NUMERAL VALUE OF THE MONTH SYMBOLS. 



To 



UAYEB — 5 days not counted. 



Here we have the 5-day symbol again. As we know these five days were not counted, 

 the superfix to this glyph has particular interest. If there were any numerative 

 quality about it, it could be only ; but having come to the conclusion that there is 

 no cipher in the Maya numeral system, and it being an absurdity to say that these 

 five days do not exist at all, we must reject the supposition that it stands for naught, 

 and attribute to it the sense that these days are ignored or not counted. In this lio-ht 

 the sign assumes great importance, and it may point the way to the reading of Maya 

 texts other than those involving numeration. The symbol is here given the place it 

 occupies in the later arrangement of the calendar, but in the primitive order of the 

 months it probably followed Mol. 



11. POP— 220 days. 



In this symbol we have a more complex form of computation than has yet been 

 encountered — the interlocked right-angles, 4, the square cross, 18, and the reversed 

 curves, 10—18 + 4=22x10=220. 



12. UO— 240 days. 



I am unable to suggest any explanation of the value of this symbol. It is not 

 positive that the character which surmounts it is the yax sign, as the glyph is very 

 indistinct everywhere that it occurs in the inscriptions. Then, the cross, which 

 ordinarily would mean 3, is qualified not only by an overarching band in the inscrip- 

 tions, but is placed upon a black background in the codices, showing that its value is 

 subject to some modification not comprehensible at present. 



BIOL. CENTK.-AMER., Archa3ol. 10 



