It will be seen that in the first method of counting time, in speaking of 1 o'clock, 1 hour, 30 minutes, we use only the cardinal forms of our numbers; but in the second method we say the 1st of January, the Twentieth Century, using the ordinal forms, though even here we permit ourselves one inconsistency. In speaking of our years, which are reckoned by the second method, we say "nineteen hundred and twelve," when, to be consistent, we should say "nineteen hundred and twelfth," using the ordinal "twelfth" instead of the cardinal "twelve."

We may then summarize our methods of counting time as follows: (1) All periods less than the day, as hours, minutes, and seconds, are referred to in terms of past time; and (2) the day and all greater periods are referred to in terms of current time.

The Maya seem to have used only the former of these two methods in counting time; that is, all the different periods recorded in the codices and the inscriptions seemingly refer to elapsed time rather than to current time, to a day passed, rather than to a day present. Strange as this may appear to us, who speak of our calendar as current time, it is probably true nevertheless that the Maya, in so far as their writing is concerned, never designated a present day but always treated of a day gone by. The day recorded is yesterday because to-day can not be considered an entity until, like the hour of astronomical time, it completes itself and becomes a unit, that is, a yesterday.

This is well illustrated by the Maya method of numbering the positions of the days in the months, which, as we shall see, was identical with our own method of counting astronomical time. For example, the first day of the Maya month Pop was written Zero Pop, (0 Pop) for not until one whole day of Pop had passed could the day 1 Pop be written; by that time, however, the first day of the month had passed and the second day commenced. In other words, the second day of Pop was written 1 Pop; the third day, 2 Pop; the fourth day, 3 Pop; and so on through the 20 days of the Maya month. This method of numbering the positions of the days in the month led to calling the last day of a month 19 instead of 20. This appears in Table [IV], in which the last 6 days of one year and the first 22 of the next year are referred to their corresponding positions in the divisions of the Maya year. It must be remembered in using this Table that the closing period of the Maya year, the xma kaba kin, or Uayeb, contained only 5 days, whereas all the other periods (the 18 uinals) had 20 days each.

Curiously enough no glyph for the haab, or year, has been identified as yet, in spite of the apparent importance of this period.[[31]] The

glyphs which represent the 18 different uinals and the xma kaba kin, however, are shown in figures [19] and [20]. The forms in figure [19] are taken from the inscriptions and those in figure [20] from the codices.

Table IV. POSITIONS OF DAYS AT THE END OF A YEAR

360th day of the year 19 Cumhu last day of the month Cumhu.
361st day of the year 00 Uayeb first day of Uayeb.
362dt day of the year 01 Uayeb
363dt day of the year 02 Uayeb
364th day of the year 03 Uayeb
365th day of the year 04 Uayeb last day of Uayeb and of the year.
01st day of next year 00 Pop first day of the month Pop, and of the next year.
02dt day of next year 01 Pop
03dt day of next year 02 Pop
04th day of next year 03 Pop
05th day of next year 04 Pop
06th day of next year 05 Pop
07th day of next year 06 Pop
08th day of next year 07 Pop
09th day of next year 08 Pop
10th day of next year 09 Pop
11th day of next year 10 Pop
12th day of next year 11 Pop
13th day of next year 12 Pop
14th day of next year 13 Pop
15th day of next year 14 Pop
16th day of next year 15 Pop
17th day of next year 16 Pop
18th day of next year 17 Pop
19th day of next year 18 Pop
20th day of next year 19 Pop last day of the month Pop.
21st day of next year 00 Uo first day of the month Uo.
22dt day of next year 01 Uo
00etc. 00etc.