xxiv INTRODUCTION. 



decessors had come thence, and had communicated these narratives to his 

 chiefs.^ 



These books are described as showing "certain characters and figures, 

 painted on certain barks of trees, each leaf or tablet about a quarter (of a 

 yard) wide, and of the thickness of a piece of eight, folded at one edge and 

 the other in the manner of a screen, called by them Analiehes." ^ 



When the island of Flores was captured these books were found stored 

 in the house of the king Canek, containing the account of all that had 

 happened to the trit)e.^ What disposition was made of them we are not 

 informed. 



I have reserved until now a discussion of the description of the Maya 

 writing presented in the well-known work of Diego de Landa, the second 

 bishop of Yucatan. Landa arrived in the province in August, ir)49, and 

 died in April, 1579, having passed most of the intervening thirty years there 

 in the discharge of his religious duties. He became well acquainted with 

 the language, which, for that matter, is a comparatively easy one, and though 

 harsh, illiberal, and bitterly fanatic, he paid a certain amount of attention 

 to the arts, religion, and history of the ancient inhabitants. 



The notes that he made were copied after his death and reached Spain, 

 where they are now preserved in the library of the Royal Academy of 

 History, Madrid. In 1864 they were published at Paris, with a French 

 translation, b}^ the Abbe Brasseur (de Bourbourg). 



Of all writers Landa comes the nearest telling us how the Mayas used 

 their system of writing; but, unfortunately, he also is so superficial and 

 obscure that his words have given rise to very erroneous theories. His 

 description runs as follows: 



"This people also used certain characters or letters, with which they 

 wrote in their books tlieir ancient matters and their sciences, and with them 

 (i. e., with their characters or letters), and figures (i. e., drawings or pic- 



' "Porque lo leia su Key en sua Aualtehes, teuian Nolicias de acjuellas Provincias de Yucatan (<iue 

 Analtehes, 5 Historias, es una misnia cosa) y de que sus Pasados avian Salido de ellas." Hisloria de la 

 Conquista de la Provincia de el Itza, S(duccion y Progresses de la de el Lacavdon, etc. (folio, Madrid, 1701) 

 lib. vi, cap. iv. 



^Tbhl., lib. vii, cap. i. 



' " Y en su casa tambien tenia de estos Idolos, y Messa de S.ncrifieios, y los Analtehes, 6 Historias 

 do todo qiianto los avia sucedido." Ibid., lib. viii, cap. xiii. 



