THE QUTEIGTJA INSCRIPTIONS. 



127 



Having ascertained in this way the position of the date, we are able to correct 

 the former reckoning, which should be 1— 4— 16 x 15,— not 1—1— 16x15,— as the 

 subjoiued calculation will show : — 



AHAU COUNT. 



YEAE COUNT. 



1 katun 7,200 days. 



4 ahaus 1,440 „ 



16 chuens 320 „ 



1-5 days 15 



8,975 days. 



13th year 280 days. 



23 years 8,395 „ 



37thyear 300 „ 



8,975 days. 



By this reckoning we arrive at 11 Ymix-19 Muan, to which the other count led 

 back ; so we are satisfied about this mistake also— making three grave mistakes in a 

 single inscription. I have been thus explicit in order to prove that the mistakes 

 to which I so often allude exist elsewhere than in my imagination. We shall come 

 across many more of them, but hereafter I shall content myself with simply pointing 

 them out. 



Stela C. East side. 



Initial date: 54—13—20—20—18x20—4 Ahau-8 Cumhu. This date is the 

 beginning of the 54th great cycle. No dates or reckonings in the usual style follow it, 

 but instead there are groups of characters with signs indicating a reckoning from a 

 preceding date to the beginning of a cycle, katun and other periods. There are five of 

 these divisions. Not knowing the exact value of the characters employed, I cannot 

 speak positively of the purpose, but I surmise that it is to show how a great cycle can 

 be subdivided into various periods, just as we have seen the cycle variously reckoned. 

 If the marred numeral of the cycle symbol near the bottom were plainly 13, as I 

 believe it to be, I should have no doubt of the glyphs being a reckoning from a 13th 

 to a 13th cycle, covering just a great cycle period. 



The inscription on the other side of this stela begins with a great cycle sign that 

 has a day symbol in it. The date under it reads: 9 — 1 — 20 — 18x20, from the 

 preceding date, 6 Ahau-13 Yaxkin — showing that it is subordinate to the former date, 

 and, inferentially, that it marks the time of the erection of the stela. It is followed 

 by four glyphs, indicated by the succeeding one to be a reckoning from the preceding 

 date. We are familiar with some of the characters, but the unknown ones baffle all 

 attempts to make out the calculation. Two strange glyphs follow, and then comes a 



