COMMERCE OF THE MAYA BLOM 429 



we move over when we reach 9, so they move one up when they 

 reached 19. Their count is as simple as ours. A single dot in the 

 second position up in the column signifies 20, and a certain sign, 

 probably a shell, signifies 0, zero. In our decimal annotation it is 

 9 ; next comes one followed by zero, 10. 



In the Maya vigesimal annotation it is 4 dots, 3 bars, 19 (fig. 2). 

 The next move will be 20 (fig. 3). Figure 4 shows the sign for 26. 



The count was in twenties and multiples of twenties, thus : 



Hun 1 



Kal 20 



Bak 400 (20 by 20) 



Pic 8,000 (20 by 400) 



Cabal 160,000 (20 by 8,000), etc., etc. 



This was the count for such objects as canoes, warriors, paces, 

 and monetary units. 



We are now familiar with the basic monetary unit and with the 

 method in which it was counted. It happened also to be a food 

 product, and therefore we digressed to this and also to the system 

 of counting. Now we return to the commercial needs of the Maya. 



Our records show that there was a large demand for medicinal 

 herbs, some of which grew in the highland pine forests, and others 

 of which were to be found in the humid coastal swamps. Therefore, 

 there must have been trade in medicinal herbs, both such as had 

 actual curative properties and those which were imagined to heal. 

 We find not only that plants were used as medicine, but so also were 

 animals and gums. The cacao peel was considered a great curative 

 for cuts, the resin of the pine tree as well as turpentine were healers, 

 as was also the resin of the tree which produced copal gum, or 

 " pom " as it was called by the Maya. Chicle, from the chicotl- 

 zapotl, was not only used for healing but was also chewed, in a truly 

 American fashion. 



These tree gums bring us to another line of trade. The " pom ", 

 the chicle, the sap of the rubber tree, and other matters of resinous 

 substance were sought as incense to be burned before the gods, and 

 while we speak of these resins and gums, it might be permissible 

 to draw attention to Melchor Alfaro's map of the State of Tabasco, 

 a truly remarkable map for its time, where are indicated some 

 " springs where issues a water which curdles in the sun and forms 

 a black resin, with which one can glue things — there are similar 

 ones in other parts of the province." This map was made in 

 1579, and to my knowledge this is the first mention we have of oil- 

 seepages.^ 



' Published in Relaciones de Yucatan, vol. 2, and Maudslay's edition of Bernal Diaz, 

 TOl. 3. 



