As regards the disposal of the dead, we find the same two methods current among the historical Maya as were practised by the Aztec, viz. inhumation and cremation. The first was that most commonly observed among the generality of the inhabitants. Death was supposed to be due to some evil spirit, and the friends and relations of the deceased mourned for several days, by day in silence, at night with lamentations, and the bereaved husband or wife observed a fast. The corpse was enveloped in wrappings, the mouth filled with maize-meal and currency-stones for use in the future life, and burial took place in or behind the house. The house was usually abandoned, through fear of the dead, unless a number of individuals were living there together and consequently felt less nervous of the departed spirit. The personal idols of a man were buried with him, and, in the case of a priest, certain of his religious books also. Upon the latter fact rests the hope that more of the precious manuscripts may yet be discovered. Individuals of high rank were burned, and their ashes deposited in large urns or in cavities in the heads of wooden figures carved for the purpose. In the latter case only a portion of the ashes were so preserved, the rest being buried. It is said that it was customary to remove the heads of princes of the house of Cocom, and to attach the facial portion of the skull, made up with artificial features, to a statue which was kept in a private oratory, while the ashes of high-priests were preserved in figures of pottery. Thus it is evident that simple inhumation was characteristic of the lower orders, cremation of the superior; and it is possible that the two methods may represent two separate cultural elements, since there is reason to believe that the ruling class belonged to a later immigration and were the introducers of certain Mexican practices and beliefs into the country. It seems possible that some form of cremation was practised also by the Kakchiquel, since we are told that the “ashes” of great men were mixed with the clay from which household idols were made; but among this people also cremation may have been reserved for the ruling class, since Fuentes states that at death the body lay in state for two days and was then buried in a jar, omitting any reference to cremation. It is possible that the term “ashes” may refer only to certain portions of the body, and need not be taken to imply the practice of burning the corpse; at any rate Gagavitz, the first Kakchiquel ruler, is said to have been simply buried. Leon states that a high-priest was buried in his house, seated upon his chair. The excavatory evidence, though at present very deficient, seems to point to the conclusion that cremation was a late practice among the Maya peoples. At Copan a number of burials have been discovered, in which the position of the bones implies that the body was arranged in a contracted position, recumbent or sitting.