1898-99. | DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA, 121 
Pop, a cane mat; Uo, a frog; Zip,a tree ; Tzoz, a bat; Xul, end; Mol, to 
reunite; Chen, a well; Yax, first or blue; Zac, white; Ceh, a deer; Mac, a 
cover; Kankin, yellow sun; Muan, cloudy weather; Pax, a musical 
instrument; Kayab, singing; and Cumhu, a thunderclap. There is no 
resemblance between these alleged significations and the forms of the 
hieroglyphics. Thus, the month signs, Xul,an end; Yaxkin, signification 
unknown; Yax, first or blue; and Ceh, a deer, are winged, and a wing 
in Maya is Xik. But it is useless to dwell upon these disappointing 
discrepancies, which are the despair of the interpreter.‘ 
Mr. Baldwin has been quoted as saying that the inscriptions at 
Palenque “will at length be deciphered, the written characters being 
similar to those of the Mayas, which are now understood.” Elsewhere 
he quotes Brasseur de Bourbourg as saying, “The alphabet and signs 
explained by Landa have been to me a Rosetta stone.” Had Mr. 
Baldwin looked into the work of the learned Abbé, he would have found 
the truth of Dr. Brinton’s statement, “When the Abbé Brasseur edited 
the Codex Troano, he also attempted an explanation of its contents. He 
went so far as to give an interlinear version of some pages,and wonderful 
work he made of it! But I am relieved of expressing an opinion as to 
his success by his own statement in a later work, that he had, by 
mistake, commenced at the end of the Codex instead of its beginning ; 
that he had read the lines from right to left, when he should have read 
them from left to right, and that his translations were not intended for 
more than experiments.” A glance at the work of those diligent 
labourers in this field, M. Léon de Rosny and Professor Cyrus Thomas, 
will speedily undeceive anyone who thinks that the key to Maya writing 
has been discovered. 
Is the value of any one sign certainly known? The answer is, Yes: 
the day sign Ahau, meaning king, and a period of twenty or twenty-four 
years, is known without doubt. The numerals also are familiar to 
scholars, balls denoting units up to four, and occasionally beyond, and 
short strokes or bars,about the length of five balls placed in line, standing 
for fives. It will also appear in the sequel that one or two of the other 
characters mentioned may be made use of to elucidate Maya texts. This 
is a very meagre stock in trade to start with, although Messrs. De Rosny 
and Thomas profess to have greatly extended it. The more their 
additions are examined, the more doubtful they appear. The writer’s 
experience in translating inscriptions has told him this, that the key 
which can only unlock the meaning of part of such a document is no key 
at all, the whole document, of course, being legible or undefaced. No 
complete hieroglyphic Maya writing, however brief. has yet been 
