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90 us very strongly of the triangles on the outer circle of the Mexican calendar stone, and, although these are at the head of the animal, while those are at the tails of the serpents, I think it probable they have the same signification—the completion of the cycle. This opinion, I believe, is confirmed by the figures at the left of the same compartment. Here we observe two falling figures. The lower, pale brown, with cords on his arms and legs, is being dashed to pieces on the pyramidal pile, on which he falls, as shown by the blood which is streaming over it. The upper one is white, the side of the head marked with a sinuous line, as that in the lower right-hand corner of the lower division of Plate XXIII. That these two figures symbolize periods of time can scarcely be doubted, the dark one striking the pyramid that which is expiring. The four steps of the pyramid probably denote "indications" or "weeks of years," and, hence, all taken together represent the cycle. In the dark base we see a sigmoid character similar to that which Landa gives for the letter N, which may possibly be the symbol for the Maya word Noh, "grand." Here we see that one of the steps is black, which is the characteristic color of one of the four dominical days and of one of the four plates of the Manuscript. These facts, I think, are sufficient to warrant us in assuming that the whole pyramid represents the cycle, and is, no doubt, the "monument" raised at the termination of this period, in reference to which Perez makes the following remark: "This period of fifty-two years was called by the Indians Katun, and at its conclusion great feasts were celebrated, and a monument was raised, on which a large stone was placed crosswise, as is signified by the word Kat-tun, for a memento and record of the cycles or Katunes that had elapsed."

The two falling figures probably represent years, the dark one the closing year of one cycle or other period and the white the first of the following. I am led to this conclusion from the strong resemblance of the white figure to those in the lower right-hand corner of the lower division of Plates XXII and XXIII, which I have supposed represent the Uayeyab idols.

At the top of the left-hand, or day, column of Plate XX, and elsewhere in these four plates, we find this unusual rod character