It is curious that while the first three are separated from each other by 15, between the 3d and 4th, or rather between the missing 4th and 5th, 84 × 260 days are inserted in excess of the required 15, i.e., 21,855. This, however, is not accidental, but is due to the fact that between the first number and the last exactly 21,900 = 60 × 365 days have elapsed. This number is, however, = 18,980 + 2920, i. e., the sum of two very important numbers, in the first of which the Tonalamatl and the solar year
accord, while both the solar and Venus years occur in the second.
I must here call attention to the fact that the four numbers are not obtained without slight corrections, since in the 20-place of the third, I have put a 11 instead of 10, while in the 360-place of the fourth, I have omitted the three dots, i.e., set down a 5 instead of the 8.
Of these four dates, which were doubtless not far removed from the time of the scribe, the three last are only the result of the first. Day XII Lamat is the most important. As the beginning of a Mercury period it should be regarded in the same way as I Ahau of the Venus period and IV Ahau of the solar period; and the very next day, XIII Muluc, will subsequently be seen to be the beginning day of the Mars period.
The four dates XII Lamat, I Akbal, III Ezanab and VII Lamat are set down in the Manuscript directly below the numbers.
Now in the first column on page 51 we again find a day XII Lamat, as is expressly stated beneath it. It has the number 1,578,988 and the corresponding date is XII Lamat 6 Cumhu (6 Kan). This day, however, is separated from the same day on page 52 (1,412,848 = XII Lamat I Muan 6 Muluc) by 166,140 days, that is by 8 × 18,980 + 14,300 = 639 × 260, i.e., by 8 so-called Katuns increased by 55 Tonalamatls. Here 58 × 260 = 15,080 seems to have been added to 252 (XII Lamat - IV Ahau) and the sum subtracted from 14 Ahau-Katuns = 1,594, 320. I could obtain this number only by substituting 1 for 0 in the 20-place.
In the Manuscript the sign XII Lamat is set down above and below this number. I must leave undetermined whether the 8 directly above the number and combined with Kin and the Katun sign refers only to the 8 Katuns or at the same time also to the 8 days from IV Ahau to XII Lamat.
It is also to be noted here that once before on page 24 of this Manuscript (which forms the basis of this section) 8 × 18,980 = 151,840 days was found to be the difference between 185,120 and 33,280, and that there, too, if my restoration is correct, it was the highest term of the series = 4 × 37,960.
Finally, in the first column of page 51, we have the complete
normal date 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu (9 Ix). But below this, between red numerals denoting the 1,578,988 mentioned above, there is set down in black the number 1,268,800. This corresponds to the date IV Ahau 3 Zip (2 Cauac). It may have been formed by adding 16,120 = 62 × 260 to 11 Ahau-Katuns = 1,252,680. It is, however, not only equal to 4880 × 260, but also to 158,600 × 8, therefore also divisible by the interval between IV Ahau XII Lamat, as well as by 104 = 8 × 13, while on the contrary it is not as we should expect, divisible by 11,960. I have changed the 11, in the 20 × 11, to 8 by omitting one line and adding two dots, for otherwise the result would not be the one required.