(apparently the same as that on Tro. 11a) is repeated
four times in one line, each connected with a cardinal point symbol, and
each standing immediately over and evidently referring to a large
vessel.[209-1] It is stated that it was a custom among the Maya during
certain religious ceremonies to place a vessel in their temples at each
of the four cardinal points.[209-2] As _cum_ and _xamach_ are Maya words
signifying vessel, we still find in these the _m_ sound. It is therefore
possible that the similar glyphs on Dres. 29b and Tro. 14 and 15 also
refer to vessels. The supposition seems to be strengthened by the fact
that connected with the former are figures of the four classes of food
animals--quadrupeds, birds, reptiles (iguana), and fishes. The latter
refer to the hunter's occupation, being accompanied by figures of the
deer. Landa, in his descriptions of the various festivals, repeatedly
alludes to the four Chacs or Bacabs which represent the four cardinal
points, and to the different classes of food animals presented where
vessels were used. It is therefore more likely that the symbol is used
in the places mentioned because of its phonetic value rather than as a
substitute for the heads of lightning animals, for which supposed
substitution Dr Seler admits he can not account.

Dr Seler refers also to the glyph on which the long nose deity is
seated, Dres. 44a, shown in our plate LXVIII, 23. The prefix he
interprets by "man, human being," and supposes the whole glyph refers to
the attributes of the Rain god. As the deity holds a fish in his hand,
and is seen in the lowest division of the same plate in the act of
seining fish, is it not more likely that this symbol should be rendered
by _cayom_, "a fisherman"? This is appropriate and retains the phonetic
value of the _imix_ symbol.

In the compound glyph 24, plate LXVIII, from Dres. 67b, to which Seler
also refers in the same connection, we see in the figure below the same
deity wading in water in which a fish is swimming. The right portion of
the symbol is the same as the last (plate LXVIII, 23) and presumably has
the same signification--_cayom_, "a fisherman," or _cayomal_, "to fish."
I am unable to interpret the first or left-hand character; possibly it
may be found in one of the terms _chucay_, or _[c]aucay_, which Henderson
gives as equivalents of _cayomal_. The latter--_[c]aucay_--would give to
this prefix precisely the phonetic value I have hitherto assigned it.