192 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 57 



^lypli 6 is effaced, and conseciiiently the day is missing. Passing over 

 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, in J. and B of the plate named, we reach in the 

 lower half of 12 the closing glyph of the Supph^mentary Series here 

 shown with a coefficient of 10. Compare tliis form with figure 65. 

 The month glyph, therefore, should follow in the upper half of 13.* 

 This glyph is very clearly the form for the month Cumhu (see fig. 19, g\ 

 h'), and it seems to have attached to it the bar and dot coefficients. 

 A comparison of this with the month coefficient 3, determined above 

 by calculation, shows that the two do not agree, and that tlie month 

 coefficient as recorded exceeds the month coefficient determined by 

 calculation, by 5, or in Maya notation, 1 bar. Since the Initial-series 

 number is very clearly 9.13.10.0.0, and since tliis number leads to the 

 terminal date 7 Ahau 3 Cumhu, it would seem that the ancient scribes 

 had made an error in this text, recording 1 bar and 3 dots instead of 

 3 dots alone. The writer is inclined to believe, however, that the bar 

 here is only ornamental and has no numerical value whatsoever, hav- 

 ing been inserted solely to balance this glyph. If it had been omitted, 

 the month sign would have had to be greatly elongated and its pro- 

 portions distorted in order to fill completely the space available. 

 According to the writer's interpretation, this Initial Series reads 

 9.13.10.0.0 7 Ahau 3 Cumhu. 



The opposite face of the above-mentioned monum(>nt presents the 

 same interlacing scheme, though in this case the glyph bands cross at 

 right angles to each other instead of diagonally. 



The only other inscription in the whole Maya territory, so far as 

 the writer laiows, which at all parallels the curious interlacing pattern 

 of the glyphs on the back of Stela J at Copan, just described, is Stela II 

 at Quirigua, illustrated in figure 71.^ The drawing of this inscription 

 appears in a of this figure and the key to the sequence of the glyphs in h. 

 The introducing glyph occupies position 1 and is followed by the 

 Initial Series in 2-6. The student will have little difficulty in iden- 

 tifying 2, 3, and 4 as 9 cycles, 16 katuns, and tuns, respectively. 

 The uinal and kin glyphs in 5 and 6, respectively, are so far eft"ac(>d 

 that in order to determine the values of tlu^ir coefficients we shall 

 have to rely to a large extent on other inscriptions here at Quirigua. 

 For example, every monument at Quirigua which presents an Initial 

 Series marks the close of some particidar hotun in the Long Count; 

 consequently, all the Initial Seri(^s at Quirigua which record these 

 hotun endings have for their uinal and kin coefficients.^ This abso- 



1 The student should remember that in this diagonal the direction of reading is from bottom to top. 

 See pi. 15, B, glyphs 7, S, 9, 10, 11, 12, etc. Consequently the upper half of 13 follows the lower half in 

 this particular glyph. 



2 For the full text of this inscription see Hewett, 1911: pi. xxn B. 



a A few monuments at Quirigua, namely, StoUt) F, D, E, and A, have two Initial Sories each. In A bolh 

 of the Initial Scries have for the coollicionts of their uinal and kin glyphs, and in F, D, E, the Initial 

 Series which shows the position of the monument in the Long Count, that is, the Initial Series showing 

 the hotun ending which it marks, has for its uinal and kin coollicienls. 



