Page:A Study of the Manuscript Troano.djvu/61

Rh. 1 shall therefore consider the following points settled, and shall henceforth proceed upon that basis:

1st. That the Manuscript is a Maya document.

2d. That Landa has given the order of the days and their symbols correctly.

3d. That the day characters in these columns are used simply to indicate the days they represent, and not the signification of the words.

It is now generally conceded by all who have studied these hieroglyphics that the Maya method of designating numbers was by the use of lines and dots, thus: one dot signifying 1, two dots 2, and so on up to 4; that five was represented by a single short straight line; ten by two lines, and so on. According to this system, a straight line and a dot, thus would signify 6; two straight lines and two dots, thus, would stand for 12.

As heretofore remarked, these numeral characters are found on every page of the manuscript, and if we judge by the color, some being red and others black, they belong to two different classes, or at least are used for two different purposes. As they are generally associated with the day characters, the latter in fact never being without them, the natural inference is that they are used to denote dates.

As there are two classes, it is not probable that more than one of these is used to number the days.

If we examine the red numerals on all the plates of the manuscript, we shall find that—except on the title-page, which is evidently peculiar—they never indicate a greater number than 13 (there is one apparent exception where the number appears to be fourteen, but the additional dot is imperfect, and is either a blotch or evident mistake). In some places we find such red numerals as this apparently denoting 14, but a more careful study of the plates on which these are found satisfies me that there are two numbers here, 13 and 1. From this fact I infer that the red numerals are used here to designate the days or years of the Maya week, which, as I have shown, consisted of thirteen days or years, especially in the computation of time in reference to religious feasts and ceremonies.