DECLARATIVE SIGXS. 



101 



result is obtained by putting an additional sign for 20 at the side. To illustrate what 

 I believe to be the principal upon which glyphs were developed, I give here a series 

 of signs showing the growth of this one from the time it is simply 18x20 = 360 — the 

 equivalent of an ahau — till it reaches its perfect form as a concise katun symbol : 



Here it is made manifest that the part of it representing 18 is composed of two 

 signs for 9. In the first three glyphs the three small circles denote the 9 that in the 

 others is expressed by cross-hatching. The other 9, represented by the peculiarly 

 arranged lines underneath, is constant throughout all the symbols. All the affixes are 

 signs for 20, except that in the last glyph, which, as I have said, is a 20 sign increased 

 twentyfold by striation. 



I have spoken of two declarative signs signifying that a date is the beginning of an 

 ahau — the one accompanying the day Ahau, and the glyph consisting of two signs for 

 20, multiplied to make 400. They and the first of the subjoined list are the only ones 

 I know that declare the beginning of an ahau in the abstract. Usually the specific 

 number of the ahau is given, as shown in the rest of these signs : 



The numerated symbols here denote respectively a 5th, 10th, 17th and 15th ahau. 

 It will be observed that the beginning sign is not a constant attendant either here or 

 in the preceding examples, the practice in many instances being to simply declare a 

 date to be a 10th, 13th or 15th ahau, or a katun, as the case may be, without 

 particularizing that it is the beginning of it. 



The declaration is not always as direct or plain as in the foregoing OTV^^Nl 

 examples. Sometimes a day sign is employed as an intermediary, as 

 here shown. The reading here is: 8 Ahau-13 Ceh, the beginning 0. 

 day of the 9th cycle. The day plays a conspicuous part also in a 

 curious instance of double declaratives. Unfortunately the inscrip- 

 tions are so badly defaced in every place but one where the examples 

 in question occur that it is difficult to get a good drawing, but the purport of the si"-ns 

 is nowhere doubtful. The subfix or sub-subfix — very variable, as though anything 



