turns of the sun and moon were so accurately adjusted,
that atdts termination the new and fwh?Mlobris should
return,-not only to thfe same dkyrhut within an hour
arid half of. thfe time they had happened; wh eh i the
period comihenced ; The knbwlfcdge of such a pefiod,
or :cycle, could be obtained only by a multiplicity of
careful arid accurate; observations, i • Many revolutions of
those great luminafiefc must have been completed,, and
nrimbeif^s;. éorijunctions bavé past Over, & fm p (fcheir
returns could be ascertained-to happen iri the samédày;
at the iencF; of nineteen yearn The small- differfenbe.-.’of
time between the returning periods of this cycle, wafc partly
lessened by the invention of another of sixty years;
or o f sevfen hundred and twenty revolutions o f the moon,
which, with the. settled intercalation of twenty-two lunations,
were at first supposed- tb bring a perfect coin“
èidénée of thé relative positions of the sun and mbonç
but even according to this period, every rièw year , was
made constantly to rbcede, in a very small degréfe, which
the Chinese corrected afterwards from tiine to tiiné. This
cycle, answered a doublé purpose, one as an era for chronological
reckoning, arid the other as à regulating period
for a luni-iSolar yeah Each year of thé cycle is distinguished
b y the union o f two characters, taken from such
an arrangement of an unequal number of words: placed
in opposite columns, that the same two characters cannot
be found again together for sixty yearis.. The first
column contains asenestaf ten words a the-other, twelve:
whflbh' last -are, in:.ficlr,«ithie'lsa^eUhat denote the twelve
hours ,5of. divisions;-of thet dqys'i.'l each being double, the
European hour.:. T h e first;word or- character o f the first
series or column of-tern words’, joined Pto tfie ik s t word
o f the 'second-, series or column o f twelve, ’marks the first
yseari o f theiseycihijl&and so on'until sthe first!.'series is exhausted
; when the'eleweMhiword oh-the .^ifjond-series
combined^with th e .- fts to f- th e first- Series, marks -the
eleventhly earoof thdfcy^le|^andhhe)tw.elfth* or daStoftho
second^series Joined with thii.sggpnd^of.theffirst'series,’
§^Fye||for;denoting thqpttveifth/ydart The thirdreif|m&
fk-sfespries^heeotnes unit-ed>irr regular progression with the
firstof the second series;to mark the thirteenth yjsar; and
p&ooeedangxBy this rule\sthehrst'^ha»aeter,in the first and
in the. second sissies cannot 1co^aei-agS!-iri1-|ogeifier' for sixty
years,, or umtif the firs tty ear, fob the second :^ y o l e T hd
Christian year san®wersto the fifty-fourth Syfe-a¥3of
the. asixty^eighth Chinese : cycle, ’ which* -'asCeStkihS'' -its
eommencementtp! havebeen two thousand two hundred
and .seventyr'se.Vfiii.'years. befof^the; Hirth of^Dhrist; - unless
iitbeesupposed) that'the official- rreeords^khd-tPublfe
annals of the empire, wjhjiehihe.arJtestimony to it, should
all ;be falsified ;-a®d thatt»teeyelewhen-first?i^tkblikhed
should have hefen aritidated: which MMiard^pdgas little
probable» as, that the periodfon^xample, o f the Olympiads,
should be ^serted to Have commenced-many ages
prior to the first 01 ympicigames. ty -