THE TRIBUTE ROLL OF MONTEZUMA. 57 



of the five vowels and fourteen consonants which make up the !N"ahuatl alphabet, 

 three vowels and thi-ee consonants had reached the stage where they were treated as 

 true letters. The vowels were a for which the sign was borrowed from the term atl, 

 water in composition a ; e was represented by a bean, etl, in composition e ; and o by 

 a footprint or path, otli. The consonants were p, represented by a flag, pan, or a 

 mat, petl ; ^ by a stone, tetl, or the lips, tentli ; and s by a lancet, zo. As in the case 

 of _p and t, several signs were employed for the same sound, no uniformity having 

 been established in this respect. This is especially true for the syllabic characters, 

 where there was a still wider range of variation, much depending on the caprice or 

 the habit of the scribe. 



These variants oifer difficulties enough to the student; but they are light 

 compared to what is further in store for him. 



When the whole name of an object or most of it was used as a phonetic value, 

 and several such pictures representing sounds are brought together to form a sentence 

 or compound word, the script remains truly phonetic, but becomes a regular puzzle, 

 in all respects of the character of that which we call a Rebus. 



This principle is also that which is seen in the " canting arms " of mediaeval her- 

 aldry, and is at the basis of most of that play upon words which we call " punning." 

 So far as I am aware, there is no term in science which serves to express it, and for 

 this reason in the articles above referred to I gave it the name ikonomatic writing, 

 that is, a method of writing by means of the names of the figures or objects repre- 

 sented. It resembles in appearance, but differs radically in principle, from picture 

 writing, for although it is composed of pictures, these in ikonomatic writing are used 

 solely with reference to the sound of their names, and not with any relation to the 

 objects which they portray. 



Since my publications on this subject. Dr. Morris Jastrow, Jr., has called atten- 

 tion to a number of examples probably of the same character, in Assyrian inscrip- 

 tions ; and it would appear to have been one of the stadia through which human art 

 passed in its efforts to develop a true alphabet. Its undoubted presence and exten- 

 sive employment in the Mexican system of writing I have abundantly shown in the 

 articles to which I would refer the reader who would desire further evidence. 



While it is my conviction that the above principles, judiciously applied, will 

 result in the decipherment of the ancient records of the IsTahuas, such as that which 

 is here presented, all who are conversant with the subject will acknowledge the pro- 

 priety of calling to our aid the widest range of comparisons possible before proceed- 

 ing to the interpretation of a particular manuscript. The mass of unexcelled mate- 

 rial for this study which was originally collected by Botnrini, and which through 



