Hiftorieofthe Indies, lib* 6 



2nd they fboncr fubmittc themfelves to reafbn by theft 

 ',^5/^/5 what every one ought to pay,, then we can do 

 With the penne . Hereby we may fudge if they havea- 

 ny vnderftanding, or be brutifh : for my parte, I think 

 they paffe vs in thofe things , wherevnto they do apply 

 themfelves. 



Of the order the Indians holJc in their writings. 

 CHAP, 9. 



IT (halbc good to adde heerevnto what we have ob 

 fervcd,toucbingthelndians writings : for their ma- 

 ncr was not to write with a continued line , but fiom 

 the toppe to the bottomc, or in circle-wile . The La- 

 tines and Greeks do write from the left -hand vnto the 

 right, which is the vulgar and common manner we do 

 vfe. The Hebrcwescontrariwifebeganne at the right 

 to the left , and therefore their bookcs beganne where 

 ours did end. The Chiwis write neither like the Greeks 

 nor like the Hebrews , but from the toppc to the bot 

 tomc , for as they be no letters but whole wordes, and 

 that every figure and charafter fignifieth a thing, they 

 have no neede to aflemble the parts one with an o th er, 

 and therefore they may well write from the toppe to 

 thebottome. Thofe of Mexico, for the fame caufe did 

 not writein line, from one fide toanother^but contra- 

 rie to the Chinol$ y beginning belo\v,they mounted vp- 

 ward. They vfed this maner of writing, in the account 

 of their daies, and other things which they obferved: 

 Yet when they did write in their wheels or fignes,they 

 beganne from the middeft where the Sunne was figu 

 red, and fo mounted by their yeeresvnto the round 

 and circumference of the Wheele. To conclude, wee 



G g 3 



