SELER] ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 119 



I suppose — the upper (head strap) part, of course, iuoomplete. Over 

 the forehead we have again the two locks of hair as in the first of the 

 persons represented below in full figure. The only element which 

 might appear doubtful is that which projects from the forehead in the 

 three hieroglyphs. But even that is in no way doubtful to me. The 

 wide-open jaws, bristling with prominent teeth, which the full figures 

 wear over the forehead, fastened to the strap, are replaced in the 

 hieroglyphs by a row of teeth, such, for example, as are frequently 

 indicated on the stone, or sacrificial, knives, to designate their sharp 

 edge. 



While in this way the hieroglyphs f, d, and b are perfectly clear in 

 all their details, 1 unfortunately can not say the same of the three 

 others, e, c, and a. 1 do not know their meaning; but the study of 

 them reveals that they are probably mere variants of the same accom- 

 panying hieroglyph. 



If we finally turn to the hieroglyphs drawn on the two vertical tab- 

 lets, we again see that there are but two hieroglyphs, with three vari- 

 ants of each. If I designate the hieroglyphs of the left tablet, passing 

 from the upper one to the lowest, as g, h, i, and those of the right 

 one, as k, l, m, then g, k, l are one hieroglyph, and apparently the 

 chief one, and h, i, m, the other, the companion hieroglyph. Since 

 both are forms with which I have not met elsewhere I can only ven- 

 ture to advance a conjecture as to their meaning. 



The hieroglyphs h, i, and m show, as the most characteristic and 

 essential element, a double zigzag line passing obliqueh' across the 

 rest of the hierogylph, in addition to the crosshatched space at 

 the side, outlined by a double curved line. I can not help thinking 

 that this double line, zigzag or wavy, is the same essential element 

 which appears in the hierogylphs a and c, otherwise a puzzle to me, 

 and on this account I am led to suppose that h, i, m is only the com- 

 panion hieroglyph, e, c, a, become alcul-shaped and abbreviated into 

 one character. If this be the case, one might be led to suppose that 

 G, K, L is the principal hieroglyph abbreviated into one character and 

 changed to alcul-shaped. Indeed, it seems to me as though some 

 essential element of the latter were contained in the alcul-shaped char- 

 acter G, K, L — the eye, the locks of hair over the forehead, and per- 

 haps the cross-hatched piece at the back of the head. With these the 

 analogy appears to stop. But there is still another element of the 

 chief hieroglyph contained in g, k, l, and perhaps precisely the one 

 which seemed most essential to the artist; I mean the row of teeth on 

 the forehead. 



In the comparative examination of the separate elements which are 

 employed in the Maya hieroglyphs, I have previously noticed" that 

 certain sign?, which I was obliged to explain as expressing an open 



k 



"See my treatiseon the characterof the Aztec and Maya iiiamiscripts in Zeitsohrift ftir Kthnologie, 

 1888, V. 20, p. 8. 



