INTRODUCTION. XXvii 



was afterwards inclosed between two boards which they decorated hand- 

 somely. They were written from side to side in columns, as they were 

 folded. They manufactured this paper from the root of a tree and gave 

 it a white surface on which one could write. Some of the principal nobles 

 cultivated these sciences out of a taste for them, and although they did not 

 make public use of them, as did the priests, yet they were the more highly 

 esteemed for this knowledge."^ 



From the above extracts from Spanish writers we may infer that — 



1. The Maya graphic system was recognized from the first to be dis- 

 tinct from the Mexican. 



2. It was a hieroglyphic system, known only to the priests and a few 

 nobles. 



3. It was employed for a variety of purposes, prominent among which 

 was the preservation of their history and calendar. 



4. It was a composite system, containing pictures {figuras), ideograms 

 (^caracteres), and phonetic signs (letras). 



3.— REFERENCES FROM NATIVE SOURCES. 



We might reasonably expect that the Maya language should contain 

 terras relating to their books and writings which would throw light on 

 their methods. So, no doubt, it did. But it was a part of the narrow and 

 crushing policy of the missionaries not only to destroy everything that 

 related to the times of heathendom, but even to drop all words which 

 referred to ancient usages. Hence the dictionaries are more sterile in this 

 respect than we might have supposed. 



The verb "to write" is dzib, which, like the Greek ypdipeiv, meant 

 also to draw and to paint. From this are derived the terms dziban, some- 

 thing written; dzibal, a signature, etc. 



Another word, meaning to write, or to paint in black, is zahac. As a 

 noun, this was in ancient times applied to a black fluid extracted from the 

 sahacche, a species of tree, and used for dyeing and painting. In the sense 



' Diego de Lamia, Relacion de las Cosaa dc Yucatan, p. 44. 



