In the department of Finisterre the farmers, in keeping accounts, made bags of their old socks and coat sleeves, of different colors, each color representing one of the divisions of farm outlay or receipt, as cows, butter, milk, and corn. Each amount received was placed in coin in the appropriate bag. When any coins were taken out the same number of small stones or of peas or beans was put in to replace the coins. Other farmers substituted for the bags small sticks of different length and thickness in which they made cuts representing the receipts. In the accounts with the laborers and farm hands the women were designated by the triangle, intended to represent the Breton head dress _á grandes barbes_. The kind of work performed was expressed by the tool connected with it, _e. g._, a horseshoe denoted the blacksmith, a scythe the mower, an ax the carpenter, a saddle the harness-maker, and a tub the cooper. The bill of a veterinary surgeon was rendered by drawing the figures of the several animals treated united in one group by a line. Until quite recently the important accounts of the British exchequer were kept by wooden tallies, and some bakers in the United States yet persevere in keeping their accounts with their customers by duplicate tallies, one of which is rendered as a bill and is verified by the other. CHAPTER X. CHRONOLOGY. It is not within the scope of the present work to examine the several systems of chronology of the American Indians, but only those pictorially exhibited. The Mexican system, much more scientific and more elaborate than that employed by the northern tribes, resembled it in the graphic record or detail of exhibit, and is highly interesting as compared with the Dakota Winter Counts. Although the principle of designating the years was wholly different, the mode of that designation was often similar, as is shown by collating the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Telleriano Remensis with the Winter Counts of Lone Dog and Battiste Good, infra. It is also desirable to note the remarks of Prof. Brinton (_e_) with regard to the Chilan Balam. At the close of each of the Maya larger divisions of time (the so-called “Katum”), a “chilan” or inspired diviner uttered a prediction of the character of the year or epoch which was about to begin. This prophetic designation of the year was like a Zadkiel’s almanac, while the Dakotan method was a selection of the most important events of the past. SECTION 1. TIME. Dr. William H. Corbusier, surgeon, U. S. Army, gives the following information: [Illustration: FIG. 182.--Device denoting succession of time. Dakota.]