As the circle of dots is around the final red number and also around each of those over the columns, the distinction indicated must refer to one or more days of each column.
As the last days only of the columns are year bearers, the mark of distinction probably applies to them. Selecting for the left hand column the Ix series of years and commencing with 1 Oc, the seventeenth day of the eighth month, we count 26 days. This brings us to 1 Cib, the third day of the tenth month, or tenth figure column of our calendar and second day of the first day column of the series; 26 days more to 1 Ik; 26 more to 1 Lamat, and 26 more to 1 Ix, the first day of the year 1 Ix, which, according to the four year series, will be the first year of an Indication. Selecting the Kan series for the second column and counting in the same way from 1 Ahau, the seventeenth day of the eighth month, or eighth figure column of the calendar, the last day is found to be 1 Kan, the first day of the year 1 Kan, which must also be the first year of an Indication.
Unit numerals marked in this manner are found in two or three places in the Cortesian Codex, but there is none in the Dresden Codex. The series with which they are connected in the former, except that in the middle division of Plate 24, are too much obliterated to be traced throughout. This, by making two slight and apparently authorized corrections, is as follows:
| Ⓘ | ||
| Cimi | } | |
| Ezanab | 11, XII(?); 11, X; 6, III; 8, XI; 7(?), V; 9, I. | |
| Oc | ||
| Ik | ||
| Ix |
The first red numeral of the line is X in the original and the next to the last black number is 6. By changing the former to XII and the latter to 7 the sum of the series will be 52, which is the interval between the days of the column.
Using the Ix column in the calendar and commencing with 1 Cimi, counting as heretofore, the last day of the column of the series is found to be 1 Ix, the first day of the year 1 Ix and the first year of an Indication, according to the four year system.
A somewhat remarkable confirmation of the theory here advanced is presented in a series found in the middle division of Plate II of the Manuscript Troano.
The series, when written out with the substitutes heretofore used, is as follows:
| Ⓘ | Ⓘ | ||
| Manik | Ymix | } | |
| Men (?) | Been | 9, X; 6, III; 11, I. | |
| Chuen | Chicchan | ||
| Akbal | Caban | ||
| Men | Muluc |
In Brasseur’s fac simile the second symbol of the left hand column is clearly that for Men. If this be accepted as correct, then no year bearer (Kan, Muluc, Ix, Cauac) would be found in either column and the theory we have advanced regarding the signification of the dots around the red unit over the column would fall to the ground. Nor is this the only difficulty we meet with in attempting to apply the theory to this series. The sum of the black numbers is 26, which should also be the interval between the days of the columns. Counting 26 days from 1 Manik brings us to 1 Been instead of 1 Men; 26 more to 1 Cauac, a day not found in either column as given in the original. Taking the second column and counting 26 days from 1 Ymix, we reach 1 Manik, instead of 1 Been. This gives us the key to the series and solves the riddle. We must commence with 1 Ymix, then take 1 Manik, then 1 Been, and so on, going alternately from column to column.