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days are suppressed, those of imter\ the dog^ the 
u'pe^ grass (malinalli) ^ the cane^ the tiger, and the 
eagle, P. Fabrega supposes, in his manuscript 
commentary, that this omission refers to a pe- 
riodical reform of the Julian intercalation, be- 
cause a subtraction of seven days, at the end of 
a cycle of one thousand and forty years, reduces, 
by an ingenious method, a year of 365*25 days 
to a year of 365*243 days, which is only 1' 26'', 
or 0*001 of a day, greater than the real mean 
year, as it is laid down in the tables of Mr. 
Delambre. After the examination of a great 
number of hieroglyphic paintings of the Mexi- 
cans, and having seen the extreme care with 
which they are executed in the minutest details, 
we cannot admit, that the omission of seven 
terms in a periodical series is owing to mere 
chance. Fabrega’s observation without doubt 
deserves notice here; not that it is probable, 
that a nation should in reality employ a reform 
of the calendar only after long periods of a thou- 
sand and forty years ; but because the manu- 
script of Veletri seems to prove, that its author 
was acquainted with the real duration of the 
years. If at Mexico, on the arrival of the 
Spaniards, an intercalation of twenty-five days 
in one hundred and four years existed, it is to be 
supposed, that this more perfect intercalation 
was preceded by an intercalation of thirteen days 
in fifty-two years. Now the remembrance of 
