HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



already set forth in Glyphs A, B, X, and D, much as we might 

 calculate the position of any day in the year from its month position, 

 July 4, for example, being the 186th day of 1916; December 25 being 

 the 360th day of 19 16, etc. The analogy is doubtless not too close, 

 but it indicates in a general way the probable nature of the facts pre- 

 sented not only in Glyph D but also in Glyph E, that is, data directly 

 calculable from Glyphs A, B, X, and C. 



Maya computations may be likened to double-entry bookkeeping, 

 where there is a double check on the calculations. Thus it is with 

 Initial Series, where the record of the terminal dates are superfluous, 

 since they can be calculated from the accompanying numbers in each 

 case; and thus we may find it will turn out in the case of the Supple- 

 mentary Series; at least it seems not improbable that the material 

 sometimes present as Glyph D, and more rarely as Glyph E, is 

 derivable by calculation from Glyphs A, B, X, and C. 



Glyph D is composed of four elements: (1) the hand, as in Glyph 

 C; (2) the moon-sign, the same variant as in Glyph C; (3) a numer- 

 ical coefficient ranging from I 1 to 19; and (4) a subfixial element, 

 probably of little or no importance so far as the meaning of the 

 glyph is concerned. 2 



The first two elements undoubtedly are the same as the corres- 

 ponding two in Glyph C ; and whatever may be their meaning in the 

 one glyph, it must necessarily be the same in the other. But we have 

 already seen that in Glyph C there are strong reasons for believing 

 they represent a lunar month. Therefore they probably stand for the 

 same idea in Glyph D. 



The difficulty with such an identification is in accounting for the 

 bar-and-dot coefficients, which rise as high as 19. Perhaps these might 

 denote the position of the lunar month in a series longer than the 

 groups of five or six lunations, possibly the position from a definite 

 starting point, different for each city. Again the hands and moon 

 element may stand for a group of lunar months instead of one, in 



1 Strictly speaking, there is no coefficient of I, but instead there are a number of cases where 

 the sign occurs by itself, without any coefficient, as in the case of Glyph C. As already pointed 

 out in connection with Glyph C, the writer believes such cases are to be regarded as having the 

 coefficient unity after the practice in algebra. 



2 There are many such subfixial elements in the Maya writing, the day-signs have a trinal 



subfix Q|^j£), t * le tun signs another \, )^ y _), and the uinal signs another (^o(^)- This 



latter is the subfixial element most commonly used in Glyph D. Artistic considerations always 

 weighed heavily in Maya glyph delineation, and the necessity of completely filling each glyph- 

 block with sculptured details seems to have been universally felt. Therefore, when the essential 

 elements were insufficient to do this, purely decorative elements were introduced. These may 

 and doubtless did originally have some significance, but their significance in later times prob- 

 ably became so unimportant that they could be and were introduced into a number of different 

 signs without changing their corresponding meanings. 



[382] 



