Page:Here and there in Yucatan - miscellanies (IA herethereinyucat00lepl 0).djvu/120

 those temples and palaces are elaborately adorned with sculptured ornaments and inscriptions.

If a complex language indicates an advanced civilization the Mayas were highly civilized, for their language enables one to express the finest shade of thought; even to-day some of the aborigines use such poetical forms of speech that it is a delight to listen to them telling quaint stories. The priests, who accompanied the Spanish conquerors to Yucatan, felt sufficient interest in the new country to write an account of what seemed to them noteworthy, though there is not the least doubt that they left many things unrecorded; they, however, took particular care to describe the books of the Mayas.

Father Landa, in his work "Las Cosas de Yucatan" (the things of Yucatan), tells us that the Maya priests wrote books about their various sciences, and imparted their knowledge to others whom they considered worthy of such enlightenment.

Very good paper was manufactured from the roots and bark of certain trees, the surface of the paper being made lustrous with a white transparent varnish on which it was quite easy to write; the varnish was said to be indestructible. The paper was made in very large sheets, some of the books