MEXICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



81 



cathedral. A cast of a cylinder known as " The Mexican Cycle " is 

 very interesting. Among the Aztecs every fifth day was a day of 

 rest, called Tianquiztli, and five of these periods constituted a montli 

 of twenty days, eighteen of which made up a year of three hundred 

 and sixty days, to which were added five more to make up the proper 

 length of the year. The cycle or century was composed of fifty-two 



Sacrificial Stone, or Cuatthxicalli ov Tizoc. 



years. This cylinder is composed of a bundle of reeds tied with cords, 

 representing a cycle, or xuihmolpilli in the Mexican idiom, the signifi- 

 cation of the word being a " union of years." The Aztecs believed 

 that at the close of the cycle the world would come to an end, and the 

 last night of the cycle was a time of great anxiety for them. They 

 destroyed their goods, threw away their valuables, and offered human 

 sacrifices. As soon as the moment of suspense was passed, and it was 

 seen that the world had not been destroyed, but would last another 



VOL. XXXI. 6 



