3l6 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. V'. 



form, they were written from right to left. In the hieroglyphics, the 

 units were represented by upright strokes from i to 9 ; 10, by the 

 character n , like an inverted u ; hundreds by (^ ; thousands by , and 

 so on. Thus, 1897 would have been expressed by ^HH nnmim"- They 

 are said to have regulated their year by the changes of the seasons 

 without reference ±0 the changes of the moon. It contained 365 

 days, divided into twelve months, but they appear to have found a 

 difficulty in disposing of the five -supplementary days at the end of the 

 year. This is not at all to be wondered at. 



In more modern times, the Mayas or ancient inhabitants of Yucatan 

 whose system of recording events, as shown by Dr. Brinton, was very 

 complicated, commencing their year on July i6th, divided it into 18 

 months or moons, of 20 days each, making only 360 days. Their year, 

 however, was 365 days ; so to harmonize this discrepancy, they allowed 

 five days, which were called "days of pain or peril" to intervene between 

 the last month and first of the next year, which were not counted. Other 

 South American tribes were troubled with the same difficulty. In the 

 annals of the Cakchequels, it is shown that their year began on the i ith 

 or 1 2th of February, that it was not measured by lunar months, as was 

 the case with hunting tribes, but it was a solar year, consisting of 20 

 months of 18 days each. This deficiency of five days, for there were 365 

 days in their year, was called "days of evil or days of fault." The 

 Mexicans in getting over a similar difficulty used a term signifying " in- 

 sufficient." * 



The Greeks originally expressed their numbers by using the first 

 letters of words. Thus, i, expressed one, being the initial letter of I'ug, 

 the Epic form of i'ff, which signifies one ; -, five, from -i'^rs ; J, ten, from 

 Ji/.a ; //, 100, from lhy.ar6\>', .V, 1,000, from ^iOum ; J/, 10,000, from Mupia'. ', 

 7rw;'.i a J in its bosom thus: 1^1 was 50 ; with //, it was 500. All the Greek 

 inscriptions, prior to the time of Alexander, expressed the numbers by 

 the initial letters of words. Subsequent to this, their dates appear to have 

 been expressed by the letters of the alphabet used as symbols. This was 

 also the case with the Hebrew alphabet. In the notation of both these 

 languages, the letters were taken and used mainly in their alphabetical 

 order, and in many respects resemble and closely correspond to each other. 

 By the Greeks, the year 1897 would be expressed, thus, «w^r. By 

 placing an iota under a letter, as will be seen from the example given, 

 its value is increased one thousand fold ; by putting the letter M 

 under it the value is increased ten thousand fold ; for these letters, 

 however, single or double dots were substituted as more convenient. 



^ Dr. Brinton on "The Maya Chronicles." 



