Page:A Study of the Manuscript Troano.djvu/36

xxx He came from the north, from the west. There are priests, there are fathers.

But what priest, what prophet, shall explain the words of the books,

In the Ninth Ahau, which ye will not understand?"

From this designedly obscure chant we perceive that the ancient priests inscribed their predictions in books, which were afterward explained to the people. The expression bin alic u than woohe—literally, "he will speak the words of the letters"—seems to point to a phonetic writing, but as it may be used in a figurative sense, I shall not lay stress on it.



4.—THE EXISTING CODICES.

The word Codex ought to be confined, in American archæology, to manuscripts in the original writing of the natives. Some writers have spoken of the "Codex Chimalpopoca," the "Codex Zumarraga," and the "Codex Perez," which are nothing more than manuscripts either in the native or Spanish tongues written with the Latin alphabet.

Of the Maya Codices known, only three have been published, which I will mention in the order of their appearance.

The Dresden Codex.—This is an important Maya manuscript preserved in the Royal Library at Dresden. How or when it came to Europe is not known. It was obtained from some unknown person in Vienna in 1739.