312 



month tititl has the sign calU, the sixth of all 

 the following months will be tochtli, the eleventh 

 neat I, and the sixteenth tecpatl : each month will 

 begin as it were by a Sunday, and these Sundays 

 will fall during the whole year on the same days 

 of the months. The Mexicans paid particular 

 regard to the events, that happened on one of 

 the four days which had the hieroglyphics of the 

 cycle of the years. We find traces of this su- 

 perstition among the Persians ; who, in order to 

 give a sign (karlmnan ) to each day of the month, 

 added to the twelve celestial spirits, who pre- 

 sided over the months, eighteen ministers of an 

 inferior order. The Mexicans considered those 

 days as lucky, w T hich bore the sign of the year. 

 The Persians * distinguished the days governed 

 by the same angel, that presided over the whole 

 month. 



As most of the hieroglyphic paintings re- 

 presented in the plates accompanying this 

 work relate to the sacrifices, which were to be 

 made in each period of thirteen days, we find 

 the figures of the twenty signs of the days 

 several times repeated. I shall here mention 

 only the plates 13, 23, and 27. The following 

 are the names of these signs : 



* Langles, sur le Calendrier Tt'xlti; dans Chardin, Voy- 

 age a Ispahan, to]. 2, p. 265. 



