284 



ing and waning of the Moon ; they reckon the 

 weeks by the quarters, without having particular 

 names for the days of the week." But Acosta, 

 better informed than Garcilasso ; and who, to- 

 ward the end of the sixteenth century, com- 

 posed at Peru the first books of his Physical Geo- 

 graphy of the New Continent; says cleariy, that 

 neither the Mexicans, nor the Peruvians, were 

 acquainted with the small period of seven days ; 

 " for this period," adds he, " does not depend 

 more on the course of the Moon, than on that 

 of the Sun. It owes its origin to the number of 

 the planets*." 



If we reflect an instant on the system of the 

 Peruvian calendar, we shall be aware, that, 

 though the phases of the Moon change nearly 

 every seven days, this cycle of seven days does 

 not correspond with any accuracy to the phases 

 of the Moon in several consecutive lunar months. 

 The Peruvians, according to Polo, and all the 

 writers of those times, had years (huata) of 365 

 days, regulated, as we shall see farther on, by 

 solar observations made month after month at 

 the city of Cuzco. The Peruvian year was divid- 

 ed, as were almost all the years of the nations of 

 Eastern Asia, into twelve Moons, quilla, the syno- 

 dical revolutions of which finished in 354 days, 



* Acosta, Hisloria natural y moral de las Indias. Lib. 6, 

 C. 3, ed. of Barcelona, 1591, p. 260. 



