Page:A Study of the Manuscript Troano.djvu/273

Rh other. We shall also find that the same thing is true in reference to one of the months. I am in great doubt as to the character rendered Manik, which here resembles the Greek tau. S 14 is probably the symbol of Lamat.

One singular fact to be noticed is that the form of the Kan symbol—for example, U 1.7, as given in Dr. Rau's photograph—is more like Landa's figure than the Kan symbol in the Tro Manuscript.

As I find no month characters in the Manuscript to assist me in judging of the variations in form, and as I have not thoroughly studied those in the Codex, I feel greater uncertainty as to those found on the Tablet than I do in regard to the day characters. Pax seems to be the month oftenest represented; in fact, but few others appear to be indicated. The following characters I think represent this month:

The following are also probably month symbols:

I am satisfied from the presence of numerals that there are other day and month symbols than those mentioned, but on account of my doubt as to which class they belong will not attempt now to decide.

If the reader will examine carefully the character V 14, especially on Dr. Rau's photograph, he will see that it is almost identical with that in the Manuscript I have rendered pecuah "tortilla of maize" (see Fig. 64),

Comparing this with the large initial, we find but a slight difference between the two; in the latter the comb-like figures are drawn down to the sides and the loops are placed above. In this the form of the central oval is not to be relied upon as strictly correct, as the lines are too freely rounded; still we presume it is slightly different from the little upper circle in V 14. Supposing the Maya language to have been used, and the characters on the Tablet to have the same signification as similar characters in the Manuscript, we should find in this initial sounds closely resembling those in pecuah ; as the bars are interlaced, I presume the first syllable should be pech or pach. Turning to Landa's Relacion (264), we find that "In the month Pax they [the Mayas] celebrated a festival named Pacumchac, on which occasion the chiefs and priests of the inferior villages assembling with those of