Page:A Study of the Manuscript Troano.djvu/66

22 usually of five characters each—at the left of the compartments or spaces, each column usually with a red numeral over it. For example, in the lowest division of V* the column consists of five characters, as shown here (Fig. 5), which denote the days (reading from the top downward) Oc, Ik, Ix, Cimi, and Ezanab. The red numeral at the top is 9. The black numeral at the side in the space is three lines or 15. (In this case there is but one of these black numerals in the space or compartment, but usually there are several, and also several red ones.) Now, I take for granted that placing the red numeral at the top of the column is equivalent to applying it to each day in the column, thus: 9 Oc, 9 Ik, 9 Ix, 9 Cimi, and 9 Ezanab. There is also one red numeral—13—in the space, as shown in the annexed cut.

Leaving this last out of consideration for the present, let us proceed upon the supposition that the black numeral signifies the day of the month. Examining our condensed calendar (Table V), we see that of the five days Ezanab is the only one that ever falls on the 15th of the month. As this will be found true of at least two columns out of every three throughout the Manuscript it is apparent that these numerals are not used here for this purpose; but even could all be found on the proper day of the month we would still be without any fixed date. Take, for instance, Ezanab in this case, which does fall on the 15th day of the month in the years commencing with Kan; the figure 9 in the fifteenth transverse line is found in the second column. What month? In the year 1 Kan it is in the second month, in the year 8 Kan it is in the first month, in the year 2 Kan it is in the thirteenth' month, and so on throughout the thirteen Kan years. Some may contend that it was not the intention to fix the years, as this is possibly the date of some feast or religious ceremony to be observed each year. I answer that, laying aside the insuperable objection already given, even this supposition would be erroneous—first, because in the case before us Ezanab falls on the 15th day of the month only once every four years, and with each year the month is changed. But it is unnecessary to discuss this