i v PREFACE. 



There is a history attached to the printing of this fragment. Mr. Mauclslay, during 

 one of his visits to our coast, urged the importance of its publication upon some of 

 the officials of the Californian Academy of Sciences ; but, notwithstanding the 

 princely endowment of their institution and their alertness to the scientific necessity of 

 building a $30,000 marble stairway and publishing a $5,000 volume composed 

 principally of their own portraits and biographies, they could not clearly see their 

 way to any excuse for assuming the cost of printing this little book. It remained for 

 Mr. E. DuCane Godman and Mr. Osbert Salvin, of London, to invite the publication 

 of it at their private expense, and incorporate it, for all of its unworth, in their monu- 

 mental work, the ' Biologia Centrali-Americana.' 



It will be observed by those familiar with the study that I have paid little attention 

 to the derivation of glyphs and less to the esoteric meaning supposed by many to attach 

 to all Maya writings. I leave those branches of the subject to students whose minds 

 have a recondite and mystic bent. To me the temporary significance of a glyph and 

 the obvious purport of a text are sufficient. I do not undervalue etymologic research 

 nor deny the possible employment of a cryptogramic style ; but, until the surface 

 meaning of the inscriptions is made out, I think it idle to seek for deeper ones. The 

 mural and stelaic records, in my opinion, have nothing to do with Maya mythology or 

 their other mysteries, further than that the numerals and time periods were themselves 

 apotheosized and become objects of veneration. That deities and devils played an 

 important part in the mummeries with which the priesthood beguiled the populace 

 the accounts of the old Spanish writers leave no doubt ; but, whatever purpose they 

 served in religious ceremonials, they were not suffered then, more than now, to intrude 

 into the domain of science. The Maya calendars, like all modern scientific creations, 

 were godless affairs. 



A final glance at the printed sheets, after they have gone beyond the reach of 

 correction, impresses me with a sense that I seem at times to have spoken as one 

 having authority. Nothing could be farther from my intention than the assumption 

 of such a role. Contemplating the important and grave nature of the subject, I feel 

 humility at having raised my voice at all. But if I, an illiterate proletaire, have 

 chanced to speak unbonneted in the presence of the illustrious scientific world, it was 

 not through any assurance of prerogative, but simply by right of knowledge gained 



