2C8 AIDS TO THE STUDY OP THE MAYA CODICES. 



et hii^roglyphiques des peuples anciens et modernes, Paris, 1800, 4to; 

 and also iu Madier de Montjou, Archives de la soci(?t^ am^ricaine de 

 France, 2'''= Sf?rie, tome I, table V. 



•• In 1S:S4 Ebert died, and was fallowed as head librarian by K. C. 

 Falkenstein. He, unlike his prrdiM-i'ssnr. stmvc especially to make 

 the lil)rary as much as possible accessible to the public. Visits and 

 examinations of the library became much more frequent, and our 

 manuscript, being very liable to injury, on account of its material, 

 had to be wiihdrawn fnnu the hainls of visitors, if it was desired to 

 makeitaceessililefntlieifsii^ht. It was tlieivtoiv hi id between glass 

 plates and thus hung iqi freely, so thai both sides wei-e visible. In 

 this position it still hangs in the hall of the library, protected from 

 rude hands, it is true, but at the same time exposed to another enemy, 

 daylight, against which it has been protected only in recent time by 

 green screens. Still it does not seem to have suffered much from 

 light during these four decades; at least two former officers of the 

 library, who were appointed one in 1828 and the other in 1834, affirm 

 that at that time the colors were not notably fresher than now. This 

 remark is important, because the coloring in Humboldt, as well as in 

 Lord Kingsborough, by its freshness gives a wrong impression of the 

 coloi'ing of the original, which in fact is but feeble; it may have re- 

 sembled these copies some 300 years ago. 



" In 1830, when the manuscript was being preserved in the manner 

 indicated, the two iinequal parts, which were considered as a whole 

 and which no one seems to have thought susceptible of being de- 

 ciphered, were divided into two approximately equal parts from con- 

 siderations of S23ace and for esthetic reasons. 



" The first five leaves of Codex A, that is, pp. 1-5, with the backs con- 

 taining pp. 41-45, were cut off and prefixed to Codex B in such way 

 as to have p. 40 and p. 5 adjoining; when I examined the codex more 

 closely I found that between 5 and 46, and therefore also between 41 and 

 74, there was no such jx-llicle as generally conneets the other leaves. 

 By thischange one part was iiia<h' t.. (■.>iitain '-.'(i leaves, the other 19. 



"At the same time a not her change was made. The three hlaidvijages 

 between pp. 28 and 29 had a marring effect, and they were put at the 

 end by cutting through between leaves 18 and 17 29 and turning 

 the severed leaves around, so that p. 24 joined on to p. 29 and 17 to 

 25. The pellicle loosened on this occasion was fastened again. 



" I must expressly state that I have no written or oral account of 

 these two manipulations, but conclude they have taken place merely 

 from a comparison of the present arrangement with that which Aglio 

 must have had before him. 



" Thus the arrangement in which I found the manuscript, which it 

 may be best to preserve until my views are recognized, is the following: 



" (1) The diminished Codex A (\Q leaves) : 

 Front: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 35, 36, 27, 38, 0, 0, 0. 

 Back: 18, 19, 30, 31, 22, 23, 34. 29, .30, 31, 33, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, ,39, 40. 



