Aids to the Study of the Maya Codices

to the Study of the Maya Codices,
by Cyrus Thomas

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Title: Aids to the Study of the Maya Codices Sixth Annual Report of
the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution,
1884-85, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages
253-372
Author: Cyrus Thomas
Release Date: November 13, 2006 [EBook #19777]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STUDY OF
THE MAYA CODICES ***

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Transcriber's Note:
This book was originally published as a part of:
Powell, J. W. 1888 Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to
the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-'85. pp. 253-372.
Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
The index included in this version of the book was extracted from the
overall volume index.
A number of typographical errors found in the original text have been
maintained in this version. They are marked in the text with a [TN-#].
A description of each error is found in the complete list at the end of
the text.
Tables XX, XXI, and XXII were too wide to fit within the character
limits of the text file for this ebook. They have been broken into two
parts.
Special characters:
The following characters used in the original publication are not
available in the character set used for this version of the book. They
have been replaced with the following codes.
[=h] Small h with stroke [(1)] Circled 1 [(2)] Circled 2 [(3)] Circled 3
[(4)] Circled 4 [(5)] Circled 5 [(6)] Circled 6 [(7)] Circled 7 [(8)]
Circled 8 [(9)] Circled 9 [(10)] Circled 10 [(11)] Circled 11 [(12)]
Circled 12 [(13)] Circled 13 [(I)] Circled I

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION--BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.
AIDS TO THE STUDY
OF

THE MAYA CODICES.
BY
PROF. CYRUS THOMAS.

CONTENTS.
Introduction 259 CHAP. I. The numerals in the Dresden Codex 261 II.
Conclusions 339 III. The writing 345 Signification of the characters
347 Symbols of animals &c 348 Symbols of deities 358 Discussion as
to phonetic features of the characters 365

ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIG. 359. Line of day and numeral symbols from Plates 36c and 37c,
Dresden Codex 272 360. Line of day and numeral characters from
Plates 33-39, Dresden Codex 276 361. Unusual symbol for Akbal from
Plate 8 of the Dresden Codex 284 362. Copy of Plate 50, Dresden
Codex 297 363. Copy of Plate 51, Dresden Codex 306 364. Copy of
Plate 52, Dresden Codex 307 365. Copy of Plate 53, Dresden Codex
308 366. Copy of Plate 54, Dresden Codex 309 367. Copy of Plate 55,
Dresden Codex 310 368. Copy of Plate 56, Dresden Codex 311 369.
Copy of Plate 57, Dresden Codex 312 370. Copy of Plate 58, Dresden
Codex 313 371. Specimens of ornamental loops from page 72, Dresden
Codex 337 372. Numeral character from the lower division of Plate XV,
Manuscript Troano 343 373. Turtle from the Cortesian Codex, Plate 17
348 374. Jar from the Cortesian Codex, Plate 27 349 375. Worm and
plant from Manuscript Troano, Plate XXIX 351 376. Figure of a
woman from the Dresden Codex 351 377. Copy of middle and lower
divisions of Plate XIX, Manuscript Troano 352 378. Copy of lower
division of Plate 65, Dresden Codex 353 379. The moo or ara from
Plate 16, Dresden Codex 355 380. The god Ekchuah, after the Troano
and Cortesian Codices 358 381. The long nosed god (Kukulcan) or god
with the snake-like tongue 359 382. Copy of head from the Borgian

Codex (Quetzalcoatl?) 360 383. The supposed god of death from the
Dresden Codex 361 384. The supposed god of death from the Troano
Codex 361 385. The god with the banded face from the Troano Codex
362 386. The god with the old man's face 363 387. The god with face
crossed by lines 364 388. Wooden idol in vessel with basket cover 371

AIDS TO THE STUDY OF THE MAYA CODICES.
BY CYRUS THOMAS.

INTRODUCTION.
The object of this paper is to present to students of American
paleography a brief explanation of some discoveries, made in regard to
certain Maya codices, which are not mentioned in my previous papers
relating to these aboriginal manuscripts.
It is apparent to every one who has carefully studied these manuscripts
that