THOMAS] PLATE 69, DRESDEN CODEX 731 
the time symbols to those of the inscriptions already figured and those 
presented farther on. 
By referring to @ and 4 of figure 10, showing the katun symbols, 
the strong resemblance to glyph A5 of the series now under consid- 
eration is at once seen. The resemblance of B5 to a and 4, figure 9, 
showing the ahau signs, is also apparent, as is A6 to the chuen symbol, 
figure 8. B6 is the kin or day symbol. Here it seems the numbers 
denoting days are not attached to the chuen symbol, as is usual in the 
inscriptions, the day, in the abstract sense, having its appropriate 
symbol, to which the numerals denoting the number of days are 
attached. 
As the usual order in which the glyphs are to be read is from the 
top downward, by twos and twos where there are two columns, we will 
take the first pair, Al and B1, as the date from which to count. This, 
as already stated, is 4 Ahau, the 8th day of the 18th month—Cumhu— 
of the year 8 Ben, which, as will be seen by referring to our table 3, 
is the forty-seventh year of the cycle of years, or calendar round. 
Changing these time periods to days— 



Days 
Sess te Ee Oe or ren at epee) 108, 000 
OPO pbc gases: Sea een OEE ree te 3, 240 
CUES See eee eel: sinc ces bicie as Cee eee 80 
DERE Se sl EE ee ey Re Es 4 
The aggregate is --. 111, 324 
Subtract 5 calendar rounds 94, 900 
here: TeEMsin = = - as Oe ee ee eee ee eee 16, 424 
Subtracting from this remainder 17, the number of remaining days 
in the year 8 Ben, from 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, and dividing the remainder 
by 365, we obtain 44 years and 347 days, equal to 17 months and 7 
days. Counting forward on table 3, 44 years, we reach 13 Ben, the 
next year being 1 Ezanab. Turning to table 1 we find that 17 months 
and 7 days bring us to 9 Kan, 7 Cumhu, instead of 9 Kan 12 Kayab, 
which is given on the plate. Counting backward from 4 Ahau 8 
Cumhu, as the symbols apparently indicate should be done (if the 
order be as in the inscriptions), results in a still wider variation from 
the correct date, assuming that the symbols on the plate—which are 
very distinct and unmistakable—are correct. 
If the dates on the plate are correct, the first falls in the year 8 Ben, 
and the latter in 3 Ben. Counting forward there would be an interval 
(omitting the calendar rounds) of only 7 years and the fractions of the 
2 years in which the two dates fall, manifestly too small for the numeral 
symbols. Counting backward there would be an interval (omitting 
the calendar rounds) of 43 years and the fractions of the 2 date- 
years, making, in all, 16,076 days, or 348 days short of that required 
by the time symbols after deducting the calendar rounds. As there 
