IX. TO MUSWELL-HILL. 141 



guage of children most nearly resembles 

 that of savages, as they employ many figures 

 in their discourse. 



If the art of communicating our ideas by 

 words is the noblest prerogative of man, the 

 art of depicting them by means of writing 

 affords the most convincing proof of his 

 intellectual superiority. 



In tracing this art to its origin we easily 

 discover that writing sprang from the use of 

 hieroglyphics ; that is to say, from the rude 

 representation of the objects which were 

 meant to be expressed. By degrees this 

 symbolical writing arrived at perfection ; and 

 through its means, the remembrance of his- 

 torical events were preserved and handed 

 down to posterity. 



At the discovery of the New World, the 

 Peruvians had no idea of writing, nor of 

 any thing similar to our arithmetic; but in 

 order to supply the place of letters and cy- 

 phers, to transmit the principal events of 

 their monarchy to posterity, they made use 



of 



