VALUE OF ANCIENT MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS—TOZZER. 503 
Mexican writing and say that the Nahuas had reached, to a slight 
degree, this final stage in their writing. We have seen how an a 
sound in the place names is always expressed in their writing by the 
sign for water, atl. So other signs which formerly stood for entire 
syllables seem in some cases to have been used to express the initial 
sound of the syllable. The sign of a flag, pantli, came in time to be 
used for the initial sound p, the sign for etl, bean, was worn down to 
express the initial e sound, and the sign ofli, for road, to be used for 
anosound, Iam inclined to think, however, that the Nahuas in pre- 
Columbian times did not realize the importance of the step which they 
were about to take, the use of signs for single sounds, an alphabet. 
In the few cases where this seems to be found we have the idea of a 
syllabary rather than an alphabet as the dl of ail, etl, and oli, is a 
nominal ending and the word in composition can stand without this 
suffix. The signs for a, e, and 0 are really signs for syllables composed 
of single sounds rather than for single letters as distinguished from 
syllables. 
The Nahuas in the pre-Columbian period did not develop the 
syllabary to the point shown in later times. There are no early texts 
in the true sense of the word written in the Nahua characters. The 
Spaniards were the ones to realize the importance of the syllabary 
and it is undoubtedly owing to their influence that certain signs are 
found used in later manuscripts to express certain syllables absolutely 
for their phonetic value and entirely divorced from the signification 
of the signs as pictures. Moreover, the Spaniards seem to have used 
to some extent at least the signs of the Nahuas to express single 
sounds. 
We have already noted the work of the Spanish priests in their 
endeavor to teach the natives the creed of the Roman Church. In 
this case the ideas are expressed quite apart from the sounds of the 
words. The pictures could be understood quite as well by one people 
as by another. The missionaries were not content with this. They 
desired the Nahuas to learn the actual sounds of the words of the 
catechism. They took advantage of the ability of the natives to 
read in signs denoting syllables. The priests selected native words 
which had the same initial sounds as the Latin or Spanish words which 
they wished the Nahuas to commit to memory. The signs for these 
native words were then written in the native manner. The Lord’s 
Prayer is usually given as an example of this kind of writing.’ 
1 Torquemada, 1723.. Book xv, chap. xxxvi, writes: “E] Vocablo, que ellos tienen, y que mas tira & 
la pronunciacion de Pater, es Pantli, que significa una como Banderita, con que cuentan el numero de 
veinte; pues para acordarse del Vocablo Pater, ponen aquella Banderita, que significa Pantli, y en ella 
dicen Pater. Para la segunda, que dice Noster, el Vocablo, que ellos tienen mas parecido & esta pronun; 
ciacion, es Nuchtli, que es el Nombre de la que los nuestros llaman Tuna, y en Espafia Higo de las Indias- 
pues para acordarse del Vocablo Noster, pintan consecutivamente tras de la Banderita, una Tuna, que ellos 
llaman Nochtli; y de esta manera van proosiguiendo, hasta acabar su Oracion; y por semejante manera 
hallavan otros semejantes Carectéres, y modos, por donde ellos se entendian, para hacer Memoria de lo 
