with which
the Mayas began their count of days or calendar and named Hun-Imix,"
furnishes a case of an identical though inverted group (Relacion de las
Cosas de Yucatan, ed. B. de Bourbourg, p. 237). Enclosed in a black ring,
the glyph displays, above, a large black dot with six smaller ones grouped
in a semicircle about it, and below, four perpendicular bars.

Subject to correction, I am inclined to interpret this glyph as a hieratic
sign for the constellation Ursa Minor and its four movements, and to
consider it as furnishing a valuable proof of the origin of the Maya
Calendar.

The seemingly inappropriate procedure of figuring shining stars by black
dots actually furnishes the strongest proof that a star group is thus
represented; for, in the Maya language, "ek" is a homonym for star and
black, and a black spot was, in consequence, the most expressive sign for
a star. This fact affords a valuable explanation of the reason why the
ocelot, whose skin is spotted with black, was employed as the figure of
the nocturnal sky, and clearly proves that the Mexicans adopted this
symbol and its meaning from the Mayas.

[Illustration.]

Figure 17.

We will now revert to the S-shaped sign. Its association with images of
star is further exemplified in Mexican Codices. It occurs on the wall of a
temple, in combination with symbols for stars and the North-Mictlan, which
consist in this case, of skulls and cross-bones (fig. 17, II).

In the Dresden Codex, of Maya origin, there is an extremely important page
on which the S-sign occurs in connection with twin deities, besides rain
and cross symbols (fig. 17, I). A careful examination of the group shows
that one of the seated figures is accompanied by a downpour of water
(painted blue in the original), besides the S-symbol which is also
repeated above the head of his companion. Higher up, on the same page, the
S occurs again in a group of glyphs alongside of twin-seated figures.
These, as well as the single-seated form beneath them, have an eye or a
large black spot surmounted by dots instead of a head (Vocabulaire de
l'ecriture hieratique de Yucatan, p. 38). Monsieur Leon de Rosny has
identified this figure, which also occurs in the Codex Troano, as the
image of the supreme divinity of the Mayas, of whom more anon, one of
whose titles was Kin-ich-ahau, literally Sun-eye lord.

A similar sign consisting of the lower h