Page:A Study of the Manuscript Troano.djvu/68

24 devoted some time to the study of this subject is the fact that the period embraced is precisely that which is supposed by most authorities to constitute one Ahau. But let me here warn such reader against a too hasty conclusion.

Supposing we are so far correct, what use are we to make of the red numeral—13—in the space? Let us suppose that it is also to be applied to the days as the other red numeral, using the same month. This gives us the following years:

If we attempt to locate these in the same cycle as the preceding period, we shall find that the two clash with each other—that is, that some of the years of the first are the same as some of the second; but it is evident they may be located in another cycle.

Before proceeding further with the discussion of this difficult question, we must remind the reader of what possibly he has already inferred—that in our allusion to the "intervals" between the days of the columns, our object then was simply to show a regularity not consistent with the idea that they were used on account of the signification of the words, and not to lead him to suppose that the real interval intended was only the number of days mentioned. We also wish to call his attention to another fact which is becoming more and more apparent as we proceed—that the regularity of the intervals which seems apparent, whatever may be our final conclusion as to what the black numerals refer to, and the great number of dates as compared with the text, preclude the supposition that the work is historical. I shall therefore proceed. upon the theory that it is, to a large extent at least, a kind of religious calendar—not with any particular desire to maintain this opinion,