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of the cycle^ the first day of the year was the 
8th, the 7th, and the 6th of January ; in every 
year of the sign tochtU the Mexicans lost a day ; 
and by the effect of this retrogradation, the year 
calli of the fourth indiction began the 27th of De- 
cember, and finished at the winter solstice, the 
21st of December, not reckoning the five useless 
or complementary days. Hence it results, that 
the last of the nemontemi, called cohuatl, and 
considered as the most unlucky day, because it 
belonged to no period of thirteen days, fell, at the 
end of the cycle, on the 26th of December ; and 
the thirteen intercalary days brought back the 
beginning of the year to the 9th of January. In 
order to render what we have just explained more 
clear, we shall here add the table of the last 
twenty-five days of the first year of the cycle. 
