194 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. VI. 
the subject represented in the engraving opposite. This tablet and the 
position in which it exists, have given the name to the building, which 
the Indians call Akatzeeb, signifying, the writing in the dark ; for, as no 
light enters except from the single doorway, the chamber was so dark 
that the drawing could with difficulty be copied. It was the first time in 
Yucatan that we had found hieroglyphics sculptured in stone, which, 
beyond all question, bore the same type with those at Copan and 
Palenque. The sitting figure seems performing some act of incantation, 
or some religious or idolatrous rite, which the “ writing in the dark” un- 
doubtedly explains, if one could but read it. Physical force may raze 
these buildings to the ground and lay bare all the secrets they contain, 
but physical force can never unravel the mystery that involves this 
sculptured tablet.” 
The groups of hieroglyphics in this tablet are twenty-eight in number, 
of which sixteen are arranged in two lines above the central figure, while 
six are placed to the left and an equal number to the right of it. Making 
a commencement with the left hand figure of the first upper line, it is 
found to consist of fet, the circle, ox, 3, pak, building, and a face-like am, 
1, with zch, the face proper, and yw, a garment ; the whole being det Ox- 
buc Hunichob. The second group holds dahun-tu-kal, 30, ca, the equiva- 
lent for the trefoil forehead ornament, c/z, the mouth, and six small circles 
at the back of the head, which, from their position, are not to be read 
simply as zac, 6, but as such together with +w/,an end. Next to the 
number 30 comes a circle fez, followed by 7, wuc, and pak, tilled ground. 
Below are ca, 2, duc, covering, tun, stone, and katun. These two groups 
furnish: “det Oxbuc Hunichob lahun-tu-kal Cachixul hayac bet hayac pak 
ca puchtun katun:” when the army rebelled it caused to destroy the 
city, it caused to destroy thirty Cachiquels of the Hunichob Oxbuc.” 
The third group begins with mac, 6, followed by fed, after which a stone 
inscribed with two lines furnishes fatun. Below wac and per, comes buc, 
covering, embracing fw, stone, and below are ca, 2, ox, 3, inscribed in 
another ¢wz. To the right of katun above is chz, a border, and just 
under katun is tch, face, followed by what has been claimed as a repre- 
sentation of the breast, ¢zemz, but which really stands for tan, than, tun, 
thun, and dzan, and is often replaced, even as in the name Chichen, by 
the figure of a stone, zwz. These are followed by another face, zch, and 
by another fzem. In the fourth somewhat obscure group are ca, the 
roll, as at Palenque, and below it, fak, under which is holhun, 15 ; 
behind appear ca, 2, «2c, division, and a final ball, which from its 
position is +#/, the end. Below is a form of akau, with plurality. 
These two groups add another sentence: “hayac bet katun puchtun 
; 
. 
: 
| 
se 
