INSCRIPTIONS OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD. 195 
be referred to Class 3, although this classification is admittedly unsatis- 
factory because of the peculiarity of the glyph sequence. 
The inscription on the front or west face is presented as a scheme of 
interlacing bands crossing each other at right angles in such a way as to 
outline a grotesque face. 
The inscription on the back or east face is also presented as a scheme 
of interlacing bands, but on this side the bands cross each other diagonally, 
giving the effect of a woven mat pattern. Maudslay carefully worked out 
the glyph sequences on both the front and back of this monument, and his 
scheme of numeration is used in the following discussion.! 
The inscriptions on the two narrow faces are perfectly regular in their 
presentation, each being composed of two parallel columns of glyph-blocks.? 
The inscription on the front opens with the day 1, 2, or 3 Ahau. The middle 
dot may be different from the other two, but not enough so as to give prefer- 
ence to I or 2 over 3. After this glyph, the order of reading is extremely 
doubtful. Glyph 3 appears to be the remains of another day-sign, but the 
interior details, as well as the coefficient, are entirely gone. Glyph 14 shows 
the day-sign Ahau again in connection with a hand “‘ending-sign,” and this 
is followed by 11, 12, or 13 cycles in Glyph 15. Bowditch deciphers Glyph 15 
as g cycles: “On Stela J (w) of Copan, Glyph 15 (Maudslay’s notation) is 
by the photograph clearly 9 cycles.’ 
A careful study of the Peabody Museum photographs, however, failed 
to convince the writer of the correctness of this reading. On the contrary, 
the cycle coefficient in Glyph 15 appears to be composed of two bars and 
three dots, 1. ¢., 13. This same number of cycles, moreover, appears a few 
glyphs farther on. 
Glyph 27 is a hand and Glyph 29 a hand “ending-sign”’ and the day- 
sign Ahau again. Finally, Glyph 30 is an “ending-sign”’ and 13 cycles again. 
It is not clear whether Glyphs 27, 28, 29, and 30 follow Glyph 15 or not. 
This part of the text is quite unintelligible and the sequence is uncertain. 
Glyph 31 is 7 Ahau, Glyph 32 a hand, and Glyph 33, 3 Cumhu, and the right 
half of Glyph 34 possibly a variant of the lahuntun-sign. The rest of the 
glyphs below this band are either effaced or of unknown meaning. ‘This 
date, 7 Ahau 3 Cumhu, as will appear later, is the terminal date of the Initial 
Series on the west side and is, moreover, a lahuntun-ending as well. 
In Glyphs 24, 23, 16, and 17, which appear to follow each other in this 
sequence, or the reverse, 17, 16, 23, and 24, there seems to be recorded a 
Period Ending date as follows: 
> 
Glyph 24-11, 12, 13 or 14 katuns 
Glyph 23) 111, 12,13 oft tune 
Glyph 17 O uinals 
Glyph 16 o kins 

1See Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 1, pls. 68 and 71. 
2 The usual method of glyph designation, i. ¢., by letters and numbers, has been followed on these two faces. 
3 Bowditch, 1910, p. 117. 
