Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/346

332 adopted the solar year as a measure of time, made the month a civil period, quite independent of the moon and its, phases. Their solar year consisted of eighteen months of twenty days each, with five supplementary days; and they divided each month into four weeks of five days each, on the last of which was the public fair, or market day. This plan had the advantage of making both the month and the year contain an exact number of weeks. The lunar year, though discarded for ordinary computations, was retained for religious purposes, and was divided into periods of thirteen days, corresponding with the phases of the moon.

Before the Aztecs adopted the civil month of twenty days, they had, if they had subdivided the lunar month at all, probably divided it into six periods, five of five days and one of the remainder of the month, or four days and a half approximately. We say, if they had subdivided the lunar month at all, because the difficulty of dividing twenty-nine days and a half appears to have been too great for many races. In the Society Islands time was reckoned by nights and moons, but any intermediate division was unknown. There were distinct names for each night of the moon. The fifteenth night was called "The moon with a round, full face," and the last night, "This is the night the moon dies." People always asked, "How many nights since?" instead of "How many days since?" These islanders had progressed sufficiently far to have some notion of the solar year. The Maoris of New Zealand reckoned by nights and moons, but had no weeks. Each night possessed a name, regulated by the moon's shape and age. They had a lunar year of thirteen moons. The inhabitants of Madagascar had advanced beyond the stage of reckoning by moons, and had a solar year with civil months, but no weeks. Their months contained twenty-eight nights, and twelve months, with eighteen intercalary days, made a year. Their year was thus eleven days shorter than the true solar year, so that their New-Year's day fell eleven days earlier each year, till the cycle of thirty-three years was completed, when the festival was again held at the same season.

The Society Islanders and the Maoris had thus not subdivided the lunar month, and the Malagasy had not subdivided their civil month, but examples of nations who have done each are fairly numerous. In Ibo (lower Niger) a civil month of twenty-eight days has been adopted, and has been divided into seven weeks of four days each. The Congoese also have a civil week of four