MORLEY— MAYA SUPPLEMENTARY SERIES 



from Yaxchilan, which, for some unknown reason, all have this glyph. 1 

 See Nos. 17-26. 



In every one of these texts, just to the left of Glyph E there occurs 

 a character which, so far as the writer is aware, is found only in two 

 other texts in the entire Maya inscriptions, namely, Stela A at Copan 

 and the Temple of the Initial Series at Holactun. See Nos. 77 and 8 

 respectively. 



This glyph is composed of a large oval central element, to which 

 are attached a pair of squatting human legs and a pair of bent human 



arms M^P ■ The central element appears to give the clue to its 

 meaning. It is identical with a rather unusual variant of the kin or 

 day-sign Irj], which, however, is perfectly familiar and of mathe- 



matically demonstrable meaning. Mr Bowditch gives four examples, 

 three from Copan and one from Palenque; 2 and the writer notes 

 another very beautiful one in a Secondary Series on Slab 6 of the 

 Hieroglyphic Stairway at Naranjo. 3 All these have the same charac- 

 teristics — large scroll at the top of the oval, a line concentric with the 

 base toward the bottom of the oval, and sometimes a pair of vertical 

 connecting lines. 



In the glyphs from the Yaxchilan Supplementary Series these 

 same characteristics show very clearly (see Nos. 17, 19, 22, and 23), 

 and their absence in the others is doubtless due to erosion rather than 

 to omission. The basic idea of the two glyphs is identical. Both 

 doubtless represent the kin or day. This is a highly important point, 

 since it probably indicates that this glyph and Glyph E are to be 

 added together after the manner of the different time periods in a 

 Secondary Series. 



Returning to this "legged" kin sign it will be seen in Nos. 17-26 

 that it also has a bar-and-dot coefficient. In No. 17 this is 5 joined 

 to a death's head; in No. 18 it is 9; in No. 19 probably 6; in No. 20 it 

 is 5 joined to an unknown element, seen, however, in the death's head 

 of No. 17, and possibly a substantive for the death's head here; in 



1 No. 20 shows a possible exception to this statement. This text, however, has never been 

 photographed, and the only drawing extant, one by Mr Maler (see Maler, 1903, fig. 43), is known 

 to be faulty in several other important details, the glyph to the left of Glyph D being one of these. 

 The writer has little doubt that this glyph in the original is a perfectly clear representation of 

 Glyph E, and as such it has been treated here. 



2 See Bowditch, 1910, pi. xiv — Periods, Normal Kin, 6-10. 



3 See Maler, 1908, pi. 27. 



[385] 



