codex (sheet 12) that we obtain the best evidence of the reflection of the various points of the compass upon the character of the great god of rain.
But the most important pictures in Codex Borgia relating to Tlaloc are those on sheet 27, which illustrate the cycle of fifty-two years, and show in the four corner compartments the four days which form the initial days of the four quarters of the cycle. They do not, however, commence with ce acatl , “one reed,” ce tecpatl , “one flint,” ce calli , “one house,” ce tochtli , “one rabbit,” as might be expected, but with ce cipactli , “one earth-beast,” ce miquiztli , “one death,” ce ozomatli , “one monkey,” and ce cozcaquauhtli , “one vulture,” for the reason that the tonalamatl signs here shown are hieroglyphic of the four quarters of the heavens, rather than allusive to the dates of the grand cycle of fifty-two years. The middle or fifth region, which is without a hieroglyph, is ascribed to the central figure. The lower to the right represents the east. To it belongs the first division of the calendar, as well as the first day of the great cycle. Tlaloc in this picture is painted a dark colour, and wears the cipactli head of the first calendar division as a helmet-mask. The sky above him is figuratively drawn to represent a cloudy firmament holding rain about to fall, and he stands upon the cipactli , or earth-beast, which symbolizes the fruitful earth, from