Brinton.] ioU [Dec 2I, 



ten from left to riglit, and hence the year last recorded is at the 

 end of the line. 



Precisely similar series of circles occur on the Aztec and Maya 

 codices with the same signification. Moreover, the year-cycles 

 of both these nations were represented by a circle on the border 

 of which the years were inscribed. In Maya this was called uazla- 

 zon katun, the turning about again, or revolution of the katuns.* 



The Aztec figure of the j^^ear-cycle is so instructive that 1 give 

 a sketch of its principal elements (Fig. 21), as portrayed in the 

 atlas to Duran's History of Mexico. f 



In this remarkable figure we observe the development and 

 primary signification of those world-wide symbols, the square, 

 the cross, the wheel, the circle, and the svastika. X^^e last-men- 

 tioned is seen in the elements of the broken circle, which are : 



Fis. 22. 



which conventionalized into rectilinear figures, for scratching on 

 stone or wood, became: 



-r <i 



Fig. 23. 



In the Mexican time-wheel, the years are to be read from right 

 to left, as in the Dakota winter-counts ; each of the quarter cir- 

 cles represent thirteen years; and these, also, are to be read from 

 right to left, beginning with the top of the figure, which is the 

 East, and proceeding to the North, South and West, as indicated. 



The full analysis of this suggestive and nuthentlc astronomical 

 figure will reveal the secret of most of the rich symbolism and 

 mythology of the American nations. It is easy to see how from 

 it was derived the Nahuatl doctrine of the nahua ollin, or Four 



* This name is given in Landa, Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 313. 

 t HLtoria de la Nucva Espana, Trat. Ill, cap. i. 



