VIII PEEFACE 



Acknowledgment should be made here to Mr. Bowditch for his 

 courtesy in permitting the reproduction of a number of drawings 

 from his book, the examples of the period, day and month glyphs 

 figured being derived almost entirely from this source; and in a larger 

 sense for his share in the establishment of instruction in this field of 

 research at Harvard University where the wTiter first took up these 

 studies. 



In the limited space available it would have been impossible to 

 present a detailed picture of the Maya civilization, nor indeed is this 

 essential to the purpose of the book. It has been thought advisable, 

 however, to precede the general discussion of the hieroglyphs with a 

 brief review of the habitat, liistory, customs, government, and religion 

 of the ancient Maya, so that the reader may gather a general idea 

 of the remarkable people whose writing and calendar he is about to 

 study. 



