[72] Whether the Maya used their numerical system in the inscriptions and codices for counting anything besides time is not known. As used in the texts, the numbers occur only in connection with calendric matters, at least in so far as they have been deciphered. It is true many numbers are found in both the inscriptions and codices which are attached to signs of unknown meaning, and it is possible that these may have nothing to do with the calendar. An enumeration of cities or towns, or of tribute rolls, for example, may be recorded in some of these places. Both of these subjects are treated of in the Aztec manuscripts and may well be present in Maya texts.
[73] The numerals and periods given in fig. [56] are expressed by their normal forms in every case, since these may be more readily recognized than the corresponding head variants, and consequently entail less work for the student. It should be borne in mind, however, that any bar and dot numeral or any period in fig. [56] could be expressed equally well by its corresponding head form without affecting in the least the values of the resulting numbers.
[74] There may be three other numbers in the inscriptions which are considerably higher (see pp. [114]-[127]).
[75] These are: (1) The tablet from the Temple of the Cross at Palenque; (2) Altar 1 at Piedras Negras; and (3) The east side of Stela C at Quirigua.
[76] This case occurs on the tablet from the Temple of the Foliated Cross at Palenque.
[77] It seems probable that the number on the north side of Stela C at Copan was not counted from the date 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu. The writer has not been able to satisfy himself, however, that this number is an Initial Series.
[78] Mr. Bowditch (1910: pp. 41-42) notes a seeming exception to this, not in the inscription, however, but in the Dresden Codex, in which, in a series of numbers on pp. 71-73, the number 390 is written 19 uinals and 10 kins, instead of 1 tun, 1 uinal, and 10 kins.
[79] That it was a Cycle 13 is shown from the fact that it was just 13 cycles in advance of Cycle 13 ending on the date 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu.
[80] See p. [156] and fig. [66] for method of designating the individual glyphs in a text.
[81] The kins are missing from this number (see A9, fig. [60]). At the maximum, however, they could increase this large number only by 19. They have been used here as at 0.