320 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
will give 13, the coefficient of the day of the terminal date, ob, when added to 
6, the coefficient of the day of the starting-point, E. The only tun coefficient 
under 11 fulfilling these necessary conditions is 5, and 5.2.0 counted back- 
ward from 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu will give 6 Ahau 3 Cumhu, the position of 
which in the Long Count can be shown to have been 9.16.14.16.0: 
ob,Pa 9.17. 0.0.0 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu 
N 5. 2.0 backward 
E 9.16.14.16.0 6 Ahau (3 Cumhu) 
One other much higher value of the tun coefficient will also give a remain- 
der of 7, namely, 18, but this is so high that it hardly could have been 
crowded into the space available in Nb. (See Nd, plate 31.) Note, for ex- 
ample, where 18 is recorded as the coefficient of the month in pa, the sign 
for Cumhu occupies scarcely more than a half of the space tobe filled, whereas 
the tun-sign in Nd fills nearly three-quarters of the space available. \ 
Although the point can not be proved, owing to the partial destruction 
of N, it seems probable that E indicates the date 9.16.14.16.0 6 Ahau 3 Cumhu, 
which is less than two years later than the terminal date of the Secondary 
Series on the pedestal of Stela N (see p. 288) and less than three years later 
than the important date 9.16.12.5.17 6 Caban 10 Mol so generally recorded 
here at Copan. The second and closing date we may safely accept as 
9.17.0.0.0 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu, which doubtless represents the dedicatory date 
of the temple. 
There is another interesting possibility here, though it is scarcely more, 
unfortunately, since if it were true, it would have fixed the position of the im- 
portant date 6 Caban 10 Mol to its proper position in the Long Count beyond 
any doubt. It is possible that E may be the day 6 Caban instead of 6 Ahau, 
and as used here it might be an abbreviation for the important date 6 Caban 
10 Mol, indicating the starting-point of the count in N, which would then 
become 7.12.3, and would exactly express the distance from 6 Caban 1o Mol 
to 9.17.0.0.0 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu, viz: 
| E (9.16.12: -§17) 6 Caban (10 Mol) 
N FN 2 
ob,Pa (9.17. 0. 0. 0) 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu 
If n in this text could only be read as 7.12.3 1t would most satisfactorily 
clear away any doubt as to the true position in the Long Count of the partic- 
ular 6 Caban 10 Mol so frequently encountered in the Copan inscriptions. 
The day-sign in E may easily be a head-variant for Caban with the 
Caban curl appearing on the cheek of the head inside the day-sign cartouche, 
exactly as in the case of the day-sign of the Initial Series terminal date at 
B7 on the west side of Stela D at Quirigua, where the day 8 Caban is recorded.! 
The cheek of the face in £, plate 31, is partially effaced, and such a curl may 


1 Another analogous case is presented by glyph Ka u. h. on Zoémorph G at Quirigua, where the day Ik 
is recorded, the Ik element, which resembles the letter [, being applied to the cheek of the human head in the day- 
sign cartouche. (Maudslay 1889-1902, vol. 1, plates 42 and 44.) 
