32 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 57 



first and third of these constitute the periods when Venus was the 

 morning and the evening star, respectively, and the second and 

 fourth, the periods of invisibility after each of these manifestations. 

 This Venus-solar period of 2,920 days was taken as the basis from 

 which the number 37,960 was formed. This contains 13 Venus-solar 

 periods, 65 Venus-years, 104 solar years, and 146 tonalamatls, or 

 sacred years of 260 days each. Finally, the last number (37,960) 

 with all the subdivisions above given was thrice repeated, so that 

 these five pages of the manuscript record the passage of 113,880 days, 

 or 312 solar years. 



Again, on pages 51-58 of the same manuscript, 405 revolutions of 

 the moon are set down; and so accurate are the calculations involved 

 that although they cover a period of nearly 33 years the total number 

 of days recorded (11,959) is only 89/100 of a day less than the true 

 time computed by the best modern method ^ — certainly a remarkable 

 achievement for the aboriginal mind. It is probable that the revo- 

 lutions of the planets Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Saturn are similarly 

 recorded in th(> same manuscript. 



Toward the end of the Dresden Codex the numbers become gi-eater 

 and greater until, in the so-called ''serpent numbers," a grand total 

 of nearly twelve and a half million days (about thirty-four thousand 

 years) is recorded again and again. In these well-nigh inconceivable 

 periods all the smaller units may be regarded as coming at last to a 

 more or less exact close. What matter a few score years one way or 

 the other in this virtual eternity? Finally, on the last page of the 

 manuscript, is depicted the Destruction of the World (see pi. 3), for 

 wliich these highest numbers have paved the way. Here we see the 

 rain serpent, stretching across the sky, belching forth torrents of 

 water. Great streams of water gush from the sun and moon. The 

 old goddess, sh(* of the tiger claws and forbidding aspect, the malevo- 

 lent patroness of floods and cloudbursts, overturns the bowl of the 

 heaveidy waters. The crossbones, dread emblem of death, decorate 

 her skirt, and a writhing snake crowns her head. Below with 

 downward-pointed speai-s, symbolic of the univereal destruction, the 

 black god stalks abroad, a screeching bird raging on his fearsome 

 head. Here, indeed, is portrayed witli graphic touch the final all- 

 (^ngulfing cataclysm. 



According to the early writers, in addition to the astronomic, pro- 

 phetic, and ritualistic material above described, the codices con- 

 tained records of historical events. It is doubtful whether this is 



' According to modem calculations, the period of the lunar revolution is 29.530588, or appro.ximately 

 29J days. For 405 revolutions the accumulated error would be .03X405= 12.15 days. This error the Maya 

 obviated by using 29.5 in some calculations and 29.6 in others, the latter offsetting the former. Thus the 

 first 17 revolutions of the sequence are divided into three groups; the first 6 revolutions being computed 

 at 29.5, each giving a total of 177 days; and the second 6 revolutions also being computed at 29.5 each, 

 giving a total of another 177 days. The third group of 5 revolutions, however, was computed at 29.6 each, 

 giving a total of 148 days. The total number of days in the first 17 revolutions was thus computed to be 

 177+177+147=502, which is very close to the time computed by modern calculations, 502,02, 



