43 
be casual, but it is the result of ori- 
ginal derivation. , 
The following remarks are of some 
importance. 
1. The glyphs of Otolum are writ- 
ten from top to bottom, like the 
Chinese, or from side to side indif- 
ferently like the Egyptian and the 
Demotic Lybian of No. 2. We are 
not told how No. 1 was written, but 
probably in the same way. Several 
signs were used for the same letter 
as in Egypt. 
2. Although the most common 
way of writing the groups is in rows 
and each group separated, yet we 
find some framed as it were in oblong 
squares or tablets like those of Egypt. 
See plate 12 of the work on Palen- 
que by Delrio and Cabrera. In that 
12th plate there are also some singu- 
lar groups resembling our musical 
notes; could they be emblems of 
songs or hymns? 
3. The letter represented by a 
head occurs frequently; but it is re- 
markable that the features are very 
different from those of the remarka- 
ble race of men or heroes delineated 
in the sculptures. 
4. In reducing these ^elements to 
the alphabetical form, I have been 
guided by the mere plausible theory 
evolved by similar forms. We have 
not here the more certain demon- 
stration of Bilingual inscriptions; 
but if languages should uphold this 
theory, the certainty will be increas- 
ed of the Atlantic origins of Otolum. 
IV. But shall we be able to read 
these glyphs and inscriptions? with- 
out positively knowing in what lan- 
guage they were written! The at- 
tempt will be arduous, but is not 
impossible. In Egypt, the Coptic 
has been found such a close dialect 
of the Egyptian, that it has enabled 
you to read the oldest hieroglyphs. 
We find among the ancient dialects 
of Chiapa, Yucatan and Guatimala, 
the branches of the ancient speech 
of Otolum. Nay, Otolum was per- 
haps the ancient TOL or TOLA, 
seat of the Toltecas (people of Tol) 
and their empire; but this subject 
will belong to my third letter. I 
will now merely give a few attempts 
to read some of the groups. For in- 
stance. 
1. The group or word on the seat 
of the sitting man of plate 4 of monu- 
ments of Palenque, I read UOBAC 
being formed by a hand, a tongue, 
a circle, an ear and a crescent. It is 
perhaps his name. And underneath 
the seat is an eye with a small circle 
inside meaning EB. 
2. In plate 5, is an eye with 2 an- 
nexed rings, meaning probably BAB, 
and perhaps the Sun, which is BAP 
in the Lybian alphabet. 
3. In plate 7, the glyph of the 
corner with a head, a fish and a cre- 
scent means probably KIM. 
4. The 1st glyph of plate 15, is 
probably BALKE. 
5. I can make out many others, 
reading ICBE, BQCOGO, POPO, 
EPL, PKE, &c. 
If these words and others (although 
some iqay be names) can be found 
in African languages, or in those of 
Central America, we shall obtain 
perhaps the key to the whole lan- 
guage of Old Otolum. And next 
reach step by step to the desirable 
knowledge of reading these glyphs,* 
which may cover much historical 
knowledge of high import. Mean- 
time I have open the path, if my 
theory and conjectures are correct, 
as I have strong reasons to believe. 
Besides this monumental alpha- 
bet, the same nation that built Oto- 
lum, had a Demotic alphabet be- 
longing to my 8th series; which was 
found in Guatimala and Yucatan at 
the Spanish conquest. A specimen 
of it has been given by Humboldt in 
his American Researches, plate 45, 
from the Dresden Library, and has 
been ascertained to be Guatimalan 
instead of Mexican, being totally 
unlike the Mexican pictorial manu- 
scripts. This page of Demotic has 
letters and numbers, these repre- 
sented by strokes meaning 5 and 
dots meaning unities, as the dots 
never exceed 4. This is nearly simi- 
lar to the monumental numbers. 
