714 CENTRAL AMERICAN HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING. 



becomes important, as it enables us to limit the investigation to one 

 of four out of twent}^ days. As the next glyph which follows — that 

 is, S 3 (or the third in the S column) — is the symbol for the month 

 Pop (see lig. -i), the first month of the Maya year, and has attached 

 to the left the symbol for 20 (similar to that shown at / fig. 2), it is 

 evident that the da}" at T 2 is the 20th day of the month. As there 

 are but four days (Ik, Manik, Eb, Caban — see fig. 4) in the calendar 

 system used in the inscriptions that can fall on the 20th, it is evident 

 that it must be one of these. The reader will observe by inspecting 

 this glyph in the figure that there are two short perpendicular lines 

 and a dot at the left; these denote that it is the day 11 — ^ 



Passing on to S 10, T 10, we find another date, the glyph S 10, 

 being the symbol for the day'^ 11 Lamat, and glyph T 10, the svmbol 

 for the month Xul with the numeral character for 6 at the left. For 

 the days mentioned reference can be made to fig. 5 and for the months 

 to fig. 4. However, for the illustration the names of the days and the 

 months are not essential, but are added here to avoid using blanks. 

 It will be observed that above and below the little dot in the numeral 

 characters at the side of each of these glyphs is a little semicircle or 

 crescent. These, which might be mistaken for number dats, have no 

 significance, but are used to fill out the space or to guard the dot. 



To be able to say that certain gh'phs denote days, others months, 

 and others numbers is one step in the process of decipherment, but 

 the step is a comparatively short one unless their relation to one 

 another and the object of their introduction into the inscription can be 

 ascertained. This relation has been determined in part through inter- 

 mediate number series. For example, by passing on to glyphs S 12 

 and T 12, we find the number series 9 days, 3 chuens (or units of the 

 second order), and 13 ahaus (or units of the third order) — or 13-3-9 — 

 which, reduced to the lowest denomination, gives 4,749 days. Count- 

 ing this number of days, according to the Mayan calendar, from 13 

 Lamat, G Xul, the date given in S 10, T 10, and mentioned above, we 

 reach the date 2 Caban, 10 Xul, which is the date given two lines 

 below at S 14 and T 14, That is to say, the number in the numeral 

 series is the exact time included between the immediately preceding 

 and the immediately following date. This is proof positive that there 

 is a connection between the date at S 10 and T 10 and that at S 14, 

 T 14. Nor does the connection series end here. Glyph S 15 is a 

 short-number series of 123 days which connects the date 2 Caban, 10 

 Xul, of glyphs S 14, T 14, with the date 1 Ahau,-3 Zip of glyphs T 

 17 and U 1; or, omitting names, it connects the last preceding with 

 the next following date. 



Dropping from consideration the names of the days and months, 

 introduced to avoid blanks or explanatory phrases, the important fact 



