Two pictures of god B belong to each of these periods of 65 days, the first of these pictures referring to the divided period of 46 days and the second to the undivided one of 19. It is also in agreement with this that on pages 61 and 62 the fourth, sixth and eighth pictures represent the god as rising from the jaws of a serpent—the serpent being represented each time as lying in water which invariably contains the number 19.
As the hieroglyphs belonging to the periods of 46 days are allied to one another, and as this is also true of those belonging to the periods of 19 days, I will first consider the hieroglyphs of the first period by themselves, then those of the second, and the pictures shall be treated in the same manner.
Therefore, let us first examine the four pictures (1, 3, 5 and 7) on the right side of the pages:—
1. The first page shows the god walking with the official staff in his right hand, in his left the hatchet raised for a blow and with the copal pouch hanging from his neck.
2. He is walking and holding a flaming torch reversed in his right hand, in his left the hatchet is raised aloft, the pouch hangs from his neck, the mantle is indicated and around his head are the little circles which are so frequently his adjuncts and probably signify stars.
3. He is walking and holding the reversed torch in his left hand and the hatchet in his right.
4. He is walking and holding a torch in each hand. He wears on his head the head of K. He seems to be bringing storm and fire.
Now let us examine the hieroglyphs, which I have numbered thus:—
The first hieroglyph on each page certainly represents one of the cardinal points. They are in the usual order:—east, north, south and west.
2 is the same sign on each page. I take it to be the sign for Xul = end, denoting, it may be, the end of the period of each cardinal point.
In each group 3 is the head with tuft of hair and the Akbal eye; probably the sign denotingbeginning. This beginning and end occur most distinctly repeated on page 63, and the end alone eight times at the bottom of pages 61-62.
On page 31, 4 is B's sign, on page 32 B's with the prefix of the north, on page 33 it is B's sign again and although quiteindistinct its is plainly joined with the east. On page 34 there is another indistinct sign which may be that of the serpent deity H.
Owing to indistinctness I do not venture to determine the fifth sign on pages 31 and 33; on page 32 it is the laterally elongated headqwith the Ben-Ik superfix, and on page 34 the ordinary Kan-Imix.
The sixth sign varies as much as the fifth; it seems here to denote four different gods, perhaps the four given on pages 25-28. On page 31 it is a Cauac, the prefix of which here, however, suggests K, on 32 it is certainly the hieroglyph of E and on 33 possibly of A, on 34 it most resembles Muluc of the day-signs, but also suggests the line crossing F's face from top to bottom.
We come now to the four pictures 2, 4, 6 and 8 and to the hieroglyphs belonging to them, which are on the left side of the pages and belong to the periods of 19 days.
1. B is pictured walking, raising the hatchet in his right hand, and holding an uncertain object in his left; the serpent with the 19 set down in its coils does not appear here. The 2nd, 3d and 4th pictures belong together. In each picture on these three pages there is a serpent with water in its coils and the number 19 in the water, denoting the number of days belonging here. As on pages 61 and 62 B is emerging from the open jaws of the serpent. In each case he is brandishing the uplifted axe in his left hand. The difference in the three pictures consists, first, in the fact that only in the 2nd and 3d B wears the copal pouch, second, that only in the 3d and 4th he has an implement in his right hand (the two implements differ somewhat but are both, apparently, adapted for hanging up) and third, that only in 3 the whole picture is painted blue, which means that the entire scene is enacted under water.
The hieroglyphs are as follows:—
The first in all four cases is a Manik,i.e., originally a grasping hand, perhaps referring to the chase; on page 32 it has a prefix and on pages 33-35 a superfix corresponding to the first.
The second sign on each page is simply B's.
The Cauac sign in the third refers in all four cases to thewater represented at the bottom of pages 33b-35b. On page 32 it has an Akbal as a superfix, on 33-35 a prefix, which is familiar and in keeping with the sign and probably also the same suffix, though it is indistinct on page 34.
The fourth sign shows, as do several other things, that the representation on page 32 differs from that on pages 33-35. On the first of these pages we see an Imix with a puzzling 1 prefixed. If the numbering of the days really begins with Kan, as is probable in this Manuscript, then Imix is the 18th day and 1 + 18 might denote the 19, which is not set down here. On pages 33-35 this sign contains the spiral, which refers to the serpent in the picture below (and probably therefore to time). A curious element, however, is the numeral 9 prefixed three times to the spiral. This number is rarely a prefix, but it occurs, for example, on pages 33a and 35a before the crossband on page 60 right, middle, prefixed to Xul (= end). The interval 9 occurs in this Tonalamatl 16 times, including therefore 117 of the 260 days.
The fifth sign each time contains the head without the under jaw, just as it recurs regularly in the preceding passage, pages 30-31.
The sixth sign in each group is the not uncommon compound of Caban and the sign, which resembles Muluc and which we saw before in the sixth place among the hieroglyphs on the right side of page 34.
Pages 35b—37b.
That is, a regular Tonalamatl of five parts, 5 × 52. That the 52 days are divided into two halves (11 + 6 + 9 = 4 + 7 + 9 + 6), may only be accidental.
I will designate the hieroglyphs of the seven divisions thus:—
I will first consider those signs, which are repeated and by means of which the sections seem to be brought into connectionwith one another. But I shall attend in detail to those hieroglyphs which contain characteristic references to each picture, when I discuss the latter.
The first place both among the pictures and among the hieroglyphs again belongs unquestionably to B. He is plainly designated in the 10th, 17th, 21st and 26th hieroglyphs, but, for an unknown reason, C's sign is joined to B's in the 16th, probably also in the 6th and perhaps in the 9th, and in 20 and 28 C's sign forms an integral part of a hieroglyph. Now in discussing the great Tonalamatl, pages 4a-10a, I attempted to make it appear probable that C belongs to the eighth day (Chuen) and in that case the Chuen sign in the thirteenth hieroglyph may be probably set down here. Further, in discussing pages 25 to 28, I expressed the conjecture that this Chuen sign might simply mean eight days, if we begin with Kan as the first day, for which proceeding there is some warrant in the "Dresdensis." Now, in hieroglyphs 8 and 24 we find an 8 inscribed; in hieroglyph 8 it is joined to an Imix, exactly as on page 39c; on page 65a it is joined to Kin, and on 67a and 68a to a hand. Is it possible that here also the 8 is intended as a sign for Chuen = C?
Then the familiar Kin-Akbal sign (day and night) is in the fourth place as well as in the eleventh and nineteenth.
The other signs which appear but once, I will discuss in connection with each of the seven pictures:—
1. A serpent in the water, with B emerging from its head, exactly as on pages 36a, Tro. 26 and Cort. 10.
The third sign, that of the serpent-deity H, refers to the serpent. The first sign is the one which I think may be Caban-Muluc, while the second, owing to its indistinctness, eludes interpretation.
2. This also represents a deity sitting in the water, whom we are probably safe in calling H, for the top of his head changes into a serpent, ending, however, in a bird's bill holding a fish. The deity holds up both hands. The union of serpent and bird should be noted in connection with the fourth picture. The deity is represented in the fifth sign; the sixth, seventh and eighth signs have already been discussed.
3. B is traversing the water in a boat, exactly as on pages 29c, 40a and c, and 43c. Here, however, there is a person beside him (probably a woman) whom, from the ninth hieroglyph we recognize as the deity E, unless this sign is C's. In 12 we see with Kan a sign which may suggest the usual hieroglyph denoting a year.
4. A serpent is pictured here, with a bird sitting upon it. We met with the same bird on page 17b. Schellhas, "Maya-handschr.," p. 51, has already expressed the opinion that this is probably a rebus for the name Quetzalcoatl or Kukulcan, and this theory is certainly worthy of consideration. In this connection I would call to mind that it is probably also Kukulcan with serpent and bird who occupies the first place on page 4a. The bird appears again in the fourteenth sign, while the thirteenth is a Chuen, which, according to the statement made above, may be connected with the C in the sixteenth. The fifteenth sign is the crossb, which probably denotes the connection between the thirteenth and sixteenth or else between the bird and serpent. Or is Chuen intended here to represent the serpent and not the ape?
5. This picture represents B carrying a burning torch, with the copal pouch hanging from his neck. His left hand touches a strange object, a kind of frame, the top of which ends in the head of a bird of prey.
The eighteenth sign is obliterated and the twentieth is a curious combination of Caban, C and the front part of K.
6. B is walking, with the hatchet in his left hand and in his right an object which looks like the representation of sounds issuing from musical instruments, as on page 34a. Perhaps B is represented here as the air-god.
The twenty-second sign is the familiar Kan-Imix. The twenty-third sign (w) is not intelligible to me; it occurs on pages 19c, 40b, 58, on the right, with a superfix suggesting K.
7. Water, in which a small human being seems to be emerging from a snail (the symbol of birth). Above the water is B, grasping a serpent which is in the water, as if to protect the new-born being from the serpent. The twenty-fifth (with Kin) is the so-called bat-god, who on page 50 at the left ends the seriesof twenty gods. The twenty-seventh sign (with Yax) is still undetermined.
Pages 38b—41b.
The sum of the black numbers is 104, the whole is, therefore, a double Tonalamatl = 5 × 104 = 520. While the series on pages 31a-32a primarily brought the 91 and the 104 together, and the series on page 45a accomplished the same result with the 104 and the 364, here, though the process is a different one, the 104 is combined with the 260 in another number.
It is characteristic of this part of the Manuscript, that the astronomical rectangles, which are very rare in the preceding pages, appear here in no less than five of the eleven divisions and six of them represent showers of rain. One is very readily, therefore, led to infer that the 104 days have reference to the rainy season and to its dependence upon the position of the planets. I will now analyse the eleven sections separately.
1. Rain is streaming down from two astronomical signs (Mars and Jupiter? Day and night?) and in the rain stands a black human form, grasping an implement with the right hand held downward and pointing upward with the left. It has the vulture head which occurred on pages 8a and 13c.
Hieroglyphs 1 and 2 represent the sun and moon, both surrounded by half white and half black envelopes, which must denote clouds. The third sign is Imix, which just here might refer to the rainy season productive of nourishment. The fourth sign is the vulture head of the picture.
2. B is walking in the rain and holds in one hand a stick pointed at the lower end. This is doubtless a farming implement, likewise occurring frequently in the Tro-Cort., which was used for making furrows or holes in the ground.
The second hieroglyph is B's, the first is Caban = earth, the fourth might be a compound of Caban and Muluc, referring to the rain, and the third is the familiar Kan-Imix, which, as the designation of food and drink, would be especially appropriate here.
3. B is apparently resting from tilling the soil, since he is sitting on a support consisting of the signs just spoken of,i.e., Caban and Muluc (?).
The latter signs are repeated in the second hieroglyph, while the third is B's with the sun-glyph (?) prefixed; the first is the head apparently open on top with the Akbal eye, probably the sign for beginning, and the fourth is the familiar signa, which I think signifies a good, auspicious day.
4. Page 39. This represents a violent shower of rain, which might be pronounced a cloud-burst. The old red goddess with tiger-claws and a serpent on her head is pouring water in a stream from a jug. The same goddess occurs on page 43b and on the last page, 74.
Her hieroglyph is the second; it is more distinct in the two other passages. The first part of the third hieroglyph is indistinct, and the second part is the hieroglyph denoting the year. The first hieroglyph is a head with the Akbal sign, and the fourth is the usual compound of Kin and Akbal.
5. The cloud-burst seems to have destroyed the cultivation of the field, for B walks forth again with the implement for tilling the soil, as in the second picture. The second hieroglyph is B's with the prefix of the west, therefore probably denoting sunshine, the first again contains Caban and Muluc and the fourth is Kan-Imix referring again to the produce of the field. I shall not venture to explain the third sign here any more than I did in the previous passages. Compare page 8b.
6. B is again sitting in the rain and under the same astronomical signs as before on page 38. He is pointing downward (to the sprouting seed?). He has the sun-glyph on his back. The first two hieroglyphs are unfamiliar to me (Yax); the third is Imix with the sign for the west, and the fourth is again Muluc.
7. Page 40. B is plunging down headfirst from the same astronomical signs and is brandishing the hatchet.
Hieroglyph 1 is the crossb, 2 is B's sign, 3 probably that of the grain-god E, and 4 being Kan-Imix refers to grain. Favorable weather seems to have set in.
8. The astronomical signs are not the same as those in the three preceding instances (Mercury and sun?). Below themis a deity with tortoise-head—in my opinion, the sign for the longest day—holding a torch in each hand and thus referring to the heat.
Hieroglyph 1 (w) with the superfix suggesting K still puzzles me. 2 is the crossb, 3 is the tortoise-head with the number 4, which probably refers to the Kan, Muluc, Ix and Cauac years, as the 4 sometimes appears prefixed to N's hieroglyph. In exactly the same way the tortoise-head with the tortoise itself occurs frequently in the Cortesianus. 4 is the sign of the year with prefixed Kin and Cauac,i.e., day-Cauac-year.
9. A thunder-storm, which is very appropriate after the longest day. The lightning-beast, likewise holding a burning torch, is plunging down from the astronomical signs, which are different ones again (Venus and the moon?).
The second hieroglyph contains the sign of the dog together with the crossb, while the third is that of the north-god C, and the fourth is Muluc. I cannot explain the first sign; its prefix, which rarely occurs, appears also on pages 23b, 25a, 37b, 63a, and possibly on pages 53b, 62-63a, 69b.
10. Page 41. Another representation of rain. There is an old deity in the rain, who is N rather than F, denoting the end of the old year. He is emerging from a snail (cf. with this page 37b), and is pointing upward; a part of the first hieroglyph is on his head.
This first hieroglyph recalls the sign which, in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, XXIII, p. 145, I ventured to connect with the change of the year; but it also suggests the snail pictured below, hence the birth of the new year. The beginning of the year for the Mayas, although of course not for all parts of the country, is fixed, as a rule, to fall on the 16th of July. This would agree admirably with the eighth and ninth sections, which represent the time of the longest day and of thunder-storms.
The second hieroglyph is B's, the fourth the crossb, probably referring here to a union of two years, and the third with its Cauac to the duration of the rainy season or to the god N.
11. The rain seems to fall with less violence. B is seated, clad in the gala mantle with a Kan on his head, as the sign of grain. His headdress also strongly recalls that of thegrain-deity E (which is also the case of the headdress on the preceding picture.)
Hieroglyph 1, the upper part of which is very like that of the first sign of the preceding group, looks like a plaited mat. Does it not suggest that the name of the first month of the new year is Pop and that this word is denoted by carpet, mat? Hieroglyph 2 is B's, 3 is the sun between a dark and a bright sky, and 4 is the common Kin-Akbal, day and night.
If the seventh picture really refers to the beginning of the year, then the entire period of 104 days extends from April 15th to August 2nd, which, with the addition of the five days not counted at the end of the year, does indeed make 109 days. All this, however, is only true on the supposition that I have not seen more in these representations than they contain.
Pages 41b—43b.
Another regular Tonalamatl, and like the preceding one apparently referring to the change of the year, the tilling of the soil and the rainy season. B's sign is regularly repeated in the second place of all five groups of hieroglyphs, and moreover each of these groups has six signs. The head with the missing under jaw is in the fourth place of groups 2 and 3, in the sixth of group 5 and might perhaps be intended also in the fourth of 1 and 4. The usual Kan-Imix is in the third sign of group 2, in the fifth of 4, and the fourth of 5; possibly also in the fifth of 1; the third hieroglyph in group 3, at any rate, contains Imix.
Let us now consider the five groups individually:—
1. The rainy season seems to have been delayed; the beginning of the year draws near. B is kneeling on a kind of footstool, the hatchet is in his right hand and his left hand holds a kind of chisel with which he is carving something out of the trunk of a tree. The purpose of the work is indicated by the god's own head directly below (probably placed in front of the tree as a model?). No doubt this is intended to represent the making of the statue of the god of the new year destined for the beginning of the year, as we know it from pages 25-28.
Corresponding with this is the first hieroglyph denoting the year with Yax as a superfix, and also the sixth being the sign to which in the article in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie cited above, I attributed the meaning of change of the year. I cannot decide whether the third sign is intended for an Imix-Chuen with the sign of the south as a superfix, the fifth for a Kan-Imix and the fourth for the head without the under jaw.
2. Page 42. Prayer for rain. B (that is to say, his priest) is seated apparently on the same footstool. He is gazing upward and presenting a vessel containing an offering, the nature of which is uncertain. The vessel ends in a tube; cf. page 67b.
The first, fifth and sixth hieroglyphs are not finished, and the third is Kan-Imix.
3. The rain-goddess promises aid. B is seated opposite the old red goddess, who is holding intercourse with him. The god is seated on the Caban sign (earth) and the goddess on Muluc (rain?).
The first, fifth and sixth hieroglyphs are also unfinished; the third is Imix with its meaning intensified by the prefixed Yax (the luxuriantly growing grain?).
4. B is again tilling the ground in the manner already familiar to us. Under him lies his own head with the Imix-Kan sign, denoting food and drink, as a superfix. The first hieroglyph is the sign of the eighteenth month Cumhu,i.e., of the end of the year. The third is a Kin-Akbal, the fifth a Kan-Imix, the sixth is not finished, and the fourth may be intended for the head without the lower jaw, but it is carelessly drawn.
5. Page 43. The solicited rain begins. The goddess with the serpent on her head is pouring streams of water from her vessel.
The first hieroglyph repeats the month Cumhu, denoting the beginning of rain, before the close of the year; the third is the sign of the goddess met with on page 39b, here also with the sign for the west as a prefix; the fifth is her determinative, the serpent, and the fourth is Kan-Imix.
If the first sign in the first group is not regarded as the sign of the year, but as that of the sixteenth month (Pax) resemblingit, and the fact is taken into consideration that there is an interval of 34 days between the second and fourth groups and of 40 days between the second and fifth, this would be found to correspond with the interval between the months Pax and Cumhu.
Pages 43b—44b.
This is the fourth and last series of the first part of the Manuscript; the first is on page 24, the second on pages 31a to 32a, and the third on page 45a. The first series is quite by itself, but the second and third are similar in form to this fourth, though their initial days are different from those of the latter:—XIII Akbal, XIII Oc and III Lamat. All three begin with differences which are divisible by 13:—91, 104 and 78, equal to 7, 8, and 6 × 13. All three aim and arrive at numbers which are common factors of 260, 104 and 364, and therefore also of 3640, which last number is written out in the other two series, while in this series it can only appear later on and then, increased by multiplication.
Since this series has the difference 78, the week day numbers remain the same, while those of the month days must advance by 18 each, that is, from the hidden starting-point III Lamat they go on to III Cimi, III Kan, III Ik, III Ahau, etc., until the tenth member of the series is 10 × 78,i.e., 3 × 260 and thus comes again to the day III Lamat.
From 780 onward this number is itself always the difference of the higher terms of the present series. At the same time 780 days are the duration of the apparent revolution of Mars, which is here supplementary, as it were, since page 24 treated of the revolutions of the sun and of Venus, and also of those of the moon and of Mercury. Hence in the present passage we find the numbers 1560, 2340, 3120 and 3900, always accompanied by the day III Lamat. The larger numbers require a few corrections; I read them 13,260 (17 × 780), 15,600 (20 × 780), 31,200 (40 × 780), 62,400 (80 × 780) and 72,540 (93 × 780). The very largest again are correctly set down; first 109,200 equal to 140 × 780, but here also equal to 1050 × 104 and 300 × 364, so that in this series the goal aimed at is not reached until later than it is inthe two preceding series. Then follows 131,040 = 168 × 780, 1260 × 104, 360 × 364, but finally 151,320, which number = 1455 × 104 and 194 × 780, but is not divisible by 364.
Detached in the usual way from this series on the left of page 43 is the number 1,435,980. Above and below it is the day III Lamat, further down IV Ahau, and between them is 352 in a red circle. This number seems to have been obtained in the following way:—The writer began with the distance between III Lamat and IV Ahau, which is 92, added to it 172 × 260 = 44,720, and subtracted the result 44,812 from 13 Ahau-Katuns = 1,480,440. The remainder was 1,435,628, which number would correspond to the date III Lamat 6 Zotz (4 Kan), which, however, is suppressed in the Manuscript. The 352 = 260 + 92 was added to this sum, and the result was the 1,435,980 written out in the Manuscript,i.e., a day IV Ahau 13 Zip (5 Muluc). Now this number is the one sought; it is 5523 × 260 = 1841 × 780 = 3945 × 364, and hence must also be equal to 263 × 5460, since the 780 and 364 are united in 5460. According to our present knowledge, it would seem to lie in the future, but not far from the present; the solar and Mars revolutions are united in it. There is but a single hieroglyph here, the hieroglyph of the animal which is the chief subject of the next section; from which it appears that the two sections are closely connected.
Pages 44b—45b.
This section supplements the pictures and hieroglyphs belonging to the series just examined. Therefore it likewise extends over 78 days and divides them as follows:—
These five days are plainly intended to be the days III Lamat, IX Manik, II Cimi, VIII Chicchan, III Cimi.
With regard to the real purport of this section, it is my opinion that it has reference to the time of the shortest day and also to the four winds and that this section therefore forms, in a measure, a contrast to pages 38-41, where attention was called to the rainy season, the longest day and the thunderstorms.
We see here in the first place four of the ordinary heavenlyshields, with two astronomical signs each. I cannot decide, at present, whether these are 1st, the moon and Saturn, 2nd, Mars and Mercury, 3d, the moon and Mars, and 4th, Jupiter and Venus.
From each of these shields hangs a figure not unlike an heraldic beast. It cannot be the canine lightning-beast; it has no flames, it is cloven-footed and with the upper lip bent upward and the lower lip curved downward suggesting the storm-god K, and therefore probably represents the four winds; this wind-beast repeated four times also occurs on Cort. 2.
Six hieroglyphs belong to each picture. Those in the first place are pierced ears and refer therefore to the ritual bloodletting, which may have been performed at this season. In Tro. 5*b we also find the pierced ear; a piercedtongue(Tro. 17*b), however, does not occur in the Dresdensis. The second place always contains the sign of the beast like the one instance on page 43.
The third place seems to be devoted to the four cardinal points,i.e., to the four winds. First we see Akbal-Kin,i.e., the transition from night to day, the east. The north-god, C, is here in the second group; in the third we see Kin and beside it in the fourth place Akbal, both enveloped by clouds denoting the transition from day to night, the west. The fourth group, it is true, has the year-sign here, but with the compound Kin-Cauac prefixed, and Cauac always belongs to the south. I believe I have found a distinct reference to the season of the year in two other places. The fourth hieroglyph of the second group and the sixth of the fourth both have the familiar prefix suggesting K, the storm-god. The first of the two contains the month Mol (December 3d-22nd); the second might very well be the month Yax (January 12th-31st). This is quite in keeping with the distances 19 + 21 = 40 set down below.
In my "Tagegöttern der Mayas" (Globus LXXIII, 10) and above in my discussion of the great Tonalamatl under pages 4a-10a, I have assigned the day Chuen to C, and Muluc to K,i.e., the first to the dark north and the latter to the wind, which are both under consideration here. In fact, we find the Chuen sign in the fifth place of the fourth group with the same prefixthat C has in the second group. The Muluc sign, however, seems to occur three times:—1st, group 1, sign 6, where it may be joined to the month Mol belonging here; 2nd, group 3, sign 5, joined to the Akbal, which also belongs here; 3d, group 4, sign 4, with a usual prefix. In the second group it may be included in the very similar month sign of Mol. Four hieroglyphs remain:—1st, Akbal in group 1, sign 5, hence probably denoting the darker time of the year in general; 2nd, A in 2, sign 5; 3d, E in 2, sign 6;i.e., probably referring to the death of the grain (I do not know to what extent this expression may be used in relation to the Maya country); 4th, Kan-Imix in 3, sign 6, perhaps expressing the hope of new harvests.
This finishes the middle sections of the pages of the first part of the Manuscript, and we must now turn back again to page 29 in order to examine the lower sections.
Pages 29c—30c.
Here is a Tonalamatl of four quarters, 4 × 65.
In the Manuscript 16 is again erroneously set down for 17 and the III following it is omitted. The initial day is exactly the same III Ix, as in section 29b above it, to which in other respects the passage now under consideration shows a great likeness, since the four familiar animals occur here as well as there. But in spite of beginning in the same way the days here are different ones, being the four regents of the year, as on page 9b.
The four parts are grouped together by the sign, which always occupies the first place in each part; I have denoted this sign byf, and I think it must have a very general significance, since from pages 29c to 40c it always begins the groups. The connection between the four parts is further shown by the four cardinal points in the second place:—the north in the first group, the west in the second, the south in the third and the east in the fourth. In the third place these cardinal points are again indicated by their usual abbreviations; the east is erroneouslyset down in the second group. These abbreviations are here invariably joined to the head of C as the representative of the north, the first of the cardinal points occurring in this passage; the others revolve about the north pole.
As B's sign always occurs in the fourth place, there is nothing further to be said concerning the hieroglyphs. We now come to the pictures:—
1. B is rowing a boat, as we have already seen him several times (36b, 40a,c, and 43c). To the left of his head there is a bird's head and in the left, bottom, corner, a pot in which apparently a soup of fowl is cooking, emitting bubbles. The Cib sign on the pot refers to the cooking or bubbling.
2. B, with his head surrounded by the familiar stars, is seated in water, in which are represented the iguana over a Kan sign, and the familiar spiral probably denoting a serpent. He is painted black (perhaps corresponding to the west?) and holds in his hand an implement not yet determined. Perhaps it may be intended for a tree,pastwhich the water is flowing.
3. The god is seated, holding in one hand the spiral with a Kin sign over it and a Yax on top of that, and in the other hand something which looks like a bird's feather or a fish's fin. Above him is a fish with a Kan sign, as on page 27, where the fish and Kan are also combined.
4. Holding a hunting-spear, he is sitting on an animal slain in the chase, as on page 45c.
Finally, I have remarked that pages 42c-45c, the last part of the first division of the Manuscript, look like an enlargement or amendment of the section just considered.
Pages 30c—33c.
To begin with, the day signs are set down in the following order:—
Here then, as is frequently the case in this Manuscript, all the twenty days are specified. But in order to obtain equal periods of time, the left column should first be read from top to bottom and the following ones should be treated in the same way. Then each succeeding day is 17 days distant from the preceding, but in reality the interval is 117 days, since the same week-day is always implied. The hieroglyphs seem to indicate that these 117 days are divided into three distinct parts, 52, 39 and 26.
117 days, however, are equal to 9 × 13 and hence in what follows we find a black 13 set down 9 times as the interval between the days, and a red XI being the number of the week-day an equal number of times. Now, since the whole series extends over 20 such sections of 117 days, the duration of this calendar is 2340 days or 9 Tonalamatl.
Consequently we find nine pictures of the same god B. In five of them (in Groups 1-4 and 9) he is sitting before or on a sacrificial tree or tree of life; cf. 30b. It is probably not accidental that in these five cases the hieroglyphs refer to the cardinal points. In the eighth group the god is surrounded by the suggestion of one or more trees; he is sitting in water as if in a forest; or in a cave bordered by trees? In the remaining groups, 5, 6 and 7 he is seated on various supports, in 5 on an object, which is not completed and which cannot, therefore, be explained, in 6 on astronomical figures (Mars and Venus?) and in 7 on agave leaves. In 1 and 3 his head is again surrounded by those dots suggesting stars, in 4 there seems to be a bird (quetzal?) seated upon it and in 2 it bears what may be the Kin sign. In 1 and 5 he has the pouch for incense in his hand, while in 3 alone he wears the gala mantle and is painted black, just as he appears in connection with the same hieroglyphs on page 29c. He carries a hatchet in repose in 2, 6 and 9, and raised for a blow in 1 and 7. In 7 he also holds the Imix sign.
The hieroglyphs form nine groups of four signs each. The first hieroglyph, as is always the case in this part of the Manuscript, is the sign which I have denoted byf, and the second is always B's hieroglyph. The cardinal points are everywhere specified by two signs each; in places 3 and 4 of group 1, thewest comes first and beside it is the sign for the east, erroneously used for that of the west (a like error occurred in the preceding Tonalamatl); in group 2 there are two signs for the north; in group 3 that for the east with the sign for the west beside it erroneously given for the east, and in group 4 two signs for the south. In groups 5, 6 and 7 we find in the 4th place the head of C, and the same sign in group 7 in the 3d place, where it is joined to another head, which may be that of a woman. The 3d sign of group 5 is incomplete and cannot be determined. The 3d sign of group 6 displays a repetition of the astronomical signs represented below. There still remain the 3d and 4th signs of groups 8 and 9. Of these the 3d in group 8 isw, which is as yet unexplained. The 4th might be interpreted either as Oc (day 7) or as Xul (end). Its prefix is a Yax sign. Finally, in group 9 the 3d sign is Manik (day 4), the 4th the elongated headqwith the Ben-Ik superfix, which Seler assigns to Men (day 12).
Pages 33c—39c.
The beginning of this Tonalamatl is indicated by a large red dot on page 33. It resembles the Tonalamatl almost exactly above it on pages 31b-35b, inasmuch as its arrangement is an unusual one. I will here, as I did above, give it the form in which it would present itself if it were set down in the usual order:—
In this passage as in the earlier one, instead of employing the above concise order, a preference has been shown throughout for carrying out the whole series in such a manner that the week days are set down each time and not merely in the left column. It, therefore, has the following form in the Manuscript:—
I have arranged the whole series in four parallel periods of 65 days each, for the 65 appears throughout the computation, although the entire Tonalamatl is written out inonecontinuous line. On the right of page 35 the scribe seems to have wished to erase an entirely incongruous 4, and in writing the last 15, on page 39, he began to use the red paint prematurely, so that the top one of the three lines is red.
Attention should also be called to the fact that the second of my vertical columns contains the year-regents, the others only the days following immediately after them, while 12 month days do not occur at all. Also the intervening periods 9 + 11 (= 20), 20, 10, 15 doubtless reveal some design.
In order to avoid repetition, I think it proper to mention first, that in the twenty groups of four hieroglyphs each, the signfalways stands in the first place, but the hieroglyph of B, who is represented 20 times, usually appears in the second place, in the first and second groups in the third place, and in the 18th and 19th his sign does not appear at all. I will discuss the remaining hieroglyphs in their place in each of the 20 groups.
1. B is sitting in a house and holding the Kan sign in his hand.
The second hieroglyph is apparently meant for the Ahau sign (referring to the 17th day), which usually does not belong to B. This hieroglyph, which certainly bears a resemblance to Ahau and with which we have become very familiar in the inscriptions, occurs again in this Manuscript on pages 46b, c, 50b, 54b, 65a and 66a. The fourth sign is a combination of Cauac and Manik.
2. B is seated on what may be a tree, below him is the crossb, and he holds the hatchet in his left hand.
The second sign with an emphasized 6 as a prefix (cf. the same sign with the 6 on page 48, bottom, left, below the gods), has the usual Ben-Ik superfix, perhaps to denote that a lunar month has now elapsed, for this passage extends from the 20th to the 40th day of the Tonalamatl. The rest of the hieroglyph is unintelligible. In the 4th place we see a vessel with Imix, probably denoting pulque.
3. B is sitting in water, the hatchet raised in his right hand and his face turned upward.
The 3d hieroglyph is again Imix and the 4th a compound of Ik and Muluc:—wind and clouds.
4. B is seated on a reproduction of his own head or D's, beating a drum with his hand.
The 3d hieroglyph denotes the serpent-god H with the number 3 as a prefix. The 4th hieroglyph is a Chuen with the sign for the south prefixed,—at any rate the upper part of that sign.
5. B is standing in the pouring rain and looking backward.
The 3d sign here is a Caban apparently in a vessel. Following this in 4 is the hieroglyph which I have proposed to interpret as the sign forbeginning(Globus, Vol. LXVI, page 79). This sign occurs again in groups 7, 12, 15, 17 and 19, and must therefore be connected with the principal idea embodied in this Tonalamatl.
6. B with folded arms is sitting in a house.
Aside from the usual leaflike prefix, the third sign is composed of two parts. The upper part looks like a plaited mat and suggests that the word for the first month of the year (Pop) is expressed by mat. The lower part is the sign, which occurs frequently especially on pages 25-28, and which very much resembles the familiar sign for a year of 360 days. We shall meet it again in the continuation of this Tonalamatl on pages 36 and 38. The three passages refer to the 74th, 139th, and 204th days of the Tonalamatl, and hence are 65 days apart.
The 4th sign is the crossb, with possibly the sign of the east as a prefix.
7. B is seated on the crossb, which is here undoubtedly meant for an astronomical sign. He holds a Kan sign in his hand and there is an Ahau sign on his back.
The naked crouching personage, pointing upward, should have especial mention here. The same figure recurs above as a prefix to the 4th hieroglyph. We have already seen it in the 39th hieroglyph on page 24, and shall meet it with especial frequency in the second part of the Manuscript. It is placed sometimes, as in this case,beforea sign, sometimesaftera sign and again two of these figures are placed back to back as on page 22c, and one of them is even placed upside down before another sign, where it seemed to me to be a sign for Mercury ("Zur EntzifferungVII," p. 11). This figure is represented independently only on the right of page 58. In the passage under present consideration this personage appears again on page 38. The two figures are connected one with the 85th and the other with the 215th day, and are, therefore, divided by exactly half a Tonalamatl or 130 days. Here we find it as a prefix of the supposed sign forbeginningof which mention was made in discussing the 5th group. The 3d sign is the same astronomical one, which we saw below under B. It might refer to the Moan and to the change of the year, and thus indicate that a Mercury revolution was coincident here with the beginning of the solar year.
8. B is walking in the rain, both arms are stretched upward, and the pouch hangs from his neck. At the left top there is a black spot suggesting those which usually occur beside the sun and moon.
The 3rd sign is Manik, with a prefix. The 4th is an indistinct head, which may be C's, with an Imix sign as a prefix.
9. B is walking with the pouch hanging from his neck, and the hatchet in his hand.
The 3d sign, which is unusual, is very obscure, but suggests the fish on page 44c or that on page 36b. The 4th sign with the prefix of the north is very indistinct.
10. B is standing inwater, his face turned upward while water is pouring from a cloud. The third sign is very complex. The top, left, suggests a serpent, the right a hand, the bottom, left, a Chuen and the element at the bottom, right, may be intended for a bird's head. Exactly the same sign, with the 4th part merely indicated, occurs 65 days later on page 38. The 4th sign is the familiar compound Kin-Akbal.
11. B is sitting in a tent, on the roof of which there is a vessel containing food of some kind.
The third sign, which is very complex, is indistinct. The 4th sign likewise consists of four parts, the left, bottom, part is probably the vessel, above it is a spiral (which usually means serpent or time). The right, bottom, is again the sign resembling the year-sign which was spoken of in discussing group 6. The component at the right, top, is indistinct.
12. B is sitting here on no less than four astronomical signs,he has the hatchet in his hand and the design on his back may be a shield or the elaborately ornamented sun-glyph Kin.
The third sign (denotingbeginning?) has already been discussed in connection with group 7, which is 65 days earlier. The fourth is the sign of the year of 360 days or the month Pax with the Ben-Ik as a prefix. These signs are here suggestive of the beginning and end of the year.
13.AboveB are astronomical signs (Jupiter and Mercury?) and also the sun and moon. The rain is pouring down upon the god, and a fish is placed beside him. He seems to have the same chisel in his hand which we saw him using on page 41b in connection with the beginning of the year. This again would correspond to the date indicated in the preceding picture. The shield (?) also is the same here as in the preceding group.
The third sign ought to represent the fish; the drawing seems to have been unsuccessful and the sign looks more like a bird and also resembles the third sign in the ninth group on page 36. The fourth sign is a Kin-Akbal.
14. B is seated on the elongated headq, which has an ordinary prefix. He is pointing upward with his right hand and the left looks as if opened to receive something.
The third hieroglyph contains aqlike the one under the god, the fourth is an indistinct head (C's?) with an unintelligible prefix.
15. B is standing in water while rain is again pouring down upon him. He holds the hatchet raised in his left hand, while the fingers of the right are extended upward in an unusual manner. This is repeated in the third hieroglyph.
The third hieroglyph, however, is the same as the third in the tenth group 65 days earlier, only here the hand is more distinct, while the element below it is vague. The fourth sign is again the one denoting beginning. Compare the fifth group (130 days earlier).
16. B with arms folded is sitting in a house with the Cauac sign below.
The third and fourth hieroglyphs contain the sign resembling that for the year, which was mentioned in discussing the sixth group (130 days earlier). In the third a Kin is prefixed to thissign, while the superfix of the fourth is what I take to be a mat, which also occurred in the sixth group. The prefix is a figure suggesting the serpent-deity, which we have already met with in the tenth and fifteenth groups.
17. B, holding the hatchet, is seated on a Moan head, and the third sign is probably intended to represent the same Moan head, in front of which we find the same crouching person met with in the seventh group, 130 days earlier.
The fourth hieroglyph is again the sign for beginning, which we have already often met with, as, for example, 65 days earlier in the twelfth group.
18. B is sitting in the pouring rain under astronomical signs (Mars and Mercury?) to which those of the sun and moon are added. The god's face is upturned and he holds the hatchet in his hand.
The third hieroglyph may be the vulture head, to which a part of the unintelligible second hieroglyph may also refer. This second sign stands in the place of B's hieroglyph, which is wanting here.
The fourth sign contains the enigmatical numeral 8, which we found on pages 36b and 37b, and has the Imix sign as a prefix, as in the first of these two passages. The same compound appears on pages 67a-68a.
19. B is seated here on his own head, as in the fourth group he is sitting on D's. His hands are empty.
The second sign is again the vulture head instead of B's hieroglyph. The third is probably the head of the lightning beast, and the fourth is again the sign supposed to denote beginning.
20. B is sitting in water and holding in his hands a vessel with a Kan sign upon it.
The water (with Imix prefixed) is denoted by the third sign, while the fourth represents a head (with what is probably a hand pointing to the right above it), which I should prefer to consider the grain-deity E.
In conclusion I would call attention to the remarkable fact that every four pictures, which are separated from each otherby four of the other pictures,i.e., after every 65 days, correspond in certain respects with one another,viz:—
1. Pictures 1, 6, 11 and 16. In all, andonlyin these, B is sitting in a house or tent, in 6 and 16 with his arms folded.
2. Pictures 2, 7, 12 and 17. In the first three the god is seated on astronomical signs and in the fourth on the Moan head, which I think refers to the Pleiades.
3. Pictures 3, 8, 13 and 18. Here in the last two B is sittingbeneathastronomical signs. In all four pictures water, clouds and rain are represented.
4. Pictures 4, 9, 14 and 19. In the first and fourth the god is seated on D's head and on his own, and in the third on the elongated headq.
5. Pictures 5, 10, 15 and 20. Like the third of these five classes, these pictures are likewise distinguished by water, clouds and rain.
Now the first set of pictures is between the week days XIII and IX, the second between IX and VII, the third between VII and I, the fourth between I and XI, the fifth between XI and XIII, while the month days are quite different. Hence the conjecture is but natural that the pictures and week days bear some relation to one another, though that relation is still shrouded in obscurity.
Pages 40c—41c.
This is a Tonalamatl of the most ordinary kind, in which an unsuccessful attempt has been made to divide the subdivisions into equal parts.
In the groups of four hieroglyphs each, which belong to each of the six parts, the signfalways occupies the first place, and B the third. Let us now examine the six parts separately.
1. B is sitting in a boat and rowing (as on the top of the same page). Around his head there is again the suggestion of what may denote the starry sky, and in this picture his nose-peg is unusually large.
The second sign is an Imix, but it might also denote the thirteenth month Mac and therefore the Tonalamatl (13 × 20). The fourth sign is a fish forming a connecting link between the water represented below and the rest of the group.
2. B is seated on the Caban sign and his arms are apparently resting on an altar standing in front of him, on which fire is burning, indicated by the Ik sign, while the moon is placed below the altar.
The Caban sign below is repeated in the second hieroglyph, combined here as usual with a sign which may be Muluc.
The fourth sign is a head. I think the scribe meant to set down an 8 before it, but as there was not sufficient space for the heavy lineafterthe three small circles, he indicated it by a black dotbelowthe circles. Now, if we call the head D's, which of course cannot be asserted positively, this would be day VIII Ahau, and this, in fact, is twenty days from the beginning day I Ahau, as it is meant to be in this passage. There is no representation of food; can this have been a fast day?
3. B is seated on four astronomical signs. He wears the gala mantle and holds a serpent in his hand.
The second sign isb, and at the same time one of the astronomical signs. The fourth is the iguana prepared as food, recognizable by the spines on its back, as on page 25b. It is drawn in precisely the same curious fashion in Cort. 8 and 12c; hence it is represented in the picture by the serpent.
4. B is falling down from above headfirst. I believe that the numerous footprints below him are only intended to represent swift motion. The descent from above may only be intended here to bring the god into closer relationship with the head of the bird of prey in the fourth sign. That this head is again as usual joined to Kan, may refer merely to the fact that it was the Maya custom to eat bread with animal food. Compare page 27b. The second sign might be the abbreviation for the south.
5. B is seated on a mat with his hand extended as if to receive something. He is wet with water.
The second sign contains the mat, with what may be thesign below it, and the leaf-shaped prefix probably denoting the plant from which the mat is plaited. The very same combination is given on page 35c and a similar one on 38c. The fourth sign has the prefix of the west followed by two Kans, as if on this day (V Akbal) it had been the custom to eat tortillas without meat.
6. B is standing holding the hatchet. The fourth sign must denote venison, the fourth article of animal food. The second seems to represent the day Eb, with which the remaining 52 days begin, and if the prefixed 9 indicates nothing more than that the ninth day of the month is here meant, it is further evidence that the "Dresdensis" began the days with Kan and not with Imix.
In the discussion of this Tonalamatl I have omitted the mention of a very peculiar feature, which as yet does not admit of explanation. I refer to the numbers below the pictures. With the first picture we find 6 + 20, with the second 20, with the third 19 + 20, with the fourth 6 + 20, with the fifth 19 + 20, and with the sixth 6 + 20,i.e., with the exception of the second, 26 or 39, two multiples of 13. Now the question arises, should not one of these multiples have been set down with the second picture? There was no space left for a prefixed 19. Therefore the idea suggests itself that what we took to be an altar with the sign Ik above it, is intended for nothing else than this 19, and Ik is the 19th day, if we count from Kan as the starting-point.
Pages 42c—45c.
This is a Tonalamatl consisting of 4 × 65 days. If written out in the usual way it would run as follows:—
Since, however, the subdivisions are divided and the individual month days also are given for all the parts of the whole Tonalamatl, the representation follows the order which we have already found on pages 31b-35b and 33c-39c. In this place, as in the two former ones, I will reproduce in four lines what is set down in the Manuscript in one single line extending over all four pages.
Thus the days Chicchan, Lamat, Oc, Ben, Men, Ezanab, Ahau, and Akbal are repeated here twice, and the others occur but once. The 4 (17 + 48) strongly recalls the 4 (19 + 46) on pages 31b-35b. The repetition of six times eight days in each quarter of the Tonalamatl is closely connected with the fact that there are six Chuen signs on each page, two of which, however, are omitted on page 44. From this it follows, as we have already found on pages 25-28, that Chuen really denotes 8 days and that the count of the days in the "Dresdensis" begins with Kan. But the numbers 12, 15, 16 and 17 are entirely unexplained. They show no recognizable order and always stand near the bundle of Chuen signs. They recall the numbers on pages 25-28, which are equally irregular and unintelligible, and upon which, it is probable, light will break at the same time as it does upon these now under consideration.
We come now to the purport of this passage, which seems to be a further amplification of the contents of pages 29c-30c. The meaning is simply as follows:—every 65 days the god B discards a cardinal point and the deity presiding over it and installs another.
From this point of view let us now examine the four pictures.
1. Page 42. B is represented here as a warrior with the front of his body painted red. He is aiming a blow with his hatchet at a person sunk down before him, who, from the ornament above his head, seems to be the grain-deity E, the ruler of Kan and of the east, although the contents of this passage really demand a deity of the south, a ruler of Cauac. In a very similar way on page 27, E occurs with the completed Cauac years, instead of with the Kan years just beginning. Behind B's head is the sign of the discarded cardinal point, the south, while below it is a vessel with food, clearly a piece of venison with Kan.
2. Page 43 deals not with the removal of the old cardinal point, but with the introduction of the new one. Here B is rowing in a boat, as in other passages (29c), and Muluc, the north, has certainly a close relation to water. We see here two kinds of food, while none is represented on page 45. The same bird's head, which we find at the bottom of the corresponding page 28, is placed in front of the canoe, and on 29c it is combined with the representation of rowing a boat. On the left is the picture of a vessel with Kan and the iguana. There is something resembling a net between the boat and the bird.
3. Page 44 likewise refers to the introduction of the new cardinal point, west, which is represented on page 26 by the tiger Ix. The two hieroglyphs in the middle of this passage must surely refer to an animal; the lower is the skeleton of an animal, which we so often find as the sign of the lightning-dog, but also as that of the month Kankin, and the upper I take to be a rather vague picture of the day Oc, which certainly denotes the dog. Below these two signs the fish is represented as the fourth species of animal food.
The picture belonging to these hieroglyphs is very remarkable. B stands opposite a seated personage wearing an animal's snout, which somewhat resembles that of the wind-beast on pages 44b and 45b and also the nose of the storm-god K, who occurs on the corresponding pages 25 and 26 both with the coming and the departing Ix years, as he does here with the coming years. In the picture before us, the two personages seem to be throwing something resembling a rope at each other, as if these ropes were to be tied together. Is this meant to suggest the casting of lots by means of the knotting of cords, as it is represented on page 2? Or of hunting with snares?
Page 45 refers to the displacement of the Ix period by the Cauac period,i.e., of the west by the south. The end of the former is represented here. The lightning-beast, which occurred in the preceding period, here lies on his back and B sits astride his body brandishing in each hand a burning torch as an appropriate symbol of the south. On pages 29a and 30c we already saw the god riding on the lightning-dog.
Finally the six interesting hieroglyphs set down in a verticalrow on the left of each of the four pages are still to be examined. I will give here in the following table what I think is a correct interpretation of them:—
If that which is actually set down in the Manuscript be compared with this, it will be seen that in 11 of the 24 places the Manuscript corresponds to my hypothesis:—1, 7 and 19 are the familiar signs for the three cardinal points, 8 and 20 are the sign Xul = end, which I have already frequently mentioned, 9 and 21 are the sign for B, 11 is Muluc, 23 is Cauac, where the scribe has added to the correct Kin-Cauac the sign for the year, as if the Cauacyearswere treated of here as on pages 26 and 27. Finally the two agree in 12 and 18, where the Manuscript has the compound Kan-Imix to denote beginning,i.e., the two days beginning the series of twenty days, one of them according to this Manuscript, and the other according to the method resembling that used by the Aztecs.
The other cases have the correct signs, but set down in the wrong place, thus B is changed from 3 to 2, from 15 to 16, the north from 13 to 14, the Xul from 2 to 3, 14 to 15, the E (Kan) from 5 to 4 and 6 and Cauac from 4 to 5,i.e., pushed along every time to the next place. This is all in favor of my theory. As one series began at the top, the scribe incorrectly placed the sign for beginning in the thirteenth place.
Strange to say in the tenth place we have the very general signain place of Kan. In the 4th, 17th and 22nd, and probably also in the half destroyed 6th sign, the scribe thoughtlessly put down a sign for E, which is proper only with Kan and should come after 5 or 10. Finally in the 24th place he put a sign for A, as if it were the intention that this passage should end exactly like its parallel on page 28. For, as a matter of fact, the two principal sections of the first part of the Dresdensis do end in a very similar way.
PART II.
Pages 46—74.
The first glance at the form and contents of the second part of the Manuscript shows that it is very different from the first. The pages are no longer divided into the usual three parts and there are fewer pictures. The Tonalamatls, which form the principal contents of the first part, disappear wholly, and with them both the vertical columns of day-signs and the horizontal lines of numerals alternating between red and black. On the other hand, the large number series as well as the high numbers significantly increase and we note the appearance of the large vertical columns of hieroglyphs, which were impossible in the triple division of the earlier pages. We also find a large number of hieroglyphs which did not occur in the first part. The contents are essentially astronomical.
And yet the two parts are so closely connected with one another that the idea of two independent Manuscripts must be dismissed. Especially the front side of the second part as far as page 60 is nothing more than an amplification of page 24. The contents of pages 61-74 are of a more independent nature, but special attention should be called to the relation of 31a-32a to 62-63.