CENTRAL AMERICAN PICTURE-WRITING.

BY

EDWARD S. HOLDEN,

PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS, U.S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY.

The variations between “MS. Troano” (wholly italicized) and “MS. Troano” (only title italicized), and between “Stephens’s” and “Stephens’” (with and without possessive “s”) are in the original.

For this e-text, a few mechanical changes were made to the large diagrams (called Plates) on pages 214-220. Parenthetical notations such as (right-hand side) are in the original; bracketed and italicized notations such as [left half] were added by the transcriber.

Plate LII was printed as a single table, with each long line of the original shown as a pair of lines bracketed together. It has been separated into left and right halves, with the “209” column shifted to the right (second) half.

Plates LIII and LIV were printed horizontally; each has been split in two.

Plate LVI, printed in two halves, has been redivided into three segments.

CONTENTS.

List of illustrations Page 206

Introductory 207

Materials for the present investigation 210

System of nomenclature 211

In what order are the hieroglyphs read? 221

The card catalogue of hieroglyphs 223

Comparison of plates I and IV (Copan) 224

Are the hieroglyphs of Copan and Palenque identical? 227

Huitzilopochtli, Mexican god of war, etc. 229

Tlaloc, or his Maya representative 237

Cukulcan or Quetzalcoatl 239

Comparison of the signs of the Maya months 243

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 48. The Palenquean Group of the Cross 221

49. Statue at Copan 224

50. Statue at Copan 225

51. Synonymous Hieroglyphs from Copan and Palenque 227

52. Yucatec Stone 229

53. Huitzilopochtli (front) 232

54. Huitzilopochtli (side) 232

55. Huitzilopochtli (back) 232

56. Miclantecutli 232

57. Adoratorio 233

58. The Maya War-God 234

59. The Maya Rain-God 234

60. Tablet at Palenque 234