408 VARIOUS WAYS OP WRITING. 



LIE. vi. reas on by these Quippos, what every one ought to pay, 

 then we can do with the penne. Hereby we may judge if 

 they have any understanding, or be brutish : for my parte, 

 I think they passe vs in those things wherevnto they do 

 apply themselves. 



CHAP. ix. Of the order the Indians Iwlde in their 

 ivritings. 



It shalbe good to adde heerevnto what we have observed 

 touching the Indians writings ; for their manner was not to 

 write with a continued line, but from the toppe to the 

 bottome, or in circle-wise. The Latines and Greeks do 

 write from the left hand vnto the right, which is the vulgar 

 and common manner we do vse. The Hebrewes contrari 

 wise beganne at the right to the left, and therefore their 

 bookes beganne where ours did end. The Chinois write 

 neither like the Greeks nor like the Hebrews, but from the 

 toppe to the bottome, for as they be no letters but whole 

 wordes, and that every figure and character signifieth a 

 thing, they have no neede to assemble the parts one with 

 an other, and therefore they may well write from the toppe 

 to the bottome. Those of Mexico for the same cause did 

 not write in line, from one side to another, but contrarie to 

 the Chinois, beginning below, they mounted vpward. They 

 vsed this maner of writing, in the account of their daies, 

 and other things which they observed. Yet when they did 

 write in their wheels or signes, they beganne from the mid- 

 dest where the sun was figured, and so mounted by their 

 yeeres vnto the round and circumference of the wheele. To 

 conclude, wee finde four different kindes of writings, some 

 writte from the right to the left, others from the left to the 

 right, some from the toppe to the bottome, and others from 

 the foote to the toppe, wherein wee may discover the 

 diversity of mans judgment. 



