I wish also to call special attention to the two signs 8 and 16 which seem
to correspond to one another. They are the two which I have designated with
_q_ and _a_, which are met with here for the first time (aside from the _q_
with the Ben-Ik, which is not in question here) and which, I think, denote
the good and evil days, _q_ referring to the sacrifice and _a_ to its
results.
In regard to the rest of these hieroglyphs, 7 and 9 are Cimi; 10, 14, 17
and 24 the cross _b_ and 11 and 23 the hieroglyph c. 12 is the head with
the Akbal eye, having for its prefix the uplifted arm, which is joined thus
to the most diverse signs, and which also occurs in the Tro-Cort. 13 is a
similar head, 19 again Imix, 20 the sign _o_ and 21 a hieroglyph, which is
without doubt a simplified head.
Here, too, we have a Tonalamatl, and one beginning on an especially
ceremonial day I Ahau, which seems to play the same role in celestial
affairs as IV Ahau does in terrestrial matters. On the sacrificial stone we
read the days Ahau, Eb, Kan, Cib and Lamat, and I think it likely that the
same days occur in the passage of the Cortes. referred to above; the
passage evidently contains some errors. The subdivisions of this Tonalamatl
are not known to us, for here the manuscript is somewhat confused. I
propose to read it as follows:--
I 10 XI 4 II 15 IV 9 XIII 14 I
but Cyrus Thomas, "Aids," p. 294, has
I 4 V 8 XIII 11 XI 15 XIII 14 I.
Either reading is dubious. The scribe divided the lower half of page 3 into
two parts, and drew in each the outline of five days; but then he saw that,
to continue his work, he needed a long surface extending from left to
right, and he therefore omitted filling in these two sections.
Pages 4a--10a.
We have here a normal Tonalamatl, which, however, was evidently meant by
the author to serve a very special purpose, since he divided the first
section of 52 days into no less than 20 parts of 2, 3 or 4 days. I give the
following arrangement here, remarking, at the same time, that in one
doubtful case (between the third and fourth groups) I deviate from my
former plan:--
X 2, XII 4, III 3, VI 2, VIII 4, XII 2, I 2, III 4, VII 2, IX 2, XI 2,
XIII 4, IV 2, VI 3, IX 2, XI 3, I 2, III 3, VI 2, VIII 2, X.
Since the five sections on page 4a begin with the days Imix, Ben, Chicchan,
Caban, and Muluc, we have resulting from this and from the intervals
specified, the following days:--
X Imix, XII Akbal, III Manik, VI Oc, VIII Eb, XII Cib, I Ezanab,
III Ahau, VII Kan, IX Cimi, XI Lamat, XIII Oc, IV IX, VI Cib, IX Cauac,
XI Imix, I Kan, III Cimi, VI Muluc, VIII Chuen, X Ben.
Now, however, in the "Globus," Vol. LXXIII, in my two articles entitled
"Die Tagegötter der Mayas," I have expressed the opinion that there is good
reason to believe that the scribe has made a grave mistake here.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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