# Mexican Archæology/Chapter 12

Table of Contents
CHAPTER XII—THE MAYA: DRESS, DAILY LIFE AND CRAFTS
MAYA Stone lintel from Menché, Chiapas (Scale: 1/8th)
Paint was much used as a body-decoration by the historical Yucatec, red being the favourite colour for women and married men; bachelors usually painted themselves black. Pottery stamps are among the remains commonly found throughout the Maya region, and no doubt some of these were used to impress designs upon the body as in Mexico. Tatu was also practised, and Landa states that the more ornamented a man was in this way, the more respect he won from his associates. The decoration was usually applied at marriage, the design being first painted on and then pricked in. Women also covered the body with tatu from the waist upwards, with the exception of the breasts. Probably the custom was of long standing, since ornament simulating tatu is often seen on the faces of the figures on the monuments. The Yucatec were fond of perfumes, and the women were in the habit of rubbing the body with a pottery brick impregnated with a sweet-smelling gum
The men of Yucatan at any rate wore no hair on their faces in Spanish times, and it is said that mothers ​scorched the faces of their children with hot cloths in the belief that its growth was thereby prevented. However, pottery fragments from Alta Vera Paz occasionally show faces with a heavy moustache, and certain of the gods appear on the manuscripts with beards. Bearded figures also occur on vases and among the sculptures, notably at Quirigua. The hair was usually worn long, and the priests in Guatemala had great difficulty in persuading their converts to cut it. In Yucatan a patch was burnt short on the top of the head, the rest of the hair being plaited and wound round the head with the exception of a small tail behind. The women wore it in two long plaits down the back. Head-ornaments existed in great variety and were extremely elaborate among the men; brilliant feathers were used in great profusion, and masks of animals or gods were frequently added, if we may accept the evidence of the sculptures. Clothing itself was made from textiles, and was usually assumed about the age of five or six, children under that age going nude. The principal garment worn by men was a girdle of about a hand's breath, the ends falling down before and behind (e.g. Figs. 61 and 82; pp. 297 and 344). These ends were ornamented by the women with embroidery or feather-work, and in the monuments they are shown furnished with the most elaborate designs, of which the most frequent is a grotesque face, often highly conventionalized, with long nose-ornaments, probably representing a water-deity. Wide, square shoulder-mantles were also worn, as well as sandals of plaited hemp or hide. The sandal-strings, again, were often highly decorative, and in the monuments the sandal itself is of so elaborate a nature that it may almost be said to be a shoe (Pl. XXII, and Fig. 61). The manuscripts seem to show some sort of a leg-covering also (e.g. Fig. 46, e). Women wore a skirt, and often covered the upper portion of the body with a cloth or a tunic open at the sides; the breast-cloth was ​Fig. 6l.—Man in ceremonial costume, from a stone relief in the Temple of the Cross, Palenque. (After Maudslay) worn at Campeche and Balcalar and tunics elsewhere in Yucatan at the time of the conquest. It is possible that the ceremonial dress of the men in early times included a skirt, for it hardly seems probable that all the skirted figures in the monuments represent women. Ornaments were worn in great variety, beads of jadeite and other hard stone were strung as necklaces; masks, also of stone, were worn as breast ornaments, and shells appeared as fringes to the edges of garments. But the details of dress and ornaments ​can be understood better from the illustrations than from any lengthy description.
Agriculture was very important among the Maya, as may be judged from the study of their religion. Maize and cacao constituted the most important of the crops, but beans, yams and other food-plants were also grown. Co-operative labour was employed in the preparation of the fields, for weeding and for sowing, and the burnt weeds were the only manure. Sowing took place at the commencement of the rainy season; the sowers were furnished with a bag containing the grain and a pointed stick with which they made holes in the ground for the reception of the seed. The right-hand figure in the upper portion of Fig. 59 is probably engaged in this occupation. The crop was stored in specially constructed granaries. Maize was set to steep over night in water mixed with lime, and was then pounded on stones and made up into cakes, which lasted a long time and were soaked in water before a meal when they became hard. Various kinds of bread were made, most of which were eaten hot, as they were indigestible when cold. Maize-meal was mixed with water.to make a beverage, for water was not usually drunk plain; a drink was also prepared from the roast grain pounded and mixed with cacao and pepper. Much chocolate, prepared as described on p. 155, was consumed, and mead was prepared from honey to which an infusion of a certain root was added. For grinding maize a flat stone, called in Mexico metatl, was used together with an elongated stone rubber, circular or square in section, and often with a marked flattening on the side which was most constantly in use. At the present day the rubbers used in Mexico and in northern Guatemala are heavy, and the ends project beyond the edges of the metatl, so that they can be grasped by the user; in Peten, Alta Vera Paz and south-eastern Guatemala, they are lighter, and shorter than the breadth of the ​metatl. Rubbers of the first type, however, dating from an early period, have been found in ruins in Alta Vera Paz. Flesh food was not much eaten on ordinary occasions, but was reserved for feasts. The Maya were good hunters, and organized communal drives besides manufacturing various forms of traps, principally springes and deadfalls (Fig. 62). The deer was the principal
Fig. 62.— :
| A. | Turkey in a trap. | B. | Hunter with deer. |
| C. The black god making fire. ||||
| D. | Deer in a trap. | E. | Alligator in a deadfall. |
| (Troano-Cortesianus MS.) ||||
quarry, but various animals were domesticated, including turkeys, geese and bees, and fish was considered a great delicacy. For fishing, canoes were employed, of the dug-out variety, and the inhabitants of the lower Usumacinta led a semi-aquatic life. Between Yucatan and Tabasco is a large lagoon, with many small islands, teeming with fish and bird-life; here the navigation is very confusing, but the natives made their way from point to point by the aid of signs which they ​placed in the trees. Large canoes were constructed for use on the sea, propelled by oars and sails, and one is mentioned as being seen in the neighbourhood of Cape Cotoche large enough for a crew of forty men. In hunting and fishing, when practised in common, a portion of the catch was reserved for the lord and the rest was divided. One principal meal was taken during the day, about an hour before sunset, and the hands and mouth were washed afterwards; the women ate apart from the men. Most ceremonial occasions were marked by a feast, and the Maya were rather given to debauchery. The nobles frequently gave banquets, and the invited guests were supposed to be under the obligation of returning the compliment on some future occasion. Indeed, the debt was considered so binding, that it became transferred to their heirs in the case of their death. On such occasions the wine was handed by women, who turned their backs while the guest drank, and at the end of the festivities-each of those present received a mantle as a gift, together with the cup from which he had drunk. Invitations to a wedding-feast, or to a banquet held in commemoration of some ancestor, involved no return invitation. 'Tobacco-smoking seems to have been practised, since pipes have been found in Guatemala, though only one is known to have been discovered in Honduras. It would seem as if some form of dramatic performance was occasionally given on festive occasions, since Landa speaks of "comedians who gave representations with much grace," but the principal form of amusement was the dance, of which there were many varieties. A number of musical instruments are shown in the manuscripts (Fig. 63) and mentioned in the early accounts. These include hollow gongs of wood, sounded with rubber-headed beaters, which could be heard over a distance of two leagues, drums of two types, gongs formed of tortoise-carapaces, beaten with the hand, and rattles and rattle-staves similar to the ​Mexican chicauaztli. Wind-instruments comprised conches, several forms of trumpet, often with bellmouths formed of calabashes, bone and reed flutes and whistles. Small bells or rattles of the "hawk-bell" pattern were often worn as ornaments. As regards games, beans were thrown as dice, but the most interesting amusement was the ball-game, called tlaxtli by the Mexicans, and played in the same manner. In the Popol Vuh the outfit of the ball-player, which the rat discovers for Hunahpu and Xbalanque, is said
MAYA Stela 24; Naranjo, Guatemala
As regards habitations, no doubt the early inhabitants of the Maya country lived, for the most part, in huts constructed of perishable materials, and reserved the more permanent buildings for the service of the gods and the use of the tribal chiefs. So close a similarity does the present-day native house of Yucatan bear to the typical form of Maya room as exemplified in the ruins, that it seems probable that the early habitations did not differ essentially from those of later times. The Yucatec house is a rectangular structure of wood and leaves, with a gabled roof supported by a ridge-pole; it is usually constructed on a raised ​foundation, which renders it considerably cooler than if built upon the ground level, and the floor is mortared. Like the early structures, it contains no windows. Landa describes the houses of Yucatan in much the same terms, stating that the building was divided by a longitudinal wall, pierced with doorways giving access to small rooms used as sleeping apartments. The front was open, and constituted the living and reception room, and in the houses of chiefs, the walls, which were plastered, were ornamented with frescoes. A certain amount of building in stone was carried on right up to the conquest, though the buildings erected do not seem to have been either as important or as ornamental as those of earlier date. Diaz mentions stone-built habitations in Yucatan, and waxes enthusiastic over the towns of Chiapas, which were of no great importance, a fact which goes far to prove that the great sites such as Palenque were never visited by the conquerors, and must have been even then deserted. The Quiché and Kakchiquel were good builders in stone and lime, and an early and somewhat high-flown description exists of their chief towns, Utatlan and Iximché, though the ruins in that locality show clearly that the chronicler's imagination has completely run away with him. But on the whole it may be concluded that the Maya, like the Mexicans, dedicated their architectural masterpieces to the purposes of religion, and lived for the most part in dwellings of a more temporary nature. The population seems to have moved about a great deal, probably around the religious centres distinguished by the more extensive ruins, and the construction of elaborate dwellings would have been rather a waste of time.
Like the Mexicans, the Maya were living at the discovery practically in an age of stone. Copper and gold they knew, but the former was rare, and gold ornaments have not been found in great numbers in the country. ​The elaborate monuments, such as are described in the next chapter, must have been worked almost entirely with stone implements, though copper chisels, hardened at the edge by hammering, may have been used to a limited extent; indeed blocks of stone have been found bearing marks which could hardly have been made except by a metal tool. Stone, including jadeite, and obsidian must have furnished by far the larger proportion
of the implements used by masons and carvers, and the latter was imported into Yucatan from the volcanic districts. Examples of stone-flaking are not very common in the Maya area, but little excavation has been carried out. It must have been widely practised, since the glyph representing a knife, and the spear-heads as shown on the reliefs, both exhibit marks indicating flaking. Objects of flaked stone, of a very interesting class, are found in some numbers in British Honduras; these include obsidian arrow-heads of extremely graceful design, and a large number of what may be ​ornaments or ceremonial objects made from a kind of chert and exhibiting great variety of type. A few of these are shown in Fig. 64, but it should be mentioned that human and animal forms are also found. Objects of exactly similar type have been found at Naranjo in Guatemala. Maya stone-carving is considerably more elaborate than Mexican, and their art stands on a higher plane. It is
true that much of it is in fairly soft material, but the remains of certain sites, notably Quirigua, prove that the Maya mason could handle large masses of hard stone with almost equal facility. Still many of the large Mexican carvings are in much harder material than any in the Maya area. Smaller works of stone art consist for the most part of jadeite beads and pendants, carved in relief (Pl. XI, I and 2; p. 140), and stone masks, furnished with holes for suspension and probably worn ​as breast-ornaments, as shown in Pl. XXII; p. 294). A fine stone mask discovered in a cist near Benque Viejo, in British Honduras, is illustrated in Fig. 65, and is interesting as showing the connection which this region evinces with the Totonac country, a specimen almost identical having been discovered in Vera Cruz. Unfortunately no early author has left an account of Maya arts and crafts as Sahagun has of Mexican, but it may safely be conjectured that the methods of the two peoples were similar.
Maya carving is seen at its best when applied to wood, but owing to the perishable nature of the material few examples have survived. Fig. 66.—Women weaving. (Troano-Cortesianus MS.) Nearly all of these are from Tikal, and consist of lintels on which designs are sculptured in low and beautifully modelled relief (Fig. 48; p. 225). The fact that practically no idols have been discovered seems to indicate that they were carved in wood and so have failed to survive, and indeed Landa states that amongst the historical Yucatec the most venerated idols were wooden. The relation which the reliefs, especially those of the northern Maya region, as at Palenque, bear to wood-carvings is evident, and no doubt proficiency in wood-carving antedated skill in sculpture.
Of weaving and embroidery nothing is known, save that the historical Yucatec were experts in the art. However, the dresses of the figures sculptured on^ the monuments prove that the early Maya had attained great proficiency in the textile arts. Garments heavy with embroidery, and with elaborate inwoven designs, ​are sculptured with great care, and a fine example is shown on Pl. XXII; p. 294. The loom used must have been of the same type as that found throughout Mexico and Central America in historical times (Fig. 66; compare Fig. 27, b; p. 148).
The subject of Maya pottery, though extremely interesting, has not yet been studied sufficiently to yield any very important results, as far as indicating the direction in which the culture spread. It is complicated moreover by the fact that there was evidently a considerable trade in pottery in early times, and the ware of a good factory spread far and wide over a large area. Besides this the available material has not yet been fully classified, and much more excavation must be performed before really representative collections, illustrative of the various districts, can be brought together. Seler has attempted to trace to some extent the wanderings of pottery from certain centres of manufacture; he calls attention to the finding in Guatemala of ware of Tarascan type; and concludes that the ware of Huehuetenango and Chiquimula spread over the whole of south-western Guatemala and south-eastern Chiapas, while that of Jilotepec in the Guatemalan province of Jalapa was carried to south-eastern Guatemala and western San Salvador. The Maya had carried the fictile art to a high degree of development, though they never obtained such a mastery over their material as the coastal tribes of Peru. Naturally the quality of the ware varies considerably according to the use for which the vessel was intended, but the paste in the best specimens is hard, well mixed and fired, and varies in colour from a bright terra-cotta to pale cream, though the majority of fragments are of a reddish tinge; black pottery is rare. Some of the Guatemalan vases are moulded from a clay containing a large percentage of mica, and these are usually softer than the better-class ware; while certain vessels from the Peten district are ​composed of a very coarse grey clay containing small pebbles. The latter have not been fired at a high temperature and are very soft. Another form of coarse, soft and brittle ware is found in British Honduras, chiefly in the form of small figurines probably made for funerary purposes (Pl. [X, 7-11; p. 82).
The shapes in which the pots were moulded exhibit great variety, and most of the types characteristic of Sacrificios are found scattered over the whole area, though they are more common in Guatemala than in Yucatan and Honduras. In particular a very close connection appears to exist between Sacrificios pottery and the ware of the Alta Vera Paz region. The similarity is not confined to shape, but relates also to the peculiar slate-coloured earth-glaze (see p. 194), which is found on many of the vases of this district, and extends westward into the neighbourhood of Quen Santo in western Guatemala close to the Chiapas border. Another interesting similarity exists between the spouted vases of the Huaxtec country and certain pots discovered in British Honduras, and further south in Honduras. The resemblance which certain forms of the Uloa valley bear to the regular Huaxtec "teapot" (Fig. 42; p. 196) with its vertical spout is very striking, but the bodies are not ornamented with painted designs, being either plain or decorated with faint gadroons.
The shape which is perhaps of widest distribution is the tripod bowl, the feet of which terminate in grotesque animal heads, like those of Sacrificios (Pl. XIX; p. 198), or are moulded in cascabel form and contain a rattle (as Fig. 36, 9; p. 185). The former type appears rather to be limited to Vera Paz, while the latter has a wider range. The beaker-form with expanding foot, so common at Sacrificios (e.g. Pl. XVIII, 10; p. 194), extends through Vera Paz to the Chacula district, while bowls, invariably with a flat base, and bottle-forms, appear to be found in greatest numbers ​in the Uloa valley. The pottery of the latter district 1s distinguished by the frequency of loop-handles attached to the bodies of vases, usually two in number, but sometimes four, and always disposed symmetrically. Bowls with the peculiar flat feet characteristic of the Mexican valley (Fig. 36, 3; p. 185), and the dishes with a single expanding foot (Fig. 36, 8), so common at Sacrificios, have not yet been found in this area. Characteristic of the Quiché area are vases of coarse ware in "slipper" form, a type which is also common in Nicaragua, where it is often used as a funerary urn.
Vases painted in the early Maya style are unhappily very rare, though two magnificent vases have been discovered, one at Chama and the other at Nebaj. The design on the latter I am enabled to figure (Pl. XXIV; p-310) through the kindness of Mr. C. Fleischmann, the possessor. It is cylindrical in shape, of the best quality red ware, hard, light and well-fired, and covered with a highly burnished yellow-brown slip on which the designs are painted in red and yellow with black outlines. The scene represents a visit paid to a chief by an inferior; the former is seated on a dais, and wears a head-dress terminating in a flower from which hangs a fish, a form of ornament also observed on reliefs at Naranjo, Palenque and Chichen Itza. His visitor is offering a pouch containing copal, and the rest of the field is filled with the figures of three attendants, one of which is engaged, apparently, in pouring some liquid from a vessel over two egg-like objects on a small table. The treatment of the figures and accompanying glyphs is particularly free and bold, and the whole scene is an excellent example of Maya draughtsmanship at its best. Fragments of vases painted in similar style, though not quite so good, have been found in the same region, and also in the Uloa valley, though the specimens from the latter locality exhibit certain peculiarities of drawing which prevent them from being considered typically ​Maya (Fig. 67). The use of a slip-covering to pottery is found throughout the whole area, though it is by no means constant; the colour is most commonly red or yellow, though white and brown are also found. Painted decoration is also in slip, of similar colours, and where figures are represented they are usually outlined in black (e.g. Pl. XXIV). The funerary pottery of British Honduras shows a greater variety of hue; in many cases the slip (white) is so thick as almost to amount to a kind of stucco, and on this the details are painted in brilliant colours, including a bright red and a turquoise-blue (Pl. IX, 7-11; p. 82).
Designs are frequently found engraved in slip, and the most interesting of such vessels come from the Vera Paz district. Beakers with expanding foot, exactly similar to the specimens from Sacrificios, are found here, with incised patterns from which, in some cases, the background has been cut away. Such vases have been found also in the neighbourhood of Chacula, but the engraved pots most characteristic of Guatemala belong to the type of which a fine specimen is shown in Fig. 68. Here the design is cut in a thick white slip, and represents the sky-god emerging from a shell, probably symbolizing his connection with the moon. A vase of interesting type and ornamented in somewhat similar fashion, ​Fig. 68.—Pottery vase from Chama, Guatemala. (After Seler) Fig. 69.—Pottery vase from Ococingo, Chiapas. (After Seler} is illustrated in Fig. 69. This specimen was found at Ococingo in Chiapas, and is furnished with a cover. Vases found with covers are rare, but no doubt the covers of many have been lost; three vessels however with covering plates of black ware have been discovered at La Cueva near Coban, and with them were found certain vases of a type unique in this region, representing a human figure of which the head could be removed and constituted a lid. Pots somewhat similar in design are known from the lower Amazon in South America. A certain proportion of the pottery is mould-made, and this method appears to have been most extensively employed in the Alta Vera Paz area, where moulds for the manufacture of whole pots have been found. Some of the mould-made vases are of good quality and shape, and ​the design often includes a row of glyphs. Vases of this type have been discovered also at Copan and in the Uloa valley. From Vera Paz also come plaques with excellent designs, including figures holding the "ceremonial bar," together with the moulds in which they were made. These are in hard terra-cotta coloured clay, and are not furnished with a slip. Many details to serve
as applied ornament to vases and censers were also made in moulds (e.g. the sun-face which forms the coverdesign), while a great proportion of the figurines and whistles throughout the Maya region were similarly constructed.
Relief ornament moulded by hand is common throughout the Maya area, and in the Vera Paz region vases are frequently found in the shape of birds and beasts, sometimes with a human face enclosed in the jaws (similar to Pl. XVIII, 5). The combination of ​human and animal forms is characteristic of Yucatan, but interesting specimens of this type have been found in the Vera Paz region, as well as the plain bird and beast forms (Fig. 70), though here both types bear a striking similarity to the Sacrificios vases. An extremely interesting vase, with a human head moulded in relief, has been found near Coban. This is exactly similar to
certain Zapotec pots, and the head and head-dress are in true Zapotec style; but the paste is different, and the vase is coated with the slate-coloured earth-glaze, mentioned above, which has never been found in the Zapotec area. All indications seem to prove that it was made locally, and if this is so, it affords a striking instance of the borrowing of forms and illustrates the danger of basing arguments as to tribal migration on pottery types alone, though it provides a valuable hint ​of cultural contact. It is worthy of remark that the animal forms seem borrowed from the fauna of the Tierra caliente, a fact which goes far to indicate that the potters of Alta Vera Paz borrowed from the Totonac and people of Tabasco and not vice versa.
The most elaborate relief decoration, not made in moulds, seems to have been applied to censers, and the large specimens in cylindrical form which have been found from the Chacula district to that of Coban, are particularly bold and vigorous in treatment (Fig. 71). In the case of vessels of this type much of the ornament appears to have been applied, but fragments of censers of another pattern, with handles, and conforming more closely to the type shown in Pl. IX; p. 82, have been discovered, perhaps more frequently in Vera Paz. These exhibit considerable artistic and technical skill in their construction; the handles are hollow, and usually terminate in a grotesque face, the eyes and mouth of which form apertures connected with the cavity in the handle. The numerous fragments of figurines of rather coarse unburnished clay found throughout British Honduras seem in most cases to have formed part of large vessels, which probably served as censers (Pl. X, 3; p-108). Free use was made of applied details in this district, as can be seen from the illustration on Pl. X, 3; p. 108. From the Pokomam region come peculiar circular dishes, with broad flat rims, the vertical walls of which are studded with conical projections; it is possible that these vessels also, which appear to be characteristic of the district, were censers. In the Uloa valley fragments of vases of a peculiar type have been found, distinguished by lugs in the form of animal heads. Pots of this description are usually further decorated with painted designs of good quality in yellow, orange, brown and black (as Fig. 67; p. 311). Pottery figurines, serving as whistles, with one or more finger-holes, are not uncommon, especially in the Uloa ​valley. As said before, the majority appear to have been made in moulds, but the funerary figurines of British Honduras (Pl. IX, 7-11; p. 82), also mentioned above, seem to have been modelled by hand. Large solid hand-modelled heads have also been found in Vera Paz, and were probably the heads of idols, since Landa states that Fig. 72.—Pottery head of the sun-god; Nebaj, Guatemala. (Fleischmann Collection) the latter were frequently made of clay among the Maya. A fine specimen, which, to judge from the peculiarly cut teeth, may be identified with the sun-god, is shown in Fig. 72. Smaller solid figurines, but mould-made, have been found at Copan, Tikal and other ruined sites; many of these show traces of paint, including a turquoise-blue, and the details, though less bold, belong to a higher type of art and correspond very closely with those of the stelæ.
An interesting peculiarity of the Vera Paz representations in pottery of the human face lies in the fact that beards and even moustaches are not infrequently shown. The former class of adornment can be paralleled ​in the ancient stone carvings, but the moustaches on the latter are rather problematical, and in any case are not nearly so full as those of the pottery faces of Vera Paz. Another find in the same district, highly interesting from the point of view of technique, consists in a number of spherical pottery beads, overlaid with gold-foil of extreme thinness. 'The process by which the gold was applied to the clay constitutes a problem of some difficulty, though the specimens themselves recall the wooden beads, similarly overlaid, discovered in the Totonac region (p. 144).
A certain amount of pottery has been discovered in the caves, both in Yucatan and in the neighbourhood of Copan, which show traces of human occupation. This pottery is peculiar in the fact that it appears in no case to bear any definite relation to the other pottery of the district. The Copan cave-pottery is for the most part in bottle form, with faint gadroon mouldings or impressed key-patterns; while fragments from a cave at Loltun, in Yucatan (immediately south of Uxmal), seem to be in the main of bowls, sometimes with small ring-handles, and usually with fine incised linear designs. The ware of the latter is black and thin, and fragments of figurines occur, the technique of which recalls that of British Honduras.
As stated before, the material is not sufficient to furnish support to important theories, but the close connection of the Vera Paz pottery with that of Sacrificios appears obvious, a connection which extends through to the Chacula region. But too much stress must not be laid upon this, because many forms and details of ornament connect the Vera Paz area with the Copan district, notably the engraved, mould-made and painted pots which bear glyphs. The practice of cutting away the background extends from the Totonac country, through Vera Paz and the Chacula district up into Oaxaca, but no trace is found of the champ-levé ​work discovered at Sacrificios, Teotihuacan and in the Tarascan country. The turquoise-blue colour occurring on pots in the last style is rare in the Maya area, and 1s limited to the pottery of British Honduras and certain figurines which seem to bear a close relation to the early culture to which the ruins belong. The ware of the Uloa valley, which has been investigated with some care by Gordon, displays technical qualities which are identical with that of Copan, but is distinguished by a number of features, principally relating to ornament, which give it a character of its own. Many features suggestive of Totonac influence appear in the pottery of British Honduras, and though the ware is, to speak technically, of inferior quality, considerable artistic skill is shown in the modelling of the human face (e.g. Pl. X, 3; p. 108). The attribution of forms, as given above, to different districts can however only be regarded as tentative, and will probably have to be modified in the light of subsequent discoveries. 'The most pressing need is an accurate classification of Maya pottery, together with a careful investigation of the various qualities of paste employed in different districts. The latter is particularly important, since it would afford far more valuable evidence regarding centres of pottery manufacture than a mere study of the forms. Community of form after all only implies connection, and often merely trade-connection which may be second, third, or fourth hand; but a careful investigation of the material will often reveal the actual locality of manufacture, and when this has been fixed for a number of centres, the main lines of trade and the artistic influence exerted by one locality upon another can be estimated with some degree of accuracy.