MEXICO. 131 



such times. The twenty days were also named, and 

 like the months, had their hieroglyphic sign. Every 

 fifth day throughout the month was a market day. In 

 recording the events of their history, the precise cycle 

 of fifty-two years in which a given circumstance oc- 

 curred, was first indicated, and not the century, as with 

 us, and consequently the cycles were numbered from a 

 certain epoch. 



The year of the cycle in which an event happened 

 was not indicated by its number, but by a more complex 

 mode, which I will briefly explain. The cycle of fifty- 

 two years was subdivided into four equal parts of thir- 

 teen years each, called tlalpilli ; one of four hieroglyphic 

 signs — Tochli, a rabbit—- -Acatl, a reed — Tecpatl, a flint 

 — and CaHi, a house, were applied to each year in suc- 

 cession, throughout the fifty-two ; and thus in every 

 cycle there would be thirteen years designated by each 

 sign. The number of each of the thirteen years com- 

 posing each of the four tlalpilli was designated by dots ; 

 and the Mexican in pointing out the year of any event, 

 would first name the number of the cycle, say two — 

 then the number of the tlalpilli in such a cycle, say four 

 — then the number of the year in such a tlalpilli, say 

 three, and then the hieroglyphic sign of the year. So 

 cycle . . , — tlalpilli .... , — year . . . , — 

 and the sign Acatl, will indicate the forty- second year, 

 in the second cycle of their history. Each succeeding 

 fourth year, coming under the sign of the rabbit, was 

 called a " divine year ;" and, at the termination of the 

 cycle of fifty-two years, a solemn astronomical festival 

 was held. 



The Reckoning of the Moon was yet more complex, 

 and I will only allude to its main features. Their u reli- 

 gious year" was composed of a series of periods of thir- 

 teen days, alternating with the hieroglyphics of the twenty 

 days of the month in the civil year, by which a cycle of 

 two hundred and sixty days is formed. 



Seventy-three cycles of two hundred and sixty days 

 amounted exactly to fifty-two years, so that their great 



