TOPOGRAPHY OF CHIAPAS. 161 



possibly one day reveal the history of the people by whom the buildings were 

 erected. At least they may explain the purposes of edifices which are at present 

 designated under fantastic Spanish names. A clue may also thus be obtained to 

 determine their date, at present a subject of interminable discussion amongst 

 archaeologists. The same characters were also reproduced on textiles and on bark, 

 and such manuscripts could be either rolled up or bound together in thin volumes. 

 But hieroglyphic documents in the Maya language are extremely rare. Four 

 only are preserved in European collections ; nor has their interpretation been yet 

 facilitated by the discovery of any bilingual inscription, such as the Rosetta stone 

 and the Bisutun cuneiform tables, which served to unravel the mystery of the 

 Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Persian and Mesopotamian cuneiform writings. Yet 

 the Spanish priests were acquainted with a Maya alphabet, and the manuscript 

 possessed by one of these missionaries has even been recovered * The only infor- 

 mation still extant on the nature of the Yucatan writing system is contained in 

 this work, which belonged to the fanatical bishop, Diego de Landa, who threw to 

 the flames hundreds of manuscripts found in the temples. Landa's book explains 

 only some sixty of several thousand signs, and as each sign may be replaced by 

 others having the same meaning though differently formod, it is obvious that no 

 translation is at present possible. 



Topography. 



Being separated from the interior of Chiapas by a coast range running close to 

 the shore, and crossed neither by great trade routes nor by railways, the groups of 

 habitations situated on the Pacidc seaboard naturally possess but slight commer- 

 cial importance ; nor are there any good harbours on this coast to attract shipping. 

 Nevertheless such is the fertility of the soil and the excellence of its produce that 

 Soconusco has already acquired a high reputation in the foreign markets. 



Here the most frequented seaports are Tonala and San Benito, ov Sitconufico,\ioÛi 

 accessible to vessels of light draught through dangerous p issages which communi- 

 cate with long coast lagoons. Although the nearest port to the capital of Chiapas, 

 Tonala has a yearly trade of less than £40,000 ; in the neighbourhood are two hills 

 scarcely surpassed in the whole world for their wealth of iron ores. San Benito, 

 which exports the cacao of Soconusco, has nearly double the trade of Tonala, and 

 it cannot fail to acquire a rapid development when the railway is opened to 

 Topachula, on the slopes of the Soconusco Mountains near the Guatemala frontier. 

 Union Juarez, founded a few years ago close to the border at an altitude of 4,300 

 feet, is the centre of the Chiap is coffee plantations ; Chiapa de las Indios, the ancient 

 capital of the Chiapauec nation, which has given its name to the whole province, 

 lies on the Atlantic slope in the valley of the Grijalva. Above the present town 

 and its numerous ruins stands a bluff crowned with the remains of the C//iapa Nati- 

 . diiiiné fortress, behind whose ramparts the Chiapancc warriors defied the attacks 

 of the Aztec forces. Here also they long held out against the Spaniards and, 



* Daniel G. Brinton, T/ie Books of Chihn-BaJam. 

 44 



