SPANISH INSCRIPTIONS. 21 



Here [passed] (Governor 



Don I'-rancisco Manuel de Silva Nieto 



Whose indubitable arm and valor 



Has now overcome the impossible 



With the wagons of the king our lord. 



(A) thing that he alone put into (this) effect 



9 of i.\ugust six (teen) hundred twenty and nine. — 



That it might be heard, I passed to Zufii and carried the Faith. 



This interestino- inscription is represented by Simpson on 

 plate 66 and by Ltininiis on page 177/ It is incompletely 

 translated by Simpson, page 124, Lnnimis, page 177, and 

 Bandelier, page 330. 



It is first to be noted that this inscription is a sonnet, 

 rhyming- respectively in the first, fourth and fifth, in the second, 

 third and sixth, and in the seventh and eighth lines. The 

 metrical form causes some inversions of construction, such as 

 " de Abgosto 9," which is "of August the ninth " — not " on 

 August 9," as Ltimmis seems to take it. He also construes 

 the words " braco " and " balor " in the fourth line as if they 

 were in an oblique case and the verb in the third line passive 

 instead of active, reqttiring him to supply the preposition " by " 

 and the participle " been " to make sense. In fact, " bracpo " 

 and " valor " form the subject of the verb " tiene stijeto," the 

 verb being in the singular in accordance with the sense, a 

 grammatical license veiy common when the verb, as here, 

 precedes its subject. These details are mentioned to vindicate 

 the scribe's knowledge of his own tongue. 



"Six hundred" for "sixteen hundred" is not an error. 

 It is a common locution according to Spanish or Italian usage 

 even down to our times, nuich as we might say '99 for 1899. 



The spelling of " Cuni " for " Zuiii " is consistent with 

 "braco" for "brazo." In print or manuscript there would 

 have been a cedilla under the " c,^ ' to indicate its soft sound 

 before "a," " o " or " u," an orthographic device still main- 

 tained in French, but replaced by " z " in modern Spanish. 



The present translation of the first part of the last line is 

 new. The following comparisons are adduced in confirmation 



