Certain similarities with Mexican mythology are apparent in this legend, notably the miraculous conception of Hunahpu and Xbalanque by a virgin, recalling the birth of Uitzilopochtli, and the transformation of the four hundred into stars, which is reminiscent of the legend of the Centzon Uitznaua (Four hundred Southerners) who also became stars. In this connection it is interesting to note that a legend is found in San Salvador, according to which four hundred youths disappeared into a certain lake and were transformed into fishes. Such in brief is the myth of Hunahpu and Xbalanque as given in the Popol Vuh, but there are many extremely interesting details which lack of space compels me to omit, but which can be found in the translations, French or Spanish, or the English abridgment, of the original Quiché text. The story of the fourth and final creation again shows a similarity with one of the Mexican legends given above. The creators decide to make man of maize, but the maize cannot be found. It is eventually discovered at Paxil, the Maya equivalent of Tonacatepetl, through the agency of the fox, coyote, parrot and crow. It is ground, and from the meal the body of man is formed, while Xpiyakok and Xmukané make from it nine different kinds of drink which give vigour to created man. At this time the ancestors of the Quiché are created, and from this point the “historical” portion of the Popol Vuh begins. The Kakchiquel had a similar myth relative to the discovery of maize by the animals, and they believed that man, as finally created, was formed of maize and blood, the men of a former creation having been unable to speak or walk and feeding on wood and leaves. In Yucatan the first men were said to have been made of earth and straw, their bodies of the former and their hair of the latter. CHAPTER X--THE MAYA: THE CALENDAR, CALENDRICAL FEASTS AND MINOR RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES Before proceeding further with the account of Maya religion, it will be necessary to give a short description of the calendrical system. This was very similar to that of the Mexicans, but was more elaborate, and enabled the Maya to deal with longer periods of time. Throughout the Maya country a series of twenty day-signs was current, which, combined with the numerals one to thirteen, as described on p. 61, gave a period of 260 days, the Mexican tonalamatl, before the same day-sign recurred with the same numeral. The tonalamatl however did not occupy nearly so prominent a place in Maya ritual as in Mexican, though certain portions of the manuscripts seem to be devoted to it.