DIRECTIVE SIGN'S. 97 



hardly a doubt of their correctness, but the matter by its very nature evades proof. 

 The examples given occur on the Tablet of the Cross, in a series of consecutive 

 reckonings that run from the beginning of the great cycle to that of the 9th cycle. 

 In addition to the computations notated in the ordinary way, an amount of time that 

 can be designated in no way I can conceive except by the construction I have put upon 

 the foregoing glyphs is required to fully cover the interval. If there were only these 

 two kinds of reckoning to deal with, the matter could be easily determined. But there 

 are three places where the notation is in still another style, as yet unintelligible to me. 

 These exceptions, however, do not materially affect the point in question, for, after 

 making reasonable allowance for them, the greater periods which I suppose to be 

 expressed by the foregoing symbols remain necessary as ever to the calculation. Other 

 unfamiliar characters are coupled with this same directive sign ; but as I could only 

 speak conjecturally of them, as of those already given, I will not pursue the subject 

 further. 



THE HAND AND SCORE SIGN. 



Here is another directive sign whose different shades of meaning it is impossible to 

 determine at present. Until we have a better knowledge of the numerals we can only 

 assign to it generally the sense of " during," but with that knowledge it will be the 

 surest guide of all. It is employed, I think, to show the number of scores of days 

 from the beginning of a katun or cycle, as the case may be, to the date immediately in 

 question. But, beyond this vague surmise, it will have to be left in abeyance for 

 awhile, as so many things of whose significance we are uninformed must be taken into 

 consideration in analyzing its values — the particular position of the hand ; the presence 

 of additional factors, as the stick in the last glyph ; the single, double or triple nature 

 of the score sign at the end of the finger ; and the unfamiliar character of most of the 

 numerals used in connection with it. It is of great service, however, even with the 

 faint knowledge we have of it; for when we find it accompanying a symbol indicating 

 a particular katun or cycle, we know, though unable to determine the exact point, that 

 it is directing us to a date which occurs during that period. 



biol. centr.-amer., Archaeol. 13 



