The month of twenty days was called the _Uinal-Hun-ekeh_, and might commence on any of the days represented by the hieroglyphics in the left-hand column of the table of days. These months were eighteen in number, thus making a year of 360 days. The Mayas, however, corrected the error by adding five intercalary days and six hours to the 360 days; and once every four years, Landa informs us, they counted 366 days a year. The five supplementary days were considered unlucky, and were known as the “nameless days” because they were never called by any particular designation. The accompanying cut is a photographic reproduction of Landa’s plate, and shows accurately the Maya days in their proper order.[625] (Page 436.) [Illustration: The Maya Months.] Though the intercalary days were “nameless” and characterized as the “bed or chamber of the year,” “the mother of the year,” “bed of creation,” “travail of the year,” “lying days,” or “bad days,” etc., still five of the above twenty were reckoned for them in regular order. The year began on a day corresponding to our 16th of July—“a date,” as Mr. Bancroft observes, “which varies only forty-four hours from the time when the sun passes the zenith—an approximation as accurate as could be expected from observation made without instruments.”[626] The Maya months as figured in Landa’s work are shown in the accompanying photo-engraving. (Page 437.) The translation of the names of the days and months is somewhat uncertain. The following equivalents are the same as those given by Señor Perez, except in a few instances where Brasseur and Rosny have made corrections. TRANSLATION OF THE DAYS. 1. _Kan_, “string of twisted hemp” (yellow). 2. _Chicchan_, signification unknown. 3. _Cimi_, preterit of _cimil_, to kill = “dead.” 4. _Manik_, “wind that passes” (??) 5. _Lamat_, signification unknown. 6. _Muluc_, “reunion” (??) 7. _Oc_, “that which may be held in the palm of the hand.” 8. _Chuen_, “board” (??) 9. _Eb_, “ladder.” 10. _Ben_, “to distribute with economy” (??) 11. _Ix_, “fish-skin” (Rosny), “witch, witchcraft” (Brasseur), “roughness” (Perez). 12. _Men_, “builder.” 13. _Cib_, “gum copal.” 14. _Caban_, “heaped up” (Brasseur). 15. _Ezanab_, “flint” (Brasseur). 16. _Cauac_, signification unknown. 17. _Ahau_, “king, or period of twenty-four years.” 18. _Ymix_, signification unknown. “Corn” (??) 19. _Ik_, “wind,” “spirit,” according to Rosny, one of the symbols of Kukulcan or Quetzalcoatl. 20. _Akbal_, “approach of night” (Brasseur). TRANSLATION OF THE MONTHS.