Page:Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx.djvu/46

 times), and to learn from their contents the wisdom of those ancient philosophers, of which that preserved in the books of the Brahmins is but the reflection. That wisdom was no doubt brought to India, and from there carried to Babylon and Egypt in very remote ages by those Maya adepts (Naacal — "the exalted"), who, starting from the land of their birth as missionaries of religion and civilization, went to Burmah, where they became known as Nagas, established themselves in the Dekkan, whence they carried their civilizing work all over the earth.

At the request of friends, and to show that the reading of Maya inscriptions and books is no longer an unsolved enigma, and that those who give themselves as authorities on ancient Maya palæography are no longer justified in guessing at, or in forming theories as to the meaning of the Maya symbols or the contents of said writings, I have translated verbatim the legend accompanying the image, in stucco, of a human sacrifice that adorned the frieze of the celebrated temple of Kabul at Izamal.

This legend I have selected because it is written with hieratic Maya characters, that are likewise Egyptian. Any one who can read hieratic Egyptian inscriptions will have no difficulty in translating said legend by the aid of a Maya dictionary, and thus finding irrefutable evidence: 1. That Mayas and Egyptians must have learned the art of writing from the same masters. Who were these? 2. That some of the ruined mon- uments of Yucatan are very ancient, much anterior to the Christian era, notwithstanding the opinion to the contrary of the self-styled authorities on Maya civilization. 3. That