550 BUREAU OF AMERICA]^ ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



sign for ;'>()0 we notice the correspondino- picture, just as the same sub- 

 stitution occurs on other monuments; for instance, on tlie inscrip- 

 tions in Stephens, English edition, D 7 and H 11 in the beginning of 

 volume 2, the same on page 342, and the first sign on page 7. 



Now, B 7 is quite logically the sign kin. the single day. In A 7 

 there is no longer a jDicture belonging to it, but a hand, probably 

 because the single days were simply counted on the fingers, I will 

 not attempt to explain the figure drawn above the hand. In D -1 

 Ave see the same character reversed, the hand on top, the rest below. 



In B 8 follows Ahau, the most important of the days, and in A 8 

 the god D (Izamna) belonging to it. This deity is recognized by the 

 oj^en mouth and the solitary tooth, visible in some copies of this pas- 

 sage. 



Concerning A 9 and B 9 I hardly venture a conjecture. Are these 

 signs meant to express the day 20 ( Akbal) and the god B (Cukulcan) ? 



Thus far the characters in A are joined to those in B with no inter- 

 A'ening space. From here on each of the two signs in the adjacent col- 

 umns is indeiDendently drawn. 



In B 10 we notice the numeral T). It seems as if A 10 and B 10 

 might denote the 5 milucky days at the end of the year. 



A 11 I do not know how to explain; it must refer to B 11. The 

 latter, however, is composed of the numeral 2, a face looking toward 

 the left, and a hand pointing to the right. It might be considered as 

 suggesting the change from the old year to the new, the last day of 

 the old and the first day of the new year, which two days are the 

 principal subject of representation in pages 25 to 28 of the Dresden 

 codex. 



A 12 and B 12 are wdiolly obscure to me. 



In A 18 we see a crescent and under it the numeral 9. Nine lunar 

 revolutions formed a sacred period, esj^ecially as this length of time 

 nearly corresponded with the tonalamatl. The moon sign in B 13 

 must be closely related to A 18. 



In regard to the fom- characters, A 14 to B 15, 1 am unable to decide 

 whether they are to be regarded as the end of this introduction or as 

 the preliminaries of the real subject-matter of the inscription. 



With A 16 begins the regular alternation of dates and periods, 

 which continues to the end of this tablet. 



The points of time, or calendar dates, as I proved long ago, have 

 the formula : I 17 ; 18, I7th month. 



This formula designates a certain specified day recurring after a 

 period of 52 years, that is, the first day of the 13-day week when it 

 is the seventeenth of the 20-day period and the eighteenth of the sev- 

 enteenth so-called month. 



The time periods, on the other hand, have as the first sign that for 

 the 20-day period, which we have already found in B G. There is a 



