Maya carving is seen at its best when applied to wood, but owing to the perishable nature of the material few examples have survived. Nearly all of these are from Tikal, and consist of lintels on which designs are sculptured in low and beautifully modelled relief (Fig. 48; p. 225). The fact that practically no idols have been discovered seems to indicate that they were carved in wood and so have failed to survive, and indeed Landa states that amongst the historical Yucatec the most venerated idols were wooden. The relation which the reliefs, especially those of the northern Maya region, as at Palenque, bear to wood-carvings is evident, and no doubt proficiency in wood-carving antedated skill in sculpture. Of weaving and embroidery nothing is known, save that the historical Yucatec were experts in the art. However, the dresses of the figures sculptured on the monuments prove that the early Maya had attained great proficiency in the textile arts. Garments heavy with embroidery, and with elaborate inwoven designs, are sculptured with great care, and a fine example is shown on Pl. XXII; p. 294. The loom used must have been of the same type as that found throughout Mexico and Central America in historical times (Fig. 66; compare Fig. 27, _b_; p. 148). The subject of Maya pottery, though extremely interesting, has not yet been studied sufficiently to yield any very important results, as far as indicating the direction in which the culture spread. It is complicated moreover by the fact that there was evidently a considerable trade in pottery in early times, and the ware of a good factory spread far and wide over a large area. Besides this the available material has not yet been fully classified, and much more excavation must be performed before really representative collections, illustrative of the various districts, can be brought together. Seler has attempted to trace to some extent the wanderings of pottery from certain centres of manufacture; he calls attention to the finding in Guatemala of ware of Tarascan type; and concludes that the ware of Huehuetenango and Chiquimula spread over the whole of south-western Guatemala and south-eastern Chiapas, while that of Jilotepec in the Guatemalan province of Jalapa was carried to south-eastern Guatemala and western San Salvador. The Maya had carried the fictile art to a high degree of development, though they never obtained such a mastery over their material as the coastal tribes of Peru. Naturally the quality of the ware varies considerably according to the use for which the vessel was intended, but the paste in the best specimens is hard, well mixed and fired, and varies in colour from a bright terra-cotta to pale cream, though the majority of fragments are of a reddish tinge; black pottery is rare. Some of the Guatemalan vases are moulded from a clay containing a large percentage of mica, and these are usually softer than the better-class ware; while certain vessels from the Peten