PRINTED BY WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PLYMOUTH

Mexico and Central America

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A word of explanation should be said concerning the Mexican language. Like other American tongues its structure is such that long compound words and names are built up of significant elements, many of them being thus equivalent to a whole sentence. The practice is not unknown in this country, for is not “Obadiah Bind-their-kings-in-chains-and-their-nobles-in-links-of-iron” familiar to every reader of Macaulay? At the same time it adds considerable difficulty to the study of Mexican archæology. As regards pronunciation, the chief points to be noted are as follows: X is always pronounced as SH and J as H; C is always hard except before E and I; CH is sounded as the CH in CHILD; Z as in ZEBRA.

In Maya we find a happy tendency to monosyllables. X again is pronounced as SH; but C is always hard.