598 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



It is therefore difficult to settle the question. It is possible that the 

 very skillful scribe of the Dresden manuscript took the more elaborate 

 forms of the inscrii)tions for his models. 



We have already (Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1886, page 50) 

 emphasized the fact that the forms of the outlines of the written 

 characters show characteristic differences. In the Troano and Cor- 

 tesian codices the form of the parallelogram prevails, /, while the 

 Dresden and Peresian codices give })reference to a ix'culiar ellipse, e. 

 The inscriptions have more or less perfect circles or squares with 

 rounded corners, <j. 



Two isolated exceptions to the imiform similarity of the Avritten 

 characters may be mentioned. In Stephens's Incidents of Travel in 

 Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, on 2)late xiii, we have the 

 back of one of those statues found in such large numbei-s at Copan 

 covered with glyphics which consist of entire, singularly contorted 



o 





Miiiioi 



Fig. 114. Glyphs from the Dresden codex. 



human figures. We may, however, doubt whether this wholly iso- 

 lated instance of such ideographic representation has the character 

 of writing; it may possibly be intended to represent scenes from the 

 myth of the deity in question. No less striking characters occur, 

 however, on a small clay image in the Yucatan collection at the Berlin 

 Museum of Ethnology. A short thickset figure, with a huge head- 

 dress, sits or stands on a bench-shaped pedestal covered with 

 characters, h. 



They appear to be written characters, as is indicated by the inter- 

 spersed numerals (an 8 and four times a 3) as is usual in Maya 

 writing. Otherwise they show considerable divergence from the 

 usual form of Maya glyphics and are wholly unintelligible. A con- 

 jecture may, however, be hazarded. ^Mien numerals occur in Maya 

 writing, it is almost invariably in connection with calendric and 

 astronomic dates. It is very probable that the clay figure in ques- 

 tion represents a divinity of the calendar, and that the inscription 



