370 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



All the figures of the four rows are accompanied by day signs, four 

 Avitli each figure, placed in the order in which they follow each other, 

 so that eight}^ day signs in all, or the twenty day signs repeated four 

 times, are set dow n on these pages. p]ighty days have no distinguish- 

 able direct significance as a division of time.' They denote a definite 

 division neither of the tonalamatl, nor of the year, nor of any other of 

 the usual periods of time. For 80 days before the principal feast the 

 jjriests fasted and scourged themselves. To fast 4 days was the com- 

 mon practice, and it was the custom to fast full 20 days on especially 

 solemn occasions or for especially urgent reasons; but the priests, 

 whose calling obliged them to perform more than was required of 

 ordinary mortals, fasted 4X^0 days. I do not believe, however, that 

 such questions have an^^ connection whatever with these pages. On 

 the other hand, it is significant that the rows are ahvays composed of 

 five figures. So are the first signs which accompany the figures, 

 which are always the following five: Cipactli, "alligator*"; Coatl, 

 '' serpent "; Atl, " water "; Acatl, '• reed "; Ollin, ■" movement ''. 



These are j^recisely the signs which fall on the initial days of the 

 Venus periods when the first period begins with the initial sign of 

 the tonalamatl, Cipactli. I believe it is intended here to desig- 

 nate the initial, days of the Venus periods, and that the three other 

 signs Avhich, in addition to these initial signs, are placed beside the 

 figures serve merely to connect one initial sign with the other, pre- 

 cisely as in the representation of the Venus periods immediately to 

 be discussed ; but as regards the ceremonies Avhich are represented on 

 these pages, and which J have explained more fully above, I believe 

 that they all refer to the initial day of the Venus period. 



We have seen that the first appearance of the planet Venus in 

 the (eastern) sky was celebrated with solemn human sacrifices in 

 Mexico and especially among the tribes on the borders of another 

 linguistic territor}^, the people of Tehuacan, Coscatlan, and Teotit- 

 lan del camino, among whom this star was held in special veneration. 

 AVliat I see represented on these pages is the regents of twenty Venus 

 periods, or, perhaps, more correctly, four regents for each of five 

 successive Venus periods, and the religious ceremonies which were 

 devoted to them at the beginning of the period. 



Within each of the four rows of regents we must, I think, assume 

 an arrangement coinciding with the five cardinal points. In the mid- 

 dle of the rows, in the third place, stands always either the death god 

 or (in the third row) Tezcatlipoca, wdth bandaged eyes, who is to be 

 regarded as the god of the earth or of the interior of the earth. These 

 figures, I think, should be regarded as coinciding with the fifth cardi- 

 nal point, the region of the middle, or the downward direction. In 

 what way the other figures are assigned to the cardinal points I will 

 not venture to assert, because, according to the subject with which 



