Brlnton.] ^'^^ [Jan. 2, 



square, the latter forty-eight fathoms square. Twenty Jcaan 

 made a vinic, man, that amount of land being considered the 

 area requisite to support one family in maize. 



The uncertainty about this measure is increased by the evi- 

 dent error of Bishop Landa, or more probably his copyist, in 

 making the vinic equal to 400 square feet, which even in the 

 most favored soils would never support a family. He probably 

 said " 400 feet square," which in that climate would be sufficient. 

 The kaan is said by Spanish writers to be equal to the Mexican 

 viecate, vfhich contains 5184 square feet. I acknowledge, how- 

 ever, that I have not reconciled all the statements reported by 

 authors about these land measures. 



Greater measures of length are rarely mentioned. Journeys 

 were measured by lub, which the Spaniards translated 

 " leagues," but by derivation it means " resting places," and I 

 have not ascertained that it had a fixed length. 



The Mayas were given to the drawing of maps, and the towns 

 had the boundaries of their common lands laid out in defi- 

 nite lines. I have manuscripts, some dating as early as 1542, 

 which describe these town lands. In most of them only the 

 courses are given, but not the distances. In one, a title to a 

 domain in Acanceh, there are distances given, but in a measure 

 quite unknown to me, sicina, preceded by the numeral and its 

 termination indicating measures, hulucppiz sicina, eleven 

 sicinas.* 



The maps indicate relative position only, and were evidently 

 not designed by a scale, or laid otf in proportion to distance. 

 The distinguished Yucatecan antiquary, the Rev. Don Crescen- 

 cio Carrillo, in his essay on the cartography of the ancient 

 Mayas,-]- apparently came to the same conclusion, as he does not 

 mention any method of measurement. 



I do not know of any measurements undertaken in Yucatan to 

 ascertain the metrical standard emploj'ed by the ancient archi- 

 tects. It is true that Dr. Augustus LePlongeon asserts positively 

 that they knew and used the metric system, and that the metre 

 and its divisions are the only dimensions that can be applied 



* Acanceh Cheltuu. TUulo de un solar y Monte en Acanceh, 1767, MS. 

 t Geografla Maya. Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, Torao 11, p. 435. 



