114 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 57 



the starting point of Maya chronology, and not the closing division 

 of the preceding grand cycle. However, mthout attempting to settle 

 this question at this time, the writer inclines to the belief, on the basis 

 of the evidence at hand, that the great cycle in the inscriptions was of 

 the same length as in the codices, where it is known to have contained 

 20 cycles. 



Let us return to the discussion interrupted on page 107, where the 

 first method of expressing the higher numbers was bemg explained. 

 We saw there how the higher numbers up to and including 1,872,000 

 were written, and the digression just concluded had for its purpose 

 ascertaining how the numbers above this were expressed; that is, 

 whether 13 or 20 units of the 5th order were equal to 1 unit of the 6th 

 order. It was explained also that this number, 1 ,872,000, was perhaps 

 the highest which has been found in the inscriptions. Three possible 

 exceptions, however, to this statement should be noted here: (1) On 

 the east side of Stela N at Copan six periods are recorded (see fig. 58) ; 

 (2) on the west panel from the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque 

 six and probably seven periods occur (see fig. 59); and (3) on Stela 

 10 at Tikal eight and perhaps nine periods are found (see fig. 60). 

 If in any of these cases all of the periods belong to one and the 

 same numerical series, the resulting numbers would be far higher than 

 1,872,000. Indeed, such numbers would exceed by many millions 

 all others throughout the range of Maya writings, in either the 

 codices or the inscriptions. 



Before presenting these three numbers, however, a distinction 

 should be dra\m between them. The first and second (figs. 58, 59) 

 are clearly not Initial Series. Probably they are Secondary Series, 

 although this point can not be established with certainty, since they 

 can not be connected mth any known date the position of w^hich is 

 definitely fixed. The third number (fig. 60), on the other hand, is an 

 Initial Series, and the eight or nine periods of which it is composed 

 may fix the initial date of Maya chronology (4 Ahau 8 Cumhu) in a 

 much grander chronological scheme, as will appear presently. 



The first of these three numbers (see fig. 58), if all its six periods 

 belong to the same series, equals 42,908,400. Although the order 

 of the several "periods is just the. reverse of that in the numbers in 

 figure 56, this difference is imessential, as will shortly be explained, 

 and in no way affects the value of the number recorded. Commencing 

 at the bottom of figure 58 Math the highest period involved and read- 

 ing up, A6,^ the 14 great cycles =40,320,000 kms (see Table VIII, in 

 which 1 great cycle = 2,880,000, and consequently 14 = 14 X 2,880,000 = 



1 See p. 156 and fig. 66 for method of designating the individual glyphs in a text. 



