COPAJNT. 39 



sisling of triple ties or bows and crossed bands forming a diamond-shaped pattern, and 

 in the middle what may be called a tasselled shield. This succession of ornaments 

 ends in a serpent's head, with the shoulders and head of a grotesque figure surmounted 

 by an equally uncouth mask issuing from its open mouth. The whole of this 

 ornamental band probably hung suspended from the shoulders of the principal figure. 



Plates XXVII. to XXIX. are views of the sides and back of the monument, and 

 Plate XXX. is the drawing, made from a plaster cast, of the hieroglyphic inscription 

 on the back and sides of the monument. The inscription commences on the north 

 side ; is then, I think, continued on the back or west side, and ends on the south 

 side. This order has been followed in numbering the glyphs, but until the study of 

 the hieroglyphic inscriptions is further advanced, the sequence cannot be insisted on. 



In front of Stela A, at the distance of a few feet, the remains of a monolithic altar 

 can be traced. 



It is not intended at present to enter into any critical examination of the glyphs ; 

 but there are some points of interest to which brief notice may be given. 



With regard to the order in which the hieroglyphics should be read, Professor Cyrus 

 Thomas * has shown, from an examination of the Palenque Tablets, that when a single 

 column only of glyphs is met with, it should be read from the top to bottom, and that 

 when there is an even number of columns, the glyphs are to be read in double columns 

 from top to bottom, and from left to right. I myself came to the same conclusion 

 from an entirely independent examination of inscriptions from Quirigua and Copan, 

 and this order is adopted in numbering the glyphs on the following Plates. 



Professor Thomas, in writing about the Maya MSS., also points out : — " It is now 

 generally conceded by all who have studied the hieroglyphics that the Maya method of 

 designating numbers was by the use of lines and dots ; thus, one dot signifying 1, two 

 dots 2, and so on up to 4, that five was represented by a single short straight line, ten 

 by two lines, and so on. According to this system, a straight line and a dot, 



thus .mm, would signify 6; two straight lines and two dots, thus re*™™ , would 

 stand for 12." 



There is no reason to suppose that any different system of notation is employed on 

 the sculptured monuments ; it was not, however, usual to leave blank spaces when 

 carving the numerals 1, 2, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16, 17 in stone, but to fill up the space 



thus: (n)0(n) - 1, O (n> O - 2 ; f* Q <?% = 6, P gj Q . - 7 Lc. 

 It will be found that many inscriptions are preceded by what I propose to call 



* A Stud) r of the Manuscript Troano by Cyrus Thomas. Contributions to IS. American Ethnology, vol. v. 

 Washington Govt. Printing Office, 18S2. 



