They number their years by any of those four periods, for they have no name for a year; and they subdivide these, and count the year by lunar months, like the Israelites, who counted by moons, as their name sufficiently testifies; for they called them ירחים, the plural of ירח, the moon. The Indians have no distinct proper name for the sun and moon; one word, with a note of distinction, expresses both—for example; the Cheerake {74} call the sun _Eus-se A-nan-tó-ge_, “the day-moon, or sun;” and the latter, _Neus-se A-nan-tó-ge_, or “the night-sun, or moon.” In like manner, the Chikkasah and Choktah term the one, _Neetak-Hasséh_, and the other, _Neennak-Hasséh_; for _Neetak_ signifies “a day,” and _Neennak_, “a night.” Here I cannot forbear remarking, that the Indians call the penis of any animal, by the very same name, _Hasse_; with this difference only, that the termination is in this instance pronounced short, whereas the other is long, on purpose to distinguish the words. This bears a strong analogy to what the rabbins tell us of the purity of the Hebrew language, that “it is so chaste a tongue, as to have no proper names for the parts of generation.” The Cheerake can boast of the same decency of style, for they call a corn-house, _Watóhre_ and the penis of any creature, by the very same name; intimating, that as the sun and moon influence and ripen the fruits that are stored in it, so by the help of Ceres and Bacchus, Venus lies warm, whereas on the contrary, _sine Cerere & Bacchus, friget Venus_. They count certain very remarkable things, by knots of various colours and make, after the manner of the South-American Aborigines; or by notched square sticks, which are likewise distributed among the head warriors, and other chieftains of different towns, in order to number the winters, &c.—the moons also—their sleeps—and the days when they travel; and especially certain secret intended acts of hostility. Under such a circumstance, if one day elapses, each of them loosens a knot, or cuts off a notch, or else makes one, according to previous agreement; which those who are in the trading way among them, call broken days. Thus they proceed day by day, till the whole time is expired, which was marked out, or agreed upon; and they know with certainty, the exact time of any of the aforesaid periods, when they are to execute their secret purposes, be they ever so various. The authors of the romantic Spanish histories of Peru and Mexico, have wonderfully stretched on these knotted, or marked strings, and notched square sticks, to shew their own fruitful inventions, and draw the attention and surprise of the learned world to their magnified bundle of trifles.