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diff --git a/31610.txt b/31610.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9736084 --- /dev/null +++ b/31610.txt @@ -0,0 +1,948 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Books of Chilan Balam, the Prophetic +and Historic Records of the Mayas of Yucatan, by Daniel G. Brinton + +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: The Books of Chilan Balam, the Prophetic and Historic Records of the Mayas of Yucatan + +Author: Daniel G. Brinton + +Release Date: March 12, 2010 [EBook #31610] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOKS OF CHILAN BALAM *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +A number of typographical errors have been maintained in this version of +this book. They have been marked with a [TN-#], which refers to a +description in the complete list found at the end of the text. + +The following codes are used for characters not available in the +character set used for this book: + + + dagger + ++ double dagger + + + + + THE BOOKS OF CHILAN BALAM, + + The Prophetic and Historic Records + of the Mayas of Yucatan. + + By DANIEL G. BRINTON, M. D. + + + VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE NUMISMATIC AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY OF + PHILADELPHIA; MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL + SOCIETY; THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY; + DELEGUE OF THE INSTITUTION + ETHNOGRAPHIQUE, + ETC., ETC. + + [Illustration] + + EDWARD STERN & CO., + PHILADELPHIA. + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE. + + +The substance of the present pamphlet was presented as an address to the +Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, at its meeting in +January, 1882, and was printed in the _Penn Monthly_, March, 1882. As +the subject is one quite new in the field of American archaeology and +linguistics, it is believed that a republication in the present form +will be welcomed by students of these branches. + + + + +THE BOOKS OF CHILAN BALAM.[5-*] + + +Civilization in ancient America rose to its highest level among the +Mayas of Yucatan. Not to speak of the architectural monuments which +still remain to attest this, we have the evidence of the earliest +missionaries to the fact that they alone, of all the natives of the New +World, possessed a literature written in "letters and characters," +preserved in volumes neatly bound, the paper manufactured from the bark +of a tree and sized with a durable white varnish.[5-+] + +A few of these books still remain, preserved to us by accident in the +great European libraries; but most of them were destroyed by the monks. +Their contents were found to relate chiefly to the pagan ritual, to +traditions of the heathen times, to astrological superstitions, and the +like. Hence, they were considered deleterious, and were burned wherever +discovered. + +This annihilation of their sacred books affected the natives most +keenly, as we are pointedly informed by Bishop Landa, himself one of the +most ruthless of Vandals in this respect.[5-++] But already some of the +more intelligent had learned the Spanish alphabet, and the missionaries +had added a sufficient number of signs to it to express with tolerable +accuracy the phonetics of the Maya tongue. Relying on their memories, +and, no doubt, aided by some manuscripts secretly preserved, many +natives set to work to write out in this new alphabet the contents of +their ancient records. Much was added which had been brought in by the +Europeans, and much omitted which had become unintelligible or obsolete +since the Conquest; while, of course, the different writers, varying in +skill and knowledge, produced works of very various merit. + +Nevertheless, each of these books bore the same name. In whatever +village it was written, or by whatever hand, it always was, and to-day +still is, called "The Book of Chilan Balam." To distinguish them apart, +the name of the village where a copy was found or written, is added. +Probably, in the last century, almost every village had one, which was +treasured with superstitious veneration. But the opposition of the +_padres_ to this kind of literature, the decay of ancient sympathies, +and especially the long war of races, which since 1847 has desolated so +much of the peninsula, have destroyed most of them. There remain, +however, either portions or descriptions of not less than sixteen of +these curious records. They are known from the names of the villages +respectively as the Book of Chilan Balam of Nabula, of Chumayel, of +Kaua, of Mani, of Oxkutzcab, of Ixil, of Tihosuco, of Tixcocob, etc., +these being the names of various native towns in the peninsula. + +When I add that not a single one of these has ever been printed, or even +entirely translated into any European tongue, it will be evident to +every archaeologist and linguist what a rich and unexplored mine of +information about this interesting people they may present. It is my +intention in this article merely to touch upon a few salient points to +illustrate this, leaving a thorough discussion of their origin and +contents to the future editor who will bring them to the knowledge of +the learned world. + +Turning first to the meaning of the name "_Chilan Balam_," it is not +difficult to find its derivation. "_Chilan_," says Bishop Landa, the +second bishop of Yucatan, whose description of the native customs is an +invaluable source to us, "was the name of their priests, whose duty it +was to teach the sciences, to appoint holy days, to treat the sick, to +offer sacrifices, and especially to utter the oracles of the gods. They +were so highly honored by the people that usually they were carried on +litters on the shoulders of the devotees."[7-*] Strictly speaking, in +Maya "_chilan_" means "interpreter," "mouth-piece," from "_chij_," "the +mouth," and in this ordinary sense frequently occurs in other writings. +The word, "_balam_"--literally, "tiger,"--was also applied to a class of +priests, and is still in use among the natives of Yucatan as the +designation of the protective spirits of fields and towns, as I have +shown at length in a recent study of the word as it occurs in the the +native myths of Guatemala.[7-+] "_Chilan Balam_," therefore, is not a +proper name, but a title, and in ancient times designated the priest who +announced the will of the gods and explained the sacred oracles. This +accounts for the universality of the name and the sacredness of its +associations. + +The dates of the books which have come down to us are various. One of +them, "The Book of Chilan Balam of Mani," was undoubtedly composed not +later than 1595, as is proved by internal evidence. Various passages in +the works of Landa, Lizana, Sanchez Aguilar and Cogolludo--all early +historians of Yucatan,--prove that many of these native manuscripts +existed in the sixteenth century. Several rescripts date from the +seventeenth century,--most from the latter half of the eighteenth. + +The names of the writers are generally not given, probably because the +books, as we have them, are all copies of older manuscripts, with merely +the occasional addition of current items of note by the copyist; as, for +instance, a malignant epidemic which prevailed in the peninsula in 1673 +is mentioned as a present occurrence by the copyist of "The Book of +Chilan Balam of Nabula." + +I come now to the contents of these curious works. What they contain may +conveniently be classified under four headings: + +Astrological and prophetic matters; + +Ancient chronology and history; + +Medical recipes and directions; + +Later history and Christian teachings. + +The last-mentioned consist of translations of the "_Doctrina_," Bible +stories, narratives of events after the Conquest, etc., which I shall +dismiss as of least interest. + +The astrology appears partly to be reminiscences of that of their +ancient heathendom, partly that borrowed from the European almanacs of +the century 1550-1650. These, as is well known, were crammed with +predictions and divinations. A careful analysis, based on a comparison +with the Spanish almanacs of that time would doubtless reveal how much +was taken from them, and it would be fair to presume that the remainder +was a survival of ancient native theories. + +But there are not wanting actual prophecies of a much more striking +character. These were attributed to the ancient priests and to a date +long preceding the advent of Christianity. Some of them have been +printed in translations in the "_Historias_" of Lizana and Cogolludo, +and of some the originals were published by the late Abbe Brasseur de +Bourbourg, in the second volume of the reports of the "_Mission +Scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amerique Centrale_." Their +authenticity has been met with considerable skepticism by Waitz and +others, particularly as they seem to predict the arrival of the +Christians from the East and the introduction of the worship of the +cross. + +It appears to me that this incredulity is uncalled for. It is known that +at the close of each of their larger divisions of time (the so-called +"_katuns_,") a "_chilan_," or inspired diviner, uttered a prediction of +the character of the year or epoch which was about to begin. Like other +would-be prophets, he had doubtless learned that it is wiser to predict +evil than good, inasmuch as the probabilities of evil in this worried +world of ours outweigh those of good; and when the evil comes his words +are remembered to his credit, while, if, perchance, his gloomy forecasts +are not realized, no one will bear him a grudge that he has been at +fault. The temper of this people was, moreover, gloomy, and it suited +them to hear of threatened danger and destruction by foreign foes. But, +alas! for them. The worst that the boding words of the oracle foretold +was as nothing to the dire event which overtook them,--the destruction +of their nation, their temples and their freedom, 'neath the iron heel +of the Spanish conqueror. As the wise Goethe says: + + "_Seltsam ist Prophetenlied, + Doch mehr seltsam was geschieht._" + +As to the supposed reference to the cross and its worship, it may be +remarked that the native word translated "cross," by the missionaries, +simply means "a piece of wood set upright," and may well have had a +different and special signification in the old days. + +By way of a specimen of these prophecies, I quote one from "The Book of +Chilan Balam of Chumayel," saying at once that for the translation I +have depended upon a comparison of the Spanish version of Lizana, who +was blindly prejudiced, and that in French of the Abbe Brasseur de +Bourbourg, who knew next to nothing about Maya, with the original. It +will be easily understood, therefore, that it is rather a paraphrase +than a literal rendering. The original is in short, aphoristic +sentences, and was, no doubt, chanted with a rude rhythm: + + "What time the sun shall brightest shine, + Tearful will be the eyes of the king. + Four ages yet shall be inscribed, + Then shall come the holy priest, the holy god. + With grief I speak what now I see. + Watch well the road, ye dwellers in Itza. + The master of the earth shall come to us. + Thus prophesies Nahau Pech, the seer, + In the days of the fourth age, + At the time of its beginning." + +Such are the obscure and ominous words of the ancient oracle. If the +date is authentic, it would be about 1480--the "fourth age" in the Maya +system of computing time being a period of either twenty or twenty-four +years at the close of the fifteenth century. + +It is, however, of little importance whether these are accurate copies +of the ancient prophecies; they remain, at least, faithful imitations of +them, composed in the same spirit and form which the native priests were +wont to employ. A number are given much longer than the above, and +containing various curious references to ancient usages. + +Another value they have in common with all the rest of the text of these +books, and it is one which will be properly appreciated by any student +of languages. They are, by common consent of all competent authorities, +the genuine productions of native minds, cast in the idiomatic forms of +the native tongue by those born to its use. No matter how fluent a +foreigner becomes in a language not his own, he can never use it as does +one who has been familiar with it from childhood. This general maxim is +ten-fold true when we apply it to a European learning an American +language. The flow of thought, as exhibited in these two linguistic +families, is in such different directions that no amount of practice can +render one equally accurate in both. Hence the importance of studying a +tongue as it is employed by natives; and hence the very high estimate I +place on these "Books of Chilan Balam" as linguistic material,--an +estimate much increased by the great rarity of independent compositions +in their own tongues by members of the native races of this continent. + +I now approach what I consider the peculiar value of these records, +apart from the linguistic mould in which they are cast; and that is the +light they throw upon the chronological system and ancient history of +the Mayas. To a limited extent, this has already been brought before the +public. The late Don Pio Perez gave to Mr. Stephens, when in Yucatan, an +essay on the method of computing time among the ancient Mayas, and also +a brief synopsis of Maya history, apparently going back to the third or +fourth century of the Christian era. Both were published by Mr. Stephens +in the appendix to his "Travels in Yucatan," and have appeared +repeatedly since in English, Spanish and French.[10-*] They have, up to +the present, constituted almost our sole sources of information on these +interesting points. Don Pio Perez was rather vague as to whence he +derived his knowledge. He refers to "ancient manuscripts," "old +authorities," and the like; but, as the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg +justly complains, he rarely quotes their words, and gives no +descriptions as to what they were or how he gained access to them.[11-*] +In fact, the whole of Senor Perez's information was derived from these +"Books of Chilan Balam;" and, without wishing at all to detract from his +reputation as an antiquary and a Maya scholar, I am obliged to say that +he has dealt with them as scholars so often do with their authorities; +that is, having framed his theories, he quoted what he found in their +favor and neglected to refer to what he observed was against them. + +Thus, it is a cardinal question in Yucatecan archaeology as to whether +the epoch or age by which the great cycle (the _ahau katun_,) was +reckoned, embraced twenty or twenty-four years. Contrary to all the +Spanish authorities, Perez declared for twenty-four years, supporting +himself by "the manuscripts." It is true there are three of the "Books +of Chilan Balam"--those of Mani, Kaua and Oxkutzcab,--which are +distinctly in favor of twenty-four years; but, on the other hand, there +are four or five others which are clearly for the period of twenty +years, and of these Don Perez said nothing, although copies of more than +one of them were in his library. So of the epochs, or _katuns_, of Maya +history; there are three or more copies in these books which he does not +seem to have compared with the one he furnished Stephens. His labor will +have to be repeated according to the methods of modern criticism, and +with the additional material obtained since he wrote. + +Another valuable feature in these records is the hints they furnish of +the hieroglyphic system of the Mayas. Almost our only authority +heretofore has been the essay of Landa. It has suffered somewhat in +credit because we had no means of verifying his statements and comparing +the characters he gives. Dr. Valentini has even gone so far as to attack +some of his assertions as "fabrications." This is an amount of +skepticism which exceeds both justice and probability. + +[Illustration: SIGNS OF THE MONTHS, FROM THE BOOK OF CHILAN BALAM OF +CHUMAYEL.] + +The chronological portions of the "Books of Chilan Balam" re[TN-1] +partly written with the ancient signs of the days, months and epochs, +and they furnish us, also, delineations of the "wheels" which the +natives used for computing time. The former are so important to the +student of Maya hieroglyphics, that I have added photographic +reproductions of them to this paper, giving also representations of +those of Landa for comparison. It will be observed that the signs of the +days are distinctly similar in the majority of cases, but that those of +the months are hardly alike. + +[Illustration: SIGNS OF THE MONTHS, AS GIVEN BY BISHOP LANDA.] + +The hieroglyphs of the days taken from the "_Codex Troano_," an ancient +Maya book written before the Conquest, probably about 1400, are also +added to illustrate the variations which occurred in the hands of +different scribes. Those from the "Books of Chilan Balam" are copied +from a manuscript known to Maya scholars as the "_Codice Perez_," of +undoubted authenticity and antiquity.[14-*] + +The result of the comparison I thus institute is a triumphant refutation +of the doubts and slurs which have been cast on Bishop Landa's work and +vindicate for it a very high degree of accuracy. + +The hieroglyphics for the months are quite complicated, and in the +"Books of Chilan Balam" are rudely drawn; but, for all that, two or +three of them are evidently identical with those in the calendar +preserved by Landa. Some years ago, Professor de Rosny expressed himself +in great doubt as to the fidelity in the tracing of these +hierogylphs[TN-2] of the months, principally because he could not find +them in the two codices at his command.[14-+] As he observes, they are +_composite_ signs, and this goes to explain the discrepancy; for it may +be regarded as established that the Maya script permitted the use of +several signs for the same sound, and the sculptor or scribe was not +obliged to represent the same word always by the same figure. + +In close relation to chronology is the system of numeration and the +arithmetical signs. These are discussed with considerable fulness, +especially in the "Book of Chilan Balam of Kaua." The numerals are +represented by exactly the same figures as we find in the Maya +manuscripts of the libraries of Dresden, Pesth, Paris and Madrid; that +is, by points or dots up to five, and the fives by single straight +lines, which may be indiscriminately drawn vertically or horizontally. +The same book contains a table of multiplication in Spanish and Maya +which settles some disputed points in the use of the vigesimal system by +the Mayas. + +A curious chapter in several of the books, especially those of Kaua and +Mani, is that on the thirteen _ahau katuns_, or epochs of the greater +cycle of the Mayas. This cycle embraced thirteen periods, which, as I +have before remarked, are computed by some at twenty years each, by +others at twenty-four years each. Each of these _katuns_ was presided +over by a chief or king, that being the meaning of the word _ahau_. The +books above-mentioned give both the name and the portrait, drawn and +colored by the rude hand of the native artist, of each of these kings, +and they suggest several interesting analogies. + +They are, in the first place, identical, with one exception, with those +on an ancient native painting, an engraving of which is given by Father +Cogolludo in his "History of Yucatan," and explained by him as the +representation of an occurrence which took place after the Spaniards +arrived in the peninsula. Evidently, the native in whose hands the +worthy father found it, fearing that he partook of the fanaticism which +had led the missionaries to the destruction of so many records of the +nation, deceived him as to its purport, and gave him an explanation +which imported to the scroll the character of a harmless history. + +The one exception is the last or thirteenth chief. Cogolludo appends to +this the name of an Indian who probably did fall a victim to his +friendship to the Spaniards. This name, as a sort of guarantee for the +rest of his story, the native scribe inserted in place of the genuine +one. The peculiarity of the figure is that it has an arrow or dagger +driven into its eye. Not only is this mentioned by Cogolludo's +informant, but it is represented in the paintings in both the "Books of +Chilan Balam" above noted, and also, by a fortunate coincidence, in one +of the calendar-pages of the "_Codex Troano_," plate xxiii., in a +remarkable cartouche, which, from a wholly independent course of +reasoning, was some time since identified by my esteemed correspondent, +Professor Cyrus Thomas, of Illinois, as a cartouche of one of the _ahau +katuns_, and probably of the last of them. It gives me much pleasure to +add such conclusive proof of the sagacity of his supposition.[15-*] + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: SIGNS OF THE DAYS. + +The first column on the right is from Landa. The second is from the +"_Codex Troano_." The remaining four are from the Book of Chilan Balam +of Kaua.] + +There is other evidence to show that the engraving in Cogolludo is a +relic of the purest ancient Maya symbolism,--one of the most interesting +which have been preserved to us; but to enter upon its explanation in +this connection would be too far from my present topic. + +A favorite theme with the writers of the "Books of Chilan Balam" was the +cure of diseases. Bishop Landa explains the "_chilanes_" as "sorcerers +and doctors," and adds that one of their prominent duties was to +diagnose diseases and point out their appropriate remedies.[18-*] As we +might expect, therefore, considerable prominence is given to the +description of symptoms and suggestions for their alleviation. Bleeding +and the administration of preparations of native plants are the usual +prescriptions; but there are others which have probably been borrowed +from some domestic medicine-book of European origin. + +The late Don Pio Perez gave a great deal of attention to collecting +these native recipes, and his manuscripts were carefully examined by Dr. +Berendt, who combined all the necessary knowledge, botanical, linguistic +and medical, and who has left a large manuscript, entitled "_Recetarios +de Indios_," which presents the subject fully. He considers the +scientific value of these remedies to be next to nothing, and the +language in which they are recorded to be distinctly inferior to that of +the remainder of the "Books of Chilan Balam." Hence, he believes that +this portion of the ancient records was supplanted some time in the last +century by medical notions introduced from European sources. Such, in +fact, is the statement of the copyists of the books themselves, as these +recipes, etc., are sometimes found in a separate volume, entitled "The +Book of the Jew,"--"_El Libro del Judio_." Who this alleged Jewish +physician was, who left so wide-spread and durable a renown among the +Yucatecan natives, none of the archaeologists has been able to find +out.[18-+] + +The language and style of most of these books are aphoristic, +elliptical and obscure. The Maya language has naturally undergone +considerable alteration since they were written; therefore, even to +competent readers of ordinary Maya, they are not readily understood. +Fortunately, however, there are in existence excellent dictionaries of +the Maya of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which, were they +published, would be sufficient for this purpose. + +A few persons in Yucatan have appreciated the desirability of collecting +and preserving these works. Don Pio Perez was the first to do so, and of +living Yucatecan scholars particular mention should be made of the Rev. +Canon Don Crescencio Carrillo y An cona,[TN-3] who has written a good, +and I believe the only, description of them which has yet appeared in +print.[19-*] They attracted the earnest attention of that eminent +naturalist and ethnologist, the late Dr. C. Hermann Berendt, and at a +great expenditure of time and labor he visited various parts of Yucatan, +and with remarkable skill made _fac-simile_ copies of the most important +and complete specimens which he could anywhere find. This invaluable and +unique collection has come into my hands since his death, and it is this +which has prompted me to make known their character and contents to +those interested in such subjects. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5-*] Read before the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of +Philadelphia, at its twenty-fourth annual meeting, January 5th, 1882. + +[5-+] Of the numerous authorities which could be quoted on this point, I +shall give the words of but one, Father Alonso Ponce, the Pope's +Commissary-General, who travelled through Yucatan in 1586, when many +natives were still living who had been born before the Conquest (1541). +Father Ponce had travelled through Mexico, and, of course, had learned +about the Aztec picture-writing, which he distinctly contrasts with the +writing of the Mayas. Of the latter, he says: "_Son alabados de tres +cosas entre todos los demas de la Nueva Espana, la una de que en su +antiguedad tenian caracteres y letras, con que escribian sus historias y +las ceremonias y orden de los sacrificios de sus idolos y su calendario, +en libros hechos de corteza de cierto arbol, los cuales eran unas tiras +muy largas de quarta o tercia en ancho, que se doblaban y recogian, y +venia a queder a manera de un libro encuardenada en cuartilla, poco mas +o menos. Estas letras y caracteres no las entendian, sino los sacerdotes +de los idolos, (que en aquella lengua se llaman 'ahkines,') y algun +indio principal. Despues las entendieron y supieron leer algunos frailos +nuestros y aun las escribien._"--("_Relacion Breve y Verdadera de +Algunas Cosas de las Muchas que Sucedieron al Padre Fray Alonso Ponce, +Comisario-General en las Provincias de la Nueva Espana_," page 392). I +know no other author who makes the interesting statement that these +characters were actually used by the missionaries to impart instruction +to the natives; but I learn through Mr. Gatschet, of the Bureau of +Ethnology, Washington, that a manuscript written in this manner by one +of the early _padres_ has recently been discovered. + +[5-++] "_Se les quemamos todos_," he writes, "_lo qual a maravilla +sentian y les dava pena._"--"_Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan_," page +316. + +[7-*] "_Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan_," page 160. + +[7-+] "The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths of Central America." +Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. XIX., 1881. The +terminal letter in both these words--"_chilan_," "_balam_,"--may be +either "_n_" or "_m_," the change being one of dialect and local +pronunciation. I have followed the older authorities in writing "_Chilan +Balam_," the modern preferring "_Chilam Balam_." Senor Eligio Ancona, in +his recently published "_Historia de Yucatan_," (Vol. I., page 240, +note, Merida, 1878,) offers the absurd suggestion that the name +"_balam_" was given to the native soothsayers by the early missionaries +in ridicule, deriving it from the well-known personage in the Old +Testament. It is surprising that Senor Ancona, writing in Merida, had +never acquainted himself with the Perez manuscripts, nor with those in +the possession of Canon Carrillo. Indeed, the most of his treatment of +the ancient history of his country is disappointingly superficial. + +[10-*] For example, in the "_Registro Yucateco_," _Tome III._; +"_Diccionario Universal de Historia y Geografia_," _Tome VIII._ (Mexico, +1855); "_Diccionario Historico de Yucatan_," _Tome I._ (Merida, 1866); +in the appendix to Landa's "_Cosas de Yucatan_" (Paris, 1864), etc. The +epochs, or _katuns_, of Maya history have been recently again analyzed +by Dr. Felipe Valentini, in an essay in the German and English +languages, the latter in the "Proceedings of the American Antiquarian +Society, 1880." + +[11-*] The Abbe's criticism occurs in the note to page 406 of his +edition of Landa's "_Cosas de Yucatan_." + +[14-*] It is described at length by Don Crescencio Carrillo y Ancona, in +his "_Disertacion sobre la Historia de la Lengua Maya_" (Merida, 1870). + +[14-+] "_Je dois declarer que l'examen dans tous leurs details du 'Codex +Troano' et du 'Codex Peresianus' m'invite de la facon la plus serieuse a +n'accepter ces signes, tout au moins au point de vue de l'exactitude de +leur trace, qu'avec une certaine reserve._"--Leon de Rosny's "_Essai sur +le Dechiffrement de l'Ecriture Hieratique de l'Amerique Centrale_," page +21 (Paris, 1876). By the "_Codex Peresianus_," he does not mean the +"_Codice Perez_," but the Maya manuscript in the Bibliotheque[TN-4] +Nationale. The identity of the names is confusing and unfortunate. + +[15-*] "The Manuscript Troano," published in _The American Naturalist_, +August, 1881, page 640. This manuscript or codex was published in +chromo-lithograph, Paris, 1879, by the French Government. + +[18-*] "_Declarar las necesidades y sus remedios._"--"_Relation de las +Cosas de Yucatan_," page 160. Like much of Landa's Spanish, this use of +the word "_necesidad_" is colloquial, and not classical. + +[18-+] A "_Medicina Domestica_," under the name of "Don Ricardo Ossado, +(alias, _el Judio_,)" was published at Merida in 1834; but this appears +to have been merely a bookseller's device to aid the sale of the book by +attributing it to the "great unknown." + +[19-*] In his "_Disertacion sobre la Historia de la Lengua Maya o +Yucateca_" (Merida, 1870). + + + + +Transcriber's Note + + +The following misspellings and typographical errors were maintained. + + Page Error + TN-1 11 re should read are + TN-2 13 hierogylphs should read hieroglyphs + TN-3 19 An cona should read Ancona + TN-4 fn. 14-+ Bibliotheque should read Bibliotheque + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Books of Chilan Balam, the +Prophetic and Historic Records of the Mayas of Yucatan, by Daniel G. 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