192 



lections of original paintings existed in the Va- 

 tican. It would seem, that one of these collec- 

 tions is entirely lost, unless it is that which is 

 seen in the library of the Institute of Bologna ; 

 the other was found in 1785 by the Jesuit Fa- 

 brega, after fifteen years search. 



The Codex Vaticanus, No. 3776, of which 

 Acosta and Kircher have made mention*, is 

 7'87 m , or thirty-one palms and a half, long, and 

 01 9 ra , or seven inches, square : its forty-eight 

 foldings form ninety-six pages, or as many divi- 

 sions marked on both sides of several doe skins 

 glued together. Every page is subdivided into 

 two compartments ; but the whole manuscript 

 contains only 176 of these compartments, be- 

 cause the first eight pages consist of the simple 

 hieroglyphics of the days, arranged in parallel 

 rows close to each other. The thirteenth plate 

 of the Picturesque Atlas is an exact copy of one 

 of these folds, or a page of the Codex Vaticanus. 

 As all the pages are alike with respect to the 

 general arrangement, this copy is sufficient to 

 give an idea of the whole book. 



The border of each fold is divided into twen- 

 ty-six small compartments, which contain the 

 simple hieroglyphics of the days. These hiero- 

 glyphics are twenty in number, which form 

 periodical series. As the small cycles are of 



* Zoega, De Orig. Obeliscor. p. 531. 



