Hieroglyph 14 = 7200
" 15 = 21
" 16 = 59
" 17 = 4680
-----
11960,
which is exactly the lunar-Mercury period.
The sign Xul = conclusion, end, is fittingly added in 18 to the end of this
period, as also on page 58. This sign is very common on pages 61 and 62 at
the end of the long periods.
From signs 19 and 20 we see that the four parts of the Venus year are also
about to be treated of here, that is, the periods of 236, 90, 250 and 8
days respectively, which are discussed on pages 46-50. For 19 is the sign
for Venus, and 20 is a hand with a knife as a superfix, which divides the
Venus revolution. This hand appears 20 times in like manner on the pages
mentioned above.
Signs 21-25 represent five gods, who in all probability are N, F, H, the
bat-god and A. These are the same signs which are repeated twice on the
left-hand side of pages 46-50, both times at the beginning and end of the
period of 236 days, that is, the period during which Venus is the morning
star and which is under the dominion of the east. The fact that there is a
4 with N has reference to the four forms which this Uayeyab god assumes.
Now we ought to expect a similar treatment of the periods of the planet,
which are under the rule of the south, west and north, but there is no room
for this. Instead, we find in 26, 27 and 28 three different signs plainly
belonging together, the first of which is the day Caban, _i.e._, the earth;
the second may be Muluc denoting rain and water; the third is Chuen (the
ape) which fittingly denotes the north, for Chuen denotes the little bear,
as I have proved in my treatise on the day-signs of the Mayas. The Chuen
sign in 28 also has a prefix, which probably refers to the night-god D. I
find exactly the same combination in signs 8 A and 8 B of the inscription
on the Cross of Palenque, but I must leave to others the task of connecting
26 and 27 likewise with the north, which is very evident in 27 (Muluc).
Sign 29 is entirely effaced. Nevertheless, I am positive that it
represented the day IV Ahau, the beginning of Maya chronology, for 30 may
still be identified as 8 Cumhu belonging to IV Ahau, and sign 31 is the
same sign as 18, _i.e._, the sign Xul = the end, and denoting here the end
of the long period.
The comprehensive hieroglyphs, 29-31, stand here in the wrong place. A more
suitable position for them would be before 19 or just after 35. For they
are intended to specify the periods during which Venus is in the west and
south, _i.e._, the time during which it is the evening star and the period
of its inferior conjunction.
Sign 32 is the black deity, L according to Schellhas, here denoting the
west, and 33 is the Venus sign with the prefix denoting division. In the
same way we find these two signs together on page 46 at the right in the
middle series, where presumably the four Venus periods are specified in
close succession. The black deity is also found on page 50 in the middle of
the page in the beginning, at the end of a period of 250 days. On page 24
it has as a prefix the sign Imix with three rows of dots proceeding from
it. Imix, however, among the Mayas and Aztecs (as Cipactli), under some
circumstances often, and under others always, denotes the first of the 20
days. Hence this sign may mean:--here begins the Venus period of 250 days.
34-35. The sign for the south still remains to be found. Sign 35 is again
the Venus hieroglyph. In 34 we should expect to find one of the five gods
of the south, which are found on pages 46-50, _e.g._, the Moan, who is
represented on page 47 as the regent of this cardinal point. But there is
no figure of a god here, and in place of it we find set down here, as on
page 47, middle, right-hand, an actual date as the beginning of this short
southern period of only eight days. It is the date 10 Zip (third month),
the month sign of which does indeed suggest a hieroglyph of the Moan. Now,
if we recall that in hieroglyph 21 the god N is designated in exactly the
same way by an actual date, viz:--4 Zac (11th month), then we see that the
interval between 4 Zac and 10 Zip of the second year following, is exactly
236 + 90 + 250 = 576 days, and this corresponds exactly to the interval of
time from the beginning of the period when Venus is in the east to the
beginning of the period when she is in the south. If we knew in what years
the morning star made its first appearance on February 4th and disappeared
as the evening star on the 3d of September, we should make some progress in
the comprehension of this subject, but not much, since these events fall
approximately on the same dates after each period of 8 years.
36-40. The last five of the 40 signs appear in the same order again on
pages 46-50, _one_ sign on each page, in the middle group of the right-hand
half of the page at the beginning of the third line, but with this
difference, that on page 24 each sign has the same prefix, which is wanting
on pages 46-50, where a similar hieroglyph always _follows_. From their
position on pages 46-50 it follows that these are hieroglyphs of five gods,
each of whom belongs to a whole Venus year of 584 days. I am not very sure
in regard to these gods. I prefer to call 36 K, 37 F, 38 E and 40 A. Sign
39 with the person crouching, I am obliged to leave entirely unsettled. We
shall find this hieroglyph again, _e.g._, on pages 47 and 49 right, middle.
Let it suffice that in these five signs we have a repetition of the
Venus-solar period of 2920 days, with which we will end the discussion of
this page. Only F and A have already been met with among the five gods
denoted by hieroglyphs 21-25.
Pages 25--28.
As these four pages, which are the beginning of the back of the first part
of the Manuscript, not only belong together, but also display a parallel
arrangement of their separate parts, the corresponding parts will be
considered together as a whole.
There are seven of these parts on each page, viz:--the column of day-signs
on the left hand; the top, middle and bottom pictures, and lastly the top,
middle and bottom groups of hieroglyphs; but I will consider the pictures
and hieroglyphs of the same section as belonging together.