of the eye,
possibly representing the large tear gland.

The deer plays a large part in the Maya ceremonials. It is an important,
perhaps the most important animal offering as a sacrifice to the gods.
Several pages of the Tro-Cortesianus (38-49) are given over to the hunt
and the animal usually represented is the deer, the hunters are shown,
the methods of trapping, the return from the chase, and the rites in
connection with the animals slain. Tro-Cortesianus 48b (Pl. 30, fig. 1)
shows the usual method of trapping where the deer is caught by a cord
around one of the fore legs. Tro-Cortesianus 91a pictures the same
method and 92a (Pl. 30, figs. 2) shows where the deer is caught on a
spike in another type of trap. In Tro-Cortesianus 86a (Pl. 31, fig. 5)
the deer appears with a rope around his body held by a god who is not
easily identified.

Interesting descriptions of the hunt are given in several of the early
accounts.[349-*] It will be noted that the hunt was usually connected
with the religious rites and the offering of deer meat and various parts
of the body of the deer had a ceremonial importance. Attention is called
to similar practices among the Lacandones, the inhabitants of the
region of the Usumacinta at the present time (Tozzer, 1907), where the
greater part of the food of the people must, first of all, be offered to
the gods before it may be eaten by the natives.

The figures of the deer in the codices are clearly associated with god
M, and the latter may be considered a god of the hunt as well as a god
of war. It is very unusual to find a quadruped used as a head-dress in
any way, and yet in several cases we find god M has the head of a deer
as a sort of head covering, Tro-Cortesianus 50b (Pl. 31, fig. 6), 51c
(Pl. 31, fig. 7) and 68b. In the first two cases, the god seems to be
supplied with a bow and arrow. In a passage in Landa (1864, p.
290)[350-*] there is a description of this very scene.

In the month _Zip_, the hunters each took an arrow and a deer's head
which was painted blue; thus adorned they danced. God M is found in one
case in the Dresden in connection with the deer. In Dresden 13c the
animal is represented as female and is shown in intercourse with god M.

An offering of venison is frequently pictured in the manuscripts. Landa
(1864, p. 220)[350-[+]] also furnishes a parallel for this. The haunches
of venison arranged as offerings in dishes are realistically seen in a
number of represen