294 



mountainous country till the month of June and 

 July. If the priests had neglected the interca- 

 lation, the festivals in which the gods were in- 

 voked to grant a year abundant in rains would 

 have gradually approached the time of the har- 

 vest : the people would have perceived, that the 

 order of the sacrifices was inverted ; and not 

 having lunar months, they could not even, like 

 the gods of Aristophanes *, accuse the Moon of 

 throwing their calendar and religious worship 

 into confusion. As to the denominations and 

 hieroglyphics of the Mexican months, nothing- 

 indicates, that they have taken birth in a more 

 northerly climate. The word quahuitlehua, it is 

 true, calls to mind, that the trees are clothed 

 with young leaves toward the end of February ; 

 but this phenomenon, which is not observed in 

 the low regions of the torrid zone, is suitable to 

 the mountainous region, situate between the 19th 

 and 24th degrees of latitude, where the oaks, 

 without shedding entirely their old leaves, begin 

 to bud forth anew. 



We have hitherto spoken of the civil calendar 

 called the Surfs reckoning, Tonalpohualli ; we 

 shall now examine the ritual calendar, denoted 

 by the names of the reckoning of the Moon, 

 Mctzlopohuaili, and the reckoning of the festivals, 

 Cer.ulhultlapolniaUztli, from tlapohualiztli, reck- 



* Aristopb. Xubis, v. 615. 



