400 



the year by the four movements of the solstices 

 and the equinoxes, is in fact the real symbol of 

 time ; it is Krishna assuming the form of Kala, 

 it is Chronos devouring his children, whom we 

 imagine we find under the name of Moloch 

 among the Phoenicians. 



The inner circle contains the twenty signs of 

 the days ; recollecting that cipactli is the first, 

 and xochitl the last of these asterisms, we here, 

 as elsewhere, perceive, that the Mexicans ar- 

 ranged the hieroglyphics from right to left. The 

 heads of the animals are placed in an opposite 

 direction, no doubt because the animal, which 

 turns his back to another, is supposed to pre- 

 cede it. Mr. Zoega observed this peculiarity 

 among the Egyptians*. The death's head, mi- 

 quiztli, placed near the serpent, and accompany- 

 ing it as a sign of the night in the third periodi- 

 cal series, is an exception to the general rule ; 

 this alone is directed toward the last sign, while 

 the animals have their faces turned toward the 

 first. This arrangement is not the same in the 

 manuscripts at Veletri,, Rome, and Vienna. 



It is probable, that the sculptured stone, 

 which Mr. Gama has endeavoured to explain, 

 was anciently placed in the enclosure of the teo- 

 calli, in a sacellum dedicated to the sign ollin 



* Zoega, de Obel., p. 464 j where, by an error of the press, 

 the words dextrorsum and sinistrorsum are confounded with 

 each other. 



