366 AIDS TO THE STUDY OF THE MAYA CODICES. 



were passing into true ideographs' and possibly into plionetic char- 

 acters. 



The laclc of any satisfactory key to assist us in decipheiing them 

 makes it exceedingly difficult to decide how far this cliange had pro- 

 gressed. We are therefore left wholly to deductions to be drawn 

 from the facts olitaincil li,\- labnrinus comparisons of the various rela- 

 tions in wliicli the charadiTs aiv Iniiud and the uses which appear 

 to be made of them in llic mnimscript. 



It will be admitted without question that a large number of these 

 characters are ideographs or conventional symbols, as distinguished 

 from pictures, as, for example, most of those denoting the days, 

 months, and cardinal points. I say most of these, as it is yet pos- 

 sible to learn from some of them the objects they were intended 

 to represent, the characteristic features not being entirely lost, as 

 the symbol for the day Cimi, the "death's head" or skull; that of 

 the day Ymix, " the grain of maize;" that of the month Moan, " the 

 head of the moo or ara," a sj^ecies of parrot, &c. 



It is also possible to show from the manuscripts themselves evi- 

 dences of the changes from couviMitional pictographw to true or mne- 

 monic symbols. 



Take, for instance, the bird symbols on Plates IG, 17, and 18 of the 

 Dresden Codex, presented in the j^receding marginal figures numbered 

 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 33. If the determination be correct as given, it 

 is apparent that, while one of the birds is indicated l)y Ihc head as a 

 symbol, the others are denoted l]y idcd^i-aplis. or li>- phonetic charac- 

 ters bearing no resemblance to their forms oi- pec/uliar features. That 

 numerous examples of this kind are to be found in these manuscripts 

 will be admitted by all who have carefully studied them. 



Anotherfact bearing iipon this point is the difference between the 

 Dresden Codex and the Manuscript Troano in regard to marking with 

 symbols the things represented in the pictures. We fail to find in 

 the former (unless that on Plate 30 be a possible exception) the earth 

 or soil represented by any symbol, though frequently occurring in 

 the latter and also occasionally in the Cortesian Codex. The sym- 

 bol for wood or that appearing so often on wooden articles in the 

 latter, and occasionally in the Cortesian Codex, is wanting in the 

 Dresden Codex, though wooden articles are several times represented. 

 From this we infer that the Manuscript Troano is a more recent pro- 

 duction than the Dresden Codex, notwithstanding the evidences of 

 greater skill in drawing and higher mathematical attainments shown 

 in the latter. 



' As the term " ideograph " is somewhat broad and comprehensive, it may be well 

 enough to state that I use it as expressing that stage of symbolic writing where the 

 pictin-e characters have so changed that aU resemblance to the objects they were 

 originally intended to represent is lost, and therefore they can only be considered as 

 mnemonic signs. 



