406 
f 
of the god Ollin Tonatiuh present twice the 
number five ; but this explanation appears to 
me as doubtful, as that which has been at- 
tempted to be given of the forty compartments 
surrounding the zodiac, and of the numbers 6, 
10, and 18, which are repeated toward the edge 
of the stone. We shall not examine whether 
the holes made in this enormous stone were 
made, as Mr. Gama thought, to place wires to 
serve as gnomons. What is more certain, and 
highly important to Mexican chronology, is, 
that this monument proves, in opposition to the 
opinion of Gemelli and Boturini, that the first 
day, whatever be the sign of the year, is con- 
stantly presided by cipactli^ a sign which corres- 
ponds to the capricorn of the Greek sphere. 
We may suppose, that near this stone another 
was placed, which contained the fasti from the 
•autumnal equinox to that of the spring. 
We have now collected under the same point 
of view all that is hitherto known of the division 
of time among the Mexican nations, carefully 
distinguishing what is certain from what is 
merely probable. We see from what has been 
explained respecting the form of the year, how 
imaginary are those hypotheses, by which some- 
times the lunar years, sometimes years of two 
hundred and eighty-six days divided into twenty- 
two months, have been attributed to the Tol- 
