on this monument. He shows that at the time when Stela K was erected, namely, 9.18.15.0.0 3 Ahau 3 Yax, the official calendar had outrun the seasons by just 210 days, or exactly the number of days recorded in A6, plate [18], A (north side); and further, that instead of being the day 3 Yax, which occurred at Quirigua about the beginning of the dry season,[[193]] in reality the season was 210 days behind, or at 18 Kayab, about the beginning of the rainy season. This very great discrepancy between calendar and season could not have escaped the notice of the priests, and the 210 days recorded in A6 may well represent the days actually needed on the date 9.18.15.0.0 3 Ahau 3 Yax to bring the calendar into harmony with the current season. If this be true, then the date 9.18.14.7.0 1 Oc 18 Kayab represented the day indicated by the sun when the calendar showed that the 3d hotun in Katun 18 of Cycle 9 had been completed. Mr. Bowditch suggests the following free interpretation of this passage: "The sun has just set at its northern point[[194]] and we are counting the day 3 Yax—210 days from 18 Kayab—which is the true date in the calendar according to our traditions and records for the sun to set at this point on his course." As stated above, the writer believes this to be the true explanation of the record of 210 days on this monument.
Fig. 78. The Initial Series on Stela J, Quirigua.
In figures [78] and [79] are illustrated the Initial Series and Secondary Series from Stela J at Quirigua.[[195]] For lack of space the introducing glyph in this text has been omitted; it occupies the position of six glyph-blocks, however, A1-B3, after which the Initial-series number 9.16.5.0.0 follows in A4-B8. This leads to the terminal date 8 Ahau 8 Zotz, which is recorded in A9, B9, B13, the glyph in A13 being the month-sign indicator here shown with the coefficient 9. Compare B9 with the second variant for Ahau in figure [16] h', i', and B13 with the sign for Zotz in figure [19], e, f. The
Initial-series part of this text therefore in A1-B9, B13, is perfectly regular and reads as follows: 9.16.5.0.0 8 Ahau 8 Zotz. The Secondary Series, however, are unusual and differ in several respects from the ones heretofore presented.
Fig. 79. The Secondary Series on Stela J, Quirigua.
The first Secondary Series inscribed on this monument (see fig. [79], A) is at B1-B2. This series the student should readily decipher as 3 kins, 13 uinals, 11 tuns, and 0 katuns, which we may write 0.11.13.3. This number presents one feature, which, so far as the writer knows, is unique in the whole range of Maya texts. The highest order of units actually involved in this number is the tun, but for some unknown reason the ancient scribe saw fit to add the katun sign also, B2, which, however, he proceeded to nullify at once by attaching to it the coefficient 0. For in so far as the numerical value is concerned, 11.13.3 and 0.11.13.3 are equal. The next peculiarity is that the date which follows this number in B3-A4 is not its terminal date, as we have every reason to expect, but, on the contrary, its starting point. In other words, in this Secondary Series the starting point follows instead of precedes the number counted from it. This date is very clearly 12 Caban 5 Kayab; compare B3 with the sign for Caban in figure [16], a', b', and A4 with the sign for Kayab in figure [19], d'-f'. So far as Stela J is concerned there is no record of the position which this date occupied in the Long Count; that is, there are no data by means of which its Initial Series may be calculated. Elsewhere at Quirigua, however, this date is recorded twice as an Initial Series and in each place it has the same value, 9.14.13.4.17. We may safely conclude, therefore, that the date in A3-B4 is 9.14.13.4.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab, and use it in our calculations as such. Reducing 0.11.13.3 to units of the first order, we have: