150 
with the finger. The thirteenth page is very 
remark able. Divided by three horizontal lines^ 
it evidently indicates, that the Mexicans read 
from right to left, and from the bottom to the 
top, (iovcT^oCpvihv, Though the number of the 
pages is equal to the number of years contained 
in a Mexican cycle, I have not been able to dis- 
cern any thing relative to the return of the four 
hieroglyphics, which distinguish the years, Al- * ' 
most on every leaf we see, independent of the 
solstitial and equinoctial signs, rabbit, cane, flint, 
and house, the asterisms of the Jaguar, Ocelotl ; 
of the Ape Ozomatli ; and of the Eagle with rich 
feathers, CozcaquauhtU. These signs preside 
over the days, and not over the year. On exa- 
mining the series of pages from thirteen to thir- 
teen, we see nothing periodical; and, what is 
above all very striking, the dates, of which I 
have reckoned 373 in the first twenty-two pages 
of the manuscript, are arranged in such a man- 
ner as to have no relation to the order in which 
thev follow each other in the Mexican calendar. 
«/ 
We find ome ehecatl (1, wind) immediately be- 
fore calli (10, house), and ce miquiztli 
(1, death’s head) coupled with chicome miquiztli 
(7, death’s head), though the days governed by 
these signs are very distant from each other. If 
this manuscript treat of astrological matters, as 
is very possible, we shall have reason to be asto- 
nished, that whole pages, for instance the first 
/ 
