f ■"*. r r. y. •r. 1898-99.] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. lOI DPXIPHERMENT OF THE HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. Bv John Camtuell, LL.D., F.R.S.C. ■■'.*' • Professor in the Presbyterian College, Montreal. {Read March 18th, i8gg\ ^ ' " - ■ .v •*' Chapter I. ' i ■ ' r'.LENQUE AND ITS RL'IXS. • . "" , . Near the point where the three republics of Mrrlco, Yucatan and Guatemala touch, lie the ruins of the ancient city of Palenque. These are real!)' on Mexican ground, being situated in the northern part of Chiapas, the most southerly province of Mexico. The region in which the>' lie. and the adjoining parts of Yucatan and Guatemala, are covered with a dense tropical forest, extending over an area of between forty and fift\- thousand square miles. Apart from the monument to be considered, there is no testimony as to the time when a great native civilization in thi.*^ wide region came to an end, and ii deserted cities and fertile fields were converted into jungles and the ho of wild beasts. The aboriginal chronicles and the records of the Spanish conquerors, so full of the history of Mexico, and not altogether deficient regarding northern Yucatan anu western Guatemala, have little or nothing to .say concerning the southern Atlantic coast of Central America. Yet the birthplace of American continental civilization seems to have been there. According to Lizana and other writers, the first colonists of Yucatan came thither from Haiti by way of Cuba, but no conjecture is made as to the point whence their ancestors set out to reach the former island.' It is probable that the bloodthirsty and avaricious Alvarado traversed this site of ancient civilization in I524,and turned it into a waste howling wilderness b\' his barbarities. For two hundred and twenty-two years subsequent, no human beings visited the ruins, save wandering natives, who, amid the relics of their former greatness, rursed the Spanish name and swore undying hatred to those who bore it. In 1746, however, a bod\- of Spaniards traversed the country of northern Chiapas, and stumbled upon the ruins of Palenque ; but it was not till 178; that 102 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITITE. (VOL. VI. Captain Antonio del Rio visited them for the purpose of scientitic description, and made the world acquainted with* their nature. He examined fourteen buildings of hewn stone, toijether with a subterranean aqueduct, and estimated the extent of buildings along the river at from seven to eight leagues in length, and half a league in breadth. The next explorers were Du Paix and Castineda in 1S07, who made drawings and plans of the monuments, which were used by Waldeck and Lord Kings- borough. Waldeck himself visited Palenque in 183J, and Stephens and Catherwood in 1840. The ruins were inspected by Morelet in 1S46, and in 1858 by Charnay. In the accounts of these explorers, and in the works of Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bancroft, Baldwin, Short, etc.. ample material is provided for enabling the reader to picture to himself the deserted city.' The following description is largely from Brasseur de Rourbourg.' The ruins receive their name from tiie village <>l' Palenque. w ithiii a few miles of which they ate situated. . The ancient city had been built on the hill slopes at t*"" entrance to the steep maintain range of Tumbala, which in unfc ^^ecn circumstances might serve a.> a safer refuge for its inhabitants. But at that time the adjacent plains, intersected by so many rivers and natural canals, formed a great lake, similar to the lagoon of Terminos, such a.s it now appears at the time of the height of water between June and October. .A distance of from nine to twelve miles separates the ruins of this metropolis from the river Catasaha. Thi.j is the space to which the name of Las Playas, or the Flats, is given, because of the inundation to wliich they are subject. The plain of Palenque, undulating slightly, descends gentl>' towards the sea, intersected by a multitude of streams, which have tlieir sources in the mountains. Nature, always prodigal of her gifts in this enchanting climate, assured to it in profusion, with perennial fertility and healthful- ness, tested by a long succession of years, all that a fertile soil under a delightful sky could furnish spop^'aneously in productions necessary to the support and comfort of life. The little river Otolum flows at the foot of the ruins, before going to join the Rio Michol, which further on swells the Catasaha, itself a tributary of the magnificent L'zumacinta. The limpid tide of the Michol winds at the foot of the mountains, rolling its waters among the flowers and shrubs of the meadows that spT3ad abroad the sweetest perfumes. .A. site so favoured by nature could not fail to attract living beings. It is, in fact, the retreat of a multitude of quadrupeds and of birds of every hue. They delight to multiply in these smiling solitudes, whence man drove them and held them at a distance for ages, and whither they only returned when revolutions, banishing ^jj^r y ..; ' 1898-99.] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 103 man in his turn, gave them back their rural abodes, he abandoning on their behalf his palaces and his temples as a souvenir of his sojourn and his power. If Votan was the founder of Palenque and its first buildings were his, his successors apparently completed what he had begun in adding to the splendour of this capital. The city extended along the foot of the mountains from east to west, a distance between twenty-one and fwenty- four miles. It came down to the bank of the Michol, which laved its front, thus giving it a breadth of only two or two and a half miles. In the midst of the plain which stretches between the mountains and the river, there rises majestically upon a vast artificial mound the building which it has been agreed to call the palace of the kings. The periodical inundation which, from the month of June, begins to cover the low ground where the Michol flows, then swollen by the superabundant waters of the Cordilleras, had doubtless compelled the Votanites to the necessity of heaping up by great labour the low-lying land on which the founder of the monarchy had desired to erect his royal abode. After- wards, this plan having become sacred in the eyes of his people, the wish to protect his palace against the water must have inspired the design of this gigantic edifice. Other monuments destined for different uses were afterwards built on the same plan, and that which could at first have been only a necessity of circumstances, became a consecrated custom for all the great buildings of American civilization. The city proper was arranged in the form of an amphitheatre on the slope of the mountain all around the plain, the palaces of which must have presented a singular appearance at the time of inundation. Built upon so many artificial mounds, they resemble the rocks of lake Maggiore, transformed by the Borromeos into as many enchanted castles. The streets followed irregularly the course of the streams, which in their descent furnished abundance of water to every dwelling. On one of the summits, constituting the rear terrace of the amphitheatre, there rose, directly in front of the palace of the kings, another monument which would seem to have served as temple and citadel, and whose lofty walls commanded a view of the country as far as the shores of the Atlantic. The numerous monuments of Palenque which time has respected give a sufficiently complete idea of its architecture; its general characteristics are simplicity, soberness and solidity. This last quality pertains not only to the nature and use of the materials; but also to the slope that has been observed in the bases of most of the palac(;s and temples. In I04 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. Vl. addition to this peculiarity, whJch they share with the majority of buildings in Yucatan, Guatemala and Mexico, they have that of being perfectly oriented, that is to say, their four faces are opposite the cardinal points. Their plan is that of long parallelograms, and they are generally placed on natural or artificial eminences. The great palace of the kings presents the most complete idea of a royal habitation. The pyramidal construction which forms its base is a parallelogram of i,o8o feet in circumference by 60 in height; it is built of stone and mortar. It is ascended by a colossal staircase situated below the eastern facade, and its steps of a foot high seem made for the strides of a race of giants. Thus the summit of the terrace in front of the palace is reached, and entrance is gained by five doors ; of the two chief ones, that on the right leads to the great court of honour, the other, on the left, to the inner apartments. The extent of the building is 240 feet in length, and 145 in diameter. Its he;ght is 36 feet. This gives 96 to the whole mass from base to summit. Within and without runs a double corridor, which, inside the palace, constitutes in many places separate apartments. The openings between the pillars are hardly more than six feet high in the outside corridor, but those of the interior buildings are generally higher. The vaulted ceilings, resting upon walls of prodigious thickness more than twenty feet above the floor, form at the top a truncated angle, bounded by large and very thick slabs. The building is crowned on the outside by a large frieze framed in two double cornices square in shape. Finally, between all the doors, upon the face of each of the pillars of the corridor which runs round Ihis monument, full reliefs in stucco are incrusted, representing figures of more than ordinary stature, and cartouches of sculptured writing. The interior of the palace does not present the same regularity, but it seems to correspond better to the magnificence of the princes who inhabited it. There may be seen several immense courts surrounded by great porticos with granite columns, covered with figures in relief double the size of those without. Magnificent peristyles lead to various dwelling quarters intelligently distributed. Succeeding the two courts of honour, there rises a tower of eight stories, the staircase of which in many places is upheld by vaulted arches, and from the top of which the eye can gaze far over the city, the country and the sea. But even the irregularity which reigns in these arrangements, and above all, the vast difference between the proportions of the inside buildings and the principal corridor which surrounds the palace, without dwelling on the peculiar elegance that is pbservable in the form of the l898-99>] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 105 gates opening upon the courts, appear to prove that the owners of the palace, while seeking "to preserve the outside portico, built perhaps by the sons of Votan, found themselves nevertheless compelled to embellish their habitation, and to introduce into it changes exacted by the development of civilization. For the same reason, they adorned with stucco reliefs the columns of the periphery, which had remained apparently under the early reigns without any other ornament than that of their severe and majestic nakedness. In fact, when the kings of Palenque had begun to be accustomed to luxury and magnificence, after they had adorned the new edifices built in the middle of the palace with sculptures in relief, they experienced the necessity of putting the old residence of their predecessors in harmony with their own. It was then without doubt that the external columns were stuccoed with models patterned otherwise exactly after the granite sculptures of the great court of honour. Hence the astonishment of travellers who attributed to a caprice of the architect what was only the natural consequence of the advance of art. The other buildings discovered at Palenque are analogous in point of construction to the palace. They are majestically situated on pyramidal masses of great height, with a peristyle at the entrance. At the bottom is what may be called the chapel, having on each side one or two other pieces of architecture opening upon the corridor, and which seem to have served as dwellings for the guardians of the divinity who was there worshipped. Although its dimensions are much smaller, the system of the chapel is the same as that of the palace, and the reliefs, either in plaster or engraved on stone, have the same character. The only differ- ence to remark is that two of these monuments are surmounted by a second story, the form of which and its multiplied adornments in stucco recall the strange and fantastic models of Indian pagodas. What becomes certain after exaraination is that they belong to a different epoch, and to an order of civilization other than that above which they are raised. If a tradition preserved among the inhabitants of the modern little town of Palenque is to be believed, the artificial mound upon which the great palace is raised is divided up within into halls and galleries, the sepulchral abode of the kings and princes of the ancient city; but, up to this day, the Indians have religiously preserved the secret of these tombs and no traveller has been able to penetrate the catacombs of the Votanites. Those who have visited Yucatan have thoroughly satisfied themselves of the concavity of the pyramids which are so frequently met with in that peninsula. In spite of the comparatively modern period of I06 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITL'TB. [VOL. VI. the monuments of that country, remains have been recognized, especially in the ruins of Mayapan, the severe and unornamented style of which claims an antiquity contemporary with that of Palenque. There, as in the latter city, the walls are almost always covered with a plastering of stucco, to which oxide of iron has given a tinting, which would seem to denote that iron was formerly known in America, although no imple- ment fashioned of this metal has ever been discovered. Another interesting relic of ancient architecture preserved at Palenque is a fine bridge thrown over the river Michol, a short distance from the palace. It is built of square hewn stones, joined together without mortar by means of their shape only ; it has no parapet. Sixty feet long by forty-five wide, it rises twelve feet above the ordinary level of the water. But a singular thing is that the opening which giyes passage to the river, square above, goes on enlarging convexly, contrary to the style of our bridge arches, the form of which is concave. This mode of con- struction is evidently opposed to solidity, but the stones are so well matched in the edik. "n question that it has been preserved intact down the centuries. Three miles east of the city appears another monument of the same character. It is a canal or subterranean aqueduct, c hundred and eighty feet long, six in width and twelve in height, through which runs a strong stream of exceedingly limpid water, coming from tho wooded mountains and flowing from south to north. The dimensions of this monument vary in some places. It is made of large stones laid without cement and fitting by their individual shapes, and the roof is formed of other flat stones which cover the entire breadth of the aqueduct. It is hard to .say what purpose this great hydraulic construction served ; perhaps it con- ducted the waters of the mountain to the public baths of this great metropolis, or it may have .served to facilitate the passage of the water from one quarter to another. It is to be observed that in the buildings of Palenque no brick is found, although so often employed in other parts of America ; every- where stone only appears. It is true that the quarries were so near the city and so easily worked that the inhabitants may never have dreamt of using other materials. Wood, if it were ever made use of, has entirely disappeared. It is hard to say whether the architects of Palenque made use of lintels of hardwood, such as those found at Tulha and in Yucatan. As for the openings serving for windows, they are small and generally capricious in form, surrounded within the buildings with arabesques and patterns in bas-relief, at times very pleasing It is thus that the Latin l898-99l DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTION!) OF CENTRAL AMERICA. I07 cross. SO thin and delicate, which is the principal object in the temple of the cross, is formed by an opening piercing the wall from side to side to serve for a window. Many, however, have been noticed representing a Greek T. As for the pavement of their buildings, it is composed of a hard and fine stucco, similar to that made use of to cover the partition walls. There is a curious fact connected with the art of painting among the Tzendals of Palenque. It refers to a bas-relief presenting writing in square cartouches, sculptured on a slab framed in the wall of a landing on a staircase which seemed to lead to the subterranean halls of the the palace. It projected about six inches. Du Paix, having had it torn away with much difficulty, so solidly was it inserted, found to his great astonishment, that the reverse of the slab presented the colored sketch of the subjects engraved in relief on the outside. Was this, said one of the commentators on the expedition, a precaution against the ravages of time or the instability of human things? Did the director of the palace desire that this law or legend, whatever it may have been, engraved upon the stone, should pass down to posterity in spite of the vicissitudes of time and circumstance? Layard, in his work on Nineveh and its remains, shows that the ancient Assyrians set the example of this double writing, long ages before America was discovered by man. Mr. Baldwin, following Stephens and Catherwood, thus writes, " The largest known building at Palenque is called 'The Palace.' It stands near the river on a terraced pyramidal foundation, 40 feet high and 310 feet long, by 260 broad at the base. The edifice itself is 228 feet long, 180 wide, and 25 feet high. It faces the east, and has 14 doorways on each side, with 11 at the ends, It was built entirely of hewn stone,, laid with admirable precision in mortar which seems to have been of the best quality. A corridor, nine feet wide, and roofed by a pointed arch, went round the building on the outside, and this was separated from another within of equal width. The palace has four interior courts, the largest being 70 by 80 feet in extent. These are surrounded by corridors, and the architectural work facing them is richly decorated. Within the building were many rooms. From the north side of one of the smaller courts rises a high tower or pagoda-like structure, thirty feet square at the base, which goes up far above the highest elevation of the building, and seems to have been still higher when the whole structure was in perfect condition. The great rectangular mound used for the foundation was cased with hewn stone, the workmanship here, and everywhere else throughout the structure, being very superior. The piers around the courts are covered with figures in stucco or plaster, which, when broken, Io8 TRANSACTIONS OF THB CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL VI. reveals six or more coats or layers, each revealing traces of painting. This indicates that the building had been used so long before it was deserted that the plastering needed to be many times renewed. There is some evidence that painting was used as a means of decoration, but that which most engages attention is the artistic management of the stone work, and, above all, the beautifully executed sculptures foi orna- mentation. • " Two other buildings at Palenque, marked by Mr. Stephens, in his plan of the ruins, as 'Casa No. i,' and ' Casa No. 2,' are smaller, but, in some respects, still more remarkable, The first of these, 75 feet long by 25 wide, stands on the summit of a high truncated pyramid, and has solid walls on all sides save the north, where there are five doorways. Within, are a corridor and three rocms. Between the doorways leading from the corridor to these rooms are great tablets, each 1 3 feet long and 8 feet high, and all covered with elegantly carved inscriptions. A similar but smaller tablet, covered with an inscription, appears on the wall of the central room. ' Casa No. 2' consists of a steep and lofty truncated p}Tamid, which stands on a terraced foundation, and has its level summit crowned with a building 50 feet long by 3 1 wide, which has three door-ways at the south, and within, a corridor and three rooms. The edifice, sometimes called ' La Cruz ' has, above the height required for the rooms, what is described as 'two stories of interlaced stucco work, resembling a high fanciful lattice.' Here, too, inscribed tablets appear on the walls ; but the inscriptions, which are abundant at Palenque, are by no means confined to tablets. As to the ornament- ation, the walls, piers, and cornices are covered with it. Everywhere, the masterly workmanship and artistic skill of the old constructors compel admiration ; Mr. Stephens going so far as to say of sculptured human figures found in fragments, ' In justness of proportion and symmetry they must have approached the Greek models.' "'Casa No. 2' of Mr. Stephens is usually called 'La Cruz,' because the most prominent object within the building is a great bas-relief, on which are sculptured a cross and several human figures. This building stands on the high pyramid, and is approached by a flight of steps. Dr. Paix says, ' It is impossible to describe adequately the interior decorations of this sumptuous temple.' The cross is supposed to have been the central object of interest. It was wonderfully sculptured and decorated ; human figures stand near it, and some grave ceremony seems to be represented. The infant held toward the cross by one of the figures suggests a christening ceremony. The cross is one of the most common emblems present in all the ruins. This led the lSq^-q9-\ DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. IO9 Catholic missionaries to assume that knowltdge of Christianity had been brought to that part of America long before their arrival; and they adopted the belief that the gospel was preached there by St. Thomas. This furnished excellent material for the hagiologists of that age ; but, like everything else peculiar to these monkish romancers, it betrayed great lack of knowledge. * * * What more will be found at Palenque, when the whole field of its ruins has been explored, can not now be reported. The chief difficulty by which explorers are embar- rassed is manifest in this statement of Mr. Stephens. ' Without a guide, we might have gone within a hundred feet of the buildings without discovering one of them.' More has been discovered there than I have mentioned, my purpo.se being to give an accurate view of the style, finish, decoration, and general character of the architecture and artistic work found in the ruins, rather than a complete account of everything connected with them. The ruins of Palenque are deemed important by archaeologists, partly on account of the great abundance of inscriptions found there, which, it is believed, will at length be deciphered, the written characters being similar to tho.se of the Mayas, which are now understood."* Dr. Short says : "Nothing of a definite nature is known of the style of roof with which the palace was covered, since every vestige of it has disappeared. Castaneda represents it as sloping and plastered, while Du Paix refers to it as consi.sting of large stone flags, carefully joined together. The neighboring buildings, such as the Temple of the Three Tablets, the Temple of the Cross, and the Temple of the Sun, each have well preserved roofs of masonry, which are quite remarkable. The first of the.se stands upon its lofty pyramidal base, measuring one hundred and ten feet on the slope, with continuous steps on all sides. The temple, which is thirty-five feet high, is crowned with a sloping ornamental roof of great beauty. The roof is divided into three parts ; the lower .section recedes from the cornice with a gentle slope, and resembles the corresponding section of a French or Mansard roof. The stucco decorations of this lower section, which is also painted, add considerably to the general effect. Five solid square projections with perpendicular faces, suggestive of the attic windows of a modern French roof, are found in this section, corresponding to the several doors of the temple immediately below. The second section, which slopes back at a more acute angle, is of solid masonry. The crowning section seems to have been purely ornamental, consisting of a line of pillars of stone and mortar, eighteen inches high and twelve inches apart, surmounted by a layer of flat stones with projecting sides. The Temple of the Cross and 1 10 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. the Temple of the Sun both have roof structures, which may be described as resembling a lattice work of stone." " The most interesting feature of Palenque architecture is the arch, of which there are two styles, if one of them may be classed as an arch at all ; of this we have doubts. The style to which we allude is that which has been designated as the Yucatan arch. This so-called arch is nothing more than the approach of two walls towards each other in straight lines, nearly forming an acute angle at the top. These inclining walls are constructed of overlapping .stones, with a small surface of exposed ceiling produced by a lintel like covering. The principal doorway, which is eighteen feet high, is constructed in the form of a trefoil arch, while niches or depressions of the same trefoil form are ranged along the inclined face of the gallery on each side of the entrance. This arch vs suggestive of the Moorish pattern, though the latter, probably, is the more modern."' Lewis Morgan will not allow that the buildings of Palenque were palaces and temples. Referring to Palenque as a pueblo, he says : " There are four or five pyramidal elevations at this pueblo quite similar in plan and general situation with those at Uxmal. One is much the largest, and the structures upon it are called ' The Palace.' It has generally been regarded as the paragon of American Indian architecture. As a palace implies a potentate for its occupation, a character who never existed and could not exist under their institutions, it has been a means of self-deception with respect to the condition of the aborigines which ought to be permanently discarded. Several distinct buildings are here grouped upon one elevated terrace, and are more or less connected. Altogether they are two hundred and twenty-eight feet long, front and rear, and one hundred and eighty feet deep, occupying not only the four sides of a quadrangle, but the greater part of what originally was, in all probability, an open court. The use of the interior court for additional structures shows a decadence of architecture and of ethnic life in the people, because it implies an unwillingness to raise a new pyramidal site to gain accommodations for an increased number of people. Thus, to appro- priate the original court, so essential for light and air, as well as room, and which is .such a striking feature in the general plan of the archi- tecture of the Village Indians, was a departure from the principles of this architecture. Nearly all the edifices in Vucatan and Central America a-^ree in one particular, namely, in being constructed with three parallel walls at intervals, giving two rows of apartments under one roof, rsually, if not invariably, flat. Where .several are grouped together in t le same platform, as at Palenque, they are severally under independent I898-99'] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. Ill 1 . roofs, and the spaces between, called courts, are simply open lanes or passage ways between the structures. An inspection of the ground plan of the Palenque ruins in the folio volume of Du Paix, or in the work of Mr. Stephens, will be apt to mislead, unless this feature of the archi- tecture is kept in mind. There are in reality seven or eight distinct edifices crowded together upon the summit level of the platform. Mr. Stephens speaks of it as one structure. * The building,' he remarks, * was constructed of stone, and the whole front was covered with stucco and painted The doorways have no doors, nor are there the remains of any The tops of the doorways were all broken. They had evidently been square, and over every one were large niches in the wall on each side, in which the lintels had been laid. These lintels had all fallen, and the stones above formed broken natural arches.' The interior walls in two rooms shown by engravings were plastered over. " Architecturally, Palenque is inferior to the House of the Nuns; but it is more ornamental. It has one peculiar feature not generally found in the Yucatan structures, namely, a corridor about nine feet wide, supposed to have run about the greater part of the exterior on the four sides. The exterior walls of these corridors rest on a series of piers, and the central or next parallel wall is unbroken, except by one doorway on each of three sides, and two in the fourth, thus forming a narrow promenade. One of the interior buildings consists of two arch corridors, but wider, on opposite sides of a central longitudinal wall. All the rooms in the several edifices are large. In one of the open spaces is a tower about thirty feet square, rising three stories. The Palenque .structures are quite remarkable, standing upon an artificial eminence about forty feet high, and large enough to accommodate three thousand people living in the fashion of Village Indians. " An impression has been propagated that Palenque and other pueblos in these regions were surrounded by dense populations, living in cheaply constructed tenements. Having assigned the structures found, and which undoubtedly were all that ever existed to Indian kings or potentates, the question might well be asked, if such palaces were provided for the rulers of the land, what has become of the residences of the people ? Mr. Stephens has given direct countenance to this preposterous suggestion. In his valuable work he has shown a disposition to feed the flames of fancy with respect to these ruins. After describing the ' palace,' so called, at Palenque, and remarking that ' the whole extent of ground covered by these (ruins) as yet known, as appears by the plan, is not larger than our Park or Battery ' (in New 112 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. York), he proceeds : ' It is proper to add, however, that, considering the space now occupied by the ruins as the site of palaces, temples and public buildings, and supposing the houses of the inhabitants to have been, like those of the Egyptians and the present race of Indians, of frail and perishable materials, as at Memphis and Thebes, and to have disappeared altogether, the city may have covered an immense ej^tent' This is a clear case oi suggestio falsi by Mr, Stephens, who is usually so careful and reliable, and, even here, so guarded in his language. He had fallen into the mistake of regarding these remains as a city in ruins instead of a small Indian pueblo in ruins. But he had furnished a general ground plan of all the ruins found of the Palenque pueblo, which made it plain that four or five structures upon pyramidal platforms at some distance from each other, with the whole space over which they were scattered about equal to the Battery, made a poor show for a city. The most credulous reader would readily perceive that it was a misnomer to call them the ruins of a city ; wherefore the suggestions of Mr. Stephens, that, considering the space now occupied by the ruins as the site of palaces, temples, and public buildings, and supposing the houses of the inhabitants ... of frail and perishable materials to have disappeared . . . the city may have covered an immense extent. That Mr. Stephens himself considered or supposed either to be true may have been the case, but it seems hardly supposable, and in either event he is responsible for the false colouring thus put upon these ruins, and the deceptive inferences drawn from them." In quoting these words of a late highly esteemed correspondent, the writer regrets, in one sense, that he cannot homologate them. Mr. Morgan sought to unify American Indian architecture, which is an impossible task, inasmuch as tribes of very different origin constitute the aboriginal population of the continent, and their modes of build- ing, like their languages, physical features, customs, and traditions, exhibit marked and irreconcilable differences. The Mayas of Yucatan and the Quiches and Cachiquels of Guatemala had no connection of any kind with the Pueblo Indians. Their histories assert that they were governed by great monarchs, almost absolute in their sway, a rule that continued down to the appearance of the Spanish invaders. Elaborate ornamentation and elegantly carved hieroglyphics are no part of a common dwelling house ; nor, with all his invective against Mr. Stephens, has Mr. Morgan succeeded in proving that, even in rough outline, the palaces and temples of Palenque were not such. Credible history attests that the Mayas, Quiches, and Cachiquels posse.ssed palaces and temples as well as kings and priests. No village life could ♦ l-'Cit/htnuonJ iltl. 1 Ih T,ihl,i of I fie 1898-99- DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 113 have developed or even continued the high art of these ancient buildings; such art could only flourish in a large and wealthy community under enlightened patronage. There is nothing at all absurd in the supposition of Mr. Stephens, which he shared with all the other explorers, that the houses of the people were what the present dwellings of the natives are, common and perishable structures. It is, however, likely that Du Paix and De Bourbourg have exaggerated the size of the city of Palenque, and that a good many miles should be deducted from its twenty-one to twenty-four in length. Making every allowance for such exaggeration, the ruins indicate a very large city in a high state of aboriginal civiliza- tion, and its written records cannot fail to excite the intelligent curiosity of all who seek to learn more than we yet know of ancient life in the cradle of American history. Chapter II. • ,, ", » ■ THE TABLET OF THE CROSS. : . In the preceding chapter reference has been made more than once to the temple or house of the Cross. The Rev. Stephen D. Peet, in a resumi' of the late Dr. Charles Rau's monograph upon the tablet, thus describes the building in which it was found. " The temple which con- tained it was situated on a pyramid, which was 134 feet high on the slope. The pyramid itself was on a broken stone terrace sixty feet high, with a level esplanade around its base, i6d feet in breadth. The dimensions of the temple are as follows : Fifty-one feet front, thirty- one feet deep, height about forty feet. This would make the total height of the pyramid, terrace, and temple, two hundred and thirty-four feet. The temple had three entrances at the front ; and was covered with stucco ornaments. The piers between the entrances contained hieroglyphics and figures in bas-relief The interior was divided into three parts : an outer corridor, an inner corridor, which might be called the sanctuary, and a chamber called the adoratorio, at the rear of the sanctuary. There was a door or opening from the outer corridor to the inner, and another door or opening into the chamber. These three doors, that in the front, that between the corridors, and that into the chamber or adoratorio, were all in a line and so arranged that the light from the outside could penetrate into the adoratorio and strike the tablet. The tablet was on the wall back of the chamber or adoratorio, and covered nearly the entire wall. Stephens gives the dimensions of the entire room containing the tablet as follows : ' Thirteen feet in I 14 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. length, seven feet in depth,' and represents the tablet as covering the entire wall. Galindo sta:es : * it was covered with a flat roof.' Charnay says that " the altar, which recalls by its form the ark of the Hebrews, is a sort of covered box, having for an ornament a small frieze or moulding. High above both extremities of this frieze are two wings, reminding one of the same kind of ornamentation often seen in connection with Egyptian monuments.' It is a question whether Charnay did not confound the wing ornaments on the temple of the sun with what he saw on the temple of the cross, and attribute them to this frieze, as no one else has ascribed the wing ornament to the temple of the cross. He says in reference to the tablet : ' In the background of the altar are seen three immense slabs, close by, joined, and covered by precious sculptures.' According to all accounts, we judge that the tablet itself was six feet four inches high, and thirteen feet long, as it covers the entire wall of the adoratorio."' The tablet was originally composed of three distinct slabs, as repre- sented in the illustration. Those on the right and left contained groups of hieroglyphics, of which 102 belonged to the right and ninety-nine to the left. There are also thirty-nine cartouches of hieroglyphics scattered over the central slab, which, so far has been the chief object of interest. Down to the time of Du Paix's visit in 1808 the tablet was complete. When Waldeck visited Palenque in 1832, the middle slab was gone. The robber was William Brown, an American sea captain who had married a wealthy Spanish lady, the owner of a house near Palenque. The Indians, whom he employed to remove it and carry it to his house, had brought it some distance, when according to one account, the priests, according to Waldeck, the governor of Chiapas, compelled them to drop their burden. Torn from its original place by a fanatic, who saw in it a reproduction of the Christian emblem miraculously employed by the ancient inhabitants of these palaces, it was designed to ornament the house of a rich widow in the village of Palenque ; but the authorities were aroused by this devastation, and prohibited the removal of the stone. It was consequently left in the woods, where I unconsciously trod on it, until my guide directed my attention to this precious stone. It was covered with moss, and the sculptures had become totally invisible. When I afterwards concluded to reproduce it, it had to be rubbed with branches, and set against a tree. In 1842 the right slab was almost all gone, according to Stephens, but, in that same year, Mr. Charles Russell, United States consul at Laguna, shipped to Washing- ton a number of fragments, which, when pieced together, were found to constitute the missing right slab. There has been some controversy I898-99'] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 1 15 over this, however.""^ The left slab is supposed to be still in situ, and the centre one where Captain Brown's bearers were comptilled to drop their precious burden in the forest. Although the trustworthy illustration mi^ht speak for itself, Mr- Stephens' description may not be superfluous. He says: "The principal subject is the cross. It is surmounted by a strange bird. The two figures are evidently important personages. They are well drawn, and in symmetry of proportion are perhaps equal to many that are carved on the ruined walls of Egypt. Their dresses are in a style different from any heretofore given, and the folds would seem to indicate that they were of a soft and pliable texture, like cotton. Both are looking toward the cross, and one seems in the act of making an offering, perhaps a child. All speculations on the subject are of course entitled to little regard, but perhaps it would not be wrong to Ascribe to these personages a sacerdotal character. This tablet of the cross has given rise to more learned speculations than any others found at Palenque. Du Paix and his commentators, assuming for the building a very remote antiquity, antecedent to the Christian era, account for the appearance of the cross by the argument that it was known and had a symbolic meaning long before it was established as the emblem of the Christian faith. There is no doubt that the symbol of the cross is contained upon the tablet. The symbol in this case has a complicated character. These are the features of the cross, namely, the upright pieces, and the cross-pieces or arms, but the arms terminate with figures which resemble maces or battle axes, such as are used among the native races. The centre of the standard has the figure of a winged arrow. The top of the standard is ornamented by various expressive symbols, somewhat resembling the horns on the Assyrian columns, and on the top stands the thunder bird. The bird is ornamented with tassels, and pendants, and symbols of various kinds. The base of the cross also has various ornaments, which we will not undertake to explain. The whole cross rests on a masked face, which somewhat resembles the human countenance, but is distinguished by a peculiar mouth and eye, the eye somewhat resembling that in the rain-god, a figure which may be seen in the temple of the sun at Palenque. Pendant from the arms of the cross are ornaments which reach to the floor on either side, containing various symbols, and among them, heads with protruding tongues, and variotis symbolic figures emanating from their eyes. There is also, on the ornamentation of the standing figure at the left, another cross, and among the hieroglyphics on either side, the Greek tau can be recognized."^ Il6 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. (VOL. VI. The figure of the cross in general is so simple that it is as old as the art of writing, of drawing, even of making a mark more complicated than a straight line. It is found in all lands and in all ages, sometimes with religious significance, but oftener without. It is an old symbol in Egypt and in Assyria, in India and in China, in Asia Minor and in Etruria, as well as throughout America. The simplest mode of construction is an upright pole fixed in the ground, and the next to that is a cross piece from which articles of any kind may depend. That so much attention has been paid to the Palenque cross is not to be wondered at, but, as Mr. Baldwin has said, the attention is more a sign of ignorance and credulity than of scientific curiosity. The fantastic bird idol is the true object of interest. In it, perhaps, may be recog- nized the Voc of the Quiches, mentioned in their sacred book, the Fopol Vuh. Among the Cachiquels this bird god was called Vaku, and Dr. Brinton thinks that Savacon of the Caribs, which they represent as a huge bird that makes the winds, and as the companion of Iroucan, is this same Voc, inasmuch as the Quiches call it the messenger of the god Hurakan.* The Voc is a bird described by Goto "as having green plumage, and a very large and curved bill, apparently a kind of parrot." It is a well-known fact that all the Maya-Quiche peoples were in the habit of immolating captives taken in war to their gods, and that, in default of these, they did not scruple, in cases of supposed necessity, to sacrifice their slaves, their children or their poor. The high priest was always a member of the royal family.' The object presented to the idol is not necessarily an infant. It is a trait of almost all ancient representations of human figures, such, for instance, as the Egyptian and Assyrian, to give prominence to kings and other distinguished personages by magnifying their portraits inordinately, at the expense of their victims, opponents, or inferiors. The chief merit of the pictorial part of the tablet is that it furnishes what is doubtless a faithful representation of two distinct, though allied, types of feature and dress, illustrating the period to which the tablet belongs. The headdress of the larger of the two figures, on the right, is curiously like that of the Tokari, as represented on the Egyptian monu- ments. Kenrick thus describes it: "A high cap or helmet, wider at the top than at the base, divided into coloured stripes, with disks of metal attached to it, descending on the back of the neck and fastened beneath the chin. '" By the name of their god Tohil, Tockill, the Maya-Quiches claim some sort of connection with the ancient Tokari, intermediate links being found in the Tagalas of the Philippines, and in the almost universal Polynesian god Tagaloa or Tangaloa. The ancient art of Java |898-99>] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. II7 closely resembles that of Yucatan and Guatemala, so that the chief building at Palenque has been likened to the temple of Boro Bodo in that islands Old Javanese representations of native features and dress are very similar to those on the monument in question, which sets forth people who had kept up the traditional customs of a warm climate.* On Easter Island, the most easterly in Polynesia, and thus the nearest to America, groups of hieroglyphics resembling, at least in general outline, those of the Tablet, have been found, together with colossal statues, beyond the power of its present inhabitants to fashion." These may yet be found to stand in some definite relation to Central American art, and to this end the accurate portraiture of the living figures may be our aid ; but this is to anticipate. Professor Cyrus Thomas, referring to his study of the Maya Manuscript Troano, says regarding the hieroglyphics of the Palenque Tablet: "If the reader will examine carefully the character V 14 (that is, the four- teenth in the fourth line of the right hand inscription, reading from top to bottom and from left to right), especially on Dr. Rau's photograph, he will see that it is almost identical with that in the Manuscript 1 have rendered peaiah, 'tortilla of maize.' Comparing this with the large initial, we find but a slight difference between the two ; in the latter, the comb-like figures are drawn down to the sides, and the loops are placed above. In this, the form of the central oval is not to be relied upon as strictly correct, as the lines are too freely rounded ; still we presume it is slightly different from the little:^ upper circle in V 14. Supposing the Maya language to have been used, and the characters on the Tablet to have the same signification as similar characters in the Manuscript, we should find, in this initial, sounds closely resembling those '\n pecunh; as the bars are interlaced, I presume the first syllable should hQpech ox pack. Turning to Landa's Relacion (264), we find that ' In the month Pax, they (the Mayas) celebrated a festival named Pacumchac, on which occasion the chiefs and priests of the inferior villages, assembling with those of the more important towns, having joined together, they passed into the temple of Citchaccoh.' If we interpret the character Pacumchac, we at once find a satisfactory explanation of the repeated occurrence of the symbol for Ps were offered. I presume also that, during this festival, took place the rejoicing over the first fruits of the mp.ize harvest. I may as well state here as elsewhere that I do not think the offering made by the priest on the right is an infant; the probability is that it is a dough image. Although we see what appears to be the body and limbs, we have to assume that the head wears a mask to believe it to be the body of a child. If it is the figure of a child, then the scene represents a special occasion, when the sacrifice was made to avert some impending danger. The difference in the height of the two priests favors the idea that the artist referred by his figures to particular persons, if not to a special occasion. Finally, it is possible that, although the inscription relates chiefly to this festival, others are also alluded to But, be this as it may, I have reached my conclusion as to the rendering by legitimate steps.'"" With all due respect for Professor Cyrus Thomas, whose patient labours in many fields of archaeological research entitle him to honour, the writer fails to see that he has made his point in this case. It is true that guess work has contributed to discovery since the days of Sir Isaac Newton, and there are legitimate hypotheses which it is allowable to employ for a time as working theories, but between blind submission to doubtful authority and a preconception of the mind as to what an unread description should contain, there lies a wide field of induction and tentative inference, which it is well in the interest of science to exhaust. The testimony of one c .edible eye-witness is sufficient to overturn the most formidable arguments based upon circumstantial evidence. In the case of the Tablet, the witness is the engraver -of the hieroglyphics, and when his tale is told, we shall know what is the true story contained in the central slab. Chapter III. MAYA-QUICHE DOCUMENTS AND THE MATERIAL FOR THEIR DECIPHERMENT. The Maya-Quiche family of languages consists of three divisions. The first is the Huastec, spoken in the northern part of the Mexican province of Vera Cruz. It stands alone in its class. The second is the Maya. Maya proper is the language of Yucatan and the island of Carmen, and l898-99«] OKCIPHBRINa hieroglyphic inscriptions of central AMERICA. II9 of the villages of Monte Cristo and Palenque, situated respectively in the Mexican provinces of Tobasco and Chiapas. Allied to the Maya are the Lacandon and the Peten, pertaining to the tribes so named dwelling in Guatemala. The third division is the Guiche of Guatemala, which is also spoken in part of Chiapas. Other dialects in Chiapas are the Chiapanec, the Chanabal, the Tzendal, the Choi and the Tzotzil. Another, the Zoque, extends over parts of Chiapas, Tobasco and Oaxaca.* Besides the Quiche proper, Guatemala owns the Cachiquel, the Zutuhil, the Mame, the Pocoman and the Poconchi. The last of the Quiche dialects is the Totonac, which pertains to the Central part of Vera Cruz, south of the Huastecs, and to the neighboring part of the province of Puebla. Although the continuity of their area has been broken by the advent of intrusive tribes of a different origin, all of the above mentioned tribes and dialects have a common character, and are quite distinct in physical features, in grammar and vocabulary, in writing, in history and mythology, from the peoples generally known as Mexicans, Nahuatlac, or Aztec' Of the Maya-Quiche tribes, those which have left anything in the shape of literature are the Mayas and Quiches, the Cachiquels, the Tzendals,and the Pocomans, the first three being in this respect the most important." Most of these writings are extant in European characters, accompanied with Spanish translations. They are, therefore, transcripts from original manuscripts in hieroglyphic character, which, with few exceptions, have perished. The destruction of the original documents was due to the religious vandalism of Bishop Landa and other Church- men, who regarded them as tending to perpetuate native superstition. Only three are known to have survived this unhappy exercise of zeal, although Dr. Brinton supposes that there may be two in Europe and two or three in Mexico which have not been published. Those which have seen the light are the Dresden Codex, set forth in Lord Kings- borough's Mexican Antiquities and elsewhere; the Codex Peresianus discovered by Professor L^on de Rosny in the National Library at Paris, and now in course of publication by him ; and the Codex Troano of Madrid, published by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg. These codices consist respectively of seventy-four, twenty-two and seventy pages, between sgven and nine inches long, and from four to five and a quarter inches wide. Their material is paper made from the leaves of the maguey, and the hieroglyphics are executed in black and in colours, being accompanied with illustrative paintings in a rude kind of art. Attempts have been made to decipher the codices by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Lton de Rosny, Hyacinthe de Charencey, William Bollaert, 120 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. Cyrus Thomas, and some other students, but so far absolutely without success. What is true of the codices is also true of the stone inscriptions found at Palenque, in Chiapas, at Copan, on the borders of Honduras and Guatemala, and at Chichen Itza and other parts of Yucatan. They have so far defied the art o*" the epigrapher. The materials with which these students of the hieroglyphics have attacked the codices and inscriptions are those provided by Bishop Landa. They are a so-called alphabet, and figures denoting the Maya months and days. There are thirty-three characters in his alphabet, twenty signs for the days, and eighteen for the months as represented in the plate. The phonetic values of no fewer than seventy-one characters being given, and the Maya language being known, it might be supposed a simple task to read a Maya document. All that investigators have succeeded in accomplishing, however, has been to point out a character here and there, and suggest a probable signification for it. The most careful and laborious comparison and analysis of the signs for months and days has failed to connect them in any way with the supposed alphabet, which Dr. Felipe Valentini characterized as a Spanish fabri- cation. Dr. Brinton comes to Landa's defence, stating that the Bishop did not affirm the possession by the Mayas of an alphabet, but merely wrote that, if they had occasion to express in their writing the sounds of the Spanish alphabet, they would do so by these characters.'' The alphabet then must be given up. Turning to the signs for days and months, no principle can be found to govern their phonetics. The day character Cauac enters into the composition of the month hieroglyphics Yax, Zac and Ceh; the day character Ymix is nearest in form to the month sign Mol ; and the day figure Chuen forms part of the month symbol Tzec. The first day is Kan, and the fourteenth month is Kankin, but the sign of the former has no part in that for the latter. Were the meanings of the word*^ for days and months certainly known, the student might proceed to analyze the hieroglyphics by this aid, but the significations suggested are more than doubtful in almost all cases. Of the days, Chiechan, Lamat, Cauac, and Ymix have defied all inter- pretation, as have Tzec and Yaxkin among the months. Those acknowledged to be exceedingly doubtful are the day signs Manik, a wind passing; Muluc, reunion; Chuep, a board; and Ben, econcynical dis- tribution. The remaining are Kan, yellow, or a string of twisted hemp; Cimi, dead; Oc, the contents of the palm of the hand; Eb, a ladder; Ix, fish skin or roughness; Men, a builder; Cib, gum copal; Caban, heaped up; Ezanab, flint; Ahau, a king or period of twenty-four years; Ik, wind, spirit; and Akbal, the approach of night. The other month names are 1898-99O DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. . 121 Pop, a cane mat; Uo, a frog; Zip, a tre^; Tzoz, a bat; Xul, end; Mol, to reunite; Chen, a well; Yax, first or blue; Zac, white; Ceh, a deer; Mac, a cover; Kankin, yellow sun; Muan, cloudy weather; Pax, a musical instrument; Kayab, singing; and Cumhu, a thunderclap. There is no resemblance between these alleged significations and the forms of the hieroglyphics. Thus, the month signs, Xul, an end ; Yaxkin, signification unknown; Yax, first or blue; and Ceh, a deer, are winged, and a wing in Maya is Xik. But it is useless to dwell upon these disappointing discrepancies, which are the despair of the interpreter.' Mr. Baldwin has been quoted as saying that the inscriptions at Palenque "will at length be deciphered, the written characters being similar to those of the Mayas, which are now understood." Elsewhere he quotes Brasseur de Bourbourg as saying, "The alphabet and signs explained by Landa have been to me a Rosetta stone." Had Mr. Baldwin looked into the work of the learned Abb^, he would have found the truth of Dr. Brinton's statement, "When the Abbe Brasseur edited the Codex Troano, he also attempted an explanation of its contents. He went so far as to give an interlinear version of some pages.and wonderful work he made of it! But I am relieved of expressing an opinion as to his success by his own statement in a later work, that he had, by mistake, commenced at the end of the Codex instead of its beginning ; that he had read the lines from right to left, when he should have read them from left to right, and that his translations were not intended for more than experiments." A glance at the work of those diligent labourers in this field, M. Leon de Rosny and Professor Cyrus Thomas, will speedily undeceive anyone who thinks that the key to Maya writing has been discovered. Is the value of any one sign certainly known? The answer is, Yes; the day sign Ahau, meaning king, and a period of twenty or twenty-four years, is known without doubt. The numerals also are familiar to scholars, balls denoting units up to four, and occasionally beyond, and short strokes or bars, about the length of five balls placed in line, standing for fives. It will also appear in f.he sequel that one or two of the other characters mentioned may be made use of to elucidate Maya texts. This is a very meagre stock in trade to start with, although Messrs. De Rosny and Thomas profess to have greatly extended it. The more their additions are examined, the more doubtful they appear. The writer's experience in translating inscriptions has told him this, that the key which can only unlock the meaning of part of such a document is no key at all, the whole document, of course, being legible or undefaced. No complete hieroglyphic Maya writing, however brief, has yet been '.j2 TR^^J8AC;.•lONS of the Canadian iNST'TUTE. [Vol. VI. deciphered. All s conjectuilfc, imagination, attempt to connect pictographs r ; hieroglyphics, preconceived ideas of calendars, deities, sacrifices, and other rites that ought to be set forth in these records, but that are not. These gentlemen follow what is called the method of science, which is to proceed to interpret the unknown from the known. This is very natural and is the course that has often brought about great results. The known Greek in the Rosetta stone led to the interpretation of the unknown Egyptian; but the Greek alphabet has not interpreted the Etruscan, nor the Devanagari the Lat Indian, in spite of Prinsep and Cunningham. When clevtr men have been working for many years, and some of them for centuries, along the line of the so-called method of science without results, it is time for a change, a reformation, a revolution, time to drop the traditions of the past, and inaugurate a new method of arriving at truth. Had the so-called method of science been such, the Etruscan inscriptions would have been read long ago ; had Landa's key been a real key, such men as De Bourbourg, Bollaert, De Charencey, De Rosny and Thomas, would have ere this given the world complete translations of the texts. The method of science may have been a very noble lion, but it is dead ; a living dog is better. Landa might have saved the world a great deal of trouble had he been a wise man ; but he was not. He saw that the Mayas had writing, and burned twenty-seven rolls of it in 1562, to the great distress of the natives. He at once concluded that, as Spanish writing was by letters, so was that of the Mayas. He might have known better, for Father Alonzo Ponce in 1588 said : " The natives of Yucatan are, among all the inhabitants of New Spain, especially deserving of praise for three things : First, that, before the Spaniards came, they made use of characters and letters, with which they wrote out their histories, their ceremonies, the order of sacrifices to their idols, and their calendars, in books made of the bark of a certain tree. These were on very long strips, a quarter or a third of a yard in width, doubled and folded, so that they resembled a bound book in quarto, a little larger or smaller. These letters and characters were understood only by the priests of the idols (who in that language was called .'Xhkins) and a few principal natives. Afterwards some of our friars learned to understand and read them, and even wrote them." Why did Landa not apply to these industrious friars ? Thanks to the kind attention of several eminent scholars, the Maya hieroglyphic problem has been for some time under the writer's eye. Judging that it lay out of his sphere, he acknowledged the kindness of these scholars, and their eminent qualifications as interpreters of the I898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 1 33 unknown, and gladly read what they had written on the subject. Recently, however, having no special work of decipherpient on hand, he took up the Maya problem, after a course of Brasseur de Bourbourg's History of the Civilized Nations of Mexico and Central America, and Dr. Brinton's Maya Chronicles, when light dawned upon him, but not through the unsuccessful method of science. He found that the hieroglyphics were not alphabetic nor syllabic, but purely ideographic like the original Chinese symbols, and that numbers, not employed always as such, but in the rebus form, played a large part in thJs peculiar writing. All the world is familiar with y y u r y y u b 1 c u r y y 4 me This, being interpreted, reads : " Too wise you are, too wise you be ; I see you are too wise for me." This is pretty nearly the way in which the Maya-Quiches wrote, as the sequel will show. Chapter IV. THE NEW SYSTEM OF READING THE HIEROGLYPHICS; THE GROUPS ON THE LEFT. Entirely discarding the material provided by Landa, the writer sought a solution of the Maya problem in Old World systems of writing which are hieroglyphic or have been deduced from hieroglyphic originals, and in this was utterly unsuccessful. His knowledge of the Hittite and its descendants clearly indicated that the Maya system wa.« not related to them, but as the Maya- Quiche languages are preposing, that is, languages making use of prepositions, he expected to find links in Egyptian, Assyrian and Chinese. Nothing definite, however, could be obtained from any of these sources, although the old Chinese symbols, which constitute the bases of the 214 ke\s or radicals, exhibit some affinity to the Maya system. Discarding external aids, he found that the symbol Ahau occurs several times in the Palenque tablet, and that, in the fourth character from the left in the ninth line on the left side of the inscription, there are two Ahaus, the first being placed under one ball, standing for //««, one, and the .second resting upon three balls, ;vhich as three, should be rendered by ox, or should be regarded as the sif;n of plurality, ob. Taking the latter tentatively, the group would 124 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. VI. read hun ahau ahauob, " one king of kings." As ob probably comes from yaab, meaning " much, abundant," any subscribed number might denote plurality. Now, hieroglyphics may be syllabic, like the Hittite and Aztec, the syllables being the first in the name of the object they indicate, or alphabetic, syllabic, and ideographic, like the Egyptian, or purely ideographic like the Chinese. The presumption established by hun ahau ahauob was that the Maya system, like the Chinese, is purely ideographic ; and that, if the student can tell what the symbols stand for, and has a knowledge of the Maya phonetic equivalents, he is in a position to read any Maya document. Of course there arises the awkward question. Is this Maya? May it not have been the work of those who spoke Chiapanec, Tzendal, Quiche, or Cachiquel ? Palenque is close to Yucatan, and the people who dwell there now speak Maya, so that the method of science says. Begin with Maya ; but common sense adds, Do not necessarily end there, if it furnishes defective results. With a very slight change. Dr. Rau's index diagram of the tablet of Palenque may be found useful for reference. A B C D E F I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 ,_^_ ^_ .^k. ^^ - — — — —^ r( G H 1 K L Mil — M ID N P Q m R S T U vwx 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 II 12 13 14 IB _^ I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 The "one king of kings," or hun ahau ahauob^ is D 9. His name should be near at hand, either before or after. To the left at C 9, are the symbols for 1 3, and a Tan in an oval. To the right at E 9, are those for 9, and the same a little varied. Thirteen in Maya is oxlahun, and 9 is bolon. The bolon hieroglyphic reappears in E i, in F 12, in G, and, with a different adjunct, bolon is in U 2, S 12, and on the pedestal of the smaller human figure on the left. Also, nineteen, or bolon-lahun, is 1898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. I35 in U 14, and bolon, in a secondary position, occurs in D 5. This prominence of bolon at Palenque suggests the name of the city, especi- ally as there is a place called Bolonchen, or the nine wells, in Yucatan, phraseology similar to the Beersheba or seven wells in Southern Palestine. Can the Tau in the oval be chen, a well? If it is, then C 9 is oxlahun chen. But oxlahun is found in F 15, with 7 or uuc, and another cartouche, on the top of R 2, over a similar cartouche, and after six or uac, in U i, in V 7 before an animal's head, in S 10, in T 12 before ahau^ in W 14 before a woman's back, in the following X^i4 before a symbol not unlike that which follows it in U i, and in V 17 before a circular figure like that in S 10. Now if all of these denote one thing, place, or person, what is the value of the symbols immediately following the oxlahun. If the animal be a dog, as is most likely, the value \spek, a dog. To this agrees the woman's back, {ox pack is the back of the shoulders. Also bak means " to tie with cords," and pak denotes " a stone wall, and to found, build, plant or sow." The character after oxlahun in U i is a corded bundle, and the inscribed oval in S 10 and V 17 may, from the analogy of the Chinese, denote cultivated ground. The group thus selected may be read oxlahun pek, or "thirteen dogs," than which nothing could seem more ridiculous. A knowledge of history comes to the relief of the epigrapher, and saves his work from scorn. There was an ahau^ or king, and a very powerful one too, whose name was Thirteen Dogs. He was not a Maya king nor a Tzendal, nor even a Quiche ; he was king of the Cachiquels of Guate- mala, but seems to have held the Quiches and Mayas also in subjection. His name in Cachiquel is Oxlahuh-Tzy, which, being translated into Maya, gives Oxlahun-Pek. He and Cablahuh-Tihax, or Twelve Flint Knives, were colleagues in royalty over the Cachiquels, having succeeded to the dignity of Huntoh and Wukubatz. Cablahuh was the grandson of Huntoh, and Oxlahuh, the son of Wukubatz.- In Maya cablahuh is Lahca, and tihax is tok. In E 10, Lahca is over a very commonly recurring oval, which might at first sight be taken to represent the night sky, but which may possibly be explained by tox, to pour out, distribute, divide. In L 7, Lahca precedes uaxac or 8 ; but in D 13, it is once more over the same figure as in E 10. It is somewhat obscure in V 5. Immediately above Oxlahun-Pek^ hun ahau ahauob of C and D 9, are C and D 8. The first, C 8, consists of ox^ 3, ca, 2, and a covering, which in Maya is buc, thus making O.xcabuc, which is the nearest thing the Maya can come to Wukubatz. In D 8, appear hun, one, and co, a tooth, giving Hunco instead of the Cachiquel Huntoh, the name of Wukubatz' colleague. The.se two groups never appear again. ia6 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITL'TB. (VOL. VI. A commonly recurring group is that in T i, X 3, W 4, V 6, S 8, U 12, S and V 16, and X 17. It consists of a rolled up mat on the left, and a human face displaying a tongue on the right. A mat in Maya is pop, and the tongue is ak. Read as pop-ak, the word means nothing; but as ak^pop, it represents the title of the Quiche kings of Cawek, which was a/ipop, or the chief of the mat' In S i, W 3, U 6, 16, and W 17, appears a group regularly preceding this ahpop, which consists of a bundle, a hand and a turtle shell. A hand is kab, and a turtle shell ac, and the bundle may denote kaxah, to tie together. The whole word read kdxkabac^ which in the form Kah Cawek, "the town of Cawek," would fitly unite with the Quiche title ahpop, inasmuch as the house of Cawek alone had the right to that title. Thus V, W, X 17 read as follows: Oxlahunpekob Kali Caivek ahpop or "Oxlahun-Pek, the ahpop of the House of Cawek." Oxlahun-Pek, or in the Cachiquel, Oxlahuh- Tzy, was evidently the king who had this tablet erected. He gives to another monarch, out of courtesy doubtless, the title oi ahpop in S and T 16, where ahpop is followed by the bundle kah, and the symbol for rain kaaxha or chak. His name, Kahkaxha, reappears in T il, 13, and with disguise, in W i. The latter reads Uuclahun Cankaaxha. Now, in Quiche, four is cah, not can as in Maya, so that, in this case, the Quiche pronunciation seems to have been adopted. Before deciding about kahkaaxha, the two groups preceding Oxlahun-Pek kah Caivek ahpop may be read. They are in the index diagram T U 17. In T we have 8 or uaxac, followed by a human face, t'ch, and in U, 5 or ho, before an oval representing the sun and his rays, h'n. Now Uaxac t'ch hokin means " I set out into Uaxac," which can but mean Oaxaca, the province which is only separated from Chiapas by Tehuantepec. Oaxaca had its powerful monarch like Guatemala, and he was Oxlahuh Tzy's contemporary. His predecessors on the throne had been named Zaachilla I., 1 1., and 1 1 1., but he bore in addition, according to the Mexican annals, the title Cocyotiza. The Maya-Quiche expedient for Zaachilla was Uuciahuh, and Kahkaaxa replaced the Mexican Cocyocza. The Mexican annals have nothing to say of the combination of these two great powers of Guatemala and Oaxaca. The form Uuciahuh occurs again in VV 1 1, followed by Ahau, king. It does not follow that wherever 8 or uaxac appears, it denotes Oaxaca; but it does, apparently, in C 2, where it is followed by hun, one, and ich, a face. The same title hunich, quite differently formed, is in L 6. What it means is hard to say ; it may be hun eds, the one established, a governor, resident or ambassador. "Uaxac hunich" denotes some officer of Oaxaca. In D 10 occurs Uaxac ca ahau, either "the king of Oaxaca" or "the two I898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROCLVPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 137 kings of Oaxaca." In V 3, Uaxca atiau sets forth Kahkaaxha. In T 2, tiaxac pek doubtless stands for "the city of Oaxaca, pak, meaning a building or walled city. In E 16, is another uaxac ahnu, and another in W 12. In W 15 appears uaxac tok ob, preceded by can, 4, the whole probably being can uaxac tox ob, "the four dividers of Oaxaca." The name appears in the same numerical form in many parts of the inscrip- tion. There is one curious hieroglyphic to which the writer was first led to assign a value through the Chinese symbol for a cloud, in Maya, inuyai This is confirmed by its likeness to the hieroglyphic for the month Mol. It occurs in E 2, in D 6, and less distinctly in other places. In D 6, it is preceded by a comb-like figure that seems to have the phonetic value ca, which Landa's eleventh letter confirms, and by the representation of a foot oc. The reading is ca Ocmuyal, "when Uxmal." Thetvj: appears in another form in the character occupying A, B, i, 2, in which it is pre- ceded by ox or 3, between which and ahauob comes a difficult sign that may mean two ends, and be translated by xul, an end. If so, the first hieroglyphic group is ox kaxal ahauob, which can only be ox kuxil ahauob, "three inimical chiefs." The next characters, constituting Ci, are a central aperture, and a single ball, representing one or hun. The former probably is intended to represent the navel, and stands for nak, the abdomen. It has many forms, as in A 14 and X 2, where its « power seems confirmed by its combination with a nose, nu. It is also combined with a figure denoting an ornamented ear, as in V 4, S 5, 7,X y, and S 1 1, 13. The ear is xt'cin, but xi'c means to split and divide, and nak, "to put an end to." Returning to the beginning of the inscription, Di is easily read as 6 or uac and tokob. This plural word must qualify the rebel ahau Nakhun, and may be read Uaxtokob, "of the Huastecs," who are known to have been very troublesome in the time of Oxlahuh-Tzy and Cocyotiza. " Bolonpak," or the city of Palenque, is PL i, and F i commences with ho/hnn, 15, which is followed by bak, corded, and a common Aztec and Maya hieroglyphic, tun, a stone. Holhun appears to denote a place generally called Holom, on the borders of Guatemala and Honduras, in which case baktun would stand for the Maya puchtun, fighting, quarreling." A different group is F 2. It begins with ] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 139 Buluc tokob, three dividers of Huluc, which perhaps denotes Paraxtunya or Parraxquin, ruled over by Belehe-Gih, whom Oxlahuh-Tzy vanquished and killed." F 5 is uuc ahauob, seven chiefs. Taken together, we read : ^^Kuxilek ahauob Uaxac xicmol can Bolon tokob ox Boluc tokob uuc ahuuob:" "The disloyal chiefs together dividing Oaxaca (are) four monarchs of Palenque, (and) three monarchs of Buluc, seven chiefs." A 6 is kachilek again ; B 6 should be caan tok, from caan^ the sky, which in Quiche is cah\ the word meant is probably catac, and. The cross slabs representing division give xic, so that C 6 is ox xic ahauob, three dividing chiefs; and D 6 has already been read Uxtnal ahauob. In E 6, a new character appears, uinic^ a man, together with ox and ahauob^ making up Ox Winik ahauob. Brasseur mentions a great enemy of Oklahuh Tzy, called the Atzih-Winak-Cawek, Cay Hanahpu, more briefly named the Atzih Winak. He ruled over the Tukuches, a branch of the Cachiquels.'" The last group in the line, F 6, reads canob xic viol, they talk, canob, of dividing together. The whole line is: ^' Kuxilek catac ox xic ahauob Uxmal ahauob Ox Winik ahauob canob xic viol; " " The disloyal and the three separating chiefs talk division together (with) the chiefs of Uxmal (and) the chiefs of Ox Winik." Another disjointed sentence is in line 7. A 7 consists of ox, 3, cib, as in D 4, and kab, the hand, making ox, or rather jfok cib keb for kcban, over the evil desire. Taking B 7 to be the sky and the moon, for the sun is quite different, it may be read cah u, is theirs, meaning, which is theirs. C 7 is Uxmal, but probably /rt^, a stone wall, should be added ; and D 7 is Nohpat ahau. The following E 7 was hard to explain, but seems composed of a drop of water or other liquid on the first slab, the drop being thun, but standing for than, a word, speech ; and an orna- mented ear on the other. The latter is xicin, so that than xicinob is really than ci cenob, word pleasant they said. F 7 belongs to the next sentence, so that the whole of this one is: '' yok cib kcb cah u Uxmal pak Nohpat ahau than ci cenob:" "They talked pleasant words to King Nohpat, (or to the chiefs of Nohpat) of the city of Uxmal over their wicked desire." The value of the shield under ahau is doubtful ; it may possibly denote plurality, in which case it must refer to the chiefs under Nohpat. F 7 is the well known Cah Cawek, and A 8 is ak, the tongue, pro- nounced ah in ahpop. But what is B 8? The writer proposed /fw/c/, the whole being the well-known word ahkulel, a lieutenant or deputy. As kulcl means to act for another, the idea of a breast or teat furnishing milk to one's offspring may be connected with it. However, it may 130 TRANSACTIONS OF THB CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL VI. denote something very different, for which the reader is referred to the researches of Dr. Brinton." The following C and D 8 have already been read as Oxcabuc and Hunco or Huntoh. E 8 consists of /<>/, as in ahpop^ pol or hoi, the head, and the circle or wheel, /<>/, gWmgpopol bet, the people make; and F 8 contains nak,\.\\Q abdomen, and kab, the hand. This last is evidently a -form of nahy to desire, which assumes the form nahnba, to suit. The sentence runs forward into the next line, in which A 9 is chi, the month, )llowed by pet, the wheel, and the well known tok. Then come Oxlahun Pek and Jmn ahau ahmiob. This sentence is : " Cah Caivek ahkulel Oxcabuc Huntohpopolbet nakab cib betokob Oxlahun Pek huN ahau ahauob "; " The people make the request of the regents, Oxcabuc and Huntoh, they make the desire (that) Oxlahun-Pet (be) one king of kings." The next sentence is short. E 9 is Bo/on pak, the city of Palenque. F 9 apparentl) «'onsists o{ ka,pet, and tan, the breast, which make up kapettan, and this must be an expedient for kebanthan, to plot, commit treason. A 10, if Huntah be better than Hunco, is toh, which means " right, just." B 10 is very difficult. It begins with ho, 5, followed by what might be hun, but which may answer to the trefoil ka, and which two dots on the upper part of the head would appear to confirm, as 2 is ca. Then comes chi, the mouth, and the sign of plurality ob. In Maya, hokzahuba means " to take oneself away from " : the word that is here is hakachiob. The sentence may read : " Bolon pak kebathanob toh hokachtob" ; "The city of Palenque rebel, withdrawing themselves from righteousness." C 10 is a combination of kachilek and xicin, the ear, and D 10 consists of uaxac, 8, ca, 2, and ahauob, it thus appearing that the shield subscribed does denote plurality. In E 10 appears can, 4, but here uniting with ob to signify canob, they tell. Then follows Lahca, in Cachiquel Cablahuh, and after it the well known symbol tok. F 10 is lahun, 10, and kachilekob. This may be read : '• Kuxilek xicin Uaxac ca ahauob canob Cablahun-Tox lahun kuxilekob" : "Hearing of the defection, the two kings of Oaxaca tell Cablahun-Tox of the ten rebels." A 1 1 seems to consist of hun, one, xicin, the ear, and ox, 3. B 1 1 contains ox, 3, kab, the hand, and xchup or chup, a woman ; but former groups, such as D 4 and A 7, indicate that the whole should be read yok keb cib, over the evil desire. C 1 1 reproduces F 10, lahun kachilekob ; and D 1 1 is uaxac, 8, ppocc, a hat, and chi, the mouth, hxxt ppocchi is an expedient for paxi, to abandon, forsake. Hence we read : "hun xicin ez yok keb cib lahun kuxilekob Uaxac paxi" : "One, hearing of the discovery over the evil desire, the ten revolters left Oaxaca." In A 11 ox is doubtful, and l898-99<] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INtiCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. tjl a poor equivalent for ez, which ich, the eye or face, would better represent. E 1 1 is Uaxac kax, that is, united, rather than ox, 3, ahauob ; and F 1 1 is ox kuxilekob. The analysis of A 1 2 probably furnishes ca, 2, bak^ the bundle, and /««, the stone, the whole standing for the verb kebanthan, to rebel, commit treason. B 12 is pet, the wheel, and tun, a stone. Plurality is probably denoted hy yub, a coat or cloak, as it is sometimes hy ytb, a bean. C 12 is the same with the prefixed ca, which means, when ; and D 1 2 contains the ku of kuxilek, and tun, a stone, with plurality. E 12 begins with a kettle, ttiazcabcun, and also contains kab, the hand, and ox, 3. The latter may represent kubuc to deliver ; and mascabcun seems to contain the negative ma, with edzcab, to do promptly, and can to say, hence " promptly refuse." Thus the sentence will be : ' Uaxac kax ahauob ox kuxilekob kebakthan pQtanob ca patanob katunob ma edzcab can kubuc" : " The three revolters rebel (against) the united kings of Oaxaca, refusing to deliver the tributes, when tributes they ask." The word for ask is kat. F. 12, Bolon pak, begins a new sentence. A 13 is compounded of the mat, pop, the ]dLV ppul, and Bolon, designating the people of Palenque. The next group, B 13, prefixes nak, the end, and hun, one, \.o popol. In C 13, the first character is vouched for as ca by its two strokes, for 2 is ca, and the stone, tun, follows, making katunob, soldiers or armies. D 13 prefixes nak, the end, in the plural, to Cablahun-Tox ; and E 13 is another katunob. This makes the brief sentence : " Bolon pak popol Bolon Nakhun popol katunob nakob Cablahun- Tox katunob " : The soldiers of Cablahun-Tox finish the soldiers of the city of Palenque, of the people of Palenque, and of the people of Nakhun." F 3 is a. ca sign, followed by a vase or cup, cul, and seems to be a proper name, Cacul. A 14 is recognizable as a form of Nakhun ; and B 14 combines the figure of a man, ut'm'c, with that o^ yub, a cloak. The latter may be part of his name, Hun Ahpu. There is no difficulty in determining C 14 as ox ahauob ; and D 14 is 18 or uaxaclahtin,io\- lowed by ox ahauob. Uaxaclahun must consist of Uaxac or Oaxaca and lukun, departing from. The Quiche form lahuh would be nearer than the Maya lahun. Then follows E 14, ca, \s\\\\.pet, the wheel, and chi, the mouth, denoting an officer of some kind. As the Quiche cha, answers to the Maya can, to speak, and as this officer is elsewhere denoted by can, the number 4, it is probable that the capetchi is the canbezah, instructor, or the chunbezah, leader. F. 14 separates hun, by its form, from the following ca, 2, and unites it with the subscribed tun. 13a TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE, [VOL, VI. a Stone. Then ca combines with t'c/t, the face. These make hunten at one time, and chnac or chuuc, to take. Hence we may read : " Cacut Nakhun, Winik Yub ox ahauob Uiixac lukuh ox alumob Chunbezah hunten cluiac : " " The Chunbezah took at one time Cacul, Nakhun, and Winik Yub, three chiefs, three chiefs deserting Oaxaca." A 15 consists of ca, 2, and a symbol for can, conversation, with plurality, making cacanob, which is the verb caxan, to seek, hunt for. B 15 contains ahauob, and the sign of division, xic, in the plural ; and C 1 5 appears to be ka-tun-ob. This short sentence is " caxanob aiiauob, xicob katunob" \ "The warriors search for the separating chiefs." In D 15, may be recognized kab, the arm or hand, chiip, the woman standing for cib, desire, ppoc, the hat, to represent pach, taking possession o{, ?cciA ahauob. E 15 consists of y-i', 3, the conventional ca, and ineex, the beard, making up yok kamah, on receiving or taking possession of F 15 gives Oxlahun, uuc, 7, and tok ; and A 16, with ox, and hulel {sgc B 8), makes the postposition yoklal, by means of Hence the whole is : " Keb cib pach ahauob yok kamah Oxlahun hayac toe yoklal " : " On capturing the chiefs cherishing evil desire, Oxlahun destroyed (them) by means of burning." To destroy is hayal, past hayac, and toe is the verb, to burn. B 16 is uaxaclahun, with ich, the face, but meaning in, and the first divides into uaxac, Oaxaca, and lai, these u, their. In C 16, ox stands {ox yok ; then comes hun, followed by a bird's head, xul (see the month so named). The whole is yok hunkul, forever. The next, D 16, is kuxilek, followed by E 16, uaxac ahauob. F 16 gives ox, 3, kax, united, and ahauob; and A 17 is nak xicin-ob. These may give : " Uaxac lai u ich yok hunkul kuxilek Uaxac ahauob ox kax ahauob nakxicinob " : these are they in Oaxaca revolting from the lords of Oaxaca; (whom) the three united kings forever destroyed. B 17 seems made up of ox, 3, and hoi, the head. The only Maya word known to the writer with which oxhol at all agrees is uacchahal, to emerge forcibly. In C 17, capetchi seems to reappear, chi denoting border, edge, as well as mouth. The next group, D 17 is unusual, but appears to be ox tokob Nakhun, in which case oxtok will consist oiyok, over against, in front of, and toch, to contend, hence, an opponent. E 17 must be the same as C 17, capetchi, although more like capethun ; and F 17 combines ca with the wing, xik, and the face, ich, to make the proper name Caxikich. Hence : " uacchal Chunbezah yoktokob Nakhun Chunbezah Caxikich " : " fled precipitately the leader of the rebels, Nakhun, and the leader, Caxikich." l898-99>] DBCIPHBRINO HIBROOLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 3 3 I, S (8D © 133 B ©© H H ® (3 ^ S* :§ M N PP CU '9 KO X X (<1j or (1z?) B 0(q?) i oJLo S HA MA : Tl (xne, mo?) Latida's Maya Alphabet. CA (?) K S)©©j^.Si: ? Uv?) D Sign of ABpiration. KAN. CHICCHAN. CiMt. MANIK. LAMAT. IX. Q» oc. © ® CAUAC. AHAU. VMIX. Day Characters. BEN. CIB CABAN. eZANAB. IfC. AKBAt. © © © »34 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL, VI. ffOP. uo. ZIP. TZ02V rztc% XUL. YAXKIN. 'MOU. CHEN. VAX- SAC. r^H. MAC. KAN KIN. MUAN. Month Characters. Chapter V. THE NEW SYSTEM OF READING THE HIEROGLYPHICS i ON Tx4E RIGHT. THE GROUPS Beginning with S i, Cah Cawek appears, followed by ahpop, T i, and that by Oxlahun Pek ; but the bundle does double duty by standing for part of the Cachiquel king's name, and ioxpuch mpuchtun, fighting. V i unites the conventional ca with tun, a stone, to make katunob ; and W i is already known as Uuclahun Cankaaxha, or, according to the Mexican, Zaachilla Cocyoeza. X i is easily read as can ahauob. In S 2, appears a peculiar group, consisting of the conventional ca, and the head of a wild beast of savage aspect ; its name ought to be xikic or iciixik, and that of the tiger-cat is ekvuk, which is not very discordant from the latter. It will, therefore, be necessary to correct F 17 by this and read Cakxikich as Caichxik. T 2 gives buluc, 11, and the oval inscribed dimly, which may be taken as pak rather than as pet, a circle. U 2 contains bolon, the division, xic, and the inscribed viuyal ox uiol; and V 2 consists of ox^ with w/wya/ again, and/rt^, building. W 2 gives can^ 4, kax, united, and ahauob : and X 2 is nak, the abdomen, with ob. I89B-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. I35 This larger than usual sentence is : " Cah Cawek ahpop Oxlahun-Pek puchtunob katunob Uuclahun Cakaaxha can ahauob Caichxik Buluc pak Bolon xicmol Uxmal pak can kax ahauob nakob : " " The warriors of the armies of Oxlahun-Pek, Ahpop of the House of Cawek, demolished the four chiefs of the Zaachilla Cocyoeza, namely Caichxik, the town of Buluc, the united dividers of Palenque, and the town of Uxmal, four (or closely) united chiefs." S 3 is katunob, they fought, and T 3 \s pak, building, perhaps pakmol, and lahun for lukun, deserting. In V 3 we have uaxac lahun for uaxac lai u, Oaxaca these their, and oxtckob for yoktockob. V 3 is uaxac ahauob. Thus : ^'katunob pakmol lukun Uaxac lai u yoktockob uaxac ahauob" They fought the united separating towns, those rebelling against Oaxacds eight chiefs." W 3 is quite familiar, Cah Cawek, and X 3 is ahpop. S 4 consists of ho, 5, and caban, recognized from the day so called, an expedient probably for yok chab, to take over. T 4 gives canlahun, 14, with kaaxob for chuucob, prisoners. The reading is : ^^Cah Cawek ahpop yok chab-en canlahun chuucob:" "I, the Ahpop of the House of Cawek, took fourteen prisoners." U 4 is ojr kox ahauob, and V 4 nak xicinob, followed by W. 4, ahpop, and X 4, katun. S 5 is nak xicinob again, and T 5 combines ppoc, a hat, with ppul, a jar, to make popol^ people. Then V 5 is the conventional ca, with uaxac, and a circle suspended which may stand for the sun kin, and, as ahkin, for a priest. This sentence reads : " Ox kax ahauob nak xicinob ahpop katun nak xicinob popol ca Uaxac ahkin :" " The army of the Ahpop destroyed the three united chiefs, when the priesthood of Oaxaca destroyed the people." The succeeding groups present some difificulty. V 5 begins with Cablahun or Cablahuh, adopting the Cachiquel form of 12; below it seems to be ich, the face or eye, but with the meaning of, in ; and alongside are ca tun, or two stones. W 5 has can, 4, meaning to tell ; disih, writing, but an expedient for cib, wish ; the symbol of cultivation, pak, and tun, a stone, with plurality, denoting puchtunob, they fight. X 5 seems to be ox muyal, the fourth particle differing from the other three. It maybe the border chi. S6 '\% canlahun, 14, and hotokob {ox hotochob, house:i ; and T 6 \^ ox ahauob pet ahauob for yok ahauob bet ahauob, on account of chiefs making chiefs. The whole is " Cablahun ich katun can cib puchtunob Uxmal chi canlahun hotochcb yok ahauob bet ahauob:" "He tells the desire to the army with Cablahun, (that) they fight against the fourteen houses of the borders of Uxmal, because of chiefs making chiefs." U and V 6 are cah Cawek ahpop. W 6 is can^ 4, and baktun for puchtun ; but can is rather the adverb intensifying 136 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. what it agrees with, for X 6 is ox oxtokob. With these words is con- nected S 7, nak xicinob, which gives plurality to the subject. " Cah Cawek ahpop canpuchtun ox yoktockob nakxicinob : " " The Ahpop of the House of Cawek destroys three very quarrelsome rebels." T 7 is Cah Cawek, and the following U 7, made up of ox, and an inscribed oval, must surely be a new expedient for akpop or ahpop, as it is succeeded in V 7 by the full name Oxlahun-Pek. Then in W 7 we have ox ahauob, and in X 7, nak xicinob. This short sentence is : " Cah Cawek ahpop Oxlahun Pek ox ahauob nakxicinob :" "Oxlahun-Pek, the Ahpop of Cawek, destroys three chiefs." * - "^ S 8 is the ahpop, T 8, ox, with the figure for kin, the sun ; as this is the only verb, it must be the same as okin, I entered, or hokin, I set out for. U 8 is uaxaclahun lahun pakmolob for Uaxac lai u lukun pakmolob, those united towns separating from Oaxaca. V 8 is uaxaclahun ahauob for Uaxac lukun ahauob, the chiefs separating from Oaxaca. Thus the whole is : " ahpop hokin Uaxac lai u lukun pakmolob Uaxac lukun ahauob :" " I, the Ahpop, set out for those united towns separating from Oaxaca, of the chiefs separating from Oaxaca." The next sentence presents peculiar diflficulties. W 8 sets forth two stones divided, hence tun, a stone, and xic, division, tunxicob. In X 8, the first hieroglyphic is ca, and the second xul ; hence it affords the name of the chief Cacul in F 13. S 9 is can with pak, but seems to denote the Chunbezah, as T 9 is Oxmuyal or Uxmal. U 9 has kalkab,^^ finger, and kax, united, and ahauob, chiefs, but kal is to imprison, and chab, to take. V 9 is tun, the stone, and xicinob, the ears ; and VV 9 is pak, a stone wall or town. X 9 has the now well known conventional ca, and the abdomen, nak. The whole reads : " Tunxicob Cacul Chunbezah Uxmal kal chab kax ahauob Tunxicinob pak ca nakob :" " The Chunbezah of Uxmal took prisoner Cacul of Tunxicob, when the united kings destroyed the town of Tunxicob." S 10 is Oxlahun-Pek, and T 10 is Uaxac pak. Then comes U 10, hopet, which seems to be an expedient for ubah, to hear, understand. V 10 is ox, 3, and ho, 5, with tokob, representing ox hotochob, three houses. But W 10 is the abdomen, with hun, one, to the right, and the sign of plurality below, hence Nakhunob ; while X 10 is uuc, 7, and kin, the sun. This is hqyac, destroy, but the final kin looks like a mark of the first person singular. S 1 1 is the well known nak xicinob ; T 1 1 is Cakaaxha ; and U 1 1 is evidently pak, a stone wall, with tun, a stone, and plurality for puchtunob. Hence the reading : " Oxlahun-Pek Uaxac pak ubat ox hotochob Nakhunob hayackin nakxicinob Cakaaxha 1 898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. I37 puchtunob : " " Oxlahun-Pek (at) the town of Oaxaca hears (that) the warriors of Cakaaxha utterly destroyed three houses of the Nakhuns." V 1 1 is not Cah Cavvek, but CaA kad,Rnd, as W 1 1 is uuclahunahau (see W i), it must denote the son' of Cocyoeza, whom the Mexicans called Cocyopi. X 1 1 is uuc 7, can, 4, and a very indistinct muyal or mol. S 12 contains bolon and oxtokob. This may be rendered: '^ Cahcab Uuclahun ahau hauac canmolob Bolon yoktockob : " " Cocyopi, the Zaachilla King, ceased parleying (with) the rebels of Palenque." T 12 is Oxlahun ahauob, and U 12 is ahpop. V 12 is diflficult ; ho is there, and pop, the mat, and pet, the wheel ; perhaps it is hopoppet, or ubah bet, makes to hear or understand, W 1 2 is uaxac ahauob, and X 1 2 is can kax ahauob, while S 13 is nak xicinob. Together the words are : " Oxlahun ahauob ahpop ubah bet Uaxac ahauob can cox ahauob nak xicinob : " " The Ahpop makes the chiefs of Oxlahun to understand (that) the Kings of Oaxaca destroy the very united chiefs." T 13 is the name of the King of Oaxaca, Cakaaxa ; and U 13 consists of ca, 2, and pach, the back, doubtless making chab pach, take prisoner. V 1 3 reads uaxaclahun, 18, and uactokob, which, in D i, has been read Huastecs. This brief sentence gives : " Cakaaxha chab pach uaxaclahun Uactokob:'^ "Cakaaxha takes prisoners eighteen Huastecs," W 13 is nakob, and X 13, which adds the ear, nak xicinob. S 14 gives can, 4, and a wavy line descending from the top of an oval, which comparison shews to denotepak ; the circle in the right hand corner is probably the border chi ', so that the whole is canpakchi or Chunbezah. T 14 is lahun-pek, ten dogs, but Brasseur calls the son of Cablahuh-Tihax by the name of Lahuh-Noh ? Noh is the seventeenth day of the Guate- malan month, and means a temple ; the Maya word for temple is kuna, but na simply means a house, so that/r?X', a building might answer to it. V 14 reads, bolonlahun ahauob, but should be Bolon lukun ahauob, the separating chiefs of Palenque. V 14 is ox kax ahauob ; and W 14 oxlahun pach ox pek. This completes the sentence : " nakob nakxicinob Chunbezah Lahun-Pek Bolon lukun ahauob ox kax ahauob Oxlahun- Pek:" " The Chunbezah and Lahun-Pek meet and entirely destroy the chiefs separating Palenque, the three united chiefs of Oxlahun-Pek." X 14 contains Oxlahun-Pek and Oxmuyalob. S 15 is ox uuctokob, which should probably be read ox hauac tockob, the three, hauac, ceasing, tock, to oppose. Cah Cawek is T 15, U 15 is nakob, a form of nakal, to approach. These words are : " Oxlahun-Pek Uxmalob ox hauac tokob Cah Cawek nakob .•" " The three ceasing to oppose those of Uxmal join Oxlahun-Pek at the house of Cawek." V 15 is an extraordinary com- pound of the symbol of cultivation /rt/fe, the bundle ca, and the dog pek. 138 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. with his head tied up, bak. The whole may be rendered pack chabacob, they took prisoners. W 15 is can uaxac tockob, the four opposers, or fighters, of Oaxaca ; and X 15 is hunkal ahauob, twenty chiefs, "pack chabacob can Uaxac tockob hunkal ahauob : " " The four opponents of Oaxaca took twenty chiefs prisoners." S, T, U, V, W 16 are all well known. " Ahpop Cakaaxha Cah Cawek ahpop nakob : " " The Ahpop Cakaaxha and the Ahpop of the House of Cawek meet." X 16 is nakxicinob ; and S 17 is Caichxik, who seems to have been the most notorious enemy of the allied monarchs. This briefest of all sentences reads : " nakxicinob Caichxik : " " They utterly destroyed Caichxik." The last sentence reveals Oxlahun-Pek as the author of the inscription. T 17 is uaxac, 8, and ich, the face, denoting Oaxaca ich, into Oaxaca. U 17 consists of ho, 5, and kin, the sun, making hokin, I set out. V 17 is the familiar Oxlahun-Pek ; and W, X 17 are equally well known as Cah Cawek and Ahpop. This historical statement is : " Uaxac ich hokin Oxlahun-Pek, Cah Cawek Ahpop:'' " I, Oxlahun-Pek, Ahpop of the House of Cawek, set out for Oaxaca." Such is the completion of the main inscription of the tablet. Though the explanation of the signs may appear sufficiently simple, it was not arrived at without much careful comparison and analysis. Scholars possessing a more complete and accurate knowledge of the Maya language and its related dialects, may be able to improve, in some respects, upon the reading of individual hieroglyphics, and upon the interpretation of their phonetic equivalents ; otherwise the translation given is substantially the meaning of the document. It remains to test the main part of the story with the summary or the addenda contained in the central or pictorial part of the Tablet. These addenda form the subject of the following chapter. ^ , CHAPTER VI. THE NEW SYSTEM OF READING THE HIEROGLYPHICS : THE DETACHED CENTRAL GROUPS. The group on the left consists of two divisions. The first contains G, H, I, K, and L i to 6 ; and the second, L 7 to 10. Taking them in order, G is at once recognized as Bolon Pak, the city of Palenque. H is Uaxac kuxilek. I begins with the conventional ca, followed by ox, 3, after which comes an entirely new hieroglyphic. This may be regarded I898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. I39 as mol, a gathering, joining ; so that the whole may be read as ca Uxtnal. K is a fourfold hieroglyphic, consisting of pet, the wheel, and tun, a stone, followed by two stones or ca tun, making up patan katun, tribute asking. L i is can, 4, and tun, a stone, and unfortunately L 2 is erased, all except the initial ho or ox. In Short's North Ameri- cans of Antiquity, this L 2 is quite distinct, and is the same as B 8 and A 16, with the prefix mentioned. It will thus read ahkulel or yoklal. Taking the latter as the true rendering, the preceding cantun will be chunthan, the spokesman or presiding officer. L 3 is <:« with kuxilek ; and L 4 contains kax, united, with ahauob, and petob for betob, they make united chiefs. In.L 5 may be detected ox iox yok, and kuxilek, and cabob, for chabob, they killed. L 6 is known to be the same as the second part of C 2, namely Hunich. The reading of this trouble- some paragraph is : " Bolon pak Uaxac kuxilek ca Uxmal patan katun Chunthan yoklal ca kuxilek kax ahauob betob yok kuxilek chabob Munich" " The haters of Oaxaca of the city of Palenque, when Uxmal asked tribute by means of the Chunthan, then the haters made united chiefs, and through hatred killed the Hunich." The second part of this group begins at L 7, which unfortunately is defaced in all the copies so far as the cartouche is concerned. The numbers are clear, the first being cablahun, or in Maya/di^ra, 12, and the second, uaxac, 8, but here denoting Oaxaca. The defaced cartouche is probably tokob, opposers, but might be ahauob, chiefs. L 8 contains ox iox yok, and kuxilekob ; and L9 has uaclahun, 16, over hun, i, tun, a stone, and tokob. The verb tok means, to burn and uaclahun or uaclahuh must stand for yoklal, because of An unnumbered hiero- glyphic is that under the feet of the standing figure, consisting o{ ox, 3, kak, fire, and bolon, 9. Then comes L 10, in which ca is followed by the circle pet, and the face, ich. The footstool group and L 10 read together ox kax Bolon chunbezah, the three united leaders of Palenque. The whole of this short record of vengeance is : " lahca Uaxac tockob yok kuxilekob yoklal hunten tocob ox kax Bolon chunbezah : " " The three united leaders of Palenque burned at one time twelve opponents of Oaxaca in consequence of their enmity." The next group consists of O i, P, Q, and O 2 and 3. O 2 is uaxac followed by hun, i, in a circle,/^/, making patan, tribute or a tributary. P represents in a peculiar way Cablahun-Tok ; and Q, with nine balls and a face, furnis.ies Bolon ich. In O 2 may be seen ox, 3, ca, 2, tindyub, a cloak, the whole being ox chaab, killed three. O 3 consists of ox, 3, pet, circle, and kab, the hand ; it is the {ormu\a. yok bet keb, for doing evil. Thus the whole may be read : " Uaxac patan Cablahun-Tox ox chaabob 140 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. (VOL. VI. yok bet keb : " " Of the tributaries of Oaxaca Cablahun-Tok killed three for doing evil." The group R is a diflficult one. R i is evidently pak, the stone wall, in the plural, pakob, towns. R 2 is uac, 6, qualifying the towns, followed by Oxlahun and iokob, burned ; 3 is u'« or yab. Thus we read : ^^ Che- oxak yok tan pak chaab:" "Cakaaxha before the middle of the city killed." Lower down on the left appears ox, 3 ; and still lower are thun, a drop, pet, with hun, can, 4, round a cartouche containing a new hiero- glyphic, which may be read as buc, covering, followed by, ca, 2. These give : "yok than patan can puchtun ca:" "Over a word refusing tribute when." Below the mantle folds occur ca, 2, tun, a stone, ca, 2, pet, circle, tun, stone, the tree figure holding a stone, tun, with another ca, another /^/, a fourth ca, and a yub. Thus we have: "katun kebatthan puchtun kebat chaab" " The army revolting, the quarrelsome revolters he kills." From the back of the figure on the right hangs a line of beads or wampum, thirteen in number, at the end of which is something like a hand, but as it has an eye, it may represent a do^,pek. At the back of his hat is ca, 2, and to the right, a group, ox tun ox yok tan, and another below it, ca pet tun, or kapetthan. Coming back to the space between R and the figure, one meets thun, a drop, pet and hun, followed by ca and yub. Then read : " Oxlahun Pek cayok tan kebatthan tan patan chaab : " " Oxlahun Pek when before the centre (of the city) the revolters towards l898-99>] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. , I43 tribute he killed." Then comes ra, and below it thun, ca,pet, a long tun, and can. Thus : " katun kebatthan can:'' " the army to rebel telling." Opposite the ankles of Oxlahun is something that may possibly read katun ca tsuc (part) ca, or two katuns of twenty years, and two tsucs or periods of four years.-making the event occur in the forty-eighth year f the king. The Tablet is not yet exhausted. Under the right hand limb ( he cross, and between N i and 2, and the ornamentation in froi. if Oxlahun, is a line of characters. A little to the left appear ca and tun, and then, at the head of the line,/^/. Below it come hun and tun, after- wards m, tun, a peculiar form o{ bak, next pet /tun, and finally /«^. The whole is : " katun bet hunten ca tun bak patan pack: " " The army made at one time two to the four hundred tribute prisoners." The correspond- ing line on the left side of M i and 2 presents xt'k, the wing, kun tun, che-ox-ak, the three branched tree, ca pet, and a possible nak. These give : " xic hunten Cheoxak kebatnak: " "divides at one time Cheoxak the rebels' abdomen." The last obscure line is between the lower part of L and the base of the cross. It consists of ox 3, the symbol for division, xic and lahun, 10, followed by ca pet, after which seem to come ahau,pet and tun. The reading may be: ^^yok xic lukun ktbat ahau patan:" " Over dividing secession they rebelled against the king's tribute." Other parts of the carving may be significant, but the explanations given may be fairly said to exhaust'the text of this remarkable inscription. Chapter VII. THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION OF THE TABLET. Taking the story of the Tablet in its order, a commencement is made with the left hand series of ninety-nine groups of characters, read in lines from left to right like European writing. Ox kuxil ahauob Nakhun Uactokob Bolon pak Holhun Three disafifected chiefs Nakhun, Huastecs Palenque city Holhun puchtunob Uaxac Hunich nakxicinob ca Uxmal yok dzan xulob ^ fought Oaxaca Hunich destroyed when Uxmal before ruining they ended Holpop Cah Cawek bet Canich Nohpat cah yaxchun tsolob Holpop house Cawek made Canich Nohpat to be beginning lines. 144 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI.' Tsicil ahauob Uaxac popolob kebac cib yok coch kuxiiek Loyal chiefs Oaxaca peoples evil wish before spread disafifected Kuxiiek ahauob Uaxac xicmol can Bolon tokob ox Buluc lokob disaffected chiefs Oaxaca dividing together 4 Palenque nomarchs, 3 Buluc nomarchs uuc ahauob. Kuxiiek catac ox xic ahauob Uxmai ahauob 7 chiefs. Disaffected and 3 separating chiefs, Uxmal chiefs Ox Winic ahauob canob xic mol. Yok cib keb cah u Uxmal Ox Winic chiefs they talk division together. Over wish evil is their Uxmal pak Nohpat ahau than ci cenob. Cah Cawek ahkulel city Nohpat king word pleasant talked. House Cawek lieutenant Oxcabuc Huntoh popol bet nahub cib betahob Oxlahun Oxcabuc Huntoh people make request desire they make Oxlahun Pek hun ahau ahauob. Bolon pak kebathanob toh hokachiob Pek I king of kings. Palenque city they rebel right withdraw. '' Kuxiiek xicin Uaxac ca ahauob canob Cablahun Tok lahun Disaffection hearing Oaxaca 2 kings tell Cablahun Tok 10 kuxilekob. Hun xicin ez yok keb cib lahun kuxilekob ■ disaffected. One hearing discovery over evil wish 10 disaffected Uaxac paxiob. Uaxac kax ahauob ox kuxilekob kebakthan ' ■. Oaxaca left. Oaxaca united kings 3 disaffected rebel patanob ca patanob katunob ma edzcab can kubuc tributes when tributes they ask no promptly saying to deliver Bolon pak popol Bolon Nakhun popol katunob nakob Palenque city people Palenque Nakhun people soldiers finished Cablahun Tok katunob. Cacul Nakhun Winic Yub ox Cablahun Tok soldiers. Cacul Nakhun Winic Yub 3 ahauob Uaxac lukun ox ahauob Chunbezah hunten chaac. chiefs Oaxaca deserting 3 chiefs Chunbezah at one time took. • Caxanob ahauob xicob katunob. Keb cib pach ahauob They search chiefs separating soldiers. Evil desire possessing chiefs yok kamah Oxlahun hayac toe yoklal. Uaxac , / . on receiving Oxlahun destroyed burning by means of. Oaxaca , lai u ich yok hunkul kuxiiek Uaxac ahauob ox these their in over forever disaffected Oaxaca chiefs 3 . kax ahauob nakxicinob. Uacchal Chunbezah yoktokob united kings destroyed, pled precipitately Chunbezah rebels Nakhun Chunbezah Caichxik. • . ' Nakhun Chunbezah Caichxik. - ,;: - r 1 898-99' 1 DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. I45 The Right Hand Inscription. Cah Cawck Oxlahun Pek puchtunob katunob Uuclahun House Cawek Oxlahun Pek fighting soldiers Zaachilla Cakaaxha can ahauob Caichxik Buluc pak Bolon xicmol Cocyoeza 4 chiefs Caichxik Buluc city Palenque dividers united Uxmal pak cankax ahauob nakob. Katunob pakmol Uxmal city very united chiefs destroyed. They fought towns together lukun Uaxac lai u yoktockob Uaxac ahauob. Cah deserting Oaxaca these their rebels Oaxaca chiefs. House Cawek Ahpop yok chab-en canlahun chuucob. Ox kax Cawek Ahpop over took I 14 prisoners. 3 united ahauob nakxicinob Ahpop katun nakxicinob popol chiefs destroyed Ahpop army destroyed people ca Uaxac ahkin. Cablahun ich katun can cib puchtunob ' when Oaxaca priest. Cablahun in army tells desire fight Uxmal chi canlahun hotochob yok ahauob bet ahauob, ' ' Uxmal border 14 houses over chiefs making chiefs. . ■ Cah Cawek Ahpop canpuchtun ox yoktockob nakxicinob. House Cawek Ahpop very quarrelsome 3 rebels they destroyed. Cah Cawek Ahpop Oxlahun Pek ox ahauob nakxicinob. House Cawek Ahpop Oxlahun Pek 3 chiefs they destroyed. Ahpop hokin Uaxac lai u lukun pakmolob Uaxac lukun Ahpop I set out Oaxaca these their deserting towns-together Oaxaca deserting ahauob. Tunxicob Cacul Chunbezah Uxmal kal chab chiefs. Tunxicob Cacul Chunbezah Uxmal took prisoner kax ahauob Tunxicinob pak ca nakob. Oxlahun Pek united kings Tunxicob town when ended. Oxlahun Pek Uaxac pak ubat ox hotochob Nakhunob hayac kin Oaxaca city hears 3 houses Nakhuns destroying Nakxicinob Cakaaxha puchtunob. Cahcab Uuclahun destroyed Cocyoeza warriors. Cocyopi Zaachilla L ahau hauac canmolob Bolon yoktockob. Oxlahun King ceased parleying Palenque rebels. Oxlahun ahauob Ahpop ubah bet Uaxac ahauob can kax Chiefs Ahpop hear makes Oaxaca kings very united ahauob nakxicinob. Cakaaxha chab pach uaxaclahun chiefs destroyed. Cocyoeza takes prisoners 18 . : Uactokob. Nakob nakxicinob Chunbezah Lahun Pek Bolon Huastecs. They met utterly destroyed Chunbezah Lahun Pek Palenque. 146 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. lukun ahauob ox kax ahauob Oxlahun Pek. Oxiahun Pek dividing chiefs 3 united chiefs Oxlahun Pek. Oxlahun Pek Uxmalob ox hauac tockob Cah Cawek nakob. Pach those of Uxmal 3 cease oppose House Cawek joined. Prisoner chabacob can Uaxac tockob hunkal ahauob. Ahpop they took 4 Oaxaca opponents 20 chiefs. Ahpop Cakaaxha Cah Cawek Ahpop nakob. Nakxicinob Catchxik, Cocyoeza House Cawek Ahpop met. Utterly destroyed Caichxik Uaxac ich hokin Oxlahun Pek Cah Cawek Ahpop.a Oaxaca into I set out Oxlahun Pek House Cawek Ahpop. THE DETACHED GROUPS OF HIEROGLYPHICS. G to L 6. : ; J, \ . Bolon pak Uaxac kuxiiek ca Uxmal patan katun - . ;^ Palenque city Oaxaca disaffected when Uxmal tribute asked Chunthan yoklal ca kuxiiek kax ahauob betob yok ^ ^ Chunthan by means of then disaffected united chiefs made over kuxileh chabob Hunich.3 Disaffection killed Hunich. ^ . • L 7 to 10. ' ' Lahca Uaxac tockob yok kuxilekob yoklal hunten 12 Oaxaca opponents over disaffections because of at one time . tocob ox kax Bolon Chunbezah.4 burnt 3 united Palenque leaders. O, P,Q. Uaxac patan Cablahun Tok Bolon ich ox chaabob Oaxaca tributaries Cablahun Tok Palenque in 3 killed yok bet keb.s over doing evil. - ' Pakob uac Oxlahun tocob uaxac ahauob Cah Cawek - ." , Towns 6 Oxlahun burnt 8 chiefs house Cawek ahau Ahpop cuchul yok bet keb chaah ca King Ahpop family over doing evil killed when . v:^ yok tockob patan katun patan katun Pop. Ca opposite opposed tribute asked tribute asking Pop. Then paxal cacab Caichxik ca kuxiiek pak.6 depopulate commune Caichxik when rebelled city. I898-99-J DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 147 M. Ho Cakulel Ho Hunakpet god Cakulel god Hunahpu ' N. Ho Puch-tunox Ho Holkun 7 god Puch-tunox god Hurakan. ^' BASAL INSCRIPTION IN PART. On the Left. Ch popob Holkan hayao Puchtunox hayac 2 thrones Hurakan destroyed Puchtunox destroyed cankax kulel hun very united ruler one On the Right. Cakulel yoktockob hayac Puchtunox nakob Cakulel rebels destroys Puchtunox enders patan hayac Pak hayac.8 tribute destroys Pak destroys. INSCRIPTION ON THE CROSS. Ca Chunbezah hayac chabuc-en chunthan ca hun ahau Then Chunbezah destroyed killed I president when one king patan katun hun bak patan kebat hun bak katun tribute asked i 400 tribute rebelling i 400 warriors kebat bet pach Bolon pak Chunbezah.9 rebelling made prisoner Palenque city Chunbezah. Characters suspended from the Bird- Idol's Tail. Than chacanla Hunich yok chaab.>o Word manifesting Hunich over murder. Characters behind the Left- Hand Figure : beginning with the Three Branched Tree. Cheoxak yok tan pak chaab : yok than patan can Cocyoeza before middle city kills : over word tribute saying puchtun ca : katun kebatthan puchtun kebat chaab." oppose when : army revolting quarrelsome rebel kills Characters behind the Right-Hand Figure: beginning with his cue. Oxlahun Pek ca yok tan kebatthan tan patan chaab : Oxlahun Pek when before centre revolting towards tribute kills : 148 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI Katun kebatthan can : katun ca tsuc ca.ia army to revolt telling : katun 2 tsuc 2. Characters in line to the right of the Ns. Katun bet hunten ca tun bak patan pach.13 Army made at one time 2 to the 400 tribute prisoners. 'Characters in line to the Left of the Ms. - Xic hunten Cheoxak kebat nak. 14 v Divided at one time Cocyoeza rebel abdomen. Characters between lower part of L and base of Cross. Yok xic lukun kebat ahau patan. 15 Over dividing secession rebel king tribute. THE TRANSLATION OF THE INSCRIPTION. "Three disaffected chiefs, Nakhun of the Huastecs, of the city of Palenque, and of Holhun, fought against and put to death the Hunich of Oaxaca, when they ceased devastating before Uxmal. The House of Cavvek made Canich the Holpop, who was the first of the line of Nohpat. The disaffected spread their wicked desire before the loyal | chiefs of the people of Oaxaca. The disaffected chiefs, together j dividing Oaxaca, are four nomarchs of Palenque, and three nomarchs of Buiuc, seven chiefs. The disaffected and the three separating chiefs talk secession together with the chiefs of Uxmal and the chiefs of Ox | Winic. They talk pleasant words to King Nohpat of the city of Uxmal over their wicked desire. The people make the request of the regents, Oxcabuc and Huntoh : they make the request that Oxlahun-Pek be the sole king of kings, Those of the city of Palenque rebel, withdrawing themselves from righteousness. Hearing of the disaffection, the two kings of Oaxaca tell Cablahun-Tok about the rebels. One hearing of the discovery of their wicked desire, the ten disaffected ones leave Oaxaca. The thret" disaffected ones rebel against the united kings of Oaxaca, refusing to deliver tribute when they demand tribute. The warriors of Cablahun Tok vanquish the warriors of the city of Palenque, of the people of Palenque, and of the people of Nakhun. The Chunbezah took at one time Cacul, Nakhun, and Winic Yub, three chiefs, three chiefs deserting Oaxaca. The warriors searched for the separating chiefs. On captur- ing the chiefs cherishing a wicked desire, Oxlahun destroyed them b\ burning. These are they in Oaxaca revolting from the Kings 01 Oaxaca, whom the three united kings forever destroyed. The I 1898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 149 Chunbezah of the rebels, Nakhun, and the Chunbezah Caichxik fled precipitately. " The warriors of the army of Oxlahun-Pek, Ahpop of the House of Cawek, demolished the four chiefs of the Zaachilla Cocyoeza, namely^ Caichxik, the city of Buluc, the united dividers of Palenque, and the city of Uxmal, four united chiefs. They fought the united seceding cities, those rebelling against Oaxaca, eight chiefs. I, the Ahpop of the House of Cawek, took fourteen prisoners. The army of the Ahpop destroyed the three united chiefs, while the priesthood of Oaxaca destroyed the people. He tells his desire to the army under Cablahun that they should fight against the fourteen houses of the border of Uxmal, because of their chiefs making kings. The Ahpop of the House of Cawek destroys three very quarrelsome rebels. Oxlahun- Pek, the Ahpop of Cawek, destroys three chiefs. I, the Ahpop, set out for those united cities seceding from Oaxaca. " The Chunbezah of Uxmal took prisoner Cacul of Tunxicob when the united kings destroyed the town of Tunxicob. Oxlahun-Pek, at the city of Oaxaca, hears that the warriors of Cocyoeza utterly des- troyed three houses of the Nakhuns. Cocyopy, the Zaachilla king, ceased to parley with the rebels of Palenque. The Ahpop makes the chiefs of Oxlahun to understand that the kings of Oaxaca are destroy- ing the leagued chiefs. Cocyoeza takes eighteen Huastecs prisoners. The Chunbezah and Lahun-Pek meet, and entirely destroy the chiefs dividing Palenque, the three leagued chiefs of Oxlahun-Pek. The three ceasing to oppose those of Uxmal join Oxlahun-Pek at the House of Cawek. " The four opponents of Oaxaca took twenty chiefs prisoners. The Ahpop Cocyoeza, and the Ahpop of the House of Cawek meet. They utterly destroy Caichxik. I, Oxlahun-Pek, Ahpop of the House of Cawek, set ou for Oaxaca. " The disaffected of Oaxaca of the city of Palenque, when Uxmal asked tribute through the Chunthan, these disaffected ones made united chiefs, and through their disaffection killed the Hunich. " The three united Chunbezahs of Palenque at one time burnt twelve opponents of Oaxaca, in consequence of their disaffection. " Of the tributaries of Oaxaca, Cablahun-Tok killed three in the chy of Palenque for working mischief " Oxlahun burnt six towns of eight chiefs whom he killed, of the subjects of the king, Ahpop of the House of Cawek, when they refused 150 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. the tribute which the tribute demanding Pop asked. Then he depopu- lated the commune of Caichxik when the town rebelled. " The god Cakukel ; the god Hunahpu ; the god Puch-tunox ; the god Hurakan. "Two thrones Hurakan destroys, Puch-tunox destroys, the very united, one ruler. " Cakulel destroyed the rebels. Puch-tunox destroyed the refusers of tribute. Pak destroyed ... "Then the Chunbezah, destroying, killed, when the Chunthan demanded the tribute of the one king, four hundred rebelling against tribute, and four hundred rebellious warriors taken prisoners by the Chunbezah of the city of Palenque. " A word, making manifest the murder of the Hunich. " Cocyoeza, in front of the centre of the city, killed, for speech refusing tribute ; when the army revolted, he killed the quarrelsome revolters. " Oxlahun-Pek, when he killed the revolters against tribute in front of the centre of the city, telling the army to rebel, in the (his) forty- eighth year. " The army at one time made four hundred and two (or, twice four hundred) prisoners on account of tribute. " At one time Cocyoeza divided the abdomens of the rebels. * "They rebelled against the king's tribute, on account of dividing secession." ouch is the record of the Palenque Tablet, the story of eight hundred victims immolated at the shrines of the Bird-god Vuch, and his three companion deities, for rebelling against the exactions of two cruel tyrants, Cocyoeza, king of Oaxaca, and Oxlahun-Pek, king of the Cachiquels, and the boastful usurper of the Quiche royal dignity, Ahpop of the House of Cawek. The story is comparatively modern, but, nevertheless, full of interest. I898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 'S» Chapter VIII. ANOTHER RECORD OF THE CACHIQUEL KINGS: THE ALTAR AT COPAN. There may be many other records of the conquering Ahau Ahpops of the Cachiquels, but the only one known to the writer when he wrote this chapter, is one familiar by sight to students of American antiqui- ties, the hieroglyphic tablet of the altar at Copan. Mr. Baldwin says : Inscription on the Copan Altar. " The ruins known as Copan are situated in the extreme western part of Honduras, where they are densely covered by the forest. As already stated, they were first discovered about forty years after the war of the conquest swept through that part of the country, and were at that time wholly mysterious to the natives. The monuments seem older than those at Palenque, but we have only scant descriptions of them. 15a TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. They are situated in a wild and solitary part of the country where the natives ' see as little of strangers as the Arabs about Mount Sinai, and are more suspicious.' For this reason they have not been very carefully explored. It is known that these ruins extend two or three miles along the left bank of the river Copan. Not much has been done to discover how far they extend from the river into the forest." Mr. Stephens, however, has preserved the inscription of these ruins, which, historically, is more valuable than mere descriptions of buildings. The inscription, as may be seen in the plate, consists of six lines, each containing six groups of hieroglyphics, which call for the same attention as those of Palenque. The first, that on the left in line i, begins with the well-known ho, j, over a cartouche containing writing, dzib. It is doubtful whether the subscribed ox, 3, should be read as such, or at all. No. 2 is kolhun, 15, followed by ox, 3, Avxdpet, the circle; 3 is ppoc, a hat, and a cartouche which looks like another dzib, but which, in the meanwhile, may be regarded as tun, a stone. Then follows group 4, consisting of buluc, 1 1, hun, i, ich, a face, and ox, 3. In the Palenque Tablet, Buluc is the name of a place, and the Hunich is an official of some kind, an intendant or ambassador. This sentence reads : " Hodzib Holhun Oxpet puchtun Buluc Hunich : " " The Ahtzib (writer) of Holhun, Oxpet, fought the Hunich of Buluc." This is the literal translation. Really, it was the Hunich who fought Oxpet. No. 5 is Oxlahun-Pek, again, although the dog, pek, is very different from that of Palenque, and more like a parrot, perhaps the bird Vaku. No. 6 is 12, in Cachiquel, Cablahun, followed by ca, 2, and tun, stone. Line 2, No. I begins with the comb-like ca, in this inscription standing for can, 4, followed by mak, to eat soft things, to eat without chewing, and by kab, the hand or arm, either qualified by ox, 3, or by ob, plurality. No. 2 consists o{ hun, i, xic, division, hun, i, kab, the hand (see line 5, No. i), and a final comb, that may be can, nak, ox xul. Regarding it provisionally as can, we may read : " Oxlahun-Pek Cablahun katun can makkab Hunzichuncabcan:" "Oxlahun-Pek Cablahun army tells to imprison Hunzichuncabcan." The last name may mean hun, the one, xic, dividing, hun, one, cab, country, can, powerful, or nuc, great. Thus he would be, the one dividing a great country. The sentence is completed in the two following groups. No. 3 con- tains ox Axxdpet, followed by ca ca, which must give chuc or chaac, to kill or the killer. No. 4 is kalkab, the finger, holhun, 15, thun, a drop, and dzib, writing. The whole may be rendered : " Oxpet chuca kalkab Holhun 1898-99O DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 153 tancab:" "the murderer of Oxpet within the prison of Holhun." A prison is mazcaby but cab means, to imprison. A new sentence begins with No. 5, which contains m, uac^ 6, /««, stone, or, 3, and, below these> ca tun. In 6, a fancy hun, i, unites with the stone to make huntun, and four fancy units give can, followed by a form of the mak which has appeared in No. i of the same line. The rendering is : " ca Uacthanox katun hunten can mak : " " then (or where) the speakers of Uac of the army at once said no." The Uac speakers were probably Aztecs, whom the people of Guatemala called Yaqui. Line 3, No. i,by the two stones, gives ca tun ; below them is the Palenque nak in a new form, and at the back is ox, 3. No. 2 at once reveals Uaxac ich, shewing at the same time that the ox or ob forming the basis of the face is not to be read. The two together give : " katun nacac Uaxac ich : " " the army ascends into Oaxaca." No. 3 furnishes two cas, and the well known forehead and the expedient for the trefoil give kachilek. In No. 4, tun and tok appear, with zik, the wing, uac, 6, and tun, a small stone. We know that the comb-like figure of No. 5 here is can not ca, in comparison with No. 5 of line 5, which represents it by four units. This can includes ox, 3, and is followed by tun with ca inscribed ; the whole giving Canox katunob. The first character of No. 6, however, is ka, followed hy pak, building, and tun, a stone, and its kapaktun answers to the later kebanthan, to rebel. The whole reads :'Va kuxilektfian toxxic Uacthan Canox katunob kebanthan:" " when the disaffected spread abroad a word to the Uac speakers of the armies of Canox to rebel." No. I of line 4 furnishes Oxlahun, and buc, covering, for pek, under which comes the wheel, /^/, for bet, to make. No. 2 is the counterpart oi caca in No. 3 of line 2, and, like it, stands for chuca, murderer. No. 3 contains ox, pet and tok ; and the sentence reads : " Oxlahun Pek bet chuca Oxpet toe:" " Oxlahun Pek makes the murderer of Oxpet burn." No. 4 is, by a mere conjecture, supposed to consist of co and pan, a standard, designating the city t*nd district of Copan. It is followed by ahau I Canox; and No. 6 consists of hun, ich, and a final figure which may be nak or xul, the end. These give : " Copan ahau Canox Munich nak : " " Canox, king of Copan, finishes the Hunich." No. i of line 5 repeats No. 2 of line 2, namely, Hunzichuncabcan, for which a translation has been proposed. Here, however, it seems to qualify No. 2 which reads kun^, ich, the eye, and a peculiar form of the cross, pak ; altogether, Hunich pak or pakob. No. 3, judging by the analogy of the Palenque Tablet, should be nakxicin, to put an end to. No. 4 gives ox, 3, can, 4, cab, a bee-hive, and dzib, writing ; in other words, yok can keb cib, over 154 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. saying- an evil desire. No. 5 plainly reveals can and ox, with three mats or ox popob. In No. 6,/^/, the circle, has /««, the stone, at its right, the inscribed ca of which connects with a smaller tun over the human head The remaining four units, and this head, as in line 2, Nos, i and 6, give can mak. Thus : " Canox ahpopob patan katun can mak " signifies, " They say no to the chiefs of Canox asking tribute." No. I of line 6 contains Oxlahun, uuc, 7, for hayac, and pet for bet. This is followed by Hunich, for ox or ob subscribed are evidently out of place. These two groups seem complete in themselves : " Oxlahun hayac bet Hunich : " " Oxlahun causes to destroy the Hunich." No. 3 embraces uaxaclahun, ox and dzib ; and No. 4 is Uaxac ich. No. 5 contains ho dzib, and Oxlahun Pek ; while No. 6 includes dzib, pet, kab, uaxac, thun, ox, buc, and a pet so small that it might be mistaken for hun. The whole reads : " Uaxac lukun yok cib Uaxac ich Ahtzib Oxlahun Pek cib bet keb Uaxacthanox pach bet: " He makes prisoners the Oaxacans, on account of (their) desire to desert to Oaxaca, and making a wicked wish to the Ahtzib (secretary) of Oxlahun Pek." THE TEXT OF THE INSCRIPTION. Hodzib Holhun Oxpet puchtun Buluc Hunich. Secretary Holhun Oxpet fought Buluc Hunich. Oxlahun Pek Cablahun katun can inazcab Oxlahun Pek Cablahun army tells imprison Hunztkhuncabcan Oxpet chuca kaikab Holhun Hunzikhuncabcan Oxpet slayer prison Holhun tancab. Ca Uacthanox katun hunten can nak. within. Then Uac speakers at once say no. Katun nacac Uaxac ich ca kuxilek than toe Army ascends Oaxaca into when disaffected word spread Xic Uacthan Canox katunob kepakthan. Oxlahun-Pek wide Uac speakers Canox armies to rebel. Oxlahun Pek bet chuca Oxpet toe. Copan ahau Canox Hunich makes slayer Oxpet burn. Copan king Canox Hunich [l898-99*] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. nak. Hunzikhuncabcan Hunich pakob^nakxicin finishes. Hunzikhuncabcan Hunich towns destroys yok can keb cib Canox ahpopob patan katun over saying evil desire Canox chiefs tribute asking can mak. Oxlahun hayac bet Hunich. Uaxac saying no. Oxlahun destroy makes Hunich. Oaxacans lukun yok cib Uaxac ich Hodzib Oxlahun Pek desert over desire Oaxaca into Secretary Oxlahun Pek cib bet keb Uaxacthanox pach bet.a wish making evil Oaxaca speakers prisoner makes. »S5 TRANSLATION. " The Hunich of Buluc slew Oxpet of Holhun, the Chief Scribe. Oxlahun Pek tells the army of Cablahun to imprison Hunzikhuncabcan, the slayer of Oxpet, within the prison of Holhun. Then the speakers of Yaqui in the army at once refused. The army is ascending into Oaxaca, when the disaffected spread the word abroad for the speakers of Yaqui in the armies of Canox to rebel. Oxlahun Pek causes the slayer of Oxpet to be burnt, and Canox, the king of Copan, puts an end to the Hunich. He destroys the towns of Hunzikhuncabcan, the Hunich, for expressing their evil desire, and refusing the officers of Canox asking tribute. Oxlahun causes the Hunich to be destroyed, and makes prisoners the Oaxacans, on account of their desire to desert into Oaxaca, and for their evil intentions towards the Chief Scribe of Oxlahun Pek." If6 TRANSACTIONS OF THB CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. Chapter IX. THE INSCRIPTIONS IN THE LIGHT OF OTHER HISTORICAL DOCU- MENTS : THE HISTORIES OF THE QUICHES AND THE CACHIQUELS. The principal names upon the Tablet of Palenque have already been identified with names set forth in the native histories of Mexico and Central America. These native histories have been translated and arranged by the Abb6 Brasseur de Boucbourg, and, so far as the writer knows, by no one else. In accomplishing this vast undertaking,, a task calling for the sympathy and admiration of all students of history, the Abb6 made occasional mistakes, some of which, like the mistakes of Herodotus, are evidences of wisdom ; and, over these trivial errors, a reputation for learning has been assumed by certain writers who are not worthy to be named in the same category as that which places in its front rank and in its first place the illustrious author of " The History of the Civilized Nations of Mexico and Central America." The material from which the Abb6 derived his histories were chiefly Spanish documents- written by natives conversant with the oral traditions or written annals of their peoples, and in some cases, actual native records transcribed in the aboriginal languages, but in European characters. His chief error lies in his attempt to identify the gods and culture- heroes of the Aztecs with those of the Maya-Quiche pantheon, quite forgetting that the two populations are of radically different origins.^ The chief names found in the inscriptions read are those of Oxlahun- Pek, Cablahun-Toc, Oxcabuc, and Huntoh, with Lahun-Pek, of Guate- mala or the House of Cawek, and of Cakaaxha and Cacab of Oaxaca. To these may be added the names of Nohpat of Uxmal and his ancestor Canich. Speaking of the origin of the House of Cawek, Brasseur says that the four great ancestors of the Quiches were Balam Quitze, Balam Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi Balam. " Balam Quitze left two sons, Qocaib and Qocawib, who were, adds the Quiche book, the fathers and chiefs of the House of Cawek. Balam Agab equally had two sons, Quocul and Qoacutec, who were the chiefs of the House of Nihaib. Mahucutah was the father of Qo-Ahau, chief of the House of Ahau-Quiche ; and Iqi Balam was childless.'" The Abba's information was derived from the 1 898-99- 1 DBCIPHBRINO HIBROOLVPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 157 Quiche MS. of Chichicastenago. It was discovered at St. Thomas Chichicastenago, otherwise called Chuila, where the descendants of a great part of the ancient nobility of the Quiche Kingdom are found. " It is composed of four thoroughly distinct parts ; the first has for its subject the creation of things, the appearance of legislators or creators, and ideas more or less cosmogonic of a flood ; the second contains the romantic epic of Hunahpu and Exbalanque, preceded by the history of the pride and chastisement of Wucub-Caquix ; the third relates the origin and dispersion of the tribes in America ; and the fourth is an abridged history of the Kings of Quiche. The book terminates with a list of the sovereigns of three royal dynasties, and the nomenclature of titles and offices of the court. This manuscript, the most precious for what concerns Central American origines, is written in very elegant Quiche, and its author seems to have been one of the princes of the royal family ; he composed it a few years after the arrival of the Spaniards, at the time when all their ancient books disappeared.' »3 Quoting the document, Brasseur says : " The chief of the House of Cawek received the title of Ahau Ahpop, which his successors continued to bear until the destruction of the Guatemalan monarchy by the Spaniards, with the privilege of conferring upon the first prince of his blood the title of Ahau Ahpop Camha. The lord of Nihaib was decorated with that of Ahau-Galel, and the lord of Ahau-Quiche with that of Ahtzic Winak." Ahau Ahpop consists of ahau, chief or king, ak, possessor, and pop, carpet or mat, and denotes supreme royalty. The chief names in the inscriptions are not those of Quiche monarchs, but of Cachiquels, hence the Quiche MS. must be compared with Cachiquel documents, if such exist. Such an one is the Cachiquel MS. or Me- morial of Zecpan Atitlan. " This curious document begins with memorials and some genealogical notices of the princes of the Cachiquel royal family. Afterwards, the history opens up. with the creation of mankind, which seems to be simply an abbreviation of the Quiche manuscript, but with certain details not found in it. The long para- graphs that follow are partly transposed, and evidently belong to different works, of which they are only extracts. The history of the Cachiquel princes, and of the revolution which compelled them to secede from Quiche in order to constitute a separate kingdom at Iximche or Tecpan-Guatemala, occupy a great part of it. The author gives strange details regarding the entrance of the Spaniards into the capital, of which he was an eye-witness, as well as regarding subsequent events down to the complete establishment of Christianity. The style of the work is varied and picturesque, and includes at times 158 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. animated passages. The author, Don Francisco Ernandez Arana \\ Xahila, of the Ahpotzotzil princes of Guatemala, was the grandson of t King Hunyg, who died of the plague five years before the Spaniards 1/ set foot in the country, in 1519.'" This King Hunyg whom Brasseur !^ names was the son of Oxlahun Pek." |t Brasseur's chief informant in regard to the history of Oaxaca, and especially of the Zaachilla-Yoho Kingdom, is Francisco de Burgoa, whose History of the Province of the Preachers of Oaxaca was published in Mexico in 1671. "This rare work is full of the most interesting details regarding the history and geography of the Kingdoms of Tzapotecapan and Tehuantepec in the State of Oaxaca." Brasseur calls Burgoa the Walter Scott of Mexico. The Zapotec, Mixtec, and allied languages of Oaxaca and its surroundings, are quite distinct from the Aztec or Nahuatl, on the one hand, and from the Maya-Quiche tongues, on the other. Brasseur cites many authorities in addition to the three named, but these furnish the most important materials for his histories of the Quiches, the Cachiquels, and the Oaxacans, and for the elucidation of the records just deciphered on the monuments of Palenque and Copan. For the history of the Mayas of Yucatan, and the related Tzendals of Chiapas, Brasseur was indebted to the work of Ordonez, a native of Cindad Real in Chiapas in the end of the eighteenth century, who wrote the History of the Creation of Heaven and Earth according to the System of the American Peoples, and edited some Tzendal fragments. He was also familiar with some of the Maya Chronicles, which Stephens brought to light, and which Dr. Brinton has published in extenso.* However, he confesses that the early history of Yucatan, Honduras, and Eastern Guatemala, the very history we are in search of, is very scanty and obscure." The inscriptions make no mention of Quiche and Maya kingdoms. Those of Cawek and Oaxaca are alone recognized in them. According to Brasseur's documents, the Quiche Kingdom, called the House of Cawek, existed in the fifteenth century under a powerful monarch, Qikab I., when the Cachiquels were weak. This king, anxious to limit the power of his feudatories, created from among the plebeian warriors distinguished for courage, a class of Achihab 9r military tribunes of the people. These Achihab became the champions of the oppressed people, and sought for reforms in government, and Qikab's four sons took part with them. In a rage, Qikab threw himself into the arms of the nobility whom he had alienated, and called around him his Ahpop Camha, a Caesar to his Augustus, the chief of the |898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROaLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. (59 House of Nihaib, the Galal Queema, the Ahtzic Winak Achak Iboy, the Elders of the Cachiquels, Wukubatz and Huntoh, and all the jAhpops in Gumarcaah and its environs. By their advice and aid, he seized the chief of the Achihab and hanged them ; but the revolu- tion went on as a peasant war in which many ahaus and ahpops perished, together with their wives and families, and their wealth became the prey of their murderers. " Qikab had set out some days before the massacre for Pampetak ; he thus escaped a cruel death. With the exception of this prince and the members of his family, it may be said that the high nobility of Quiche was completely annihilated on this fatal day." Qikab was only saved. by the intercession of his sons who had taken part with the revolters. Then the chiefs of the Achihab who remained met and framed a new constitution, appointing five plebeian Ahpops, whom they compelled Qikab and his surviving colleagues to invest with their new dignity.'* Among the nobles who had escaped death at the hands of the populace were the Cachiquel princes Wukubatz and Huntoh. These had been the most faithful to the king ; and the Achihab who were now supreme sought their fall. A quarrel between a stout Cachiquel baker- woman and an Achihab of the royal guard, who tried to take her bread without payment, led to an outbreak of hostilities. Qikab advised the Cachiquel princes to withdraw from the capital into their own land ; accordingly, they retired to Quauhtemalan, which they named Iximche, burning and destroying the Quiche villages on their way. At Iximche, the four Cachiquel princes, Wukubatz, Huntoh, Chuluc, and Xitamal- Queh, convoked their nobility, with their vassals, and finding them faithful, proclaimed the Cachiquels independent of Quiche. Wukubatz was made Ahpozotzil, or king of the bats, and Huntoh was hailed as Ahpoxahil, the king of the Xahila, which was the proper name of the Cachiquel royal family. Wukubatz drew the sword, defeated the Quiche army and took some Quiche towns. This was the signal for the disaffected Tzotzils, Tzendals, Quelenes, and other tribes to disown Quiche sway ; and, little by little, the Cachiquels extended their territory and influence. Although deprived of much of his kingdom, Qikab is said to have retained his absolute power over the people, and to have died peaceably at some point of time between 1440 and 1450, leaving, as his successor in the position of Ahpop, a prince named Tepepul n. and as Ahpop Camha, or heir apparent, Iztayul HI. Concerning these monarchs the inscriptions are silent." " Of the two Cachiquel princes," says Brasseur, " Huntoh died first. l60 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. (VOL. VI. one cannot tell when. His eldest son Lahuh-Ah (Ten Reeds) succeeded him in his dignity of Ahpoxahil. Wuxubatz, in his turn, paid the debt of nature, and had for successor Oxlahuh-Tzy (Thirteen Dogs), the eldest of the sons he had by his wife. Queen Ximox. Lahuh-Ah lived but a few years ; he left, however, a glorious memory, and a son not less glorious of the name of Cablahuh-Tihax (Twelve Knives), who lor a long period administered the affairs of the kingdom conjointly with Oxlahuh-Tzy. But the reign of these two princes only began to acquire renown after the death of king Qikab." '' After the death of Qikab, the Quiches demanded to be led against the Cachiquels. A large army set out for Iximche ; but the Cachiquels were prepared for them. The Quiches were defeated with great slaughter, the two kings made prisoners, and the Achihabs and chief dignitaries of state put to the sword. The victors were Oxlahuh-Tzy and Cablahuh-Tihax, with Woo-Imox, and Rokelbatzin." The Quiche kings disappear from history, and their successors. Tecum, Wahxaki-Caam, and Qikab II. have little behind them but the records of their names. Brasseur was ignorant of the fact so clearly stated on the monuments, that Oxlahuh- Tzy became the Ahau-Ahpop of the House of Cawek, that is, the head of the Quiche kingdom. Referring to the Quiche kings, he says ; " The Ahpozotzil of the Cachiquels, Oxlahuh-Tzy, had a longer career, but this career, as well as the trials through which he passed, and of which his illimitable ambition was the cause, reminded his subjects of the greatness and of the misery of the great Qikab. The disaster of the battle of Iximche had spread terror among the Quiches ; during many years they found themselves unable to undertake anything against their rivals. The pride of the Cachiquel king grew on this account, and seeing the greater part of the neighbouring lords bow the head before him, he believed himself hence- forth invincible ; the principal chiefs of his race had recognized the supremacy of the descendants of Gagawitz, and he set himself to reduce by force of arms those who imagined themselves strong enough to main- tain their independence in spite of him. Of all his allies, the most powerful, after the princes of the Zutohils and of the Ahtziquinihayi, was Ychal-Amollac, the Ahau of the Akahales ; this nation still consti- tuted a considerable part of the Cachiquel stock ; it occupied an important territory which extended to the south from the eastern slope of the mountains of Zacatepec to the warm lands, from the volcano of Pacaya to those which border the highway of the Gulf towards the north- east. Their best known cities were Holom, Qaxqan, Ralabalyg, Guguhuyu, and Wukuciwan.' 1898-99-1 DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 161 " Ychal dwelt in the first; there he maintained a brilliant court, which by its splendour rivalled that of Quauhtemalan. But, if his warlike virtues gave umbrage to the Cachiquel kings, his wealth still more excited the envy of the princes of the royal family. Hunahpu-Tzian, Nimazahay, Aheigahuh, Chooc-Tacatic, Tzimahi, Piaculcan,and Xumac- Cham distinguished themselves among his most ardent enemies, and they were the more to be feared, inasmuch as, in their character of ministers and chief counsellors of the Crown, they possessed the entire confidence of the Ahpozotzil and of the Ahpoxahil. Royal suscepti- bility was already too much awakened in regard to him, and the least pretext would suffice to render him criminal in their eyes. On the advice of the elders, heralds were dispatched to Holom, instructed to provoke Ychal-Amollac, and to make him know that he had to present himself, with the briefest delay, before the tribunal of the king at Iximche. . > " He at once took the road to Iximche, accompanied only by five warriors devoted to his person and the most illustrious in the nation ; these were Hukahic, Tameltoh, Huwur the Musician, Wailqahol, and Zoroch, who filled the office of cup-bearer. His face, though calm, bore a melancholy expression when he entered the capital of the Cachiquels. On the report of his advance his enemies again assembled a council with Oxlahuh-Tzy and Cablahuh-Tihax, and his death had been resolved ere ever he set foot on the threshold of the palace. He was introduced alone into the council chamber, but from judges the Zotzils had changed to executioners, and he had barely appeared before them when he fell dead beneath their blows. Zoroch, having followed him up, was first killed, and some moments after his companions were thrown lifeless upon the corpse of their master." " These iniquitous executions spread terror among the Akahals ; the most immediate consequence was the reduction of their territory, and the domain of the children of Ychal became the prey of their enemies. They were expelled from the cities they governed, and had assigned to them as their sole dwelling the town of Xarahapit, which the Cachiquels wished to repeople. Lehuh-Noh, the son of the Ahpoxahil, had the command of it ; there only they had the melancholy satisfaction of rendering the last offices to the remains of Ychal and his noble companions, and the Akahales were able freely to signalize their grief at their death, together with that of their nationality. A large number of their vassals rejoined them in this place, leaving deserted the lands they had previously occu- pied ; but their oppressors provided for these promptly, they assigned l6a TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITyTE. [VOL. VI. them to Pokoman tribes, whom a fate, analogous to that of the Akahals, had just driven from the fertile province of Cuzcatlan. " The power of the Cachiquel kings was, for the time being, the greatest in the Guatemalan States. Nothing seemed to be able to with- stand the force of their arms, and the will of Oxlahuh-Tzy was respected almost equally with that of the great Qikab, before whom so many people had formerly trembled. The kings of Atitlan, who had maintaind their independence since the dismemberment of Quiche empire, fearing for themselves the consequences of his ambition, laboured to put a barrier to it ; they leagued themselves with the neighbouring princes, and from the shores of Lake Panahachel to the Toltec cities on the coast, and to Itzcuintlan in the south, the kingdom of Quauhtemalan could soon count a multitude of enemies in the lordships formerly not attached to its cause. The Ahpozotzil was going, at last, to suffer the reward of his injustice and cruelty. However, he beheld this formidable league without emotion, and set himself courageously to carry on war against those whom he regarded as most powerful and dangerous ; these were, on the one hand, Wookaok, Ahpop of the Ahtziquinhayi, and, on the other, Belehe-Gih, prince of Caokeb, who reigned in the neighbouring mountains of Quiche. The latter had his residence in the strong city of Paraxtunya, the position of which rendered it in a measure impregnable ; he thought that in it he could brave all the anger of the Cachiquel despot. The hostile army appeared before his walls, and during twelve consecutive days, sanguinary combats took place on the slopes of the chasms surrounding their circle. But Oxlahuh-Tzy was still accustomed to conquer ; on the thirteenth day he made a terrific assault upon the fortress ; it was carried with frightful carnage, and Belehe-Gih paid for the audacity of his resistance with his life. " But Paraxtunya was to be the limit of the Ahpozotzil's triumphs While he was glorying in his victory, preparing a heavier yoke than ever for his vassals and his feudatories, the discontent which lay hid in the depths of men's hearts was ready to break forth. The rebellion began in the very bosom of the royal family. Since the reunion of the Cachi- quels under the sceptre of Quauhtemalan, the princes descended from Gagawitz continued to call themselves by the generic name of Zotzil- Tukuche ; but the Cachiquel tribes assembled in that capital, being divided into quarters, distinguished themselves, according to their divisions, the one class by the name of Zotzils, the other by that of Tukuches. The first, having their quarters round about the palace of the princes of the reigning branch, were placed under their immediate 1898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 163 control, while the second had for chief one of the princes of the junior branch, bearing the title of Atzih-Winak-Cawek. Cay-Hunahpu was invested with this dignity at the time when the league formed by the king of Atitlan against the Cachiquels began to spread into the neighbouring lordships. His personal qualities, no less than the extent of his wealth and the multitude of his vassals, added to the influence that his rank gave him in the State. The absolutism of Oxlahuh-Tzy, recalling memories of the period of Qikab, had awakened his ambitious instincts ; from that moment he laboured without relaxation to excite the rancour of the nobility and to foment insurrection, in the hope of so P'"ofiting by it as to snatch the sceptre from the reigning family. Skil- ful as he was enterprising, he adopted a policy directly opposed to that of the Ahpozotzil and the Ahpoxahil ; he secretly flattered the indepen- dent instincts of the high aristocracy ; by his mildness and moderation, by his liberality and the sumptuous show of his house, he drew the greater part of them to himself, and everything was ready for a revolt when an incident, quite unimportant in itself, afforded him the oppor- tunity to hasten the denouement and take up arms. " Since the death of Ychal Amollac and the annexation of his domain to the crown of Quauhtemaian, the Akahales had shown them- selves constantly submissive to their new masters ; in consequence of a quarrel which had taken place between them and a party of Tukuches, the latter plundered their fields and withdrew after setting fire to their harvests. This cowardice did not fail to be punished ; the Akahales from all sides, fell upon the party at the point of Chiqib, by which it had to pass, and, after a fight of short duration, the Tukuches were compelled to take to shameful flight. On their return to Iximche, they carried their complaint to Cay-Hunahpu, and demanded satisfaction for the injury they pretended to have received. The Akahales, on their part, dreading vengeance, placed themselves under the protection of the Ahpozotzil. The Atzih-Winak saw at a glance the advantage to be derived from this affair ; he also resolved at once to work it for the profit of his ambitious designs. The council of the king being met, he naturally took his place in it, together with his relatives, the Ahaus Tziriny-Yu and Toxqom-Noh, advocates like himself of the cause of the Tukuches ; but the sentence could not be doubtful, justice being too evidently on the side of the Akahales to allow of there being any balance of opinion in their favour. " This result was foreseen by all; and Cay-Hunahpu naturally desired it from the depth of his heart ; nevertheless, he spoke eloquently in 1 64 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. favour of the Tukuches, and ended by haughtily demanding that the Akahales be given up to be put to death. A claim at once so unjust and so audacious filled the members of council with astonishment, to whom the plot was still a mystery ; the Zotzil princes gazed at one another stupified, but before they had time to come to themselves, the Atzih- Winak left the judgment hall, threatening them with the vengeance of the Tukuches if they did not at once yield to his demand. Oxlahuh- Tzy understood, but too late, the fault he had committed in alienating the nobility ; sedition broke out in every part of the city, and he opened his eyes only to see the Tukuches rising in their quarters, running tumultuously through the streets, provoking the Zotzils, and demanding with loud cries the death of the Akahales. " The news of the insurrection spread like lightning from the capital to the neighbouring regions. All the proud lords whom the iron hand of the Ahpozotzil had momentarily compelled to bow beneath his yoke, already incited by the intrigues of the Atzih-Winak, took to arms, all ready to proclaim him sovereign as soon as victory declared in his favour. Horrified at the turn the commotion was taking, the Zotzil princes found their courage fail ; in the hope of escaping the consequences, they humbled themselves before Cay- Hunahpu, and, in order to appease his wrath, sent him the unfortunate Akahales, the nominal cause of the troubles with which they were threatened. But these victims f-'.iled to satisfy the haughty rebel — he desired more illustrious ones. Filled with contempt for the king, who thus revealed his weakness to him, and measuring him by his cowardice, he declared him to have forfeited the throne, and left Iximche, taking in his train all the Tukuche population, so as to place, if it were possible, a deeper gulf between them and the Zotzils. " The women and children withdrew to Tiboquy and to Roxakan, the inhabitants of which had declared in favour of rebellion, while the Atzih-Winak fortified himself with his vassals in the heights adjacent to the capital, from which it was only separated by the river running along the bottom of the precipice ; there he awaited the arrival of the allies by whose aid he hoped soon to re-enter the city, in order to set up his throne on the ruins of the Ahpozotozil's power. But the expectations he had formed were far from realizing themselves to his satisfaction ; the helpers on whom he had counted were few and came slowly, and these delays, while discouraging to his soldiers, gave the royal family time to regain confidence and to fortify itself in Iximche. The Cachiquel princes of the mountains of Zacatepec, and those of the warm I898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 165 lands adjoining the volcanoes of Hunahpu, happy to shake off a yoke which they impatiently endured, had raised the standard of revolt ; but, if the voice of the Atzih-VVinak had succeeded in easily detaching them from >*^t 'r allegiance, it had not the same power to bring them around him In place of joining their vassals to his, and marching together againsc the capital, they found it more convenient to profit by the disorder which reigned there, in order to declare their independence, and constitute themselves sovereign in their own States, Thus were formed at that time the great lordships of Tzolola, Mixco, Yampuk, and Papuluka, which remained independent of the Cachiquel kings until the time of the Spanish conquest. " At the end of some days, Cay-Hunahpu, tired of waiting in vain for his allies, prepared to attack Iximche with the troups assembled under his orders. Their numbers, however, were much superior to those of the Ahpozotzil, and the Tukuches ranked as the bravest warriors of the Cachiquel nation ; the most respected portion of the nobility had gone out with them, and Oxlahuh-Tzy had about him only the members of his family and some chiefs of inferior rank. In his destitution he looked to them ; to them he confided the most dangerous posts, and one arfiong them named Cinahitoh, having been invested with the office of com- mander in chief, with the title of Ahpop Achi, was instructed to defend the ford of the river on the descent of the rebels. This ford led straight to the gates of the city, and opened upon a stone bridge which crossed the ravine at a place named Xechipeken. There the first skirmish took place, and both sides fought with equal valour. " Cay-Hunahpu, seeing the preparations of the Ahpozotzil, understood that henceforth it was a question of victory or death ; and that to amuse himself with skirmishes would be to lose his time ; he was urgent to deploy his whole force in one day, and as soon as possible to assail the capital. The Ahau Chucuybatzin who was placed at the head of the rebel forces began the first attack. 'On the eleventh day. Ah, morn now having lighted the horizon, the Tukuches awoke on the other side of the city. Soon the sound of the drums and war trumpets of Prince Cay- Hunahpu resounded; they covered themselves with armour, with shining feathers, with dazzling plumes, they adorned their heads with coronets of gold and jewels. Then they on the other side of the river awoke together ; it was indeed a formidable sight, the array of those innumer- able Tukuches : for they were not to be counted by eight nor by sixteen thousand. Then the battle began before the city, at the end of the bridge, where Chucaybatzin, at the head of the Tukuche troops had transferred the action. Four ladies clad in coats of mail en.sanguined 1(66 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. their bows and took part in the defence ; accompanied by four young warriors, they launched their arrows, which struck the centre of the ranks of Chucuybatzin. It was truly a terrible thing, this great contest raised at this time against the kings. But, having made them prisoners, the general-in-chief exposed the nakedness of these ladies before the ramparts of the Zotzils and the Xahils, whence they had come. All at once there appeared upon the main road, near the great intrenchments, a division of warriors : alone it scattered all the warriors of Tibaqoy and Raxakan ; in routing them it lost only two men, and he who led them from the other side of the city, where he prolonged the fight, was still the same who had won the first victory, Cinahitoh, the Ahpop Achi of Xechipeken, This was the moment of a general attack upon the Tukuches ; in an instant they were cut to pieces ; not one resisted ; their rout was complete ; men, women, and children were at once put to death. The prince Cay-Hunahpu was killed in his turn, as well as the Ahaus Tziriny-Yu and Toxqom-Noh ; all perished, as well as the fathers and the children of these princes. Immediately after, those of Tibaqoy and Raxakan withdrew, the former to Quiche, the latter to the Tzutohils, and mingled among their vassals. Thus they remained dispersed ; thus also the destruction of the Tukuches took place ! O, my children, and it was our elders, Oxiahuh-Tzy and Cablahuh-Tihax who accomplished it and completed their dispersion.* *' Such, according to the account of the Cachiquel chronicler, was the end of the ambitious designs of the Atzih-VVinak Cay Hunahpu. But, while putting limits to the insurrection which had so boldly threatened their capital, the kings of Quauhtemalan had not yet annihilated rebellion nor restored peace to their States. The triumph they had achieved was not sufficient to compensate for their past humiliation ; it did not succeed in regaining the prestige they had lost by their cowardly surrender of the Akahales to the Tukuches. While the remnants of the rebellious tribe withdrew to Chiawar, cutting to pieces at Yaxontzul rhe Quiches who sought to hinder them retaking possession of this district formerly occupied by their fathers, the Cachiquel ahaus, not long since tributaries of the Ahpozotzil, prepared to maintain by force of arms that independence which the revolt of Cay-Hunahpu had enabled them to reassume. Oxlahuh-Tzy, really incapable of undertaking any import- ant war, had enough to do to bring back under his standard the chiefs whom old obedience to the princes of his family had not yet entirely alienated from his person. But, before being able to turn his attention outside of his capital, he had to contend with internal difficulties, the fatal results of the spirit of insubordination that the revolt had planted in 1898-99.] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 167 many hearts. After the defeac of Cay-Hunahpu, the Ahpop Achi Cinahitoh, whose valour had so greatly contributed to the triumph of the royal arms, had conceived the hope of being raised to the rank of Atzih Winak as the reward of his services ; but, whether the Cachiquel kings, remembering the revolution which had driven their fathers from Chiawar in the reign of Qikab I, feared to bestow too much honour upon a plebeian chief, or sought to avoid wounding the nobility which had so recently suffered a terrible check, they conferred this dignity upon the Ahau Ahmoxnay. Cinahitoh allowed a lively expression of dissatisfaction at this choice to escape from him. Envious persons, whom his glory threw into the shade, hastened to report his words to the king ; the Ahpozotzil, whom probably gratitude already burdened too heavily, saw in them danger to his crown, and an outrage to his kingly majesty. The fate of Cinahitoh was at once determined, and the thirty-sixth day since his arm had delivered Iximche had not passed before this illustrious chief fell a victim to the jealous suspicions of the princes to whom he had restored a throne. (From 149910 1500 A.D.)" " Less than a year after this execution, Ahmoxnay, accused of high treason, was in his turn led to death. The high dignity of Atzih-VVinak offended the despot, since Cay-Hunahpu had sought to make use of it in order to seize his crown ; he spared no means to preserve his authority, and by shedding the blood of the most noble in his kingdom, he terrified the ambitious ones who cherished the least desire to raise their eyes too high. Nevertheless, he did not succeed in reconquering all the provinces he had lost ; the less important lordships came back under his domination, but most of those of the mountains of Zacatepec united under the sovereignty of the Prince of Yampuk, who governed them until the conquest, under the title of Galel-Achi. In that quarter he only retook Mixco, which was the domain of the Ahpoxahil Cablahuh- Tihax, as well as the territory of the Akahales, who had risen with their chief Wookaok, at the instigation of the inhabitants of Xiwico ; these again were helped by a body of Mexicans, who apparently formed part of the great armed caravans which, at that time, traversed the shores of the Pacific founding trading posts. " It was the beginning of the sixteenth century, so prolific of events in both worlds, but especially in the western continent, where the native races were about to pass altogether under the yoke of strangers. Everything seemed to conspire to bring about this great event ; on one hand the ambition and despotism of the kings ; on the other, the jealousy of the inferior classes towards the nobility, whose pride and privileges, while they crushed them, excited universal discontent and l68 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. unrest. Most of the memoirs of this period shew us on all sides rebellion, either open or ready to break forth, as well as civil or foreign war at the threshold of every State. The Cachiquel kings, at strife with all their neighbours, and contending with their rebe'''ous vassals, prepared the way for Spanish conquest, and gave a prelude to the cruelties of Alvarado by removing the heads of the most illustrious. The Tzutohils, after having profited by the insurrection of the Tukuches to take possession of Zakcab, in the following year (i5CX)-i5oi) saw the Ahpozotzil fall upon them and cut their armies to pieces ; Zakcab was retaken, and its defenders, commanded by the Ahaus Nahtihay and Ahgibihay, put to the sword. Wookaok, king of the Ahtziquinihayi, afterwards besieged in Atiblan, on the other hand, routed the Cachiquel forces. r ■ ^'^- . ■ ; - ■;/'•'■■■,■•"';■''• ■, ■".: >^ -.•■»*!. . , " In Quiche the situation was not more satisfactory. In fact, since the defeat of the successors of Qikab I. national sentiment had revived, and royalty had recovered its authority over a portion of the ancient feudatories of the empire. But, under the reign of Wahxaki-Caam, and of the Ahpop Camha Qikab II., a new revolt broke out, the reasons and details of which are little known. The Tukuches returned to Chiawar profited by it to establish themselves there more solidly, and had them- selves visited the scene of the insurrection for the purpose of taking part in it. The Cachiquels, whose brothers they always were in spite of their dissensions, made use of them to excite disorder among their neighbours. Each hated the other with equal hatred, the Quiches being unable to forgive them for having been the first to break the ancient unity of the empire.'* Brasseur then proceeds to tell the story of the Xahoh Quiche Winak, the speaking ballet of the Quiches. It is that of a Cachiquel prince, supposed to have been a son of Oxlahuh-Tzy, who was a famous magician, and, as such, annoyed King Wahxaki-Caam of Quiche, by transforming himself into a noisy beast or bird and making night hideous on the roof of the Ahpop's palace. A Quiche magician, of greater skill, at the urgent request of the monarch, caught the Cachiquel intruder, and brought him before the court. Arrayed in costumes representing eagles, tigers, and lions, the warriors danced about the victim preparatory to sacrificing him on the altar of their gods. In the midst of his sufferings, the captive prince beckoned with the hand, and cried in a voice of authority : " Wait a moment and hear what I have to say to you. Know that the time is near when you will give your- selves up to despair because of the calamities that will fall upon you. This hateful old man " he added, indicating the king, " will die first, 1898-99O DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 169 however. Learn that thos^ who shall come will not be half naked like you, but clothed and covered with complete armour from head to foot, men terrible and cruel. Perhaps it will be to-morrow, perhaps after to-morrow, that they will appear. These are they who will destroy these stately buildings, and leave these palaces to the wildcats and the owls. Then this greatness of which you are so proud will end, then the glory of this kingdom will disappear forever."^'^ Elsewhere, Brasseur takes up the story of the Cachiquels. " After terrible shakings, three powerful kingdoms remained facing each other, but ever ready to take up arms to avenge past injuries and commit new ones. These were the kingdom of the Quiches, more properly called that of Gumarcaah, known to the Spaniards as that of Utlatlan ; that of the Tzutohils, a fraction of the Cachiquel stock, the capital of which was Atitlan on Lake Panahachel ; and, finally, that of the Cachiquels^ the chiefs of which resided at Iximche, otherwise called Tecpan-Guate- mala. . . . After Qikab II. the throne of Quiche had been occupied by Wucub-Noh, and the dignity of Ahpop Camha was borne by Prince Cawatepech, to whose name the chronicler Fuentes adds that of Qikab ; Wookaok reigned over the Tzutohils ; and the Cachiquels continued to have for kings the Ahpozotzil Oxlahuh-Tzy and the Ahooxahil Cablahuh Tihax In the midst of the struggles of the Ahpozotzil with his vassals, the Mexican garrisons of the neighbourhood willingly offered their aid to the feebler against the stronger ; thus, they had helped the Akahales, so cruelly humiliated some years before, to shake off his tyrannical yoke. Oxlahuh-Tzy, momentarily cast down by the revolt of Cay-Hunahpu, had since recovered all the energy of his character, and spared no efforts to break the power of his former tributaries and bring them to his feet. They remained independent in spite of his efforts ; but he took his revenge on those that had not succeeded in breaking his iron yoke by making it harder than ever for them. He compelled them to leave their domains and come to live in Iximche, where he kept them under his eye, without allowing them to withdraw for a moment from his presence. This despotism, which the native author himself points out with astonishment, lasted four years ; it only ended with the life of the Ahpozotzil in the year 1510. Oxlahuh-Tzy, whom his descendants regarded as one of the greatest monarchs of Cachiquel, had arrived at an advanced age ; by his wife, Queen Makuxguhay, he left two sons, Hunyg, who was his successor, and Belehe-Qat, as well as four others by two concubines. Two years after, Cablahuh-Tihax followed him to the tomb, leaving the dignity of Ahpoxahil to his eldest son Lahuh-Noh, who reigned con- 170 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. jointly with Hunyg. The vassals of the crown, who no longer felt the pressure of the terrible hand of Oxlahuh-Tzy, profited at once by _ the change to relax the bonds that held them, and resume their independent life, working with emulation to enfeeble royalty and thus prepare the way for foreign domination. At the beginning of the reign of these two princes, the Mexican ambassadors, of whoni we have made mention in the history of Montezuma II., arrived at Iximche."*" Such are the materials furnished by Brasseur to illustrate the life of the chief actor in the events narrated on the tablets. There are discrepancies between the two stories, and, as the evidence of a contem- porafy monument is always more to be trusted than that of a later document, several important corrections in the latter must be made in the light of the former. Other portions of the history of the civilized nations of Mexico and Central America must yet be examined, however, prior to any reconstruction of the careers of Oxlahuh-Tzy and his colleagues. Chapter X. THE INSCRIPTIONS IN THE LIGHT OF OTHER HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS: THE HISTORIES OF THE OAXACANS, MAYAS, ETC. The earliest traditions of the people of Oaxaca relate to the arrival in their midst at Yopaa, the great remains of which are now known as Mitla, of the prophet Wixipecocha, venerable, white of complexion and beard, attired in a long robe and a mantle which partly covered his head like a capuchin. His preaching was similar to that of Gotama Buddha, and when he disappeared on the enchanted island of Monapostiac, he left behind him the priesthood of Yopaa under a isupreme pontifif called the Wiyatao.' , ...y ,, " It is impossible to tell how long the power of the Zapotec kings had lasted before these princes began to extend their conquests ; nor is it less difficult to assign an epoch for the origin of the Zapotec kings, nor to determine by what course of events they found themselves in possession of sovereignty in the regions in which the pontiff of Yopaa held sway. The high priesthood, from lack of male children, having become their heritage some years before the discovery of America, it may be inferred that the stock of the kings of Zapotecapan sprang from the Wiyataos, one of the younger sons of whom was probably invested l898-99>J DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 171 with the principality of Zaachilla-Yoho, under the sovereignty of the pontiff king." " The first royal name that is met with in our documents in a definite form is that of Ozomatli, who reigned, it is said, at Mictlan, at the time of the great defeat of the Mixtecs by the warriors of Teohuacan in 135 1. Whether this prince was the pontiff of Yopaa or the king of Zapoteca- pan, we cannot tell. Zaachilla is the first Zapotec monarch who afterwards figures with some brilliancy in the vague fragments of their annals that have survived ; there is every reason to believe that it was he, or one of his predecessors of the same name, who built the city of Zaachilla-Yoho, the capital of that country, The author whom we follow in his narrative attributes to him the conquest of Nexapa, and the reduction of the Chontals."' Passing over two other Zaachillas, the ally of Oxlahuh-Tzy comes into view. " The Zapotecs, irritated by the numberless barbarities of the Mexican king Ahuitzotl, had resumed the offensive. Cocyoeza had just mounted the throne of Teotzapotlan, left vacant by the death of Zaachilla III. A warrior not less skilful than his predecessor, he had formerly distinguished himself at the taking of Tehuantepec, and had acquired, in spite of his youth, the reputation of a chief as prudent as he was brave. More moderate than his father, he sought, from the first day of his accession, to conciliate his neighbours : he renewed the old alliance, broken by the ambition of Zaachilla, and laboured in concert with them to increase the honour of the nations he commanded. His most ardent desire was to deliver his country from the yoke of the stranger and to drive the Mexicans from the fortress which they held in the heart of his dominions. They did not delay to give him the opportunity for so doing. Since the expedition of Ahuitzotl, Tehuantepec had remained in their hands : they had made a strong place of it, occupied by a large garrison, intended to hold the Zapotecs in check, and to protect the passage of subjects of the empire who traded on the borders of Soconusco and Xachiltepec. An unfortunate campaign against these regions, undertaken anew by the Mexican generals, by weakening their forces and diminishing their prestige, taught the people that they were not invincible ; some unhappy efforts made to repair former defeats had the result of exhausting their garrison and of discrediting them in the eyes of their enemies. "These enemies were quite ready to profit by the circumstances. Cocyoeza was on the watch, looking for the moment to thrust himself upon their prey and tear it from them. The uprising of the people 173 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. against the traders of Anahuac was then, as ever, the prelude to hostilities. On every side they fell upon their caravans ; they plundered their merchandise, scattered their escorts, tracked them into the woods and mountains, and massacred in cold blood those in the towns who had been unable to escape the first impulse of revenge. Then appeared a remarkable instance of what constancy joined to skill and valour can accomplish. A caravan leaving Tlatilolco arrived in the south, a short distance from the shores of the Pacific, on the way to some one of the towns on the coast of Anahuac- Ayotlan, whither it was drawn by the great fairs in which such caravans annually took part. In face of the danger that threatened them, the Tlatilolcas made a resolute determina- tion ; the city of Quauhtenanco, which they had just entered, was strong and capable of being easily defended. They were but few in number, but their courage made up for numbers, and they were well aware of the kind of enemies they had about them. Without hesitating a single instant they threw themselves upon the inhabitants at unawares.disarmed them, and made themselves masters of the place ; the chiefs were kept in sight in a palace, and their persons answered for the future good be- haviour of their vassals, until their situation could be made known in Mexico and relief be sent to them. " During this interval the insurrection spread over all the provinces of Mixteca and Zapotecapan. After a succession of sanguinary engage- ments, Cocyoeza was restored to the possession of most of the towns of the kingdom of Tchuantepec ; the garrison of this capital, reduced by starvation, was obliged in its turn to surrender, and there soon remained to the Mexicans no more than the isolated fortresses of Huaxyacac and Teotitlan, with the place Quauhtenanco where the brave Pochtecas of Tlatilolco continued to defend themselves with rare heroism. Th j adjoining towns joined forces in vain to drive them from their position, where it was felt that their presence was a blot on the honour of the country ; Izoatlan, Xochitlan, Amaxtepec, Atlan,Omitlan, and Mapach- tepec exhausted themselves before its walls, without succeeding in making a breach. All these efforts only served to make more illustrious the heroism of this handful of traders ; for four consecutive years, they succeeded in maintaining themselves in spite of their enemies, and in thwarting their designs ; they not only repelled them with incredible vigour, but, more than once in their sorties, they succeeded in capturing from among their assailants famous chiefs whom they fattened in order to drag them afterwards to the altars of the inhuman divinities of Tenochtitlan. ' , " The news of these events came to Ahuitzotl in the midst of his |898-99>1 DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 173 troubles over the war with the province of Oztoman. His indignation and rage were equal. But, too much occupied in restoring his authority over the regions dependent upon the great city, he found himself unable to go to Zapotecapan in person ; he contented himself, in the meanwhile, with sending thither his most capable officers, with orders to spare nothing in reducing the revolted country, and in gaining possession, at whatever price, of the person of Cocyoeza. An army of sixty thousand fighting men once more climbed the rugged mountains of Mixteca, and, without resting for an instant, marched on Zapotecapan. This was the second time that magnificent country became the prey of a foreign soldiery ; this time, however, its capital seems to have been spared. Instead of entering by Huaxyacac, the Mexicans took the road to Teotitlan. For the first time perhaps in their existence the venerated sanctuaries of Yopaa were sullied by the presence of a fie ce conqueror ; those of their inmates who had time to fly went and hid themselves among the crags of the neighbouring mountains : but a great number of priests perished in their sacred abodes, and the ancient memories of the prophet of Tehuantepec and of Pezelao could not save the Wiyatao from the fated lot of his worshippers. History has not preserved the record of these terrible days ; but it is known that the Mictlan prisoners went, that year, to swell the files of victims destined for the altars of Huitzilopochtli, and that the pontifical family suddenly became extinct, in the midst of the disorders occasioned by the Mexican invasion. From lack of more direct heirs, the Zapotec priesthood passed to the royal family, in which it remained until the death of the last of these chiefs. " Cocyoeza saw, without being able to hinder them, the outrages with which the ministers of his religion were treated ; but, foreseeing that the Mexicans would not leave him lon^' in the enjoyment of Tehuantepec, he had taken measures to receive them, and prepared to teach them at last to respect the rights of his nation. Three miles from this city, the road which leads to the interior of Zapotecapan enters a deep gorge through which the river Nexapa flows rapidly. On each side rise steep hillocks, forming a succession of impassable plateaus, which extend to the neighbourhood of Xalapa. There the king of the Zapotecs had raised his chief defensive works. The whole mountain had been converted into a double line of formidable fortifications, which dominated the valleys and plains below. Into one of these he had withdrawn the greater part of his army, with provisions and supplies for a year. Twenty thousand Mixtecs occupied the other bank, the bold crests of which extended like promontories into the plain. For 174 TRANSACTIONS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTB. [VOL. V|. further precaution, he had had all the ground capable of cultivation over this vast enclosure planted with mai/e and frijol (beans), and had put fish in abundance into the natural ponds that were found on the summit of the most lofty of the chain. Seen from the city, from which it is only some fifteen miles distant, this portion of the mountain, bearing in the country the name Guiengola, has the form of a truncated cone, level at the summit ; it is a table land surrounded by frightful precipices, and generally enveloped in clouds. There may be seen even to-day the fine ruins of the fortress of Cocyoeza, and the remains of the palace in which that prince awaited the arrival of the Mexicans and the Acolhuas. " After having sacked the temples of Yopaa, these continued their march to Tehuantepec. On their descent from the mountains, they saw themselves at once assailed by a myriad of invisible enemies ; projectiles of all kinds were shot at them, and masses of stone rolled down upon them from the mountain tops. Already harassed by a long march, the end of which they had been looking forward to, when they arrived in the plain of Dani-Guivedchi, they not only found themselves deceived in the most cruel way, but instead of rest and the pleasures they had hoped for in this happy country, instead of enemies half conquered by the terror of their name and fleeing in dismay at their very aspect, they found hosts of warriors filling all the defiles, perfectly sheltered behind their ramparts, whence they were able at any moment to fall upon and crush them, without leaving them time to place them- selves in the attitude of defence. Henceforth sides were changed. From aggressors, as they thought themselves, they were now compelled to look to their own safety ; far from thinking of attacking Tehuantepec they had not hands enough to set to work trenching the plain, so as to shelter themselves from the fury of the Zapotecs. This was the work of the first who came safe and sound from the gorges of Guiengola, but, owing to the advance guard's ignorance of the preparations of Cocyoeza, a large number perished before they could escape from these dreadful precipices. " Once delivered from this danger, the Mexican army did not find much amelioration of its circumstances : on all sides it was surrounded by enemies, and was incapable of acting with any chance of success, whether it determined to besiege Tehuantepec or return on the road to Anahuac. Decimated by unexpected assaults, of which it had been the object since its arrival, deprived of provisions which it had expected to find in the capital, harassed incessantly by a powerful enemy that allowed no relief to reach it and allowed it no rest night or day, it looked forward, not without dread, to the moment when it should fall altogether I898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 1 75 into the hands of the Zapotecs, This was not all ; in their nightly excursions, the warriors of Cocyoeza, darting from their rocks by paths known only to them, fell without warning on the enemy's works, like tigers on their prey. They were not content with killing the Mexicans, but, in the barbarous pleasure they experienced in their distress, they took them captive to bring them alive into their fortress, where they made them suffer a thousand tortures before putting them to death ; afterwards they salted their flesh to preserve it, or ate it in cannibal feasts, and made use of their bones to build an edifice commemorative of their victory, in reprisal for the sacrifice of so many human victims led by Ahuitzotl to the temple of Huitzilopochtli. One of the chief officers of the army, having been made prisoner, was purposely led, by order of the king, through these ghastly remains : he was allowed to survey at his ease the formidable ramparts erected by the Zapotecs, as well as the vast resources they had amassed ; after which he was allowed freely to return to his own people, to whom he described with terror the things he had seen. , " The news was carried to Mexico. Anahuac was in consternation. Three times the heads of the empire sent more numerous troops to the relief of the army shut up before Tehuantepec, but they were unable to penetrate the defile, and if some succeeded in forcing a passage, it was only to be slowly wasted away with their brethren, after being decimated at the feet of the Zapotec fortresses on their entrance to the plain. This terrible situation lasted seven whole months, during which the imperial armies succeeded in exhausting themselves. Then Ahuitzotl, sensible of the uselessness of his efforts, and professing a hypocritical admiration of the constancy and courage of Cocyoeza, sent to him to make pro- posals of peace. Before concluding any arrangement, the Zapotec monarch, profiting by the state of humiliation to which the Mexicans were reduced, descended from Guieiigola at the head of a numerous body of Chiapanec auxiliaries, and went to make the conquest of Soconusco, which was added a second time to his kingdom. " The ambassadors of Ahuitzotl, having arrived about this time, con- cluded the treaty in their master's name. It is not known what the details were. It appears, however, from the evidence of later events, that the kingdom of Tehuantepec remained a definite acquisition of the kings of Zapotecapan : the province of Soconusco was returned to the Mexican empire, which stipulated for its merchants free passage through Zapotec territory, guaranteeing their non-interference in any of the affairs of the kingdom ; it kept also the citadel of Huaxyacac, too important from a political point of view to be parted with. The only 176 • ; , TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. condition clearly announced by the chroniclers was the obligation imposed upon Cocyoeza to accept as his wife a princess of the royal family of Tenochtitlan : it would be hard to understand the persistence of Ahuiizotl on the execution of this article, did not subsequent events in history sufficiently reveal his perfidious designs in connection therewith."* Brasseur gives a romantic account of the meeting of Cocyoeza and Coyolicatzin, the sister of Montezuma, whom the Zapotecs afterwards called Pelaxilla. They were married, and at once the treachery of Ahuitzotl appeared in his attempts to induce his niece to put her royal spouse to death. The queen remained true to her husband, and the treacherous Mexican was compelled to surrender all hopes of becoming ruler over the Zapotecs of Oaxaca. The son of Cocyoeza and Pelaxilla was Cocyopi, who was on the throne of Oaxaca at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, who baptized him with the name of Don Juan Cortez. Cocyoeza was still alive when the Spaniards came, and, in his inveterate hatred of Mexico, which increased with the weight of years, counselled his son to become the friend of its new and powerful enemy. Brasseur says nothing of the alliance between the Cachiquel rulers and those of the Zapotec kingdom. The insufficiency of native documents, however, adequately accounts for this omission."' The Palenque inscription states that the House of Cawek, or the Quiche kingdom, made Canich, the ancestor of Nohpat, Holpop or governor of the city of Uxmal, the chief city of Yucatan. Conache is mentioned by Brassenr's authorities as one of the earliest kings of the House of Cawek, but nothing is said of his connection with any part of Yucatan. The last genuine king of Uxmal was Nohpat, but his story is so full of the mysterious and romantic as to have led many students of Central American tradition to doubt even the existence of such a personage. According to Brasseur's account, he appears upon the scene alone, without predecessor, without legitimate successor. His court at Uxmal- was one of great splendour, his subjects were obedient, his neighbours friendly. Nohpat himself was pious, virtuous, and benevo- lent ; but a prophecy concerning the downfall of his kingdom weighed on his mind and embittered his life. An aged woman brought up her grandson, the licpe of her declining years, and taught him wonderful secrets, giving him the name of Ahcunal or the Diviner. This youth found, in the temple at Kabah, the silver tunkul, or drum, and the silver zoot, or rattle, which it had been prophesied should come to light just before the monarchy fell by foreign invasion. He sounded them in the city, and terror fell upon the king and his superstitious people. The 1898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 177 priests took part with Ahcunal, who agreed to test his word against the king's by a singular duel. Four baskets of cocofoles, a nut with a very hard shell, were to be broken on the head of each of the competi- tors. The wily grandmother prepared Ahcunal's head for the ordeal, and one of Nohpat's stoutest warriors broke the nuts with a heavy stone club without injury to the victim. Then, Nohpat, relying upon the divinity of his royalty, exposed himself to the same test, and met his death w.'h the first descending blow of the club. Ahcunal sat on the vacant throne, and, while his grandmother lived, ruled well. After her death, he gave way to his passions, and committed sacrilege. Then the statue of his protecting deity, Kineh Ahau, disappeared mysteriously from its temple, and all knew that the new king's fate was sealed. The Mayas, tired of his yoke, rose in rebellion, marched on Uxmal, and the Diviner died fighting on the threshold of his palace." " It is known," says Brasseur, " that, during the thirteenth century, Yucatan was invaded by barbarian hordes, to whom the chronicle gives the name Ah-\VitziI, or Mountaineers, which corresponds in sense and etymology to that of the Quiches. This coincidence, no le.ss than the accordance of that period, leax's no doubt as to the origin of the ^ invasion. The pride of the king.-^ of Quiche, augmented by their recent victories over Ilocab and the neighbouring nations, already sought more distant conquests. It was about the time of the reign of Iztayul I.; and there is every reason to believe that it was his arms, or those of his successor, which then devastated the rich provinces of the Mayas. The warriors of Izmachi or of Gumarcaah descended from the Chuchumatanes, called by parties who had set on foot an agitation in the peninsula, or attracted by the ho[)e of a brilliant and easy conquest. Spite of the ignorance we are in of the events which led to this invasion, we at least know that the citadel of Ichpaa was taken by the Guate- malan mountaineers, and that Mayapan, which had begun to rise from its ruins, was given to the flames and overturned from top to boti.om by the Ah-VVitzils."" Concerning the Huastecs, another people mentioned on the Tablet of Palenque, Dr. Brinton says: " It cannot be denied that the Mayas, the Kiches, and the Cachiquels, in their most venerable traditions, claim to have migrated from the north or west, from some part of the present country of Mexico. These traditions receive additional importance from the presence on the shores of the Mexican Gulf, on the waters of the river Panuco, north of Vera Cruz, of a prominent branch of the Maya family, the Huastecs. The idea suggests itself that these were the rear guard of a great migration of the Maya family from the north 178 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. towards the south. Support is given to this by their dialect, which is most closely akin to that of the Tzendals of Tobasco, the nearest Maya race to the south of them, and also by very ancient traditions of the Aztecs. " At a very remote period, the Mexicans, under their leader Mecitl, from whom they took their name, arrived in boats at the mouth of the river Panuco, at the place called Panotlan, which name means ' where one arrives by sea.' With them were the Olmecs under their leader Olmecatl, the Huastecs under their leader Huastecatl, the Mixtecs and others. They journeyed together and in friendship southward, down the coast, quite to the volcanoes of Guatemala, thence to Tamoanchan, which is described as the terrestrial paradise, and afterwards, some of them at least, northward and eastward toward the shores of the Gulf" During " this journey, the intoxicating beverage made from the maguey, called octli by the Aztecs, cii by the Maya, and pulque by the Spaniards, was invented by a woman, whose name was Mayauel, in which we can scarcely err in recognizing the national appellation Maya. Furthermore, the invention is closely related to the history of the Huastecs. Their leader, alone of all the chieftains, drank to excess, and in his drunkenness threw aside his garments and displayed his nakedness. When he grew sober, fear and shame impelled him to collect all those who spake his own language, and leaving the other tribes, he returned to the neigh- bourhood of Panuco, and settled there permanently. " The annals of the Aztecs contain frequent allusions to the Huastecs. The most important contest between the two nations took place in the reign of Montezuma the First (1440- 1464). The attack was made by the Aztecs, for the alleged reason that the Huastecs had robbed and killed Aztec merchants on their \va)' to the great fairs in Guatemala. The Huastecs are described as numerous, dwelling in walled towns, possessing quantities of maize, beans, feathers, and precious stones, and painting their faces. They were signally defeated b}^ the troops of Montezuma, but not reduced to vassalage. " At the time of the Conquest the provinces of the Huastecs were densely peopled; 'none more so under th'- sun,' remarks the Augustini- an friar Nicolas de Witte, who visited it in 1543; but, even then, he found it almost deserted and covered with ruins,for a few years previous, the Spaniards had acted towards its natives with customary treachery and cruelty. They had invited all the chiefs to a conference, had enticed them into a large wooden building, and then .set fire to it and I898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 179 burned them alive. When this merciless act became known, the Huastecs deserted their villages and scattered among the forests and mountains."* The writer has furnished these extracts from the works of reputable authors, each possessing a more than ordinary acquaintance with ancient American literature, to illustrate in the best possible way the light which ^traditional history sheds upon that which is monumental. Without that traditional history it would be the next thing to impossible to assign the monumental records a place in time ; therefore the former are of very great value, and their importance should not be underrated. But the inscriptions reveal much of which history is silent, leaving indeed links to be desired, yet correcting several false notions for which either the traditions or their interpreters are to blame. The writer, while cherishing admiration for the valuable work performed by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg and Dr. Brinton, does not homologate their dogmatic inferences and critical conjectures. Palenqueand Copan, as yet but very partially read, constitute a touch-stone for testing the credibility of con- temporary records of Mexican and Central American history. Chapter XI. AN ANALYSIS OF THE HISTORY OF THE INSCRIPTIONS IN THE LIGHT OF WRITTEN DOCUMENTS. According to Brasseur's documents, Oxlahuh-Tzy died in 1510, and his great victory over the Atzih Winak Hunahpu was gained in the Cachiquel )'ear corresponding to 1499-15CX). The death of Qikab I of Quiche, which apparent!}- preceded by a very short time Oxlahuh's accession to power, is placed at a point not later than 1450,80 that 1499 might easil}' have been the forty-eighth year of the Cachiquel king's reign. He was thus contemporaneous with Montezuma I. of Me.xico, who began to reign in 1440, with Axayacatl, whose accession dated from 1467, with Tizocicatzin from 1481, with Ahuitzotl from i486, and with Montezuma II. from 1503. His contemporaries in Oaxaca were Zaachilla III., whom Ahuitzotl of Me.xico defeated in i486, and Cocyoeza, with whom the same monarch made a treaty of peace in 1497. Assuming that Brasseur is right in his date of 1499- 1500 for the victory of O-xiahuh, the main difficulty is to reconcile the presence of Cocyoeza's son Cocyopy in the campaign with the apparent fact that he was not l8o / TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. born till 1498. The inscription calls him the Zaachillaking Cocyopi, and states that he ceased to parley with the rebels of Palenque, language utterly inappropriate in the case of an infant a year old. There must, therefore, have been an earlier Cocyopi, uncle perhaps of the king known to the Spaniards twenty years later. The Tablet of Palenque nowhere makes any allusion to the Mexicans, which is hardly to be wondered at, inasmuch as the Oaxacan kingdom interposed between them and the seat of war. It virtually denies the existence of an independent Quiche kingdom by calling Oxlahuh-Tzy, or Oxlahun Pek, the Ahau Ahpop of the House of Cavvek, a title exclusively reserved for the supreme ruler of the Quiche nation. The title Ahpozotzil, given to him in the Cachiquel MS., nowhere appears in either inscription. Evidently, therefore, the Quiche title assumed by the conqueror was superior to the Cachiquel. Oxlahun tells the manner of his accession. His father Wukubatz, or Oxcabuc, and his uncle Huntoh had been ahkulels, or lieutenants of Quiche, probably after the death of Qikab I., and to them the united Quiche and Cachiquel people had addressed a request that he should be appointed sole emperor or king of kings. He further claimed Uxmal in Yucatan, from the fact that the House of Cawek, over which he was ruler, had established Canich in that city, this Canich being the ancestor of the last king Nohpat. If Canich be the Conache of the Quiche MS., he belonged to the early part of the thirteenth century. That is the time when Yucatan is said to have been invaded by the mountaineers of Guatemala. In a note to The Series of the Katuns from the Book of Chilan Balam of Chumayel, Dr. Brinton says : " The Itzas who resided in the Peten district '-^ft the region around Chic'ien-Itza some time in the fifteenth century, probably after the fall of Mayapan. They were ruled by an hereditary chieftain, called by the Spaniards the great king Canek. Under him the territory was divided into four districts, each vvith its own chiefs, with whom the Canek con- sulted about important undertakings."^ This name may have been a survival of that given to the first Quiche king of Uxmal The Maya chronicles so strangely intermingle comparatively modern historical matter with traditions so ancient as almost to merit the title mythologi- cal, that little trustworthy information can be derived from them. In the Palenque inscription, Bolon evidently denotes that city, but it seems to have designated a district as well as a city, for Bolon pak, or the city of Palenque, is distinguished from popol Bolon, or the Palenque people. Closely allied to this region \vasthat called Buluc, which is also mentioned on the Copan altar inscription, along with Holhun and Copan. Holhun is doubtless the Holom of the Cachiquel MS. which Brasseur 1898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 181 seems to place in Vera Paz. It is, therefore, not unlikely that Buluc denotes some place on the Belize river north of Copan. Brasseur, as it has appeared, makes Belehe-Gih or Belehe-Tzy, prince of Caokeb, one of the opponents of Oxlahuh-Tzy, and gives the name of his fortress as Paraxtunya, which, however, he seems to place in the west towards the Pacific coast.'^ Another region mentioned is Tunxic or Tunxicob, of which one Cacul was the ahau ; and Nakhun appears to denote a place as well as a person belonging to the Uactoks. Old maps set down Naco and Tencoa as towns on the south bank of the Guanacos river, south of Vera Paz.'' Tansuche and Nauhtlan were to the north and south respectively of the Huastec settlement on the Panuco, and, near the latter place, at Tuzpan, the Huastecs destroyed a Mexican colony in the time of Montezuma I.* A more southern colony of Huastecs along the Guanacos may easily have existed in the time of Oxlahun-Pek. It is known that Cocyoeza of Oaxaca added Chiapas to his dominions, and, as Palenque is situated in that province, it is natural to read of its four monarchs deserting Oaxaca ; but, on the other hand, Oxlahun-Pek states that Palenque rebelled when he was appointed sole king of kings. His prominence also in the scene of the Tablet, his use of the first person, his executing judgment, all seem to denote that, so far as the city was concerned, he was ruler. Again, he says that Uxmal asked tribute from Palenque, and Uxmal he plainly claims for the House of Cawek. In t.ie Copan inscription, Oxlahun-Pek is recognized as supreme over Copan, Holhun and Buluc, while, in that of Palenque, Buluc is regarded in the light of a rebel against Oaxaca. The truth seems to be that these two powerful monarchs to the south of Mexico, Cocyoeza and Oxlahun-Pek, had made an alliance to unitedly conquer and hold in possession the lands lying between their original kingdoms, thus extinguishing the independence of several small States. In certain cases there seems to have been a joint military occupation, for an Oaxacan Hunich dwelt in Palenque, and there were Oaxacan troops in Copan ; but it is more than probable that Palenque was the point where the two kingdoms marched, the rest of Chiapas belonging to Oaxaca, while Yucatan, Vera-Paz, Guatemela, and part of Honduras were under the sway of the Cachiquel usurper of the Quiche throne. Oxlahun-Pek's representation of the anti-tribute revolt as undertaken against Oaxaca may have been an aboriginal way of complimenting a great ruler. In Cachiquel history, the origin of hostilities is made the ambition of the Atzih Winak Hunahpu. On the Tablet, it is set forth as the refusal of Palenque to recognize Oxlahun-Pek by paying to the governor of Uxmal the tribute which he asked in the king's name. l82 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. Some of the inhabitants of Palenque itself, and of the country round about, united with those of Buluc, and afterwards with the Nakhun division of the Huastecs, and the people of Holom, in this refusal. They marched on Uxmal, and devastated the country in front of it. They sought to gain over Nohpat, its king, but it is not said with what success. They did, however, succeed in inducing some of the chiefs of Uxmal to take part with them, and also three celebrated lords, Ox- Winik or Winik-Yub (who may have been the Atzih Winak Hunahpu), Cacul, and Caichxik. At what particular time in regard to this alliance they killed the Hunich, or resident of the kingdom of Oaxaca, is not stated, nor is it definitely recorded where the Hunich resided. It seems probable, however, that his residence was Palenque. The rebellious chiefs were four of Palenque and three of Buluc, making seven, to whom were added the original three, he of the Nakhun of the Huastecs, the nameless lord of Holom, and a nameless lord of Palenque city, making ten. The names of Cacul and Caichxik may belong to these, in which case it is possible that the former was lord of Holom, and the same person as Ychal-Amollac, whom the Cachiquel MS. makes to have , reigned there, and to have been foully murdered by the Cachiquel kings. In the inscription, however, he is called the lord of Tunxic or Tunxicob. The Oaxacan kings, Cocyoeza and Cocyopy, informed Cablahun-Tok of the rebellion, and at once the Cachiquel kings set forth to crush it, in concert with Cocyoeza. It is hard to tell who is meant by the Chunbezah or leader ; it may denote the general Cinahitoh of the Cachiquel MS., who afterwards aspired to the dignity of Atzih Winak, and was put out of the way by the tyrannical Oxlahuh-Tzy. The Chunbezahs of the city of Palenque were doubtless its senate under Quiche-Cachiqucl and Oaxaca. The warriors of Oxlahun-Pek, under the Chunbezah, destroyed the hopes of the rebels, and either took or killed, for in Maya chaa or c/iaab, through national barbarity of disposition, means both, Cacul, VVinik-Yub, and a chief of the Nakhun. In the history, Ychal of Holom was murdered treacher^.^sly, and the Atzih Winak Hunahpu was killed at the battle of Xeciiipeken. The Nakhuns nowhere appear, nor does Caichxik, who seems to have been regarded by O.xlahun-Pek with special detestation. The whole story is one of unsuccessful rebellion against the exactions of a tyrant more powerful by far than the Cachiquel MS. represents him. Whether through fear or from some other motive, the rising was by no means universal in the three disaffected regions, Chiapas, Yucatan and Vera Paz ; and in the dominions proper of Oxlahun-Pek, it would seem 1898-99O DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 183 that the Ox Winik Yub or Atzih VVinak Hunahpu, was the only rebel of uTiportance. Whatever sympathy may have existed between the Quiche-Cachiquel monarchs and Cocyoeza of Oaxaca, it is evident that it was to their interest to act in concert, not so much for purposes of territorial aggrandizement as to oppose a united front to Mexican encroachment. This encroachment generally began throu'^h bodies of traders, who sought to detach from allegiance to their rulers the inhabi- tants of the regions in which they made their temporary or permanent trading posts, these preparing the way for the entrance of the Mexican armies. Doubtless the refusers of tribute counted upon Mexican inter- ference on their behalf, for, in 1469, Axayacatl had led a victorious army along the Pacific coast of Guatemala ; but the campaigns of Tehuantepec had so weakened the military power of the Mexican empire as effectually to shut out all hope of support from that quarter. Divided among themselves, the unhappy revolters were speedily crushed between the upper and nether millstones ofOaxaca and Guatemala, and at least eight hundred victims were slaughtered in cold blood by the sanguinary conquerors, as the penalty of their opposition, in addition to the number that fell in battle. Large as this number of the sacrificed may seem, it was a mere trifle compared with the human holocausts of the Mexican monarchs. Ahuitzotl, after his victory over Zaachilla III., offered no fewer than 80,400 prisoners on the altars of the bloodthirsty god Huitzilopochtli.^ The deity to whom these eight hundred captives were offered is called Puchtunox, more briefly Puch or Vuch. This bird seems to have been the war-god of the Quiches and their allied peoples, for the full name Puchtun Yok means "the fighter over or conqueror." This god is associated on the Tablet with one called Holhun, which name stands for Holcan, a warrior, and this Maya name undoubtedly denotes the Quiche god Hurakan, whose messenger Vuch was. The other pair of deities mentioned are Ca-kulel, an epithet of Tepeu, and Hun-nak-pet, who can be no other than the Quiche Hunahpu, an ancestral god, and the same originally as the Egyptian Anubis. No reference is made to any Oaxacandivinity, although Cocyoeza appears, taking part in the sacrifice, which makes it evident that Palenque city belonged to the government of the Quiche-Cachiquel kings. As the Oaxacan king was pontifex imixiimis in his own dominions, so does Oxlahun-Pek appear to have been in his. He, therefore, offered the chief among the captives, leaving the common soldiers and people to be sacrificed by the priests. The Copan altar tablet meets with no illustration from historical documents beyond those which have already revealed the names of the 184 ' ' TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. Cachiquel kings. Brasseur explains these peculiar names : " At the birth of the first child they gave it the name of the deity who presided over that day according to the Calendar. Each day of the Calendar bore a different name, but at the end of the month the same name returned, though with a difference in the number. It is thus that there was a prince called Cablahuh-Tihax, Twelve Knives, Lahuh-Tzy, Ten Dogs, etc."® This inscription shews that the story of O^Jahun-Pek extended over Copan, Buluc and Holhun, and that the Hunich of Buluc, like the officer of the same kind who was killed in Palenque, was a native of Oaxaca, inasmuch as the Oaxacans in the Copan army deserted on his account. The Uacthanob, or speakers of Uac, must denote the Mexicans, whom the Maya-Quiche peoples called Yaqui. These Mexicans, however, cannot have been soldiers in the true sense of the term, but armed traders, capable, as has appeared, of holding their own against the best warriors of the lands they traversed. They offered their services, doubtless, in reward for permission to establish trading posts in Copan and the region dominated by it. The imprisonment of the Oaxacans by command of Oxlahun-Pek is an evidence, along with his execution of the Hunich, that, in spite of his humble language towards Cocyoeza on the Palenque Tablet, he was in no sense subject to, nor afraid of that monarch. What remains there may exist of the work of Oxpet, the royal scribe in Holom, cannot be known until the process of interpretation is applied to existing manuscripts of a hieroglyphic nature. He was hodztb, Quiche ahtzib, a writer or secretary, not ahqot, an engraver, who was a different oflficer, and one probably who transferred to stone the hieroglyphics sketched by the former. These officers were very highly esteemed by the Quiche-Cachiquel kings and ranked among the nobility of the nation.^ A proud conqueror like Oxlahun-Pek, desirous of having his great actions put on record, would be specially offended at the murder of such an officer, and his naturally ferocious disposition would make the assassin's penalty a cruel one. There is much to interest in these inscriptions, in spite of their melancholy character, and comparatively modern origin, and, now that it has been proved a not very difficult task to read them, the student of history may look forward hopefully to further decipherments. 1898-^.] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 185 Chapter XII. THE INSCRIPTIONS FROM CHICHEN-ITZA : THAT OF THE CHICHANCHOB. The writer's original intention was to confine himself to the Tablet of Palenque and the allied inscription from Copan ; but three circum- stances led him to make additions to these. The chief circumstance was that, as a text book for the student of Maya-Quiche documents, the work was imperfect, presenting only the more elaborate and easily deciphered forms of the Central American hieroglyphics, such as would afford little help in reading the more rudely executed Maya codices. In Stephen's representation of the inscription in the Chichanchob, or Casa Colorada, of Chichen-Itza, he found hieroglyphics mediating between the elaborate ones of Palenque and Copan, and the rough outlines of the codices. It became a duty, therefore, to connect therewith the hieroglyphics already described. The writer has no present intention of interfering with the work of Messrs. L^on de Rosny and Cyrus Thomas, whose main attention has been unsuccessfully given to the codices. The other reasons for adding to the hieroglyphic material already presented were to give representation to Yucatan, the land of the Mayas, and to set forth documents, not much indeed, but still, a little more ancient than those of Palenque and Copan, The writer claims the indulgence of the general reader for reentering the field of hieroglyphic explanation, as tedious for himself to write as for others to read, but of the utmost utility to the careful student of Maya script. Mr. Stephens' description of the edifice containing the first set of Yucatan hieroglyphics is as follows: "It is called by the Indians Chichanchob, meaning in Spanish, Casa Colorada, and in English, Red House. The terrace is sixty-two feet long and fifty-five wide, and is still in good preservation ; the staircase is twenty feet wide, and, as we approached it on our first visit, a cow was coming quietly down the steps. " The building measures forty-three feet front and twenty-three feet deep, and is still strong and substantial. Above the cornice it was richly ornamented, but the ornaments are now much decayed. It has three doorways, which open into a corridor running the whole width of the building ; and along the top of the back wall was a stone tablet, with a row of hieroglyphics extending all along the wall. Many of them i86 TRANSACTIONS OF THB CANADIAN INSTlTfTE. [Vol. VI. were defaced, and from their height, in an awkward position to copy ; but we had a scaffold erected, and obtained copies of the whole. The plate above represents these hieroglyphics, so far as they could be made out. When not distinct, to avoid misleading, they are not given at all. Under the hieroglyphics, in the plate, is given a plan of the building, with its terrace and staircase. It has a back corridor, consisting of cm*k The Chichanchob Inscription of Chichen-.'tza. three chambers, all of which retain the marks of painting ; and from the convenience of its arrangements, with the platform of the terrace for a promenade, and the view of a fine open country in front, but for the greater convenience of being near the hacienda, we should have been tempted to take up our abode in it."^ 1898-99-] DECIPHERINO HIBROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMF.RICA. 187 Mr. Stephen's division of this long, and imperfect, inscription is into seven Hnes, the direction of which, from left to right, he has accurately judged. The first two characters of the first group in line 1 are the same as those constituting D 8 in the Palenque Tablet, and their phonetic equivalents, as has appeared, are hun toh. But these are followed in the same group by the symbol than, after which comes cab The Akatzeeb Inscription of Cliicltcn-Itza. OX caban in a cartouche. Below it is an apparent lahun, 10, followed by ox, 3 ; but on comparison, it appears that the supposed lahun is an expedient {ox yib, a bean, and that the ox must be read, not after, but before it. This group, therefore, furnishes the sentence : " Hvntoh tan cab Oxyib :" " Huntoh in the land of Oxyib." The second group also begins with hun toh. After the hun, i, comes pet, the circle, then tun. l88 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. the stone, inscribed with ca, 2, and, under it, the s^me characters as gave ox yib in the preceding group. At the back of all is the semblance of a wing or of drapery, which, from its position, however, has the simple meaning of 4;%/, the end. This group 2 reads: "Huntoh bet katun Dxyib xul:" "Huntoh makes an end of the army of Oxyib." Group 3 begins with Oxyib, which is followed by ^ak as in Palenque G. Below come hun, I , ichy the face, and ob, plurality ; and behind, from top to bottom, are pety circle, ^rt, 2, tun, stone, and the well known figure denoting hoi, end, hole, door. These furnish : " Oxyib pak HunicJiob bet katun hoi : " which may be read, "The army puts the Hunichob to the door of the town of Oxyib," or "The Hunichob of the town of Oxyib put the army to the door." Group 4 reads from the bottom up, beginning with ox, 3. Then comes ca, 2, within the covering buc, followed by hun, i, tch, face, and a lower face traversed by two lines, furnishing another ca. The whole is : '* Oxcabuc, hunich Catch:" or " Oxcabuc, the Hunich of Quiche." The small group 5 begins with dztb, writing, under which come hun, i, and tun, stone, with two lines for ca ; thereafter follow four lines for kal, 20, and a thun, or drop. Arranged in order, these set forth : " dzib tJian hunkal katun : " " he writes word (that) twenty soldiers." No 6, as consisting of ca, 2, dzibs, is Katzib, the name of a place. No. 7 begins with hoi, which is followed by ho, 5, ox yib, a bean ; then come can chi, 4 mouths, zxiApet the circle. Together these may be read : " Katzib holob xanac bet : " "in the holes, (or cells) of Katzib makes to remain." The first character in No. 8 is compound, consisting of buc, to envelop, and tun, a stone. Below it are ca tun, 2 stones, and then tun, a stone, resting in hoi, a hole. These give the subject of the sentence : "puchtun katun Jwlthan : " " the chief speaker of the quarrelling army." No. 9, as comparison shews> reads from below upwards, consisting o{ ox, 3, and ich, the face. It is a word like Hunich, the ich representing edz, established, and ox being an expedient for yok, over. The next group, No. 10, is very interesting. It consists of chi, the mouth, tun, a stone, ich, the face, and ox, 3. This Chitun Ichox is the nearest the engraver or his scribe could come to Chichen-Itza. After its hieroglyphics appear the conventional ca,ine circle pet, and the crosspak, to represent kebat pak, " the wicked town." The next group of two characters gives pet, the circle, and an object doubly inscribed for ca, 2. Then comes tun, a stone, over an abenant form of ahau, and an inverted ca, which from its position, becomes xul, the end. The whole is : " Vokich Chichen-itza kebat pak bet katun ahai ■> ul: " "The Yokich of Chichen-Itza, wicked town, makes an end of the chief of the army." The final group of line i belongs syntactically to line 2 ; it consists of l898-99>] DECIPHBRING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 189 *^ Oxyib pop :'' "the carpet or mat, i>., the ruler of Oxyib." No. i of h'ne 2 exhibits ox^ 3, buCy cover, pet, circle, tun, stone, a figure that may denote vegetation but which is certainly Ka, and another tun of different form from the one above it. These read : " Oxbuc patan katan : " " Oxbuc asking tribute." The characters following look like tun and ho/, but as this furnishes no sense, the supposed stone must be/«^, a stone wall, the whole being paxal, to desert. Next comes hun, i, ich, the face, and a vague figure which may once have been yub, an article of clothing. The next group is one of five characters ; a stone inscribed with three lines gives ox tun. At its right is the circle/^/, followed by the conventional ca. Underneath these are chi, the mouth, and xul, the end, making in all: ^^ paxal Hunichob yoktan Cachixul: " "the opposers desert the Hunichob (and) make the Cachiquels." The following group is of five, being tun, a stone, xul, a bird's head, hoi, kax, united, and ich, the face furnishing: '■' dzan xul hoi kak ich :" " to be destroyed in the fire hole." Three characters make up the next clause, dzib, tun and uac, 6, for hayac, to destroy. These precede ca, dzib, two dzibs, or writings, which are followed by uac, 6, dififerently written and inserted in /««, a stone over pet, a circle. The whole is : " dzib than hayac Katzib hayac tan bet:" " writing a word to destroy, they make destruction in Katzib." Two dots in a tun make it katun ; below are hun, ich and ob, followed by bat, an axe, and a buc, or cover, together with ca, tun and xuL This is a complete sentence : '^ katun Hunichob bet pach katun xul:" " the army of the Hunichob makes an end of the prisoners of the army." Oxyib now reappears over tun, after which is Oxbuc over katun. Below is a compound figure consisting of ca, 2, ox, 3, and tun, to represent chuuc- tan, "spoiling in." The back of the \\edid,pach, is over xul, an end, and then come two faces, ca ich, for Quiche. This imperfect line ends : " Oxyib tan Oxbuc katun chuuctan paxal Caich: " " the army of Oxbuc plundering in Oxyib deserts Quiche." The first sentence of line 3 is, for a Maya-Quiche document, a long one. The first group is evident, being katun ahau. The two following characters are peculiar, but the top one is simply a stone with inscribed ca, and the lower is xul, end, similarly ini:cribed. The upper part of the next two gives thun, ? drop, in the plural, and the lower is dzib, writing. Hunichob is represented by ////;/ at the right-hand corner of /V//, a face, under vhich are the folds oi yub, a dress. The four subscribed U's read simply as can, 4 ; and afterwards comes oxlahun, 1 3, followed by a symbol denoting pak, a building. Thus we have : " katun ahau katun kuxil thanob dsib Hunichob can Oxlahun-Pek : " "the army, hating the chief of the army, wrtes words (for) the Hunichob to tell Oxlahun-Pek." Oxla- hun-Pek is repeated below, and following it Are pet, y ok, over, and muyal. 190 TRANSACTIONS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. Next are m«, 4, tun, pop, the mat, and bak^z. bundle, making in all: " Oxlahun-Pek bet Yokmal chunthan pop pak : " " Oxlahun-Pek makes the president of Uxmal pop of the town." The next group presents difficulty at first, but, read from the bottom upwards, consists of cki, a border, c/tt\ a mouth, and xu/, an end, Chichixul. Next comes the well-known katun, followed by pet tun, and the following top character to make sense should be ca, but ca is never thus represented. It is, therefore, probably yok, on, over. Two katuns follow, and then come buc and pet. Thus the sentence is : " Chichixul katu?i patan yok katan katun pach bet : " the Cachiquel army in asking tribute makes soldiers prisoners." Reading upwards, the next group contains ox, 3, yub, a coat, and xic, division. Then comes another ox, and in the top line appear hoi and tun over pak, under which are/^/,and xul, the end. The bird's head supplies another xul, followed by hun and tun, under which come, from right to ]eh,pet, hun, chi, a border, and yub, an article of dress. These furnish : " Oxyib xic yok holthan pak bet xul ; xul hunten bet Hunichob :' " he makes an end of the dividers of Oxyib by the executioner of the town ; the Hunichob made an end (of them) at one time." The first character of line 4 is chi, the mouth, and it is followed by chea, a well, like an inverted T, roughly representing the aguadas of the country. Under it is Oxyib inverted; and in the next group, /rtX', building, is read before xul, the C like end. These give : " Chichen Cxyib paxal :" " the Oxyib desert Chichen." At the back of the /rt^ are Oxyib and katun, and these are followed hy pach, a back, after v'hich come two ends, furnishing ca xul, and tun, a atone. The next group contains ox, 3, yub, a dress, represented by a few lines, not enough to set iorth pop, then tun and katun. Afterwards comes chi, a border, with ox, 3, dixxdyab, a shoe, to which are added ca, 2, chi, a mouth, /^/ and tun Next are dzib and tun, with chi, a border, and tun, another tun, and Oxyib tun. All of these furnish : " Oxyib katun pak kuxil than Oxyib- than katun chi Oxyib xache betun dzib tun ci than tan Oxyib-than:" " the Oxyib army hates the town, the Oxyib speaking army saying a word (that) Oxyib seeks to make written stones sweet-worded in Oxyib speech." The rest of the line contains Gxbuc rather than Oxtun, followed, as in line 2, by katun and caoxtun, the latter being obscure in the plate. Afterwards come pak, and /lol. The apparent bracket furnishes either ktix, united, or yok, over ; next, a writing in two divisions is ca tzib, and below \s pet. The last group consists o{ ox, tok, chi, a border, and ahau in the plural. These make up : " Oxbuc katun chuuctan paxal kax Katzib bet yoktok chi ahauob : " " the army of Oxbuc, deserting to plunder, makes the l nited of Katzib chiefs of the speakers of rebellion." l898-99-1 DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 91 The fifth line begins with canlahun^ 14, followed by buc^ cover, /««, and yaby a shoe. Reading from below, the next group is oxyip dzib ; it is followed by Oxlahun ; and the subsequent group, composed o{ ca, 2, can, a snake, and a rude shoe, yab, supplies caxanob. Then come ca 2, the conventional ca before /««, and another katun over can, 4. From below, the following reads Oxyibthan. The top character following it is tok, and the cleft stone below probably gives tun xic for dsanxic. The sentence is : " canlahun puchtunob Oxzib dzib Oxlahun caxanob ca katun katun can Oxyibthan toe dsanxic: " " Oxlahun writes, when the army finds fourteen rebellious Oxyib, telling the army to burn and destroy the speakers of Oxyib." The bracket enclosing two dots is doubtless to be read caox for chuuc. It is followed by katun, and that by xul. Below, there is no diff.culty in recognizing Hunichob, the ob being represented hy yub, the cloak at the back. The next upper hieroglyphic \spet ; so this brief sentence reads : " chuuc katun xul Hunichob bet : " the Hunichob make an end of the plundering army." On the right of the last circle,/^/, is chi, the mouth, with three laies inscribed, making oxcht- Below, and to the left of it, are two tfucs, giving cabuc. The next group furnishes ox, tok, and ahau; the next ca, ca ; and the next ca dzib Then comes tun, followed by kulel, the unseemly symbol, under which are ca, 2, and hoi. In the succeeding group, Hunich appears, and dzib in the lower right corner must take the place of yub. Two hands are ca kab ; and the last series furnishes ox, yib, pop. These may be read : " Yokchi Cawek yoktok ahau caca Katzib tan kulel kahal Hunichob cacab Oxyib pop : " " the Atzih Cawek in Katzib, the town of the chief of the rebels, recalls to rule the Hunichob, /£>/ of the commune of Oxyib." The first hieroglyphic in line 6 is the border, chi; it is hard to say why the one below it, a stone with four lines inscribed, should be chen. Under it is katun, the ca being expressed by the two lines on the right. Next comes buc over tun, followed by pop ; then pet precedes a bean, yib, inscribed with uuc, 7. The next group reads from below, ox, yib, ich. Two faces are ca ich ; and ca puch, ca tzib follow, while hoi and tun read from the bottom upwards. These yield : " Chicken katun puchtun pop bet hayacob Oxyib ich Caich Cawek Katzib holthan : " " the Holthan of Katzib of Quiche Cawek causes (that) they destroy the pop of the rebellious army of Chichen in Oxyib." There is no difficulty in reading oxyib pop and oxbuc, but the succeeding two borders are not so easily recognized as ca ich. Next follow ca, 2, tun, and pop, after pop^ the inverted basket-like character pre- es, on comparison to be a ca, and to be read he[oxe yub, a dress. Then oxbuc reappears, followed by ca tun and/^/. The irregular character at the top of the next group denotes yok, over, and unites with ca, 2, to make what so far has been caox for 193 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. chuuc. The same >'/ of the army of Quiche, and the army of Oxbuc, make prisoners 400 rebels of the ahau of Uxmal." The next group consists of ca and j/^, followed hy pop ; and that following, of katun, buk, tun, and ox. The group after unites chi, a border, in the left hand lower corner of the first dzib, with it and the one below, giving chi ca dzib. One more caox appears over can, 4- The following chi, border, and chen, well, or tun, stone, are vague. The stone, tun, is read next, then buk with tun, and finally ^«d, a robe, to the left. This sentence is : " Cayub pop katun puchtun Yokchi Katzib chuuc can Chichen tan puchtunob : " "the pop, Cayub, tells the Yokchi of Katzib of the rebellious army to seize the rebels in Chichen." The seventh line begins with ca ich, two faces, followed by a pak aid a bak, giving ca bak, two baks. Below these come katun, two tuns ; and the next s^roup is ca,yib,pop. That following contains ox, 3, frt', the two spaces wi. .In three lines on the succeeding figure, and the figure itself,. buc. Below buc are dzib and another buc, and, below them, ca-tun. The figure under the next/^/ is a mystery ; it is inscribed, and may be dzib. The following long group is made up o{ yok, over, hoi, can, 4 with tun, another yak of different form, and katun. The next character gives buc and tun, followed hy yub, a coat. Leaving the lower hun tun, and taking the first of the next group ca, it is followed by bat, an axe, after which are three ends or xuls, which, with hun tun, may be read " xul yok hunten." The whole may be read : " Caich Cawek katun Cayub pop Oxcabuc dzib puch katan cib pop hokol chunthan yok katun puchtunob kebat xul yok hunten : " " Cayub, the pop of the army of Quiche Cawek writes Oxcabuc a letter, asking permission (for the) pop (for) the president to set out over the army to end at once the wicked rebels." The next short sentence begins with dzib, followed on the right by pet, after which come buc and iok, with hoi to the left, and buc and tun below. It thus reads : " dzib bet pach dzocol puchtun : " " he writes to cause the rebel prisoners to be destroyed." The top character of the next group is yok, over, the second, hun tun, after which are three beans, oxyib. A stone with a hole in it provides hoi tun ; three lines on another stone give ox tun; then follows katun, and, going backwards, an irregular yok, and a xul, or end. Together they read : *^yok hunten Oxyib holthan yoktan katun yok xul: " at once the holthan of Oxyib over ended the rebel army." l89S-9?.] DBCIPHBRING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 1 93 Chapter XIII. THE INSCRIPTIONS FROM CHICHEN-ITZA : THAT OF THE AKATZEE3. Referring to the valuable illustration in his " Incidents of Travel in Yucatan," Mr. Stephens writes : " The plate opposite represents the general plan of the ruins of Chichen. This plan is made from bearings taken with the compass, and the distances were all measured with a line. The buildings are laid down on the plan according to their exterior form. All now standing are comprehended, and the whole circumference occupied by them is about two miles, which is equal to the diameter of two thirds of a mile, though ruined buildings appear beyond these limits. By referring to the plan, the reader will perceive the position of the hut in which we lived, and, following the path from our door through the cattle-yard of the hacienda, at the distance of two hundred and fifty yards, he will reach the building represented in the plate opposite (the Akatzeeb). It does not stand on an artificial terrace, but the earth seems to ha e been excavated for some distance before it, so as to give it elevation of position. It faces the east, and measures one hundred and forty-nine feet in front, by forty-eight feet deep. The whole exterior is rude, and without ornament of any kind. A grand staircase, forty-five feet wide, now entirely in ruins, rises in the centre to the roof of the building. On each side of this staircase are two doorways ; at each end is a single doorway, and the front facing the west has seven. The whole number of apartments is eighteen. The west front opens upon a large hollow surface, whether natural or artificial it is not easy to say, and, in the centre of this, is one of those features before referred to, a solid mass of masonry, forty-four feet by thirty-four, standing out from the wall, high as the roof, and correspond- ing, in position and dimensions, with the ruined staircase on the eastern front. This projection is not necessary for the support of the building ; it is not an ornament, but, on the contrary, a deformity ; and whether it be really a solid mass, or contain interior chambers, remains to be ascertained by the future explorer." " At the south end the doorway opens into a chamber, round which hangs a greater and more impenetrable mystery. This chamber is nineteen feet wide by eight feet six inches deep, and in the back wall a low narrow doorway communicates with another chamber in the rear, of the same dimensions, but having its floor one step higher. The lintel of this doorway is of stone, and on the soflite.or under part, is sculptured 194 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. the subject represented in the engraving opposite. This tablet and the position in which it exists, have given the name to the building, which the Indians call Akatzeeb, signifying, the writing in the dark ; for, as no light enters except from the single doorway, the chamber was so dark that the drawing could with difficulty be copied. It was the first time in Yucatan that we had found hieroglyphics sculptured in stone, which, beyond all question, bore the same type with those at Copan and Palenque. The sitting figure seems performing some act of incantation, or some religious or idolatrous rite, which the " writing in the dark " un- doubtedly explains, if one could but read it. Physical force may raze these buildings to the ground and lay bare all the secrets they contain, but physical force can never unravel the mystery that involves this sculptured tablet."* The groups of hieroglyphics in this tablet are twenty-eight in number, of which sixteen are arranged in two lines above the central figure, while six are placed to the left and an equal number to the right of it. Making a commencement with the left hand figure of the first upper line, it is found to consist o{ pet, the circle, ox, 3,/^^, building, and a face-like hunt I, with ich, the face proper, zwAytib, a garment ; the whole being bet Ox- buc Hunichob. The second group holds lahun-tii-kal, 30, ca, the equiva- lent for the trefoil forehead ornament, chi, the mouth, and six small circles at the back of the head, which, from their position, are not to be read simply as uac, 6, but as such together with xul, an end. Next to the number 30 comes a circle/^/, followed by 7, uuc, and pak, tilled ground. Below are ca, 2, buc, covering, tun, stone, and katun. These two groups furnish : "bet Oxbuc Hunichob lahun-tu-kal Cachixul hayac bet hayac pak ca puchtun katun:" when the army rebelled it caused to destroy the city, it caused to destroy thirty Cachiquels of the Hunichob Oxbuc." The third group begins with uac, 6, followed hy pet, after which a stone inscribed with two lines furnishes katun. Below uac and pet, comes buc, covering, embracing tun, stone, and below are ca, 2, ox, 3, inscribed in another tun. To the right of katun above is chi, a border, and just under katun is ich, face, followed by what has been claimed as a repre- sentation of the breast, tzem, but which really stands for tan, than, tun, thun, and dsan, and is often replaced, even as in the name Chichen, by the figure of a stone, tun. These are followed by another face, ich, and by another t.zem. In the fourth somewhat obscure group are ca, the roll, as at Palenque, and below it, pak, under which is holhun, 15 ; behind appear ca, 2, xic, division, and a final ball, which from its position is xul, the end. Below is a form of ahau, with plurality. These two groups add another sentence: ''hayac bet katun puchtun 1898-99-] DKCIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. I95 chuuctan Chicken- 1 chzen chabach holhun Cachixitl ahauob:" "the rebellious army made destruction, seizing; Chichen-Itza, (and) capturing fifteen Cachiquel chiefs." The fifth group begins with two stones, each inscribed with 3, the whole giving ca, ox, tun; then comes holhun, 15, followed by ca, 2, chi, border, and xul, end. Below are two nak's, which might give xanac, " will remain," in some cases, but not here ; they furnish nakob, " they ended." The brief sentence reads : " chuuctan holhun Cachixul nakob : " " the spoilers destroy fifteen Cachiquels." No. 6 is difficult as it com- mences with an inverted ca, that should be a xul, according to general rule. Inscribed in the upper part of it is thun, a drop. At the opposite end appears lahun, 10, and embraced by the limbs of the ca xs pak, cul- tivation. These are followed by inuyaU the cloud, /o/, the mat, and ca, ox, //^», again. Thus : '^katun Lahun Pek mulbab chuuctan : " "the army of Lahun-Pek joins the spoilers." No. 7 contains ca, tun, ox, tun, can, tun, and what follows should be Hunichob, but Mr. Stephens has replaced the face by the sign caban, unless it be intended for a border chi. Finally, group 8 has 17, or uuclahun, which at Palenque stands for Zaachilla of Oaxaca. Five, within a circle subscribed with mark of plurality, should be hopetob, and as hopet is the Palenque form of ubah, to hear, it is doubtless such in the present case. The last of this group are ox, tok and ich. Taken together they furnish : " katun yoktan can Hunichob Uuclahun hopetob yoktok ich:" "Zaachilla tells the Hunichob they hear the rebel army (is) in rebellion." The first of line 2 begins with two nak's, the latter being followed by mark of plurality; they may be read as a reduplication of intensity, naknakob. Then in the same group follow ox, 3, chi, face, ca, 2, and dzib, writing, oxchi katzib. No, 2 begins with the conventional ca, which en- closes ox, 3. At the top is bak, bundle, over can, 4; below these may be katun, but there certainly is xic, division, with plurality. In 3, the border, chi, is first, and the figure below it is probably ich, the eye or face, while to the right is an ornamental tun or thun. Here the sentence ends : "naknakob Yokchi Katzib ca Oxbuc can katun xicob Chichen :" " they destroy Yokchi Katzib when Oxbuc says the army divides Chichen." Below the central thun, 14 is represented by two wavy fives and four strokes, canlahun. In the border, chi, are uac, 6, which should be read first, and at its extremit'- is xul, an end. Next, above the thun, is pet, followed by pak, cultivation, over thun, under which is buc, covering. Group 4 contains ox, 3, hun, i, tun, stone, and can, 4, inside hoi, while beneath is the well known katun. No. 5 begins with tun; to the right is ox, and below tun come chi, border, ca, 2, and 196 TRANSACTIONS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. dzihy writing. The whole reads: "canlahun hauac tzicil bet puchtun pach yok hunten holcan katun tan Yokchi Katzib :" " the holcan of the army made prisoners of the rebels in Yokchi Katzib at one time, fourteen ceasing to obey." The remaining part of group 5 is ox muyal or Uxmal. No. 6 begins with ahau, followed by dzib and katun ; back of these are buc, covering, /»»and xicob, as in No. 2. The order of No. 7 is peculiar* beginning with ox over ahau, then coming to the face, ich, which should properly be a mouth, chi, moving up to the frontal ornament ca, and ending with the first character dzib, writing, to furnish oxchi katzib. The sentence, therefore, is : " Uxmal ahau dzib katun puchtun xicob Yokchi Katzib :" " he writes the king of Uxmal (that) the rebel army divides Yokchi Katzib." The last hieroglyphic of No. 7 is ahau. In No. 8, Uxmal is represented by three links of a chain, and the muyal or cloud figure, at the other end of the cartouche. Thereafter come pet, the circle, dzib, writing, a hun over the ear of ich, the face, and the robe,^«^ Unitedly they afford: "ahau Uxmal bet dzib Hunichob :" "the king of Uxmal makes to -ite to the Hunichob." Coming down to the hieroglyphics about the seated figure, so mysterious in Mr. Stephen's eyes, the series on the left stands first, and is to be read first horizontally, and afterwards perpendicularly, as at Palenque. No. i contains ca, 2, kab, hand, and the main part of it is katunob. No. 2 consists of tun, pet, and chi, a border. In No. 3, katun appears ; then come ca, 2, buc, covering, and tun. Below is a distinct pet, and the indistinct figure beside it is probably buc. Coming now to No. 2, in perpendicular order, its main hieroglyphic is mazcabcun, a kettle, below which are the conventional ca, hoi, and pet. No. 3 perpen- dicular consists of pet, tun, and a confused figure evidently meant for kak, fire. Below are three stones, two of which are inscribed with ca, 2 ; these must yield caoxtun, or chuuctan. No. 4 perpendicular consists of hun, I, thun, a drop, on tun, a stone, over katun. These six groups read : " cacab katunob than bet cihi katun ca puchtun pach bet mazcab xanac ; hoi bet bet tan kak chuuctan chunthan katun:" "the armies of the state made a word, saying, the army when it rebelled made prisoners to remain in prison ; the chunthan of the army of spoilers made a hole (and) made fire in it." The series on the right begins with pet over pak and tun. Next comes buluc, 1 1 , over ca and tun. No. 2 has the frontal ornament ca, the mouth, chi, and a figure over the face, which might be a roughly executed hand, glove, or split stone ; but sense requires it to be xul, end, or hoi, hole. Then follows Hunichob. In No. 3, dzib is followed by ca, 2, and kab, hand, while, to the right, Hunichob again appears. No. 4 contains |898-99>1 DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. I97 can, 4, followed by ox and tun, and katunob, to the right of which comes caoxtun. These complete a sentence : '• bet puchtun Buluc katun Cachixul Hunichob dzib cacab Hunichob can yoktan katunob chuuctan : " " the Hunichob of Cachiquel make the army of Buluc rebel, writing to tell the rebel soldiers to plunder the state of the Hunichob." The last character in No. 4 is nak, and it belongs to the next sentence. No. 5 is rather difficult. It consists o( ox, 3, on cht, a border, over what should be Ao, 5, but, on comparison with the Chichanchob inscription, must stand for ca ; under it is yub, a garment. The opposite cartouche furnishes ox, 3, tun, stone, and below, ahau. Finally, No. 6 gives ox, bolon, 9, and hunichob. This last sentence is : " nak Yokchi Cayub yoktan ahau yok Bolon Hunichob : " the Yokchi Cayub destroys the chief of the rebels by means of the Hunichob of Palenque." Thus, by a strange but most fortuitous coincidence, the study of these inscriptions brings the reader back to the starting point in Chiapas. Varying, as the hieroglyphics do in many particulars, owing doubtless to locality, and the skill of the artist, they are one in historical character as in speech, and among them furnish a vocabulary extensive enough to enable the student to attack any Maya-Quiche document, with good hope of success in the work of interpretation. It remains to set these two Chichen-Itza inscriptions forth in connected form. f, Chapter XIV. THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION OF THE CHICHEN-ITZA INSCRIPTIONS. TEXT AND LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE INSCR/PT/ON OF THE CHICHANCHOB. Line i. Huntoh tan cab Oxyib ; Huntoh bet katun Oxyib xul. V Huntoh in land Oxyib; Huntoh makes army Oxyib end. Oxyib pak Hunichob bet katun hoi. Oxcabuc Hut.ich Caich Oxyib town Hunichob makes army end. Oxcabuc Hunich Quiche. dzib than hunkal katun Katzib holob xanac bet puchtun write word 20 soldier Katzib cells to remain makes rebelling katun holthan. Yokich Chichen Ichzen kebat pak bet katun army speaker. Yokich Chichen-Itza wicked town makes army ahau xul. Oxyib pop « chief end. Oxyib ruler Line 2. Oxbuc patan katan paxal Hunichob yoktan bet Cacjiixul Oxbuc tribute asking desert Hunichob opponents make Cachiquel 198 TRANSACTIONS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. dean xul hoi kak ich. Dzib than hayac Katcib hayac tan-bet. waste end hole fire in. Writing word destroy Katzib destroy in make. katun Hunichob bet pach katun xul. Oxyib tan Oxbuc katun Army Hunichob makes prisoner army end. Oxyib in Oxbuc army chuuctan paxal Caich.i plundering deserts Quiche. Line 3. Katan ahau katun kuxil thanob dzib Hunichob can Army chief army hating words write Hunichob tell Oxlahun Pek. Oxlahun Pek bet Yokmal chunthan pop pak Oxlahun-Pek. Oxlahun-Pek makes Uxmal president ruler city Chichixul katun patan yok katan katun pach bet. Oxyib Cachiquel army tribute over asking soldier prisoner makes. Oxyib xic yok holdzan pak bet xul : xul hunten bet Hunichob. 3 dividing by executioner city makes end : end at once makes Hunichob. Line 4. Chichen Oxyib paxal. Oxyib katun pak kuxil than Oxyib-than Chichen Oxyib desert. Oxyib army city hates word Oxyib speakers katun cihi Oxyib xache betun dzib tun ci than tan army saying Oxyib seeks to make written stone sweet word in Oxyib than. Oxbuc katun chuuctan paxal kax Katzib Oxyib speech. Oxbuc army plunder deserting united Katzib bet yoktok cihi ahauob.4 , • .? makes rebellion speakers chiefs. Line 5. Canlahun puchtunob Oxyib dzib Oxlahun caxanob ca katun v. 14 rebellious Oxyib writes Oxlahun find when army katun can Oxyibthan toe dzan xic. Chuuc katun army telling Oxyib speakers burn destroy divide. Plundering army xul Hunichob bet. Yokchi Ca'"ek yoktok ahau caca end Hunichob makes. Yokchi Cawek rebel chief town Katzib tan kulel kahal Hunichob cacab Oxyib pop.5 Katzib in to rule recalls Hunichob commune Oxyib ruler. Line 6. Chichen katun puchtun pop bet hayacob Oxyib ich Caich Chichen army rebellious ruler makes destroy Oxyib in Quiche Cawek Katzib holdzan. Oxyib pop Oxbuc Caich katun Cawek Katzib executioner. Oxyib ruler Oxbuc Quiche army pop Cayub Oxbuc katun bet chuuc Uxmal ahau bac ruler Cayub Oxbuc army make prisoner Uxmal king 400 hun puchtun. Cayub pop katun puchtun Yokchi Katzib I rebels. Cayub ruler army rebellious Yokchi Katzib chuuc can Chichen tan puchtunob.^ seize tells Chfchen in rebels. l898-99>] DECIPHBRINO HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 199 Line 7. Caich Cawek katun Cayub pop Oxcabuc dzib puch katan Quiche Cawek army Cayub ruler Oxcabuc writes letter asking cib pop hokol chunthan yok katun puchtunob kebat permission ruler set out president over army rebels wicked xiil yok hunten. Dzib bet pach dzocol piichtun. Yok end at once. Writes make prisoner end rebellion. At hunten Oxyib holdzan yoktnn katun yok xul.7 once Oxyib executioner rebel army over ends. TEXT AND LITERAL TRANSLATION OP THE INSCRIPTION OP THE AKATZEEB. Line i. Bet Oxbuc Hunichob lahun-tu-kal Cachixul hayac bet Makes Oxbuc Hunichob 30 Cachiquel destroy makes hayac pak ca puchtun katun. Hayac bet katun puchtun destroy city when rebels army. Destruction makes army rebel chuuctan Chichen Ichzen chabach holhun Cachixul ahauob. seizing Chichen-Itza capturing 15 Cachiquel chiefs. Chuuctan holhun Cachixul nakob. Katun Lahun Pek Spoilers 15 Cachiquel end. Army Lahun-Pek mulbab chuuctan. Katun yoktan can Hunichob Uuclahun join spoilers. Army rebel tells Hunichob Zaachilla hobetob yoktok ich.8 hear rebellion in. Line 2. Nak nakob Yokchi Katzib ca Oxbuc can katun xicob Chichen. Ending they end Yokchi Katzib when Oxbuc tells army divide Chichen. Canlahun hauac tzicil bet puchtun pach yok hunten holcan 14 ceasing obey makes rebel prisoner at once speaker katun tan Yokchi Katzib. Uxmal ahau dzib katun puchtun army in Yokchi Katzib. Uxmal king writes army rebel xicob Yokchi Katzib. Ahau Uxmal bet dzib Hunichob.q divide Yokchi Katzib. King Uxmal makes write Hunichob. Line 3. Cacab katunob than bet cihi katun ca puchtun pach bet Commune armies word make saying army when rebel prisoners makes mazcab xanac ; hoi bet tan knk chuuctan chunthan katun. "> prison remain ; hole makes make in fire spoiling president army. Line 4. Bet puchtun Buluc katun Cachihol Hunichob dzib cacab Makes rebel Buluc army Cachiquel Hunichob writing commune Hunichob can yoktan katunob chuuctan. Nak Yokchi Hunichob telling rebel soldiers to seize in. Ends Yokchi Cayub yoktan ahau yok Bolon Hunichob." Cayub rebel chief by Palenque Hunichob. 300 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. FREE TRANSLATION OF THE INSCRIPTION OF THE CHICHANCHOB. Line i. Huntok in the land of Oxyib. Huntok makes an end of the army of Oxyib. The Hunichob puts the army out of the town of Oxyib. To Oxcabuc, the Hunich of Quiche, he writes word that the chief speaker of the rebel army makes twenty warriors remain in the cells of Katzib. The Yokich of Chichen-Itza, wicked city, puts an end to the chief of the army. The ruler of Oxyib, Line 2. Oxbuc, asking tribute, the rebels desert the Hunichob, and cause the Cachiquels to be destroyed in the fire hole. Writing a word to destroy, they make destruction in Katzib. The army of the Hunichob makes an end of the prisoners of the army. The army of Oxbuc, plundering in Oxyib, deserts Quiche. Line 3. The army, hating the chiefs of the army, writes words for the Hunichob to tell Oxlahun-Pek. Oxlahun-Pek makes the presi- dent of Uxmal ruler of the town. The Cachiquel army, in asking tribute, makes prisoners of warriors. He makes an end of the dividers of Oxyib by the chief executioner of the town ; at one time the Hunichob makes an end of them. Line 4. The Oxyib desert Chichen. The Oxyib army hates the town, the Oxyib-speaking army saying a word that Oxyib seeks to make written stones sweet-worded in Oxyib speech. The army of , Oxbuc, deserting to plunder, makes the united ones of Katzib chiefs of the declarers of rebellion. Line 5. When the army finds fourteen rebellious Oxyib, Oxlahun writes, telling the army to burn and destro}- the speakers of Oxyib. The Hunichob makes an end of the plundering army. The Yokchi of Cawek, in Katzib, the town of the chief of the rebels, recalls to rule the Hunichob, ruler of the commune of Oxyib. Line 6. The chief executioner of Katzib of Quiche Cawek causes that they destroy the ruler of the rebellious army of Chichen in Oxyib. Oxbuc, ruler of the Oxyib, Cayub, ruler of the army of Quiche, and the army of Oxbuc, make prisoners 400 (one bak) rebels of the lord of Uxmal. The ruler Cayub tells the Yokchi of Katzib of the rebellious army to seize the rebels in Chichen. Line;. Cayub, the ruler of the army of Quiche Cawek, writes Oxcabuc a letter, asking permission of the ruler for the president to set out over the army to destroy at once the wicked rebels. He writes to cause the rebel prisoners to be destroyed. At once, the chief executioner of Oxyib finally put an end to the rebel army. I898-99-1 DBCIPHKRING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 20I FREE TRANSLATION OF THE /A 5CR1PTION OF THE AKATZEEB. Line i. When the army rebelled, it caused the city to be destroyed ; it caused thirty Cachiquels of the Hunichob Oxbucto be destroyed. The rebellious army made destruction, seizing Chichen-Itza, and capturing fifteen Cachiquel chiefs. The spoilers destroyed fifteen Cachiquels. The army of Lahun-Pek joined the spoilers. Zaachilla told the Hunichob the rumour that the rebel army was in rebellion. Line 2. When Oxbuc told the army to depart from Chichen, they destroyed Yokchi Katzib (or the Yokchi of Katzib). The holcan (chief caller) of the army made prisoners of the rebels in Yokchi Katzib, fourteen at one time, of those ceasing to obey. He wrote " the lord of Uxmal that the rebel army divided Yokchi Katzib. The lord of Uxmal made the Hunichob to be written to. Line 3. The warriors of the commune made a word (promise), saying that the army when it rebelled made prisoners to remain in prison. The president of the army of spoilers made a hole and put fire in it. Line 4. The Hunichob of Cachiquel made the army of Buluc to rebel, writing to tell the rebel soldiers to plunder the commune of the Hunichob. The Yokchi Cayub destroyed the chief of the rebels by means of the Hunichob of Palenque. , Chapter XV. THE HISTORY RECORDED IN THE CHICHEN-ITZA DOCUMENTS. The theatre of the rebellion recorded in the two inscriptions was the Cacab, or commune, of Oxyib, in "'hich was a town bearing the same name, and near which, or at least at no great distance from which, were Katzib and Chichen-Itza. Uxmal, Palenque, and Buluc, or Baliz, are also mentioned in the inscription, and the first of these must have been within reasonable distance. The ruins of Uxmal are thirty-five miles south of Merida, and those of Chichen-Itza are about seventy-eight miles to the southeast of the same city. From Chichen-Itza a paved road of ancien . construction is said to run eastward to the coast, opposite the island of Cozumel.' That coast was, in the days of Maya indepen- dence, the boundary of the province of Ekab, one of whose rulers was Ex Box, who, in 1547, destroyed a Spanish vessel.'' Mr. Stephens found ruins called Yakatzib, near Tekax and Mani, that is to say, to the 202 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. north of Uxmal.' In his Indian map of Mani, however, no such plan appears, but the principal town to the east of Mani is called Oxkuzcab.* The Bolon and Buluc of the inscription may be Bolonchen and Bulucchen of Yucatan rather than Palenque and Baliz, yet the latter supposition is not at all improbable. The Oxyib were evidently a people speaking a different dialect from that employed by the inhabitants of Chichen-Itza, as they wished to have inscriptions in their own tongue, which to them was sweeter or pleasanter than the Maya. The only Maya-Quiche people whose name approaches that of the Oxyib were the Uxab, a branch of the Pokomans, who, in the time of Qikab of Quiche, dwelt in Vera Paz. The Ahau of Rabinal in Vera Paz had first wasted this people, and then Qikab sub- dued them and him. The remains of the population of their cities constituted that which occupies, even to-day, Coban and its suburbs, called by the Indians of the country, Uxab Pokoma.^ The Pokomans themselves were a branch of the Mams,and Poko was their distinguishing title. There is no tradition known to the writer of these Uxab of Poko migrating in part to northeastern Yucatan, yet few migrations of peoples have more probability on their side than this. Hemmed in by the aggressive Quiche and Cachiquel rulers, it was but natural that some of their more adventurous spirits should skirt the eastern coast of Yucatan nearest to them, and seek, in its northern part, a home in which, for a time at least, they might preserve their independence. There is, indeed, little doubt that the Oxyib were the same people as the Uxab of Vera Cruz, and the Ekab of northeastern Yucatan. Poko was the chief title of the Uxab, and Box of the Ekab, while the ruler of the Oxyib or Cxyub was named Ox Buc. These are not fortuitous resemblances. The Mani, and thus the Uxab, dialect was related more closely to the Quiche-Cachiquel group of languages than to the Maya, which explains the desire of the Oxyib to have inscriptions in their own tongue. It would be interesting to know if there are any remains of the old Pokoman dialect in what used to be the province or canton of Ekab, east of Chichen-Itza. , - . . The inscriptions so far read have nothing to say of the conquering Qikab, unless he be the Yokchi C?yub of the armies of Quiche Cawek, whom both the Chichen-Itza documents represent as in a subordinate position to Huntoh and Oxcabuc, the Cachiquel rulers. The inscription of the Chichanchob sets forth Huntoh as the principal personage in the suppression of the rebellion, although the communications with Oxcabuc, the father of Oxlahun-Pek, who is called the Hunich of l898-99>] DECIPHBRING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 203 Quiche, seem to indicate that he was Huntoh's superior. Oxlahun-Pek is present, an able and active general, but in a subordinate position, as well as Lahun-Pek, who is probably the Cachiquel Lahuh-Ah, Huntoh's son. These documents therefore, are older than those of Palenque and Copan, and, as such, show that the Quiche and Cachiquel MSS. of Brasseur are not to be fully trusted Cayub was the Yokchi, probably the same as the Cachiquel Atsih, of Quiche Cawek, but he had to ask Oxcabuc's permission to put an end to the rebellion, which sufficiently indicates Cachiquel supremacy. The chief officers in Chichen-Itza and Yokchi Katzib were apparently Cachiquels, under the native rulers, whom it would have been suicidal policy to remove. The revolt of the Oyyib army of occupation in Chichen-Itza, in Katzib, and probably in Uxmal, arose from the tyranny and exactions of their Cachiquel officers, who, among other things, made slaves of the Oxyib warriors as a matter of tribute, and refused to allow them to perpetuate their language in mural inscriptions. It broke out in the town of Oxyib, wherever that may have been within the province of Ekab, and spread to Chichen-Itza, which belonged to another province, that of Conii, adjoining it. The Hunichob Oxbuc, whose jurisdiction seems to have extended to Chichen, succeeded in expelling the reyolters from the city, after they had done much mischief in it ; but they carried off with them as prisoners a number of Cachiquel officers, whom, apparently, it was their first intention to hold as hostages. These they took to Katzib of which they acquired full pos.session, and imprisoned there to the number of thirty. Then Oxbuc of Chichen-Itza wrote letters in all directions, asking for help against the rebels, who had already made complaint through him to Oxlahun-Pek of the treatment which the Cachiquel officers had meted out to them. 0.\lahun-Pek had appointed the Chunihan or President of Uxmal to take charge of affairs, which he does not seem to have done save by writing letters. Oxbuc and the Yokchi Cayub wrote also to Oxcabuc, and Oxbuc had communications with Zaachilla III. of Oaxaca, and with the ruler of Uxmal on the subject of the rebellion. Meanwhile the chief of the rebels violated the promise which the revolting army had made in regard to the Cachiquel officers. He made an excavation, filled it with fire, and cast these tyrannical foreigners into it, having, doubtless, been set the example in so doing by his own victims. This is the mystery of the Akatzeeb, which means no dark chamber, but is the name of the town in which the deed of darkness was committed by a in ich oppressed soldiery. The rebels were joined by the warriors of Lah"n-Pek, who is probably the same as Lahuh-Ah 304 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE; [VOL VI. of the Cachiquel MS., the son of Huntoh, and the father of Cablahun- Tox, whose name does not figure in these inscriptions. As the army of Buluc is made rebellious in the Akatzeeb document, it is likely that it is the same as that of Lahun-Pek. If Buluc were in Vera Paz, in the neighbourhood of the main body of the Uxab, it is easy to under- stand how the sympathies of its native troops would be with the rebels of the Oxyib or Ekab of Yucatan. The main instrument in the subjugation of the mutinous troops was Cayub, who is called the/IAN INSTITUTE. [VOL VI. Chapter XVI. THE AFFILIATION OF THE MAYA-QUICHE LANGUAGES AND TRIBES. The writer has already indicated points of connection between the Maya-Quiches and the Malay- Polynesian peoples. The erection of massive stone buildings within the Central American area inhabited by the Maya-Quiches causes that area to differ from all others in America, for the stone structures of the Pueblo Indians, of the Mexicans, or even of the Peruvians, are not worthy to be compared wjth those of Yucatan and the neighbouring countries. There is, therefore, no evidence that the Maya-Quiche architect' ■ nd masons came to the scene of their labours overland from any iher part of the American continent. The nearest point affording ancient works in stone, combined with groups of hieroglyphics resembling those of Palenque, Copan, and Chichen- Itza, is Easter island in the Pacific. It does not follow that colonists of this island passed on to Central America. Its latitude suits better a former habitat of the Mbaya- Abipone tribes of the Gran Chaco in the southern half of the continent, which linguistically are allied, on the one hand, to the peoples of Polynesia, on the other, to the Maya-Quiches of Central, and the Algonquins, etc., of North America. Other Polynesian islands, exhibiting similar stone remains, are the Sandwich Islands in the north, and Tongatabu in the south, with Rota and Tinian of the Ladrones, and the Marshall, Gilbert, and Kingsmill Islands, between. The Ladrones connect, on the one hand, with Formosa, on the east side of which there are similar remains, and on the other, with the Philippines and the Malay Archipelago. In Java and in others of the islands of the archipelago are the ruins of ancient temples and other works, showing more analogy to the architectural remains of Central America than to those in any other part of the world. It is generally allowed that the Malay Archipelago was the secondary starting point from which the populations called Polynesian and Melanesian were distributed over the islands of the sea. There is historical evidence for the existence of great ocean scouring fleets of large vessels in the Archipelago, at the time when it was first explored by Europeans, and of wholesale expatriations of tribes upon the ocean, consequent upon their defeat by more powerful neighbours or invaders. Those who could successfully reach the Sandwich and Easter Islands, could as successfully discover the western shores of America.' The I898-99- ] DECIPHBRING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 207 universal Polynesian belief in the enchanted island of Bolootoo doubtless led many adventurous spirits to search for it as a place of rest and happiness, just as Ponce de Leon explored the Caribbean Sea in quest of Bimini, the fountain of youth. But what speaks more strongly in favor of the Malay-Polynesian origin of the Maya-Quiches is the voice of language and tradition. Uniting the Algonquins with the Maya-Quiches in his comparison, and having drawn attention to physical resemblance and similarity of character, together with softness of speech, the writer has said elsewhere : " According to Sir John Lubbock and Dr. Tylor, the Polynesians do not worship the heavenly bodies. I do not know whether this is the case with the Mbaya- Abipone family or not, but solar worship had, at least, no prominence among the Maya-Quiches, and was unknown among the Algonquins, before the adoption of the Delawares into the Iroquois confederacy. On the other hand, the . Dacotahs, Iroquois, Choctaws, Natchez, Mexicans, Peruvians, Muyscas, and Chilenos were sun worshippers. The heaven of the latter peoples was supposed to be continental, happy hunting grounds in some distant region, or it was celestial, above the clouds ; but the Algonquin heaven was, like that of the Polynesians, an island in the ocean. The Abb6 Maurault, in his Histoire des Ab^naquis says : ' Ce Grand Esprit r^sidait sur une lie du grand lac (1' Oc«§an Atlantique).' In this we find an evidence of insular derivation. The same appears in the story of the creation of the world. Maui of New Zealand, with whom Dr. Tylor compares the Algonquin Manitou or Monedo, fished up the earth with a hook from the universal ocean, as did Tangaloa of the Friendly Islands. The Quiche Tohil, Tzakoll or Tockill, who is undoubtedly the Malay- Polynesian Tangaloa or Tagala, according to the Popol-Vuh or sacred book of the Quichts, called the earth into being in a similar waste of waters. The Ojibbeways and Delawares tell an identical story of Manitou ; while other Algonquin tribes made the rat his agent in the work of creation. The notion of the Ojibbeways of Lake Superior that they inhabited an island, and their habit of alluding to the American continent as such, seemed surprising to Kohl, the traveller, who imagined it to be the result of knowledge acquired by exploration, instead of a necessary result of their system of cosmology. " In their un-Darwinian account of the origin of man, the Malay- Polynesians, Algonquins and Maya-Quiches agree. The Tagalas of the Philippines believed that 'mankind sprang out of a large cane with two joints, and the man came out of one joint and the woman out of the other.' In Samoa the tradition is that the first land brought forth wild 2o8 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. vines, and, from the worms which developed when they rotted, men and women were produced. According to the Delawares, Manitou, having brought up the first land from the ocean, made man and woman out of a tree ; and in one of the Ojibbeway legends in Kitchi-Gami, the first man appears among the reeds which Manitou had planted upon the shore. Compare this with the Quiche legend, in which, * man was made of a tree called tzite, woman of the marrow of a reed called stbac' and there appears an agreement in tradition to which I know of no parallel. I have already stated that the Quiche or Maya-Quiche Tockill is the Polynesian Tangaloa, and the eponym of the Tagalas in the Philippines. This is confirmed not only by the identity of the Tagalan and Quiche accounts of the creation of man, but also by the appearance of the Quiche deity Bitol in the Tagalan Bathala, just as the Algonquin Waubuno re- appears in the Polynesian Ofanu. The Algonquins, Quiches and Abipones agree with some Polynesian pec^les in identifying the soul with the shadow ; and Dr. Tylor in his Primitive Culture, draws special attention to ' the conception of the spirit voice as being a low murmur, chirp or whistle, as it were the ghost of a voice, a conception common to the Polynesians and the Algonquins.' "^ Besides Tohil or Tockill and Bitol, the name of the Quiche god Tepeu occurs in Tongan and other Polynesian mythologies, as that of one of the sons of Tangaloa, namely Toobo, while the other, Vaca-acow-ooli, probably represents the warlike Vaku, the Quiche bird-god in attendance upon Hurakan. The deity Onafanna of Navigator's Islands answers to the Maya-Quiche Hunahpu. Turning to tribal names, the Mayas probably have their eponym in the Polynesian god Maui, and some of the Maories and the inhabitants of Moa bear their name. The Poko- Mams may be compared with the Bugis of Celebes. As the Algonquin Abenakis and Illinois connect with the island of Opoun of the Naviga- tor's group, and many places similarly named elsewhere in the area, and with the Illinoans of Borneo, so the Ititepanes of the Philippines, and the Marquesas' island names, Fatuhiva and Nukahiva, probably represent slightly aberrant forms of the Oxyib, Uxab, and Ojibbeway name. In the Malay archipelago, the influences, first of Hinduism, both Brahman and Buddhist, and afterwards of Mahometanism, have done much to obliterate the traces of the original inhabitants, so far as history and tradition are concerned. Nevertheless, it may yet be possible to point out the precise localities whence the Maya-Quiche, Mbaya-Abipone, and Algonquin tribes first set out for their long voyage over the Pacific Ocean. For such a task the writer has, at present, neither the time nor the opportunity. The evidence of language is what he desires mainly to l898-99>] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 209 present. By extracts from a previbus paper published elsewhere, he seeks to shew the radical agreement of the American families here affiliated, and their radical disagreement with the Iroquois and the great group of languages to which it belongs. " There are three important differences in structure which separate Algonquin from Iroquois grammar. The former frequently makes use of prepositions like the Aryan and Semitic languages ; the latter invariably employs postpositions, like the (northern) Turanian tongues Thus, in Cree, one of the most widely distributed Algonquin dialects, tchik-iskutek means ' near the fire^' tchik being the preposition ' near ; ' but, in Iroquois, the same expression is translated by ontchicht-akta^ in which akta, ' near,' is a postposition. The place of the temporal index in the order of the verb is a second distinguishing feature of the two grammatical systems. In the Iroquois the mark of time is final, although it is sometimes implemented by a prefix to the initial personal pronoun ; thus in ke-nonwe-s, I love, ke-nonwe-skii^e, I loved, wake-nonwe- hon, I have loved, and enke-nonwe-ne, I shall love, s, skwe, hon, and ne are the indices of present, imperfect, perfect and future time, nonwe being the verbal root, and ke^ the pronoun. But in Algonquin, the temporal index is, in the more important tenses at least, prefixed to the verbal root ; so that in nin-gi-sakiha, I have loved, and nin-ga-sakiha^ I shall love, gi and^a are the indices of the perfect and future respectively, sakiha, the verbal root, and «/"«, the personal pronoun. A third peculiarity of Algonquin grammar is that the accusative or direct regimen follows the verb. It is true that the same order appears fre- quently in Iroquois, but the principle of the group of languages it represents, as exemplified in the case of pronominal accusatives, is to place the verb after its regimen. As regards phonology, the difference between the Algonquin dialects and those of the Iroquois is well marked. The soft vocalic forms of the Ojibbeway, the Nipissing, the Cree, the Delaware, present a remarkable contrast to the more manly, but harsh and guttural utterances of all the members of the Iroquois family." " In Central America there is an important family of languages, known as the Maya-Quiche. Of the Maya, Dr. Daniel Wilson (the late Sir Daniel), in his address before the American Association for the Advancement of Science says : ' It strikingly contrasts in its soft vocalic forms with the languages of the nations immediately to the north of its native area.' Here then is the same phenomenon that is presented by the Algonquin languages. I do not propose to make the Mayas Algonquins, nor the Algonquins Maya-Quiche, but simpty to indicate aiO TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. their common relation to a parent stock. All the Maya-Quiche dialects use prepositions, while the surrounding languages, Aztec, Mixtec, Pima, Tarahumara, etc., employ postpositions. The Quiche verb, again, is the precise analogue of the Algonquin, the only difference being that the pronoun, instead of occupying an initial position, inter- venes between the temporal index and the root. Thus, in ca-nu-logoh, I am loving, xi-nu-logoh, I have loved, and ch-in-logoh^ I shall love, ca^ xi and ch are the indices of present, past and future time, xi and ch being the equivalents of the Algonquin gi and ge^ or, better still, of the Cree ki and ka. In Maya also the accusative seems to follow the governing verb as in Algonquin. There is, however in these languages an important syntactical peculiarity which does not appear in Algonquin, so far as is known to me ; it is the postposition of the genitive without sign, as in the Semitic and Celtic languages. Thus in Maya, upoc Pedro, * the hat of Peter,' reverses the order of the Iroquois, Dacotah and Choctaw, which is that of the English, ' Peter's hat.' The Algonquin dialects follow the latter order, and it may fairly be asked whether this be not a result of surrounding influences rather than one of the original forms of Algonquin speech. Apart from this, however, there are, in the use of prepositions, the preposition of the temporal index and the postposition of the accusative, together with phonetic coincidence, links sufficient to ally the Algonquin with the Maya-Quiche languages. " The next great family of languages which employs prepositions is found in La Plata and Paraguay on the Gran Chaco, and is known as the Mbaya-Abipone, including the Mocobi, Toba, Lengua, and other dialects. Here, again, we meet with " soft vocalic forms," contrasting more or less with the manlier utterances of the Peruvian and Chileno tribes, who almost invariably employ postpositions. The verb, again, is essentially the same as that of the Quiche, the pronoun intervening between the temporal index and the root ; thus in ne-ya-enagui, I came, de-ya-enagui, I shall come, ne is the index of past, and de of future time. But, in the neighbouring Peruvian and Chileno languages, the temporal index follows the verbal root, as in Iroquois, Dacotah, etc. Of the positions of the accusative and genitive in this family I am not able to speak. It is worthy of note, however, that in Mbaya the adjective follows the noun it qualifies, while in the Maya-Quiche and Algonquin languages it precedes, as in the majority of American tongues. The identity in form of the Mbaya and the Quiche verb, a form in itself so peculiar, and differing so widely from those of nearly all other American languages, is the main link uniting the earlier fortunes of the Mbaya- Abipone family with those of the Maya-Quiche and the Algonquin. 1898-99O DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 311 "Turning now from America, where can the philologist discover a language or group of languages that will satisfy the grammatical conditions of the prepositional American family in comparison ? Such language or languages must be soft, abounding in vowel sounds, must employ prepositions, must set the temporal index before the verbal root, and, if we take the Quiche and Mbaya as typical, must also make it precede the pronoun before the root, must postpone the accusative to the verb, and probably the genitive to its governing word, and the adjective to its noun. These conditions are numerous enough to satisfy the most exacting critic. I do not profess an exhaustive acquaintance with the grammatical systems of the Old World ; but after a survey of the most important of these, I find one that does fulfil all the conditions and only one. It is that of the Malay-Polynesian languages, which cover the vast area from Malacca to New Zealand, and from Mada- gascar to the Sandwich and Easter Islands. Every one who has ever heard of these languages knows that they carry the palm for soft liquid sounds over all other tongues. They use prepositions, and prepositions exclusively. Their verb is identical in structure with that of the Quiche and Mbaya. Take, for instance, the verb " to make," in the language of the Tonga or Friendly Islands, which \s gnahi, and compare it with the corresponding Mbaya \erh yoeni ; the Tongan ne-oo-gnahi, I made, and te-00-gnahi, I shall make, are not simply analogous to, but identical with, the Mbaya ne-ya-yoeni, de-ya-yoeni. In the case of the accusative na-ia-gnahi he togi, " he made axes," is a Tongan sentence exhibiting its position after the verb in the Malay-Polynesian languages, thus furnishing a fourth point of agreement between these languages and the prepositional American forms of speech. The nominative was found to precede the genitive in the Maya-Quiche, and this is its position in the Tongan, as in tama he mataboole, " the child of the chief." Finally, in Mbaya the adjective follows the noun ; and the Tongan he tangata lille, a man good," shews that it is thus in accordance with Malay-Polynesian order."* The agreement between Malay- Polynesian and Maya-Quiche grammar would be unconvincing in regard to the relationship of the peoples speaking these languages, without the support of their respective vocabularies. The comparison of these exhibits certain peculiar tendencies of the Maya, which, for the sake of unity, is alone compared in the list furnished in the Appendix, with the Malay-Polynesian dialects, such as its replacement of the insular t by c, and its addition of final 1 to the roots of verbs in many cases. As a literary language, however, it is more likely to have retained the ancient forms of the 312 TRANSACTIONS OF THU CANADIAN INSTITUTE. (VOL. VI. original Malay- Polynesian classical speech than those languages and dialects with which it is now compared. It is well known that in many parts of Polynesia the priesthood employed hymns, prayers and incan-. tations, the meaning of the language of which was entirely lost when the islands were first explored by Europeans." Chapter XVII. FACTS CONNECTED WITH THIS AFFILIATION. The Maya-Quiche peoples had the rite of circumcision which they administered along with that of baptism, called in Maya caputsihil, or the second birth. According to Landa this took place at the age of three, or at some point between three and twelve, but, according to Brasseur, it was not long after the birth of the child.* The writer has not been able to find the Maya word for circumcision. The rite is observed in Java and other islands of the Malay Archipelago, but as in eastern Africa, it seems to have come through Mahometan influence.-' It existed, however, in the Fiji, Friendly and Society Islands of Polynesia.' In the Tonga or Friendly Islands it was called tefe, and in Fiji, camo. The forms of this ceremony are described by Mariner, as practised in the two groups which have contributed largely to the com- parative vocabulary. * The Mexicans did not circumcise, and the late Rev. Abb6 Cuoq, in conversation with the writer, stated that the Iroquois have a word for circumcision, the mention of which excites in them violent hatred or abhorrent contempt. Like the Maya cartouches, this rite leads back to Egypt, where circumcision prevailed, though by no means universally, to Ishmael, Ammon, Moab, and Edom on its borders, to the Sanni of the Black Sea, and the Odomantians of Thrace^ rather than to Lord Kingsborough's Lost Tribes of Israel. The union of baptism with circumcision among the Maya-Quiches is much more difficult to account for, yet the Mexican priests baptized. The mishla drink described by Mr. Squier in his Adventures on the Mosquito Shore is of the same nature and of the same disgusting preparation as the cava of the Tonga Islands, and seems to have been the liquor with which Mayas, Quiches and Cachiquels made beasts of themselves in ancient days, for, according to Brasseur, sobriety, on the I898-99.1 DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIIT ON8 OF CENTRAL AMERICA. JIJ occasion of festivals, was not characteristic of these peoples/ The Maya name of the pulque liquor which takes the place of the Polynesian cava is at. In the number of their feasts, in their dances, their caste system, the absolute rule of their kings, their excessive imposts, their human sacrifices, and idolatrous scarifications, as well as in a host of other things, the Polynesians and the Maya-Quiches were virtually one people. The writer has not discovered the fadoo of Polynesia in Yucatan and Guatemala, but as the ceremonies of the two populations were the same it is not likely that this was wanting in Central America. A reference to the comparative vocabulary will show that, while the Tagala of the Philippines exhibits numerous correspondences with the Maya, the fuller dictionary of the Tonga displays a closer resemblance. The Tongan how^ a king, answers to the Maya ahau ; its coiv catanga, the suite of a chief, to the obscure Maya katun, a body of troops ; and its fatongia, a tax, impost, work to be done to discharge a tax (statute labour), to the equally obscure Maya /rt/rtw, tribute. Java .'^applies the best equivalents of the Maya uinic, man, and atan, wife, in its words wong a.v\A wadhon. The Maya numerals are very unlike those of the Malay -Polynesians at the present day, and have most of their affinities with those of the Pelew and Caroline Islands. This would suggest a migration route north of the equaton The Maya name has undoubted connections with that of Maui, the ancestral god of many Polynesian peoples, which, geographically, is represented by the native names of important islands, in New Zealand in the south, and in the Sandwich or Hawaiian group in the north. One important result of word comparison is that of the Maya ixim^ maize, with the Malay jagung or yagung. The Huastec form of the word is ajam. The discovery of maize forms a striking episode in the native legendary histories of the Quiches and the Aztecs. The Popol- Vuh of the former represents Gucumatz, or The Plumed Serpent, as going in search of it ; and the Mexican Codex Chimalpopoca attributes its discovery to Quetzalcoatl, whose name is supposed to have the same signification. One of my former correspondents, the late Dr. Short, in his North Americans of Antiquity, indicates that the Mexican account was probably borrowed from the Quiche.* Referring to the introduction into Mexico of the cultivation of maize and cotton, Dr. Pickering says : " Now, the art of cultivation could not have been derived from Oregon,- where the idea was aboriginally absent, a state of things connected apparently with the high northern source of the Mongolian population of America, the climate precluding agriculture in the parent countries. 214 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. ■. [VOL. VI. If, then, this art was introduced from abroad into America, it must have arrived by a more southern route, and, to all appearance, through the medium of the Malay race. I would remark further, that the route must have been yet south of San Francisco, where I observed only one, and that a doubtful, instance of aboriginal agriculture."^ But Humboldt says, " It is no longer doubted among botanists that Maize, or Turkey corn, is a true American grain, and that the old continent received it from the new." Humboldt was in his day a very wise man, but far from infallible. To his statement Mr. Crawford replies, referring to the Malay name for maize; " The word Jagung, which I imagine to be purely native, is the term by which this plant is known from one extremity of the archipelago to another. There can, therefore, be little doubt, as in the case of rice, that one tribe instructed all the rest in its culture. As far as a matter of this nature is capable of demonstration, it may also be conjectured that maize was cultivated in the Indian islands before the discovery of America, and that the plant is an indigenous product. The name bears no analogy to that of any language of America, although, in respect to their other exotic productions, whether animal or vegetable, either the native term, or one which points at the origin of them, is in- variably preserved in the languages of the Indian islanders"* There can be little doubt that Mr. Crawford is right, even although the Malay name looks like a corruption of the older Maya, the original of which may have been gncum, as in Gucumatz, to denote its feathery aspect, upon which the Algonquin mind dwells in the fable of Mondawmin." When the migration took place that brought the Maya-Quiche peoples to the west coast of America it may be difficult, even impossible, to tell, for it is evident that the Books of the Katuns, or chronological tables, of the Mayas embrace events belonging to periods in their history so ancient as to be generally ret^^arded as mythological. They were undoubtedly in their seats when the Othomis and Toltecs arrived in Mexico, in the beginning of the eighth century, A.D. Between that time and the fifteenth, to which the inscriptions read in this treatise belong, there was abundant time for developing the high culture of a certain kind which they indicate. There is no evidence of Sanscrit or Arabic influence in their dialects such as is found in the languages of the Malay Archipelago, as would naturally be expected from the distance of their time of separation from the parent stem ; nor does the Javanese calendar, the only native Malay calendar surviving, shew any affinity to that of the Mayas. " We have not even the means of determining when the Malay islands were first peopled. It is possible that hieroglyphic texts on stone may yet be found in the line of Malay-Polynesian migra- 1898-99O DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 2«5 tion. The writer observes that Dr, A. Carroll, of the Polynesian Society of Wellington, New Zealand, has presented some translations of the Easter Island Tablets, which are said to deal with South American history prior to the times of the Incas of Peru, but has not so far been able to examine them." If Dr. Carroll's readings be correct, the result rather inverts the order of thought on the subject, and favours De Zuniga's derivation of the South Sea islanders from America.'-' Many of the commoner and almost universal Malay-Polynesian words are wanting in Maya, nor are they found in the allied dialects. Such are lima, the hand, mata, the eye, langi, the sky, apt, fire, and weh, water. But the words that remain evidence as plainly their Malay-Polynesian origin, and, with a little trouble, and more extensive vocabularies than the writer possesses, the laws of phonetic change governing their permu- tations might easily be formulated. Thus, xictn, the ear, stands to the Tagalan tayinga, as uinic, a man, does to the Polynesian tangata. Per- haps the fairest way to exhibit relationship is to confine the comparison . to two dialects, placing the Maya and the Tagaia side by side, it being kept in mind that the author's vocabularies of each, and especially of the Tagaia, are far from complete. Maya Tagaia Maya Tagaia enemy ahaual caauay dem. pronoun lai yari night akab gaby east likin silangan child al aro to leave lukul lacar mat bac banig earth luum lupa flesh bak paa mother naa yna to pay botah bayar south nohol tanghali when ca cay Ian old nucte matanga we ca cami to break pa punitin tree che cahuy servant palil bulisic to seize chuuc colia coast pay bay-bay to sew chuy tahi to call pay ta-wag head hoi olo fighting puchtun pagaanay brave holcan halga heart puzcical pozo husband ich.in asauaii to deceive tabzah day a hand, arm kab Camay to return tulpach toloy jfold kantakin guinto moon u buan to bear koch liatir good utx ygui to come kuchut pan-gaHng to remain xantal hintay aversion kuxil sala ear xicin tayinga rel. pronoun lai alin father yun ama These languages have existed apart, with all the Pacific Ocean between them, for, at the very least, a thousand years. The wonder, therefore, is not to be able to find so few and such distant resemblances, but so it6 TRANS' ^i'lC.S OF THE CANADIAN INSTITI"--.. [VOL. VI. many and so close. Where in the Old World did the civilization orig- inate, which, driven from itc primeval seat, left its architectural traces in Java, and scattered them over the islands of the Pacific, which carried literature in its train to ornament the present savagery of Easter island, and to adorn the walls of Palenque, Copan and Chichen-Itza? It was the civilization of the oldest nations of the world, told in many an ancient song and story. The writer has much to say on that subject, but reserves himself until the critics have begun to be critics indeed, that is, to drop preconceived notions, falsely termed those of science, which, in many fields of antiquarian rv search, have led to and will always lead to nothing, and to adopt a little real study of their subjects in the light of common sense. Misled by Landa's spurious alphabet, the interpreters of the Maya codices are still floundering in obscurity, while the true method of interpretation is patent to any candid observer. The same is true regarding Sinaitic, Hittite, Susian, Lat Indian, Siberian, Mound- Builder American, Etruscan interpreters and many more, whose labours proceed upon a pin-head of worthless authority, as valueless to the interpreter as the traditional straw to the swimmer. Authority, in many cases of the mysterious at least, is a useful thing to discard. 1898-99.] DECIPHERISfi HIER03LYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 217 APPENDIX I. NOTES TO THE CHAPTERS. Chapter I. , . • • 1. Ap. Brasseur de Boiirbourjj, Nations civilis^es du Mexique, etc., Tome I., p. 68. 2. Stepliens and Catherwood, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan; Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, \'ol. IV.; Baldwin, Ancient America; Short, North Americans of Antiquity ; see also a good essay in the American Antiquarian, Vol. VI,, p. 53. 3. Nations civilistJes, Tome I., page 82. 4. Baldwin, Ancient America, 105 seq. Mr. Baldwin was in error in supposing the Maya characters to be understood. 5. Short, North Americans of Antiquity, 344 seq. 6. Morgan, Houses and House Life of the American Aborigines, Smithsonian Contri- butions to North American Ethnology, Vol. IV^., pp. 268-9. Chapter II. 1. The Tablet of the Cross at Palenque, American Antiquarian, \'ol. VI., p. 53. 2. Warren Watson, The Taolet of the Cross, Kansas City Review, \'ol. VI., p. 269. 3. Stephens, Incidents of Travel. 4. Brinton, The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths, p. 22. 5. Brasseur, Nations civilis^es. 6. Kenrick, Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs, II., 277. 7. Edinburgh Review, April, 1867, p. 341. 8. Crawford's Indian Archipelago, I., 283, plate. 9. Prichard, Latham, Brassey. 10. Thomas, .A Study of the Manuscript Troano, pp. 205-6. Chapter III. 1. Orozco y Berra, Geografia de las longuas y Carta E^tnografica de Mexico; Make Brun, Tableau de la Distribution ethnographique des nations et des langues au Mexique. 2. Brinton, Aboriginal .\ulhors. ' : ... 3. Brinton, Introduction to Codex Troano, and Introduction to The Maya Chronicles Thomas, A Study of th«j Codex Troano; L«^on de Rosny, Codex Cortesianus, Codex Peresianus. 4. The Maya Chronicles, etc. . • ••. , . \ '■> • ■■ : • >v. . 5. Perez and De Rosny ap. Short. ' • .. ■ ,';'.'^ ^ 6. Brinton, Introduction to A Study of the Mnnuscript Troano, p. xx. . . -• ,J.... n8 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. ■^ Chapter IV. .^ 1. Rau, Tablet of the Cross at Palenque, Smithsonian Contributions. 2. Brasseur, Nations civiiis^es, Tome II.', p. 525. 3. Brasseur, II., 478. 4. Brasseur, III., 338, 355. 5. Brasseur, II., 530. 6. Brinton, The Maya Chronicles, 247. 7. Brasseur, II., 579. 8. Brasseur, II., 478. 9. Brasseur, II., 533-4. 10. Brasseur, II., 535, seq. « 11. Brinton, The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths, 11. Chapter V. V 1. Brasseur, III., 369. There are chronological difficulties in the way of Cocyopi at this time. 2. Brasseur, IV., 624. Chapter VI. 1. Brinton, The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths, 11. 2. Popol Vuh ; Brasseur, Nations ; Brinton. 3. Brinion, The Names of the Gods, 16. 4. Brinton, The Names of the Gods, 11. Chapter VII. I. Analysis of the Palenque Tablet : Leftside. ox, three. kaxul, kuxil, disgusted. ahattoh, chiefs. Nakhun, proper name of a Huastec tribe. Uactokoby Huastecs, in the genitive of positi..!.. to Nakhun. Bohn pak, literally, the nine building or stone wall, meaning the fortress of Palenque. HolhtiH, literally, fifteen, standing for Holom, a town of Vera Paz. puchtunob, plural of puchtun, quarreling, fighting. Uaxac, literally, eight, denotes the State of Oaxaca. Hunich, literally, one face, or it may be hun edz, the one established, a new word. nak-xiciti-ob, a com(K>und verb, consisting oi nak, to finish, and xic, to split, divide, in the third person plural. It is hard to account for the in of xicin, and one is tempted to make the verb still more complex, as ftakci-dzanob, they finished devastating, for dzan is to devastate. Oxmuyal, the three clouds, denoting Uxmal in Yucatan. <»jr, three, standing for j'<7^, before. tzeni, tan, breast, for dzan, to devastate. xulob, third plural o{ xul, to end. holpop, a chieftain. , cah, town. . . ■ ^ I898-99-1 DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. aig Cawtf/fr, the name of the Quiche dynasty. pet, wheel, for bet, betah, to do, to make. CamV^, a proper name, the ruler given to Uxmal by Quiche. Nohpat, the last king of Uxmal. ' cah, the verb substantive. . , ' . ~ xkan dzulop, for yaxchuu, beginning, tsolob, lines. fA»"/W for /j/aV, obedient. • ■ , ahauob, lords, needs no further notice in the Analysis, nor does '• • Uaxac, Oaxaca. ppoc pptil, for popol, people ; ob, the plural. kabbak, for what the dictionary gives as keban, sin, evil. dzibiorcib, desire. ox, three, ior yok, over. ^ • kak for coc/t, to spread. kachilek for kttxil, disgusted ; the final ek resembles the ac in kebac, wiclced. kuxilek ahauob Uaxac are now known words. ;r;V-;«<;/, composed of jf/V, to divide, and /;W, together. can, four. Bolon, Palenque. tokob for toxob, which is the plural of tox, to pour out, but also to divide towns to different rulers. As a noun I read it nomarch. ox Buluc tokob, three nomarchs of Buluc, perhaps, Baliz. Literally, buluc is eleven. uuc, seven. caantok, perhaps for catac, and. ox xic ahauob have occurred before, as have Uxmal ahauob. Ox Winic, literally three men, but denoting a dignitary called in Cachiquel the Atsih Winak. canob, plural of can, to converse, talk. x/c, division, /not, together. ox for yok, over. dzib for cib, desire. kab for keb, an abbreviation of keban, wicked. ccum u, for cah, the verb substantive, and u, the possessive pronoun. Uxmal pak, the Uxmal building, fortress or city. Nohpat ahau are known terms. thun-xiciit-ob, an expedient for than, word, ci, sweet, pleasant, and canob, they talk, or rather, cen-ob, they talked. Cah Cawek akkuleh, the ahkuleh or lieutenant of the House of Cawek. Oxcabuc, in Cachiquel Wukabatz, the chief Cachiquel adviser of King Qikab of Quiche. Hunco should evidently be read Huntoh, for such is the Cachiquel name of the colleague of Wukubatz. poppol for pof>ol, people. pet for bet, to make. nakkab for nahuha, to desire for one's self. chipettokob for cib betahob, they make the wish. Oxlahun Pek, the Cachiquel Oxlahuh-Tzy, literally Thirteen Dogs. hun ahau ahauob, one king of kings. ^<)/(9;/ /a^ no longer needs translation. kapettan for kebanthan, to plot evil, to commit treason. toh as in Huntoh, right, just. hokachiob for hokzahuba,, to take oneself away from. j xicin, the ear, hearing. .< ■zap TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANAD/'N INSTITl'TB. [VOL. VI. ca, two. caiiob, from can, to tell. Cablahun Tok, in Maya Lahca Tok^ in Cachiquel Cahlahuh 7'ihax, Twelve Flint Knives, the name of the colleague of Oxlahun Pek. lahun, ten. /tun xicin ox ox kab chap, for him xkin ezah yok keh cib, in which ezah is to discover, make public, whWe yok keh cib, over evil desire, are well known. p/>oc-chi ior pax i, i\.or\H{ oi paxal, to abandon. ..- ' kax, united. ., i ' - cabakttin ior kebac than, now kehanlkan, to rebel. i - : • • *■ pettunyuh ior patau, \.v\\i\\\.ii,'A\\ •:' • • •■/■ • « -' ca, when. catunob for kaianob from kat, to ask. The an or un is unexplained. mazcabcun, for ma, no, edzcab, promptly, and can, to say. kabox for knbuc, compare Maya kubulte, delivery, deposit. This form is new. poppnl for popol, people. catunob for katun, a body of warriors. . . • . ■ • j , . nakob, from nak, to finish in the sense of defeat. ' - ' Cacul, a proper name of a rebellious chief. IVinic Yith, the same as Ox Winic, who in the Cachiquel story bears the name Cay Hunahpu. . Uaxaclaknn, literally eighteen, but standing for Oaxaca and litkun ; compare luknl. Ink), Inkuc, to leave, and hikanil, that which is separated. fapefchi, query the Maya chttnbezah, to bej.'in, and cainbezah, to instruct ; some officer i)r leader. A new word. < Tinntun, for hiinten, at one time. catch, probably for chaac, to take. cacanoh for ca.MVi, to seek, to find. /'a/i (7//// for Xv/^ r//^, evil desire. fipoc for path, to take possession of. oxcii i/ieex, (or yok, over, and kamah, to take possession of. utic for hayac, but in Maya, hayal, to destro}'. tok for toe, to burn. ex ktilel for yoklal, by reason of, because of; query, by means of, Uaxacliihnn, literally eighteen, but containing Ua.xac, Oaxaca, lai, those, and //, their. irh, in. , > ox hun-xiil ior yok hunkul, over forever. kax^ united, as above. nakxicinob, as in the beginning of the inscription. o.r /w/, query /W(<7;(T //ft/, to emerge forcibly. ^ * tapetchi, see above, an unknown office. oxlokob ior yok, over against, and tock, to contend, hence opponents or rebels. captlhun, a variant of unknown capetchi, Caichxik,». proper name of a revolting chief. - ., • 2. Analysis of the Palenque Tablet : Right side. •.'..>■ aA^i;/», a Quiche title of royalty, Brasseur. '■ ■■ ' • • • • • ■ puchtunob, plural o'i puchtun, quarreling, fighting. Uitclahun, literally seventeen, stands probably in its Cachiquel form uticlahtih for Zaachilla of Oaxaca. Cakaaxha, the proper name of the 4th Zaachilla, namely Cocyoeza. v - . C(i^/tjr«>(', or the Caichxik of the left side, ^ .: 4 - ' y . jnV, united, mol, together. - " ">V ' *"^'- *** - '"' .»»''>^ *' I898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 221 can, very, iax, united. uakoh, they finish. katuHob, is a verb meaning to make war, to fig^ht, in this place. See'Brinton, Maya Chronicles, p. 58. pak, building, town, niol, together. lahiin for liikiin, deserting. See left side. Uaxac/ahiin, eighteen, for Uaxac lai 11, Oaxaca those its. " , - ox tokof), ior yok-lockoh, fighters before or against, rebels. .V ' . /w (Viiirt/*, query an expedient for j/^^' t^rtiit;;/, I take over. • ' ^ ' canlakuii, fourteen. ... • ' . .... .• ' kaaxob, (or chuitcoh, prisoners. ' ' ! . / ppoc-pptil for popol, people. ■ ' ■ * ca, when. ^ Xv;/ for «A/t/«, priest. ..•.•; . • ^ . - .. •- Ca<^/a/ ///(•///w/tf^, they fight. ■ . :. . • '" .* ., chi, border. • ' - - .. ^ ^ canlahnn, fourteen. holokob for holoch-ob, houses. . . yok, over. . • bet for betah, to make. - (VZ/MrtX'/«« for raw, very, and ///(•///««, quarreling. • oa7(J-<'tf/' for joX'-/(7(/'-o/', rebels, opposers. . . -• oxkin ior hokin,\ %ii\. owX. 6'rtavTf-/fi//««, eighteen, for c/axrtc- /(I/ «, Oaxaca these its. . lahnn for lukun, to desert, separate, pakmol-ob ; pak, town, mol, together. Uaxaclahun is Uaxac Itikun. • • ' Tnnxicob, the name of the city or Stale of Cacul. Cacul, a rebellious chief, in genitive of position to the preceding. canpak. Is this the Chunbezah again ? kalkab for kal, to imprison, and chab, to take. Tinixicinob, a variant of Tunxicob. Could the ear have been simply xic f ca, when. kope/ for ubaA, to hear, understand. hotokob for hotochob, houses. nuc-kin for Juiyac, to destroy. The following kin is unaccounted for. Cahcab Uticlahtin ahau, is a Zaachilla king, and the only one so called is Cocyopi, son of Cocyoeza. tiuc for hauac, haul, haual, but hauac is future, to cease, to stop. can, to speak, mol, together, caninol, to parley. hopoppet for nbah bet, to hear makes. (vrwraa-, very united. * . . capach for c hah, to take, /acrA, possession. • , ... uaxaclahun, eighteen. - - Uactokob, Huastecs. See beginning of left side. - t ' \ ' nakob, query from nakal, to approach, join. /■ canpakchi, more like the Chunbezah or leader. ». •; , Lahun Pek, probably the Cachiquel Lahuh-Noh, son of Cablahuh-Tihax. aaa- transactions of the Canadian institute. v [Vol VI. Bolonlahim, nineteen, but here Patenque and lukim, separating^. utic tokob for hayac lockob, they will cease to fight. nakob, as above, they join. pak-ca pek-bak ior pack, possession, chab, to take. This leaves ek-bak unexplained. hunkal, one twenty or score. nakob, as above, they join. - hokin, I set out. 3. Analysis of Detached Groups : G to L 6. , kachilek for kuxil, disgusted. ■ , . " . ca, when. ,' . • . I petttin ior palan, tribute. . ' /•a/w« for X'rt/, to ask. __ ' . fa/j/WM for fA««Ma«, president. ' ' • \ ' - . •, ' <7j(r /('«/«/ for _y't>^'^^/ >(v/^, over doing evil. " 6. Analyst of R. ' .. ' ' pakob uac, towns six. tokob for toc-ob, they bum. This makes the plural name of Oxlahun Pek require a plural verb. • ^ ' uaxac, eight. Cah Cawek Ahaii Ahpop, the full title of the Quiche kings. caxuL perhaps cuchiil, family and retainers, subjects. ox pet kaby the old formula yok bet keb, over doing evil. cctox, query, chaah, to kill. ca, when. oxtokob {ov yoktock, to fight before or over against. pattun catun for patan katan, tribute asking. pet tun catun pop for patan katan pop, the tribute asking, pop or mat, the mark of office, a Cachiquel seat of custom. ca, then, ppocxul for paxal, to depopulate. fflfa*, a commune. 7. Analysis of M and N. Ho Cakulel for Ku, a god, and Cakulel, a name of Tepeu. Brinton's Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths, 1 1. Ho Hunnakpet for Ku, and HunaApu, a famous deity, like ih^j Babylonian Nabu or Nebo. Ho Paktunox, perhaps Ku Puchtun-yok, the fighting over or conquering god, identi- fied with the bird of the Tablet, r] DKCIPHBRINO HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. M$ Ho Holhun for Ku HoUan, the warrior god, also known as Hurakan. & Analysis of Basal Inscription. ra, two. . • popoh, mats or thrones. Holhun for Hurakan. uuc for hayac, destroy. Buctanox for Puchtunox, the bird Vaku, cankax, very united. kulel, enter. v ' • - hun, one. Pak is the only remaining new word, and its meaning here is unknown. 9. Analysis of Inscription on the Cross. ca, then. •- canpetchi, the chunbezah or principal. , ' « uac for hayac, destroy. - ■ • . cabitchun ior chc^ac-on, vie WxWed, or chabac-en,\]x\\\eA. cantun, X\\e chunlhan, or ^res\deni. ,, .' tun for than, a word, used as the verb t» speak. ^ r bak, the number 400. "■ , - - capet for kebanthan,- to rebel. /£//a^ for ^£/^K°^, made a possession or prisoners. . capetxic, still another form oi chunbezah. 10. Analysis of the Inscription suspended from the bird's tail. '■■".. thun (or than, a word. " ' j . cacan/ahun ich for chacanha/ Hunich ; chacanha/ means to marxifest. . '. ox ca yub for yok chaab, over the kWVing. 11. Analysis of inscription behind the left-hand figure. Cheoxak for Cakaaxha or Cocyoeza. ox tun pak ca yub for yok tan pak chaab, before centre city kills. ox thun pet hun can buc tun ca for yok than patan can puchtun ca, over word tribute saying fight when. catun ca pet tun buk tun ca pet ca yub for katun kebatthan puchtun kebal chaab, army rebelling quarrelsome rebel kills, 12. Analysis of inscription behind the right-hand figure. ' ~ ^ Oxlahun Pek. , ca, when. ox tun for yok tan, before the middle. ca pet tun (or kebatthan, rebel. ' thun pet hun cayub for tan patan chaab, towards tribute kills. ca thun for katun, army. ca pet tun (or kebatthan or kebanthan, rebel. can, to tell. ca tun ca for katun ca, two katuns of 20 years. tsuc ca, two tsucs of 4 years. 13. Analysis of the line to the right of the Ns. ca tun for katun, army. pet for bet, makes. . . huntun (or hunten, at one time. fa /MM ^a^, two to the da/&, or four hundred. _ ' • ■ . pet hun (or patan, tr'thxite. pak (or pach, possession, prisoners. 14. Analysis of the line to the left of the Ms. ' '. :)~~ xic, to divide. ' . " ""^ 224 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. VI. ' hunttin for kuntefi, at one lime. Cheoxak for Cakaaxha. capet for kebat^ wicked. nak^ the abdomen. 15. Analysis of line between lower part of L and base of Cross. ox for yok^ before, over. xic, to divide. lahtui for liikiin, separate. capet ior kehat, W\c)i.eA. - . • akau pe( tun for ahau pa/an, kmg's tribute. '' ■ " . J. » Chapter V'lII. " -.; ... 1. Baldwin, Ancient America, III. v " "" 2. Analysis of the Copan Tablet. • , //w/s/ii, in Cachiq ic' T///5/(i, chief writer. Holhtiii, fifteen, but h.rre denoting Holoni in Vera Paz. , . ." -K O.r/^/, the name of the chief scribe, ■» . . • , . ppoi /ttn for puc/ttun, f\f;ht'ing, , , "• Biiluc, probably Baliz, but not necessarily Belize in Honduras. ! Htiuich, the same officer as the murdered one at Palenque. Oxlahun Pek as at Palenque. ' - i * Lahca or Crt/^/rt^«« without Tok. . . catun for katuu, army. can to tell. • iiiak kab for mazcab, a. prison, here used as a verb. Hunzt'c-Hnncabcan, the offending' Hunich's name. Oxpet, proper name, see above. caca for chiica, to grasp, kill, here slayer. ka/kab, compare ka/, to imprison, and mazcab^ a prison. ihun dzib for taucab; compare /«;/, middle, within, and taticakal, the premises of a house. ca, then; Uac inn ox for Uac than ox, the speakers of Uac or Yaqui, that is, Mexicans ; Brin- ton, Brasseur, etc. ca tun for katun, army, hnn tun for hunten, atone time. can, say. mak for ma, no. nak ox for nacac of the verb nacal, to ascend. Uaxac ich, Oaxaca into. ca, when. kachikk for kuxil, disgusted. ' , "* , tun tok for than toe, the word pour out or spread. xic, to split, divide. . : . ^, . Uac tun for Uac tkan, speaker of Uac. ;. .■ ' Ca;wjr, the ahau of Copan. . ■ ., '. . ■ ,. -^' kapaktun for kebantkan, io rebe\. '. - ' ' , ,;. Oxlahun Buc for Pek. pet for bet, makes. caca for chuca, slayer, see above. ' •. 1898-^.] DKCIPHKRING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OK CENTRAL AMERICA. 335 Oxpety the chief scribe, in genitive of position to <'^»co. tok for to(, to burn. Copan, conjectural, but as followed by Ahau Canox, undoubtedly is the name of the place where the inscription was found. >i(ik, to finish, governing Hunich. pakoh, towns. nak-xifin, the compound verb of destruction found at Palenque. ox can cab thih ior yok can keb cih, over speaking evil desire. ox popob for ahpop, the Quiche title of royalty. * /^/ /«w Uaxaclahun ox dzib for Uaxac Inkun yok cib, Oaxacans desert over desire. / •' . dzib pet kab for cib bet keh, desire making evil. ' ' Uaxac thun ox for Uaxac than ox, the speakers of Oaxacan. - • ^i/t/«/ for /kc^ (^^, the Cachiquel lieutenant of Quiche. tan, within. ■ ■ cab, the land. Oxyih, a district including the country east of Chichen Itza. Huntoh, see above. ^ pet for bet, makes. catun for katntt, army. « Oxyib, see above. . jim/, an end, to end. • Oxyib pak, the fortress (Maya paa) of Oxyib. Hunkhoh, a plural form for the name of one person, the same, probably, as the Hunich of Palenque and Copan. For Hunich, the Maya hun edz, one estab- lished, was proposed. Hunichob may be the allied Ann edzcab. pet catun hoi for bet kattin hoi, places army door or end. Oxcabuc, the Cachiquel lieutenant, as at Palenque. Hunich, the one established, as at Palenque and Copan. Catch, the inscription's form of the word Quiche. Dr. Brinton proposes Kich^. So far no Maya hieroglyphic equivalent to the sound ki has been found, so that Caich may be a mere necessary expedient. ^ dzib thun hunkal catun for dzih than hunkal katun, write word twenty warrior. . * ~ ca dzib for katzib or Akatzib, a town or fortress near Chichen Itza. . holob, holes or cells. catuhi for xanac or xanchi, future of xantal, to stay behind, remain ; futurity lies in, in order to remain. pet {or bet, makes. ' ' .• buc tun for puchtun, quarreling, fighting. catun for katun, army. 1898-99^] DBCIPHRRINO HIBROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. ItJ hollun for holthmtf the chief of speech, Hiiswering to the Maya chunthan, president or ^rst of speech. oxich for yoii^dz, estahlished over, a new official title. chitim /V^fjr stand^i for Chkhen Itsa, there is no doubt, and sug{jfests that tun must have been pronounced tsuii. The final ox is harder to account for ; ca would have been better, capet pak ior kefxxt pak, wicked city. The later termination an oi kehaii does not appear on these monuments. X-K/WM ahau and xnl need no more explanation. Oxyib pop denotes the ruler of the Oxyib by his /to/, mat or throne. 2. Analysis of line 2. Oxhiu, the name of the ruler of Oxyib, the author apparently of the inscription. patan katun, askings tribute. paMo/ for paxa/, to desert. Huniihoh, see line i. ox tun pet ca chi xiil ior yokfaii het Cachu/iiel. I suppose >'<'^ /(?/<, opposite the breast, to mean an opponent, "^his is the first time the Cachiquel name has appeared. tun xul hoi kax ich for dzan to ruin, xnl to end, hoi hole, kak fire, and i(h in. dzih tun for dzib than, writini; word. " . uac for hayac, destroy. , _ ■• faa&//i or A'a/s//>, the fortress or town. ' - ' ^ '. .■ . uac a>^ain for hayac. tun for tan, within ; m\A pet for bet, to make. , Katun Hunichob need no explanation. bat for bet, make. . ' ^//r for ///(7<, possession, captive. , katun and xul must by this time be as familiar as any English words. Oxyib tun for tan, within. OofAwc ^'rt///;/ reverses the usual order of the genitive. caoxtun for chuuc and tan, seizing in or plundering, /rtt'^ x«/ for /rtJTrt/, to desert. Caich for Quiche, 3. Analysis ot line 3. katun ahau katun need no more explanation. - ' ' > caxul for kuxil, disgusted. thunob for thanob, words. dzib Hunichob, write the Hunichob. . ~ can, to speak, tell. Oxlahun Pek as in Palenque and Copan, but occupying a subordinate position. pet yokmuyalfor bet Uxinal, makes Uxnial. cantun for chunthan, president. pop, ruler, pak, of the city. chichixul for Cachiquel. ^■(j/w;//rt/aMj(j^ ^a/a«, army tribute over asking. katun, warrior. buc pet for pach, a possession, bet, makes. Oa-j'MA, probably a truer phonetic than Ojt//^. , xic. to divide. ' ^ ox holtun pak for yok, over, holthan, the chief speaker, or holdzan, the chief destroyer pak, of the city. ..■.■... /«/ x«/ for ^«/ jTw/, makes an end. . , • ^ xul, an end. 228 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITI'TE... .. . [VOL. VI. huntiiii pet Huuihiyuh for httnteti, at one time, het, niake^, Hmtichoh ; the form of the last looks like careless writing'. 4. Analysis of line 4. '- ■ ' ^ ' ' ' ', . C///V/<(';*, an abbreviated form of CV/»i."^£« //srt. ' '■ ' ', " ' 1 :i ' pak xiil ior paxal, io desert. ' » *_ ■ r pack for pak, town. '. , ' . ■_; (■(j.r«/ for /fr//.r//, disgusted. ' \ ^ •-' ^'- .■ ,_, tun for tkan^ word. • ' , ' ' ' - ■ ■_ . Oxyiib fiin ior Oxyiih-than, s^eaXiers oi On.y\ih. , . ' (•/«/ for (v///, aorist of chi for lihi, see above. •. ' ' ' 5. Analysis of line 5. canlahun, fourteen. • . huctunyah for puchtunoh, fighters. ' , cacanyah for caxanoh, they find. tok tun xi'i for toe dzan xi'c, burn, ruin, divide. ' • caox for chuuc-, to seize. . - oxi'hi cabuc for Yokihi Ca7vek, which seems an error, for Yokich, as in line i ; perhaps the mouth is a face ich. caca in the Copan inscription was read as chuca, slayer | here it may be simply cah a town. - tun for tan, within. kulcl, to govern. ■ ' cahol ior kahal, to recall. 6. Analysis of line 6. . , ' . ihitun for Chichen. katun, puihtun, pop, het, -Are we\\\inovin. uucyib for hayaeob, they destroy. holtnn for holthan, chief speaker, or holdzan, chief executioner. Cayiib, a new proper name connected with Quiche. pet caox for bet chuue, makes a seizure. Inik, the number 400. oxchi for Yokihi, instead of Yokich, the one placed over. caox for ihuuc, to seize. 7. Aniilysis of line 7. eaiih cabak for Caich or Quiche Cawei. buc (or puch or wooh, a. letter. ■ ■ ■ i catun for kat-an, .'isking. " ' . - iki' for cib, permission. , . " -. yokhol for hokol, to set out. . -^ ' ' , cantun for chunthan, president. ca bat xul ox huutun for kehat xul yok hunten, wicked end over at one time. . l898-99>l DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRlPTlftNS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 229 /^/ ^//c tor /^^//rtc^, make possession, ^ ,, tokhol ior dzocol, io end. •'- " • '' ' yok hunttin ior yok htititen, -Ai once. ' ' holtun for holthan or koldzaii. See line 6. '.. ;' ' - -^ oxtiin'iov yoktan, o^)^osex. '" " , .' ' 8. Analysis of the Akatzeeb Inscription : Line i. • * *' - lahtin tn kal, thirty. tiac pet uuc for hayac bet hayac. It seems as if the scribes employed both uac, 6, and utic, 7, for hayac, destroy. uac again for hayac. katun, puchtun and bet have occurred so often as to need no further comment. • ,.' caoxtun for chuuc-taii, seizing in or spoiling. chittm ichttiii for Chichen Itza. capak for chab-ac ; chab is to capture or to kill ; ac is unaccounted for. " . , ^ holhun, fifteen. caoxtun for chiuic-taii, used as a noun. Lahiin Pek can hardly be the Lahnn Pek, son of Cablahun Tok, whose name appears at Palenque, but the so-called Lahuh-Ah, Ten Reeds, the eldest son of Huntoh, who did not live long. ' tiiuyal pop for tmilhab or mulba, to congregate, come together. caoxtun again for chuuctun. fwf/rt^ww, as at Palenque, Zaachilla of Oaxaca. • ' hopetob, as at Palenque, for ubah, nbatob, they hear. yoktock, to fight in front of; yoktan, in front of the breast. 9. Analysis of line 2. wa>6 «rt^(7(6, reduplicate of intensit\\ xicob, they divide. chitun ior Chichen. canlahun, fourteen. uac is not hayac here, but hauac, to ce;ise. chixul for tzicil, to obej". pak ior pack, possession. ox huntun hoi can, yok huutcn ho/can, at once the chief caller. Holcan means warrior and brave, but also (Brinton, Maya Chronicles, 248) the head calloi . Nothing else in this line calls for explanation. 10. Analysis of line 3. cakab for cacab, the commune, i tun for than, word. chi for cihi, aorist of cen, to say, tell. buc pet for pack bet. mazcabcun ca for mazcab, prison, and xanac, to remain. hoi pet pet tun kak for hoi bet bet Ian kxk. The literal translation is with the toxi. caoxtun for chuuc-tan. hi'uthun for chnnthan, president. 1 1. Analysis of line 4. Buluc katun, the army of Baliz. Cachthol for Cachiquel. cakab for cacab, the commune. caoxtun for chuuc-tan. yok, over, often must be translated as by. , ' Bolon- Hunk hob, the one established in Palenque. * ' _ 230 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL VI. Chapter XV. 1. Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, II., 341. 2. Brinton, The Maya Chronicles, 25, 231. 3. Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, II., 228. 4. Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, II., 265. 5. Brasseur, Nations civilis^es, II., 505. Chapter XVI. 1. Crawford, The Indian Archipelago; Laing, View of the Origin and Migrations of the Polynesian Nation ; Humboldt, Kawi-Sprache ; Whitmee, The Ethnology of the Pacific ; Prichard, Physical History of Mankind ; Latham, The Varieties of Man ; Baldwin, Ancient America, Appendix ; Journal of the Polynesian Society. . , _ . . 2. Mariner, Tonga Islands, II., loq. ^ 3. On the Origin of some American Indian Tribes, Canadian Naturalist, Vol. IX, No. 2, p. 74. 4. Canadian Naturalist, Vol. IX., No. 2, p. 68. ' ...is 5. Mariner, Tonga Islands, II., 183. . , Chapter XVII. 1. ap. Thomas, A Study of the Manuscript Troano, 229; Brasseur, Nations Civilis^es, II., 5'. 568. 2. Crawford, Indian Archipelago, I., 94. 3. Lang, View of the Polynesian Nation, 13. 4. Mariner, Tonga Islands, II., Appendix CIV. 5. Squier, Adventures on the Mosquito Shore, 232. 6. North Americans of Antiquity, 241. . 7. Pickering, Races of Man, London, 113. 8. Crawford, Indian Archipelago, I., 366. 9. Schoolcraft, Hiawatha Legends. 10. Mr. Whitmee finds traces of Sanscrit in Malagasy. 11. Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. I., p. 190. 12. Zuniga, Historia de las Islas Philipinas. 1898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 231 APPENDIX II. TABLE OF THE MOST COMMONLY RECURRING SYMBOLS. Numbers marked by balls up to four and occasionally beyond that number ; fives denoted by thick lines, the length generally of the cartouche. King, chief, lord, denoted by an inscribed semi-circle over a dot or hall, ahau. Man, figure of, uinic. Woman, figure or head of, chup. Head, pol or hoi. Forehead, chiiek. Face or eye, ich, Nose, nu, Mouth, open, chi\ Mouth with food in, mak. Tongue, ak. Tooth, toh or co, Earj plain or ornamented, xicin. Beard, ineex, Breast, tan, tzem, Back, paih. Abdomen, nak, « Phallus, kulel, Arm or hand, kab. Foot, oc, Dog, pek, Wild cat, ekxuc. Bird, kox, Parrot, xkan dsuhp, Bird-god, puch. Bird's beak, xul. Bird's wing, xic. Turtle shell, ac. Bee, cab. Tree, che. Branch, ak. Bean, yib. Trefoil, ka. Cloak, co9X,yub, Cap, hat, ppoc, - Shoe, ^a^, <■• Covering over, buc. Sun's rays, kin. Sky, caan. Moon, », Cloud, muyal. Rain, chac. Fire, kak, ■ • Stone, tun. Building, /a^, ' ^ Cross, /a>(. Inverted cross or well, chen. Stones crossed, xk. Drop on stone, thun, Cultivated ground, pak. Writing, dzib, Flint flakes in circle, tok^ Tied bundle, bak. Upright bundle divided at top, ca. Cavity, hoi. Comb, ca, . . Wheel or circle, pet, ^ Mat, pop. Jar, ppul. Kettle, mazcabcan. Bracket or union, kax. Imperfect circles united by horizontal line, tan, A thing placed over, yok. Standing '.ymbol at end, xuf; '■ " Plurality at foot of group, ob. 232 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. VI. APPENDIX III. Maya. English. aliau, king, chief, ahaual, enemy, ahcuxan, life, ak, tongue, akab, night. al, child, atari, wife, baat, axe. bac, bak. bone, flesh, COMPARATIVE VOCABULARY OF MAYA AND MALAY-POLYNESIAN > . WORDS. Malay-Polynesian, '■ how Tonga, aiki Marquesas, uca Taiatvan, sau Kottima, Fiji. caauay, lagala. kauaghan, Formosa. ■ ■■ - aki Ternati, Tidore, gigi Am. gaby 'J'agala, gabe Bisayan, sabi Cagayan, gubie Bolaiighitain, hnbbi Sangiiir, cappasay Peleiv. ala Wahai, lea Rotuina, aro Tagala. betina Malay (woman), ■wa.dhon Java (woman), vasai Batau, badog Suiida, bandu Madura, mataii Fiji, pedah Sangiiir, peda Sulu, Tidore, beda Ahtiago, Matahelh, badi Bajii, rede Gah. bookoog Sulu, wukii Macassar, wukuna Bugis, biiko Sauguir, bakas Baju, boko Salayer, obuku Bou/on. paa Tagala, wat Formosa, woknii Gani, waouti Awaiya, mbithi /•'///. bookooiiae Sulu. halimc'io Lanipung, harimao Malay. baniak Malay, bete Tarawan, pipi Tohi, banj'ak Madura. patul Balaii, fatu Tahiti, pakaiki Mariannes. buat Malay, fy Tonga, faa Tahiti, whaihanga Maori. boi Tarawan, apfip.'i Malay. pomray Peleiv, li-pan Bouton, fanow Matahelh, fano Fakaafo, iih.'ina Maori. bayad Sulu, bayar Tagala, iitu Maori. sambilan Malay, sambilante Strang. poki, hipoki Maori. cani Cagayau, oil ano Iloco, cay Ian 7a<^ala. ^ ' ' caan Batan. ■ canii Sulu, Tagala, kita Malay, Ponape. agua 'Puhain, zua Flores, sua Manga7>i, guo 7ol>i, ka-leh,yrt7-'rt. hctnit Batan, haul Marquesas, gHgono /ava. gumi Bali, soupe Easter, ;ipa Tarawan. kawa 'J'arawan. koti Malay, kaan, Taraivan, kainga Maori. ikan Malay, Iloco, juka Macassar, jukoh Madura, - iko Tonga, ica Maori, oca Bolanghitaru, ika I'ohi, Fakaafo, Ta>aivan, Fiji, ik Mi lie. bak, to bind. balam. tiger. ban, much, ^ batab. a chief. betah. to make. bal. thing. binel, to go, botah. to pay, bolon. nine. buc, to cover, covering. ca. when, ca, and. ca. we. ca, two, '.'1 ' caan, sky, hea,ven, * cab, earth, cacab. town, * cah, cahal, town, cai, fish. 189S-99.] DECIPHGRING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 233 Maya. English, can, speech, to speak, can, serpent. can. four. cax, fowl, caxan, to seek. to find, ceh, deer, chac, haa, water, chac, caaxha, rain. chac. red. che. chem, chi. cuch, ciich, cucut, cul. tree, wood, boat, ship, mouth. chiic, arrow. chilek, forehead, chupul, goat, chuplal, K'ri. chuuc. to seize, chuy, ashes, chuy. to sew, chiiytab. to hang, cib, wish, will. cill, pleasure, cimzah, to kill. cimil. to die, CO, tooth. to carry, a place, the body, vase or cup Malay-Polynesian. kata Malay, kaya Fiji, cang Rotuina, ngongo Tar-. aivan, ki Maori. nanipi Bali, neke Maori, koioim Alfuros, katoan Sanguir, katoun Menado. oang Pelew, tan Caroline, oan Tobi. tikaokao Maori, cookiyoou Pelew, kakep Mysol. chitaghin Batan, kuah Borneo, kite Maori. oo-sah Stilu, kasak Samang. chai Sunda, aki Ratahan, Sanguir, Tidore, Galela, yeh Bali, hoi Timor, aie Sasak, oee Rotti, akei Menado. gia Teluti, huya Sulti, oha Bolanghitam, ua Tahiti, ooha Tonga, ust Rotuma, utha Fiji. eja Macassar, pakaka, Maori, sak Borneo, kao Liang, Morella, Lariki, Saparua, Teluti, Camarian, shei Mysol kula, Fiji, Fakaafo. cahuy Tagala, kayu, Cagayan, kago, Iloco, kayu Malay, cahui Bisayan, kahoi Stilii, kayu Batan, chuc, Samang, kaau Marquesas, kai, Teor, kaju, Salayer, gagi Gani, g^ah Mysol, kaya Gah, kao IVahai, kai Tarawan, kau Fiji. sacayan Bisayan, Batan, sasacayan Iloco, canoa Tahiti, sakaen Menado, Sanguir, sangga Fiji, konia Maori. changkamyawrt, Bali, Madura, sooka Morella, hihika Liang, hihico Teluti, siu-rare IVahai, su-ara Batumerah, su-mut' Gani, ihi Lariki, so Camarian, haha Marquesas. tkugh Formosa, n-gasau Fiji, caho Tonga. alls Malay, lae Tonga, Fakaafo. cambing Malay, Sulu, Tagala, cochi Tonga, ampelle, Madagascar (woman) felelara Matabello, (woman), coha Tagala, kau Fiji, kapo Maori coogoo Tonga. chumi Bugis Macassar. jahit Malay, tahi Bisayan, Tagala, tuitui Maori, tool Tonga, . ■ whata Maori, ganton Malay. kepagnai J/a/ay, gamek Samang. hari Maori, cayac Batan, suca, Malay, Sulu. tamate Tonga, kamate Taraxvan, whakamate Maori, vakamate Fiji. kabis Samang, immit Mille, mbale Fiji, hemo Maoti. gigi Malay, Bali, Madura, Bugis, Macassar, yus Samang, gigi Salayer, Baju, ui Tarawan. wa-hagi ToU, kauhoa, kawe, hiki Afaori, gowo /ava, di-jayak Suiuia, yoe Samang. koto /yV, aguinan Ca^aj'rt//. hata-co Teluti, kalakalath Pelew, tutut, Gani (belly) gete Tonga, (belly) hatua-ca Liang, (belly), coali Malay, gooloo Tonga, quail Pelew, kuro Fiji. 234 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. VI. Maya. cutal, d/.a, English, to sit, to give, dzoc, dzoocol, end, to end, eclt, star. eek, haiach, halal, haltun. black, true, cane, river, hani. to eat, hoi. hole, door, holcan warrior, brave. hun. one. ich, face. ich. eye, ich, fruit. ich, in, within, ichan,ichambil husband. •kg. wind. ilah. to see, ixini. maize. ixmehen. daughter, kab, hand. kab, arm, kaba, name. kabicheil, arrow. kabim, kach. milk, a fly, Malay-Polynesian, ' ' duduk Malay, cood Sulu, kuduk Borneo, tike Fiji, tekateka Tarawan, tuturu Maori. kasih Malay, kasik Sulu, tado, sako, /ava, sukahake Bali, atu, Tonga, hoatu. Sandwich, Maori, wacito, kacito Tohi. otinga, Maori, tow Tonga. ehetu Atui, whetu Maoti, hetu Tahiti, PaumoHtan, \iO\\\, Sandwich, hetika Paumoluan,\\e.\.\iw Kotuma, edju Mi lie, uic Tobi, etam Malay, ngeo, Kotti, ngoa Batchian, kokotu Sahoe, kass Pelew, kokotu Tidore, kitkuda Gani' uyur Batan, aual Formosa, buluh, Malay, bulo Biigis, Macassar, hooli Tonga, cil Tohi. kali, /ava, Bali, vvalungan Sunda, weyl-hatei Morella, waibatang Amblau, waifatan U'chai, waililolun, Teltiti, Ahtiago, acanen Batan, kana Tarawan, Fiji, kami Maori, kanian, Borneo, amu 7rt^//?,kmanna, Formosa. hala Tonga, korua Maori, bolavvah Ba-'u, olamatan Wahai, aleani Awaiya, ngora Galela, lawang Snlu, fava. halga, Tagala, soregni Malay. sinta Timhora, tong Pelew, nehi Manatoto, A]x\on,Mille, hihika Liang, gai Tidore, jauei Borneo. socha, Madura, Sunda, asi, Batan, hua Maori, aihua Lariki, hua Liang, Morella, Sandwich, mg /az'a, ka Bali, ai Madura, i, kei Maori, gi Tonga. asauah Tagala, tane Maori, ohana Tonga, Marquesas, bulana Gah, gagijannee Menado, essah Salibaho, pulahau Wahai, bellin Milk. angin Malay, etc., hau Maori, koyyoou Pelew, ang Tarawan, yang Tobi. Hat Malay, lali Mille, ievva, serau Fiji, kele, rei Kotuma, ilaw, iloa Tonga. jagung Malay, etc., kaanga Maori. tamahine Maori, manania Paumotuau, tahine Tonga, lehani Rotuma, Camay Tagala, kimath Pelew, komud Gani, kaimuk Tobi, hiaphiap Rotuma. Camay Tagala, kimath Pelew, tamba Fiji. tapa Maori, ikoa Fakaafo. hofakbol AW«;;/rt, jamparingyara, c\\o^o,Java (bow), djub Sulu, (bow) jobijobi Tidore, (bow) acow- fanna Tonga, (bow) kopera Maori, (bow and arrow), bannyu-susu, toyo-pawan /ava, puwan Madura, waimah Lampung. kias Borneo, sisi Tidore, sisil Morella, Baju, seugeti Massaratty, kasisili Salayer, konghito Bolanghitam tckatcop Mille. I898-99-] DECIPHEBING HIEROGUYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. »3S Maya. kal, kan. English, twenty, yellow, kantukin, kat, katun, keban, gold, to wish, to ask, a body of troops, evil, bad. kin. sun. kin. day. koch. to bear. kox. bird. ku, kuchul, god, to come, kukum, feather. kuxil. aversion, lahal, lai, lal* finish, relative pronoun, demonstrative. lak, lakpal, H, companion, boy, son, leaf, likil, likzah, likin. to raise, to rise, the east. lol, lukul, luum. flower, to leave, earth, •rMry no, mac. who, mak, to eat, to chew. ini hati mactzil. wonder, miracle. Malay-Polynesia n , kalehdoso Java, calohaan Bisayan, olayuck Pelew, yaluh Mysol, meno-hallo Galela. kuning Malay, Bali, koni Massaratly, konin IVahai, kuni Tear, kunukunu Gah, kuning^ Sulu, Bajti, fai'a, Borneo. guinto Tafi^ala, kanchonoyafrt. chita, Malay, kuika, Maori, cow catanga Tonga, (the suite of a chief), jabat Stiln, i;it)ak Madura, awon Java, kevi, covi Tonga, haiifau Marquesas, kafetaia Alfuros, avet Ahliago. init lloco, unii Bolanghitam, seasan Mysol, sunjinji fava, hangat IVahai, ing'kong' Tinibora, singfa Fiji. Malay seasan Mysol, dhina Java, unuveno Bolanghitam, cenang' Bisayan, taginita Galela, ma-hana Tahiti, Maori. • Tagala, gowo /ava, yoe, Sawang, kawe, kauhoa Maori, wahagi lohi. cookiyoou Pcle^v, kawao Saiiiang, kades Bali, tohek Tinntri, siau Borneo, ayas Malay. akea Sandwich, aho Tahiti, hutua Tonga. pangaling-, Tagala, haere Maori, inokere Tidore, kule Ahtiaga, harre-inai Tahiti, .Sandwich, iroua Formosa, alowei Awaiya, dirawoei Java. g'ogo Tidore, g'an Mysol, hitVuni Sapania, huluna Batumerah, hulun IVahai, hokai Maori. sala Tagala, cailot Batan, mdalu Borneo, vakarusa Fiji, lili Tonga. hili Tonga, balinaun Cagayan. alin Tagala, lei Borneo, lelao Samang,. reyah Madura, yari Tagala. aloha, Sandwich, aroha Tahiti, anak laki laki Malay, alak Formosa, talacoy Pelew. lau Fakaafo, allell, Pelexv, leko, Macassar, lo Tonga, lino Gah, Ian Ahtiago, ailow, Liang, Morella, langala Fiji, riaki, rangai Maori. silangan Tagala, rawhiti Maori, alao Bugis, iraia Macassar. lelun Sanguir, lahowy Awaiya, loen fVahai. lacar Tagala, aloo Tonga, haerenga, Maori. lemma Java, luu Rotti, linoe Bugis, lino Macassar, lupa, Tagala, leopali, Sulu, lope Bisayan. ima, Tahiti, niangga Fiji, unjjah Batan, inke Rotuma. angou Batan, yang, Malay, ingkang fava, wai Maori. makan, Malay, magkaon Bisayun, munga Pelew, amu Tahiti, maa Marquesas, kmanna, Formosa, muka T'obi, mongah Milk, mamaca Fiji, ma Tonga. mihara Maori, mf-inavahe Tonga, madading Formosa. '-MSfi: TRANSACTIONS OF THB CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. VI. Maya, English. ' • ' mehen, son, nientah, to make. inenyah,meyah to serve, met, pet. a wheel, a circle. miiyal, cloud, naa, mother, nak. abdomen. nocoy. cloud, noh, nohoch. large, nohkakil smallpox, nohol, south. nu, nose, nuc, nuctah, nucte. OOi ohel, clam. answer, to understand, old, foot. to understand, mind, blood, dill wc, otoch. house. ox, three. pa, to break, pach, to seize. A/alay-Polyuesian. manganac Batan, foha Tonga. mamarin Batan, manggawe Biajuk, mutitur Pelew. mogur Tarawaii, nggara, Fiji, maagaad Stilu, mahi, mahinga Maori. madeder Balan, potakataka Maori, buder Malay, moumouta Fiji. mego, /ava, mega, awan Malay, mega, Bali, Madura, Smida, rang-mang Bugis, Macassar. ena Timiir, Rotti, indu Bugis, ina Iloco, inah Sulu, inahan, Bisayan, yna Batan, Tagala, yena Cagayaii, inao Morella, Batumerah, inai Alfuros, neaia Sulu, neina Wahai, nina Gah, nin Mysol, etc. ngaii Borneo, nan Mysol, tonina Gah, tena Sulu, nanaca Liang, nanau Aniblaw, nangarohi Galela, yango Fiji. nangi Tarawan, kongu Maori, (cloudy), naouticuti Jloco, nui Tahiti, Sandwich, Marquesas, Maori, naiki, naaik Timor. chacbar, Java, Bali, Madura, kachukluan Java, Suiida. tangliali, Tagala, tonga, Maori. nasika Java, enur, inu Timur, inore Wahai, ninura Batumerah, ne Sulu, nunu Ternate, un Tidore, nien IVuhai, oanu Botiton, nieni Massaratty, nem Cajeli, etc. megnuot Malay, whakao Maori. matau Maori, manatoo Tonga, manoimah Sulu, mengarti Malay, inea Kotuma. motua ToHi^a, matanga Talaga, mahaas Sulu, antichs Malagasy, mazui Tobi, mathua Rotuina, niatua, makana Fiji. siki Sulu, cocor Batan, soko Madura, kaki Malay, yohu Tidore, aika Liang, Morella, ai Larika, yai, Ahtiago, oei Bouton, iloa, Tonga. alo Fiji, wairua Maori, loto Tonga, varua Tahiti, vaerua Hervey. rah Java, Bali, Lampung, raw Malagasy, rahau Timuri, jera Macassar, lomos, lemoh Mysol, lawon Baju, lahim Alfuros, lawa, Ahtiago. yamuen Batan, kami, Sulu, Tagala, naie Malagasy, am Rotuma. tahu Galela, lewharre Tahiti, tallag Formosa, bata Tarawan, mbeta Fiji, pataka Maori, (hut), tiga Malay, othey Pelew, kuu Uea, hayen Yengen, kunete Lifu, ya Tohi, patah Malay, punitin Tagala, bagbag Sulu, baba Borneo, pofa Marquesas, vavahi Tahiti, fachi Tonga, mbasu Fiji, palm, papa Maori. pegan Malay, makon Samang, hopuk Maori, booge Tonga. I898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 237 Maya, English. pak. building, palil. servant, paatah. to watch, patan, tribute, pay. coast. pay, . to call. pechac, thunder. humchac. thunder, pek, dog. pentac, prisoner. peten country, island pix, knee, pol, hoi, head, pol, hoi. polok, pop, bac, pump. hair. blood, mat. .i}>, feaoo Tonga. ',Java, Sunda, (debt). tawang Sulu, tavagan ^OHga. ppoc, hat. ppuk. cheek. ppull, jar, ': puchtun, quarrelling,fighting, bow. Malay-Poljrnest'a n. patu Maori, macca Tonga, patu Tahiti. bulisic Tagala, buaak Malay, kawulo Java, kawula Madura, Sunda, boboola Tonga, parau Maoti, mbombula Fi;i. malaaru Maori, bangon *' fatongia Tonga, utang Mi baybay Tagala, fanga T pangil Malay, tiiwag, 7?.^ Batan, pia Maori, feco bekilop Malay, whaitiri Maori, hotuk Malagasy, ba Tarawan, vijik Tobi, ^lightning), gunturu Bugis, Macassar, guntur Malay, gugoh Lanipung, ngepa Tobi, onga Rotuma, (lightning), patek, Madura, bausa Kotti, wasu Teluti, mog Tarawan, panjara Malay, Sunda, (prift>n), patandan Madura, (prison) benteng Sunda, (fort), pongoo Batan, motu Alui, Fakaafo ; seems to be the M&\a.y fadang, a plain, Tongan butu, a part, a district, Maori, wahanga, a division, poko-touri Ti(opia, icici-bouka Ombay, bubuoniwai Tarawan, olo Tagala, kapala Malay, hwuht Stuida, liulu Lanipung, wulu Bugis, Macassar, ulu Timuri, siro Java, ulu Salayaf.\ Camarian, ular Borneo, olum Caj'eli, uru Lariki, etc., ulin Teor, defolo Tidore, ulu Fiji, borrom Mille. bohoc Tagala, buoc Batan, ulu, fulafula Fakaafo, ira, burer Tarawan, leon Notti, mala Fiji, bulo Malay, wuUo, Malagasy, fulu Tonga, folo IVahai, peleali Mysol buloni Cajeli, bulwa Botiton, keulo Teluti, marus, r-A\\Java, rah Bali, Lamping, jera Macassar, arrassack Pelew, lalah Saparua, Awaiya, orah Bouton, poha Sulu, rara Tarawan. baiiig Tagala, pug| Sulu, pau Borneo, tepoh Baju, tupur Salibabo, sapie Menado, pai Liang, Saparua, lab Ahtiago, fira Teor, pail L.ariki, paili Camarian, tapau Maori, tacapow Tonga, bawla Tonga. tabago Batan, topi Sulu, toppi Malay, potae Maoti, bulang Borneo, boolonga Tonga, fau Fakaafo. pipi Malay, paparinga Maori, fau Rotuma, papa Tarawan, uinbi Fiji. pewell Pelew, beloo Tonga, mbilo Fiji, kwali Malay, kawali Sulu, wheoro Maori. pagaanay Tagala, mag-bantah Sulu, pagbabaca Tagala, pakanga, Maori, buoc Tarawan, powchia Tonga. panah Malay, Madura, Bugis, Macassar, fun Teor, fean Mysol, fana Tahiti, banah Ahtiago, panat Massaratty, papite Salibabo, opana Bouton, jobijobi Tidore, acow-fanna Tonga. 338 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTK. [Vol. VI. Maya. Engliah. pul, puzcical, taab. to carry, heart, salt. tab, to tie. tabzah. to deceive. tal, from, tamuk. while, when. tan, breast, tan. middle, tec, quickly, tembacil. lightning^ than, ti, toe. toh, iox, tub, ttuy, tsol, speech, to, by, for, to burn. just, to pour, saliva. finger, tul. full. tulpach. to return, tulum. a wall. tun. stone. tux. where. tzen. food. uac. string, moon, SIX, Malny-Polynetian, pikul Malay, bawa Sunda, batok Lamptitig. pozo I'agala. uyah buja Afadnra, uyah Java, Sunda, Lampung, tasek Bali, tasie Awaiya, tohi Tonga, (salt water) Cainarian, teisim Alfuros, tasi Liangs Morella, etc., tote Maori, tintui Fiji, kabat Malay, babat Tagala, taui Maori, kape larawan. daya, Malay, Ta^a/a, kopeka Maori, tivava Marqtiesns, huavare Tahiti. . dari Malay, Madura. amangu Baton, tainawhea Maori. dada Malay, daghah Sulu, toot Pelew, tut Tobi. tangah Malay, tengah Sulu. dali Tagala, ma-dali Bisayan, tuhaua Maori. fetatechile Tonga, kila Bugis, Macassar, kilat Malay, Sunda, Lampung, kilat iAiiiJava, he\i\\o^ Malay, (thunder) kuru Fiji, (thunder), taki, tataku Maori, taitui Tarawan, tukuna Fiji, titinup Tobi, cang Kotuma, talanoa Tonga. di Malay, Sunda, Lampung. tunu Java, Bugis, Macassar, Tonga, tono Madura, sagar Sulu, joting Bali, tahu, tikaka, toro, Maori, taa Tonga. adil Sulu, atau Tahiti, tika Maoti, tunu, tutunu Tonga. taro Malay, tahoro, Maori, titiri Tahiti. tefoo Mysol, due Bolanghitam, idu Java, edu Menado, kivi Galela, tohulah Saparua, etc., tehula Liang, Moi ella. tujak Borneo, taga tagan Matahello, odeso Gani, limin-tagin Teor, djanthen Milk, ndusi Fiji, toohoo Tonga. turuki Maori. toloy Tagala. tara Maori, loolooa Tonga, lalonga, Fiji. batu Malay, Sulu, bato Bisayan, Tagala, watu Bali, fatuk Timuri, fatu Samoa, hathu Kotuma, toka, Maori. dinu Batan, hadiin Sulu, di mana Malay, tea, tehea Maori. kennon Bisayan, genanga Tonga, cangniang Formosa, nia-cunnan Malay, kakana Fiji, kokkon Mille, usima Fiji, tame, kame Maori. tali Malay, taura Maori, taula Fakaafo, tari Tobi, ndale Fiji, kora Tarawan. buan Tagala, hu-lani Batumerah, hulan Morella, Wahai, wuan Gah, uarru Java, hulanita Liang, hiano Teluti, wura Bolanghitan, etc., hula Kotti, vula Fiji. anang Bugis, enina Malagasy, loacha Uea, uan Serang, cha-lemen Ufu, hoi Caroline, yawor Tobi. I898-99-J DECIPHBRINO HIKROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 239 Maya, English, iiaxac, eight, uay, here, uinic, man, uinclil, body, uitz, mountain, utz, g'ood. uuc. seven, xanhi, xantal, to remain. xicm, ear. xcriup, woman, yax. young:. yax. green. yub. clothing. yalcab. finger. yum. father. [zah, zahal, fear, zahacil,] zinic, ant, zaz, zazil, light, zi, wood. zil, to give, zuhuy, virgin. Malay-Polynesian, ooahho Batan, hasto Java, hawa Panmotuan, saya Kayatiy oh Kissa, yawa Tohi, toye Cagayan, jah Lanipung, eunai Aim', diyak Sundaf heni Tonga, gagito Borneo, atia Tobi. wong Java, lalaki Bisayan, Cngayun, Iloco, oosoog Sulu, hamme Samang, aima Tinturi, muwani Bali, manusia Teluti, manesh Sanguir, kanaka Sandwich, Mariannes, tangata Tonga, Nervey, Samoa, Maori. yango Fiji, inawallah Saparua, sanawata Awaiya, nangarohi Galela, kalakalath Pelew. vohits Malagasy, bukit Malay, Bali, buguid Bisayan, buked Philippines, eothiva, tuatua Fiji. ygui Tagala, baik Malay, butje, sahe Java, hadeh , Sunda, bachek Madura, Bali, baji Macassar, bati Lampung, huhuatanga Maori, ia Liang, Wahai, Morella, yisung Tobi. uju Biayttk, hiku Sandwich, fuz Caroline, iko Xissa, yavic Tobi, tinggal Malay, hintay Tagala, toenga Maori. tayinga Tagala, taingah Sulu, tinacono Teluti. sawah Sulu, gefineh Wahai, ahehwa Matabells, sowom Cajeli, saua Borneo. ' jaja Malagasy, kuao Maori. ijau Malay, fuccao Cagayan, xyxjava, ejo Sunda, ijao Biajuk, ijau Borneo. hiapo Marquesas, ofu Samoa, kapa Sandwich, cofoo Tonga, kovu Fiji. goolamai Sulti, jari Malay, kukur Wahai erike Baju, raraga Galela, saranga, Bouton, karami Salayer, ngganggalo Fiji. yama Cagayan, amahan Bisayan, ama Tagala, Sulu, Iloco, Batan, Lampung, Kotti, limuri, etc., ammah Batta, amai Alfuros, amana Bouton, jama Menado. coket, takot Malay, asing Bisayan, koera, hihira Maoti, mataku Fakaafo. sumut Malay, Java, samot Bali, singeh Menado, singa, singat Teor, sagaa Bisayan, sogho Batan, siiao, Iloco. cahuy Tagala, cahui Bisayan, kayu Malay, Batan, Cagayan, cahoi Sulu, gagi Gani, gah Mysol, kai Teor, kao Sulu, Wahai. kasih Malay, kasik Sulu, sareangi Macassar, horoa Tahiti, kacito, li Tobi, suntiyaz/a, jadda vavy Malagasy, kohaia Maori. a4Q TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. VI. INDEX. This Index does not include the words of the four inscriptions, as they are set forth in the respective analyses. PAOI! Abenakis 207 Achihab 158 Ahau 121, 123, 213 Ahau Ahpop 140, 157 Ahcunal, the Diviner 176 Ahgibihay 168 Ahkulel 1 29, 180 Ahmoxnay 167 Ahpop 1 26 Ahpop Achi 165 Ahpoxahil 159 Ahpozotzil 159 Ahtziqutnlhayi 160, 162 Ahuitzotl 171, 17s, 179 Ah Witzil or Quiches 177 Akahales 160, 163 Akatzeeb 187, 193 Algonquins 206, 209 Alphabet, Landa's 1 20 Alvarado loi, 168 Anahuac Ayotlan 172 Aqueduct lob Arch in America . . no Assyria 107, 1 16, 123 Atan 213 Atitlan 157, 162 Atsih Winak 129, 163, 167, 179, 181 Axayacatl 1 79 Aztecs 119 Baldwin 102, 107, 116, 121, 151 Balams 156 Bancroft 102 Bathala, god 208 Beersheba 1 25 Belehe-Gih 129, 162, 181 Belehe-Qat 169 Bird god 115 Bitol 208 Bimini 207 BoUaert 119 Bolonchen 125, 202 Bolon Pak 127, 138, 180, 199 PAOB Bolootoo 207 Books of the Katuns 180, 214 Boro Bodo 117 Borromeos 103 Brasseur de Bourbourg 102, 113, 119, 123, 156 Brick Building 106 Bridge 106 Brinton, Dr 116, 119, 121, 123, 180 Brown, Capt. W 114 Buluc Pak 129, 148, 15s, 180, 199 Burgoa 158 Cablahuh-Tihax 125, 160 Cablahun Tok 130, 148, 155 Cacabr 114, 201 Cachiquels 112, 119, 197 Cachiquel MS. ot Tecpan Atitlan. . . 157 Cachiquel revolt from Quiche. ... 157, 159 Cachiquel victories 165 Cachiquel officers 159 Cacul 136, 148, j8i Caich for Quiche 197 Caichxik, rebel 132, 140, 149, 150, 182 Cakulel, god 140, 150, 183 Cambezah 131 Canek 180 Canich 128, 148 Canox 153, 155 Caokeb 162, 181 Caribs 116 Carmen Island 1 18 Caroline Islands 213 Carroll, Dr., on Easter Island In - scriptions 215 Casas at Palenque 108 Castineda 102, 109 Catacombs 105 Catanga 213 Catasaha, river 102 Catherwood 102, 107 Cava 212 Cawatepech 169 l898-nr).J DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 241 PAOK CHwek 126, ii8, 148, 181 Cay Hunahpu 139, 163, 165 Cayiib of Quiche 193, 199, 304 Chanabal ... 119 Charencey, H. de 119 Charnay 102, 1 14 Chuipas loi, 1 14, 119, 136, 181 Chiapanec 119 Chiapanec auxiliaries of Cocyoeza. . 175 Chiawar 166 Chichanchob 185, 186 Chichen Itza 180, 188, 197, 201 Chinese symbols 1 23, 127 Chiqib 163 Choi 119 Chontals 171 Christianity in America 109 Chuchumatanes 177 Chucuybatzin 165 Chunbezah 133, 136, 141, 148, 150 Chunthan* 139, 141, 150 Cii or pulque 178, 215 Cinahitoh 166, 167 Circumcision 212 Citchaccoh 117 Coban . . . 302 Cocyoeza 126, 149, 171, -179 Cocyopi 137,149,176,179 Codex Dresden 119 Codex Percsianus 119 Codex Troano 119 Conache 1 28, 1 76 Conil, province of 203 Copan 151,155,180 Cordilleras 103 Cortez, Don Juan 1 76 Coto 116 Coyolicatzin, Princess 176 Cozumel, island 201 Crawford, Indian Archipelago .... 214 Creation from vegetable forms .... 207 Cross in America 116 Cruz, La : ... 108 Cuba lui Cuzcatlan 162 Dani Guivedchi . 174 Days, Signs of 1 20, 1 33 Duel, singular 177 Du Paix 102, 107, III, 113 Easter Island 206 Easter Island Tablets 117, 215 Egypt and Egyptians 1 12, 114, 116 PAUK Ekab, province of soi , 203 Ex Box 201 Fatongia 213 Fiji 212 Formosa 206 Formulas, unintelligible in Tonga.. 313 Fuentes 169 Gagawitz 160, 162 Galindo 114 Gautama Buddha 1 70 Gilbert Islands . 206 Grammar, Algonquin 209 Grammar, Maya 210 Grammar, Mbaya 210 Grammar, Tongan 211 Guanacos 181 Guatemala . 102 Gucumatz 203 Guguhuyu 166 Guiengola 1 74 Gumarcaah 169, 177 Haiti loi Hebrews, Ark of 114 Hieroglyphics 123 Ho 140 Hodzib 152 Holcan . 14' Holcan, god 141 Holdzan 205 Holoni 127, 148, I53» 155, i6o, 180 Holthan 191 Honduras. . 127, 151 How 213 Huastecs 119, 148, 177 Huastecatl 178 Huaxyacac 172, 175 Huitzilopochtli, god 173 Hukahic 161 Humboldt, on maize 214 Hunahpu 140, 150 Hunakpet • ' • • 140 Hunich 126, 139, 150, 184, 197, 202 Hunich of Bolon 150, 201 Hunich of Buluc i.<>5 Hunichob 188, 194, 197, 199, 203 Huntoh 125, 148, 159, 187, 197 Hunxichnncabcan 1 55 Hunyg 158, 169 Hurakan, god 1 16, 140, 150 Huwur 161 Ichpaa 177 lilinoans 208 242 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. VI. Illinois 208 Ilocab 177 Incas of Peru 215 Insular heaven 207 Iron in America 106 Itzas 180 Itzcuintlan 162 Ixiniche 159 Izmachi 177 Iztayul 159, 177 Java 1 16 Katun 213 Katzib 197, 198 Kenrick ' * • ' 116 Kineh Ahau, god 176 Kings, Indian 112 Kingsborough, Lord 102, 1 19 Kingsmill islands 206 Kohl, Kitchi Garni 207 Ku, god 140 Kulei, syphilis 129, 141 Lacandon 119 Ladrone islands 206 Laguna 114 Lahuh Ah 160, 204 Lahuh Noh 137, 161, 169 Lahun Pek 1 37, 149, 199 Landa, Bishop 117, 119 Layard, Nineveh 107 Literature, Native 119 Lizana loi Lubbock, Sir John 207 Magician of Quiche 168 Maggiore, lake 103 Maguey 119, 1 78 Maize 213 Makuxguhay, queen 169 Malay-Polynesians 206,211 Mams 119, 202 Mani, map of 202 Manuscripts, destruction of 122 Mariner, Tonga islands 212 Marshall islands 206 Maui, god 208 Maui, islands • • ' * 213 Maurault, Abb<^ 207 Maya and Mayas 106,109,112 Mayauel 1 78 Maya-Quiche family ..116, 118, 206, 209 Mbaya-Abipones 206, 210 Mecitl 178 Merchants, Aztec 167, 171, 178 PAGE Merida 201 Mexican garrisons 169 Mexico 101, 175 Michol, rio 102 Mictlan 171 Mishia drink 212 Mitla 170 Mixco 165. 167 Mixtec 158, 1 73 Monopostiac 170 Monte Cristo 119 Montezuma 1 178,179 Montezuma II 170, 179 Months, signs of 1 20, 1 34 Morelet 102 Morgan, Lewis no Naco 181 Nahtihay 168 Nakhun 127,131,148,181 Names, numerical, explained 184 Nauhtlan . 181 Newton, Sir Isaac 118 New York Battery 1 11 Nexapa 171 Nohpat 128, 148, 176 Numerals 1 26, 213 Nuns, house of at Uxmal 1 11 Oaxaca 1 19, 126, 148, 154 Octli 178 Ofanna, god 208 Ojibbeways 207 Olmecatl 178 Olmecs 1 78 Onafanna 208 Opoun 208 Ordonez 1 58 Othomis 214 Otolum 102 Oxbuc 192, 197, 199, 203 Oxcabuc 125, 148, 197, 199 Oxlahuh Tzy 125, 160, 163, 179 Oxiahun Pek 125, 148, 155 Oxpet 152, 155 Ox Winik 1 29, 148 Oxyib 187, 197 Ozomatii 171 Oztoman, province 173 Pacaya 160 Pacumchac 117 Palace at Palenque 104, 107 Palenque loi, 117, 148, etc. Panahachel 162, 169 I898-99-] DECIPHERING HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 343 Panotlan 178 Panuco 177 Papuluka 165 Paraxtunya 129, 162, 181 Parraxquin 1 29 Patan 139, 213 Pax 117 Pecuah 117 Peet, Rev. S. D 113 Peiaxilta 176 Pelew islands 213 Peten 119, 180 Pezelao, Zapotec god 173 Philippine islands . 116, 206 Pickering, Dr 213 Playas, las.. 102 Pochtecas of TIatiloIco 172 Pocomams 119, 162, 202 Pokonchi 119 Ponce, Father Alonzo 122 Pop 1 26, 140, 150, 157, 205 Popol Vuh 116, 207, 213 Priesthood of Oaxaca in royal family 1 70 Prophecy of arrival of Spaniards . . , 169 Puchtunox, god 1 40, 1 50 Puebla 119 Pueblos 1 10, 112, 206 Pulque.. 178 Qaxqan 160 Qikab 1 158, 160, 163, 179 Qikab II 160, 168, 202 Quauhtemalan 159 Quauhtenanco 172 Quetzalcoatl, god 213 Quiches 112, 1 56 Quiche ancestors 156 Quiche, MS. of Chichicastenago — 157 Rabinal 202 Ralabalyg 1 60 Raxakan 164, 166 Rau, Dr. C 113, 117, 124 Rebellion at Palenque 148 Rebellion at Copan 155 Rebellion at Chichen Itza 201 Rebus writing. 123 Rio, Antonio del . . 1 02 Rosetta stone 122 Rosny, Marquis L^on de 119 Rota island 206 Russell, L 114 Sacrifices,hunian '73i '83 Sandwich or Hawaiian islands. . .206, 213 PAOB Savacon 116 Science, method of 122 Shadow and soul identified. 208 Short, Dr 102, 109, 139, 213 Soconusco 171, 175 Spaniards, arrival of 112, 165, 168 Spaniards, barbarity to Huastecs . . 178 Squier, E. G 212 Stephens, J. L 102, 107, in, 185, 193 Stone, massive buildings 206 Sun worship in America 207 Tablet of the Cross 113, 116 Taboo 213 Tagala 116,207,213,215 Tamelioh i6i Tamoanchan 1 78 Tangaloa 116, 207 Tansuche 181 Tecpan Guatemala 157 Tehuantepec 126, 171 Temple of the Cross 109 Temple of the Sun 109 Temple of the Tnree Tablets 109 Tencoa 181 Tenochtitlan 176 Teohuacan 171 Teotitlan 172 Teotzapotlan 171 Tepepul . . . . 159 Tepeu 140 Terminos 102 Thirteen dogs .«» 125 Thomas, Professor Cyrus .117, 118, 120 Thomas, St 109 Tibaqoy 164, 166 Tinian, island 206 Tizocicatzin '79 TIatiloIco 172 Tobasco 119 Tockill 116 Tohil 116 Tokari m6 Toltecs 162, 214 Tonga 208, 2 1 2 Tongatabu 206 Tooboo, god 208 Totonacs 119 Toxqom Noh 163, 166 Traders of Anahuac 172 Troano MS 1 17, 1 19 Tukuches 129, 163 Tuiha 106 244 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. VI. PACK Tumbala 102 Tunkul 176 Tunxicob 136, 149, 181 Tuzpan 181 Twelve Knives 1 25 Tylor, Dr 207 Tzendals 107, 1 19, 158, 178 Tziriny Yu 163, 166 Tzolola 165 Tzotzils 119, 1 59 Tzutohils , 169 Uacthan ........ 153 Uaxacthun 184 Utlatlan 169 Uxab 202 Uxmal 127, 148, 176, 198 Uzuinacinta 102 Vaca-acovv-ooli, god 208 Vaku, g:od 116,140 Valentini, Dr 1 20 Vera Cruz 119, 177 Vera Paz 181 , 204 Village Indians 110, 1 11 Voc, god 116 Vocabulary of Maya and Malay Poly- nesian 232 Vocabulary of Maya and Tagala . . 215 Votan 103, 105 VVadhon 213 Wah.xaki Caam 168 Waiflqahol 161 Waldeck . . .^ lo^, 1 14 Waubuno, god 208 Wilson, Sir Daniel 209 Winik 213 W nik Yub 132, 148, 182 PAGE Witte, Nicolas de 178 Wixipecocha 170 Wiyatao 1 70 Women warriors 165 Wong 213 Wood in building 106 Wookaok 162, 167 Wukubatz 1 25, 159 Wukucicwan 160 Xahila 158, 159 Xahol Quiche Winak ballet 168 Xalapa 1 73 Xechipeken 165, 182 Xerahapit 161 Xiwico 167 Xuchiltepec 171 Vampuk 165, 167 Yaqui .153, 155 Yaxontzul 166 Ychal Amollac 160 Yokich or Yokchi 198, 204 Yopaa 170 Yucatan loi, 106, no, 112 Zaachilla 126, 149, 171, 179, 199, 203 Zaachilla Yoho 158, 171 Zacatepec 160, 164, 167 Zakcab 168 Zapotecs 158, 170 Zapotecapan 170 Zoot 176 Zoque 119 Zoroch 161 Zotzils 162, 164, 166 Zotzil-Tukuche 162 Zuniga, de 215 Zutuhils 119,160