These five days are plainly intended to be the days III Lamat, IX Manik, II
Cimi, VIII Chicchan, III Cimi.
With regard to the real purport of this section, it is my opinion that it
has reference to the time of the shortest day and also to the four winds
and that this section therefore forms, in a measure, a contrast to pages
38-41, where attention was called to the rainy season, the longest day and
the thunderstorms.
We see here in the first place four of the ordinary heavenly shields, with
two astronomical signs each. I cannot decide, at present, whether these are
1st, the moon and Saturn, 2nd, Mars and Mercury, 3d, the moon and Mars, and
4th, Jupiter and Venus.
From each of these shields hangs a figure not unlike an heraldic beast. It
cannot be the canine lightning-beast; it has no flames, it is cloven-footed
and with the upper lip bent upward and the lower lip curved downward
suggesting the storm-god K, and therefore probably represents the four
winds; this wind-beast repeated four times also occurs on Cort. 2.
Six hieroglyphs belong to each picture. Those in the first place are
pierced ears and refer therefore to the ritual bloodletting, which may have
been performed at this season. In Tro. 5*b we also find the pierced ear; a
pierced _tongue_ (Tro. 17*b), however, does not occur in the Dresdensis.
The second place always contains the sign of the beast like the one
instance on page 43.
The third place seems to be devoted to the four cardinal points, _i.e._, to
the four winds. First we see Akbal-Kin, _i.e._, the transition from night
to day, the east. The north-god, C, is here in the second group; in the
third we see Kin and beside it in the fourth place Akbal, both enveloped by
clouds denoting the transition from day to night, the west. The fourth
group, it is true, has the year-sign here, but with the compound Kin-Cauac
prefixed, and Cauac always belongs to the south. I believe I have found a
distinct reference to the season of the year in two other places. The
fourth hieroglyph of the second group and the sixth of the fourth both have
the familiar prefix suggesting K, the storm-god. The first of the two
contains the month Mol (December 3d-22nd); the second might very well be
the month Yax (January 12th-31st). This is quite in keeping with the
distances 19 + 21 = 40 set down below.
In my "Tagegöttern der Mayas" (Globus LXXIII, 10) and above in my
discussion of the great Tonalamatl under pages 4a-10a, I have assigned the
day Chuen to C, and Muluc to K, _i.e._, the first to the dark north and the
latter to the wind, which are both under consideration here. In fact, we
find the Chuen sign in the fifth place of the fourth group with the same
prefix that C has in the second group. The Muluc sign, however, seems to
occur three times:--1st, group 1, sign 6, where it may be joined to the
month Mol belonging here; 2nd, group 3, sign 5, joined to the Akbal, which
also belongs here; 3d, group 4, sign 4, with a usual prefix. In the second
group it may be included in the very similar month sign of Mol. Four
hieroglyphs remain:--1st, Akbal in group 1, sign 5, hence probably denoting
the darker time of the year in general; 2nd, A in 2, sign 5; 3d, E in 2,
sign 6; _i.e._, probably referring to the death of the grain (I do not know
to what extent this expression may be used in relation to the Maya
country); 4th, Kan-Imix in 3, sign 6, perhaps expressing the hope of new
harvests.
This finishes the middle sections of the pages of the first part of the
Manuscript, and we must now turn back again to page 29 in order to examine
the lower sections.
Pages 29c--30c.
III 16 VI 16 IX 16 XII 17 III
Ix
Cauac
Kan
Muluc.
Here is a Tonalamatl of four quarters, 4 × 65.
In the Manuscript 16 is again erroneously set down for 17 and the III
following it is omitted. The initial day is exactly the same III Ix, as in
section 29b above it, to which in other respects the passage now under
consideration shows a great likeness, since the four familiar animals occur
here as well as there. But in spite of beginning in the same way the days
here are different ones, being the four regents of the year, as on page 9b.
The four parts are grouped together by the sign, which always occupies the
first place in each part; I have denoted this sign by _f_, and I think it
must have a very general significance, since from pages 29c to 40c it
always begins the groups. The connection between the four parts is further
shown by the four cardinal points in the second place:--the north in the
first group, the west in the second, the south in the third and the east in
the fourth. In the third place these cardinal points are again indicated by
their usual abbreviations; the east is erroneously set down in the second
group. These abbreviations are here invariably joined to the head of C as
the representative of the north, the first of the cardinal points occurring
in this passage; the others revolve about the north pole.
As B's sign always occurs in the fourth place, there is nothing further to
be said concerning the hieroglyphs. We now come to the pictures:--
1. B is rowing a boat, as we have already seen him several times (36b, 40a,
_c_, and 43c). To the left of his head there is a bird's head and in the
left, bottom, corner, a pot in which apparently a soup of fowl is cooking,
emitting bubbles. The Cib sign on the pot refers to the cooking or
bubbling.
2. B, with his head surrounded by the familiar stars, is seated in water,
in which are represented the iguana over a Kan sign, and the familiar
spiral probably denoting a serpent. He is painted black (perhaps
corresponding to the west?) and holds in his hand an implement not yet
determined. Perhaps it may be intended for a tree, _past_ which the water
is flowing.
3. The god is seated, holding in one hand the spiral with a Kin sign over
it and a Yax on top of that, and in the other hand something which looks
like a bird's feather or a fish's fin. Above him is a fish with a Kan sign,
as on page 27, where the fish and Kan are also combined.
4. Holding a hunting-spear, he is sitting on an animal slain in the chase,
as on page 45c.
Finally, I have remarked that pages 42c-45c, the last part of the first
division of the Manuscript, look like an enlargement or amendment of the
section just considered.
Pages 30c--33c.