or chief chosen for the occasion. This done, they returned to the idol on the southern stone heap, where certain religious ceremonies were performed, after which they returned with the idol to the house, where they placed it vis-à-vis with the other—-just as we see in the lower division of Plates XXXXIII of the Manuscript Troano. Here they kept constant vigil until the unlucky days (Uayeb-haab) had expired and the new Kan year appeared; then they took the statute of Bolon-Zacab to the temple and the other idol to the heap of stones at the east side of the village, where it was to remain during the year, doubtless intended as a constant reminder to the common people of what year was passing.
Similar transfers were made at the commencement of the other years; at that of Muluc, first to the east, then to the house, and then to its final resting place on the north side; of Ix, first to the north, then to the west;[1] of Cauac, first to the west, then to the south.
This movement agrees precisely with the order given by Perez; and the final resting places of the idols for the year being the cardinal points of the dominical days where he fixes them; that is, Kan at the east; Muluc at the north; Ix at the west, and Cauac at the south.
There is therefore no real disagreement between the authorities on this point.
If we turn now to Plate VI of the Manuscript Troano we find these four characters in the spaces of the upper and middle divisions. No. 3
is in the upper left-hand corner; No. 2 in the lower left-hand corner; No. 1 in the lower right-hand corner, and No. 4 in the upper right-hand corner. We find the same characters placed in the same order in the upper and middle divisions of Plate VII and the upper division of Plate VII*. They are also found in the corners of the spaces of Plates XVIII*, XXVI, XXIX*, XXX*, XXXI*, and XXXII*, but not always in the same order.
- ↑ Brasseur makes a mistake in his translation, giving east instead of west.
