Part 17

Now I think I come nearer to the solution of this problem by assuming that the pictures and hieroglyphs refer here only to the more important of the two days, XIII Akbal, and that III Chicchan is represented only by the numbers of the series. Thus both the pictures and the hieroglyphs of the two sections connect without the interval of 218 days, which must be assumed in the case of the numbers.

Here, as is usually the case of series, we have to begin at the bottom. Now the first group of the lower half of page 65 contains the sign 9 Kan. If, as it seems, this actually denotes the year, then the day XIII Akbal must be the first of the eleventh month, _i.e._, the 201st day of the year. Hence I will again set down the twenty-six dates, but add to them the position in the year.

0. XIII Akbal I Zac (9 Kan) 1. 9. IX Eb 10 Zac 2. 14. I Caban 15 Zac 3. 15. II Ezanab 16 Zac 4. 25. XII Lamat 6 Ceh 5. 31. V Ix 12 Ceh 6. 33. VII Cib 14 Ceh 7. 44. V Manik 5 Mac 8. 51. XII Ix 12 Mac 9. 54. II Caban 15 Mac 10. 66. I Muluc 7 Kankin 11. 74. IX Caban 15 Kankin 12. 78. XIII Imix 19 Kankin 13. 91. XIII Ix 12 Muan 14. 102. XI Chicchan 3 Pax 15. 115. XI Ezanab 16 Pax 16. 126. IX Muluc 7 Kayab 17. 127. X Oc 8 Kayab 18. 135. V Ezanab 16 Kayab 19. 141. XI Kan 2 Cumhu 20. 145. II Lamat 6 Cumhu 21. 147. IV Oc 8 Cumhu 22. 160. IV Akbal 21 Cumhu 23. 166. X Muluc 2 Pop (10 Muluc) 24. 172. III Men 8 Pop 25. 180. XI Akbal 16 Pop 26. 182. XIII Chicchan 18 Pop

Let us now prove the correctness of my theory by an examination of groups 22 and 23. In 22 the 160th day of this period, the 361st day of the year is reached, _i.e._, the first of the five Uayeyab days. The year 9 Kan is ended and the year 10 Muluc is not yet reached. In the corresponding picture we see B occupied in conveying in a bag the image of God K to whom belongs the next year. B is armed with the official staff and the bag also contains water (rain). In the 23d group the 166th day has passed and the second of the year 10 Muluc is reached, which gives the name to this year. The first hieroglyph shows two personages sitting back to back. This representation is repeated on a larger scale below in the Janus picture of B who is sitting on signs of planets. The second hieroglyph, with equal fitness, represents a clamp, which is intended for fastening two objects together, and which is repeated twice over the Janus picture, black in one case and white in the other. Rain is pouring over the second half of the picture, for it has long been known that Muluc and rain belong together, and in our examination of page 7a we saw that K is the ruler of the day Muluc (6).

Now, before I begin the examination of the separate pictures and the groups of six hieroglyphs belonging to each picture, I wish to mention three things which are often repeated here.

First, B's picture, which appears in all the twenty-six pictures with the exception of 20, 24 and 25, and represents the god in the most varied positions and activities. These pictures are very similar to those on pages 29-46 and we shall therefore make frequent reference to the section there represented.

Second, the first hieroglyph in groups 1 to 13, strange to say, is not found in the second half. It is hieroglyph _f_, which appears in exactly the same way in close combination with B in two sections, which differ from each other but are placed side by side on pages 30c-39c. In the present passage it has a distinct prefix resembling the beak of a bird or tortoise, but in the former passage it has rather a stunted appearance. It seems to refer to the eagle in B's hands in group 13.

Third, the head with no underjaw, which is the sixth hieroglyph in groups 1 to 13, but does not occur in groups 14 to 26. It is repeated in a very similar fashion in the last hieroglyph but one on page 23b. I propose to attribute to it the meaning of fasting.

Now for the single groups:--

1. B is seated rowing in a boat, as he is represented also on pages 29c, 36b, 40c and 43c. A creature is swimming beneath him, which may be a crocodile. The fifth hieroglyph is the important 9 Kan already discussed, the fourth is _a_ and the second the cross _b_ combined with Caban. The day is the 210th of the year.

2. B is walking with the atlatl in his hand, and armed with javelins. Hieroglyph 5, Manik, denotes the chase, but has a prefix, which often seems to have the meaning of 20. 2 is the elongated head _q_ with the prefix of the east belonging to the Kan years. 4 is a Moan sign (c) with the leaf-shaped prefix. Does this perhaps denote the slaying of game in the forest? It is remarkable that B's feet are hidden, as if he were walking in sand or in a bog.

3. B is walking, carrying a large stick like that for tilling the field, as on pages 38b and 39b, and he bears a carrying-frame; there are footprints below him. Hieroglyph 2 is the compound of the signs for south and east, 4 (_r_) may denote rain, and 5 is two elongated heads with an unknown prefix.

4. B, is seated on astronomical signs as on page 37c. The copal pouch is hanging from his neck and he is brandishing his hatchet. Sign 2 is _b_, 4 is _a_ and 5 is _r_, but all three signs have unusual prefixes; the first of these prefixes appears again in the tenth group, 41 days later.

5. B is seated on a head, probably that of D, which, however, is peculiar owing to the ornaments resembling bunches of grapes in place of both the eye and the ear (compare pages 39c and 41a). I do not venture to decide what he holds in his hand nor what are the other objects which he carries. Sign 2 is _r_ with a prefix, 4 is Imix perhaps with a knife as a prefix, 5 is the skeleton which sometimes belongs to the lightning beast, but also to the 14th month; its prefix is unknown.

6. B is seated on a support, which contains two cross-bones, down to which he points with his right hand, while his left hand holds the hatchet on his knee. Sign 2 is the crouching naked personage, with the cross _b_ prefixed, 4 is the elongated head with a prefixed Yax, and 5 is Kan with a vessel as a prefix (instead of Imix) from which steam or froth is rising. The day is the 234th of the year, _i.e._, the end of a week of 18 × 13 days.

7. B is sitting on a tree at the root of which his own head appears (compare with this the representations on pages 31c, 33c, and especially 40a, and also 41b and 42b). The second sign is Yax with a prefix; 4 is Kin within which there is a 1, as is several times the case, for example, on pages 61 and 69. The fifth sign is still a mystery to me. The day here is V Manik. Do the hieroglyphs suggest that the interval from the day IX Kan, which gives the name to the year, to V Manik is exactly the same as that from the normal date IV Ahau to the true starting-point of our passage, the day XIII Akbal? Both intervals are 243.

8. B is seated in a house, on the roof, wall and floor of which are several Caban signs, just as on page 30a; he seems to be pointing forward. Sign 2 is Caban with a prefix, the 4th and also the 5th is Kan with two unusual prefixes.

9. Water is pictured at the bottom of this picture, and in it are a fish, a mussel and a snail (possibly page 37b may be compared with this). There seems to be a suggestion of footprints on the margin of the water, back of which B is walking, his legs hidden as far as the knees. He holds the hatchet uplifted in his left hand and his right holds what may be a long-stemmed aquatic plant (compare page 42b). Sign 2 is composed of _b_, Imix, the mouth and nose of C and the object which apparently is a beak, previously met with in sign 1. 4 is Kan-Imix, and 5 is Kan with prefix and suffix.

10. B is seated in an expectant attitude, his hands resting on his knees. We see a very similar representation of him on page 38a, where he faces himself, and in general the remaining pictures of that passage furnish a striking parallel to the present one. Sign 2 is a head (E's?) with a call seemingly issuing from its mouth. 4 is the elongated head _q_ with the Ben-Ik superfix and an unusual prefix, which we found on page 66c prefixed to the cross _b_; 5 is Kan with the same prefix, which I regarded as denoting a call in sign 2, and which is probably answered here by an affirmative cry.

11. The expectation has been fulfilled. B is seated on a mat holding a woman in the same position as on page 38a. Sign 2 is the cross _b_ with the prefixed beak as in 1, and also with another prefix, which seems sometimes to denote the number 20. 4 is exactly the same Kin with 1 and the leaf-shaped prefix, which occurred in the same place with the seventh picture. 5 contains the sign for 73 days; a new period of this length begins here on the 74th day.

12. As in the parallel passage on page 38 B seems to be offering a Kan, so here his gift consists of a kind of wreath, like the one in the fifth picture; he is seated on astronomical signs, which contain the cross _b_ twice as does also hieroglyph 2. 4 is Kin-Akbal, and 5 is a Kan with the prefix which generally belongs to the south as a superfix.

13. B is seated on the elongated head _q_ with a superfix and a prefix, exactly as on pages 37c and 40a, and this sign is repeated in the hieroglyphs (in 2) just as it is in the two former places. He holds the eagle on his lap and we see him connected with the same bird in a different way on page 43c. Is B represented here as the preventer of evil? Hieroglyph 4 is _a_, while 5 is Kan, apparently with the sign of the south as a prefix. A Bacab period of 91 days ends here. We come now to the upper series of pictures.

14. B is walking in the rain, with the copal pouch around his neck and the hatchet uplifted in his left hand. An unknown object, possibly held in his right hand, is hanging in front of his legs. Hieroglyphs 1 and 3 are effaced, 2 is indistinct, 5 seems to be a Xul (end, close) and 6 is E's head.

15. B is walking, brandishing the hatchet in his left hand, and holding in his right an object resembling a cornucopia filled with fruit; below this hangs what appears to be a flower. The god wears the copal pouch. Hieroglyph 1 is a hand holding K's head; it is curious that this sign should also occur in the next group as an indication of the approaching Muluc year. 3 is a sign still undetermined; but the prefix is the crouching naked personage with dots suggesting stars around its head. I have often thought that similar figures represented Mercury; it is remarkable that exactly the 115th day of this section is reached here, corresponding with the apparent revolution of Mercury = 115 days. Similarly sign 2 invites computation; it is a face resembling an Ahau sign, with a 3 as a superfix and a 9 as a prefix; compare the other places containing the same face, with 33c. After the fashion of the inscriptions this would denote 9 + 3 × 20 = 69, which by the way is three fifths of the Mercury revolution. 5 is a compound of Akbal and Imix and 6 a compound of a Moan sign (_c_) with a.

16. B is in a half sitting position and holds a strange object before himself. On top of his own head is K's, which is repeated in sign 2. I do not know how to explain 1, unless it is the bat-god; 3 is a Xul = end (but of what?) combined with Imix, and 5 is the usual Kan-Imix. 6 is a Kin with an 8 back of it (as 36b, 37b, 67a, 68a) and over it is a hand pointing to the right, just like those in groups 20 and 25. This looks as if we ought to count forward 8 days, but what can be the purpose of doing so?

17. B is walking armed with spear and shield. Sign 1 is _b_, 2 the face resembling an Ahau, which occupied the second place in group 15, 3 is probably Xul again, but with an effaced prefix; of 5 also only an Imix remains; while 6 is the usual compound of Muluc-Caban.

18. We have now reached the day 16 Kayab, a day very close to the day 18 Kayab, which on page 24 we recognized as an especially important day, while in my article "Zur Entzifferung III" I regarded it as the day of the summer solstice. Computed from the normal date IV Ahau 8 Cumhu it may also have denoted the end of a lunar year, as on pages 51-58 where it is the basis of the series. The picture here agrees with this. B is sitting in the pouring rain of the rainy season and gazing upward at the planets, as on page 36c and particularly on 39c; the sun and moon are also represented, but below the planets. The hieroglyphs likewise contain the sun and moon in 1 and 2, in 3, Ahau and Xul with a prefix, as if this were the end of the increase of the sun's power; 5 is Kin-Akbal, day and night, and 6 is Caban with the cross b.

19. B is walking armed with hatchet and shield. He holds a serpent in his hand as on page 40c, but here with the head downward. Hieroglyphs 1 and 2 are destroyed, 3 is the cross _b_ with a suffix and the horse-shoe prefix _e_, known to us from pages 5 and 6. 5 is Imix combined with Chuen and probably with Yax, and 6 is E's head.

20. This is the old red woman with the tiger claws, whom we saw on pages 39b and 43b and shall see again on page 74; she reinforces the water falling from the planets by pouring a stream from her jug. The first three hieroglyphs are effaced, 4 is the elongated head _q_, 5 is Kin-Akbal, 6, as in group 16, is again the enigmatical 8 with a hand pointing to the right.

21. B is walking and bears pouch, spear and shield. Hieroglyph 1 is a hand holding the sign of the rising Moan, just as in 15 a hand holds the head of K; 2 is again K, whose sign is probably effaced several times in the last groups of this series. 3 is E with the sign of the east; 5 is compounded of Imix, Chuen and _b_, and 6 is Kin with the sign of the north. Here the day of the normal date is reached, but this may be significant only for the year 9 Ix.

22. We come now to the representation of the change of the year, which we have already mentioned. Hieroglyph 1 is curious, consisting of the moon with a stripe running around it like a strap; 3 and 5 are not clear to me and are doubtless closely connected with one another; 3 also contains a trace of K and is perhaps a determinative of the same. 6 is again E, and suggests the tilling of the fields.

23. This picture as well as the first two hieroglyphs have already been discussed above. The crouching personage, repeated again in 3 as a prefix to the cross _b_, is curious. 5 is again E and 6 is Imix, referring to grain and honey.

24. The picture and three of the hieroglyphs plainly correspond. The grain deity E holds food and drink in his hand. Rain is pouring from the planets, and the wind-beast plunges down, as on pages 44 and 45. Sign 3 is E's hieroglyph, 6 is Kan-Imix and 2 is the wind-beast. B is superfluously added in 4 and the same is true of the cross _b_ in 1, while Kin-Akbal in 5 seems to fit almost everywhere. Pages 29a, 30a and 45c show the lightning-beast in a different form.

25. As is usually the case, rain is pouring from the stars and below them are the sun and moon as before. This time C is sitting in the rain, clad in the gala mantle and holding Kan. Hieroglyphs 1, 2 and 4, the latter apparently representing C, are effaced. The other three are enigmatical, 3 is again Xul with a prefixed 9, 5 a Caban, but with an unintelligible prefix, and 6 is again the mysterious 8.

26. B is sitting on a tree or sacrificial stone, which is colored half blue and half red, and may denote the ceasing of the rainy season; he is brandishing his hatchet. Hieroglyphs 1, 2 and 3 are effaced; 4 is B's sign, 5 might be Xul and 6 is _a_ with _c_ added and thus referring to the Moan. And here the half of the ritual year ends with the 182nd day, which is XIII Chicchan 18 Pop (10 Muluc); and it is left to the reader to imagine or to find hieroglyphs and pictures for the other two series of numeral signs.

I am troubled about the five naked crouching figures of this section, which I am inclined to regard as the sign for Mercury with its apparent revolution of 115 days, which, however, seems sometimes (as on pages 54, 56 and 58 in the upper sections) to be raised to the value of half a Tonalamatl = 130 days. This may be explained by the fact that it is difficult to determine exactly the length of the revolution of Mercury. In group 15 this figure appears exactly on the 115th day of this section, but in group 6 on the 234th day of the year, _i.e._, approximately at the expiration of two Mercury periods after the beginning of the year. But now for group 23. Here there are three of these crouching figures. The two upper ones leaning back to back must serve the purpose of indicating the change in the year. But they would hardly do so, if the third personage were not added, which may indicate that the solar year consists approximately of three Mercury periods. I look upon this view of the matter merely as the first attempt at an explanation.

Pages 69--73.

The chief subject of the last great section of this Manuscript is two of the usual series, from which large numbers are developed in the usual way and the largest of all is finally recorded in a serpent. This section thus forms a parallel to the contents of pages 61-64, but is somewhat more composite.

Before I begin the discussion of these series, I wish to examine two passages, which I think are not connected with these series, but are independent, like the instance on pages 51-58, where the hieroglyphs were found to be quite independent of the numerals. The Mayas took advantage of space wherever it presented itself, which is admissible in ideographic writing.

The first of these two passages is at the top of pages 71-73. Here there are four horizontal rows of twelve hieroglyphs each. Since, however, the top row is entirely effaced and none of the other three are perfectly preserved, it is quite impossible at present to judge of the interconnection of the whole. But I must point out a certain resemblance to the passage on pages 44b-45b, where a period of 78 days is considered with reference to the wind-deities. The first and sixth columns of pages 71-72 likewise contain the signs for wind and the pierced ears. The fact that the Bacab sign occurs in the eighth column, and in no other, must attract 'attention; if we knew it to be effaced in the first column, then each column might refer to 13 days, though 12 × 13, it is true, does not form a natural whole. C's sign is the only hieroglyph of a god to be found in both passages. E also occurs on pages 44b-45b and may be one of the effaced signs on pages 71-72. There is no trace left of the others. The fact that some hieroglyphs occur in both the passages referred to proves nothing with regard to signs in frequent use and I can find no cases of correspondence among those occurring more rarely. Hence this passage must be left for the present as an almost complete mystery.

I have discussed the second passage in detail in my article "Zur Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften V," of the year 1895, and from it I will borrow the following. This second passage fills the middle and lower thirds of pages 71-73, occupying the same space as the first passage in the upper third, and offering far more reliable material than the latter.

That these hieroglyphs are not connected with the numerals above and below, can be deduced from the fact that the numbers follow one another from right to left and the hieroglyphs in the reversed order. This is proved by the hand pointing to the right, which occurs here at least eight times like the one occurring twenty times on pages 46-50.

But the scribe, misled by the direction of the numeral series, began on page 71 to write the _first_ of these hieroglyphs from the right instead of from the left, but after the first four groups he corrected his mistake. Hence I read the groups of three hieroglyphs each, in the following order:--

Page 71. Page 72. Page 73. 2 1 | 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 | 19 20 21 22 23 4 3 | 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | 24 25 26 27 28

The number 28 shows that we have to do here with 28 weeks of 13 days each, _i.e._, with a ritual year of 364 days, as was the case on pages 31-32, 63-64 and 65-69. This year, however, is divided into four parts of 7 x 13 = 91 days, _i.e._, into four so-called Bacab periods. This is very plainly indicated here, for groups 4, 11, 18 and 25, _i.e._, those separated by seven groups each, are exactly alike, but in group 4b (I will designate the three hieroglyphs of each group from top to bottom by _a_, _b_ and _c_) there is a prefixed 4 which refers to the four Bacabs as does the same 4 prefixed to the Bacab sign at the top of page 72.

Now the question arises as to when this ritual year began. Undoubtedly its beginning day was very different from that of the civil year (360 days) and from that of the astronomical year (365 days).

In this matter I follow Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, who has rendered such estimable service to Aztec science. At the Congress of Americanists at Stockholm in 1894, she submitted an article entitled "Note on the Ancient Mexican Calendar System," in which with keen discernment she pointed out a year beginning with the spring equinox and including in its centre the sacred Tonalamatl, _i.e._, 260 days, which were preceded and followed by 52 days. I recognize this ritual year also in the present passage of the "Dresdensis," as the one current in the Maya country. It probably began about the 10th of March, at that period about the time of the vernal equinox, according to the Julian Calendar.

Beginning with this date, I will now attempt to tabulate the chronology of this passage. In the first column I will place the number of the group of hieroglyphs in question, in the second I will set down to what day of the Maya year each group refers; in the third, the corresponding day of our year, and finally in the fourth, the 20-day periods which agree in general with the dates.

1. 1-13 March 10-22 Ceh. 2. 14-26 March 23-April 5 Mac. 3. 27-39 April 6-18 } Kankin. 4. 40-52 April 19-May 1 } 5. 53-65 May 2-14 Moan. 6. 66-78 May 15-27, Pax. 7. 79-91 May 28-June 9 } Kayab. 8. 92-104 June 10-22 } 9. 105-117 June 23-July 5 } Cumhu. 10. 118-130 July 6-18 } 11. 131-143 July 19-31 Pop. 12. 144-156 August 1-13 } Uo. 13. 157-169 August 14-26 } 14. 170-182 August 27-September 8 Zip. 15. 183-195 September 9-21 } Zotz. 16. 196-208 September 22-October 4 } 17. 209-221 October 5-17 Zec. 18. 222-234 October 18-30 } Xul. 19. 235-247 October 31-November 12 } 20. 248-260 November 13-25 Yaxkin. 21. 261-273 November 26-December 8 } Mol. 22. 274-286 December 9-21 } 23. 287-299 December 22-January 3 } Chen. 24. 300-312 January 4-16 } 25. 313-325 January 17-29 Yax. 26. 326-338 January 30-February 11 } Zac. 27. 339-351 February 12-24 } 28. 352-364 February 25-March 8 Ceh.

In the following I will call attention to a few points by which this arrangement is justified.