196 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 57 



The Initial Series on the first of these minor antiquities, the Tuxtla 

 Statuette, is shown in figure 73.^ The student will note at the outset 

 one very important difference between this Initial Series — if indeed 

 it is one, which some have doubted — and those already presented- 

 No period glyphs appear in the present example, and consequently 

 the Initial-series number is expressed by the second method (p. 129), 

 that is, numeration by position, as in the codices. See the discussion 

 of Initial Series in the codices in Chapter VI (pp. 266-273) , 

 Cy)/^ tT'iid plates .31 and 32. This at once distinguishes the 

 • r [}i Initial Series on the Tuxtla Statuette from every other 

 :^J Initial Series in the inscriptions now known. The 



r [ ■ A number is preceded by a character which bears some 

 general resemblance to the usual Initial-series intro- 

 t reducing ducuig glyph. See figure 74. The most striking point 

 inma/ Series '^^ similarity is the trinal superfix, which is present in 

 on the Tux- botli sigus. The student will have little difficulty in 

 tia statuette, rea^lmg the number here recorded as 8 cycles, 6 katims, 

 2 tuns, 4 uinals, and 17 kins, that is, 8.6.2.4.17; reducing tliis to units 

 of the first order by means of Table XIII, we have: 

 8X144,000 = 1, 152,000 

 6X 7,200= 43,200 

 2X 360= 720 



4 X 20 = 80 



17X 1= 17 



1, 196,017 

 Solving this Initial-series number for its terminal date, it A\dll be found 

 to be 8 Caban Kankin. Returning once more to our text (see fig. 73), 

 we find the day coefficient above reached, 8, is recorded just below 

 the 17 kins and appears to be attached to some character the details 

 of wliich are, unfortunately, effaced. The month coefficient and 

 the month sign Kankin do not appear in the accompanying text, at 

 least in recognizable form. This Initial Series would seem to be, 

 therefore, 8.6.2.4.17 8 Caban Kankin, of which the day sign, month 

 coefficient, and month sign are effaced or unrecognizable. In spite 

 of its imusual form and the absence of the day sign, and the month 

 coefficient and sign the writer is inclined to accept the above date as a 

 contemporaneous Initial Series. ^ 



The other Initial Series shoAving a cycle coefficient 8 is on the 

 Leyden Plate, a drawing of which is reproduced in figure 75, A. This 

 Initial Series is far more satisfactory than the one just described, and 



1 For the full text of this inscription see Holmes, 1907: pp. 691 et seq., and pis. 34-41. 



2 For a full discussion of the Tuxtla Statuette, including the opinions of several writers as to its inscrip- 

 tion, see Holmes, 1907: pp. 691 et seq. The jiresent writer gives therein at some length the reasons which 

 have led him to accept this inscription as genuine and contemporaneous. 



