ilO 
end of the small cycles, on account of the fifth 
lunar intercalation. In the empire of the zaque, 
the day (sua) and the nig'ht (%a) were divided 
into four parts ; namely, sua-mena, from sunris- 
ing till noon ; sua-meca^ from noon till sunset ; 
zasca, from sunset till midnight ; and cagui^ from 
midnight till sunrise. The word sua^ or zuha, 
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 Turmequ6. 
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 Mosca, por el Padre Fray Bernardo de Lugo (professor 
of the Chibcha language at Santa-Fc de Bogota), Madrid, 
1619, p. 7. . 
