403 
placed near the hieroglyphics of the days are 
terms of the first of the three periodical series, 
of which we have already explained the use. 
Reckoning from right to left, and beginning at 
the right of the triangle resting on the forehead 
of the god, Ollin Tonatiuh, with the point to- 
ward cipactl% we find the eight following hiero- 
glyphics : 4 tiger ; 1 silejc ; fire, without - 
marking the number ; 4 wind ; 4 rain ; 4 ram ; 
2 ape ; and 4 water. We now come to the ex- 
planation of the Mexican festivals, according to 
the calendar of Mr, Gama, and the order of the 
festivals indicated in the works of the historians 
of the sixteenth century. 
In the year 13 acatl, which is the last year of 
the second indiction of the cycle, the beginning 
of the year retrograded six days and a half, be- 
cause the intercalation had not taken place for 
twenty-six years. The first day of the month 
titiily which bears the sign, 1 cipactli tletly conse- 
quently corresponds not to the 9th but the 3d of 
January ; and the sign, which presides over the 
seventh period of thirteen days, 1 quiahuitly or 
1 raiuy coincides with the 22 d of March, or 
with the vernal equinox. It is at this period, 
that the festivals of TlaloCy or the god of water, 
were celebrated ; which indeed had already be- 
gun ten days before the equinox, on the day 
4 atl, or 4 water ; without doubt, because on the 
12th of March, or the 3d of the month Tlacaxi- 
