48 



ABORIGINAL WRITING IN MEXICO, ETC. 



standing for letters, six for syllables, and one (the last) denoting aspiration. 

 Some of the letters. A, B, PI, etc., are represented by several characters. The 

 manner in which the bishop comments on the use of these signs is very unsatis- 



Fm 10. 



m 



L 



s 



51 



r 



U^?) TJ 



z 



HA 



o-n-o 



MA 

 (rae, mo?) 



^ 



TI 



n 



Sign of 

 Aspiration. 



LANDA'S MAYA ALPHABET. 



factory and obscure, showing that he was unable to appreciate the future im- 

 portance of his communication. This absence of clearness, however, may be 

 partly owing to the carelessness of the scribe, for the manuscript published by 

 Brasseur was not the original, but a copy supposed to have been made about 

 thirty years after the author's death. Brasseur also thinks that the copyist per- 

 mitted himself to omit some portions of the text. Landa's observations on Maya 

 writing begin thus: "The people made use also of certain characters or letters 

 with which they wrote down in their books their ancient affairs and their sciences 

 {sus cosas antiguas y sus sciencias), and by means of these and by certain figures, 

 and by particular signs in these figures, they understood their affairs, made 

 others understand them, and taught them. We found among them a large 

 number of books written in these letters, and as there was not one which did not 

 contain superstitions and devilish lies, we burned all of them, which hurt their 

 feelings in a marvelous manner and gave them pain."=^ The confession of this 



* Landa: Relation des Choses de Yucatan, p 316. 



