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Show A p p E N D I X. .rains c;arne in .Oetob~r: but it agrees with the fields of Sennaar, and the northt;rn climes of America, from whence their anceilors came ; '.and from th;lt the origin of this name appears evidently to be very an- ' cient. Tp'e fecond. name, that is,. Q.uahuitlthua, or budding of the :trees, agrees much with the w,ord Kimath, ufed by Job to ' lignify the .P~eiades (f), which, in his time announced the i})ring, when the trees begin to move. The fymbol of the fecond Mexican month w:1s a pavilion, which indicated the g!·eat heat prevalent in Mexico in April, .before the ra:ns of May come on. The fymbol of'the third month was a bird which appeared at that time. The twdfth and thirteenth month had for their fymbol the plant paCI/i, which fprings up and ma_ tures in thefe months. The fymbol of the fourteenth month was e"'-pre. lfed ,by a cord, and a hand which pulled it, expreffive of the binding power of the cold in that month, which is January; and Jt.o thi _fame circumfiance the _name Tititl, which _they gave it alludes. · The conftellation 1 rji!, of which Job fpeaks to figni.fy winter, lignifies in the Arabic root (which is Ktjctl) to be cold and qfleep, and in the text of Job it ~s read, " Couldfl: thou break the cords or ties of Kefil ?" ~eaving a-part the evident conformity which the fymbols and exprc. ffions of fpring and winter have. with thofe of, Job ~ who, in my opinion, flouria1ed a a1ort time after the Deluge (as I f1y in my eleventll volume), it ought to be noted, that thefe fymbols, which are .excellent for preferving the year invariable, demonitrate the ufe of the intercalary days of the Mexicans; otherwife it would happen ~hat in two centuries, the fymbol of the month of cold woulp fall in the month of heat. Thus it is found, from the Mexican paint~ngs, that in them the conquefl: of Mexico was marked in the ninth month called Cf'laxochima-co; from thence it ought to be concluded, that th~ intercalary days were in ufe. The fame deduction might be rmide from feeing that the Mexicans, at the entry of the Spaniards, prGferved that order of ~1onths, which, according to the fignification qf their names, agreed wlth the fe:.1fons _of the year, and the produCtions . ~f the c;,trth. rarth~r, to afcer~ain how the Mexicans _regulated their leap years, ·apd 1f their year was JUfi, an exact examination and comparifon ought to {f) Job, chap. ix. v. 9• and chap. .X XHiii. \', 3 1, ' . be A p p E N D I X. be made of fome event known to us, which has been marked by them . You have; · for example, fixed the death of Montezuma on the 29th of June, 1520 : if i.n the Mexican paintings this is fo:md in t.he feventh day, Cuetz.palzn, of the fcventh month, we muft mfer the1r year to be juft, and tha.t the leap years were interpoied every four years;. if it correfponds to the fourth day Ct'paCI!i, it would be a fign that the~r year was juft. and that the leap years were adde~ after .the century; 1£ it {hould correfpond with the feventh, Oz omat!t, then 1t muil: be concluded that their leap years were put after the century, and. their year was as eroneous as ours was at that time. The propofed example is. grounded upon the· Calendar, at the end. of your fecond volume.; th~s · 1 did for the fake of perfpicuity : but to make an exaCt cakulatwn, 1t' would be nece1fary to fee that your Calendar. corr.efponds with the firfr· ye~r of the Mexican century, and that the year 1 520, was the four- teenth year of the century; whence the name of days would have· taken a very different order from that which is. propofed for more clearnefs. Laftly, the fymbol which you have put f~r the Me~ican century,. convinces me, that it is the fame which the anc1ent E gyp~1ans and ~haldeans had. ·In the Mexican fymbol, we fee the fun as 1t were ecbJ~fed: by the moon, and furrounded with a ferpent, which ~akes ~our tw1fis,. and embraces the four periods. of thirteen years. 1'h1s very 1dea of tl:e fe~pcnt with the fun has, :from time immemorial in the w:orld, fign~-· tied the periodiaal- or.· annual courfe of the fun. We kn~w t.hat In . aftronomy, the points where eclipfes happen have; from tune Imme-morial been called,. (asP. Briga (g) ·Romagnoli has noted),. the head· and tail of a - dragcn~ The Chinefe, from.f.1lfe ideas, ~ou~h . conforn:~· able· to this immemc:>riul a1lufion, believe that at echpfes a dr~gon I S! 1·n the aB: o f devoun·n g t 11 e 1r UJh Tl1 e . Egyptians more pal'tlcularly agree with the Mexicans ; for· to fymbolize the fun the~ cmploy:d a. ci. rcle,. w1. th one or two i.e rpen ts ; b u t ft1'l l more the ancient· Perhans, . among whom their Jvlitras (which was certainly the fun), w~s fymbo ~. lized by a fun (h) and a fer pent; . an d fir.o m fl ·· Montfaucon ( t) •· we arc. (g) Vol. c.itcd, p. 4• Inv. iii. c. 2 . • • . I · .•• b'• k vii. c. xii: Ptuehe, . ( b') Sec l3 anicr !Vlythylogic, Vt1!. ii. book tv. cap. ~v: v~ S1 ~ 1 • . o &c vol i Dillen. z•. Hil\l}ry of. the Heaven•, vol. i. c. ii. feel. 1. Uoguet, Ong1n ot ctcnces, ' • ' ({) Tom, i. P.· 37\:' .. .. given- |