50 THE AECHAIC MAYA INSCEIPTIONS. 



Foi the purpose of comparison in general and of special illustration in particular 

 instances, a double list of day symbols is given, the first glyph in every case being the 

 typical form of the inscriptions and the second that of the codices. 



CABAS".— The Day Sign for 1. 



This sign is undoubtedly a cursive form of another abbreviation of the woman's 

 head alluded to in speaking of the first of the face numerals — this Sf^p !• The 



corkscrew curl — a sign for 1 — is the only remaining recognizable feature, the balance 

 of the glyph being too indefinite to determine whether it was intended to represent 

 the entire head or not. This is one of the symbols used to denote a day, or days, in 

 the abstract. One of the meanings of cab is day. 



EZENAB— The Day Sign for 2. 



There is no feature in this sign that has a recognizable numeric value. The zigzag 

 cross-lines, however, should be kept in mind as possibly representing 2, for they appear 

 in other connections, particularly in the death's-head, where they may raise its value 

 to either 12 or 20 — most likely the former. They are commonly supposed to represent 

 flint, or a flint knife. This may be true enough in some uses, while in others they 

 may have only a numerical sense. Whether the line extending halfway around the 

 cross-lines in the second glyph has any value, is questionable. It occurs at times, in 

 this or in other shapes, in nearly half of the day symbols in the codices, but it is 

 constant in only four of them. This inconstancy suggests that in most cases it is 

 merely a device for reducing space ; yet in Cib, where it is attached by bars to the 

 rim of the glyph, it undoubtedly possesses a value, as not unlikely it may in other or 

 all instances. 



