[Footnote 1: The _Diccionario Maya del Convento de Motul_, MS., the only dictionary in which I find the exact word, translates _bacab_ by "representante, juglar, bufon." This is no doubt a late meaning taken from the scenic representations of the supposed doings of the gods in the ritual ceremonies. The proper form of the word is _uacab_ or _vacab_, which the dictionary mentioned renders "cosa que esta en pié ó enhiesta delante de otra." The change from the initial _v_ to _b_ is quite common, as may be seen by comparing the two letters in Pio Perez's _Diccionario de la Lengua Maya_, e.g. _balak_, the revolution of a wheel, from _ualak_, to turn, to revolve.] [Footnote 2: The entries in the _Diccionario Maya-Español del Convento de Motul_, MS., are as follows:-- "_Chaac_: gigante, hombre de grande estatura. "_Chaac_: fué un hombre asi grande que enseño la agricultura, al cual tuvieron despues por Dios de los panes, del agua, de los truenos y relámpagos. Y asi se dice, _hac chaac_, el rayo: _u lemba chaac_ el relámpago; _u pec chaac_, el trueno," etc.] [Footnote 3: _Relacion, etc._, p. 255.] These four Chac or Bacabab were worshiped under the symbol of the cross, the four arms of which represented the four cardinal points. Both in language and religious art, this was regarded as a tree. In the Maya tongue it was called "the tree of bread," or "the tree of life."[1] The celebrated cross of Palenque is one of its representations, as I believe I was the first to point out, and has now been generally acknowledged to be correct.[2] There was another such cross, about eight feet high, in a temple on the island of Cozumel. This was worshiped as "the god of rain," or more correctly, as the symbol of the four rain gods, the Bacabs. In periods of drought offerings were made to it of birds (symbols of the winds) and it was sprinkled with water. "When this had been done," adds the historian, "they felt certain that the rains would promptly fall."[3] [Footnote 1: The Maya word is _uahomche_, from _uah_, originally the tortilla or maize cake, now used for bread generally. It is also current in the sense of _life_ ("la vida en cierta manera," _Diccionario Maya Español del Convento de Motul_, MS.). _Che_ is the generic word for tree. I cannot find any particular tree called _Homche_. _Hom_ was the name applied to a wind instrument, a sort of trumpet. In the _Codex Troano_, Plates xxv, xxvii, xxxiv, it is represented in use. The four Bacabs were probably imagined to blow the winds from the four corners of the earth through such instruments. A similar representation is given in the _Codex Borgianus_, Plate xiii, in Kingsborough. As the Chac was the god of bread, _Dios de los panes_, so the cross was the tree of bread.]