The Khaṭái era.

They reckon from the creation of the world, which in their belief took place 8,884 Wans and 60 years previous to the present date. Each Wan is 10,000 years. They believe that the duration of the world will be 300,000 Wans—according to some 360,000. They employ the natural solar year and the natural lunar month. They begin the year from the sun's mid passage though Aquarius. Muḥi'u'ddín* Maghrebi places it at the 16th degree, others between the 16th and 18th.* They divide the Nycthe­meron into 12 Chághs. Each of which is subdivided into 8 Kehs, and to every one of these they give a different name.

They divide the Nycthemeron also into Feneks. For this computa­tion of time they have three cycles, viz., Sháng Wan, Jung Wang, and Khá Wan, each comprising 60 years and each year of the cycle is defined by a double* notation. The revolution of the cycle is marked by a series of ten and a series of twelve symbols. The first is employed for the nota­tion of the year and the day; the second is similarly applied and is like­wise horary. By the combination of these two series, they form the cycle of 60 and work out detailed calculations.