIHUITLICUE (that is, the Yucatec equivalent of that goddess), who was the sister of _Tlaloc_. His sign occurs in the upper left-hand corner of the border, and in Plate XLIX the same sign occurs in a corresponding position.

Plate XXIV (our Fig. 60) is full of _Tlaloc_ signs. The bottom of the tablet has a hieroglyph, 93 (_Huitzilopochtli_), at one end and 185 (_Tlaloc_) at the other. The leopard skin, eagle, and the crouching tiger (?) under the feet of the priest of _Tlaloc_ (the right-hand figure) are all given. The infant (?) offered by this priest has two locks of curled hair at its forehead, as was prescribed for children offered to this god.

In Plate LVI (our Fig. 48) the mask at the foot of the cross is a human mask, and not a serpent mask, as has been ingeniously proved by Dr. HARRISON ALLEN in his paper so often quoted. It is the mask of _Tlaloc_, as shown by the teeth and corroborated (not proved) by the way in which the eye is expressed. The curved hook within the eyeball here, as in 185, stands for the air--the wind--of which _Tlaloc_ was also god. The Mexicans had a similar sign for breath, message.

The _chiffre_ 1975, on which _Huitzilopochtli's_ priest is standing, I believe to be the synonym of 185 in Plate XXIV. Just in front of _Tlaloc's_ priest is a sacrificial yoke (?), at the top of which is a face, with the eye of the _Tlalocs_, and various decorations. This face is to be found also at the lower left-hand corner of Plate XLI (of STEPHENS'), and also (?) in the same position in Plate XLII (of STEPHENS'). These will serve as subjects for further study.

Notice in Plate LVI (our Fig. 48) how the ornaments in corresponding positions on either side of the central line are similar, yet never the same. A careful study of these pairs will show how the two gods celebrated, differed. A large part, at least, of the attributes of each god is recorded in this way by antithesis. I have not made enough progress in this direction to make the very few conclusions of which I am certain worth recording. The general fact of such an antithesis is obvious when once it is pointed out, and it is in just such paths as this that advances must be looked for.

I have just mentioned, in this rapid survey of the plates of vol. ii of STEPHENS' work, the principal pictorial signs relating to _Tlaloc_. There are a number almost equally well marked in vol. i, in Plates VII, IX, X, XIII, and XV, but they need not be described. Those who are especially interested can find them for themselves.

The following brief account and plate of a _Tlaloc_ inscription at Kabah will be useful for future use, and is the more interesting as it is comparatively unknown.

_INSCRIPTION AT KABAH (Yucatan)._

This hitherto unpublished inscription on a rock at Kabah is given in _Archives paléographiques_, vol. i, part ii, Plate 20. It deserves attention on account of its resemblances, but still more on account of its differences, with certain other Yucatec glyphs.

We may first compare it with the Plate LX of STEPHENS (our Fig. 59).

The head-dress in Plate 20 is quite simple, and presents no resemblance to the elaborate gear of Plate LX, in which the ornament of a leaf (?), or more probably feather, cross-hatched at the end and divided symmetrically by a stem (?) or quill about which four dots are placed, seems characteristic.

_Possibly_, and only possibly, the square in the rear of the head of Plate 20, which has two cross-hatchings, may refer to the elaborate cross-hatchings in Plate LX. The four dots are found twice, once in front and once in rear of the figure. The heads of the two figures have only one resemblance, but this is a very important one. The tusks belong to HUITZILOPOCHTLI and to his trinity, and specially to TLALOC, his companion.

Both Plate 20 and LX have the serpent wand or yoke clearly expressed. In LX the serpent is decorated with crotalus heads; in 20 by images of the sun (?), as in the FERJAVARY MS. (KINGSBOROUGH). The front apron or ornament of Plate 20 is of snake skin, ornamented with sun-symbols. Comparing Plate 20 with Fig. 52 (_ante_), we find quite other resemblances. The head-dress of 20 is the same as the projecting arm of the head-dress of Fig. 52; and the tusks are found in the helmet or mask of Fig. 52.

These and other resemblances show the Kabah inscription to be a TLALOC. It is interesting specially on account of its hieroglyphs, which I hope to examine subsequently. The style of this writing appears to be late, and may serve as a connecting link between the stones and the manuscripts, and it is noteworthy that even the style of the drawing itself seems to be in the manner of the Mexican MS. of LAUD, rather than in that of the Palenque stone tablets.

From the card catalogue I select the following _chiffres_ as appertaining to the family of the _Tlalocs_. As I have said, these must for the present remain in a group, unseparated. Future studies will be necessary to discriminate between the special signs which relate to special members of the family. The _chiffres_ are Nos. 3200; 1864; 1403; 811; 1107?; 1943?; 4114??; _b_?; 1893 (bearded faces, or faces with teeth very prominent); 166?; 4??; 807?; 62?; 155?; 26; 154?; 165?; 164?; 805; 4109; 1915?; 675??; 635?? (distinguished by the characteristic eye of the TLALOCS).

Here, again, the writing is ideographic, and not phonetic.