Page:The Katunes of Maya History.djvu/27

19 52 years which they divided into 4 smaller periods, the so called Tlapilli, each of 13 years, the Mayas counted a great epoch of 260 years, the so called Ahau Katun, subdivided into 13 smaller periods each of 20 years, with the simple name Ahau. This period of 20 years was according to Cogolhido Diego Lopez de Cogolludo, Historia de Yuacathan. Madrid, 1683, Lib. IV., Cap. 5. " The count they kept in their books was by 20 to 20 years, and also by lustros of 4 to 4 years. When five of these lustros had passed, or twenty years elapsed, they called this time Katun, and set one hewn stone (piedra labrada) upon another, well cemented by lime and sand. This can be noticed in their temples and ecclesiastical buildings, and especially on some ancient walls of our convent in Merida, upon which the cells have been built."The expression Katun, mentioned in this passage, and to which we have assigned a place in our title, requires a few words of explanation. As far as we know, it occurs only three times in our Central American authors ; in Cogolludo, Landa, and in our manuscript. The first gives Katun the meaning of a period of twenty years. The second (§ XLI.), uses the following phraseology: " Contando XIII. veyntes con una de las XX. letras de Ips meses que llaman Ahau, sin orden, sino retruecandolos como pareceran en las.siguiente raya redonda, llaman les a estos en su lengua Katunes." This phraseology is somewhat obscure, nevertheless it will be admitted that his intention was to state that each of the images of the thirteen Ahaues, depicted on the surface of the wheel, represented twenty years, this being a period which they also called Katunes. We arrive at this definite conclusion by the consideration that if Landa says that the period of twenty years was called Ahau, and another one, that of 260 years, Katun, he would have stated the latter fact in expressive words; the occasion for doing so being too urgent to let it pass. The third author uses the word Katun in his introductory lines, without giving it any numerical value. But it will be noticed that in the text which follows, the expression Katun is used interchangeably with that of Ahau for a period of 20 years. This concordance of the three authors allows us to conclude that whenever the word Katun is employed, the short period of 20 years was meant. In this connection a question arises: How is it that no author has made mention of the long period of 260 years, with which we become acquainted in Seiior Perez's chronological essay. It is probable he found it mentioned in some Maya manuscripts in which this long period appeared under the name of Ahau Katun. Though this fact of itself maybe con- subdivided again into what he calls lustra of 5 years each, but he does not give the native name of this division.