THOMAS] NUMBEB OF CYCLES IN GREAT CYCLE 247 



Suppose, liow-pver, that it was the intention of the aboriginal artist 

 to connect tlie dates by these short series, and that each of them con- 

 tains some error, and when corrected would make the connection, let 

 us see what tlie result would be. The entire series on plate lxix — 

 taking- tliat in the text as it stands, and the black one in the serpent 

 figure, making lo-9-t-i plus 4-5-19-13-12-8, -i Eb ? (month)— would 

 throw back the initial date 12,493,052 days, or a little over 34,226 

 years, previous to the terminal date 4 El) of the series. This is 

 wholly inconsistent with the idea expressed l)y Seler (quoted farther 

 on) that the terminal dates of the inscriptions indicate, respectively, 

 the time of the erection of the monument, and that these dates fall 

 within or after the 10th cj'cle (Goodman's 9tli of the 54th great cycle). 

 If the 4 Ahau 8 t'umhu of this series is the same 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu in 

 actual time as the first of Goodman's 54th great cycle — or, as Seler 

 calls it, the "normal date" — then the series must run far into the 

 actual future, or all the dates of the inscriptions must be far back in 

 the past, and are merelj' theoretical. The onlj^ other supposition is 

 that the 9 Kan 12 Kayab in the columns at the left is not identical 

 with the 9 Kan 12 Kayab that stands above the serpent, and with 

 which the series in the folds are undoubtedly connected. 



As the final date in the series referred to in the preceding para- 

 graph is incomplete, in lacking the day of the month, we will try the 

 one on iilate LXI. Using the black series in the folds of the left ser- 

 pent, as this is the largest of the four great series on this plate and 

 hence presumably the last (though the rule, if correct, should hold 

 good with any of the series), we have 15-9-1-3 plus 4-i!-14-13-15-l (as 

 they stand on the plate). Counting 20 cycles to the great cycle and 

 changing to days, we arrive at the following resiilt: 



Days 



4 great cycles 11,. 520. 000 



6 cycles _ 804,000 



14katuiis .-- -- 101). 800 



13 ahaus -..-.-.- ---- 4.680 



15 chuens --. ._ .- 300 



Iday . -..- 1 



Add ainonnt <if short series 



Total -. 



Subtract 663 calendar ronnds . 



Remainder ."*... 1 7. 304 



Using this remainder and counting forward from 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, 

 year 8 Ben, we reach 9 Imix 9 Mol, year 4 Ben. This is wrong. Let us 

 use the series as corrected on a previous page, to M'it: 4-0-14-11-3-1, 



