486 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



toni ; page 73, at the top, second column from the right. It occ'iirs in 

 specially large dimensions on page (JOb, Avhich is executed in a unique 

 manner. But I will abstain here from making more remarks, though 

 many suggest themselves, in order not to build farther on a founda- 

 tion which might give way under our feet. 



In order to proceed I must premise the observation that the whole 

 front side of Codex B (pages 4G to CO) now seems to me to be closely 

 interconnected, the wholly isolated, peculiarly enigmatic page CO 

 forming the conclusion. We know now that pages 46 to 50, the first 

 third of this whole, is a continuation of page 24. It treats of the 

 agreement of the apparent Venus year of 584 daj^s with the solar, or 

 terrestrial, year of 365 days. This is done in three sections, each of 

 which treats of 13 times 8 terrestrial years or 5 Venus years; that is, 

 13 times 2,920 days, equal to 37,960 days or tw^o katuns or 104 years. 



The second section (pages 51 to 58) correspondingly treats of 104 

 apparent Mercury years of 115 days; that is, the period of 11,960 

 days. 



Thus prepared, let us turn to the upper half of page 52, beginning 

 with the fourth column. Here, at the very top, we find another calen- 

 dar date, unfortunately partially obliterated, and beneath it, com- 

 bined again in the manner that I pointed out when discussing pages 

 61 and 69, the Chuen sign and the 3()0-day sign, the former combined 

 with 1, the latter with 5. According to my suggestion, this would 

 signifv 1,820=7X260. It might be explained by the illegible date 

 above, but it may refer to the seven quite identical columns of days on 

 the left, each 260 days apart from the next ones, thus affording a 

 slight confirmation of my theory. 



But directly below it we see the sign n, that is, Imix with a mark 

 above it which looks like a union, a tying together, jjerhaps a variant 

 of the sign composed of the rattles of the rattlesnake, which often 

 seems to indicate a period of time. I take this to be the sign of the 

 katun (52X365=18.980 days), the period at the end of which each day 

 (here represented b}^ the former initial day Imix) once more returns 

 to the same position in the year. In this passage, therefore, there is 

 reference to two katuns, the very period of time wdiich we found to 

 be the subject of pages 46 to 50. Below this sign we find a red 13 

 repeated 13 times. This can only mean that the tAvo katuns are to be 

 divided into 13 parts, each of which, therefore, as on pages 46 to 50, 

 contains 2,920 days. The 104 terrestrial years are here placed close 

 l)eside the 104 Mercury j^ears. I think there can be no delusion about 

 this. This presumptive discovery of the katun sign seems to find 

 confirmation close by, in the first column of page 51. Here w^e read 

 at the top the tw o calendar dates IV 17 ; 8, 18th month and XII 5, and 

 below them the group in o. 



