Page:A Glimpse at Guatemala.pdf/392

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256
A GLIMPSE AT GUATEMALA.

It may, however, be taken as clearly established:—


1. That the Mayas wrote their numerals from 1 to 19 in bars and dots, thus:


It was not, however, usual to leave blank spaces when carving the numerals in stone, and the numbers 1, 2, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16, 17 were carved thus:


The sign is possibly the sign for twenty, but it is very generally used as a sign for a "full count." (See examples on page 261.)

2. That the Mayas made use of a year of 360 days divided into 18 months of 20 days each.

3. That the Mayas also made use of a year of 365 days divided into 18 months of 20 days each, with the addition of 5 intercalated days which follow the last regular month of the year.

4. That each of the 18 months and each day of the month was named as shown in the Tables on page 255.

5. That each of the twenty days of the month was numbered, but that the numbers did not run consecutively from 1 to 20, but from 1 to 13, and then commenced again, so that a calendar for the year of 365 days may be figured thus:—