How, then, are we to account for the presence of this symbol on the head of the right figure in the red or eastern loop? Veytia says, "They (the Mexicans) gave to fire the first place as the most noble of all (the elements), and symbolized it by the flint." This I acknowledge presents a difficulty that I am unable to account for only on the supposition that this author has misinterpreted his authorities, for no one so far as I can find gives the "sun" or "age of fire" as the first, the only difference in this respect being as to whether the "sun of water" or the "sun of earth" was first. This difference I am inclined to believe (though without a thorough examination of the subject) arises chiefly from a variation of the cardinal point with which they commence the count, those starting at the south commencing with the element earth, those beginning at the east with water.[47] Not that the authors themselves always indicated these points, but that a proper interpretation of the original authorities would have resulted in this conclusion, supposing a proper adjustment of the different calendar systems of the Nahua nations to have been made. I think it quite probable that the artist who painted this plate, of the Fejervary Codex believed the first "sun" or "age" should be assigned to the east, and that here the flint indicates origin, first creative power or that out of which the first creation issued, an idea which I believe is consonant with Nahua traditions. I may as well state here as elsewhere that notwithstanding the statement made by Gemelli and others that it was the belief or tradition of the Mexicans that the sun first appeared in the south, I am somewhat skeptical on this point. Such a tradition might be possible in an extreme northern country, but it is impossible to conceive how it would have originated in a tropical region. The calendar and religious observances were the great and all-absorbing topics of the Nahua nations, and hence it is to these, and especially the first, that we must look for an explanation of their paintings and sculpture, and not so much to the traditions given by the old Spanish authors. Finally, the assignment of the year symbols to the four points at which we find them was not, as these early authors supposed, because of their significance, but because in forming the circle of the days they fell at these points. This fact is so apparent from the plates of the Codices that it seems to me to forbid any other conclusion.