173 



comets which appeared near the south pole, or 

 those which P. Pingre * indicates as having been 

 seen alike in Europe and China. It is remark- 

 able, that the hieroglyphic, which denotes an 

 eclipse of the Sun -j~, is composed of the disks of 

 the Moon and the Sun, one of which projects it- 

 self on the other. This symbol is a proof of the 

 exactitude of the notions respecting the causes 

 of eclipses ; it reminds us of the allegorical dance 

 of the Mexican priests, which represents the 

 Moon devouring the Sun. The eclipses of the 

 latter luminary, corresponding to the years Mat- 

 lactli Tecpatl, Nahui Tecpatl, and Ome Acatl, 

 are those of the 26th of February, 1476 ; the 

 8th of August, 1496 ; the 13th of January, 

 1507; and the 8th of May, 1510: which served 

 as so many fixed points for the Mexican chrono- 

 logy. The Art of verifying Dates makes no 

 mention of any eclipse of the Sun in the course 

 of 1531 ; while our annals indicate one for Mat- 

 laclli Ome Acatl, which corresponds to this year 

 of our era. The eclipse of 1476 enabled the 

 Mexican historians to fix the period of the vic- 

 tory, which the king Axajacatl gained over the 

 Matlatzincks ; and it is that, on which Mr. Gama 

 made so great a number of calculations %. 



* Cometographie, vol. 1, p. 478 and 486. 



f PI. 56, fig. 7. See vol. xiii, p. 401. 



% Gama, Description de los Piedras, p. 85—89 ; Torque- 

 mada, vol. 1, lib. ii, cap. 59 : Boturini, § 8, No. 13. 



