450 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



in 96, also occurs on page GSa in the second series of 91 days, after 

 ll-f-13=24 days of this series have ex})ired ; that is, directly after the 

 115 days of the apparent revolution of Merc\iry. 



In lOh, and only in this passage, appears the glyph of the chief god 

 of our nianuscri2:)t, B. This coincides Avith the time of the sun's 

 greatest power and of the civil new year, July 16. In group 12 a and 

 c represent the year and h the head with the Akbal eye. Is this the 

 beginning of the civil year? This should really form group 11, but 

 there was no room for it, as the signs for the period of 91 days had of 

 necessity to stand there. 



Signs 14rt and 15c are almost alike and remind us of la. Are they 

 meant to express the middle of the ritual year, the time of the autum- 

 nal equinox, September 10? In 15a two hooks diverge from a sun 

 sign. Are these the two halves of the year and is the numeral 3 

 preceding them the third quarter of the year? 



In 206 we have the sign for the death god. A, which probably does 

 not occur by chance where the month Xul comes to a close, which 

 signifies the end. 



In 23a we have the glyph of a black bird; two hooks pointing 

 up and down proceed from it; below is the sign for the year. Is this 

 the time of the shortest day, when darkness prevails? 



This is all that I can say at present with regard to this calendar; 

 some points are decided, others are still doubtful. 



I find nothing in Codices Troano-Cortesianus and Peresianus xvhich 

 corresponds to this passage. On the other hand, several Central 

 American calendars have been handed down to us from Spanish 

 times. For instance, that of Pio Perez from northern Yucatan, 

 Avhich may be found in Stephens's Travels in Yucatan, in the Registro 

 Yucateco, and in Brasseur's edition of Diego de Landa. In Brinton's 

 Native Calendar of Central America and Mexico (1893), page 48, 

 there are also two Chiapanec calendars from Chiapas. These calen- 

 dars append a few ritual, astronomic, meteorologic, and economic 

 notes to every period of 20 days. We might believe that these and 

 other similar calendars that probably exist were translated directly 

 from such ancient calendars as the one which is presented to us in 

 the jjassage just now under discussion, only with the old pagan weeks 

 of 13 days reduced to periods of 20 days. The passage from the 

 Dresden codex discussed here, Avlien once it -can be fully translated, 

 will very much resemble these more modern calendars. 



We have here been concerned with a year of 364 days, the middle 

 of which consists of the sacred period of 260 days, while at the 

 beginning and at the end there are 52 days more, 104 together. Is 

 it not wonderful, then, that in close proximity, on page 70, on the 

 left, above and below, we find the two large numbers 1,394,120 and 



