July 8, 1897] 



NA TURE 



225 



months, each of twenty named days, and one short month 

 named Uayeb, of five days. 



This Calendar repeats itself at the end of fifty-two 

 years. 



I called attention, some years ago, to the fact that the 

 greater number of the carved inscriptions commenced 

 with easily recognised series of glyphs with numerals or 

 faces attached to them, which I called the Initial Series. 

 Mr. Goodman now shows that the Initial Series expresses 

 a date thus : — 



computations, and identifies the glyphs by which they 

 are expressed in the carved inscriptions. 



Next follows a chapter on the " Burner Period " (260 

 days) and the " Bissextile Count," and then a series of 

 chapters on the signs employed to express numbers, \n 

 addition to the well-known dot and bar system. The 

 most interesting of these chapters is that devoted to the 

 " Face Numerals," in which it is shown that the face so- 

 frequently met with in the inscriptions in connection with 

 Cycle, Katun, and other signs for time periods, are in 



1 2 



(I) The Great Cycle sign. 



(2) The Cycle. {3) The Katun. (4) The Ahau. 

 (7) The named day. (8) The named month. 



6 7 



(5) The Chuen. 



8 

 (6) The Day. 



As has been long known, each bar counts as five, and each 

 dot as a unit. (The roundish marks under the glyphs 

 are not part of the numerical series.) 



The signs in front of the Ahau, Chuen and Day signs 

 denote a " full count " of those periods. The date thus 

 reads : — 



54th 



9lh 



15th 



" Full count" 

 " Full count" 

 " Full count" 

 4 Ahau (day). 



... Great Cycle. 



... Cycle. 



... Katun. 



... Ahaus. 



... Chuens. 



... Days. 

 13 Yax (month). 



A reference to Mr. Goodman's chronological Calendar 

 shows that the 15th Katun of the 9th Cycle of the 54th 

 Great Cycle commences with the day 4 Ahau, the 13th 

 day of the month Yax, the date which is here given in 

 the inscription. The combination 4 Ahau 13 Yax can 

 only occur once in a period of fifty-two years. 



One of Mr. Goodman's discoveries is the system on 

 which the Mayas numbered the different series of time 

 divisions. For instance, the twenty Ahaus are not 

 numbered i, 2, 3, &c., up to 20, but they were numbered 

 20, I, 2, 3, &c., to 19. 



If we should nowadays wish to use a similar notation, 

 we should probably number the series o, i, 2, &c., 19 ; 

 but It seems as though the Mayas, having no sign for o, 

 wrote the sign for 20 or a " full count " of Ahaus in the 

 first place. 



The 18 Chuens are in like manner numbered 18, i, 2, 

 3, &c., to 17; the same sign being used for a "full 

 count" of Chuens as is used for a "full count" of Ahaus. 



As a " full count " of days (twenty) is a Chuen, a " full 

 count " of Chuens (eighteen) is an Ahau, and a " full 

 count" of Ahaus (twenty) is a Katun. The foregoing 

 inscription may be read thus : — 



The 15th Katun of the 9th Cycle with no odd Ahaus, 

 Chuens, or days added, begins with 4 Ahau 13 Yax. 



Had the date been one including a specified number 

 of Ahaus, Chuens, or Days, we should have had to make 

 use of the Aiinual Calendar. Without giving examples 

 and tables it is not easy to explain the method employed, 

 which in practice is very simple, and almost invariably 

 gives a satisfactory result ; so that we can now locate in 

 the Maya Calendar almost all the initial dates inscribed 

 on the monuments, and many of those expressed in the 

 body of the inscriptions. 



In the first chapters of the essay Mr. Goodman dis- 

 cusses each of the time periods used in the dates and 



NO. 1445, VOL. 56] 



reality numerals, and the whole series of numeric faces 

 from I to 20 is determined in some cases with certainty^ 

 and in others with a fair degree of probability. 



The " face sign " for 10 is a death's-head, and it is- 

 interesting to note that some of the faces representing 

 numbers from 10 to 20 are repetitions of the faces 

 representing numbers from i to io,\vith the addition 

 of a death's-head jaw, or some other similar combination 

 of 10 and the lesser numeral. Thus 6 is expressed by 

 a grotesque face with a hafted stone axe in the eye. 



And 16 is expressed thus- 



the death's-head jaw replacing the more natural form of 

 a jaw. 



With the remaining chapters of this essay it is im- 

 possible to deal within the limits of this article ; although 

 the student may not always be able to agree wath the 

 conclusions arrived at, he will find an abundance of 

 helpful suggestions. -A table of signs is given which 

 denote " the beginning " ; numerous " directive " signs 

 are distinguished, such as those indicating a reckoning 

 " from the beginning of a cycle " " from the preceding 

 date," t&c, as well as " declarative " signs, such as " the 

 beginning of a Katun," &c. 



Then follow "Exercises in Decipherment" and "A 

 Review of the Inscriptions " — that is, of those inscriptions 

 of which drawings have already been published in the 

 " Biologia Centrali Americana," and some others now in 

 course of publication. 



The essay is accompanied by a "working chart" in 

 which the equivalent of each of the different time periods 

 is given in days, and by a " Perpetual Chronological 



