“Finally the fourth initial character, which is the reed, which is the proper meaning of the word Acatl, is the hieroglyphic of the element water.”[27]
At page 48: “It is to be noted that most of the old calendars—those of the cycles as well as those of years and months, which they used to form in circles and squares, ran from the right to the left, in the way the orientals write and not as we are accustomed to form such figures.
* * * But they did not maintain this order in the figures that they painted and used as hieroglyphics in them, but placed them some looking to one side and some to the other.”
Gemelli Carreri[28] writes as follows in regard to the Mexican calendar system:
“A snake turned itself round into a circle and in the body of the serpent there were four divisions. The first denoted the south, in that language call’d Uutzlampa, whose hieroglyphick was a rabbit in a blew field, which they called Tochtli. Lower was the part that signify’d the east, called Tlacopa or Tlahuilcopa, denoted by a cane in a red field, call’d Acatl. The hieroglyphick of the north, or Micolampa, was a sword pointed with flint, call’d Tecpatl, in a yellow field. That of the west or Sihuatlampa, was a house in a green field, and called Cagli. * * *
“These four divisions were the beginning of the four terms that made up the age. Between every two on the inside of the snake were twelve small divisions, among which the four first names or figures were successively distributed, giving every one its number to thirteen, which was the number of years that composed an indication; the like was done in the second indication with the same names from one to thirteen, and so in the third and fourth, till they finished the circle of fifty-two years. * * * From what has been said above, there arise several doubts; the first is, why they begin to reckon-their years from the south; the second, why they made use of the four figures, of a rabbit, a cane, a flint, and a house.”
He then goes on to state that the Mexicans believed the sun or light first appeared in the south, and that hell or inferno was in the north; then adds the following:
“Having found this analogy between the age and the year, they would carry the similitude or proportions on further, and, as in the year there are four seasons, so they would adapt the like to the age, and accordingly they appointed Tochtli for its beginning in the south, as it were, the spring and youth of the sun’s age; Acatl for the summer, Tecpatl for the autumn, and Cagli for his old age or winter.
“These figures so disposed were also the hieroglyphicks of the elements, which is the second doubt; for Tochtli was dedicated to Tevacayohua, god of earth; Acatl to Tlalocatetuhtli, god of water; Tecpatl to Chetzahcoatl, god of air; and Cagli to Xiuhtecuhil, god of fire. * * *
“The days Cipactli, Michitzli, Ozomatli, and Cozcaquauhtli are companions to—that is, in all respects follow—the order of the four figures that denote the years of an age, viz, Tochtli, Acatl, Tecpatl, and Cagli, to signify that every year whose symbol is Tochtli will have Cipactli for the first day of the month; that whose symbol or distinctive mark is Acatl will have Michitzli for the first of the month; Tecpatl will have Ozomatli, and Cagli will have Cozcaquauhtli.”