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But Mayab, we are told, was in remote times one of the names of the Yucatan peninsula, given to it on account of the porosity of its soil, which allows the water to filter through it as through a sieve, and gather, cool and pure, in pools and lakes, in the immense subterranean caves with which the country is honeycombed.

Did, then, the wise men of Egypt select as symbol of their country the serpent with wings and an inflated breast, in remembrance of the birthplace of their ancestors; did they place it erect on a sieve to signify that the first settlers coming from Mayab (the sieve) conquered and dominated the former dwellers in the valley of the Nile?

Pursuing our study of the fresco paintings, we pass over interesting battle scenes, including one (Plate XLIX.) representing a village invaded by the hosts of Prince Coh. The women and children flee for safety, carrying their most precious belongings. Their defenders have been defeated by the Mayas.

Coh will return to his queen loaded with spoils that he will lay at her feet with his glory, which is also hers, and his love, which she claims in return for hers. She loves him because he is brave and generous. The people idolize him because he gives fame, riches, and happiness to the nation. His warriors cherish him because, always foremost in battle, he leads them to triumph and conquest.

We next see him in a terrible altercation with his brother Aac. The figures in that scene are nearly life size, but so much disfigured and broken as to make it impossible to obtain

'This is evidently a Mexican village in the now state of Vera Cruz. The traveller who to-day goes by rail from the port of Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico sees, on his way, villages, the women of which come to offer for sale chirimoyas and other tropical fruits. In their features and dress they resemble those pictured here by the Maya artist.

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