HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



321 



Mexican ciclography, which was the work Gemelli 

 made ufe of, not becaufe he feared any cenfure from the 

 public, but becaufe of the exceffive expenfes of printing 

 in thofe countries ; which have alfo prevented the publi- 

 cation of many other excellent works, not only of Sigu- 

 enza, but other mod learned authors. To fay that the 

 relations and friends of Siguenza difluaded him from the 

 publication of that work becaufe they found many errors 

 in it, is not a mere miftake occafioned by inattention, but 

 appears a fiction devifed to abufe and miflead the public. 

 Who has communicated to M. de Paw fo ftrange an anec- 

 dote which is altogether unknown to New Spain, where 

 the memory and fame of that great man is fo celebrated, 

 and where the learned lament the lofs of that and many 

 other works of the fame author ? What could Siguenza 

 fear from the publication of the Mexican wheels, pub- 

 lifhed already by Valades in Italy a century before him, 

 and defcribed by Motolinia, Sahagun, Gomara, Acofta, 

 Herrera, Torquemada, and Martinez, all Europeans, 

 and by the Mexican, Acolhuan, and Tlafcalan, hiftorians, 

 Iztlilxochitl, Chimalpain, Tezozomoc, Niza, Ayala, and 

 others ? All thofe authors are agreed with Siguenza in 

 that which refpects the Mexican wheels of the century, 

 the year, the month, and only differ refpecting the begin- 

 ning of the year, and the name of fome months, for the 

 reafons which we have mentioned in the fixth book of this 

 hiftory. Befides, all authors who have written on this 

 fubject, both Spanifh and American, who are many in 

 number, agree in faying that the Mexicans and other na- 

 tions of thofe countries made ufe of fuch wheels to re- 

 prefent their century, their year, and their month ; that 

 their century confided of fifty-two years, their year of 

 three hundred and fixty-five days, divided into eighteen 

 Vol. III. T t months 



