sEiF^R] THP: MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 47 



But when it is combined with the numeral 1, where we should expect 

 to hnd quia pija or quiepija, qui cuija is given. It seems as if there 

 nmst be some mistake here, and that we should read it quie pija or cjuie 

 chija. Pii, chii means "to be turned''. Thus pija corresponds exactly 

 to the name (Malinalli) which the day sign bears in the Mexican cal- 

 endar. But the name and the delineation of this sign are different in 

 the Maya calendar. The name is ee or eb — that is, "a row of teeth"', 

 "'a row of peaks". It is translated in the (xuatenialan chronicle, as 

 in the Mexican Malinalli, by eseobilla (" brush'"'). This tninslation is 

 undoubtedly correct. The eseobilla is a broomlike or ))rushlik(} instru- 

 ment, made of plant til)ers bound together, which is still very gener- 

 ally used by the Indian women to clean their clothes and comb their 

 hair (in Zapotec peego). The brush is therefore the symbol of purifica- 

 tion and the instrument of women. It is the attribute of the mighty 

 goddess Teteoinnan, or Toci, the ancient earth goddess, in whose honor 

 the *' broom feast" (Ochpaniztli) — that is, the feast of purification, or 

 atonement for sin — was celebrated in the middle of the sununer. Tiie 

 Maya hieroglyph for the twelfth da}^ sign (see a «, figure 5) shows us 

 the face of the ancient goddess, and l^ehind it, as a distinguishing mark, 

 the eseobilla. 



For the thirteenth day sign we find the woixl forms (piij, ij, and 

 laa. Quij means "the reed", corresponding to the name Acatl, which 

 this day sign bears in the Mexican calendar and with which the Guate- 

 malan title ah seems to agree. The Maya word been is obscure; but 1 

 have proved in my former work that the glyph Been refers to the same 

 idea of the reed or, perhaps more accurately, to the woven reed roof, 

 the woven reed mat. I do not find the mean'ug "reed" given in the 

 dictionary for the word laa. As, however, in considering tiic second 

 day sign (" vvind", "tire") we found these same word forms, (piij and 

 laa, to be synonymous, it is probable that there was also a synonym 

 laa for quij, "reed". Moreover, it is a remai'kalde coincidence that 

 in the Maya text the glyphs of these two day signs, which have the 

 same names in Zapotec, the glyphs Ik and Been, should most fre- 

 quently occur in company (see />, figure 3). 



For the fourteenth day sign, the Mexican Ocelotl. '•tiger", the 

 Zapotec calendar gives gueche,''eche, ache, just as in the fourth day 

 sign. As there in the words peche. peeche, beeche. "frog" of the 

 dictionary, we were able to prove an agreement with the Mexican 

 name, so here the dictionary gives peche-tao (" the great beast"), tigre, 

 animal feroz. I have shown in my earlier work that the ^Nlaya glypli 

 is also expressive of the tiger. The Cakchikel title. Viz. tiiat is in 

 Mayah-ez, "the magician", is to be regarded as explanatory of the 

 Maya name for this day sign (Ix), to my idea oiu^ more liidv in the 

 chain of reasoning in favor of the theory that the system of day signs 



