FORSTEMANN] PAGES 31a-32a, DRESDEN CODEX 461 



But now the question naturally arises, What is actually prophesied 

 here? We find nothing said about it, and there would hardly be 

 room for it in the manuscripts. We might conjecture that an omen 

 was connected with certain numbers and with individual days, as we 

 actually find such omens mentioned in the calendar of Perez given 

 by Stephens. But it is also possible that the cunning priests avoided 

 committing their prophecies definitel}' to writing and that they left 

 them to the chances of verbal transmission and tradition. Finally, 

 the graphic system of the Maya, which never even achieved the 

 expression of a phrase, or even of a verb, is too imperfect to serve as 

 a medium for the transmission of prophecies; at any rate, it could 

 only have done so very inadequately. 



