EXERCISES EST DECIPHERMENT. 109 



a peculiar marking at the top, and we do not know how that may alter its value. The 

 character over it may be a multiple of 20, as it has the general appearance of the wing 

 sign for that number, with a qualifying mark at the left part of it. For a reason that 

 will be made evident later on, we will assume that it represents 120, and the ymix 

 character 6—120x6 = 720x6=4320. 



THIRTEENTH AHAU.— 46S0 days. 



2nd glyph. — Here the signs for 9, 5 and 4 are plain, indicating that the other 

 character must be 26—9x5=45x4=180x26=4680. 



3rd glyph. — The chief factor here is a 260-day sign which we encounter elsewhere. 

 It consists of the ahau sign, doubled in value by the surrounding row of dots and 

 enclosed in the ymix character for 5 — 4x2=8 + 5 = 13 — and then multiplied by 20, 

 denoted by the duplicate comb sign below — 13 x 20 = 260. There are just eighteen of 

 these periods in 13 ahaus ; hence the character to the right must represent 18. 



tth glyph. — A beginning sign before a glyph that must necessarily be a symbol for a 

 13th ahau or thirteen ahaus. 



FOURTEENTH AHAU.— 5040 days. 



2nd glyph. — There is doubt if this was intended for a single glyph, or if two glyphs 

 were artfully or accidentally mixed up. The characters, moreover, being so nearly 

 illegible that there is no certainty about them, it would be useless to attempt a solution 

 of the puzzle. 



3rd glyph. — A head that appears to be a compound of the chuen and ahau heads. 

 As it probably represents an ahau, the sign in front of it must stand for 14. 



FIFTEENTH AHAU.— 5400 days. 



2nd glyph. — The 9, 5 and 4 signs are plain here ; the other character, therefore, 

 must be 30. 



3rd glyph. — The 5-ahau character, qualified by a sign that must represent 3— the 

 whole being a symbol for a 15th ahau, or fifteen ahaus. 



SIXTEENTH AHAU.— 5760 days. 



2nd glyph. — A different character qualifies the coil here. It must stand for 4 — 

 9x4=36x4=144x40=5760. 



3rd glyph. — The same form of the ymix character encountered at the 12th ahau is 

 again the central figure, but here it has a 20 sign under it, which presumably raises it 

 to 120. If so, it requires to be multiplied by 48 to make up the total number of days. 

 The signs for 18 and 10 leave 20 to be supplied by the other character, which is the 



