the Maya as among the Aztec, still I think that it may be traced in the fact that nearly all the shields carried by figures carved upon the monuments bear as a device the face of the sun, distinguished by the peculiar form of the teeth. The magnificent relief in the temple at Palenque, usually known as the "temple of the sun," represents in reality one of these shields slung from two crossed spears, and it is possible that the temple itself was dedicated to the war-god (Fig. 82; p-344). Another feature of the sun-face, when shown thus en face, is a twisted snake with the fold upon the nose, but arranged in the reverse position to that seen upon certain of the Tlaloc faces in Mexico (compare Fig. 86, f; p. 356). It is worth noting, however, that Tlaloc is often shown with the attributes of Tonatiuh in the Mexican manuscripts. In addition to these gods, the Yucatec also believed in the existence of a creator, Hunabku, father of Itzamna, though, like many creating-deities, he does not seem to have been honoured with any definite cult. It is possible that he is to be identified with Hunahpu, a god who held a similar position in the mythology of the Quiché, and who was associated in the work of creation with Gukumatz and Hurakan. The latter was also termed the "Heart of Heaven," and was a thunder-and lightning-god. As such he was also a god of fertility. The association of lightning with fertility is not perhaps apparent until it is remembered that most rain in the tropics is accompanied by thunder; for this reason Tlaloc and Chac, both of them thunder-gods, are gods of agriculture, and the dualism which makes the god who smites with the lightning the god also of the fertilizing rain is found in South America, in Peru, and in the Antilles. Whilst on this subject the existence of a special maize-god may be mentioned. This personage does not appear in the pantheon of the later Yucatec, for whom the Chac were the agricultural deities, but he is shown constantly in
