tangle of this same side, a face is believed to have been recognized similar to that of Tlaloc; and the last of the rectangles shows vaguely the outline of a female face, which might be that of the goddess “of the emerald skirt.” This coincidence is very curious. The same order of the ages is encountered in the document called “Anonimo de Gama” or “Chimalpopoca”; in accordance with the stone, Tlaltonatiuh is the first. The data of the Codex Fuenleal differ indeed from those of the relief as to the duration of the epochs: the document assigns to them respectively 676, 676, 364, and 312 years, or 2,028 in all; this agrees neither with the tetranary concept nor with the figures of Ixtlilxóchitl.
As to the figure of the naolin, the arc of a circle which it embraces represents very well the amplitude of the movement of the sun toward both sides of the line of the equinoxes; a savant so illustrious as Sir Norman Lockyer has declared that “the symbol figures correctly and appropriately the annual course of the sun” (citation or Mrs. Nuttall).
b) We have said how we interpret the four great numerals of the following zone, distinct in size and details from the fifth one placed below the naolin. They affect the central image, clearly expressing 4 huehuetiliztli or Indian centuries. There are those who see in them and the numeral below the five nemoteni, mistaken assumption which does not fit well with the etymological meaning (“superfluous, extra, useless days”). In fact, these are encountered, almost concealed, to the number of four, under the claws of the snakes, in accordance with the deprecative and superstitious idea which the Mexicans attributed to them.
d) Concerning the dates inscribed in this zone we have no contingent to bring. The thesis of Gama may be admitted with respect to those whose general interpretation of the monument, we may say in passing, is the only one among all those that have been offered that maintains a respectable footing. Our reading of the stone is not unreconcilable with the thesis that the relief might serve in the manner of a sundial, vertically placed, with the face toward the south, and that the shadows of some gnomons have indicated the hours of the day and the time of the spring equinox and the summer solstice. For the great archaeologist these two dates are the Ce quiáhuitl and Ome ozomatli, which are seen below the naolin (although in truth, we do not read Ome, two but Chicome, seven, ozomatli). The fact is easy to prove by calculation, or experimentally by constructing a model in plaster, arranging it in the form indicated by Gama and observing the shadows on the corresponding days March 21 and June 21). Chavero
51
