--The Tableau des Bacab restored 12
III.--Fac-simile of Plate 44 of the Fejervary Codex 32
IV.--Copy of Plates 65 and 66 of the Vatican Codex B 56

FIG. 1.--The four cardinal symbols 8
2.--Scheme of the Tableau des Bacab 13
3.--Copy from Plates 18 and 19, Codex Peresianus 19
4.--Copy of Plate 43, Borgian Codex 24
5.--Copy of Plates 51 and 52, Vatican Codex, B 27
6.--Scheme of Plate 44, Fejervary Codex 34
7.--Symbols of the four cardinal points 36
8.--Calendar wheel, as given by Duran 44
9.--Calendar wheel, from book of Chilan Balam 59
10.--Engraved shells 61
11.--Withdrawn

[Illustration: PL. I

"TABLEAU DES BACAB" CODEX]

NOTES ON CERTAIN MAYA AND MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS.

BY CYRUS THOMAS.

"TABLEAU DES BACAB."

Having recently come into possession of Leon de Rosny's late work
entitled "_Les Documents ecrits de l'Antiquite Americaine_,"[1] I find
in it a photo-lithographic copy of two plates (or rather one plate, for
the two are but parts of one) of the Maya Manuscript known as the _Codex
Cortesianus_. This plate (I shall speak of the two as one) is of so much
importance in the study of the Central American symbols and calendar
systems that I deem it worthy of special notice; more particularly so as
it furnishes a connecting link between the Maya and Mexican symbols and
calendars.

This plate (Nos. 8 and 9 in Rosny's work), is entitled by Rosny
"_Tableau des Bacab_" or "Plate of the Bacabs," he supposing it to be a
representation of the gods of the four cardinal points, an opinion I
believe to be well founded.

As will be seen by reference to our Plate No. 1, which is an exact copy
from Rosny's work, this page consists of three divisions: _First_, an
inner quadrilateral space, in which there are a kind of cross or sacred
tree; two sitting figures, one of which is a female, and six characters.
_Second_, a narrow space or belt forming a border to the inner area,
from which it is separated by a single line; it is separated from the
outer space by a double line. This space contains the characters for the
twenty days of the Maya month, but not arranged in consecutive order.
_Third_