Order of the years in the cycle of 52, divided into four indictions, or weeks of years, and as the year 1841 happens to be the first of one of these cycles, it is taken as the starting-point.

1st indiction2d indiction3d indiction4th indiction
18411. Kan.18541. Muluc.1867,1. Gix.1880,1. Cauac.
1842,2. Muluc.1855,2. Gix.1868,2. Cauac.1881,2. Kan.
&c.3. Gix.&c.3. Cauac.&c.3. Kan.&c.3. Muluc.
4. Cauac.4. Kan.4. Muluc.4. Gix.
5. Kan.5. Muluc.5. Gix.5. Cauac.
6. Muluc.6. Gix.6. Cauac.6. Kan.
7. Gix.7. Cauac.7. Kan.7. Muluc.
8. Cauac.8. Kan.8. Muluc.8. Gix.
9. Kan.9. Muluc.9. Gix.9. Cauac.
10. Muluc.10. Gix.10. Cauac.10. Kan.
11. Gix.11. Cauac.11. Kan.11. Muluc.
12. Cauac.12. Kan.12. Muluc.12. Gix.
13. Kan.13. Muluc.13. Gix.1892,13. Cauac.

This period of 52 years was called by the Indians Katun, and at its conclusion great feasts were celebrated, and a monument was raised, on which a large stone was placed crosswise, as is signified by the word Kat-tun, for a memento and record of the cycles, or Katunes, that had elapsed. It should be observed, that until the completion of this period, the initial days of the years did not again fall upon the same numbers of the week; for which reason, by merely citing them, it was at once known what year of that cycle was arrived at; being aided in this by the wheel or table on which the years were engraved in hieroglyphics.

8°. Of the great Cycle of 312 Years, or Ajau Katunes.

Besides the cycle of 52 years, or Katun, there was another great cycle peculiar to the Yucatecos, who referred to its periods for dating their principal epochs and the most notable events of their history. It contained 13 periods of 24 years each, making together 312 years. Each period, or Ajau Katun, was divided into two parts; the first of 20 years, which was included in a square, and therefore called amaytun, lamayte, or lamaytun; and the other of four years, which formed, as it were, a pedestal for the first, and was called chek oc Katun, or lath oc Katun, which means "stool" or "pedestal." They considered those four years as intercalated; therefore believed them to be unfortunate, and called them u yail Jaab, as they did the five supplementary days of the year, to which they likened them.

From this separation of the first 20 years from the last four, arose the erroneous belief that the Ajaus consisted only of 20 years, an error into which almost all have fallen who have written on the subject; but if they had counted the years which compose a period, and noted the positive declarations of the manuscripts that the Ajaues consisted of 24 years divided as above stated, they would not have misled their readers on this point.

It is incontrovertible that those periods, epochs, or ages, took the name of Ajau Katun, because they began to be counted from the day Ajau, which was the second day of those years that began in Cauac; but as these days and numbers were taken from years which had run their course, the periods of 24 years could never have an arithmetical order, but succeeded each other according to the numbers 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. As the Indians established the number 13 as the first, it is probable that some remarkable event had happened in that year, because, when the Spaniards came to this peninsula, the Indians reckoned then the 8th as the 1st, that being the date at which their ancestors came to settle it; and an Indian writer proposed that they should abandon that order also, and begin counting from the 11th, solely because the conquest had happened in that. Now if the 13 Ajau Katun began on a second day of the year, it must be that year which began on 12 Cauac, and the 12th of the indiction. The 11 Ajau would commence in the year of 10 Cauac, which happens after a period of 24 years, and so on with the rest; taking notice that after that lapse of years we come to the respective number marked in the course of the Ajaues, which is placed first; proving that they consist of 24, and not, as some have believed, of 20 years.

Series of the years completed in two Ajau Katunes, having their beginning in the year of our Lord 1488, in which the 13th Ajau commences on the 2d day of the year 12 Cauac, being the 12th of the first indiction.

A.D.13th Ajau. A.D.13th Ajau. A.D.11th Ajau. A.D.11th Ajau.
1488.12. Cauac.L.1500.11. Cauac.L151210. CauacL15249. CauacL
1489.13. Kan.a.1501.12. Kan.a151311. Kana152510. Kana
1490.1. Muluc.m.1502.13. Muluc.m151412. Mulucm152611. Mulucm
1491.2. Gix.a.1503.1. Gix.a151513. Gixa152712. Gixa
1492.3. Cauac.y.1504.2. Cauac.y15161. Cauacy152813. Cauacy
1493.4. Kan.t.1505.3. Kan.t15172. Kant15291. Kant
1494.5. Muluc.u.1506.4. Muluc.u15183. Mulucu15302. Mulucu
1495.6. Gix.n.1507.5. Gix.n15194. Gixn15313. Gixn
1496.7. Cauac. 1508.6. Cauac.——15205. Cauac——15324. Cauac——
1497.8. Kan. 1509.7. Kan.Laib15216. Kan 15335. KanChak
1498.9. Muluc. 1510.8. Muluc.oc15227. Muluc 15346. Mulucoc
1499.10. Gix. 1511.9. Gix.Katun.15238. Gix 15357. GixKatun.

The fundamental point of departure from which to adjust the Ajaus with the years of the Christian era, to count the periods or cycles which have elapsed, and to make the years quoted by the Indians in their histories agree with the same era, is the year of our Lord 1392, which, according to all sources of information, confirmed by the testimony of Don Cosme de Burgos, one of the conquerors, and a writer (but whose observations have been lost), was the year in which fell the 7 Cauac, giving in its second day the commencement of 8 Ajau; and from this, as from a root, all that preceded and have followed it are adjusted according to the table of them which has been given; and as this agrees with all the series that have been found, it is highly probable that it is the correct one.