SELEK] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FF.AGMENT I 135 



The Mexicans reckoned ^M\^) days to rlie year, and I have already 

 stated that they divided the year into eighteen periods of 20 days 

 each and 5 superfiuous days, called nemontemi. These 5 superfluous 

 days were regarded as unlucky days, as useless, fit for no serious 

 business. Hence the ancient Mexicans said of them '' actim pouhqui ". 

 This undoubtedly means '' they were held in no esteem ", but accord- 

 ing to the original meaning of the Avords they may also signify '' they 

 were not counted '\ It has therefore been inferred that these 5 days 

 were left blank; that the continuous series of signs and numerals 

 was not applied to them. In an article which I presented to the 

 Anthropologic Society at Berlin in the year ISOl,** I pointed out that 

 the whole Mexican system of designating the year — namel3% that the 

 consecutive daj^s were designated by four signs, each two of which 

 were 4 days apart — and the Mexican periods of 52 years were intel- 

 ligible only if Ave assume that the 5 nemontemi. the superfluous days, 

 Avere named and numbered in the same Avay as the others. Our 

 manuscript, plate i of the present series, affords the best proof of 

 this theory. 



In column b the pictures follow in regular altermition, and ap- 

 proximately denote the beginning of every quarter of a year for a 

 consecutive series of years. Besides the first of these, the symbol of the 

 feast Etzalqualiztli, there are in column a numerals and signs Avhich, 

 taken together, denote each the date of a certain da}^ In the loAvest 

 of them, in square 1a (plate ii), the small circles, Avhich i-epresent the 

 numerals, are imperfectly preserved. But from Avhat remains, and 

 from the connection of the Avhole series, it may be inferred that the 

 numeral 12 should stand here. If Ave introduce this numeral Ave see 

 that in column a (side by side with the Etzalqualiztli of column b, 

 [)lates II to vi) the following dates of days are given : 



Here the numeral 14,* which does not really belong to the designa- 

 tion of the days, is invariably to be read as " 1 ' ', for only the numerals 

 1 to 13, as I have stated, are used in addition to the tAventy characters 

 to designate the consecutive days. 



" Zeitschrift fiir Ethnolcgie, v. 13, pp. 89-133. 



* The 14 in the manuscript is an error of the native artist. C. T. 



