unfolding of astrondmy prevent us from deciding, 
whether the hieroglyphics of the days and the 
years of the Tolteck and Aztech calendar, like the 
Chinese tse and tchi^ belong only to an imagi- 
nary or fictitious zodiac, or whether they denote 
zodiacal constellations. We have already ob- 
served, that the great wheels, which represent 
the cycle of fifty-two years, were encircled by a ' 
serpent biting his tail, and with four folds to 
mark the four indictions. The hieroglyphics 
being arranged in periodical series of four terms, 
and the intervals that separate one fold from 
another containing twelve years, each knot of 
the serpent corresponded to another sign. I think 
these four knots, denoted by the asterisms rdbhit^ 
cane^ silex, and house^ alluded to the points of 
the solstices and the equinoxes, or the intersec- 
tion of the colures wi^h the ecliptic. The rnosl: 
ancient division of the zodiac, says Albategni 
is that into four parts. In fact, in the first year 
of the great cycle of the days matlactli iochtli 
( 10 rabbit) chicuel acatl, (8 cane), cMcome calU 
(7 house), and matlactli tecpatl^ (11 flint), an- 
swered to the 22d of December, the 22d of 
March, the 20th of June, and the 23d of Sep- 
tember. These days are but little distant from 
the equinoxes and solstices ; and as the Mexican 
* De Scientia Stellarum, cap. 2, (etl, Bonon., 1645, 
page 3),. 
