120 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



thorities, but, in Don Pio's opinion, of twenty-four 

 years. 



The fact that though the inhabitants of Yucatan 

 and Mexico speak different languages, their calen- 

 dar is substantially the same, I regard as extremely 

 interesting and important, for this is not like a simi- 

 larity of habits, which may grow out of natural in- 

 stincts or identity of position. A calendar is a work 

 of science, founded upon calculations, arbitrary signs, 

 and symbols, and the similarity shows that both na- 

 tions acknowledged the same starting points, attached 

 the same meaning to the same phenomena and ob- 

 jects, which meaning was sometimes arbitrary, and 

 not such as would suggest itself to the untutored. It 

 shows common sources of knowledge and processes 

 of reasoning, similarity of worship and religious in- 

 stitutions, and, in short, it is a link in a chain of evi- 

 dence tending to show a common origin in the ab- 

 original inhabitants of Yucatan and Mexico. For 

 this discovery we are indebted to Don Pio Perez. 



