110 



end of the small cycles, on account of the fifth 

 lunar intercalation. In the empire of the zaque, 

 the day (sua) and the night (za) were divided 

 into four parts ; namely, sua-mena, from sunris- 

 ing till noon ; sua-meca, from noon till sunset ; 

 msca, from sunset till midnight ; and cagui, from 

 midnight till sunrise. The word sua, or zuJia, 

 denotes, in the Muysca language, both the day 

 and the Sun. From Sua, which is one of the 

 surnames of Bochica, is derived sue, a European, 

 or white man*; a singular denomination, which 

 takes its origin from the circumstance, that the 

 people, on the arrival of Quesada, considered the 

 Spaniards as children of the Sun, Sua. 



The least division of time among the Muyscas 

 was a period of three days. The week of seven 

 days was unknown in America, as well as in part 

 of eastern Asia. On the first day of this small 

 period a great market was held at Turmeque\ 



The year (zocam) was divided into moons. 

 Twenty moons composed the civil year, such as 

 was commonly observed in ordinary concerns. 

 The year of the priests contained thirty-seven 

 moons, and twenty of these great years formed a 

 Muysca cycle. In order to distinguish the lunar 

 days, the moons, and the years, periodical series 



* Gramatica de la Lingua general del nuevo Reyno ela- 

 mada Jfjoaca, por el Padre Fray Bernardo de Lugo (professor 

 of the Chibcha language at Santa-Fe de Bogota), Madrid, 

 1619, p. 7. 



