120 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



jaw containini;- forniidahlo teeth, appear as substitutes for and have 

 the same vaku' as others which I aiu forced to explain as signs for 

 "stone knives". The former, which I copy, d to i, figure 29, Doctor 

 Brinton re|)roduced in his latest treatise on Maya hieroglyphs under 

 the name of "crescentic signs''. This designation is, to my mind, 

 somewhat misleading. He considers these signs, especially ^% which 

 is quite frequently placed on the neck, that is, at the mouth of jars 

 and vessels, as neckbands. I observe in this connection that ^ appears 

 in relief tablets from Palenque in the form of J, and that the sign 

 Ahau, which usually has the form of <:', appears in the same tablets 

 from Palenque in the form of rf, that is, what in c is a simple mouth 

 opening in a has the form of the element that Brinton explains as a 

 neckband. I need not dwell longer on this, and merelj' observe that 

 I can cite a dozen hieroglyphs where the element d to /, which, as is 



i 



d e f 9 h i 



Pig. 29. Adjunct glyphs from Maya codices. 



shown by comparing these with figures d and J, is, in fact, a toothed 

 jaw, replaced by the element k. If we turn back to figure 28, we 

 may admit, 1 think, that the element seen below in the hieroglyphs 

 G, K, L, and also in h has a certain relation to k, which means a stone 

 knife and is analogous to the elements which mean "jaw", "mouth". 

 Should not, therefore, the essential element in g, k, l, the row of 

 teeth on the forehead of the principal hieroglyph f, d, b, be consid- 

 ered equal to the open jaw bristling with teeth on the forehead of the 

 personages represented in full figure? 



Bvit even if we leave out these doubtful points, it is nevertheless 

 definitely shown by the form and nature of the principal hieroglyph, 

 F, D, B, that we do not see in this third vessel from Rio Hondo — that 

 is, the Pipil vessel— an imitation of Maya decoration and of Maya 

 hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphs f, d, b, perhaps also the others, have 



