THOMAS.] THE PALENQUE TABLET. 203 



tion carefully, we shall find that they are never placed at the left where the 

 outer or left line of the numeral character is 3, 4, or 5. On the contrary, 

 they are always (with two excejitions) present where the left numeral line 

 is one — that is, a single dot — and occasionally where there are two. 



The exceptions are R 2 and T 2; but an examination of the tablet in the 

 National Museum shows very clearly that they have been broken off the 

 latter and that they were probably originally on the former. Why do they 

 accompany only those numerals with one or two dots at the left and no 

 others? My answer is, simpl}^ to complete the square. This will probably 

 explain the presence of small characters or irregular balls on the foreheads 

 of some of the heads. The loops and balls at the bottom of the chai-aoters 

 probably have some particular signification, as something similar is observed 

 in the Manuscripts, as, for example, under the symbol for the month Pax. 



I will now ask the reader to refer to Plate IX, representing the tablet. 

 He will observe on each side and near to the upright of the cross two char- 

 acters — four in all, two in the column marked M and two in that marked 

 N. He is awai-e, from what has been shown in the previous part of this 

 paper, that Jn the Tro. Manuscript each division of the plates, or each 

 compartment, has at the left a colunm of days, usually five in number, 

 though in a few instances there are but four. The four symbols by the 

 cross I think are for precisely the same purpose as these day columns, and 

 that the numeral five, at the side of each, probably corresponds with that 

 placed over the colunms. As the upper left-hand character (M 1) is Ezanah, 

 the equivalent of Chinax in the Chiapan calendar, which, according to 

 Veytia's list, is one of the )'ear-bearers, we might presume the four repre- 

 sent the four year-bearers, Votan, Lambat, Been, and Chinax, or their Maya 

 equivalents Akhal, Lamat, Been, and Ezanab. But one objection to this sup- 

 position is that the lower character at the rig-ht (N 2) does not correspond 

 with the symbol of either of these days, but appears to be the same as (B 

 10) on the left slab, which is probably Cimi of the Maya or Tox of the 

 Chiapan list of days. But in these four characters Catherwood, usually so 

 accurate, appears to be at fault, and Waldeck correct. 



Turning now to the general inscription on the left and right, I will 

 endeavor to pick out and name the day characters, first notifying the reader 



