MOELEY] INTEODUCTION TO STUDY OF MAYA HIEROGLYPHS 



265 



1 The manuscript incorrectly has 24. 



Applying rule 4 (p. 253) to this tonalamatl, we have: 52x5 = 260, 

 the exact number of days in a tonalamatl. 



The foregoing tonalamatls have been taken from the pages of the 

 Dresden Codex or those of the Codex Tro-Cortesiano. Unfortunately, 

 in the Codex Peresianus no complete tonalamatls remain, though one 

 or two fragmentary ones have been noted. 



No matter how they are divided or with what days they begin, all 

 tonalamatls seem to be composed of the same essentials: 



1. The calendric parts, made up, as we have seen on page 251, of 

 (a) the column of day signs; (h) the red numbers; (c) the black 

 numbers. 



2. The pictures of anthropomorphic figures and animals engaged 

 in a variety of pursuits, and 



3. The groups of four or six glyphs above each of the pictures. 



The relation of these parts to the tonalamatl as a whole is practi- 

 cally determined. The first is the calendric background, the chron- 

 ological framework, as it were, of the period. The second and third 

 parts amphfy this and give the special meaning and significance to 

 the subdivisions. The pictures represent in all probability the deities 

 who presided over the several subdivisions of the tonalamatls in 

 which they appear, and the glyphs above them probably set forth 

 their names, as well as the ceremonies connected with, or the prog- 

 nostications for, the corresponding periods. 



It will be seen, therefore, that in its larger sense the meaning of 

 the tonalamatl is no longer a sealed book, and while there remains 

 a vast amount of detail yet to be worked out the foundation has 

 been laid upon which future investigators may build with confidence. 



In closing this discussion of the tonalamatl it may not be out of 

 place to mention here those whose names stand as pioneers in this 

 particular field of glyphic research. To the investigations of Prof. 

 Ernst Forstemann we owe the elucidation of the calendric part of 

 the tonalamatl, and to Dr. Paul Schelllias the identification of the 

 gods and their corresponding name glyphs in parts (2) and (3), above. 

 As pointed out at the beginning of this chapter, the most promising 



