25 Blas Valera, apud Garcilaso de la Vega, Comentarios Reales, Lisboa,
1609, lib. I, cap. XI, pp. 13, 14; lib. II, cap. VI, p. 42. See also
Garcia, Origen de los Indios. Madrid, 1729, lib. IV, cap. XV, p.
313.
26 Narratives of the Rites and laws of the Incas, translated by
Clements B. Markham, C. B., F. R. S., ed. Hakluyt Society, pp.
10-13.
27 It is the merit of the late distinguished philologist Dr. Buschmann,
in his invaluable work on Aztec names of localities to have pointed
out that although the Cakchiquel language is now spoken at
Cozumalhuapa or Cotzumalguapan, its name is unquestionably Nahuatl
(Cozamalo-apan). Ueber Aztekische Ortsnamen, VII, p. 34.
The largest number of illustrations of the beautiful bas-reliefs
found in the above locality have been published by M. Herman Strebel
of Hamburg, whose valuable publications and splendid collections of
ancient Mexican antiquities, preserved at Berlin and Hamburg, are
well known. Die Steinsculptures von Santa Lucia Cozumalhuapa
(Guatemala) in Museum fur Volkerkunde. Hamburg, 1894. Jahrbuch der
Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Austallen, XI.
Three of these remarkable bas-reliefs are figured in the valuable
publication by Geheimrath A. Bastian: Steinsculpturen aus Guatemala,
Berichte der Königlichen Museen zu Berlin, 1882. Dr. Habel’s
drawings were published in 1878, in the 22d vol. of the Smithsonian
Contributions to Knowledge.
Casts of these bas-reliefs are on exhibition in the Peabody Museum.
28 “The skins of lions, with the heads, had been prepared, with gold
ear-pieces in the ears and golden teeth in place of the real teeth
which had been pulled out. In the paws were certain rings of gold.
Those who were dressed or invested with these skins put on the head
and neck of the lion so as to cover their own and the skin of the
body of the lion hung from the shoulders.” _op. cit._ p. 45.
The wearing of puma and ocelot skins by one of the two highest
grades of warriors in Mexico is too well known to need further
mention here.
29 In connection with the three points proceeding from the eye, the
Mexican symbol for star, I would draw attention to the fact that in
the latitude of Santa Lucia only three equidistant positions of Ursa
Major, and, possibly, of Ursa Minor, would be observable, the
constellations being below the northern horizon when lying between
it and Polaris. The symbolical three points could have thus
originated in the same way as the triskeles in other countries, from
observation of the identical phenomenon.
30 This bas-relief is reproduced in vol. III of the Anales del Museo
Nacional, p. 302, and is discussed by Señor Sanchez.