18 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



though doubtless incorrectly, that :ill years l)egan with the same num- 

 eral and the same sign. 



It seems, on the contrary, to be correct, as Gama (Dos Piedras, page 

 75) states, tliat the five days nemontemi were destitute of acom- 

 panados, that is, that the constantly repeated series of the nine 

 so-called seiiores de la noche ("lords of the night"), which were 

 continuousl}' counted along with the signs for the days, were only 

 extended to the three hundred and sixtieth day of the 3'ear. Gama's 

 chief sources for his assertions in regard to the old chronology are the 

 notes written in the Mexican language by Don Cristobal del Castillo, 

 an Indian of the aristocratic Tetzcocan race, who died in 1606 at the age 

 of 80. His notes are also undoubtedly the source from which Gama took 

 the calendar which he prints on pages 62 to 75 of his book, and this 

 therefore has the authority of unbroken tradition in its favor. This 

 calendar begins the 3^ear with ce Cipactli, that is, II, and further 

 counts the nemontemi with numerals and signs (10 1, 11 II, 12 III, 18 IV, 

 1 V). But the series of nine senores de la noche breaks off with the 

 three hundred and sixtieth day of the year. Orozco y Berra makes 

 the interesting suggestion that the object of this double computation 

 was to distinguish the days of the 3'ear which, ))y the tonalamatl reckon- 

 ing, would take the same numeral and sign, by omitting the "acom- 

 paiiado". In fact, if the first day of the year, which Gama places on 

 the 9th of Januar}', were distinguished by II, then the two hundred 

 and sixty-lirst day of the year, that is, September 26, would receive 

 the same name. But if the tirst day (II, or January 9) were accom- 

 panied by the first of the "acompaiiados'' (Xiuhtecutli Tletl), the last 

 day (II, or September 26) would take the ninth (Quiauitl-Tlaloc), for 

 260-^9 = 28 and 8 over. If Gama's statement that the nemontemi are 

 destitute of acompanados be correct, then the successive years would 

 alwa3^s begin with the same acompanado. And if we take the first 

 of them, the fire god, as that of the initial day, we may perhaps 

 have in this circumstance the simple explanation of the most com- 

 mon of the various names of the fire god, that is, Xiuhtecutli ("Lord 

 of the year"). 



With the nemontemi are connected the oldest statements in regard 

 to interpolations, which are said to have been made at stated periods 

 by the Mexicans, in order to bring their year of 365 days into har- 

 mony with the actual length of the solar year. Father Sahagun says 

 in the heading to the nineteenth chapter of his second book: Ha3" 

 conjetura que cuando ahujeraban las orejas a los niiios y ninas, que era 

 de cuatro en cuatro anos, echal)an seis dias de nemontemi, 3^ es lo 

 mismo del bisiesto, que nosotros hacemos de cuatro en cuatro anos 

 (" There is a conjecture that when thej" pierced the ears of the boys and 

 girls, which was every four years, thev rejected six days as nemontemi, 

 and it is the same as the leap year which we make ever3^ four years"). 



