368 AIDS TO THE STUDY OF THE MAYA CODICES. 



proof in these cases is too strong to admit of doubt and explains 

 Landa's method of obtaining his B, which, as before stated, was by 

 selecting the symbol of that which is denoted by a Maya word of one 

 syllable having B as its chief letter element, Be being the Maya word 

 for "way," "journey," "walking," &c. 



The symbol for the cacao given above in marginal No. 22 con- 

 tains his eleventh letter Ca twice and is probably that from which 

 it was taken ; likewise that of the Kukuitz or Quetzal (marginal No. 

 20) and of the Kuch or vulture (marginal No. 27a), each of which 

 contains his Kih, being double in the former and single in the latter. 

 I am as yet unable to trace these two symbols to their origin; we 

 might suppose, from Landa's figure of the latter, that it was in- 

 tended to represent a bird's nest containing eggs, but an examination 

 of the symbol as found in the manuscript renders this conclusion 

 doubtful. 



The evidences of phonography are few and, as must be admitted, 

 not entirely satisfactory; yet they are apparently sufficient to justify 

 the somewhat general belief that the writing of the Mayas had 

 reached that stage wlici-c cliar.-icters are sometimes used to indicate 

 sounds. That coniii;iiati\c!y little advance had been made in this 

 direction at the tinif of the conquest is possible; moreover there is 

 nothing to justify the belief that they made use of true letters as 

 Landa supposed. If they had a phonographic system of any kind 

 it was very iiiipi'i-fccl and was only in that primary stage in which 

 syllalilrs aif iv]jivsciiti'd by single characters and words of more 

 than oni' syllal)li' by compound characters. Judging by the changes 

 observed in the relation of the parts of compound characters to one 

 another, we conclude that the order of arranging these parts was not 

 uniform or essential. It is also doubtful, if any of tlirsi' characters 

 are phonetic, whether the parts of the longer woids wcic always 

 written out in full. I am led to believe, fi-om a few slight indica- 

 tions, that, in forming words of more than one syllable, they often 

 used only the leading phonetic elements of the single words of which 

 they are composed; in other words, that they followed the rebus 

 method of the Mexicans. 



Descending to particulars and examples, the following are. per- 

 haps, the strongest proofs which can be presented on this point: 



As there can no longer be any doubt that the symbols for the car- 

 dinal points have been ascertained and that those relating to the 

 polar points are distinguishable from those relating to the equatorial 

 points, we are justified in referring to them in this discussion. As 

 each of the two assigned to the equatorial points contains the sym- 

 bol for ' ' sun " or " day" and as the two Maya words for these points — 

 Likin or Lakin and Chikin — contain the Maya term for sun or day 

 ("kin"), there is some reason for believing that the characters are 

 phonetic. There is to be added to this evidence the fact that the 



