[Illustration: FIG. 63.--Priests with musical instruments. (_Dresden MS._) (_After Seler_)] As regards games, beans were thrown as dice, but the most interesting amusement was the ball-game, called tlaxtli by the Mexicans, and played in the same manner. In the Popol Vuh the outfit of the ball-player, which the rat discovers for Hunahpu and Xbalanque, is said to consist of “hip-shields, rings, gauntlets, crowns and helmets.” By far the finest example of a tlaxtli-court known is at Chichen Itza, and the semi-religious nature of the game is illustrated by the fact that a temple is attached to it. Before a court could be used it was formally consecrated; at midnight, on a lucky day, two idols, one of the game, the other of the ball, were set up on the lower walls of the court, and certain ceremonies took place, including the blessing of the court itself. Finally the ball was thrown four times as in the game, and the court was then considered consecrated and could be used by the players. The game was played for stakes, such as a bundle of cotton cloths, gold ornaments, or feathers, and a peculiar rule existed in accordance with which the player who was fortunate enough to send the ball through the ring, a feat which was but rarely performed, could claim all the cloaks of the spectators. Now it is an interesting fact that remains of tlaxtli-courts are not found elsewhere in the Maya country except at Chacula and Alta Vera Paz in the west of Guatemala, where they are exactly similar to those in the Zapotec region at Quiengola. Moreover, the ball-court at Chichen Itza belongs to the later buildings, since the temples attached to it are ornamented in Toltec style, the figures do not exhibit head-deformation, and the reliefs include glyphs of a non-Maya character. I think it is fair to assume that the game was not played by the builders of the earlier monuments, but was introduced in later times from Mexico. I believe that the Popol Vuh gives a hint of its introduction. It will be remembered that the heroes Hun Hunahpu and Vukub Hunahpu give offence to the people of Xibalba by playing the game. “Their game is an insult to us,” are the words used, and they are forthwith challenged to a contest. But before they are allowed to engage in competition, they are submitted to a number of tests, a fact which seems to indicate that they were called upon to prove their acquaintance with certain mysteries peculiar to the tribe. Failing in these, they are put to death without being permitted to engage in the game. The idea that certain games are the property of certain tribes is not unfamiliar to students of ethnography, especially in the case of games which possess the ceremonial significance which is so noticeable a feature of tlaxtli. The tests therefore which the lords of Xibalba impose upon the heroes have the object of discovering whether the latter possess the right to play the game which they claim, and it will