INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GREAT PERIOD. 261 
The glyphs of Date 24 are among the most beautifully executed in the 
whole range of the Maya writing. The adaptation of the design to the 
space available in each glyph-block is masterly, and shows a grasp of the 
principles of composition equaled by few other peoples. Holmes, of the 
United States National Museum, regards the arrangement of the two figures 
in Fragment 5 as one of the most successful compositions ever achieved. 
Date 25. 
We come next to three fragmentary Initial Series, Dates 25, 26, and 27, 
the Initial Series introducing glyphs of which are missing. These are very 
different in style and arrangement from Dates 1, 3, 5, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 
20. Each of the periods occupies a full glyph-block and the coefficients 
appear at the left instead of above. More important still, however, is the 
fact that the date of the only one that can be deciphered is late, which tends 
to place all three of them in the later group with Dates Io, ri, 12, 13, 21, 22, 
23, and 24. 
Gordon (1902, plate 13, Pp) figures the first block. (See also plate 26, d.) 
This records 9 cycles and 14 katuns. ‘The left end with the Initial Series 
introducing glyph is missing. It shows a fracture, indicating that the 
Initial Series introducing glyph, or at least part of it, was originally recorded 
on this block. The other end, on the contrary, has been dressed smooth, 
so that it would fit closely against the next adjoining stone. ‘The joint at 
this end falls in the katun-sign, about two-thirds of which, including its 
coefficient, are on this stone. This piece, now in the Peabody Museum, is 
635 mm. long and 267 mm. high. (Catalogue No. C 862.) (See plate 26, d.) 
During the writer’s visit to Copan in 1915, he succeeded in finding the 
block which in all probability came next in the stairway. Both ends are 
dressed smooth, so that it would fit closely against the next adjoining blocks. 
It is 927 mm. long and 279 mm. high. The stone begins with the right third 
of a glyph-block, the lower right-hand corner of which shows the same -=p 
design as the lower right-hand corner of the cycle-sign on the preceding 
stone. Next comes 10 tuns and to uinals and 12 o1 17 kins, the end of 
the block falling at the right of the second bar, hence the possibility of 
another bar having been recorded upon the next stone. 
As just noted, the cycle-sign has this same treatment in its lower right- 
hand corner. (See plate 26,d.) Further, the coefficients on each block are 
at the left instead of above, and in both they are ba1-and-dot numerals; 
and finally, and most important of all, the right third of the glyph-block, 
which begins the stone found in 1915, if added to the block which is in the 
Peabody Museum, gives a glyph-block of the same width as the others on 
both pieces. 
The glyph-blocks on both pieces are exactly the same height and width, 
and when the two stones are joined, the katun-sign and coefficient are found 
to be the same width as the others. See measurements at top of page 262. 
