APPENDIX. 



435 



which the new moon is seen till it is full ; and to the second, the other thir- 

 teen, during which the moon is decreasing until it cannot be seen by the 

 naked eye. 



In the lapse of time, and by constant observations, they obtained a better 

 knowledge of the solar course, perceiving that the 26 days, or two periods 

 of 13 days, did not give a complete lunation, and that the year could not be 

 regulated exactly by lunations, inasmuch as the solar revolutions do not 

 coincide with those of the moon, except at long intervals. Adding this 

 knowledge to more correct principles and data, they finally constructed 

 their calendar in accordance with the course of the principal luminary, 

 preserving always their periods of 13 days, not in order to make them agree 

 with the apparent course of the moon, but to use them as weeks, and for 

 their chronological divisions. 



2°. The Weeks. 



It must not be supposed that the weeks of the ancient Indians were 

 similar to ours, that is to say, that they were the revolution of a period of 

 days, each having a particular name: they were only the revolution or 

 successive repetition of thirteen numbers applied in arithmetical progres- 

 sion to the twenty days of the month. The year being composed of 28 

 weeks and one additional day or number, the course of the years, on ac- 

 count of that excess, followed the arithmetical progression of the thirteen, 

 weekly numbers ; so that if a year commenced with the number 1, the next 

 would commence with number 2, and so on to the close of the 13 years, 

 which formed an indiction, or week of years, as will be explained hereafter. 



3°. The Month. 



"Month" is called in the Yucateco language "U," which means also 

 "the moon;" and this corroborates the presumption that the Indians went 

 on from the computation of lunations to determine the course of the sun, 

 calling the months "moons." But in some manuscripts, the name of 

 Uinal in the singular and Uinalob in the plural is given to the eighteen 

 months which compose the year; applying this comprehensive term to the 

 series, and to each one of the particular names assigned to the twenty days 

 that composed the month. 



The day was called Kin, " the sun;" and the particular names by which 

 the 20 days composing the month were designated are stated in the follow- 

 ing table, in which they are divided into sets of five, for the better under- 

 standing of the subsequent explanations. 



1st. 



2d. 



3d. 



4th. 



Kan. 



Muluc. 



Gix (Hix). 



Ca-uac. 



Chicchan. 



Oc. 



Men. 



Ajau (Ahau). 



Cluimi (Cimi). 



Chuen. 



auib (Cib). 



Ymix, 



Manik. 



Eb. 



Caban. 



Yk. 



Lamat. 



Been. 



Edznab. 



Akbal. 



