Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/242

* MAYAN STOCK. 214 MAY DAY. chiefs on a basis of a certain corn pro<luction per year to each family. Gold, silver, and cop- per were used for ornanifiitul purposes, but ordinary metal tools were unknown. The Maya of the coast region had large seagoing canoes, with which they carried on regular trade with Cuba and voyaged north and snutli along the Gulf coast and the Caribbean shore. Descent was generally in the male line, and each village com- munity was governed by a chief who derived his authority from the hereditary ruler of the tribe or province. A century before the coming of the Spaniards the whole peninsula of Yucatan was under one compact governmental authority, while the greater part of Guatemala was divided bc- twiiii the sovereignties of the Quiche and the Cakcliiquel. Tire ilayan peoples were remarkable above all other cultured American nations for their architecture, their calendar, and their hierogly- phic system. Of their architecture, as exempli- fied in the great ruins of raleiKpie, Uxmal, Jlayapan, and Chichen-ltza, with hundreds of lesser cities and isolated temples s(attere<l through the tangled tropical forests, it is mmecessary to speak at length here. The material was usually a hard limestone, imbedded in lirm mortar, well cut and exactly fitted, and lavishly carved on every i)art with mythical and historical figures and hieroglyphic inscriptions. Their hiero- glyphic records and rituals were carved or painted upon the walls of their temples and palaces or written in books of folded sheets of maguey paper. The explanation of these hiero- glyphs is one of the most important problems in American arelueology. Krom the rounded out- lines of the characters, somewhat resembling peb- bles or skulls in shape, they have been described as calculiform. In spite of wholesale destruction by the Spanish missionaries and authorities, a few of these ancient saered books still remain for study and interpretation, notably the Codex Troano. "the Codex Peresianus. and the Dresden Codex, besides a nund)er of others in the Maya language, but in Latin characters, compiled by natives of the Yucatan peninsula later than the Conquest, and usually groupeil under the title of "IJooks of Chilan Balam." From these books our knowledge of the Maya past is chiefly de- rived. The (Juiche of Guatemala have also their sacred book, the Popol Vuh, of which a transla- tion has been made by the Abbi' Hrasseu de Bourbourg. The calendar system of the Maya, which was practically the same among the neigh- boring tribes of the same stock, was more elab- orate anil exact than that of the .ztec tribes. Their year, biginning on .Tuly Itlth, when the sun crossed the zenith, consisted of 'M')'y days, divided into eighteen months of twenty days each, the days being grouped into weeks of five days each. Af the end of the year there was an interval of five 'nameless days' before the beginning of the new year. The years were grouped into I.ntiiiiK of twenty years each, the completion of each successive hiiliin lieini; signalized by the placing of a commemorative inscribed stone in the wall of the principal temple of the city. Thirteen kntu/tn maile up an nhnu hntun. or great cycle of 200 years. There was also a lesser cvcle of fifty-two years, similar to that of the Aztec and Tnrasco. Much attention has been given to the ^laya languages, owing to the literary tendency, eil- tural superiority, and numerical strength of the people using them. Compared with other Indian languages they are comparatively simple in structure. The Maya itself forms one of the few American languages which have enough vitality not only to hold their own, but even to force themselves on Kuropean settlers and supplant their own speech. In Yucatan whole families of jnue white blood are found who know no Spanish, using the Maya exclusivclj-. The earliest Maya grammar is that of Father 'illalpando, pul)lished about l.).i.5. The tlrst dictionary is also by him, published in 1571. There is also the Maya- Spanish Dictionary of Perez, 1S7T. with al)out '20.000 words, and the manuscript Dictionary of the Convent of Motul, in three large quarto vol- umes, in the Carter Urown Library of Provi- dence. The best synopses of Mayan culture and chrouology are: Brinton, Chronicles of the Mayas; id.. Annals of the Cahchiquels ; id., Es- sniis of an Amtrlcanist, See ClllcilfiN-lTzA, CniijiN P.ALAM; ICatun; Popol Vuh. MAY APPLE. A Xoi-th American ]ieiennial herb. Sue .Manuraice ; PoDOI'IIYLLrM. MAYBACH, mi'l):iG, Aluebt vo. ( lS2-2-l!»04). A Prussian administrator, born in W'erne. West- J ]>halia. He early entered the governmental em- ( ])loy in the department of railroads, of which lie became head in 1>*74, when he urged the con- trol of all railroads by the Empire. The suc- cess of this measure and the defeat of the move- ment for private control in the early SO's was due largely to him. From 1S.S2 to IKO.'i be was a member of the Prussian House of Deputies, and in 1801, after twelve years' service, resigned from the supervision of the railways of Alsace and Lorraine. MAY BEETLE. See JrxE Bug. MAY BIED, or iLw Cock. The name of sev- eral l>ir(ls which ajipear in May; especially, among American sportsmen, the knot (q.v.). In New England the black-bellied plover (q.v.) is locally called 'May cock,' but in Great Britain and the Southern United States a curlew is meant by this term. MAY DANCE. The dance performed throiigh-. out England upon the first of May. The cele- bration of May Day with a dance is an old cus- tom, being possibly of Swedish or Gothic origin, but more probal)ly from Homan (its prototyjie being the Floralia) or Egyptian and Indian sources. In England the dance was a composite one, in which the morris dance (q.v.) played an important part. There was also a milkmaids' dance, and the characters of Robin Hood. Maid Marian. Scarlet. Little .John. Tom the Piper, the Hobby Horse, the Lord and Lady of the May, all joined in the various dances which centred around the May pole. See May Dav. MAY DAY (OF.. Fr. »i<ii. from Lat. Mains; eiiiuierteil with OLnt. tiKijiis, great. Lat. niafinns, Gk. n&fat. niriin.i. Goth, niil.ili. great. Skt. niah, to l)e ;;reat). The name jiopularly given to the first day of May. which among the (iermanic and Latin people has been associated from an early period with festal ceremonies religious in origin. It was the custom on this day to start liefore dawn, make excursions to the woods and fields, and return laden with green flowering boughs. It is plain that this festival, which was celebrated by all classes alike, represented