224 IIo^v Ancient Ameriaa Wrote, 



circles, favor rather the supposition, as expressed by Lancia that these, 

 mystic signs are truly phonetic characters. The eminent archaeolo- 

 gist, Brasseur de Bourbourg, has lately discovered, in the library of 

 the Koyal Historical Society of Madrid, the manuscript of the learned 

 Bishop, which contains, aside from a description of the country, the 

 Maya alphabet, consisting of 27 letters, and several syllabic char- 

 acters, with a somewliat obscure explanation of their use. 



The deciphering of the inscriptions in question, even with the aid 

 of this alphabet, is, however, no easy task, because of the polysyn- 

 thetic construction of the Maya tongue, which renders it necessary 

 for the interpreter to resolve each group of characters into its element- 

 ary parts, and rearrange them in proper succession. This analytical 

 process is the more difficult, as the sense of beauty has allowed the 

 letters to be irregularly combined, and even to be changed from their 

 original type, by adorning them with spirals and flourishes, so as to 

 render them often unintelligible. Add to this, that our knowledge 

 of the Maya idiom is very limited, that the grammars and diction- 

 aries are very imcomplete, and the number of preserved manuscripts 

 very sraall,^'' and we should neither expect a ready interpretation, nor 

 be surprised that the attempt of Brasseur, tainted as it is by his 

 prejudiced theories, is more a matter of curiosity than a success. 



His countryman, De Chareney, however, was so fortunate as to 

 spell out a few of the mysterious characters over the Cross of Palen- 

 que. May it prove the Rosetta-stone for unriddling the numerous 

 inscriptions which ornament the walls and columns of the ancient 

 temples of Central America! The publication of the manuscript 

 dictionary, in the Smithsonian Institute, containing a complete vocabu- 

 lary of the Maya language, would essentially assist in such a meri- 

 torious task, and would shed a flood of new light upon the dark 

 history of that land of Avonders. This hope, of course, will not be 

 realized, if the opinion, advanced by some learned linguists — that the 

 Maya alphabet was only invented after the introduction of the Spanish 

 letters— is correct. But this opinion is hardly credible. If such 

 were the case, why does not Landa state the fact ? Why have the 

 Mexicans not been favored by Spanish influence with an equal inven- 

 tion? Moreover, the Maya alphabet, and the method of using it, 

 differs so totally from that of any other nation, that we cannot help 

 considering it their own. And last, but not least, the deciphering of 



* The only ones that have escaped the destructive zeal of the Spanish monks, are the one at 

 Dresden, to be found in " Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities;" thatof " Troaua," printed by 

 the French Government, under Brasseur's supervision; the " Mexican manuscript No. 2," of 

 the Imperial Library ; and, perhaps, that of " Pesth." » 



