article on the Mexican Calendar Stone, by Ph. J. J. Valentini, in
which mention was made of this singular kind of notation from the
right to the left hand. A. v. Humboldt, in “Vue des Cordilléres,” page
186, remarks: “Le cercle intérieur offre les vingt signes du jour: en
se souvenant que Cipactli est le premier et Xochitl le dernier, on
voit qu’gu’ici, _comme partout ailleurs_, les Mexicains ont rangé les
hiéroglyphes de droite à gauche.” The great scholar has clothed in the
form of a proven statement that which at the beginning of this century
was an opinion generally prevalent among Americanists, and which does
not bear the test, when the numerous copies existing of the Mexican
calendar days are examined. They all show the arrangement of the days
from the left to the right. The sculptured calendar is the only
exception.
Footnote 40:
Historia de Yucatan; by Eligio Ancona, Mérida, 1879, Vol. I., page
159.
Footnote 41:
Remarks on the Centres of Ancient Civilization in Central America.
Address read before the Amer. Geogr. Society, New York, July 10, 1876,
by Dr. C. Hermann Berendt.
Footnote 42:
Herrera, Decade IV., Lib. X., Chapt. 2, 3 and 4. These three chapters
are a compilation of data concerning the ancient history of Yucatan,
and the adventurous career of the Itza race, which appear to be drawn
from sources unknown at this day, and which are independent of what we
can learn from Landa, from the author of the Maya Manuscript, and from
Cogolludo.
Footnote 43:
Traces of such a migration and succeeding halting places can be
discovered in the Quiché annals, edited by Brasseur de Bourbourg, with
the title of _Popol Vuh_. “Popol Vuh, le livre sacré et les mythes de
l’antiquité centro-Américaine,” Paris, 1861, on pages 83, 235, 241,
and pages 215, 217, 236, in which names are quoted and regions
described which give evidence of a course of migration from northern
to southern Mexico.
Footnote 44:
_E. Ancona, Historia de Yucatan, Vol. I., page 34._ Mérida, 1879.—“The
word Chacnovitan or Chacnouitan first appeared in the Maya MSS. or
series of Maya epochs. Upon examining this document, and observing
that the tribe wandered from Tulapan to Chacnouitan and later to
Bakhalal and from there to Chichen-Itza, etc., it will be understood
that the name in question was given to no other portion of our
peninsula than to that which lies at the south. Brasseur de Bourbourg
supposes, and we think not without reason, that Chacnouitan lay
between Bakhalal and Acallan, s. e. of the Laguna de los Terminos.—See
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Archives de la comission scientifica, Tomo. I,
page 422, note 2.”
Footnote 45:
Señor Perez in his commentary makes his calculation that 1496 was the
year of the death of Chief Ajpulà, and succeeds in giving it a
plausible appearance of correctness. But we observe that in order to
reach this date he was not aware of having altered the words of the
Maya text, and those of his own translation. This translation said
correctly: “There were still six years wanting before the completion
of the 13th Ahau.” In the text of the commentary, however, we find him
starting his count on the supposition that the original text was the
sixth year of the 13th Ahau. Though this change is by no means
allowable, he succeeds, ingeniously enough, in arriving at the year
above quoted, and in stating also the dates of the day and month,
precisely as the annalist had set them down.
Footnote 46:
Eligio Ancona, Historia de Yucatan, Mérida, 1879, Vol. I., page 333.
Footnote 47:
With reference to the Mayas, consult the Quiché traditions in Brasseur
de Bourbourg’s Popol Vuh, pages 215, 217 and 236, and Brasseur de
Bourbourg’s Memorial of Tecpan Atitlan, page 170, note 3. For the
Nahuatl race, Brasseur de Bourbourg’s Histoire des Nations civilisées
du Mexique, Vol. I., Appendix, page 428, in extracts made from the
Codex Chimalpopoca.
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. P. 53, changed “Ahcuitok” to “Ajcuitok”.
2. P. 81, changed “Ajmekut” to “Ajmekat”.
3. P. 94, changed “Mayapanes” to “Mayalpanes”.
4. Footnote 9, changed “de la grau” to “de la gran”.
5. Footnote 39, changed “interieur” to “intérieur” and “hiéroglyphs” to
“hiéroglyphes”.
6. Footnote 43, changed “centro-Americaine” to “centro-Américaine”.
7. Silently corrected typographical errors.
8. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
9. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.