Page:A Study of the Manuscript Troano.djvu/132

76 year bearers, and the days used to designate the years are repeated thirteen times on each plate; in the Codex, the last two days of the year are selected for this purpose; in the Manuscript the first only, but even here we see the symbols of the terminal days in the transverse line between the two spaces.

The idols in each are placed on the same character—that which I have interpreted as signifying the "stone" or "stone heap" used to mark the divisions of time. The serpent appears in three plates of each work, and is wanting in the fourth, the latter in both cases being that which relates chiefly to the Ix years. At the bottom of the lower division of Plate 28 (Codex) we see a figure resembling the leg of a deer bound by a double cord; a similar figure appears at the upper left-hand corner of the lower division of Plate XX (Manuscript), our Plate I. I think it is evident that Brasseur was right in interpreting this as the symbol of the Maya word hau, "the quarter of a deer or other animal," from Landa's statement in his account of the festival of the Kan year—"davan al sacerdote una pierna de venado," "they gave the priest a leg of venison."

It is true that this figure is found, in the Codex, in the plate supposed to relate to the Muluc year, while in the Manuscript it is in that which applies to the Ix year, and that in Landa it is mentioned in connection with the ceremonies of the Kan year; but this is not sufficient to destroy the value of these coincidences in our effort to interpret these plates. For, in the first place, there is no reason for supposing the Codex relates to the same time and place as the Manuscript; in the second place, each of the plates in both works appears to refer, in part, to two years; in the third place, Landa's description is not sufficiently exact and minute to make the comparison full and complete. I may also add that, while the plates of the Codex appear to relate only to the ceremonies of the supplemental days, those of the Manuscript apparently refer to other festivals, especially those held at the close and commencement of long periods of time. For example, what is symbolized by the two left-hand figures of the upper division of Plate XXII of the Manuscript appears to be represented in Plate 30 of the Codex.

The Uayeyab idols of the two works are certainly different from each other, though I think it very doubtful whether the figures in either are true representatives of the images; possibly those on the Codex plates are.