Notes on Certain Maya and Mexican Manuscripts | Page 8

days as the right column of the plate, as
corrected in my scheme and our Plate II. The second column of this
page presents a new combination. We have so far found the names of a
day column all in a single group or line of our plate, or taken
alternately from opposite sides; here we find them taken alternately
from each of the four sides of the quadrilateral moving around to the
left in the order I have heretofore explained. The days in this column
are Caban, Ik, Manik, Eb, Caban. One is taken from the upper line (as
corrected), then one from the left side, next from the bottom line, then
from the right side (as corrected), and then the same from the top line.
It is unnecessary for me to give more examples, as the reader can make
the comparison for himself; and he will, as I believe, find my theory
sustained.
The only real objection I can see to my explanation of the arrangement
of the days in this circle is the fact that it necessitates the transposition

of two characters, but it is not unreasonable to suppose that the artist
may have made this one mistake.
Fortunately we find on Plates 18 and 19 of the Codex
Peresianus[1][TN-7] what appears to be a complete confirmation of the
theory here advanced.
This is a kind of tabular arrangement of certain days, with
accompanying numbers, as shown in our Fig. 3, which is an exact copy
of those portions of Plates 18 and 19 of the Codex Peresianus, to which
I refer.
I also give in Table V the names of the days and the numbers
corresponding with the symbols and characters of Fig. 3. In this table
the erased days and obliterated numerals are restored, these being in
italics to distinguish them from those on the plate.
TABLE V.
10. Kan. 8. Cib. 6. Lamat. 4. Ahau. 2. Eb. 10. Lamat. 8. Ahau. 6. Eb. 4.
Kan. 2. Cib. 10. Eb. 8. Kan. 6. Cib. 4. Lamat. 2. Ahau. 10. Cib. 8.
Lamat. 6. Ahau. 4. Eb. 2. Kan. 10. Ahau. 8. Eb. 6. Kan. 4. Cib. 2.
Lamat.
13. Kan. 11. Cib. 9. Lamat. 7. Ahau. 5. Eb. 13. Lamat. 11. Ahau. 9. Eb.
7. Kan. 5. Cib. 13. Eb. 11. Kan. 9. Cib. 7. Lamat. 5. Ahau. 13. Cib. 11.
Lamat. 9. Ahau. 7. Eb. 5. Kan. 13. Ahau. 11. Eb. 9. Kan. 7. Cib. 5.
Lamat.
3. Kan. 1. Cib. 12. Lamat. 3. Lamat. 1. Ahau. 12. Eb. 3. Eb. 1. Kan. 12.
Cib. 3. Cib. 1. Lamat. 12. Ahau. 3. Ahau. 1. Eb. 12. Kan.
An inspection of this table shows us that the five days repeated in each
column are the same as those on the right of the quadrilateral of our
scheme (Fig. 2), and are exactly in the order obtained by arranging the
days of the month in four columns in the manner heretofore shown.
(See column 4, Table IV.)

If I am correct in my supposition, we then have one clue to, if not a full
explanation of, the method of obtaining the day columns in the
Manuscript Troano.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Copy from Plates 18 and 19, Codex Peresianus.]
Not this only, for this table of the Codex Peresianus furnishes us also
the explanation of the red numerals found over the day columns in the
Manuscript Troano. Take, for example, Plate XIX, first or upper
division, given also in my Study of The Manuscript Troano, p. 176,
here the number is IV, corresponding with column 4 of the above table
(V), where the days are the same and the numeral prefixed to each day
is 4. Plate XXVI (Study Manuscript Troano, p. 177), lower division,
the days are the same and the number over the column is XIII,
corresponding with the sixth column of Table V. This corroborates the
opinion I expressed in my former work, that the number over the
column was to be applied to each day of the column.
Why is the order of the numerals in the extract from the Codex
Peresianus precisely the same as the numbering of the Ahaues? I
answer, because each column, if taken as referring to the four classes of
years, will, when the number of the month is given, determine just the
years of an Ahau; or a fancy of the artist to follow an order considered
sacred.
To illustrate, let us take the next to the right-hand column of the table
where the numeral is 1, and let us assume the month to be Pop, or the
1st. Then we have 1 Cib, 1 Ahau, 1 Kan, 1 Lamat, and 1 Eb of the first
month, and from this data we are to find the years. As there can