Daniel G. Brinton

“ They should excite an earnest interest in this country, and stimulate our scholars to turn their attention to the antiquities of our own continent, which thus acquire an importance quite equal to those on the banks of the Euphrates and the Nile, which have commanded such profound study from European scholars. ”

“ Especially is this the case on the sculptures, where the love of ornamentations constantly obscures the design and renders the letters almost [7] unrecognisable, precisely as the fashion is at the present day to adorn the walls of our churche with inscriptions in ornamental and Gothic characters, hardly legible to unpracticed eyes.
There is also an obstacle in the very limited number of manuscripts in this character which have been preserved. Of the vast number found among the natives at the conquest, only three or four are known to be in existence. ”

“ The k is beyond doubt derived from a head seen in profile. The upper figure within the circle is the closed eye with its lashes (compare No. 8) ; that below on the right is the ear (compare No. 28) ; that on the left the mouth. (See the variations in the Etudes sur le Manuscrit Troano, p. 55.) ”

“ They are so utterly wild that we are almost afraid to state them. He imagines that these inscriptions and manuscripts all contain geological reminiscences, chiefly concerning the submersion of a portion of the American continent and the consequent formation of the West India Islands. ”

“ It will be observed that the basis of most of them is a head seen in front or in profile. Bearing this in mind, and fixing definitely the differential marks, which alone were deemed of importance by the native artists, we could venture with considerable confidence on the interpretation of manuscripts and inscriptions, did we not meet with very serious obstacles in other directions. ”

“ But returning to the A, B, C, let us inquire the meanings of the figures adopted. Knowing these, we shall be in better position to recognise their variations on existing inscriptions and manuscripts—for these, as we expect, are considerable; but not more so, perhaps, than the variations in the forms of the Roman letters.
a. Nos. 1, 2, and 4, are representations of the heads of some animals, No. 2 being evidently the head of a bird with a long curved beak, probably a species of parrot. No. ”