2 THE ARCHAIC MAYA INSCRIPTIONS. 



Caban; chronological reckoning commences with Ymix instead of Ahau; computation 

 is to the end of a period instead of the beginning of a new one; the katuns are 

 designated by the day number of the Ahau with which they terminate instead of 

 being numerated in arithmetical order ; the cycle consists of thirteen katuns instead 

 of twenty. It may be that this last difference is only apparent. Additional data may 

 show that there was a cycle of twenty katuns besides the 13-katun count. The 

 manner of numerating the katuns is the chief objection to this theory, but different 

 styles of numeration may have characterized the two counts. 



Starting with 1 Ymix, which Landa informs us was the initial point of reckoning, 

 the ahaus succeed each other as follows :— 9, 5, 1, 10, 6, 2, 11, 7, 3, 12, 8, 4, 13, 9, 

 •5, 1, 10, 6, 2, 11, and so on in endless rotation. The twenty ahaus in a katun are 

 numbered arithmetically, an event being spoken of as occurring in the tenth or fifteenth 

 ahau, or while six ahaus are yet wanting to complete the katun. Taking the day 

 numbers of the twentieth ahaus, which constitute the katun numbers, it will be seen 

 that they succeed each other as follows :— 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 13. 

 The eleventh was the first and the thirteenth the last, as is clearly indicated by the 

 initial date and katun-wheel given by Landa. The statement of Perez that the 

 thirteenth was the first was probably based on a confused notion of the numbering of 

 the cycles in the Archaic scheme — if, indeed, there may not have been a similar usage 

 in the Yucatec system. 



Another source of confusion in the Yucatec chronicles, quite as misleading as the 

 mutilation and errors, is the fact that in different ones time is computed from at least 

 three, and probably four, separate starting-points. I think it likely that each of the 

 four ruling houses — the Itzas, Cocoms, Xius and Chels — had a chronology of its 

 own, though using a common annual calendar, the result being that mention of the 

 same event by members of the different houses would assign its occurrence to different 

 ahaus and even katuns. 



Certain dates given in the chronicles and manuscripts enable us to align the 

 Yucatec chronologies with ours ; but this is of little service beyond dates nearly 

 contemporaneous with the arrival of the Spaniards, as the records relating to remoter 

 events are too broken and confused to be relied upon with anything like certainty. 



THE CAKCHIQUEL SYSTEM. 



This anomalous calendar is a deduction from the Annals of the Cakchiquels, a 

 document written by a member of the Xahila, one of the royal families, just after the 

 Spanish conquest. Unsatisfactory as the record is in not more fully elucidating the 

 Cakchiquel system, it is important as upsetting all accepted theories of Maya 

 chronology. . 



