THE M LYAN U VI LIZ ATI ON 1 13 



260 and 584 have a common factor of 4. It therefore 

 follows that when groups of 584 days are counted con- 

 secutively along with the twenty named days in the 



standard tzolkin these groups of 584 days can begin on 

 only five different days. The sixth period is introduced 

 by the same named day as the first hut this named day 

 is associated with a different number. The same named 

 day combined with the same number recurs in 13 x 2920 

 or 37, 960 days. This round of the Venus calendar (65 

 Venus years oi 584 days and 104 solar years of 365 days) 

 equals exactly two Calendar Rounds. 



But there is an important correction that has to 

 be made to keep the actual solar calendar in accord 

 with the actual Venus calendar. The solar year is really 

 365.24 days in length and we have seen that this error 

 was corrected by a marginal addition of 25 days in 104 

 years. The mean Venus year is really 583.92 or .08 of a 

 day less than 584. There is reason to believe that this 

 difference was corrected by a marginal subtraction 

 amounting to two days in 25 revolutions. There 

 are other interesting calculations dealing with the 

 revolutions of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Saturn, 

 showing a remarkable knowledge of the mean motions 

 of these planets. 



Hieroglyphs. Mayan hieroglyphs resemble the 

 Egyptian and Chinese hieroglyphs only in being " sacred 

 writing" that is not based upon an alphabet. The 

 styles and symbols are entirely different. No Rosetta 

 Stone has yet been discovered to give us inscriptions in 

 more than one system of writing in Central America. 

 The great use of hieroglyphic inscriptions on monuments 

 was characteristic of the earlier period of Mayan history 

 and at a later time the writing was reduced to books. 



Bishop Landa obtained what he supposed \n a> a Mayan 



