728 MAYAN CALENDAR SYSTEMS (ETH. ANN. 19 
the count of cycles, it does not afford the proof necessary to decide 
this question, as is apparent by trial, as the difference between the 
two series will be the same whether we count 20 cycles to the great 
cycle or 13. There is, however, one series in the codex (plate 31) 
heretofore referred to which will decide this point. This, which is in 
the right half of the upper division, is as follows: 
19 cycles 
9 katuns 
9 ahaus 
3 chuens 
0 days 
There is also one series in the inscriptions found on Maudslay’s 
Stela N of the Copan ruins which seems to settle the question. This 
is as follows: 
14 great cycles 
17 cycles 
19 katuns 
10 ahaus 
0 chuens 
0 days 
This reckoning, however, Mr Goodman assures us ‘‘is not only 
wrong, but absurd as well. The cycles run only to 13, and no such 
reckoning backward or forward from the initial date would reach a 1 
Ahau 8 Chen,” the next date, the first being 1 Ahau 8 Zip. He 
changes it to 14 great cycles, 8 cycles, 15 katuns, 10 ahaus, 18 chuens, 
20 days. 
It is true that, with the interpretation given of the date characters 
and the chuens and days, the reckoning backward or forward would 
not reach 1 Ahau 8 Chen. But this interpretation is by no means 
certain throughout. In the first place, it is not certain, judging by 
Maudslay’s photograph, that the chuen symbol does not have a 
numeral 1 at the left, as it is like one on Stela C, where, according to 
Maudslay’s drawing, there is 1, and the count may possibly, as will 
hereafter appear, reach back to some more distant date, as is found 
to be the case in several inscriptions. However, Mr Goodman inter- 
prets it differently. 
In the second place, the month symbol of this last date can not with 
absolute certainty be interpreted Chen; for as shown by the photo- 
graph it may be Yax, Zac, or Ceh, apparently Zac. The numerals 
attached to the higher periods are clear and distinct, but the month 
symbol of the first date, which is upside down, is as much like Uo as 
like Zip, if we judge by Mr Goodman’s month figures. If we suppose 
the sign to the left of the chuen symbol to be 1 and the number of 
ahaus to be 9 instead of 10, the reckoning from 1 Ahau 8 Zip will 
bring us to | Ahau 8 Mol, the eighth month, instead of the ninth. 
This change, however, would not be justified, nor is the change made 
