APPENDIX. 373 



fignify the fun, with which it has no phyfical relation ; 

 wherefore then I afk, have fo many nations difperfed over 

 the globe, and of which fome have had no reciprocal in- 

 tercourfe, unlefs in the firft ages after the deluge, agreed 

 in ufing one fame fymbol fo arbitrary, and chofe to ex- 

 prefs by it the fame objeft ? When we find the word 

 facco in the Hebrew, Greek, Teutonic, Latin langua- 

 ges, &c. it obliges us to believe that it belongs to the 

 primitive language of men after the deluge, and when 

 we fee one fame arbitrary fymbol, fignifying the fun and 

 his courfe, ufed by the Mexicans, the Chinefe, the an- 

 cient Egyptians, and Perfians, does it not prompt us to 

 believe the real origin of it was in the time of Noah, or 

 the firft men after the deluge ? This fair conclufion is 

 ftrongly confirmed by the Chiapanefe Calendar (which 

 is totally Mexican), in which the Chiapanefe, accord- 

 ing to Monfig. Nugnez de la Vega, biftiop of Chiapa, 

 in his Preface to his Synodal Conftitutions, put for the 

 firft fymbol or name of the firft year of the century a Vo- 

 tan, nephew of him who built a wall up to heaven, and 

 gave to men the languages which they now fpeak. Here 

 is a fa£i: conne^led with the Mexican Calendar, relative 

 to the building of the tower of Babel and the confufion 

 of tongues. Many fimilar reflections are fuggefted by 

 the obfervations and remarks which occur in your hifto- 

 ry, &c. Cefena, July 31, 1780. So far the letter of 

 Sig. Ab. Hervas. Whatever may have been the truth 

 refpe6ting the ufe of the folar year among thefe firft men, 

 in which difpute I do not mean to engage, I cannot be 

 perfuaded that the Mexicans, or the Toltecas have been 

 indebted to any nation of the old continent for their Ca- 

 lendar, and their method of computing time. From 

 whom did the Toltecas learn their age of one hundred 



and 



