The Books of Chilan Balam, the Prophetic and Historic Records of the Mayas of Yucatan

[Illustration: SIGNS OF THE MONTHS, AS GIVEN BY BISHOP LANDA.]

The hieroglyphs of the days taken from the "Codex Troano," an ancient Maya book written before the Conquest, probably about 1400, are also added to illustrate the variations which occurred in the hands of different scribes. Those from the "Books of Chilan Balam" are copied from a manuscript known to Maya scholars as the "Codice Perez," of undoubted authenticity and antiquity.[14-*]

The result of the comparison I thus institute is a triumphant refutation of the doubts and slurs which have been cast on Bishop Landa's work and vindicate for it a very high degree of accuracy.

The hieroglyphics for the months are quite complicated, and in the "Books of Chilan Balam" are rudely drawn; but, for all that, two or three of them are evidently identical with those in the calendar preserved by Landa. Some years ago, Professor de Ros