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 events of their collective existence to the sacred periods; from which the tradition that they ever carried with them the sacred book, the Teoamoxtli, on their journeyings. The Teoamoxtli was the book of chronological reckoning, it was the tonalámatl, it was in fine the calendar. Perhaps they found the cactus (nochtli) a little earlier, in 1312; but they waited until the cycle should end before celebrating the event, giving the foundation as inaugurated.

It is not difficult to imagine now how events occurred. Four hundred and sixteen years had been completed since the adventurous tribe issued by water from a place the situation of which has not been convincingly determined, and that date finds them prosperous and increased as they never had anticipated. The year had passed by without a mishap. Nothing strange then that they should desire to solemnize the fact, fixing it indelibly in an enduring monument. In such ease, this ought to bear the date 1479, this is to say, 13-ácatl and 5,876 numerals. We see them there in fact:

But there was another date which they awaited with misgiving. Counting from the creation of the world, or simply from the beginning of the Toltec era, from the year 5097 of their chronology, the destruction of Tula marks the end of a period of 416 years. Starting from this catastrophe, the new grand period had to finish in 5929, that is to say, in 1532 A.D. The subjects of Axayácatl found themselves in the year 5877 of their chronology: exactly one tying, one xiuhmolpia, was lacking for the feared date. Thirteen years before its completion, in 1519 of the vulgar era, after desolating the coasts of Yucatan and and Tabasco, a group of fierce and resolute adventurers disembarked near Sacrificios, who left a trail of blood and slaughter behind them. They came from the Orient, from the direction from which a mythical personage of their traditions, Ce Acatl, had prophesied his own return, in a year of his own name, to conquer the earth and take possession of it; to re-establish, in fine, his ancient kingdom. And the year in which such an extraordinary event took place was precisely the year Ce ácatl (1519).