says Dr. Valentini, is in the Maya ach; in other words, it begins with the vowel a. So for the sound ki, the Indian gave the sign of the day named kimich.
Such is Dr. Valentini's theory of the formation of Landa's alphabet; and not satisfied with lashing with considerable sharpness those who have endeavored by its aid to decipher the Manuscripts and mural inscriptions, he goes so far as to term it "a Spanish fabrication."
I shall not enter into a close examination of Dr. Valentini's supposed identification of these figures. It is evident that it has been done by running over the Maya dictionary to find some word beginning with the letter under criticism, the figurative representation of which word might bear some resemblance to Landa's letter. When the Maya fails, such a word is sought for in the Kiche or other dialect of the stock; and the resemblances of the pictures to the supposed originals are sometimes greatly strained.
But I pass by these dubious methods of criticism as well as several lexicographic objections which might be raised. I believe, indeed, that Dr. Valentini is not wrong in a number of his identifications. But the conclusion I draw is a different one. Instead of proving that this is picture writing, it indicates that the Mayas used the second or higher grade of phonetic syllabic writing, which, as I have before observed, has been shown by M. Aubin to have been developed to some extent by the Aztecs in some of their histories and connected compositions (see above page xxviii). Therefore the importance and authenticity of Landa's alphabet are, I think, vindicated by this attempt to treat it as a "fabrication."[1]
Landa also gives some interesting details about their books. He writes: "The sciences that they taught were the reckoning of the years, months, and days, the feasts and ceremonies, the administration of their sacraments, the fatal days and seasons, their methods of divination and prophecies, events about to happen, remedies for diseases, their ancient history, together with the art of reading and writing their books with characters which were written, and pictures which represented the things written.
"They wrote their books on a large sheet doubled into folds, which
- ↑ Dr. Valentini's article was published in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 1880, and also separately.
