XVlil INTRODUCTION. 



cultivated nations of the Western Continent ascend this scale of graphic 

 development? This question is as yet unanswered. All agree, hovrever, 

 that the highest evolution took place among the Nahuatl-speaking tribes of 

 Mexico and the Maj-a race of Yucatan. 



I do not go too far in saying that it is proved that the Aztecs used to a 

 certain extent a phonetic system of writing, one in which the figures refer not 

 to the thought, but to tlie sound of the thought as expressed in spoken lan- 

 guage. This has been demonstrated by the researches of M. Aubin, and, of 

 late, by the studies of Senor Orozco y Berra.^ 



Two evolutionary steps can be distinguished in the Aztec writing. In 

 the earlier the j^lan is that of the rebus in combination with ideograms, 

 which latter are nothing more than the elements of picture-writing. Ex- 

 amples of this plan are the familiar "tribute rolls" and the names of towns 

 and kings, as shown in several of the codices published liy Lord Kings- 

 borough. The second step is where a conventional image is employed to 

 represent the sound of its first syllable. This advances actually to the level 

 of the syllabic alphabet; but it is doubtful if there are any Aztec records 

 entirely, or even largely, in this form of writing. They had only reached 

 the commencement of its development. 



The graphic system of the Mayas of Yucatan was very different from 

 that of the Aztecs. No one at all familiar Avith the two could fail at once 

 to distinguish between the Manuscripts of the two nations. They are 

 l^lainly independent developments. 



We know much more about the ancient civilization of Mexico than of 

 Yucatan; we have many more Aztec than Maya ]\Ianuscripts, and hence we 

 are more at a loss to speak with positiveness about the Maya system of 

 writing than about the Mexican. We must depend on the brief and unsat- 

 isfactory statements of the early Spanish writers, and on what little modern 

 research has accomplished, for means to form a correct opinion; and there 

 is at present a justifiable discrepancy of opinion about it among those who 

 have given the subject most attention. 



'Aubin, Mano'ire sur la roinUirc dklactique et I'lScrittn-cfignratii-e des anciins Mexicains, in the infro- 

 ductiou to Brasseur (de Bourbourg)'s Sistoire dcs Nations civllisdes da Mcxique ct do VAminquc Centrale, 

 torn. 1; Manuel Orozco y Berra, Eiisayo de Descjfracion gerogJiJloa, iu the Analcs del Musco nacional de 

 Mcj'.ico, toni. i, ii. 



