XX INTIIODUCTION. 



This document was subsequently taken to Spain by the celebrated Bishop 

 Las (jasas.^ It is clear from the account that some definite form of signa- 

 ture was at that time in use among the chiefs. 



It might be objected that these signatures were nothing more than rude 

 totem marks, such as were found even among the hunting tribes of tlie 

 Northern Mississippi Valle)'. But Las Casas himself, in whose jjossession 

 the documents were, here comes to our aid to refute this opinion. He was 

 famihar with the picture-writing of Mexico, and recognized in the hiero- 

 glyphics of the Mayas something different and superior. He says expressly 

 that these had inscriptions, wi-itings, in certain characters, the like of which 

 were found nowhere else." 



One of the earlj^ visitors to Yucatan after the conquest was the Pope's 

 commissary-general, Father Alonzo Ponce, who was there in 15SS. j\Iany 

 natives who had grown to adult years in heathenism must 'have been living 

 then. He makes the following interesting observation : 



" The natives of Yucatan are, among all the inhabitants of New Spain, 

 especially deserving of praise for three things: First, that before the Span- 

 iards came they made use of characters and letters, with which they wrote 

 out their histories, their ceremonies, the order of sacrifices to their idols, 

 and their calendars, in books made of the bark of a certain tree. These 

 were on very long strips, a quarter or a third (of a 3'ard) in width, doubled 

 and folded, so that they resembled a bound book in quarto, a little larger 

 or smaller. These letters and characters were understood only by the 

 priests of the idols (who in that language are called Ahkins) and a few 

 principal natives. Afterwards some of our friars learned to understand and 

 read them, and even wrote them."^ 



The interesting fact here stated, that some of the early missionaries 



1 " Se sujetiiroii ile su propria voluntad al Seuorio dc Iob lieies do Castilla, recibiendo al Empcrador, 

 como Eei do Espaiia, por Seuor supremo y universal, o liicieron ciertas seuales, como Firmas ; la.s quales, 

 oon testimouio do los Religiosos Franciscos, que alii estaliau, llev6 consigo el Ijuen Obispo do Chiapa, 

 Don Fr. Bartolomc do las Casas, araparo, y defensa do cstos Indios, quando so fu^il Espana." Torqiie- 

 raada, Monarquia Indiana, lib. xis, cap. xiii. 



-"Letreros de ciertos caracteres quo eu otra uiuguna parte." Las Casas, Historia apologetica de 

 las Indias OcddcnlaUs, cap. cxxiii. 



^Relacion Breve y Va-dadera de Algunas Cosas dc las muchas que succdieron al Padre Fray Alonso 

 Ponce, Vommissario General, en las Provincias de la Aliera Espana, in the Coleccion de Docmnentos para la 

 Historia de Espana, torn. Iviii, p. :592. The other traits he praises iu the uasives of Yucatan are their 

 Ircedom from sodoinv and cannibalism. 



