NUiYIEEAL WOESHIP AND BUILDING UP IMAGES, ETC. 



83 



ELEMENTS OF THE GREAT CYCLE SIGN. 



Here the reckoning reverts to the 5-day period. It is multiplied by 72, making an 

 ahau ; that by 20, making a katun ; that by 20 again, making a cycle ; and that by 13, 

 making a great cycle. The last multiplier is the outflaring trinal character at the top. 

 It is a 13 sign, duplicated to balance the glyph. The two 20 multipliers appear only 

 in the first of the symbols given above — or, rather, only in that does the single one 

 extend all the way to the bottom, as is commonly the case. There should be two 

 separate signs, however, as shown in some of the glyphs ; but I have selected these 

 particular specimens for another purpose, which I shall presently state. The 20 sign 

 in the first glyph looks like anything but the same sign in the other two, and resembles 

 a fish more than anything else. Yet they are identical in character, both representing 

 the feathered dragon — the fringed jaw alone of which, reduced to the cursive comb- 

 like character, is the commonest sign for 20. The evolution of this character is so 

 curious and interesting that I herewith give a series of glyphs — all taken from great- 

 cycle symbols — showing the gradations : 



The reason why I selected the particular symbols given above is that I think the 

 number of the great cycle is specifically stated in them. Close observers will have 

 noticed several peculiar things about the great-cycle character. The most peculiar of 

 these is that, while the form of the katun symbol is preserved in it fully in every other 

 respect, the cauac sign disappears from the superfix and is replaced by some other 

 character. In more than three-fourths of the dates in the 54th great cycle a dragon's 

 head occupies its j)lace ; a tiger's head predominates in the 55th, while the remainder 

 is made up of faces and signs that may represent a day, a cycle, or some other period. 

 Whatever their character, they have no peculiarities that can at present be construed 

 into numerals, except in case of the three glyphs here reproduced ; so, if the others 

 have any numeric value, it must be arbitrarily expressed. The three in question 



11* 



