﻿The Aztec Calendar Stone. 



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tained that by its means they regulated the festivals of the moon, and by 

 its means they determined the days of " Tonalamatl,"* and arranged the 

 days of their " Second Calendar " (the moon calendar) in sets of thirteen, 

 corresponding to its phases, by night and day, under the title of sleeping 

 and waking of the moon ; which intervals they designated by the word 

 " Metztli," a name appropriated to the moon ; and to the period of the 

 260 days, the name of " Metztla, pohualiztli," or reckoning of the moon. 



By the means of the gnomons and shadows of the threads, they made 

 observations in regard to the rising, setting, and culminations of the moon ; 

 thus they obtained minute knowledge of the movements of the moon, to 

 which they offered the same veneration and worship as to the sun, and to 

 which they had dedicated a beautiful temple named " Tecuiccizcalco." It 

 was built of shells. 



The magnitude of this stone, and the art necessary to transport it from 

 the locality or the quarry to the place where it was put into position have 

 filled many persons with astonishment, and there has been much discus- 

 sion in regard to its weight. In Lord Kingsborough's works the weight 

 is stated at fifty tons. In moving it they supplied the want of cars and 

 other wheeled vehicles by loose cylinders of wood, by the means of which 

 they moved and actually did transport for considerable distances bodies 

 of great weight and volume, simply by changing the position of the cylin- 

 ders or rollers. 



It may appear astonishing, nay, almost incredible to some persons, that 

 what we call semi-civilized nations, such as the Egyptians, Peruvians, 

 Hindoos and Mexicans, should possess such a marvelous amount of astro- 

 nomical knowledge, and of such minute exactitude, in regard to the move- 

 ments of the sun, the moon, and the stars, together with the inclination of 

 the earth's axis and the construction of dials ; truly, it seems most mar- 

 velous that all this should be attained without the aid of such refined 

 astronomical instruments as we now possess. But the great point of distinc- 

 tion to be noted is the freedom from the necessity of this kind of 

 knowledge among nomadic people, and the absolute necessity of possess- 

 ing it amoDg all those who build permanent towns, who erect solid struc- 

 tures, which give a fixed and permanent basis from which to begin 

 observations. The foundations for observations once laid, the first steps 

 are taken which serve to traverse the gulf between ignorance and knowl- 

 edge, and the progressive improvement is made — surely it may be, cer- 

 tainly it must be. 



*Tonalamatl means the table of the Commandments of God or of the sun. 



