The inscription just deciphered is worthy of special note for several reasons. In the first place, all its dates and numbers are not only exceedingly clear, thus facilitating their identification, but also unusually regular, the numbers being counted forward from the dates next preceding them to reach the dates next following them in every case; all these features make this text particularly well adapted for study by the beginner. In the second place, this inscription shows the three principal methods employed by the Maya in recording dates, that is, Initial-series dating, Secondary-series dating, and Period-ending dating, all combined in the same text, the example of each one being, moreover, unusually good. Finally, the Initial Series of this inscription records identically the same date as Stela 1 at Piedras Negras, namely, 9.12.2.0.16 5 Cib 14 Yaxkin. Compare plate 23 with plate 17. Indeed, these two monuments, Stelæ 1 and 3, stand in front of the same building. All things considered, the inscription on Stela 3 at Piedras Negras is one of the most satisfactory texts that has been found in the whole Maya territory. Another example showing the use of these three methods of dating in one and the same text is the inscription on Stela E at Quirigua, illustrated in plate 24 and figure 82.[224] This text begins with the Initial Series on the west side. The introducing glyph appears in A1-B3 and is followed by the Initial-series number 9.14.13[225].4.17 in A4-A6. Reducing this number to units of the first order, remembering the correction in the tun coefficient in A5 noted below, and applying the rules previously given for solving Initial Series, the terminal date {236} reached will be 12 Caban 5 Kayab. This the student will readily recognize in B6-B8b, the form in B8a being the "month sign indicator," here shown with a head-variant coefficient 10. Compare B6 with figure 16, _a', b'_, and B8b with figure 19, _d'-f'_. This Initial Series therefore should read as follows: 9.14.13.4.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab. Following down the text, there is reached in B10b-A11a, a Secondary-series number consisting of 3 kins, 13 uinals, and 6 tuns, that is, 6.13.3. Counting this number forward from the date next preceding it in the text, 12 Caban 5 Kayab, the date reached will be 4 Ahau 13 Yax, which the student will find recorded in B11. Compare the month form in B11b with figure 19, _q, r_. But since the Initial-series value of 12 Caban 5 Kayab is known, the Initial-series value of 4 Ahau 13 Yax may be calculated from it as follows: 9.14.13. 4.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab 6.13. 3 9.15. 0. 0. 0 4 Ahau 13 Yax [Illustration: FIG. 82. The Initial Series on Stela E (east side), Quirigua.]