MEXICAN CALENDAR. 393 



beganne to growe greene, although they tooke three dayes LlB - TI - 

 of the moneth of February ; for the first day of their yeere 

 was, as it were, the sixe and twentio day of February, as 

 appeareth by their kalender, within the which ours is like 

 wise comprehended and contained with a very ingenious 

 Arte, which was made by the antient Indians that knew the 

 first Spaniardes. I have scene this Kaleuder, and have it 

 yet in my custody, which well deserveth the sight, to vnder- 

 stand the discourse and industry the Mexicaine Indians had. 

 Every one of these eighteene monethes had his proper name, 

 and his proper picture, the which was commonly taken of 

 the principall feast that was made in that moneth, or from 

 the diversitio of tymes, which the yeere caused in that 

 moneth. They had in this Kalender certaiuo dayes marked 

 and distinguished for their feasts. And they accompted 

 their weekes by thirteene dayes, marking the dayes with a 

 Zero or cipher, which they multiplied vnto thirteene, and 

 then beganne to count, one, two, etc. They did likewise 

 marko the y cares of these wheeles with foure signes or 

 figures, attributing to every yearo a peculiar signe, wherof 

 one was of a house, an other of a conny, the third of a reede, 

 and the fourth of a flint. They painted them in this sort, 

 noting by those figures the yeare that did runne, saying of 

 so many houses, of so many flints of such a wheele, hap 

 pened such a thing. For we must vuderstand that their 

 wheele, which was an age, contained foure weekes of yeares, 

 every weeko containing thirteene yeares, which in all made 

 fiftie twoo yeares. In the midst of this wheele they painted 

 a Sunne, from the which went foure beames or lines in 

 crosse to the circumference of the wheele ; and they made 

 their course, even as the circumference was divided into 

 foure equall partes, every one with his line, having a dis 

 tinct colour from the rest, and the foure colors were greene, 

 blew, red, and yellow : every portion of these foure had 

 thirteene separations which had all their signes or particular 



