14 A STUDY or THE MANUSCRIPT TEOANO. 



this line we observe is in the tenth column (12 at top): counting back 

 thirteen months (always including the one from which we start), we find 

 that the first month of the year is the column having 6 at the top. The 

 backward counting is exactly the reverse of the forward method heretofore 

 explained ; count to the left until the first column is reached, then go back 

 to the thirteenth. 



We thus ascertain that 13 Ahau of the 13th month falls on the second 



da}' of the month in the year 6 Cauac. Proceeding in the same way with 



the Ahau in the Kan, Muluc, and Ix columns, we obtain the seventeenth day 



of the mouth in the year 4 Kan, twelfth in 9 Muluc, and seventh in 1 Ix. 



, We thus ascertain that the years are 6 Cauac, 4 Kan, 9 Muluc, and 1 Ix. 



If we examine Table III, showing the years of the cycle, we shall find 

 as a matter of course that these years occur but once in the entire period. 



In order apparently to further complicate this calendar, which was 

 undoubtedly devised by the priests, as Landa says, "to deceive that simple 

 people," another period called the Ahau or Katun was introduced. This 

 period, according to most authorities, consisted of twenty years, but accord- 

 ing to Perez of twenty-four. It is in reference to this period that we find 

 the chief diff'erence between authorities, because upon the proper determina- 

 tion of its length, and the numbering, depends the possibility of identifying 

 dates of the Maya calendar with corresponding ones of the Christian era. 

 In order to settle these points it is necessary not only to determine the length 

 of the Ahau or Katun, but also the number of Katunes contained in the great 

 cycle, the method in which they were numbered, and the proper position of 

 these numbers in this long period. Up to the present time these are the 

 rocks on which all the calculations have been wrecked. My chief object, 

 therefore, so far as the calendar is concerned, will be to settle if possible 

 these disputed points; but will defer the discussion of these questions to a 

 subsequent part of this paper, remarking only for the present that, accord- 

 ing to all authorities, these Katunes were numbered as follows, and in the 

 order here given: 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2; this number com- 

 pleting the great cycle or Ahau-Katun,^ which consisted of 260 years if the 



' I use this corupound term for tlie grand cycle ouly. Katun :md Ahau are used separately as 

 equivalents and as applying ouly to the period of "20 or 24 years; Ci/cle for tlie period of 52 years. 



