the Garden of Eden and Cain and Abel. The Serpent was always the royal
emblem, because the shape of Yucatan is that of a serpent ready to
spring. It was the custom among the Mayas for the oldest son of the
king to be a priest, and the second son to marry the oldest daughter.
The pictures represent that the oldest son in this particular case was
dissatisfied with this arrangement, and wanted to marry the sister
himself. To tempt her he sends a basket of apples by a messenger. He
stands watching the way in which the present is received, and the
serpent in the picture (indicating the royal family), makes it
curiously suggestive of the temptation of Eve. The sister, however,
rejects the present, and this so enrages the elder brother that he
kills the younger, who accordingly is deified by the Mayas. The image
of Chacmohl was discovered by the Le Plongeons, and is now in the
possession of the Mexican Government. Perhaps these brothers were
twins, as the commentator says Cain and Abel were, and that gave rise
to the jealousy.

Nothing can surpass in grandeur the account in the first chapter of
Genesis of the creation of the race, and it satisfies the highest
aspirations and the deepest longings of the human soul. No matter of
what material formed, or through how many ages the
formative period ran, or is to run, the image of God is the birthright
of man, male and female. Whatever the second chapter may mean, it
cannot set aside the first. It probably has a deep spiritual
significance which mankind will appreciate when cavilling about the
letter ceases. To the writer's mind its meaning is best expressed in
the words of Goethe:--- "The eternal womanly leads us on."


C. B. C.