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diff --git a/25878.txt b/25878.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..37ee86a --- /dev/null +++ b/25878.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2692 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Commentary Upon the Maya-Tzental Perez Codex, by +William E. Gates + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Commentary Upon the Maya-Tzental Perez Codex + with a Concluding Note Upon the Linguistic Problem of the Maya Glyphs + +Author: William E. Gates + +Release Date: June 22, 2008 [EBook #25878] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAYA-TZENTAL PEREZ CODEX *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Typographical errors in the original have been maintained in this +version. They are marked with a [TN-#]. A list of the errors is found +at the end of the present text. + +The following codes are used for characters that are not found in the +character set used for this ebook: + + ["o] LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH DOUBLE ACUTE + ['S] LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S WITH ACUTE + + + + + PAPERS + OF THE + + PEABODY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND + ETHNOLOGY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY + + VOL. VI.--No. 1 + + + + COMMENTARY + UPON THE MAYA-TZENTAL + PEREZ CODEX + + + WITH A CONCLUDING NOTE UPON THE + LINGUISTIC PROBLEM OF THE MAYA GLYPHS + + + BY + + WILLIAM E. GATES + + PROFESSOR IN SCHOOL OF ANTIQUITY, INTERNATIONAL THEOSOPHICAL + HEADQUARTERS, POINT LOMA, CALIFORNIA + + + CAMBRIDGE, MASS. + PUBLISHED BY THE MUSEUM + NOVEMBER, 1910 + + + + + [Illustration] + + THE ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL PRESS + Point Loma, California + + + + +NOTE + + +In presenting this Commentary on the Codex Perez to students of American +Archaeology, the Peabody Museum adds another paper to its series +relating to the study of the hieroglyphic writing of the ancient peoples +of Mexico and Central America. + +The Museum is fortunate in adding to its collaborators Mr. William E. +Gates, of Point Loma, California, who for more than ten years has been +an earnest student of American hieroglyphs. From his lifelong studies in +linguistics in connection with his research in "the motifs of +civilizations and cultures," he comes well-equipped to take up the +difficult and all-absorbing study of American hieroglyphic writing. Mr. +Gates has materially advanced this study by his reproduction of the +glyphs in type. These type-forms he has used first in his reproduction +of the Codex Perez, and now in this Commentary they are used for the +first time in printing. The method used in the construction of this font +of type is explained by Mr. Gates in the following pages. This important +aid to the study will be highly appreciated by all students of American +hieroglyphs, as it will greatly facilitate the presentation of the +results of future research. + +It will be seen that this Commentary is more in the line of suggestion +to be expanded after further studies, than in the way of conclusions. + +At the close of the paper the author presents the general deductions he +has drawn from his comparative study of languages and cultures. His +concluding paragraph forcibly presents the hope that the understanding +of the Maya glyphs will furnish new and important data in the life +history of man. + + F. W. PUTNAM + + PEABODY MUSEUM + + October, 1910 + + + + +[Illustration: PEREZ CODEX: PAGE 6] + +[Illustration: PEREZ CODEX: PAGE 17] + + + + +THE PEREZ CODEX + + +The Perez Codex was discovered just fifty years ago by Prof. Leon de +Rosny, while searching through the Bibliotheque Imperiale, Paris, in the +hope of bringing to light some documents of interest for the then newly +awakened study of Pre-Columbian America. It was found by him in a basket +among a lot of old papers, black with dust and practically abandoned in +a chimney corner. From a few words with the name Perez, written on a +torn scrap of paper then around it but since lost, it received its name. + +Being restored to its proper place in the Library, it was in 1864 +photographed by order of M. Victor Duruy, Minister of Instruction, and a +few copies issued without further explanatory notes than the printed +wrappers. The number of copies is stated by Prof. de Rosny to have been +very small; in Leclerc's _Bibl. Amer._ (1878, No. 2290) it is given as +only 10, and in Brasseur's _Bibl. Mex.-Guat._ (page 95), as 50. A copy +is in the library of the Bureau of Ethnology at Washington, and referred +to in their publications as a most fortunate acquisition. I had the good +fortune to secure a copy some ten years ago, and one other has recently +appeared in a Leipzig catalog at a high price. Beyond these I have not +traced any other copy. + +In 1872 Prof. de Rosny published a reproduction, drawn by hand, which, +as stated by him later, may be disregarded for practical purposes.[7-*] + +In 1887 he issued a facsimile edition in colors, 85 copies, which up to +the present time has remained the only attempt to show the Codex in its +proper colors, and has become exceedingly difficult to procure; so much +so that it was only after seven years search that I was able to secure +my own copy.[8-*] + +In 1888 he reissued the Codex, uncolored, with the same letter-press, +and in an edition of 100 copies. This has also become scarce. + +Each of these three editions has its advantages and disadvantages. The +colored edition of 1887, having been worked over by hand, in +lithography, is defective in various places, both as regards the black +of the figures and glyphs, and in the colors. Coloring exists on the +original codex which was not reproduced at all in the edition, and the +colors given are in many cases not exact. Thus on pages 19 and 20 two +different reds are used for the backgrounds, whereas but one is found in +the original; on pages 15, 16 the figures are a turquoise green, and on +pages 17, 18 an olive green, the correct color for all four being +turquoise green. + +I have been able to find no inaccuracy in the 1888 edition, which is +indeed stated in the introduction to be entirely by mechanical process, +without hand intervention; but being reproduced by printer's ink in +black only, not only do the colors not appear, but the chromatic values +are actually far inferior to the photographs of 1864. It was stated +further by Prof. de Rosny that some features of the MS. had been lost by +deterioration in the 25 years previous to his editions of 1887 and 1888, +but this I have not been able to verify in any important point. + +The photographs and the edition of 1888 are to all general purposes +identical; but, notwithstanding that the photographs are steadily +yellowing by age, the chromatic values are so far superior that I have +continually come to find them the court of final decision in doubtful +matters. In a very considerable number of instances a close examination +of the photographs has suggested the presence of faint lines of color +on glyphs or figures, which was entirely indistinguishable in both of +the printed editions, and which was yet in every case confirmed, +although sometimes with difficulty, by the examination of the original +MS. + +The proved value, as well as the scarcity, of these photographs was so +great, that in 1905 I had my set photographed twice, by dry and wet +plate processes, and a few copies printed after a careful comparison and +selection of the two sets of plates. It is from these that the present +edition has grown.[9-*] + +The present edition, save for the photographs thus reproduced, having +been entirely redrawn, and partly restored, it is fitting to detail just +what has been done in this respect. + +At the very beginning of my introduction to Maya studies the enormous +burdens placed on research therein at every turn, bore upon me as upon +every other student. The subject and its possibilities stimulate +enthusiasm to the highest degree; the rewards of success are greater +than those of any like problem today; and yet, fifty years since the +present Codex was discovered, and thirty years since Dr. Foerstemann's +unsurpassable edition of the Dresden Codex, the actual workers on the +problem are the barest handful. A few scattered and obscure references +amongst the volumes on volumes of Spanish writers, nearly all +untranslated, most of them scarce or almost unprocurable, and many not +even printed, make up the literature to be searched out. And a few +points of decipherment won and safely fixed by the researchers, from +Brasseur, de Rosny, Pousse, Brinton and others a generation ago, to +Messrs. Bowditch, Seler, Goodman and a few others of today, are all we +have--standing out in a wilderness of guesses by many writers, needless +of naming. + +Of course the prime and absolute necessity of such a study is true +facsimiles; but the task of using even these, taken as they must be from +much defaced inscriptions and manuscripts, is too obvious for comment. +So from the very first of my studies I began to cherish thoughts of the +day when Maya could be printed with type, and classified indexes to the +glyphs at hand. From one point of view such facilities can only be +expected to come _after_ decipherment; from another, in absence of +bilingual keys, they are a necessity _before_ that can be attained. So +far as his work covers, a great deal has been done in this line by Mr. +A. P. Maudslay in the field of the inscriptions. + +At the very outset therefore I must enter acknowledgment of the +assistance that I owe to the courtesy at that time of Prof. F. W. +Putnam, of Peabody Museum, and Mr. Chas. P. Bowditch, in placing, with a +freedom by no means universal among curators and researchers, their +material at my disposal, with privilege of copying. I am safe to say +that while I have reclassified the glyphs for my own use as my studies +went on, yet without the copy which by Mr. Bowditch's courtesy I was +allowed to make of his card index to the glyphs of the three codices, as +a start, this edition of the Perez Codex would not yet have reached +daylight through the many other occupations among which Maya studies +have had to take their chances. + +At first it seemed possible to prepare a font of separate types for the +various elements of the compound glyphs we find in the texts; but after +having such a font made a number of years ago, and printing a couple of +pages of the Dresden Codex, the result was unsatisfactory; it became +evident that the proper Maya font of type must be both separate and +composite, as is used in Chinese, and not separate only as we have for +Egyptian. The type for the text cards of this edition have therefore +been made this way. + +As to the colored plates of the Codex herewith, it is evident that +nothing whatever is gained by preserving the irregularities of the +defaced parts of the Codex, while everything is to be gained by making +all as clear and distinct as possible. The first step therefore was to +have a set of photographed enlargements of two diameters, made direct +from the 1864 issue. From these I made careful tracings, myself, of the +black figure and glyph lines of the original, making at the same time +the separate enlarged drawings from which the type were afterwards made. +At this first drawing only the evident, the indisputable parts were +drawn. The type forms were then classified, arranged in parallel +columns, and compared. All was then gone over, and new points settled on +the basis of the familiarity thus gained. It is a fair estimate to say +that this process of checking and verifying was gone through, first to +last, down to the final proof-reading of the printed sheets, some fifty +times. + +One most important fact was established by this process, and must be +noted. In the Perez Codex at least, _nothing is to be taken for +granted_, nothing charged to a careless scribe, and no variants regarded +as being identical in value--with a very few exceptions, to which I +shall advert later. Wherever there remains enough of any glyph to show +its characteristic strokes, it can be regarded as safely indicated; +whenever the strokes are not just those characteristic of any glyph, it +cannot be inferred. Down to the very end of the various revisions I +found myself able to add glyphs which at first seemed hopeless, and yet +when once seen became clear and plain. Relying on the presence of the +photographs to check the work, I have thus added a very considerable +number to the glyphs at first apparent. In some cases, as in 6-b-11 and +17, and especially in 8-b-7, 8, 10, where glyphs were only partially +erased, but no other instances of perfect glyphs existed to compare them +with, I have let them alone, without attempting restoration. In short, I +may have made some errors of eye, but I have guessed nothing. + +In a very few places I have restored glyphs totally erased, relying on +the parallelism of the passages. Such are some of the Ahau-numbers in +the upper sections of pages 2 to 11, and in the central sections on +those pages, the initial pairs of glyphs on pages 15 to 18-a, b, c, the +first columns of pages 19 and 20, and a few day-signs on pages 21, 23 +and 24. These glyphs are all necessitated by their different series, and +hence can cause no confusions; while it seemed advantageous to have them +before the eye. A fair instance of the procedure is shown on page 3-b-1, +3. The temptation was strong to put the usual [Hieroglyph] glyph here as +on all the other pages, but the slight variation in the lines left of +glyph 3-b-3 forbade it. + +The restoration will further be found a little bolder on the type-cards +than in the colored plates, where I have in general only endeavored to +reproduce what could be seen actually present. The glyphs restored on +the upper part of page 7 would seem hopeless at first sight; but they +are well-known and common forms, and the characteristic traces shown on +the photographs belong to these and to no others known. + + * * * * * + +The cards of type-printed text, in parallel columns for convenience of +study, are self-explanatory. Such an arrangement has from the first +seemed to me indispensable for proper study and comparison. The paging +of the de Rosny editions I have retained, except to change the +practically blank page 1 to be page 25, since to number this as 1 is +confusing. For the divisions and the numbering of the glyphs I have made +my own arrangement. It is possible that section _b_ on pages 2 to 11 +should only go to the bottom line of the central figure, leaving section +_d_ to read clear across the page, and another section to be made to the +left of the nearly erased figures at the bottom; but the chances as +shown by the lining and arrangement of the columns seemed to favor it as +I have given it. Only final decipherment can decide definitely. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7-*] In _Archives paleographiques de l'Orient et de l'Amerique_, atlas, +t. I, pl. 117-142. + +[8-*] In his _Commentar zur Pariser Mayahandschrift_, Danzig, 1903, Dr. +Foerstemann does not know of the existence of this edition. + +[9-*] _Codex Perez_: Maya-Tzental. Redrawn and Slightly Restored, and +with the Coloring as it originally stood, so far as possible, given on +the basis of a new and minute examination of the Codex itself. Mounted +in the form of the Original. Accompanied by a Reproduction of the 1864 +Photographs; also by the entire Text of the Glyphs, unemended but with +some restorations, Printed from Type, and arranged in Parallel Columns +for convenience of study and comparison. Drawn and edited by William E. +Gates. (_Privately printed._) Point Loma, 1909. + + + + +THE COLORS + + +The colors of the Codex afforded a number of questions for solution, +some of which I have cleared up and embodied in the plates; a few are I +believe insoluble. I have also been able to add a few wholly new points, +not indicated by any of the preceding editions. + +Being unable to make a personal examination of the original, I prepared +from my enlarged black drawings, above mentioned, another full set +including the figures and all glyphs or other parts showing any +suggestions of color. Upon these I prepared a list of nearly 200 +questions covering every detail, together with certain general +specifications, and had the whole made the subject of a careful and +exhaustive comparison with the original at the Bibliotheque Nationale. +This report, when duly returned with the various details set out, with +the various colors shown in their exact tints by water-colors, and with a +special analysis of the question of the fading of the colors, was again +checked and verified by the evidence of the three editions. + +In doubtful questions arising from faded colors, I have sought to show +the condition of the original as it exists today. In the solid red +backgrounds and other places I have aimed to show as far as possible +what the Codex looked like when fresh. + +This question as to what all the colors in detail were when fresh, I do +not feel that I have quite solved. The following palette scheme seems to +me about as near as the data permit us to formulate. + +A permanent black, being the parts reproduced in black in the present +edition. + +A brick-red, tinged with crimson, used for backgrounds, red numerals, +and probably elsewhere. This we may call unfading red. + +A genuine brown, as on the animals, pages 5-a, 8-a; perhaps also +elsewhere as lining ornament. + +A pale pink as flesh color on the human figures. + +A blue, as on the possible katun number series on pages 23 and 24. + +A turquoise-green, with varying amounts of blue tinge, on the spotted +figures and in the numeral columns of pages 15 to 18; also, with +somewhat less of the blue, for the "water" bands on pages 21 to 24. + +The above colors are all definite and positive. + +Then next appears a brownish color used for lining or ornamenting +various glyphs, and the clothing, headdress, etc., etc., of the figures. +We find many shades from a pale neutral up to a darker clear brown, and +also a definitely reddish, as on the tail of the bird on the right side +of page 23. This brown may be a fading of the red of the backgrounds and +numerals, but the permanence of the color in these latter places is so +positive that I believe it is not so. I think it should be regarded as +separate. + +We next come to a color question related directly to decipherment, that +of the very difficult numeral columns on pages 15 to 18. There is no +practical reason discernable for the use of alternating colors save the +avoidance of confusion between bar combinations. Three bars together of +different colors stand of course for three 5's; of one color they would +make a single number 15. We therefore find here our above black, red and +blue-green alternating and clearly marked in places; but we also find +many numerals of varying shades of brownish, bistre and grayish. I +called for especial care in the examination of these points on the +original Codex, and the water-color sheets and explanatory notes show in +detail the facts of the present state of the Codex. Prior to the +examination I supposed that these faded numerals were a faded red, but +this is stated in the report to be certainly not the case; the +suggestion is made that they are probably faded blacks. + +From the latter conclusion I am inclined in part to dissent, at least as +to certain passages, for two reasons. These are, first the actual +permanence of the above noted main colors, everywhere else; and second, +passages in the second columns of pages 16 and 17. In each of these we +find faded brown or gray bars, so placed between or next to plain black +bars as would give, were they faded blacks, more than three black bars +together. + +Another point on page 17 is to be noted. In the top section, first +column, are five blue 3's. Some of these blue dots, as shown in the 1887 +edition and in my water-colors, have faded to the same light brown seen +elsewhere. The brown and the blue 5 in the second column of this page, +middle division, as just mentioned, have also an identical chromatic +value in the photographs. + +My whole conclusion therefore, so far as I can formulate one, is that in +these columns we have: + +Red, black, and blue-green numerals, as shown. Some of the blue numerals +seem to have been _outlined_ with black, of which traces still appear on +the original, are seen in the photographs, and indicated in the present +color plates. + +Several instances where the Codex has been rubbed so as to leave only +the outlines of original black numerals. These are now gray in the +original, and I have left them as black outlines, touched in with gray. + +Finally, a number of pale brown numerals which are either faded +blue-greens, or else indicate a fourth color in the original. Which of +these alternatives is the true one, I cannot say. + + * * * * * + +The original Codex is still in practically as good condition as when the +three editions were taken from it. The material of which it is made is a +maguey paper of grayish tinge, and not a yellowish brown as would be +inferred from the 1887 edition. This is noteworthy, as the wearing away +of the coating with which the paper was surfaced for the writing, does +not leave a brownish place which, as in the 1887 edition, might be +mistaken for traces of applied color. This coating is indeed better +preserved in places than is shown by the 1887 edition; thus the +headdress at the extreme left of page 20, just to the right of the +restored 8 Ezanab on the present color plates, is shown with the coating +all erased and the black writing as if left on the ground-paper--which +is incorrect. + + + + +THE PAGES IN DETAIL + + +Coming then to the question of the subject-matter of the Codex, I feel +that little is in order beyond a simple analytical description of the +different pages, rather than any attempt at an interpretation. The road +of general deductions from superficial resemblances between unknown +elements and the details of other known things from other times and +places, is strewn by the wrecks of too many theories to be attractive +traveling. I am firmly convinced of the greatness and importance of the +study we have before us, and the exalted civilization which produced it; +but I do not know how to interpret these monuments. Indeed the very +persistence with which the interpretation (which will certainly be +self-evident and everywhere applicable when it does finally come) still +eludes us, is a sufficient proof that we have not yet found the right +road. When we do, great doorways to the past of mankind will open of +themselves, and we will know more of human life and evolution than we +now guess. Until then we can only describe, classify, and try to get rid +of some of the mechanical impedimenta of the search. + +What we have of the Perez Codex is manifestly but a fragment; the extent +of it originally we have no means of even guessing. It is fortunate +however that what we have gives several practically complete chapters or +portions of the work. Taking first the side of the MS. paged 2 to 12, we +find the entire side covered by a series of pictures with text, all +identical in arrangement. The few remaining traces on page 12 show its +likeness to the others, for we see in their proper places parts of the +Tun-glyph on which the figures on the upper section are seated; of the +Cimi, Tun and Cauac glyphs just as in pages 11-c-2, 6 and 8; also of the +columns of glyphs to the left, and traces of the headdress. As will +appear further, at least two more pages are required to complete this +series, and it is as good a supposition as any other that they were +those which would be numbered 1 and 13--that is, one before page 2 and +one after page 12. For convenience of reference the divisions of these +pages may be lettered from _a_ to _e_; _a_ being given to the upper +portion, _b_ to the left columns of glyphs, _e_ to the large middle +picture, and _c_ and _d_ to the text divisions above and below this. + + * * * * * + +Taking up first the central figures, section _e_, we find in each a +standing figure, with ceremonial headdress of varying character, +offering a dragon's head (a universal symbol of wisdom) to another +figure, seated on a cushioned dais, the side of which bears various +"constellation" signs. The latter in turn extends his hands, either +holding some object, or else in a simple gesture. The standing figures +are all almost completely preserved; the seated ones unfortunately +largely or wholly obliterated. In front of the standing ministrant is a +vase of offerings, usually a triple Kan figure, and in two cases with +knives. In the upper part of the picture, facing in every case but one +towards the ministrant, is a bird figure, different on each page, and +having in two cases a human head. On each page is an Ahau sign with red +numeral, all of them together forming a series which (starting on the +supposed page 1 with 4 Ahau) gives the succession 4, 2, 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, +3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6; in other words the numbers of thirteen consecutive +katuns. The Ahau numerals 13, 11, 9, on pages 3, 4 and 5, are entirely +distinct, and enough traces appear on other pages to establish this as a +katun series beyond question. If this chapter includes just a round of +numbers it would of course be complete in 13 pages. The chapter may be +historical in contents, but the presence of this numeral Ahau-series +clearly relates these pages to successive katuns in some way, whatever +other bearings they may have. The ten pages thus in some way definitely +have to do with the lapse of 72,000 days, or not quite 200 solar years, +and the extension of the series to a full cycle of 20 katuns is quite +likely. The background of this section _e_ is red on each alternate +page. + +Returning now to section _a_, we find on each page three figures, nearly +all of persons or animals, seated on a large base [Hieroglyph] +practically identical with the tun-glyph. Fourteen of the backgrounds to +these figures are red. Above each figure there seems to have been at +least six glyphs, of which but very few are left. Above these is a space +entirely erased. In the center of the section on each page is a column +containing at least two Ahaus with red numerals. The numerals of the +upper row exceed those of the lower by 6; each row decreases from page +to page by 4. The erased margins of the MS. do not afford space for +another picture besides the three, on either side, but they do just give +room for another Ahau-column on the left of each page. If this second +Ahau-column existed, we have again the katun-series repeated in each row +across. If it did not exist, the series (reading from the supposed page +1) of 13, 9, 5, etc., and 7, 3, 12, etc., decreasing by 4's, give the +numbers of successive tuns. Once again the question of whether a simple +number-round of thirteen terms, or a full round of twenty terms, whether +tuns or katuns, was originally displayed on the Codex, must be left +undetermined. It is further to be noted that faint but exact traces of a +third Ahau, on a higher line, appear on page 5, as well as some doubtful +traces on page 8. No definite relationship between the pictures of this +section _a_ and those of section _e_ is apparent. + +Section _b_ is made up of 45 or more glyphs in three columns. The first +column is almost totally erased on every page, and I have disregarded it +both in assigning reference numbers and in the type cards. The other two +columns I have numbered in double column sequence downwards; but this +can be regarded as solely for convenience' sake. The glyph [Hieroglyph] +which is three times repeated at the beginning of page 2, and recurs in +parallel position repeated two to five times on each page, is the most +common glyph in the whole Codex. It is identifiable probably 38 times, +including twice at the top of the erased _first_ column on page 4. It +heads the second column several times on every page, except 7, which is +too erased for any determination, and page 3, where a slight variation +in what is left of the postfix at b-3 forbade its insertion under the +rules I have given limiting restorations. I suspect that this glyph +should be repeated at 3-b-9 and 11-b-9, for the following reason. In +positions b-6, b-8 or b-10 of each page occurs a certain face-glyph +[Hieroglyph] that is found nowhere else in either the Perez, Dresden or +Tro.-Cort. codices. If the initial glyph is repeated at 3-b-9 and 11-b-9 +as suggested, then (with a slight variation on page 4) this series of +repetitions of the initial glyph will in each case be closed by the +face-glyph in question. + +A marked feature of section _b_ is the occurrence, near the bottom of +each page, of a Cauac-sign, with or without the [Hieroglyph] +wing-postfix, and with prefixed and superfixed [Hieroglyph] numerals, +exactly as is so common in connexion with the Chuen-sign on the +Inscriptions. This Cauac-sign is usually accompanied by an Ahau and a +Tun, each with numerals that are for the most part erased. This +combination suggests distance-numbers and dates, somewhat as on the +Inscriptions; in this case the double-numbered Cauacs would stand for so +many uinals plus so many days. The following combinations, besides the +one above, are also found: + +[Hieroglyphs] + +Section _c_ consists of 16 glyphs in two rows, above the central +picture. Glyphs 15 and 16 on each page are erased. The chief general +characteristic is the frequent repetition of the Cimi-compound, +[Hieroglyph]; the repetition on each page of a Cauac-sign with single or +double numerals as in section _b_; and of Tun-compounds, with +[Hieroglyph] subfix and with varying prefixes (frequently faces), as +especially see page 5. + +Section _d_ is a triple row of glyphs, originally 21 in some instances, +but with many now erased. I am able to establish few general +characteristics for this section, save again the frequency of the +Cimi-compound as in section _c_, of various Tun-compounds, and of the +two glyphs [Hieroglyph] and [Hieroglyph][TN-1] With the exception of +10-b-4, the face with the tau-eye occurs only in this section _d_ and on +pages 15 to 18. This glyph is exceedingly common both in Dres. and +Tro.-Cort, the form in which it appears at 3-d-4, 6, [Hieroglyph] +occurring (including its secondary compounds) no less than 126 times in +Dres. and 33 times in Tro.-Cort. + +Beneath section _d_ are the remains of red numerals and of heads and +headdresses of figures which are now too much erased to give any basis +for comment. + +A most marked feature of the Codex is the very large number of +Tun-compounds, a feature confined exclusively, with one exception, to +the present pages 2 to 11, and pages 23, 24. A classified list shows 28 +compounds of this glyph, [Hieroglyph] 20 of these showing the subfix, +and combined with a face or other prefix. The connexion of this fact +with the Tun-bases of section _a_, and with the katun-rounds shown by +the Ahau-series above referred to, is manifest. + +To sum up the general characteristics of this side of the MS., and +without attempting to interpret any separate glyphs, we find the +following data: + +The Cimi-compound [Hieroglyph] and its sub-compound [Hieroglyph] occurs +25 times. + +The numeral-compounded Cauac occurs 20 times. + +The glyph [Hieroglyph] occurs 13 times on this side and once on page 23. + +The Chuen-compound [Hieroglyph] occurs 19 times and probably +oftener--once only on the other side of the MS. + +The various Tun-glyphs occur 45 times, on the two sides. + +The face-glyph [Hieroglyph] occurs 10 times. + +The Kan-Ymix glyph [Hieroglyph] occurs 10 times. + +The glyph [Hieroglyph] occurs 37 times on this side and, with a prefix +and a changed postfix, once on page 24. + +With the exceptions noted, none of the above glyphs occur at all on the +reverse side of the MS. + +There are finally 19 different Yax ([Hieroglyph]) compounds, occurring +in all 25 times, 16 of them on this side of the MS. + +With three exceptions the above glyphs are the only ones that are +repeated in the Codex with any marked frequency. The three exceptions +are the face with tau-eye, already [Hieroglyph] mentioned, and the two +glyphs occurring as an initial [Hieroglyphs] pair twelve times on pages +15 to 18, sections _a_, _b_, _c_. + +Of month signs used as such I am only [Hieroglyphs] satisfied of 12 +Cumhu, at 18-b-4 and of 16 Zac, at 4-c-7. The glyph [Hieroglyph] at +7-c-2 may also be 1 Yaxkin. + +The only cardinal point sign is that of the West, [Hieroglyph] occurring +at 4-b-14 and again at 16-a-6. + +There are besides these numeral Cauacs, 15 other Cauac [Hieroglyph] +compounds, occurring in all 17 times on this side, and twice on pages +23, 24. + + * * * * * + +Upon turning over the Codex, we find that whereas on the side we have +been considering the scribe limited himself to the conventional red +numerals and backgrounds, with here and there a touch of brown, upon +this other side we have a wealth of color united with a harmony of +composition and structure that marks a very high degree of artistic +skill. It is not alone the accuracy of the drawing and the writing, such +as we have noted in connexion with the study of the glyphs, but the +whole manuscript as it lies open before us shows that sense of +proportion, that ability to unify without seeming effort a multitude of +details into a perfectly balanced whole, which is the positive mark of +developed and genuine culture. When we remember the exceeding difficulty +of combining primary colors into a brilliancy that is not garish, and +the equal difficulty of achieving artistic mastery in a conventional +treatment of forms, we are simply forced to recognize that we have here +the evidence of an advanced school of art with full rights of +independent citizenship. If the figures look strange and sometimes +distorted, we must remember that our whole training has been in the +realistic school, by which we are prone to judge all others, but by +which they must not be judged. We have no more right to weigh these +compositions in the scales of our art motifs than we have to weigh Greek +rhythm of quantity or Saxon of alliteration against our weights by which +we measure rhythm of rhyme and stress. In fact it is impossible for us +even to judge concerning the true harmonic effect of these other +measures, and it may well be doubted whether the very soul itself of our +meter is not empty and tinny as compared with these others--quality for +quality. + +There is one great broad line that divides the nations and civilizations +of the earth, past and present, in all their arts of expression. We may +call it that of the ideographic as against the literal. It controls the +inner form of language and of languages; it manifests in the passage of +thought from man to man; it determines whether the writing of the people +shall be hieroglyphic or alphabetic; it gives both life and form to the +ideals of their art. It is a distinction that was clearly recognized by +Wilhelm von Humboldt, when he laid down that the incorporative +characteristic essential to all the American languages is the result of +the exaltation of the imaginative over the ratiocinative elements of +mind. + +The time has passed when we think that the absence of our perspective +drawing in Japanese pictures is due to the fact that these "children of +nature" never happened to recognize that a thing looks smaller in +proportion to its distance, so that they ought to come to us to learn. +We have come, in some measure if not yet fully, to recognize that +whereas we show a thing to the eye, these other peoples suggest a +thought to the mind, by their pictures. And we should remember, and +remember always, that while our modern art having won its technical and +artistic skill within the past few hundred years, is now beginning to +emancipate itself from the materialism of the eye by efforts towards the +"impressionist" methods, these ancient peoples had long since arrived at +the ability to convey "impressions" through the medium of harmonious +compositions of the most rigid conventional elements--an artistic +achievement which those who know its difficulties can alone begin to +appreciate. + +It may be quite easily forgiven to one trained with Western, modern +eyes, who at first sight of these monuments, in total ignorance of their +meanings, sees them as strange or grotesque. But when, as their +strangeness wears away, one comes to see the unfailing accuracy with +which the glyphs are drawn, one's opinion of their makers has to change. +And when, with this familiarity gained, one advances to an appreciation +of the work in its bearings as a whole, one has to acknowledge himself +facing the production of craftsmen who had the inheritance of not only +generations, but ages of training. Such a combination of complete +mastery in composition, perfect control of definite and fixed forms, and +hand technique, can grow up from barbarism in no few hundred years. I +would hesitate to think it could even come in a few thousands, unless +they were years of greater settledness and peaceful civilization than +our two thousand years of disturbed and warring European Christendom +have yet had an example of to show us. It is easy enough in the absence +of definite historical records, and in our general ignorance of human +evolution, to theorize and speculate about it all; but the commonly +accepted picture in our minds of a few savage wandering tribes settling +and growing up in this country some several hundred or a thousand years +after the Christian era, simply will not fit in with the fact of their +ability to produce such works a few hundred years later. Had we nothing +but the Perez Codex and Stela P at Copan, the merits of their execution +alone, weighed simply in comparison with observed history elsewhere, +would prove that we have to do not with the traces of an ephemeral, but +with the remains of a wide-spread, settled race and civilization, worthy +to be ranked with or beyond even such as the Roman, in its endurance, +development and influence in the world, and the beginnings of whose +culture are still totally unknown. As to the Codex before us, we can +only imagine what the beauty, especially of the pages we now come to +discuss, must have been when the whole was fresh and perfect. + +The second side of the Codex has to be treated in four divisions or +chapters, the first of which includes pages 15 to 18. For numerical +reasons which will appear, this chapter must probably have begun, +however, at least one page further to the left. + +These four pages are laid out with three main divisions, upper, middle +and lower. Too much of the upper section is erased for any comment other +than that its arrangement seems to have been parallel in all respects +with the middle section. This latter shows three subsections, the +backgrounds in some cases being red,[24-*] containing each a picture +(probably of a god or a human figure in every instance), surmounted by a +black and a red numeral and by six glyphs, in double column. This gives +12 subsections for the four pages, which we may refer to respectively as +15-_a_, _b_, _c_, etc. Of the initial pairs of glyphs in each subsection +many are complete, and no section is left without the correct traces of +the corresponding glyph for one or other of the positions; so that +although 5 of the 24 glyphs are totally erased, we may safely restore +them all. Other features of the comparative use and frequency of the +glyphs on these pages have already been given. + +At the top of each picture is found a black and a red numeral. These +form the consecutive black "counters" or interval numbers, and the +corresponding red day numbers of subdivided tonalamatls, so common in +Dres. and Tro.-Cort. It is customary to find these tonalamatls divided +into fifths or fourths, 52 or 65 days respectively--four or five +trecenas. At the 53rd or 66th day the initial red number is again +reached, and the calculation is (by hypothesis) repeated, starting again +at the left with a new day-sign below the first. Such a column is seen +in the lower part of page 17, where we find 6 Oc, Ik, Ix; these are to +be completed by restoring below an erased Cimi and Ezanab, completing +the 260 days and bringing us around again to 6 Oc. The total of all the +black "counters" in any series must always be some multiple of 13, +usually 52 or 65, as stated. And since each "counter" is the interval +between its adjoining red numbers, wherever a red and a black number are +given, the other red number, whether before or after, can always be +filled in. + +No traces of this initial column appear for the series in the middle +division, and several of the numerals are also erased. Two obscurities +must be cleared up before trying to fill out the series. On page 16 +right is a partly erased black numeral, which from the traces may be +either 10 or 11. Taking it as 10, we have 13 plus 10 equals an erased +red 10; plus 5 (on page 17) equals the red 2 below the 5. This verifies +so far. But we next find--plus 5 equals 8, which is of course incorrect. +An inspection of the MS. and the photographs reveals a reddish spot (or +perhaps even _three_ such spots) in the extreme upper right corner of +the picture space, 17-a, and also a dark spot _under_ the black 5 in +17-b. It is possible that the separated red dots (one doubtful) are to +be read together as 3; or that the red dots under the 5 are to be +disregarded in the count (just as is the red 8 on the next page, 18-a), +and the red number for 17-a found in the upper right, above the seated +figure. If the red number in 17-a is 3, the two numbers in 16-c must be +11. Or it may be assumed that the spot under the 5 in 17-b belongs to +it, making 6 instead of 5, which figures out. The final result is the +same, as we have either 10 and 6, or 11 and 5, in these two places, and +either reaches properly the clear red 8 in 17-b. + +In 18-a we find black 26, with a small red 8 below, and a large red 13 +in the usual place at the side. The red 8 will have to be disregarded, +as not part of the series, which requires 13, and nothing else. + +We may now possibly set down the series as follows, using small figures +above the the[TN-2] line for the black counters, and putting in +parentheses all numbers restored: + + (6)^{3}9^{(6)}(2)^{5}7^{6}13^{11}(11)^{5}3^{5}8^{5}(13)^{26}13^{10}10, + or else + (6)^{3}9^{(6)}(2)^{5}7^{6}13^{10}(10)^{5}2^{6}8^{5}(13)^{26}13^{10}10 + +This leaves us the black number at the beginning, in 15-a, and both +numbers at the end, 18-c, still not filled in. Adding together all the +counters we get 82, plus at least the two missing black numbers, one at +each end. If the total were 104, we might expect it to have been +comprised within the four subsections 15-a to 18-a. But 104 is not a +tonalamatl fraction. 130 days, although a tonalamatl half, is an unknown +division, and would hardly get into the space. If we begin the series in +the upper division of the page (as occurs in Dres.) and come around to +the middle division, the probabilities would require that it displayed a +full series of 260 days, and again also that it began _to the left_ of +page 15. The probabilities of this series as it is, therefore, indicate +at least a page 14 to the left, arranged like the other four, and +forming one chapter with them. + +We have now to deal with the puzzling numeral columns, in alternating +colors, found to the left of each subsection of the upper and middle +divisions--24 columns in all. These have been referred to at some length +in the preliminary discussion of the colors, and there is little more +that can be said. As there said, the entire reason for alternating the +colors can not be certainly assumed. Alternation of color occurs not +only where it is needed to distinguish bars, but also where we have only +lines of dots, which are of course self-separating. And to say that it +is only for artistic purposes is a mere begging of the question. Only +four or five of these columns are complete, and a footing of the numbers +in each gives us varying amounts from 113 to 153, and tells us nothing. +On the parts that are left we six times have a Chuen [Hieroglyph] with a +black number apparently belonging to it (perhaps a multiplier), and also +once a double Chuen, as in Tro.-Cort. The use of the red _kal_-sign, or +20, is frequent. + +The lower division of these pages was also subdivided, into four +sections on each, which we may refer to as _d_, _e_, _f_, _g_. Each +contains a picture, with black and red numerals as above, surmounted by +four glyphs only. The pictures are all quite incomplete; neither is +there anything to add to what has been already said of the glyphs. + +In the middle of page 17 one tonalamatl ends, with a red 6, and another +begins, also with 6. The second starts with the day 6 Oc, is divided +into fifths, and the initial column must have been in full: 6 Oc, Ik, +Ix, Cimi, Ezanab. The restoration of the series gives: 6^{22}2^{(15 in +two stages)}(4)^{10}1^{4}6. This however only gives a total of 51 for +the black counters. There is space to the right for another section, but +whatever may have been written there has entirely disappeared. The last +three numbers 1^{4}6 seem unmistakable, the [Hieroglyph] especially so. +If we regard the last 6 as an error for 5, and then restore ^{1}6 in +section 18-g, it would give the necessary 52. This is the one passage in +the Codex where I can see no way but to assume a mistake in the writing; +for 1 plus 4 does not equal 6, and unless for some entirely unknown +reason the error is clear. + +The preceding tonalamatl may have been divided either into 52- or 65-day +periods. If the period was 52, it must have begun with an initial column +on page 15, right side. In this event it would be restored as follows: + + (initial 6)^{(19 in two stages)}(12)^{6}5^{7}12^{(12 in two stages)} + (11)^{8}6, + +giving 52. In this case a third tonalamatl must have begun somewhere to +the left, and ended on the erased right side of page 15. + +A different restoration would carry the initial column back to the +extreme edge of page 15, when we would have this: + + (initial 6)^{(2)}(8)^{8}3^{11}(1)^{(11 in two stages)}(12)^{6}5^{7} + 12^{(12 two stages)}(11)^{8}6 + +giving 65. + +To choose between these two would be mere guessing. + + * * * * * + +The well-known pages 19 and 20 come next. Together they make four +compartments, up and down the full length of the pages, two with red and +two with black backgrounds. Each is, or rather was, preceded by a column +of 13 "year-bearers." The left column on each page I have restored, +although no traces of it are left. But apart from its manifest +necessity, as part of the series, if the width of the red ground on page +20 (see the photographs) is measured, it will be found to be just the +correct proportion, and part of the straight left edge of the red can +still be seen, just left of the rod in the hand of the mummy-figure, and +leaving just room for the Ezanab column. In the colored plates I have +only shown 12 instead of 13 day-signs in each column, but a measurement +of the space above and below shows that the missing four are to be +placed at the top and not at the bottom. These two pages therefore have +application in some way to 52 solar years, beginning with 1 Lamat and +ending with 13 Akbal (Votan). + +These "year-bearers" are those of the Tzental instead of the Yucatecan +system, as described by Landa, and on these two pages rests, so far as +regards known subject-matter, the assignment of the Codex Perez to the +Palenque rather than to the northern Maya district. It is thus to be +considered with the Inscriptions of that region, and with the Dresden +Codex.[28-*] And in accord with what is known of the state of the +different parts of the country at the time of the Conquest, and of the +history of the break-up and extinction of the Maya empire, it must be +assigned the greater antiquity on that account. + +It is probable that pages 19 and 20 had no text passages. + + * * * * * + +Pages 21 and 22 again, judging from the coloring and the arrangement, +seem to form a pair. Each had on the upper part probably five rows of +glyphs, some 70 in all, of which only 10 or 12 are at all recognizable. +Contrary to all the pages hitherto discussed, it may be that these +glyphs are to be _read from right to left_. The faces in these all look +to the right, and the customary prefixes are all on the right. In +classifying these glyphs, therefore, they must be all reversed. + +The greater part of page 21 is framed in and divided up by green bands, +evidently for water, two branches of which, after crossing a +constellation band near the bottom, end one in falling torrents, the +other in a circle surrounding a _kin_-sign, [Hieroglyph], the sun, and +itself surrounded by four dragon's heads, all figured in the midst of +the torrents. Below this symbol is the open mouth of a dragon, towards +which is looking and pointing a black-faced figure, of the god D, the +Ancient of Days, described by Schellhas as the moon and night god. To +the left of the torrents is a figure, nearly erased, but with the +wristlets characteristic of the god of death, and holding in the hand a +torch. The glyph [Hieroglyph] occurs written in the torrents, at the +left side. + +The green bands divide the middle of the page into six compartments +containing, so far as not totally erased, 65 day-signs, in columns of +five. All my efforts to relate these signs either to each other or to +any other series in the codices, have so far been fruitless. The upper +seven columns have each a black numeral beneath, running from right to +left, 1 2 3 3 5 6 and the dot of another 6. + +Each of the columns of five day-signs forms a closed circuit returning +into itself. In the upper row the 1st and 6th columns show successive +days 8 apart in order; columns 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 are 16 apart in order. +The 1st in the lower row is at intervals of 8, the 2nd and 5th at +intervals of 16. The 3rd column is, with the 4th, an exception, the +intervals being successively 8, 4, 4, 8, 16. That this is probably not a +scribal error is shown by the fact that the same series, though +beginning with different days, occurs in both columns. The 6th and +possible 7th columns of the lower part are indeterminable. + +We thus have three rounds of 5 times 8, or 40 days; seven rounds of 5 +times 16, or 80 days; two irregular rounds of 40 days. These are not +such columns as could form the beginning of a series of tonalamatl +fifths, in which the successive days come 12 apart. So that this section +must be left unexplained.[29-*] + +At the right of page 21 begins a solid red background which probably +extended right across page 22. Two standing spotted green figures appear +on page 21; seven seated figures, one green spotted, on page 22. + +Page 22 is crossed by a winding dragon whose body is covered by the +"constellation band." A narrow green band also winds across the page, +inclosing two of the upper figures. Below the dragon and this green band +are seen, seated above the open mouths of two erect dragons, two figures +in conversation, each bearing various insignia of the death god. A very +curious cartouche outline, partly erased, at the lower right, incloses +what seems to be 13 Ahau, 3, 6, the right hand dot of the 3 being +erased. + + * * * * * + +On pages 23 and 24 the brilliant backgrounds of the preceding pages +disappear, and we have two pages, to be read together, of glyphs, +day-signs and small figures, finely and sparingly illuminated with the +usual four colors. The body of the dragon is apparently continuous from +page 21, and crosses these pages entirely with the constellation band, +displayed along its full length. + +The upper part of these two pages contained originally 91 glyphs, +perhaps to be read _from right to left_, the same as 21 and 22. The +faces look to the right, the usual _pre_fixes and the few numerals are +also on the right of their respective compounds. Many of the glyphs are +the same as those on pages 2 to 11, reversed right for left. Glyph +23-a-11 should be specially noted. At first sight the numeral prefix, 6, +appears to belong, postfixed, to glyph 23-a-17. But on investigation we +find the same compound, a _yax-chuen_ with [Hieroglyph] prefix, also at +21-a-8 and 24-a-26, in each case with the 6 attached. The [Hieroglyph] +affix just below this number 6 is also plainly a _pre_fix to glyph +23-a-12; so that glyph 23-a-ll must be read [Hieroglyph] and include the +6 as prefix. At 24-a-26, [Hieroglyph] the same glyph is written left to +right. + +There are also a few other glyphs on these pages which cannot be +regarded as right to left. Such for instance, as [Hieroglyph] at +23-a-19 and 24-a-17. In this glyph the affix [Hieroglyph] at the side is +properly a prefix (perhaps the possessive), and I do not recall any +instance of its use as a postfix. In the affixes, the superfix and +prefix positions may as a general rule be regarded as wholly identical; +also the subfix and postfix positions. But also as a general rule the +two pairs are I believe not to be interchanged, any more than we +interchange prefixes and endings in English; this rule is not universal +for all affixes, as some seem able to go anywhere, but it is one I have +always regarded in my glyph classifying. As to [Hieroglyph] it is to be +noted that this is a symmetrical glyph and as there can be no doubt that +these glyphs were equally legible to the Maya reader written in either +direction, it may well be regarded as unimportant, and not to be rated +even as an error. [Hieroglyph] is a still stronger similar case. Here +the wing [Hieroglyph] affix to the right is certainly a postfix, the +superfix is in the usual left to right order, [Hieroglyph] and the main +element written left to right, as in all its other instances. And +[Hieroglyph] is again in point. + +The face-_tun_ compounds on these pages, and also on the opposite side +of the manuscript, should be particularly noted. + +Below the constellation band, inscribed on a wavy green band (the waters +of space?) are seven repetitions of [Hieroglyph] or the sun glyph +[Hieroglyph] within the shields.[31-*] Between each appeared probably +two black 8's. The sun-shields are about to be seized by different +animals, dragon, tortoise, bird, etc., a seeming evident suggestion of +either an eclipse, or the passage of the sun into some zodiacal sign. +Another series of seven sun-shields, on the green band, separated by +numeral 8's, and attacked by animals and a skeleton, crosses the lower +part of the pages. + +Between these two bands we find a series of columns of five day-signs +each preceded by red numerals. Allowing for the space erased I have +restored the last column to the right, and part of the preceding. This +gives 12 columns only, whereas at least 13 are required. There may have +been a 12th column to the left of page 23, where there is just the +proper space for this,[32-*] leaving the dragon's body to curve above +the column so as to pass to page 22. The series may have continued on +across page 25; 13 columns on pages 23, 24, and 7 more filling page 25, +would make a full cycle of 20 columns. And in this connexion it should +be noted that the dragon's body with constellation band goes almost to +the edge of page 24 with no sign of ending or turning, such as might be +expected if the chapter ends here. And if the constellation dragon +continues over page 25, the column series may well have done the same. + +Before discussing this series it will be of advantage to review what the +Codex gives us on the question of reading left to right or right to +left. + +First, in both the Dresden and Tro.-Cort. the glyph faces look to the +left; and, as shown by the calculations, reading is from left to right, +with a very few possible exceptions, such as the tables on Dres. 24, 64, +69, etc. + +In the Perez, as shown by the tonalamatls on 15 to 18, the 52 +year-bearers on 19 and 20, and the katun-series on 2 to 12, the general +direction of the reading is also left to right. + +Above or below each of the red number columns of these pages 23, 24, is +to be found a blue number. These numbers make a katun-series, starting +with 4, decreasing by 2, if we read it left to right. It is not, to be +sure, accompanied by the customary Ahau-sign, [Hieroglyph], but, taken +in connexion with the marked parallelism of the glyphs, face-tun glyphs +and also others, on these two pages with those on pages 2 to 11, already +discussed, the possibility that a katun-series is a part of this +subject-matter must be considered. + +On the other hand, the glyphs in the upper part of all four pages 21 to +24 face to the right, and, as already set out in detail, are practically +all written in _reverse position_ as regards their prefixes, etc. And so +also does the Eb-glyph in the day-columns we are now considering face to +the right. These columns, unlike those on page 21, which include all of +the 20 day-signs, only include 5 of the day-signs: Kan, Lamat, Eb, Cib +and Ahau; Eb being the only non-symmetrical one of these. + +We have thus quite strong evidence, especially as provided by the +position of the prefixes, for a right to left reading, opposed by the +direction of this katun-number series--if it be one. In Egyptian +writing, of course, the direction of the reading changes with the facing +of the figures. + +To return now to the columns themselves, all the day-signs in any one +column have each the same red numeral, so that we have: 8 Cib, 8 Ahau, 8 +Kan, 8 Lamat, 8 Eb; and so on. The red numerals to each column also +decrease by 2 towards the right, pari passu with the blue numerals. If +we read each column downwards, it will form a closed circuit or round, +returning into itself, with intervals of 104 days, from 8 Cib to 8 Ahau, +etc., and again from 8 Eb back to 8 Cib. But if we next try to go to the +next column, the series breaks, for from 8 Eb to 6 Lamat is only 76 +days. We get a like break whether we read upward or downward, or right +to left. Taking the columns separately then, the entire series (whether +made up of 13, 20 or any other number of columns) cannot be made to read +in one regular series, with a constant interval between the successive +days of the whole. + +But, if we restore two columns, making 13 columns, and then read +horizontally _across_, either right to left, or left to right, one line +after another, the first day of the second line follows the last of the +first, and after going through the whole 65 terms, we return again from +the last of the last line to the first of the first--always with a +constant interval. In other words, this section could be written around +a wheel. If we read left to right, the distance from (10 Kan) to 8 Cib, +etc., is 232 days; 232x65=15,080. Or if from right to left,[33-*] the +interval from (12 Lamat) to 1 Cib, etc., is 28 days; 28x13 = 364, x5 = +1820. That both of these products are multiples of 260 is a truism, and +cannot in any way require us to see a tonalamatl reckoning as the basis +of this passage. Nor is each separate day-column a tonalamatl in fifths, +as so often found. + +Finally, if we should assume that the series went on across page 25, to +a full katun-round of 20 terms, the circuit would be broken; line 2 +would not regularly follow line 1, and so on. The probabilities then, as +derived from the succession of the days, seem almost conclusive that +this is a section of 65 terms, to be read horizontally, in whichever +direction. And then, since the subdivision of 15,080 days (or 1820, if +read right to left) into 65 terms, _necessarily_ gives us successive +day-_numbers_ decreasing (or increasing) by 2, the likeness to the +katun-series may be only apparent--a simple truism. Or, on the other +hand, in view of the glyph similarities (a point which I think should +always be given close attention), there _may_ be some relation to the +katun-series--all in spite of the right-left or left-right difficulties. + +What part the blue[34-*] number series plays, I cannot say. Dr. +Seler,[34-[+]] suggests that they are "corrections," to set each term +ahead 20 days. This states a fact, but does not give any explanation. +Each blue number is 6 less than its red column, and 7 Kan _is_ of course +20 days later than 13 Kan. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[24-*] Dr. Foerstemann (_Comm. z. Par. Mayahds._) speaks of the background +to the central figure on page 16 as black, instead of red; he also +describes the number columns as made up of red and black numerals only. +There are many similar errors in his Commentary, due to his ignorance of +the colors, and to the obscurity of the photographic reproductions. + +[28-*] Where to place the Tro.-Cort., in view of the _apparent_ Kan, +Muluc[TN-3] Ix, Cauac years indicated on pages 34-37, and the 13 Cumhu +immediately next to 13 Ahau on page 73 (13 Ahau 13 Cumhu falling only +possibly in a year 12 Lamat) I am not ready to say. + +[29-*] Mr. Bowditch suggests to me that the numbers 1 2 3 3 5 6 6 are to +be read with each of the day signs in their respective columns, and, +being placed in the middle, may apply both to the upper and lower sets. +The strongest objection I can see to this is that the numbers are black, +instead of the usual red. In this case, instead of intervals of 8 and +16, giving rounds of 5x8=40 and 5x16=80 days, we would have intervals of +156 and 208 (from 1 Ymix to 1 Muluc, etc.), giving rounds of 780 and +1040 days respectively. Or, if read _upwards_, we would have 52 and 104 +day intervals (1 Ben to 1 Chicchan, etc.), and rounds of 260 and 520 +days. But whichever be the case, the page is _sui generis_, and its why +is still beyond us. + +[31-*] I have retained the usual term "shields" for the flaring forms +which embrace the sun glyph, though without accepting its +appropriateness. They might with equal likelihood be conventionalized +wings. + +[32-*] Dr. Foerstemann ignores the space on the right of page 24, and +restores two columns to the left of page 23 in order to make up the +thirteen columns; but, as shown by the edges of the pages in the +photographs, one column restored in each place will just fill the +obliterated space. + +[33-*] Dr. Seler's reading; _Gesammelte Abhandlungen_, I, 515. + +[34-*] The blue is a true blue, quite distinct from the turquoise blue +elsewhere, and is found in the case of these numbers only. + +[34-[+]] _Gesammelte Abhandlungen_, I, 515; "Zur mexik. Chronologie." + + + + +THE MAYA GLYPHS + + +Up to date our knowledge of the meanings of the glyphs is still to all +intents and purposes limited to the direct tradition we have through +Landa, and the deductions immediately involved in these. We know the day +and month signs, the numbers, including 0 and 20, four units of the +archaic calendar count (the day, tun, katun and cycle), the cardinal +point signs, the negative particle. We have not fully solved the uinal +or month sign, which seems to be _chuen_ on the monuments and a _cauac_, +or _chuen_, in the manuscripts. We are able to identify what must be +regarded as metaphysical or esoteric applications of certain glyphs in +certain places, such as the face numerals.[35-*] But every one of these +points is either deducible directly by necessary mathematical +calculation, or else from the names of certain signs given by Landa in +his day and month list, and then found in other combinations, such as +_yax_, _kin_, etc. That we have as many of the points as we have, and +still cannot form from them the key--that we cannot _read_ the +glyphs--is a constant wonder; but a fact nevertheless. + +The innumerable efforts to identify the glyphs by their superficial +appearance, calling the banded headdress a "pottery decoration," and +explaining the face-glyph of the North thereby, because in Maya _xaman_ +is north and _xamach_ a tortilla dish (to say nothing of others still +more fanciful, by a host of writers), have broken down, as was to be +expected. I mention this instance because it illustrates fully the +results of superficial analysis, united with a seeming ineradicable +tendency even among those most able students who have added the most to +our stock of Maya knowledge (among whom Dr. Brinton was certainly one of +the foremost), to treat these glyphs as carelessly done, to disregard +the differences between manifest variants, or else to talk freely, +whenever a passage does not fit the explanation which is being worked +out, of scribal errors. + +In the first place, _if_ these glyphs are to be interpreted primarily by +the Yucatecan Maya dialect (one in which we have most ample printed and +MS. lexicographic material), and if in that dialect no other words at +all resembling _xaman_ and _xamach_ are found, as we are told, then +(_if_ the Mayas named the north star, or the North, by a pun on a +tortilla dish) wherever this banded headdress is found, we must assume +the text to be treating either of the North, or of tortillas. That might +safely be left to break down of its own weight; but we shall also see +that the explanation is given in total disregard of manifest, important +variants. This banded headdress appears ornamenting at least +[Hieroglyphs] five separate and distinct faces; one a wholly human face, +the others with various other definite characteristics, the most +frequent and prominent of which are the monkey-like face and mouth we +see in the [Hieroglyph] glyph for the north, and a sort of bird's +plumage covering the back of the head. These two are separate, are never +combined, and must be classified rigidly apart. We have therefore three +elements, the monkey face, the plumage covering (if we may call it so), +and the banded headdress. It is obvious that while the monkey face may +be specific of the North, the bands are not specific at all, but +general. + +It is with the greatest diffidence that I suggest any interpretations on +my own part as yet, but it is of course certain that the distinction of +masculine and feminine existed in the spoken language, and it must exist +somewhere in the glyphs. And it will have to be a prefix, not a postfix; +for what I may call the syntax of glyph formation must follow that of +the speech. At the bottom of Dres. 61 and 62 are seven identical +Oc-glyphs with subfix, and with prefixes. Five of these prefixes are +faces with the woman's curl, recognized on the figured illustrations. +One is a face with the banded headdress. Remembering that this headdress +occurs not infrequently on a plain human face with no other +characteristic, it is not a far guess that it may have denoted a +freeman, a lord, entitled to such a headdress. In this event it may on +the one hand serve as a simple masculine definitive, the prefix _ah-_, +and on the other, to attach the idea of lordship to other glyphs with +which it is incorporated, as: the North Star, or region, the Lord of the +Firmament. + +This illustration serves to show what seems to me an essential +preliminary of the work we have in hand, and the part to which I have so +far devoted most effort. The glyphs must be determined, compared and +classified, and what I have called the "syntax" of their composition, +studied. The particles and their positions, the various _incorporated_ +elements, are of the utmost importance, though they are very frequently +ignored. _They are the written picture of the spirit of the spoken +language._ The task I have most looked forward to in this connexion has +of course been with the Dresden, but having started upon the Perez for +the reasons I have given, it was a smaller task in itself, and could be +brought to completion within less time, while serving as part of the +larger work. As the determination and classification of the glyphs had +to proceed all as one work, it has enabled me not only to complete my +Index for this codex, but also to print the text in type, and to verify +and bring out such facts regarding the color questions as was possible +to do--both of them stages needed in the general work. In doing it I +have studied with my hands as well as with eyes, and I have been well +repaid. The actual labor has not been small, but it has been worth it +all if only to see before the eyes something of what this Codex must +have been when fresh and new. For as I have said, while in my colored +restoration I may have made some mistakes of eye, for which the +photographs will be a check, I have _guessed_ nothing. + +The classification of the glyphs meets of course with some difficulties +in detail, but it can readily be cast into a quite simple general +outline. Something over 2000 different compound forms are found in the +three codices. The simple elements composing these are perhaps 350 in +number, and may be divided broadly into main elements and affixes or +particles. First of course come day and month signs, which, with _kin_, +_tun_, _kal_, and a few marked variants, use up 50 numbers. Next will +come the faces, about 75 simple elements. Next the animal and bird heads +and figures, about 50 numbers. Next the hands, crosses, etc., and the +list of conventional or geometric forms, another 75. Then some 75 +particles. + +The cards required for the first 50 numbers, including only compounds +formed from day-signs and excluding day-signs used simply as such, +amount to practically one half of the number required for the whole +index. Certain elements, notably the _kin_, the _tun_, the monkey-face +with banded headdress, already referred to, the face with tau-eye, the +_yax_, the cross, produce a great number of compounds--a fact of note, +as it is evident that the number of compounds, having due regard to our +limited material, is an index to the relative position of the idea in +the Mayan vocabularies. Some of the day-signs produce practically no +compounds, others a great many. The compounds fall readily into a system +of primary and secondary derivatives, by which their relations may be +easily studied, and their proportions recognized. + +Coming to the distinguishing of variants, one first meets the fact that +the three codices differ. The writing of the Dresden and Perez is +regular and accurate, the Perez exceedingly so. Every different variant +must here be accounted for. In Tro.-Cort. the writing is crude and +careless, so that we have many evident abbreviations which are not +genuine variants. In the next place, certain regular differences occur +in this or that glyph or particle, between the forms of the different +manuscripts. Thus the Perez uses [Hieroglyph] and the others +[Hieroglyph] and so on. A comparison of the compounds shows that these +must be the same. The regular variations between the three manuscripts +and variations of abbreviation, when well evidenced, may be eliminated. + +The day-signs have many variants, mostly quite simple, and all +checked positively by the use of the form in some day-series. Ix has +many forms. There are at least three entirely different Cimi forms: +[Hieroglyphs][TN-4] There are found two different forms of the closed +eye, one of which certainly is Cimi, the other occurs regularly in +such different compounds (and I think never as a simple day-sign), as +to make it necessary to separate it; [Hieroglyph] it has probably a +different meaning entirely--perhaps that of sleep. + + * * * * * + +A noteworthy technical line is to be found in the drawing of the glyphs. +Whereas in the case of the day-signs, faces, and conventional forms in +general, certain variations of handwriting, etc., are evidently +permitted, but only within certain definite lines, in some few animal +glyphs no two instances are just alike. In other words, the glyphs in +general are conventions with established meanings--actual writing;[39-*] +but we also have _pictures_ of birds or animal forms, where the writer +is not following convention, but nature. The freedom of style used in +the latter case only serves to emphasize the conventionality of the +former, and to separate the entire system from either picture or rebus +writing. See the following fish-glyph forms: + +[Hieroglyphs] + +These pictures are almost exclusively in uncompounded forms, whereas the +conventional glyphs, whether human, animal or otherwise, are subject to +the general rules of incorporation. + +Writing is a system of conventional forms with established meanings, +corresponding to and reflecting the structure of the spoken language; +some picture elements whose value as such has remained either wholly or +partly present in the minds of those who use them, are not inconsistent +with genuine writing; when present they add vividness to the writing, +and emphasize its ideographic character. A combination of picture forms +only, may be used as means of communication to a certain degree, but can +never constitute _writing_; that, like speech, must provide for the +expression of the relationships and categories that make up the +structure of language. + +Egyptian writing, which is of course _true writing_, contains elements +of every class. It has symbols and also pictures, not only of things or +creatures, but of actions as well, "contracted to a narrow space, made +cursive"; these pictures, although still ranking as such, stand for +_words_--they can be _pronounced_, and have syntax, which is the crucial +test. Egyptian next has unrecognizable forms, whose meaning has become a +simple convention, but which still stand for _words_, or particles. It +has elements which are not pronounced for themselves, but only serve as +determinatives. (Such a use of determinatives is not limited to +hieroglyphic writing, but is possessed also by alphabetic; the second +_o_ in the word _too_ is strictly a determinative, to distinguish the +adverb _too_ from the preposition _to_, both pronounced alike. Tibetan +has an elaborate system of silent letters used as grammatical +determinatives.) And then Egyptian writing finally has pure alphabetic +elements. + +As to Maya, I think it far more than likely that, when at last +deciphered, it will be found to contain most if not all of these +classes--_mutatis mutandis_. There seems every evidence that it is made +up of pictures with probably both concrete and abstract meanings; +word-conventions; and grammatical particles. It is at least probable +that there are also silent determinatives and not unlikely that there is +also a pure phonetic or alphabetic element. That the latter element is +not the basic one may I think be now regarded as established. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[35-*] The Tibetan use of symbolical words in place of numerals is worth +noting here, even though we do not know the Maya face numerals well +enough as yet for any comparison. See Csoma de K["o]ros, _Tibetan +grammar_, Calcutta, 1824, pp. 155 _et seq._; also Ph. Ed. Foucaux, +_Grammaire Tibetaine_, Paris, 1858, pp. 157 _et seq._ + +[39-*] "These [the Maya glyphs] do not represent a real script, as is so +often maintained, but are only pictures which have been reduced to the +appearance of letters, contracted to a narrow space, made +cursive."!--Dr. Eduard Seler, _Codex Vaticanus No. 3773_, page +65.--Well? + + + + +CONCLUSION + +_Introite, nam et hic dii sunt._ + + +It is not my desire to add, as a conclusion to a comment bearing on the +restoration and interpretation of Mayan hieroglyphic texts, any general +discussion of the data which tradition and the early Spanish writers +have left us of the mythology, rites and customs of the American races; +and still less to run out a line of attractive analogies between +isolated instances of their words, symbols or works, with those of any +of the various nations of the other hemisphere; nor to build up any +theory of descent or intercourse with any of these latter as today known +to history. The subject before us is on its very face too vast; the +written and traditional data are entirely too scanty and too little +understood; and while we are still obliged to designate the various gods +and personages of the Codices as god A, B, etc., and are unable to fix +definitely[41-*] a single inscribed date in terms of our chronology, or +tell the event attached to it, fancied comparisons amount to little. And +the favorite "linguistic" method is more fragile yet, especially when +the uncertainties of spelling and transliteration are considered, and +above all the frequent total ignorance of the past history and changes +the different words compared must have gone through since the time when +by any possibility a physical transmission from one locality to the +other could have taken place. These ought to be commonplaces of +research, but it is to be feared that they have not quite yet become +so.[42-*] There is no need to give instances of such false analogies +which have served as the bases for a multitude of filiation theories, +all equally well "supported" by details, and all mutually exclusive. Nor +on the other hand can we deny the existence actually of a very great +number of resemblances and identities which cannot be ignored, but must +imply connexions of some kind. The English nation is not a Hebrew people +because it had a prime minister Disraeli, nor Greeks because they have a +Queen Alexandra, nor Romans because of certain local names. Such facts +even when real, and established as such, may only be evidence of a +single continental culture or transcontinental intercourse. + +It has been the dictum of a certain school of archaeology, still very +much in general favor, that all these identities are to be explained as +the natural result of the innate tendencies of untutored men, on their +evolutionary rise, at certain cultural stages, to imagine the same myths +and invent the same rites. From this as a principle I wholly dissent; it +simply does not meet the facts. There are of course many facts to which +it does apply, such as those that both Chinese and Americans made paper, +tanned leather, made feather ornaments, used star and flower names for +their children, and so on: facts which had been used to prove Chinese +and American identity, and to which Dr. Brinton justly added in retort +that they also slept at night, wore clothes when it was cold, and so on. +But there is a very great number of facts, a number constantly growing +with research, which cannot be so dismissed. Such are the employment of +abstract symbolism, the erection of great structures all having a +definite and identical astronomical bearing and evident use, the common +possession of so-called myths all telling the one story, and only +slightly modified locally, such as the birth-stories of Huitzilopochtli +and of Herakles, and the stories of the travail of Latona pursued by the +Python and of the Woman clothed with the Sun in _Revelation_; or the +universal tradition of seven ancestral caves or cities in America, +compared with the Tibetan and Puranic stories of the seven lotus-leaves +of ['S]veta-dvipa, the first continental home of the race; the _Hacha de +cobre_ of the Miztecs and the ever-turning spear of jade of the Japanese +story of the place where the gods first descended on earth; or the whole +question of the origin of the Zodiac. These things, and a host of +others, need a different explanation--all the more since the more we are +learning of them the more we find that they enclose facts of which the +hypothetical "savage children" could not, _ex hypothesi_, have been +aware--some facts indeed which our very latest modern science is only +now learning.[43-*] + +But while dissenting now wholly from this theory (of "coincidentalism") +one cannot but hold in all respect those who in their time held it. It +is the duty of the savant to make the best logical use he can of what he +has, and he cannot be criticised for not using finer scales than the +time affords. And this theory was needed as an answer to the +absurdities, brought out in utter disregard of physical possibilities, +postulating off-hand migrations and filiations and evolutionary advances +totally impossible within the periods allowed for their completion, and +utterly without parallel in any known part of the world or page of +history. And yet, when this theory had its birth, the most of +Christendom was still enthralled by the Ussherian chronology of the +creation and history of the whole divine universe, which simply did not +have room in it for all these things to happen naturally and +connectedly. + +And if it is urged that present science had already say a generation +ago, a second's time we might say in the life of humanity, begun to +emancipate our ideas of time and evolution, still it is the fact that +that increase in breadth of vision has so far applied to every known +thing but man himself. The old belief that gave the world 6000 years of +life, at least put thinking man at its beginning; the modern nightmare +gives us a world for hundreds of millions of years without _thought_, +and makes human civilization an ephemeral episode of a few seconds of +universal duration. Disregarding, one is forced to say wilfully, the +fact that every single one of their own arguments in favor of anthropoid +descent for man would equally support a theory that the anthropoids are +debased offshoots of human stocks,[45-*] biology still demands such a +lapse of time for its physical evolution that its adherents oppose and +belittle to the utmost every bit of evidence of any antiquity even for +the physical frame of man. We have, to say nothing of the rest of the +world, Egyptian civilization now pushed back 10,000 years, and (together +with others as we slowly uncover them) as far removed as ever from +barbarism, if not indeed growing greater as we go back; but we are not +allowed anything but apelike, half arboreal savages 50,000 years ago. +And yet every observed _fact_ shows us savage or worn-out races +everywhere throughout the world deteriorating and dying out, and nowhere +any savages progressing or, unaided by outside influence, developing +what we know as civilization. We see everywhere the rise and fall of +nations, races and civilizations, and their utter blotting out; and we +refuse to accept that process as a universal law through which the +destiny of the human race is working itself out. In fact, we do not seem +to believe that the human race has any destiny; it may have beginning +and an end, but no destiny. + +And so although this modern scientific school began as a reaction +against the narrowness of theological limitations, both of time and +greatness, so hampered and hypnotized has our thought been by both, that +man is of nearly as little universal account with one as with the +other, and we find a seemingly ineradicable repugnance to admit that any +people had "developed" writing before the least possible time ago we can +fix it, usually this side of the year 1 of the Christian era. And thus +we have M. Terrien de Lacouperie's "450 _embryo_ scripts and +writings"--which another fifty years may show to be nearly as many +fragments of one or a few great stocks of ancient hieroglyphs. Of course +it is impossible to derive the American races or civilizations from the +Chinese, Phoenicians, Hittites, or any of the cultures of the other +hemisphere, if we limit the latter to what we know of their history +within the past two or three thousand odd years, and American +civilization to the past fifteen hundred years. The matter is somewhat +greater than that--just as man is somewhat greater than a fool of +natural caprice. + +There is one point from which this question of American origins, at +least of American place in human society and civilization, can be +studied in its broader lines, even with what materials we have. It is +that of language in general. All these other matters we have touched +upon are necessary factors in the question of human evolution, and the +position of America cannot be considered apart from them, and all of +them. But Language touches both the glyphs directly and also all these +other things, and is itself of surpassing interest and importance as a +human study. + + * * * * * + +From one point of view Language is man himself, and it certainly is +civilization. Without it man is not man, a Self-expressing and social +being. It is, as von Humboldt laid down, not an act but an activity, or +energy, not a thing done, but a doing. It is the constant effort of the +conscious self to formulate thought. It is the use of the energy of +creation, of objectivation, a veritable many-colored rainbow bridge +between the inner or higher man and the outer or lower worlds. And it is +not only the expression of Man as man, but in its varied forms it is the +inevitable and living expression of each man or body of men at any and +every point of time. Itself boundless as an ocean, it is in its infinite +forms and streams and colors and sounds, the faithful and exact exponent +both of the sources and channels by which it has come, and of the banks +in which it is held, racial, national or individual. It is living or +dead, forceful or weak, pure or foul, refreshing or flat, healing or +poisonous. It limits us, but yields to our force. Every word or form +comes to us with the thought impress of every man or nation that has +used or molded it before us. We must take it as it comes, but we give it +something of ourselves as we pass it on. If our intellectual and +spiritual thought is aflame, whether as nation or individual, we may +purify it, energize it, give it power to form and arrange the atoms +around it--and we have a new literature, a new and beneficent, creative +social vehicle of intercourse, mutual understanding, and human +unification. Or if our mental or spiritual life is stale, and petty, or +egoistic, or seeking for enjoyment only rather than action; if we have +nothing in us to give the words and forms we use, but only some national +force left to use and play with them, we for a while refine, and paint, +and pettify, and elaborate into meaningless subtleties of form, every +one of which in turn reacts upon our mental and spiritual life, +distracting and enchaining us, until at last the nation and its +language--die out; for neither can live without the other. + +Now it is evident that the criterion of the perfectness of any language +is not to be found in a comparison of its forms or methods with those of +any other, but in its fitness as a vehicle for the expression of deeper +life, of the best and the greatest that is in those who use it, and +above all in its ability to react and stimulate newer and yet greater +mental and spiritual activity and expression. The force behind man, +demanding expression through him, and him only, into the human life of +all, is infinite--of necessity infinite. There is no limit, nor ever has +been any limit, to what man may bring down into the dignifying, +broadening and enriching of human life and evolution, save in his own +ability to comprehend, express, and _live_ it. And the brightness and +cleanness of the tools whereby he formulates his thought, as well as the +worthiness and fitness of the substance and the forms into which he +shapes it for others to see, are the essentials of his craft. For such +is the economy of nature, which wastes nothing in reality, that a fit +vehicle will be taken possession of by its own tenant; and the unfit +left to and be taken by those who can use no better. + +Before, then, taking up the great formal classes into which language at +large is usually divided, it will be necessary to say a few words as to +the foundations of form itself in language, that we may then proceed to +consider these classes from the standpoint of their inner meaning rather +than solely of the outer form; and by seeking to understand the mental +and spiritual equipment and life of those that used them, may perhaps in +turn be better fitted finally to enter into the genius of their written +and spoken languages, and to interpret through them in the detail more +of the ideas which those forms were both fitted and used to express. +Such a method is essential for the understanding of any language or +culture, but it is absolutely necessary in the case of these non-Aryan +tongues, so great is the distance both of time and thought which +separates us from them. If we set out to compare the forms by which they +expressed their thought with those within which we develop ours, or +approach these cultures and peoples in the attitude of alien criticism, +study their "interesting ways" through a mental lorgnette and impale +their dead forms on the needles of our collection, we shall not only +show ourselves less broad in culture than many of them, but we shall +simply close and lock the doors of discrimination and understanding +before us. The question is not, How do their forms and ways appeal to +us? but, How did those forms, and ways, achieve their underlying +objects, and what was the _thought_ behind them? + +Life is action, and without activity whatever powers lie within any +conscious being are only potential. Activity is the bridge between the +inner man and the outer world, by which he impresses his thought, in +forms, on chaos or the atoms about him, receiving in return increased +knowledge and experience of all he touches, and knowledge of himself +through the results of his own actions; and it is the bridge between man +and man. For this reason the verb, the word of action, is the most +important and most developed part of speech. The three hypostases of +life, as of language, are the self, activity, and the world; and it is +for the expression of all the possible varied relations between these +three, that all the forms of any language come into being. And from the +way in which these forms are developed, and the relative importance +which is given to this or that form of thought or activity, the +character of the people, their grasp of nature, and their own conception +of themselves and their relation to the world, can be seen.[49-*] Some +languages have the strong impress of impersonality, without any loss of +virility; others are strongly egotistic and self-assertive, with perhaps +the braggart's lack of genuine strength. Each spoken language that we +know has its own color and tone, to which our thought must respond, if +we would know and use it well. To speak good Swedish, for instance, +requires clear thinking to an exceptional degree. To show this, the form +"come here," which is the ordinary English expression, is simply _bad +grammar_ in Swedish; the use of "come _hither_" (_kom hit_, instead of +_kom haer_) is imperative. We have the "hither" in English, but it has +become stilted, and the linguistic distinction lost. Compare also the +use of _fa_, as a common auxiliary; nor are these exceptions, but, on +the contrary, characteristic examples. Also to enunciate the language +rightly one must hold the back and neck erect and the muscles firm. + +In some languages the speaker thinks of himself and his completed action +as inseparable, as a single idea, as the Latin _edi_ for I have eaten; +in others he thinks of himself subconsciously as possessing the results +of his action, as our _I have eaten_; and in others, as among the Irish +peasantry, he separates himself and his action entirely, as _I am after +eating_. In some grammars, as in Maya, the verbal concept starts with +the past; in others, as our own, we live in the present; in the Welsh, +the future is the chief tense. The mere choice of _shall_ or _will_ as +the first person future auxiliary denotes a specific mental quality. + +Now the expression of all these infinite shades of relationtionship[TN-5] +between the self, the activity and the world, is achieved in two ways: +position or placement--syntax; and form. The customary division of +languages is into Monosyllabic, Agglutinative, Incorporating, and +Inflectional, and this division will suit our purpose, though it must be +used with care. It is held in the ordinary theory that these classes must +represent successive stages of linguistic perfection, each in turn being +higher in the scale than the other, they having grown one from the other +as the race advanced. By the theory the monosyllabic is lower than the +agglutinative, and inherently less useful. But the theory does not work +out in practical application to the facts we have to deal with, for while +we cannot find still left in the world any agglutinative languages +representative of sufficient culture to bring into our present +consideration, we do find a monosyllabic in the highest rank, and meeting +the highest cultural requirements. In short, the latter may be +theoretically the inferior tool, but the genius of thought behind is +greater than the form. One man can draw a masterpiece with a burnt stick, +another only paint a daub with all the brushes made. Once again we must +not judge by our preconceived preferences of form. + +Omitting therefore the modern remnants of agglutinating languages, +outside of America, as affording us no literary material of value for +our study, we shall find at once drawn across all the other great +classes a single broad line of division, between the ideographic and the +literal--the same as already mentioned. And the moment we draw this line +as an exponent of the mental and spiritual thought-life of the different +peoples, we shall find it not only molding their language forms, both +written and spoken, but manifest as well in their art, philosophy, and +even their social polity. And of course we must be fair in our +comparisons, and not set a Chinese coolie in the concrete against an +English statesman, nor any concrete example of another kind of culture +in its decay with the highest bloom to which we believe our own type to +be able to carry us. + +It would be absurd to say that the ratiocinative, literal mind is higher +than the ideal. One man sees directly the meaning of the things, the +events and situations before him; another reasons it all out. And +contrary to many of our current beliefs, the former is often the man of +action; he sees at a flash to the heart of the matter, and gets things +done. His thought, his activity, is vivid; and his words are likely to +be so as well. The idealist, if he be broadminded, and not merely +sentimental, is indeed likely to be the practical man. And the type of +mind that is made manifest to us by these great non-Aryan languages and +their forms, is the former. Of course idealism in its decadence becomes +negative, inactive, self-consuming and no longer creative. But in its +bloom the direct vision may be even more active, more practical, than +are the reasoned processes. + +Much ink and paper has been spent over the question whether the Chinese +hieroglyphs are ideograms or phonograms, whether the character +[Illustration: Chinese character], for instance, conveys to those using it +primarily the idea of Heaven, or the spoken word _T'ien_. It is +necessarily both, in a sense; it would not be written language +otherwise. And it is equally true that the letter-combination _Heaven_ +is in a way as much to us a picture of the idea as of the sound; but the +difference of procedure is radical. The glyph is related to the idea +directly, the spelled word only through the formal combination of +symbols for single vocal speech-elements, meaningless when separate. The +relation of spoken sound to glyph is wholly adventitious; the relation +of the idea to the spelled word is equally adventitious. The ascent, if +we so call it, of written speech from the ideographic to the alphabetic, +is the descent of the thought further into material forms.[53-*] And +while it may be (and in the course of universal evolution rightly so) +necessary for our thought to descend into the bondage of matter and +form, for its knowledge and experience, and for the development of +matter and form into fitter vehicles of thought, nevertheless the +process is a binding and for a time an enchaining one, and the thought +is, for a time at least, likely to be lost in the confusion of forms. + +Thus we may lay down as our fundamental proposition that a hieroglyphic +form of writing is better fitted to, and must properly, in the period of +its natural development, accompany the imaginative processes of mind. +Or, since imagination to our literal thought implies in some degree the +fanciful (though wrongly so in essence), we might perhaps better say +that that form of writing is the fit attendant and exponent of those +functions of mind which cognize the inner meanings of the facts of life +directly, rather than those which study them through the correlation of +their phenomena. And also, that the development by any people of an +alphabetic out of a hieroglyphic system, does not imply a greater +advance in linguistic perfection on their part, but indicates a +corresponding mental and inner change of attitude towards ideas and +things, and a different conception of the self as related to them all. + +It is not at all necessary to assume that the knowledge gained by one +method is deeper or more exact than the other. True science may exist as +fully under one set of circumstances as the other. If we will take the +type of the so-called most primitive form, the monosyllabic--the +Chinese, we shall find all this evidenced in the clearest manner. To +note but one illustration, a study of the scientific and philosophical +ideas involved in and conveyed by the word _k'ung_, for Space, ether, +the fundamental substratum of sound or vibration, as well as the +"interetheric" central point of balance and power, will disclose an +understanding that has nothing to fear from modern comparisons. + +And the very fact that Chinese has had to depend on placement of its +monosyllables to express all the relations for which speech is called +upon, instead of relying on changes of form, seems to have, and indeed +has so stimulated the development of pure linguistic power that the +language is actually as perfect and clear a medium of cultured and +learned intercourse, as is the Sanskrit, the supreme type of the +so-called most developed form, the inflectional. And by reason of its +possession of the ideographic element it has a vividness which the +Sanskrit has not. No language can be a highly developed one which does +not provide in some way for the expression of all possible needed +relations between the three fundamental postulates of life and +activity--the self, the action and the world; and Chinese does this in +spite of its monosyllabic structure by the development of its syntax of +position. And it should be remembered further that Chinese syntax, in +strict correspondence to the genius of the language, is not the same +formal thing that syntax is with our inflectional tongues, but includes, +or rather is primarily based on the _harmonic adjustment of the inherent +basic ideas of or within the words_. The Chinese monosyllables are then +not the naked separate things they are in the dictionary, but the whole +phrase or sentence is on the contrary as much a unit as one of ours; and +often more so. + +This integral unity of the whole sentence or expression, dominated by a +perspective of ideas rather than of forms, which is achieved in Chinese +by the elaboration of placement, is also characteristic of the structure +of the languages of the American continent; but, these languages being +polysyllabic, the vividness and unity are attained by a method described +as Incorporation, whereby the accessories of relation are so included in +or attached to the leading word that the whole expression assumes the +form and sound of a single word. And a similar process takes place with +the various elements of a compound sentence. So that although this one +of the divisions of language approaches very closely to the Inflectional +in its external forms, it yet has held to the vividness and essential +characteristics of the ideographic method. And it is a point of the +utmost importance for the decipherment of the Maya glyphs, to note as +has been stated before, that their syntax of combination must follow +that of the spoken language, which we know. + +There is one broad line of division marking all the languages and +civilizations of the world--the line between the ideographic and the +literal; it marks the use of hieroglyphic or of alphabetic writing, and +it denotes a culture so widely different from ours, modes of thought so +distinct, views of life and man's relation to it one might almost say so +opposite to ours, as to point unmistakably to a most distant past, and a +former world-culture probably as wide-spread in its day as is now +ours--or more so. And it is one of the strangest and most remarkable of +the phenomena we are considering, that the two divisions have overlapped +each other in time to such a degree that whereas we have in Sanskrit, +the most perfect type of Aryan, or inflectional languages, the oldest of +them all; on the other hand we have in Chinese an equally perfect +linguistic medium of the other type, kept alive into our own times. + +When we consider the development and status of the American +civilizations which have been revealed to us, and especially when we +have once opened our minds to the possibility that world-civilizations +different in their time from ours in ours, may for all we know have +existed and been blotted out ages ago, leaving linguistic traces, and +perhaps perpetuating cultural remnants in a few parts of the earth, it +is impossible not to recognize the breadth of the problem we are +considering. All over the American continent at the time of the +Discovery we see cultures and systems whose time had come. Back of most +of the North and South American tribes we find the remains of mighty and +utterly extinct civilizations--only their dim memory left. In the +centers of higher culture from Mexico to Peru we see the ancient +civilization brought further down to our own times; but there also, in +process, all the incidents of break-up and an expiring greatness. +Internecine strife, invasion from outside, changes of center, are all +going on, and all marked by a _steady decrease_ in everything that means +civilization. Of the ancient mathematical and astronomical knowledge a +corner of which is revealed to us by the Maya glyph remains, only a +distorted fragment appears in the Mexican, where also hieroglyphs have +yielded to a cruder rebus-writing. The stately and incomparable +compositions and architecture of Palenque, Copan and Quirigua have +yielded to the ball courts and local strifes of Chichen Itza--all this +following the very course of changing historical succession preserved in +the Chronicles. The later the date, the lower in every case the culture; +this is impossible not to recognize, nor have we traces of any different +course of events. Of course we see the rise of the Aztec nation, a small +cycle, but like the Gothic upon the Roman, it comes at the end of the +general American break-up--an incursion of barbarians settling on and +preserving for us fragments of the culture that preceded them, just as +has happened over and over again all over the world. And the same with +the Incas in Peru. And yet even the Mexican culture demands our high +respect, comparing favorably with European of the same period. Indeed it +was actually far ahead of the latter in matters of education and many +points of polity. + +But in spite of its seeming greatness, its heart and energy were gone, +just as with Peru, and both yielded to what on the face seems a miracle, +but was only the expression of that force which was preparing the +American continent for a new race and civilization, still now only in +its beginnings. The Mayan empire had already broken up. And even as we +write, the archaeological history of the other hemisphere is being +repeated here; on the heels of Manabi comes the Chimu Valley, and soon +it will be with America as with Egypt--one will not be able to print an +up-to-date work on its early history, for new discoveries will carry it +back further, and to greater scope, before the previous ones can be +edited and gotten to press. Compare the few pages of earliest Egypt in +Sharpe's history, with Flinders Petrie's work of a decade or so ago, and +that with the situation today. + +It is a simple fact that decipherment and publication all over the world +can no longer keep pace with discovery; and the time has come for +archaeology to begin to survey these remnants, engineering works that +would tax any modern nation with all our appliances, vast ruined +cities, one above the other, innumerable languages and writings, the +traces of peoples whose very names are lost to history--as a whole, and +to ask itself how long it must have taken for all these works to be +accomplished, let alone for the birth and decay of the civilizations +that supported them, and gave environment for the development of such +technical skill as could finish the enormous bulk of the Great Pyramid +with an accuracy beyond the fineness of our best instruments to measure. +For not only mere bulk is to be considered--though there is enough of +that scattered over the earth to keep all the possible available +craftsmen of the world a wholly incommensurate time achieving them, but +the ability to conceive and carry out such works. What _sort_ of people +leveled Monte Alban for its crown of pyramids, dreamed and executed the +stucco modelings of Palenque, built the temple of Boro Budur in Java, +cut the Bamian statues of the Hindu Kush, and so on, and so on, for page +after page? If they had such appliances as we have, they must be ranked +at least in our class for having them; if they did them without our +great engines, what sort of men were they? And if they could do these +things without our appliances, is it not a fair inference that they +could easily have made the tools, or others better perhaps? + +One fact is becoming more prominent with every advance of archaeology +over the world, a fact of the greatest linguistic interest, namely that +ancient civilizations and empires, as a whole, _lasted longer_ than ours +of today. Consider how many different and successive empires Europe has +had in the last 2000 odd years, _our_ history; and how long each of our +cultures has lasted. All of them put together would go into one of these +older periods, and have plenty to spare. Passing over what may be the +real meaning and bearing of this fact on the problem of universal +history and human evolution, and the position of our race today, the +linguistic considerations which follow are most interesting. + +If the fundamental thesis of language as a human activity is its direct +correspondence to and expression of all the inner motives and forces of +the users, we have here a key to the survival to our day, an unknown +period past its own time, of the Chinese type. + +Of the development, modification and decay of languages we have ample +material in our own times for study, the periods over which the +modifying forces operate being an equal measure of the periods of +national activity and change. And, what is perhaps not always +sufficiently recognized, we have an elaboration of the formal elements +going on under very different impulses, at different periods of the life +of the language. The time has come in the history of a people for it to +play a greater part on the world's stage: some danger has threatened the +national life and aroused its energies, or other causes have worked to +quicken the mental and spiritual life; an Elizabethan era is ushered in, +frequently by a forerunner, a Chaucer, and the language responds, its +forms develop and are perfected. Or else some fitting or amalgamating +force comes in from outside, the life of the people is widened, new +blood enters in every sense, and the forms of the language respond. Or +perhaps, when they may seem to have come to the tether end of things, +and men's minds turn back to older, even prehistoric times, seeds long +buried and forgotten in the nature spring up, and a true national +Renaissance follows. In these cases the change and elaboration of forms +is a symptom of new life; the vehicle is being molded and expanded to +fit the growing thought. + +But it is not always so. There comes a time when the outgoing force, the +activity of life, wanes and, after a greater or less period of settled +conditions, a period of proper use and government of the regions +occupied, a change sets in. And then we may have again the wholly +deceptive phenomenon of linguistic amplification; but it is the false +activity of decay. The energy has turned in and begun to feed upon +itself. The national impulse has changed from achievement to +gratification, more and more sources are drawn upon to minister to its +enjoyment, and that enjoyment becomes an art; forms of every kind are +subtly refined in its service, and linguistic forms with them. And this +is then the very period when all these material, formal elements are +pointed to with pride as the evidence of culture and progress. The +thought-life of the nation has lost itself in the conflict and +confusion, in the distractions of the forms into which it has molded the +matter its creative force had entered. + +We have thus in nations and languages, as in individuals, the phenomena +of birth, growth, use, and a quick or a slow death, all marked by +various degrees and signs of health or disease, and _every one at root a +moral question_. These are the facts of general average, quite +corresponding to those that form the bases for life insurance tables. +But, as with these latter, not only are there variations for +inheritance, class, locality, and so on, but there are here and there +cases of out and out exception--which from all we can see must be +assigned to some external force in operation on the individual. We call +them "freak" occurrences, only because we cannot see the wider law or +causes at work. When we meet them in sufficient numbers, we make new +tables to cover them as far as we can, again in general only. Other +causes still elude us, though they must have a fountain somewhere. + +We have, as great exceptions to our general averages, two opposite +phenomena. One is the sudden inexplicable and dazzling rise on the +world's stage of a totally insignificant people, the other the seeming +arrest for long periods of time of the normal processes of even +incipient decay. And touching the latter point, it is strange indeed +that in two such widely different cultures as those of Iceland and China +we should find the same law apparently at work; the periods are vastly +unlike in actual, but not so in relative duration. We have no way of +properly placing the maintenance of Icelandic and Chinese as they have +been other than by simply laying down the existence of what we may call +a Law of Retardation, whose ultimate causes we cannot fathom or +classify, but which will stand as an opposite phase of the Law of +Stimulation, which is more frequent in operation, but is equally +unexplained. + +If we will now regard the languages and cultures of the world, we will +find all the phases of linguistic and cultural activity, operative with +about the same degree of rapidity, all over both hemispheres, save in +places protected by our Law of Retardation. We will find the rate of +changes and successions generally far less rapid the farther back in +time we go; and finally we will find a special and marked acceleration +on both sides of the Atlantic during the last thousand years, all +incident to the placing of a new race in America. + +So for the facts as we find them. They point to the descent of past +American civilizations from a past period of continental, or far more +probably, of world-wide extent. For who can imagine that people great +enough to build as these did, should not also have navigated? Why should +we assume in the face of other experiences, that Maya dates and +calculations mean nothing, except on the general principle that they did +not know as much as we do, and were doubtless liars? Bailly proved over +a hundred years ago that Hindu exact astronomical observations must date +back at least 5000 years, and that they were in possession of minutely +accurate tables[61-*] long before Europe was. And the rotundity of the +earth was certainly known both to them and the other great nations of +antiquity. + +Archaeology is today pushing back the dates of fixed and acknowledged +history almost to the date given by the Egyptians to Solon for the +submersion of the great Atlantean island; and if we can but read the +Maya glyphs, and open _that_ door, another twenty years from now may +show us beyond all possible dispute evidences in every part of the earth +belt of a contemporaneous culture, different from and precedent to the +Aryan. + + * * * * * + +I have so far in this monograph, based upon and having to do as it has +with the Maya glyphs, their interpretation and their place in the +linguistic field, limited myself to an analysis and consideration of the +facts presented to us by those linguistic and cultural data we have +actually before us. But there is one further problem which is suggested +by it all. It is this: Where, in point of time and place, is the change +in the world's linguistic and cultural life from ideographic to literal +to be sought for, and what is its rationale? Separated from us by such +an enormous period of time as it is, I still cannot believe that some +view of it cannot be had. There are various facts of Old World history +and language, partly of prehistoric Europe, partly of Asia, an analysis +of which would extend this paper too far into other fields; but apart +entirely from the question of myths or traditions, there are various +actual observed phenomena both of language and writing, especially in +Central Asia, which do not fit into any of the ordinary theories, and +which do suggest this, as a simple linguistic conclusion. In point of +locality, at least, the conclusion agrees with the usual "Aryan home" +theory; but as far as concerns this latter it must be remembered that +however fully it demonstrates the unity of the Aryan race, beyond that +fact all questions of dates and even of the state of civilization at the +time, are not matters of history as yet for us, but only of theory--as +to which our present "perspective" may be once more as faulty as it has +often been heretofore.[62-*] + +I believe that this center of transition lay somewhere in Central Asia, +to the north of the great Himalayan range. That this region was a sort +of alembic, a melting-pot (as America is today) for various peoples of +an ancient world-wide culture, as broad at least in its scope as the +term Aryan is today. That this culture displayed the ideographic traits +we have discussed, and that it has left more or less definite traces at +different places in the world. That it covered the two Americas, in +whatever continental form they may then have existed, leaving us there +"les debris echappes a un naufrage commun." That coincident with a new +and universal world-epoch, as wide in its cultural scope as the +difference between the ideographic and literal, there was finally formed +a totally new vehicle for the use of human thought, the inflectional, +literal, alphabetic. That this vehicle was perfected into some great +speech, the direct ancestor of Sanskrit, into the _forms_ of which were +concentrated all the old power of the ancient hieroglyphs and their +underlying concepts. For Sanskrit, while the oldest is also the +mightiest of Aryan grammars; and no one who has studied its forms, or +heard its speech from educated native mouths, can call it anything but +concentrated spiritual power. That the force which went on the one hand +into the Sanskrit forms, was on the other perpetuated on into the +special genius of Chinese, in which, as we know it, we have a retarded +survival, not of course of outer form so much as of method and essence. +And in Tibetan, in spite of all that is said to the contrary, I suspect +that we have a derivative, not from either Chinese or Sanskrit as we +know them, but by a medial line from a common point.[63-*] Of course +the time for such changes must have been enormous; but whatever it was, +it was no greater in its realm as time, than were the mental differences +in theirs. And they both are equally human data. + +Certain other facts point to the American or Atlantic source and center +of this ancient epoch. They are briefly that all around the +Mediterranean basin we find traces of a vanished culture, unknown to our +history, and living only in tradition and some archaeological remains. +And of this culture various investigators, each approaching it from his +particular favorite locality, have constructed for us as many different +"Empires," by theories each supported by various details of analogies. +One calls them Tartars, another Hittites, another Pelasgians, and so on. +And all of them, in each of the theories, have as a fact a great many +unexplained characteristics, different from those of our historical +nations. Some of these characteristics, most markedly the Basque, but +also not a few at greater distance, have definite American similarities. +It might not be a far guess that these fragments represent an eastward +movement, which later in the history of the Aryan development met and +was pushed back westward again by the fully formed and dominant Aryan +race from its Central Asian center. This is the future province of +Archaeology. + + * * * * * + +And I am convinced that the widest door there is to be opened to this +past of the human race, is that of the Maya glyphs. The narrow +limitations of our mental horizon as to the greatness and dignity of +man, of his past, and of human evolution, were set back widely by Egypt +and what she has had to show, and again by the Sanskrit; but the walls +are still there, and advances, however rapid, are but gradual. With the +reading of America I believe the walls themselves will fall, and a new +conception of past history will come. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[41-*] See _Memoranda on the Chilam Balam Calendars_, C. P. Bowditch, +1901. The obscurities of the Chronicles render the questions connected +with Ahpula's death exceedingly difficult. For instance, the immediate +context in the books of Mani and Tizimin make the date 1536, as given in +numerals, an impossible one. But, if the date as given in _Maya terms_ +is to be accepted at all (and it certainly is too specific to be +rejected), then by the long count such a date _must_ have been either +1502, 5350, or 12,786 years after the date of Stela 9, Copan. Mr. +Bowditch favors the lower figure, chiefly because it is the lower, and +thus puts Stela 9 at A. D. 34. To get this date the longest possible +distance from Ahpula's death to the end of the katun must be used--that +is, "6 tuns short" must be taken to mean "almost 7 tuns short." I can +only say here that if, in correcting the figures 1536, as demanded by +the immediate context, we make the simplest possible correction, and put +them one katun earlier, 1516, and then take as the unexpired time to the +end of the katun the shortest of the three terms given as possible, or 5 +tuns 139 days, bringing the end of Katun 13-Ahau on Jan. 28, 1522, we +not only bring the end of Katun 11-Ahau within the year 1541, as is most +positively stated by the practically contemporary Pech Chronicle, but we +also bring in line nearly all the important events of the Chronicles, +from the fall of Mayapan, ca. 1450, the coming of the Spaniards, and the +smallpox, in 11-Ahau (1521 to 1541), the conversion to Christianity in +9-Ahau, down to Landa's death (1579) in 7-Ahau; as well as many outside +references. Any other combination requires harsher emendations somewhere +else. But the above choice of the term of 5 tuns 139 days, thus +seemingly called for, means that Stela 9 at Copan is dated, by the long +count, 5350 years before Ahpula's death, or B. C. 3824. Whether this is +right, is a question for the future. + +[42-*] "In ethnology however one troubles oneself little with the detail +of linguistic structure. It is held quite sufficient to gather from +different peoples and collate a couple of hundred vocables, into whose +actual nature all insight is lacking, and then upon dubious, often +purely superficial and apparent similarities, to deduce linguistic +affinities. Or else, as is now most in fashion, the claims of linguistic +research towards the solution of ethnological questions are reduced to a +'most modest share' in comparison with other fields 'somewhat more in +line with natural sciences'--meanwhile pointing for justification to the +absurdities set forth as the results of too far-fetched linguistic +deductions.... The errors and sophistries charged against ethnological +linguistics are rather an accidental result of the individuality of +single investigators, than essential to the subject. They are at least +scarcely greater than those to the credit of recent Anthropometry. A +brief glance at the strange changes of opinion in the latter field +during the last three decades, in spite of all its boasted figures, +shows how little ground it has to throw stones. Serious students, such +as Wallace and Dall, whose critical ability in Zoomorphology no one can +deny, and who do not rest content with a few skulls of doubtful +_provenance_, gathered a la Hagenbeck, have come to a wholly negative +view of the value of Craniometry."--Dr. Otto Stoll, _Maya-Sprachen der +Pokom-Gruppe_, I, vii, ix. + +[43-*] Our present day speculators never seem to think for a moment that +these things may conceal, _and thereby preserve_, some real meaning, or +be more than nonsense. The theory of mythological interpretation pushed +to such extremes as in the "animistic" _explanations_ of Weber, +Keightley, and others, and not absent from the writings of some +Americanists (namely, that it was all nothing but ridiculous or +concocted fancy, taken soberly) is bad enough, and argues little breadth +or insight, when applied to the myths of a single people, considered +alone. Applied to comparative mythology, in the state of things today, +it is simply impossible. The plain fact is, that such identities as +these must indicate one of two things: a common tradition, locally +modified by circumstances; or a _fact in nature_ or _history_, +symbolically expressed in different ways according to the times and +modes. And it most probably indicates both of these. It is indeed hard +to account for the extent, and the weight given to some of these +"myths," now that we are coming to a better appreciation of the scope +and greatness of ancient civilizations--everywhere--except they do +correspond to actual _facts_ in nature and history. And it might be +worth our while to get at some of these. + +[45-*] We might just as well acknowledge, once for all, that in spite of +its present-day currency in England and America, and its pre-emption of +the field of "science for the people," the theory of man's physical and +mental descent from the anthropoids, is not only _not proved_, but is +vehemently denied by an equally able and scientific, and withal more +logical, body of researchers than those who form its supporters. To +_fabricate_ a missing link in a chain (or even, as with Haeckel, several +links), whose only authority is acknowledged to be its necessity in +order to complete the evidence for the theory, and then to declare the +theory proved because the fabricated link fits perfectly the gap it was +created for, is equally vicious scientifically whether the fabrication +be the work of a physicist of renown or a linguistic theorizer. Let it +simply be agreed, as it now is by all science, that the _evolution of +form_ is a universal and well evidenced principle, working out through +the various well established and comprehensible incidents, such as +natural selection, adaptation to environment, and so on--yet this +statement of the fact is not an explanation of its cause. And every +scientific and logical requirement will be equally, and better, met by +regarding all forms, whether physical, linguistic, or of any kind, as +coming, or rather brought, into being by the force of a consciousness +which needs them as the vehicles of its expanding activity. That this is +absolutely true in language, anybody can see. That it is true in every +department of daily life about us, everybody _does_ see. That it should +be equally true in biology and physics, would not affect the standing or +verity of a single _observed_ fact. + +There was, along about the beginning of the Christian era, and for some +time before and after, a very curious movement, which seemed to spread +itself over nearly the entire world, east and west. It is told of the +early Aztecs that "they destroyed the records of their predecessors, in +order to increase their own prestige." It is related that writing once +existed in Peru, but was entirely wiped out, and the Inca records +committed to quipus alone. The "burning of the books" under Tsin Chi +Hwangti in B. C. 213 sought to do the same for China. The times of Akbar +witnessed much of the same in India. And in Europe almost nothing was +left to tell the tale of the great pre-Christian eastern empires and +systems of thought; so that from the establishment of State Christianity +under Constantine, and the final settlement of the Canon at the Council +of Nicaea, an impenetrable veil was drawn over the achievements and +greatness of the Past, and all connexion therewith broken off. It was +some time after this that we find the heliocentric theory, as well as +that of other habitable worlds, denied (in Europe), because "it would +deprive the Earth of its unique and central eminence." Just as we also +today are served up with prehistoric savage and animal ancestors, to the +greater glory of our own present-day magnificence. But it really is in +sober truth only a question of mental perspective which does not affect +the facts of history, biology, archaeology or language in the least. It +is only a question of which end of the telescope we look through. + +[49-*] It is exceedingly interesting to trace the course of criticism +since the appearance of Wilhelm von Humboldt's great work, _Ueber die +Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren Einfluss auf die +geistige Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechts_ (Berlin, 1836). Dr. +Brinton gave it most unqualified approval; (see especially his monograph +read before the American Philosophical Society in 1885, and printed the +same year). Prof. H. Steinthal (_Grammatik, Logik und Psychologie_, +1855) calls the subject of "inner form" the most important one in +linguistic science, and von Humboldt's treatment of it his greatest +contribution to that science. And so on. But the work has nevertheless +received little attention from a large number of writers, most of them +declaring it "unclear." These two views, when one studies the various +writers, seem to follow closely upon the standpoints from which each +approaches the study. Those who study language (perhaps one should here +say, languages) as a phenomenon, a set of external forms, an act, a +thing done, get little use out of von Humboldt's work. Those who see it +as a human "activity," an energy, get much. This is quite apparent in +one of the clearest and ablest linguistic works which has recently +appeared, Dr. Adolf Noreen's _Vart Sprak_ (in 9 vols., still in course +of publication, Lund, 1903 and later), a work of far wider linguistic +value than appears from its title. Dr. Noreen, however, dismisses von +Humboldt's work, and the subject of "inner form," with a few pages, and +the results are apparent in several interesting points. In the first +place, in the course of an acute and critical analysis, wherein he shows +that the purpose of speech is not simply _expression_ of thoughts or +ideas, but the communication to some other person of the _knowledge_ of +the ideas so held by the speaker, he goes on to say: "the same knowledge +of A's wishes could be as well communicated by his saying 'I want you to +come' as by his saying just 'Come.'" This is quite true; but the +_energic_ effect is quite different. Language is the bridge from man to +man, and it is also a _creative activity_ of man. Of course Dr. Noreen, +in a later volume, where he most lucidly analyses the terms 'words,' +'forms,' and 'concepts,' etc. (_ord_, _morfem_, _semem_, etc.), and +corrects many errors of definition made by his predecessors, +acknowledges the difference between the two forms; still his whole +admirable work, analytical and critical as it is, is devoted to this +phase of language as a mere phenomenon, a set of forms which serve as a +medium of communication. From this standpoint, we know all there is to +know about language when we have classified its forms. But from the +other, the study is ever leading us into the regions and depths of man's +consciousness, his creative activity as it goes out to the world; and +the true definition of language, from this position, "can hence only be +a genetic one." (von Humboldt, _Gesammelte Werke_, VI, 42) + +It is further not unworthy of note that, except where directly required +in treating of verbal categories, nearly all of the enormous number of +illustrations which Dr. Noreen chooses for his points, are _nouns_, +names of _things_, and vary rarely verbal forms, words of action and +_doing_. But it is simply a fact that all the _potency_ of language is +in the verb, and almost all there is of language, in a philosophic +sense, lies there. The verb is the bridge of communication and action +_upon_ external things, just as is language itself, going out of man. +And it is also noteworthy that the recognition of this position of the +verb, together with these other matters of which we are speaking, seems +nearer at hand and clearer to those students who are led beyond Aryan +languages to the study of American and Asiatic, especially Central and +Northern Asiatic. For instance, G. v. d. Gabelentz, _Die +Sprachwissenschaft_, and other works. + +[53-*] It was not until after this paper was already in type that my +attention was directed to the complete agreement of this and the +succeeding sentences with the following passage in _The Secret Doctrine_, +by H. P. Blavatsky, London, 1888, vol. II, page 199. After saying that +some of the Atlantean races spoke the agglutinative languages, the +passage continues: "While the 'cream' of the Fourth Race _gravitated_ +more and more toward the apex of physical and intellectual evolution, +_thus_ leaving as an heirloom to the nascent Fifth (the Aryan) Race the +inflectional, highly developed languages, the agglutinative decayed and +remained as a fragmentary fossil idiom, scattered now, and nearly limited +to the aboriginal tribes of America." Note the words I have italicized, +marking the evolution of the "inflectional" languages as an attendant +phenomenon on physico-intellectual evolution, compare the passage with +von Humboldt's thesis, already quoted, that the incorporative quality +denotes an exaltation of the imaginative over the ratiocinative processes +of mind in its users, and further with the surviving genius of Chinese, +the type of monosyllabic languages, and the agreement is evident. Von +Humboldt, however, did not carry out so fully the archaeological results, +for which indeed the materials were in his day still lacking. See also +other passages in _The Secret Doctrine_. + +[61-*] _Traite de l'Astronomie Indienne et Orientale_, Disc. Prel. et +seq. + +[62-*] The suggestion above is linguistic, and in that phase is given as +a corollary to the foregoing discussion; but, as stated, it is at the +same time in accord with the "Aryan" theory in its essentials (though +not in its hypothetical and ultra-historical speculations), and it also +finds confirmation by various passages in _The Secret Doctrine_, by H. +P. Blavatsky, as already quoted. "The traces of an immense civilization, +even in Central Asia, are still to be found. This civilization is +undeniably _prehistoric_.... The Eastern and Central portions of those +regions--the Nan-Shan and the Altyn-Tagh--were once upon a time covered +with cities that could well vie with Babylon. A whole geological period +has swept over the land, since those cities breathed their last, as the +mounds of shifting sand, and the sterile and now dead soil of the +immense central plains of the basin of Tarim testify.... In the oasis of +Cherchen some 300 human beings represent the relics of about a hundred +extinct nations and races--the very names of which are now unknown to +our ethnologists." (Vol. I, page xxxii et seq.) See also Col. +Prjevalsky's _Travels_. Why should it not be so? The above was written +in 1888, but the evidences are growing every day, and it will be against +all archaeological precedent if far-reaching results do not follow from +Dr. Stein's _small_ find, and from Capt. d'Ollone's recent researches +among the Lolos, and the securing by him, as we are informed, of the +long-sought knowledge of their hieroglyphic system. + +[63-*] The study of Tibetan has so far been approached almost +exclusively from the south, that is by those already familiar with +Sanskrit and Pali. To this fact, as well as to the overwhelming +influence exercised on literary Tibetan by the Buddhist propaganda, is +due the difficulty one meets in any study of its origins. The traces, +however, do nevertheless exist. Some interesting facts concerning both +Chinese and Tibetan, which seem to be entirely omitted in such later +standard works as those of Summers, Wade, and Giles, are to be found in +the almost forgotten _Chinese Grammar_ of Dr. Marshman, Serampore, 1814. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + + + Page Error + TN-1 20 two glyphs [Hieroglyph] and [Hieroglyph] should have a . at + the end + TN-2 25 above the the should read above the + TN-3 34 Muluc Ix, Cauac should read Muluc, Ix, Cauac + TN-4 38 Cimi forms: [Hieroglyphs] should have a . at the end + TN-5 51 relationtionship should read relationship + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Commentary Upon the Maya-Tzental Perez +Codex, by William E. 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