and fifty-two years^ Let a^h, c, ^ be the 
signs of the zodiac; /3, 7, . . the neutral ele- 
ments ; ol', y\ . . the male elements ; and 
. . . . the female elements ; we shall 
have^ Ist, for the first twelve years^ h, c, d, 
. . . . ; 2dly5 for the years 13—72^ ah, ac, . , , 
Ha, Hh, He, ya, yh, yc, ; Sdly, for 
the years 73 — 132, a a, ah, dc , . . . H'(^,H'h, h'c; 
4thly, for the years 133—192, d'a^ d'h, d'e, 
. . . H"a, H"h, H"c, . . . . ; 5thly, for the years 
193- 252, d<^'(h dd'c, ; dd'a, hY% 
The^ Tzihuchen, or public calculators of 
Lhassa*, allege in favour of the chronology of 
Thibet, that, as the years of the same name re- 
turn only every two centuries, the date of an his- 
torical event is fixed, even when the cycle is not 
indicated. The uncertainty is greater among the 
Japanese, and among the Mexicans, where the 
same names occur every sixty or fifty- two years. 
We may be surprised, that the Thibetans, who 
from the highest antiquity made use of the same 
ciphers and the same system of numeration as 
the Hindoos, have not abandoned the compli- 
cated method of periodical series. This method, 
which takes its origin from astrological reveries, 
ought to have been employed only by people, 
who, like the Aztecks and the Toltecks, found 
^ Georgi, Alph, Tibet, p, 516. 
