Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/312

252 and these glyphs were in two styles, being either what is usually termed "normal" signs, or face-signs (Fig. 55). The latter exhibit considerable variation, especially that of the great cycle; but the cycle bird-face is recognizable by the jaw-bone in the shape of a hand (recalling the face-paint of the Mexican gods into whose name the numeral five enters as a component part), the katun by a similar bird-face with a normal jaw, the tun by the normal glyph which it bears on its head, or its fleshless jaw, the uinal by its frog-like appearance and the curl at the corner of its mouth, and the kin by the glyph on the forehead or the filed teeth. In many of the more elaborate carvings the significance of the sign is shown more by its position in the series than by anything else. Now a great number of the stelæ bear inscriptions which start with a high number expressed in this manner (Fig. 56); at the top is the great cycle glyph, which is an elaborate affair and really means little more than that a count of days is to follow, since there could hardly be any mistake regarding this period which represents over fifty-one centuries. Below, usually in two columns of glyphs, is a number of days, expressed in cycles, katuns, tuns, uinals and kins, and this is followed by a day-and-month date. In the transliteration of Mayan dates, the numerals alone are given as a rule; thus the date shown in Fig. 56, 5, transliterated as 9. 16.10.0.0. I ahau, 3 zip, means the day 1 ahau, after 3 days of the month zip have passed, being 9 cycles, 16 katuns, 10 tuns, 0 uinals, and 0 kins from the chronological starting-point of the present "Great Cycle." Now the astonishing fact is this, that throughout the whole of the Maya country, i.e. the area over which ruins in the Maya style are scattered, including Chiapas, Guatemala, Yucatan and northern Honduras, if the long count of days (expressed in cycles, katuns, etc.) be reckoned back from the final day-and-month date, the same day is always reached, viz. 4. ahau,