Brinton.l ^ ♦^^ [Jan. 2, 



Xakab, paces or strides, a word confined to the paces of man. 

 The verb is xakah (tah, te), to step off, to measure by paces. 



Quite a series of measures were recognized from the ground 

 (or, as some say, from the point of the foot) to the upper por- 

 tions of the body. 



Hun cal coy u-xul (one to the neck of the ankle its-end), ex- 

 tending from the ground to the narrowest portion of the ankle. 

 Hun ppuloc u-xul (one calf-of-the-leg its-end), from the ground 

 to the highest portion of the calf of the leg. The word xul means 

 end or limit, and is used often adverbially, as in the phrase uay 

 uxul, literally " here its end," or " thus far," (Span, hasta aqui). 

 Hun pixib, the distance from the ground (or point of the toes) 

 to the knee-cap. From piix, the knee. Also called hun hoi piix, 

 from hol^ head, the knee-cap being called " the knee-head." 



Hun Jmchabex, one girdle, from the ground to the belt or 

 girdle to which the skirt was fastened (from hach, to tie, to 

 fasten). The same measure was called huntheth, the word theth 

 being applied to the knot of the girdle. 



Hun fanam, from the ground to the border of the true ribs, 

 from tanam, the liver. The Diccinario de Motul gives the ex- 

 ample, hun tanam in ual, one tanam (is) my corn, i. e., my corn 

 reaches to my chest. It adds that the measure is from the point 

 of the foot to the chest. 



Hun tzem, a measure from the ground to a line drawn from 

 one mamma to the other. 



Hun cal u-xul, one neck its-end, from the ground to the bor- 

 der (upper or lower ?) of the neck. 



Hun chi, from the mouth, c/i?', to the ground. 

 Hun holom, one head, from the top of the head to the ground. 

 This is also called hun uallah, one time the stature or height 

 of a man, from a root meaning "to draw to a point," "to 

 finish off." The Spanish writers sa}'^ that one uallah was equal 

 to about three varas, and was used as a square measure in 

 meting corn fields (Dice. Motul). The Spanish vara differed as 

 much as the English ell, and to the writer in question could not 

 have represented quite two feet, Elsewhere he defines the vara 

 as half a hraza or fathom. (See below, betan.) 



The hand in Maya is expressed by the word kab^ which 

 also means the arm, and is more correctly therefore translated 



