In my opinion this date is to be regarded only as the result of the far more important date I Ahau 18 Kayab, lying 2200 days earlier. Day 17, Ahau, belongs, without doubt, to the chief of the gods, and as the first week day it must have been especially sacred. The prophecies of the Tonalamatl preferably begin with the Ahau and with the I. The series on the page under discussion, constructed with the difference 2920 as a basis, begins with I Ahau, and the three series on pages 46-50 also have the same day as the zero point of departure. I Ahau is therefore the starting-point of the astronomical computations as IV Ahau is of the historical. Now, however, all the periods of 260 days end each time with I Ahau. Why is precisely this day chosen here, which is the 18th day of the month Kayab, therefore in the year 3 Kan, and lying 2200 days earlier than the historical date? Day 18 Kayab is our June 18th. In my treatise "Schildkröte und Schnecke in der Mayaliteratur" (1892), I have sought to prove that the tortoise served as symbol of the summer solstice, that the sign of Kayab was the head of a tortoise, and that probably the 18th of June was regarded as the longest day. The middle one of the three series on pages 46-50 begins with exactly this date, I Ahau 18 Kayab. But whence come the 2200 days? I will offer a suggestion which may serve until a better theory is propounded. Let us assume that each of the five principal planets had in succession regulated its time of revolution by this astronomical starting-point, thus:--sun 365, moon 356, Mercury 115, Venus 584, and Mars 780 days, these numbers added together give exactly 2200. It will scarcely excite surprise that I should set down the lunar year at 356 days (and not at the usual 354 days) for there are 12 × 29-2/3 lunations in a year and we thought we had already found this period on this page, while discussing the number 1,364,360; also on pages 51-58, in addition to the half lunar year of 177 days, we shall find one of 178 days. Were the planets therefore created 2200 days before the appearance of mankind? Jupiter and Saturn, of course, with their 397 and 380 days are probably not considered here, because their periods of revolution so nearly correspond to that of the sun, and on pages 51-60 they are also treated as of secondary importance. I confess I am quite unable to discover what may have happened 11,960 days before the creation of the stars--possibly the birth of one of the principal deities. Perhaps one of my fellow-students may succeed in finding an answer in one of the creation myths. We come now to the 40 hieroglyphs on the left half of the page. These are intended simply to familiarize the reader with those signs which are of importance in the calendrical-astronomical portions of the Manuscript. Since no phonetic system of writing existed, we cannot, of course, expect that the scribe should have explained these signs.