400 
the year by the four movements of the solstices 
and the equinoxes, is in fact, the real symbol of 
time ; it is Krishna assuming the form of Kala, 
it is Chronos devouring his children, whom we 
imagine we find under the name of Moloch 
among the Phoenicians. 
The inner circle contains the twenty signs of 
the days ; recollecting that cipactli is the first, 
and xochitl the last of these asterisms, we here, 
as elsewhere, perceive, that the Mexicans ar- 
ranged the hieroglyphics from right to left. The 
heads of the animals are placed in an opposite 
direction, no doubt because the animal, which 
turns his back to another, is supposed to pre- 
cede it. Mr. Zoega observed this peculiarity 
among the Egyptians^. The death’s head, mf- 
quiztli, placed near the serpent, and accompany- 
ing it as a sign of the night in the third periodi- 
cal series, is an exception to the general rule ; 
this alone is directed toward the last sign, while 
the animals have their faces turned toward the 
first. This arrangement is not the same in the 
manuscripts at Veletri, Rome, and Vienna. 
It is probable, that the sculptured stone, 
which Mr. Gama has endeavoured to explain, 
was anciently placed in the enclosure of the teo- 
calli, in a sacellum dedicated to the sign ollin 
* Zoega, de Obel., p. 464 ) where, by an error of the press, 
the words dextrorsum and sinistrorsum are confounded with 
each other. 
