Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-08-21
THE OLDEST LIVING LANGUAGE.

In the first place it was obyiouslv
necessary to find. if possible. kew tn
the hieroglyphics in which the mural
inscriptions are written, and to the
solution of this problem DIR. LIE Plon.
geon directed all his efforts. For a
long time his attempts in this direction
were futile, and it was only after the
most prolonged and careful analysis of
the characters that he at length STUN.
bled upon a clew. The discovery came
about in this way: He happened to
observe that certain signs carved on
the walls of one of the buildings closely
resembled those of the ancient EGYPTIAN
alphabet. with which he was familiar.
This led him to seek for further points
of resemblance, which he also found.
The next step was to determine the
language of the inscriptions. Know.
ing how excessively conservative are
the aborigines of Yucatan in all re.
spects DR.. LIE Plongeon inferred that
probably the language spoken by them
at the present day might have at least
some affinity with that of the myster.
ious writings on the walls. To satisfy
himself ON this head he devoted himself
to patient study of the living tongue
as spoken by the fierce and warlike
tribes known as the CLUTCHES, who dwell
amid the Businesses of the mountains in
Guatemala, and who have maintained
their independence against all invaders
These tribes are the direct descendants
of the ancient Mayas, and, as DR.. LIE
Plongeon discovered, they have re-
tanned the ancient language of their
ancestors in almost its pristine purity.
This Maya language is one of the
very oldest tongues known to us, quite
as old as Sanskirt, if not still more an
cient. By giving to the mural charac-
tiers the same phonetic value which
they possess in the language of the
Clutches, the Doctor found that they
formed Ineligible words and phrases,
and he quickly then perceived that the
language of the scriptions was iden.
tical with that still spoken by the abor.
igines. The construction of the entire
alphabet followed. and with that key
DIR. LIE Plongeons has succeeded in
fully deciphering these hitherto incom-
prehensible hieroglyphic. The ccmpar-
ison of the hieratic alphabet Of the
Mayas with that of the ancient Egyp-
tians reveals a similitude which
amounts practically to identity. DR..
LIE Plongeon furthermore points out
that there exists singularly close re-
semblance between the grammatical
forms and the syntax of the two
tonuges, many of the words and the
characters having precisely similar
meaning in the two languages. Strang-
er still, the initial letters of the Maya
names for the various objects which
constitute the Egyptian alphabet are
the very letters SO represented; from
this it would seem, therefore, that both
of these people acquired the art of writ.
ing from the same source, or that one
of them taught the art to the other.
DR.. LIE Plongeon next turned his at
tention to the few known MSS. of the
Mayas which escaped destruction at the
hands of fanatical Bishop Landa, who
accompanied the Spanish invaders!
These MSS. are written ON sheets of
parchment prepared from deer skin in
the colored characters of an alphabet
which is supposed to have been formu.
lated after the invasion of the Nahaults
in the early centuries of the Christian
era. The Mayas are also known to
have made species of paper from the
bark of the mulberry tree by process
similar to that employed by the Egyp-
tians in preparing the papyrus. Of the
extant MSS. the most important is
that known as the Troano MS, which
is in the British Museum. 1t is a very
ancient work, dealing mainly with
the subjects of geology and history, and
it is furnished with numerous illustra-
tions. This DIR. LIE Plongeon has sue
ceeded in translating. and from it we
learn that in ancient times the Psnin-
sula of Yucatan was called "Mayax,"
meaning the first or primitive lane"
1t gave its name to the whole empire
of the Mayas, which extended from
Tehauntepec on the north to the 18th
mus of Darien on the south, and thus
comprised all these countries which
today constitute Central American
The two chief cities were Uxmal,d
which was the city of governemnt, and
Chichin- liza, which was the great
metropolis and the center of the an
cient Maya civilization. whittier came
men of learning from all parts of the
world. In the illustrations OF the
Troano MS. some of these visitors are
depicted as bearded men like the an;
cient Assyrians. The ruins OF these
cities still exist, and to them Dr. Le
Plongeon devoted his chief attention.
Review of Reviews.