MAYA INSCRIPTIONS IN STONE.

The plates on the following pages from the works of Stephens and Waldeck I present as specimens of the Maya writing, as it is found carved in stone in Yucatan, Honduras, and Chiapas. For particulars respecting the ruins in connection with which they were discovered, I refer the reader to volume IV. of this work. Fig. 1 represents the hieroglyphics sculptured on the top of an altar at Copan, in Honduras, the thirty-six groups cover a space nearly six feet square. Fig. 2 is a tablet set in the interior wall of a building in Chichen, Yucatan. The tablet is placed over the doorways and extends the whole length of the room, forty-three feet; only a part, however, is shown in the cut. Fig. 3 is a full-size representation of the carving on a green stone, or chalchiuite, found at Ococingo, Chiapas. I take it from the English translation of Morelet's Travels. Many of the monoliths of Copan have a line of hieroglyphics on their side. Plates representing specimens of these monuments will be given in Volume IV. Fig. 4 shows a portion of the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the famous 'tablet of the cross' at Palenque.[1120]

Page of Manuscript Troano.
[See larger image.]

Fig. 1.—Altar Inscription from Copan.

Fig. 2.—Tablet from Chichen.

Fig. 3.—Chalchiuite from Ococingo.