forms and throws them into "conventionalized" forms which appeal, at once, to the understanding and to the esthetic sense.

With this preamble let us proceed to the examination of the front view faces on the tablets. Although large circular eyes-an evident geometric modification-are found on many sculptured faces, in particular on the face of the Aztec rain-god, Tlaloc, yet plainly marked eyebrows in conjunction with them occur rarely except on representations of the monkey. Figure 15, a, presents in a more or less diagrammatic manner, the central portion of a typical monkey face on a figurine found in the Valley of Mexico. Note the arched eyebrows, the eyes of concentric rings, and the flaring nostrils with the horizontal nose-plug. Ear-plugs were also shown on the original but have been omitted in the drawing.

Turning one's attention to the central portion of the face on slab B (fig. 15, b) it is evident that the above described assemblage of features has been modified as follows. Two serpent bodies have been interpolated between the eyes and the eyebrows. In the endeavor to adjust these intrusive bodies comfortably and characteristically to the limited space, the lines of the eyebrows have been considerably altered. Quite apart from this, the nose plug has divided into an upper and a lower strip and the upper strip has "captured" and made tributary the outer ring of the eye. The nostrils are represented by two short spirals but the rest of the nose is only vaguely suggested by a number of related angles and curves.

The artificiality of the face that resulted from these changes is quite obvious Judged simply as a design it is an excellent example of an unstable composition with extravagant individuality. In the next face to be considered we will behold the successful attempt to reduce this complex to lower terms.

The central portion of the face on slab A (fig. 15, c) shows that each intrusive serpent has slipped down from its former anomalous position and that the central part of its body has amalgamated with the outer ring of the eye. At the same time the serpent's head and the adjacent part of its body have absorbed the upper strand of the more or less dissociated nose-plug, while the tail with one sweeping curve has outlined the side and base of the nose.

AM. ANTH. N. S., 13-4

The

FIG. 15. - The development of the front-view faces: a, central portion of a monkey face on figurine from Valley of Mexico; b, same features on slab B with intrusive serpents; c, same features on slab A, showing the final adjustment of the intrusive serpents.

lower strip of the old nose-plug has either disappeared a together or else has joined with the upper lip and is to be identified with the inconspicuous ribbon that lies along the line of contact with the profile heads (see figure 10). It has already been pointed out that the circular ear plugs of this face have slipped quite out of the proper panel and have been incorporated in the upturned noses of the profile heads beneath. The vertical line that passes along the ridge of the nose from the eyebrow to the upper lip, and perhaps the eyebrow as well, may be ascribed to the survival of the background design plotted in the more complex face between the serpent bodies and the free curve of the eyebrow. It is a well known fact that under certain conditions the usually negative background may flash positive and so greatly modify a design.

Of course the sequence of design just given does not prove that the heads were intended to represent monkeys but it establishes the possibility. The most important single feature is the eyebrow, which would in the case of the monkey, be the very prominent supraorbital ridge. The careful line of demarcation of the hair across the forehead is frequent in ancient representations of the bonneted or Capuchin monkeys, and, in fact, follows nature pretty closely. The mouth does not at first appear to be simian. This is because of the contracted lips. These monkeys have well developed canine teeth, with four small teeth between, exactly as is shown on slab A. The lines extending outwards and downwards from the sides and bottom of the mouth may represent the hair behind the cheeks and on the throat. Unnecessary as they may seem, lines around the mouth to represent hair occur frequently in drawings and on figurines that represent monkeys. The argument that the grotesque faces are monkey faces is strengthened by the fact that undeniable monkeys are shown on the carved arm-band from the same burial.

It is possible that the figures were intended to represent some monkey god or totemic spirit and that the representation was artist cally infected by the serpent. As is well known, the monkey is not found on the highlands of Mexico although his name, ozomatli, was given to the eleventh day of the twenty-day calendar month of

the Aztecs. However, monkey faces and figures often occur in the codices, in pottery stamps and figurines, and in gold ornaments.

If we judge the grotesque faces simply by the prominent canine teeth we may conclude that the jaguar or coyote was intended. The bristles about the mouth would strengthen this theory. Both animals are common enough in art all over Mexico and Central America.

There is also a strong possibility that the faces were those of Tlaloc, the Aztec rain-god. Such faces usually show circular eyes and several long teeth in the upper jaw. Speaking of Tlaloc, Dr Seler says, "The god . . . is also everywhere represented in a somewhat similar and very remarkable manner. His face, as is very well shown on a stone effigy in the Uhde collection, which is contained in the Royal Ethnological Museum, Berlin, is properly speaking entirely formed of the coils of two snakes, which being entwined spirally develop a kind of nose in the middle of the face, then with a circular convolution encompass the eye on both sides, while their heads at last meet together with the snouts so as to represent the upper lip of the god and his long teeth projecting downward." It seems likely that this elaborate face, which Dr Seler considers the point of departure for the simple faces of the god, was merely a richly elaborated specimen, itself based on the lower, demotic forms. The head he described resembles in type and tendency the horrible figure of Teoyamiqui with her twining serpents. Many such examples of reptilian enrichment occur in Mayan and Nahuan art, and are not absent even among the Tarascans.

The Tlaloc face most nearly resembling those on the slabs is one on a large terra cotta vase in the Museo Nacional (fig. 16, a) after Brasseur de Bourbourg. The nose-plug is clearly represented and the face is more or less humanized. A simpler Tlaloc face is shown in figure 16, b, and occurs on a stone sculpture from Huachinautla, in the western part of the state of Puebla, in the collection of Mr Juan E. Reyna.

It has been stated that the grotesque face at the top of slabs

1E. Seler, Codex Vaticanus No. 3773, Berlin and London, 1902-1903, p. 107.

2 C. Lumholtz, op. cit., II, p. 400.

A and B is seen rising out of the amalgamated jaws of two profile heads that look upwards. These heads (figure 17, a), if not considered entirely distinct, may be regarded, first, as representing a sort of

b

FIG. 16. Face of the Aztec rain god Tlaloc: a, on a vase in the Museo Nacional, Mexico City; b, stone sculpture in private collection of Mr Juan E. Reyna. ornamental collar around the neck of the upper face, second, as being highly modified arms of an earlier entire figure, third, as forming a vessel or container from which the grotesque face has emerged and in which the rest of the body lies hidden. Comparative art would hardly support the first explanation, obvious as it may appear;

FIG. 17.

a

b

Relation of the fused-together heads to the earth-bowl: a, detail of slab B; b, the earth-bowl, after Gordon.

the second has already been commented upon; the third will now be considered.

This hollow, basin-like device made by the joining of two incom