fOrstemann.] 



THE MAYA GLYPHS 



506 



The representations of particular objects in Maya literature are 

 not in question liere, and they will be considered only in so far as 

 they api:)ear as actual ghqahs in the series with the rest. To this 

 class, for example, belong the four animal figures which often occur 

 in close proximity — a portion of a mammal, a bird's head, a lizard, 

 and a fish — possibly designating various offerings. 



An important glyph is the hand, which so often occurs in both 

 manuscripts and inscriptions. It appears sometimes in the act of 

 grasping, with the thumb bent forward, and sometimes as pointing, 

 with the thumb close to the hand. The first really appears to denote 

 a tying together like the ornament mentioned above, to which I intend 

 to refer in my forthcoming essay Zur Entzifferung der Mayahand- 

 schriften, IV; the second can hardly denote anything but a move- 

 ment in space (as it does on our finger posts) or a lapse of time, 

 as in the many examples in the Dresden codex, pages 46 to 50. 



This is practically all the treasure that has thus far been secured 

 from the Avritings of the Mayas. It probably comprises the most im- 

 portant ones, but by no means the majoritv of the signs. Let us 

 hope that in the near future these glyphic treasures may increase, 

 though hitherto there has been a lack of laborers in this field. 



g hi 



Fig. 111. Glyphs from the Dresden codex. 



SECOND PAPER « 



In volume 06, number 5, pages 78 to 80, of this journal, under the 

 same title, I published a short article which was intended to show in 

 hasty review what progress had been made in the interpretation of 

 these signs. Two or three years have passed since then, and now I 

 have been unexpectedly called upon to summarize the progress which 

 has been made in this work during the time which has elapsed, par- 

 ticularly what I believe has been accomplished by myself. I shall 

 be obliged to speak more of myself than is usually my custom. 



(1) «, figure 111. All that can be said concerning this figure is only 

 partially new, for Schellhas has proved in his fundamental treatise 



« Die Mayahieroglyphen, Zweiter Artikel, Globus, 1897, v. 71, n. 5, pp. 78 to 81. 



