716 



CENTRAL AMERICAN HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING. 



As seen in this illustration (lig. 7), there is at the top or beginning a 

 large quadruple glj" ph, below which follow, in the order of the num- 

 bers 1, 2, 3, -i, 5, and 6 at the sides, (six double glyphs, each composed 



of two faces. There are other 



n:j'r 





V-S21 







v.. 



1^ 



^>^'n~ 



i?r.-'i 



V 





double-face glyphs below, but the 

 six will suffice for illustration. 

 Omitting from present consider- 

 ation the large character at the 

 top, attention is directed to these 

 six gl3"phs, from which we may 

 learn something of the mistakes 

 made in the attempts at decipher- 

 ment. A little more than a dec- 

 ade ago there was almost uniAcr- 

 sal agreement among students .of 

 the Maya hieroglyphs that these 

 face characters, especially those 

 in commencing series, as shown 

 in fig. 7, were symbols of deities. 

 Subsequent investigation, how- 

 ever, has shorn them of their 

 sacred character and reduced 

 them to mere svml)ols represent- 

 ing numbers. The left face of 

 each of these six double glyphs 

 is one of the smaller numbers (1 

 to li>), which we have designated 

 "Mayan digits;"" for instance, the 

 left face in glyph number 1 de- 

 notes 1>; that in glyph 2 stands 

 for 16; that in ?> for 10; that in 

 4 for (naught), and that in 5 

 also stands for (naught). These 

 are the numbers prefixed respec- 

 tively to the syml)ols of the orders 

 of units in the inscription repre- 

 sented. The right face of num- 

 ber 1 denotes the cycle or fifth 

 order of units; adding the prefix 

 9, the double glyph will signify 9 

 cycles or 9 units of the fifth order. 

 The right face of glyph 2 is the 

 katun or fourth order of units; that of 3 the ahau or third order of 

 units, etc. Glyph (3 is the day (1 Ahau) and glyph 12 the month 

 (3 Zip), forming together the terminal date of the series. 



Fig. 7. — Inscription on t^tela F, liuirigua. 

 from Miuulslay's plate. 



Copy 



