near the correct; he gives the total number precisely and only exceeds by a single bundle (52 years) in the two first partial figures, indicating 1,716 instead of 1,664.
And indeed, here again a hypothesis which seems probable to us; the Toltecs persuaded that the fourth age was to be the last and that it would have to endure another 4X416 years, judged in accordance with the tetranary philosophy, did not hesitate to carve its symbol on the monolith, assigning to it the duration which they believed foreordained by the lords of the firmament.
In this mode the figures of the relief are reconciled with the supposition that the Toltecs were its constructors.
Nevertheless, there are those who, in the numerals of the rectangles read the names of the days in which the catastrophes occurred. That the ages had their end in those days (4-océlotl, 4-ehécatl, 4-quiáhuitl, and 4-atl) in fact is stated in the Leyenda de los soles, which is added to the manuscript of the museum, which contains the Anales de Cuauhtitlan, and in this codex itself, both declaring that the fifth sun would have to end in the day 4-ollin. Chavero, and, following his example, many competent contemporary authors (Seler, Joyce, Spinden, etc.) have adopted an analogous point of view.
Were not the said reading supported in so important documents, we should not take the supposition, really almost puerile, into serious consideration. Further, it contradicts the Codex Vaticanus, pictograph which assigns to the catastrophes—and be it noted to three only, which is also done by the Tellerian Codex—very different dates, 10-atl, for atemoztli, I-océlotl for pachtli, and 9-ollin for xilomaniztli. But the assertion fita so well with the data of the relief, that the hypothesis that this was the work of the Toltecs receives a rude blow. The reading of the four rectangles appears simple: they are the dates when the four first ages ended: as to the naolin at the center, with its great numerals, it may be interpreted as the fifth, or Mexican age, which has to end with the day 4-ollin. In such event, it was inscribed by that people, who then appear the constructors of the monoliths.
The argument is strong, although, as has been seen, Rios, Boturini, Veytia, and Ixtlilxóchitl do not agree with the Anales in the matter. Nevertheless, our museum possesses a most important specimen, which supports our first and logical reading, reinforcing the narrations of the Texcocan writer. It is a stone of cubical form, approximately 0.50 m. on a side, with a border of solar and Venus gylphs
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