THOMAS] TABLET OF THE CROSS 749 
It would seem, therefore, that Mr Goodman has taken the system of 
notation in use among the Maya—their orders of units—to be, in real- 
ity, their chronological system. It would be just as true to say that 
the system of notation adopted by most enlightened people—the units, 
tens, hundreds, thousands, millions, ete., used in calculating periods 
of time—is, in fact, their time system. The Maya never left their 
annual calendar behind them when embarking upon extended time 
reckoning, a fact which is overwhelmingly proved by the constant 
reference to dates in the codices and inscriptions. The only proof 
furnished by Mr Goodman as to the reality of his discoveries is based 
upon this fact. The Maya time counts have only dates of the calendar 
system in view. Of course the mystical or ceremonial use of the 260- 
day period is not denied. Were it otherwise, their counting up of 
high numbers would haye no more meaning than the figuring of school- 
boys to see what great numbers they could reach. However, addi- 
tional evidence of the correctness of this assertion will become more 
apparent when I come to the examination of the characters and num- 
bers which Goodman assigns to his highest Mayan time periods. But 
in the meantime, though pointing out his fundamental error in this 
respect, we must not lose sight of his real and important discoveries, 
which must haye a material bearing on all future attempts at interpre- 
tation of the codices and inscriptions. 
Continuing our examination of the inscription of the Palenque 
Tablet of the Cross, and starting now from our last date, 13 Ik 20 
Mol, in the year 10 Akbal (as I have interpreted it), we take up the 
succeeding series, explained by Mr Goodman as follows: 
After half a dozen glyphs, unintelligible further than like most intervening char- 
acters they are to be found elsewhere in the lists of period symbols, there is another 
reckoning—1l-18-3-12 20 from the preceding date to 9 Ik 15 Ceh [8 left slab]. 
This is correct, and in connection with the previous reckoning it proyes conclusively 
that the preceding date should be 13 Ik 20 Chen (p. 135). 
5 
This ‘‘ reckoning” signifies 1 cycle, 18 katuns, 3 ahaus, 12 chuens, 
and 20 days. Here, however, occurs again at the left of the chuen 
symbol the same character as that at the left of D1 mentioned above, 
which we counted as 0 instead of 20, as interpreted by Goodman. 
We count it as 0 in this instance also: 
Days 
ICY ClOR Ae se sate sists sot es beeen oes setae Sore a 2h ew ots! 144, 000 
LSP ohn eee ay Soe Se NO ae oe niacin sims 129, 600 
£53 (211 OF Os es 2h i ee eee oe et 1, 080 
NOR CEUICTIS epee sere eae 5 = eee See fe oat th 240 
LD EN teen BOS CR ene eeas oe Oro = Soe ee ee 0 
274, 920 
Following our own count as given above from 20 Mol, let us see 
what the result will be. From the total (274,920 days) we subtract 14 
