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 pierced tongue (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 prefix
that 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.
| III | 16 | VI | 16 | IX | 16 | XII | 17 | III |
| Ix | ||||||||
| Cauac | ||||||||
| Kan | ||||||||
| Muluc. | ||||||||
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 by f, 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 erroneously