Page:Stone of the Sun.djvu/70

 indicate that the combination is separated I3 times in one huehuetiliztli. Each one of the fantastic beings has then the value of 65 Venus or 104 solar years.

Seen with attention, the glyphs of the Cipactli of Xochicalco have no small similarity with the pentagons. It has been said (Rámon Mena) that their outline is that of a snail, relating them to Quetzalcóatl; this is correct, since it concerns a conventionalization of the jewel of that deity which alludes to his marine origin (the deity proceeded from the sea of the east). The giant strombus is truly the most beautiful shell of the Antillean seas and of the Gulf; its hollow interior reproduces the murmur of sea waves; for this reason they adopted it as the emblem of the deity come from that direction. Sahagún, describing the representations the Indians made of him, twice mentions the shells that served him as adornment: "He has a collar of gold, from which hang some very precious sea shells .... some leggings of tiger skin, from the knees down, from which hung some sea shells."

In the pentagons of the relief there is very evident a curve or hollow in the lower part, which in the figures of Xochicalco very clearly presents the outline of an ear or shell. Both characters contain the same symbolism: they are Venus symbols each of which represents 2,920 days, equivalent to eight years. Assuming the planet to be morning star at the beginning, this period having run its course, it will occupy the identical position in the heavens. Ah well, the Cipactli of Xochicalco have thirteen signs, like the groups of pentagons of the relief. Each one, therefore, denotes 65 and the four groups 260 Venus years, which are 416 solar years. The stone, the codex, and the edifice say the same thing. The groups of pentagons might be replaced around the face of the relief by the four serpents of the codex or by the Cipactli of Xochicalco.

The initial page of the Fejervary-Mayer Codex, the page of the cruciform trees of the Vatican Codex B, and others of the most notable pictographic representations are to be read in the same way, as we shall demonstrate further on.

We insist that the pentagons of the stone allude to Venus cycles and not at all to days. Abadiano sees in them the groups of twelve and thirteen intercalary days, which the natives, according to the theory of Gama and Orozco y Berra, added at the end of each 104 years to adjust the calendar with the tropical year. But, apart from the fact that the codices bring no conclusive proofs of such correction,