580 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



Here I 3 to VII 3 as well as 19, 16 to 14, 10 is equal to 240 days. 



For unknown reasons the period is not stated in other places, as 

 between F. 3 and F 6, between E 8 and G 2, between H 10 and H 11, 

 between T 1 and T 3. It is impossible to obtain a clear understanding 

 of the matter. There must be a corruption of the text in H 1 to G 7 

 and in T 3 to U 4 which it is quite impossible to fathom. 



It is very remarkable that the first date is omitted before Q 3 and 

 also before R 3. The day VIII 17, occurring in both cases, appears to 

 have different positions in the year. This day, which divides a regu- 

 lar tonalamatl, beginning with IV 17, in the ratio of 8:5 (160: 100), 

 is of special significance in the last part of the Dresden codex. The 

 ratio 8 : 5 is also that of the apparent Venus year to the solar year 

 (584:365). 



Plate Lxii suggests still another remark. The plate contains, at 

 the most, 30 regular calendar dates, each consisting of 2 glyphs and 2 

 numbers. Now, since there are in all 18,980 (52X365) different dates 

 of this kind, it would be very improbable that one of these dates 

 should be repeated if we were dealing with a historical succession of 

 events. Nevertheless we find here : 



X 17 : 8, 7 in B 8. A 9, and Q 5. 



X 17 : 13, 7 in C D 11 and G H 9. 



V 5 : 1, 8 in E F 6 and H 6 G 7, also in H 10. 



The frequent use of the day 17 (B 8, C 1, C 7, C 11, E 3, E 8, G 9, 

 P 4, Q 5, T 1, U 8), which occurs almost as often as all the remaining 

 19 days together, is in itself an argument against a historic and 

 in favor of a hieratic significance of this plate, while plates lx and 

 Lxi indicate rather that the significance is of a historic nature. The 

 prayer formulas, if they be such, mark the transition. 



Quite different from the inscriptions is the well-known Cross 

 inscription of Palenque (Maudslay, pages 73 to 76). The latter 

 appears to be a consecutive chronologic table which treats of mythic 

 ages as far as F 12 and thenceforward of historic time. Two other 

 inscriptions, likewise from Palenque, one from the Temple of the Sun 

 (Maudslay, pages 81 to 82), and one from the Temple of the Foliated 

 Cross (Maudslay, pages 88 to 89), are very closely related to one 

 another, particularly ho in their arrangement as a whole, then in the 

 striking agreement of the so-called initial series, and also in their 

 alternation of dates and periods: but I will venture no further 

 remarks. 



Very different from all these inscriptions are the stelae and altars 

 of Copan, which belong to about the same period as the monuments 

 of Palenque, as those appear to refer in every instance to a single 

 event. 



