said to himself, "There are but 6 whole tuns remaining of the katun and I will call it 6," or in the second case he may have said: "There are 5 tuns remaining and 139 days besides; I will call it 6 tuns." Whichever was the plan he followed, we can have at present no means of ascertaining except from the results which we obtain by calculation.

The date found on Stela 9 of Copan, which is the earliest date of these stelæ of that place, in which the numbers preceding the period glyphs are given by the line-and-dot method, is 54.9.6.10.0.0. This precedes the above dates by the following periods:

If, now, we accept the first date of 55.13.2.13.3.1. as the date of Ahpula's death, we shall have the date of Stela 9 of Copan as A.D. 34, since the death occurred in 1536. If we accept the second date, 55.9.17.14.11.1., as the true one, Stela 9 must represent a date of B.C. 3814, and in the case of the third date, 57.2.14.13.16.1. in which the period to elapse to the end of Katun 13 Ahau is the nearest to an exact 6 tuns, we should throw back Copan to B.C. 11,250. It is not probable, however, that either of the last two dates is correct, both because of the immense time which would have elapsed and because the monuments show signs of no such age. We are therefore left to the date A.D. 34 as the probable date of the earliest stela of Copan which we know of at present.

The following table gives the earliest and latest dates in Copan and Quirigua as far as we know them, together with the dates of our calendar corresponding thereto, on the supposition that the above date is rightly deciphered:

If this is correct, Copan lasted, so far as the erection of stelæ is concerned, for about 200 years, and Quirigua for about 350 years, though of course this may be only a small part of the period of their existence.

The above calculations have been made on the supposition that the initial dates record the date of the erection of the stelæ, and on the further supposition, as has been stated, that the same principle of calculating time has been continued from the earliest ages. There is, however, some evidence that a change has been made, at least in detail. It has already been seen that the beginning day of the month has been shifted from the Eznab, Akbal series to the Cauac, Kan series of days. What difference this would have made in the relation of the year-and-month count with the long count it is impossible to say without knowing the means used to effect the change; but it is quite likely that this relation was not affected. In the Book of Chilan Balam of Mani is the entry: "The Thirteenth Ahau; then Pop was counted in order." And in the Book of Chilan Balam of Chumayel we find, "The Thirteenth Ahau; Pop was set in order." This statement occurs in the early part of the chronicle, and the calculation of the Ahaus goes on after it in exactly the same way as before it. This setting in order of Pop would not then seem to have made any difference in the long count. At least it is very probable that it means merely that the seasons and the calendar were made to agree.

Dr Brinton (Maya Chronicles, p. 85) also gives a translation of a part of the Codice Perez, which refers to the "Doubling of the Katuns." The statement is very obscure, but only tends to show that while the counting of the katuns was carried on as in the Books of Chilan Balam, the first of the series was called Katun 8 Ahau instead of Katun 13 Ahau, while the last of the series was Katun 10 Ahau. This would not necessarily change the consecutive order of the katuns, but might merely give a new starting-point.

While, therefore, it is impossible to say what change, if any, was made in the reckoning of time, it may be said that there is no evidence at present to show that the old relation of the long count to the year-and-month count and to the count of the Books of Chilan Balam did not continue to the time of the arrival of the Spaniards. Moreover, the date of A.D. 34 for the monuments of Copan and Quirigua is by no means unlikely to be the true one. At all events the above discussion of the reckoning will not be useless if it succeeds in bringing out new facts, and no one will be more ready to recognize any new evidence than I shall be, even if the above deductions shall be shown to be erroneous.