[2] Sahagun states that this prince came to the throne in 1489, but the Codex Telleriano-Remensis assigns that year to his death.
[3] This is according to Sahagun’s statement; at the present time in the valley of Mexico the rains commence in May-June and end in September-October.
[4] At this point the Kakchiquel annals prove a useful check upon the account given by the Popol Vuh. Tepepul and Iztayul, according to the latter, preceded Quicab, and Quicab was succeeded by Tepepul and Xtayub. It is evident that some duplication has taken place in the Quiché legend, that Tepepul and Iztayul are the same as Tepepul and Xtayub, and that they succeeded Quicab.
[5] The very early dates which occur at Palenque, a late site, must be themselves artificial or mythical, and so too, I believe, are the dates which occur on the celebrated Leiden plate and Tuxtla figure.
[6] By an error the katun number has been drawn as two bars and three dots, instead of three bars.
[7] There is a wall-painting at Chichen Itza which seems to picture a human sacrifice, but this is on a building which undoubtedly belongs to a later period, when the Maya had already come in contact with Mexican influences, as will be seen later.
[8] One of these was also found by Maudslay, near Quirigua.
[9] The corners of the Castillo at Chichen Itza also appear to have been slightly rounded and not square, as shown in Fig. 73, f; p. 321.
[10] The qualification is necessary, since Tulum appears to have been inhabited at the conquest.
[11] The use of the rising of the morning star to commence a solar time-count would explain the peculiar fact that the commencement of the year never coincided with that of the tonalamatl. It has been stated (p. 77) that the initial days of the Venus-periods were cipactli, coatl, atl, acatl, and olin; cipactli being the initial day also of the tonalamatl. But the day acatl was not only one of the initial days of the 365-day year, but was the initial day also of the Mexican double cycle of 104 years, which was in addition the initial day of a complete cycle of Venus-periods. The conclusion is tempting, that after the invention of the tonalamatl, correlated with the observation of the planet Venus, a change was made to solar time as near as it could be observed. As a starting-point for the new system, the next heliacal rising of the planet was awaited, and this occurring on an acatl day fixed the “year-bearers” as acatl, tecpatl, calli, and tochtli. It will be remembered that the Mexicans believed that the historical sun rose on the day 13. acatl (p. 73). At any rate, the Venus-period seems to form a link between the tonalamatl and the year of 365 days. The fact that none of the gods of the hunting-tribes find a place among the deities presiding over the tonalamatl would seem sufficient proof that the Chichimec, Aztec, and Otomi had no hand in its invention.