The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-01-09
WOULD RESTORE
ANCIENT TONGUE
Scientist, Assisted by Self
Taught Indian, Seeks Key to
Language Of Quiches.
NEW METHOD BEING EMPLOYED
Hopes to Unravei Secrets Of Maya
HierogIyphic Writings and Inscrip-
tons Which Have Baffled Sci
ence for Centuries.

Charlottesville, Va.-Restoration of
an almost forgotten language with the
aid of an uneducated, nearly illiterate,
s~elf-taught, full-blooded Indian from
the highlands of Guatemala, is being
undertaken by DR.. William Gates of
Charlottesville. The Indian is Quiche,
and his language, which heretofore
never had been thoroughly studied,
bears the same name. The race and
tongue a re offshoots of the ancient
Mayas, whose high civilization, the
most advanced of any early American
people, f1ourished before the Spanish
arrived in South and Central America.
The Mayas built marvellous cities,
palaces and temples, the ruins of
which dot Yucatan and Guatemala.
Their descendants are the Indians and
peon class which inhabit that region
today. : Only the mountain tribes have
escaped the advance of civilization
Will Use New Methods.
Through the application of a new
scientific method which reaches to the
root of language, Doctor Gates expects
to restore the decadent tongue, de-
cipher the hitherto unraveled secrets
of the ancient Maya hieroglyphic writ
ings and inscriptions which have baf-
fled psychologists for centuries, COM
pile books for the instruction of the In
dams and eventually restore the Iitera-
ture.
4 In his experiments the scientist has
recording or a smoked paper
cylinder the vibrations of a stylus ac-
tuated by the Indians words spoken
into a mouthpece.. These records are
preserved for study of the intricate
variations Of pronunciation, and al
ready, working with manuscripts writ
ten in the Indian tongues by the earli-
est Spanish missionaries, Gates has
found a remarkable preservation of the
speech. |
The instrument he used is known as !
he "kymagraph,7 or wave-writer, and
vas invented by an eminent French
for language study. Doctor
Gates was aided by John p. Harring-
on, ethnologist of the Smithsonian in
.'titution, who has studied practically
III North American Indian languages.
Indian Teaches Himself.
Probably the most interesting fea-
ure Of Doctor Gates work is the In
Ian, Cipriano Alvarado, who assisted
i'm. He never had written or read a
7ord until he taught himself al the
&c Of twenty-five. He lives In the al
lost inaccessible mountains OF Centrel
.merica, and is Of the purest blood
escendeG from the Maya empire build
rs.
Doctor Gates, who is director gen.
raj of the national museum of Guate-
lala, has been studying the Maya in
,riptions and ruins for more than
yenty years. AS q result of his pres
1t studies he expects shortly to, be
Die TO translate the entire writing ]
vsteln. and reveal the knowledge and S
.tainments Of the Maya civilization.
several Of the cabalistic SYM Il
lis have been read, and it is expected
at an announcement concerning the
of great Importance to
hnologists and psychologists, Will be {.
ade shortly. K
The final success Of his extended in -
stigation, Doctor Gates said, was due -
t only to the use Of the kymagraph IL,
his research, but to study Of the -
amman of the present tongues and
.plication of the rules thus worked st
t to the writing found in the In in
We