Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-12-15
BULLETIN No. 81
Of INTEREST To
ARCHAE0L0GISTS
Most Complete Work Of Maya
HierogiyphS Comes From
Pen of SyIyanuS Morley Is
SpIendidIy Illustrated,

ESPECIAL eoRRsseososseE TO MORNING JOURNAL
Santa Re. Dec. 14.-What may JUST
/ ly be termed the most complete work
on the Maya hieroglyphs has just
been issued by the United States gov
eminent and is from the pen OF Syl-
vanus c. Morley of santa Re, for
many years Central American Eel
low of the school Of American Arch
aeology and now with the Carnegie
institution as special research fellow
| in MAYA archaeology
The volume is Bulletin No So"
and is entitled AN Introduction to
| the study of the Maya Hieroglyphs,"
covering 275 pages The book is SUI
perhly illustrated, the colored plates
being reproductions of the Dresden
CodeX and the CodeN Cortesiano,
of which the Santa Fe school has had
facsimile plates as well as of the
third codeX, that at Paris. Many of
the Illustrations and glyphs are from
the monuments at Quirigua, Guate-
mala, uncovered by the school in re-
peatcd expeditions
Preface by Hodge.
The preface is by f. W. Hodge, Of
the managing committee of the
school of American Archaeology 1t
concludes with: "rho published writ
ings on the subject Of the Maya hicro-
gHphics have become so voluminous,
ana are SO widely scattered and in
accessible, that it is difficult for stu-
dents Of Central American archaeolo-
gy to become familiar with what has
been accomplished in this important
field of investigation In the present
memoir, Mr. Morlye, who has devoted
q number of years to the study Of
Maya archaeology, and especially to
hieroslyphs, summarizes the results
of these researches to the present
time, and it is believed that this in
PRODUCTION to the study Of MAYA hero
glyphs will be the means of enabling
ready and closer acquaintance with
this interesting though intricate sub
ject"
The book is by no means a dry
treatise 1t reviews what is known
Of the history of the remarkable peo-
pie who attained the highest culture
Of any on the American continent
ana are known as THE Greeks of the
New World" Their religion. their
games, their architecture, their man
ners and customs are described We
are told for instances ''The Maya en-
tertained an excessive and constant
fear of death, many eff their religious
practices having no other end in view
than that Of wardng Off the dread
visitor. After death there followed
a prolonged period of sadness in the
bereaved family, the days being Civ
On over to fasting, and the more re-
strained indulgence in grief, and the
nights TO dolorous cries ana lamenta-
tions, most pitiful to hear"
1t says further. The most feared
and hated of sll the Maya deities was
Ahpuch, the Lord of Death, God
Barebones' as an early manuscript
calls him from whom evil and es-
pecially death were thought TO come"
Mr. Morley wakes eloquent as he
writes
Toward the end of the Dresden
codex, the numbers become greater
and greater until, in the so-called
serpent numbers q grand total of
nearly twelve and half million days
(about $4,000 years. is recorded
again and again. In these wellnigh
inconceivable periods all the smaller
units may be regarded as coming at
last to q more or less exact close.
What matter a few score years one
way or the other in this virtual eter-
nifty? Finally, on the last page Of
the manuscript, is depicted the de-
struction of the world, for which
these highest numbers have paved the
way. Here we see the rain serpent
stretching across the sky, belching
forth torrents of water. Great streams
of water gush from the sun and
moon. The old goddess, she Of the
tiger claws and forbiddng aspect, the
malevolent patroness Of floods ana
cloudbursts, overurns the bowl OF
! the heavenly waters. The cross
bones, dread emblem of DEATH decor
ate her skirt. and a writing snake
crowns her head. Below with down
ward-pointed spears symbolic of the
universal destruction, the black god
stalks abroad, a screeching bird rag
ing on his fearsome head. Here, in
deed. is portrayed with graphic touch
| the final all-engulfing cataclysm.'
New Mexico Scholarship.
The United states government has
published quite a number Of the mon
ographs written by scientists and
scholars connected with the school
of American Archaeology. In fact,
f. ". Hodge who is on the manag-
ing committee Of the school, is edi-
tor of the publications of the Ameri-
can Bureau OF Ethnology and has
written several of the volumes. His
Handbook of the American Indians
is a classic to which DR.. Edgar /.
Hewett contributed, and a new edi-
ton has been prepared. one of the
first bulletins, No 30, is on the Je-
mez Plateau and was written by Dr.
I Edgar l.. Hewett ten years ago. John
| p. Harrington Of the school has writ
ten several Of the volumes lately and
several OF his monographs are now
/ in the hands of the government