HOLDEN. | THE MAYA HIEROGLYPHS. 211 
case, where work was done both in stone and stucco, the nature of the 
material affected the portraiture more or less. 
The stone statues at Copan, for example, could not all have been 
done by the same artist, nor at the same time. Ihave elsewhere shown 
that two of these statues are absolutely identical. How was this ac- 
complished? Was one stone taken to the foot of the other and cut by 
itas a pattern? This is unlikely, especially as in the case mentioned 
the scale of the two statues is quite different. I think it far more likely 
that each was cut from a drawing, or series of drawings, which must 
have been preserved by priestly authority. The work at any one place 
must have required many years, and could not have been done by a 
single man; nor is it probable that it was all done in one generation. 
Separate hieroglyphs must have been preserved in the same way. It is 
this rigid adherence to a type, and the banishment of artistic fancy, which 
will allow of progress in the deciphering of the inscriptions or the com- 
parison of the statues. Line after line, ornament after ornament, is re- 
peated with utter fidelity. The reason of this is not far to seek. This, 
however, is not the place to explain it, but rather to take advantage of 
the fact itself. We may fairly say that were it not so, and with our 
present data, all advances would be tenfold more difficult. 
II. 
SYSTEM OF NOMENCLATURE. 
It is impossible without a special and expensive font of type to refer 
pictorially to each character, and therefore some system of nomencla- 
ture must be adopted. The one I employ I could now slightly improve, 
but it has been used and results have been obtained by it. It is suffi- 
cient for the purpose, and I will, therefore, retain it rather than to run 
the risk of errors by changing it to a more perfect system. I have num- 
bered the plates in StEPHENS’S Central America according to the follow- 
ing scheme: 
ENGRAVINGS OF VOLUME I. 
Page. 
Stone Statue, front view, I have called Plate I...-.......--..-..-....--. Frontispiece. 
Wiall-ofCopan;. Plate Tt 2223. 2c eee ee See Se Ee 96 
Elan ofCopan, Plate Ik... ccs peeseeeeee ce sacen eae eee te aceriaer nt coe oe = 133 
Death’s!Head, Plate TIT ..--\ 252 ee oan eee eee eet ene gt Le OAL 23 135 
Porirart, Plate: EET D) <8 ccc ac ae eae ene eee tape se ek oe 136 
HONG TON PU abe) LV ad, « ar 86a tame el eee et ee oe Ses ee 138 
Velvia TEE CM) Mee Boe ecinoc tice Seances se oen Heche are See see CaS eeO CEs Ee Hee 139 
DLOHEEIGOL, Plate! V on.2\..- ans ewan wee r= eee Rae ee eee ee eke eee anne 140 
ablemorn Hieroglyphics, Plate) Vise. ac. slaseeeteneianee =o eaes case ses eae neces. 141 
Nomiooes Of Altar. Plate) Vike - on ses, mn aelasem a eaten Mee eee ean lente ee 142 
No. 2, Sides of Altar, Plate VIL.....---.. Pace CORES a stedcs SSeS ceo aa Eee 142 
Gigantic Head, Plate VIII .-.-... FE Oh eee OSES on cic aa Ae POS EERO CECECOE 143 
