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Show • H r S T 0 R Y 0 F' M E X I C 0. with the fame number, a-s wi1l- appear from the -calendar which we fl1all give hereafter; On the firll: day of the fourteenth montl.t, anothe1· cycle commenced in the fame order. of the charaCters, and of the ~arne number of periods, as the fidl:. ~f th~ year had not, belides the eighteen months, had the five days called Nemontemi, or if the periods had not been continued itr thefe days, the firft day of the fccond year of the century woul i have been the fame with that of the preceding, r. CipaCtli; and in iike manner, the bft day of every year would always have been Xocbitl;. but as the perioc..l of thirteen days was continued through the d;1ys called N emot.l temi, on that account the i]gns or charaCters changed place, and the fign Miqut'ztli, which oc<:upied in alL the months of the firft year the iixth place,. occupies the firft in the iecond year; and on the other hand, the fign Ct'pafllz', which in the firft year had occupied the firft pbce, has the fixteenth in the fecond year. To know what ought to be the fign of the firft day of any year, there is the fqllowing general rule. Every year 7'ocht/i begins with Cipaclli~ every year Atatl with Miqueztli, every ·year Tecpatl with 0%omatlt", and evet)' year Calli with Cozcaquaubtli, adding always the nm1.•ber of the year to the fign of the day; as for example, the year 1. :focbtli has fot the firfl: day 1. Cipall!J'; fo the 2. Acatl has. 2. Miquiztlz'; The 3 'tepaffl has 3. Ozomatli, and 4· Call£ has 4-· Cozcaquauhtli, &c. (a). From what we have already faid it will appear, that the numberthirteen was held in high eil:imation by the Mexicans. The four p riods of which the centw·y confified,. were· each of ,thirteen years ; thirteen months formed their cycle of two hundred and fixty days; and thirteen days their fmaller p~riods,. which we have already mentioned. The origin of their efreem for this number was, according to what Siguenza has faid, that thirteen was the number of their greater gods .. The number four feems to have been no lefs ei.teemed amongfr them. As they reckoned four periods of thirteen years each to their century, they alfo reckoned thirteen periods, of four years each,. at the expiration of (a) Cav. Botll!'i1~i fnys, t·h:u the year of the Rabbet began uniformly with the day of the Rab'1et, the year ot the Cane with the day of the Cane, &c. and never with the days which we have mentiom:d; but we ought to give more faith to Sigt1em.a, who was certainly bc1ter informed in Mexican nntit}Uity, The fyllem of this gentlc111;u~ is fantafiical and full of con• ttaJictions. each. ' H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. each of which tl1ey made extraordinary feftivals. VIe have already mentioned both the faft of four months, and the Nappapohuallatolli, or general audience which was given every four months. In refpeCl: to civil government, they divided the month into four periods of five Jays, and on a certain fixed day of each. period their fair or great market was held;. but being governed even in political matters by principles of religion in ,the capi t<ll, this fair was kept on the days of the Rabbet, the Cane, the Flint, and the Houfe, which were their £wouri te figns. , The Mexican year confifl:ed of feventy-three periods of thirteen days~ and the century of feventy-three periods of thirteen months, or cycles. of two hundred and fixty days. It is certainly not to be doubted, that the Mexican, or Toltecan ~yfl:em of the difiribution of time was extremely well d.igefied, though at firfr view it appears rather intri ·ate and perplexed; hence we may infer with confidence, it was not the work of a mde or unpoliilied people. That however which is mo£1: furprifing in their n1ode of computing time, and which will certainly appear improbable to readers who are but little informed with refpcCt to Mexican nntiquiry, is, that having difcovered the exccfs of~ few hours in the fobr above the <:ivil. year, they made ufe of intercalary days to bring them to an equality,;. but with this difference in regard to the method eil:ablifhed by Julius Creli1r in the Roman calendar, that they did not i.nterpofe a day every four years, but thirtem days, (making ufL: here even of this favourite number·) every fifty-two years; which produces ' the fame regulation of time. At the expiration of the century they broke, as we ~1all mention hereafter, al1 their kitchen utenfils, fc1rjng that then alfo the fourth age, the fun ar.d all the world were to be ended, and the.1 Jafl:· night they performed the f1mous ceremony of the new fire. As .1foon as they were afii.trcd by the new fire, that a new century, according tO< their belief, was granted to them by the gods. they employed the thirteen following days, in fupplying their kitchen utenfils, in furni{hing new garments, in repairing their temples and houfcs, and in making. every preparation for the grand fell:ivuls of the new century. Thefe thirteen days were the intercalary days reprefe,nted· in their paintings by blue points ; thet were not .included in the century jufi exP.ired, nor ~; 1n1 . ' 293 .BOOK VI •. ~ SEC T• xxvr. I ntercalaty days. • |