NOTE.


In order to make more widely known and more easily accessible to American
students the results of important researches on the Maya hieroglyphs,
printed in the German language, the Peabody Museum Committee on Central
American Research proposes to publish translations of certain papers
which are not too lengthy or too extensively illustrated. The present
paper by one of the most distinguished scholars in this field is the
first of the series.

F. W. PUTNAM.
Harvard University
September, 1904.




PREFACE.


Since the first edition of this pamphlet appeared in the year 1897,
investigation in this department of science has made such marked
progress, notwithstanding the slight amount of material, that a revision
has now become desirable. It can be readily understood, that a new
science, an investigation on virgin soil, such as the Maya study is,
makes more rapid progress and develops more quickly than one pertaining
to some old, much explored territory.

In addition to numerous separate treatises, special mention should be