56 



A STUDY OF THE MANUSCEIPT TEOANO. 



We see by reference to the annexed table of years (XXIII), which 

 contains exactly one cycle, that by commencing at the bottom of the right- 

 hand or Ix cokimn and running up, we find the numbers given in the quo- 

 tation and in precisely the same order. As these figui'es mark the terminal 

 Table XXIII. years of the lustres it is evident that the authority quoted 

 applied the name "Katun" to these periods, and that this 

 word is not used here as an equivalent of "Ahau." 



If the series began with Cauac, as shown by this 

 table, these numbers would then denote Ix years; but 

 if it commenced with Kan they would then be Cauac 

 years. In either case it is evident that by remembering 

 these numbers and their order it would be an easy matter 

 to locate or give the number of any year in the cycle, 

 and in the grand cycle also, if they had any method of 

 numbering the cycles But I am unable to see how 

 this could be of much service in counting the Ahaues, 

 and am therefore inclined to believe that this method of 

 counting back was chiefly in vogue among the common 

 people, they being unable to fully understand and use 

 the complicated calendar of the priests. Although Landa, 

 when speaking of the facility with which they counted 

 back the years, evidently alludes to the Ahaues, yet it is quite probable the 

 old Indian who ti-aced back their history for three hundred years did so by 

 the use of this key, unless he was a priest. 



It is difficult to understand what is meant by the expression "they fall 

 on the hvo days of Uayeb Jiaab" [intercalated days]. 



In the four plates of the Dresden Codex heretofore mentioned (25-28), 

 which certainly refer to the feasts of the intercalated days, we notice that 

 the left-hand column of each contains the characters of but two days — the 

 25th the days Eb a^id Ben, the last two of the intercalated days of the 

 Muluc years; the 26th, Caban and Ezanab, the last two of the Ix years, 

 and so on. 



Although these, as here noted, may not have any reference to this 



