oubt the mythological date at which, according to Mayan cosmology,
the world was created. It is placed at nine or ten cycles before the
time when Copan and Quirigua were erected and the picture manuscripts
made. And it is by reference to it in the inscriptions that such
students as Seler, Goodman and others have been enabled, as already
stated, to obtain a record of the relative chronology of the most famous
monuments, to confine the period of their erection within the space of a
few centuries, and approximately to fix even their absolute antiquity.
Though much yet remains to be done, these are substantial results which
have already been won from the study of the hieroglyphs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The _Antiquites mexicaines_ of Dupaix (Paris, 1834),
the _Voyage pittoresque et archeologique dans la province d'Yucatan_
of F. de Waldeck (Paris, 1838), and the _Monuments anciens du Mexique_
of Brasseur de Bourbourg and Waldeck (Paris, 1866) are quite out of
date and superseded. Stephen's _Incidents of Travel in Central
America, Chiapas and Yucatan_ (New York, 1841 and 1867), and B.M.
Norman's _Rambles in Yucatan_ (New York, 1843), are still of value,
the first-mentioned especially for the drawings by Catherwood. Among
the earlier writers may also be mentioned Charnay, _Les Anciennes
Villes du Nouveau Monde_ (Paris, 1885) and _Cites et ruines
americaines_ (Paris, 1863), the latter written in collaboration with
Viollet-le-Duc. Those, however, who are not primarily bibliophiles
will be content to study the following:--Maudslay (in Godman and
Salvin's _Biologia Centrali-Americana_, sect. _Archaeology_, London,
1889, &c.), a pioneer work containing the admirably presented results
of scientific exploration. Maler, in _Memoirs of the Peabody Museum_,
vol. ii. 1, 2 (Cambridge, U.S.A., 1901 and 1903); Holmes,
_Archaeological Studies among the Ancient Mexicans_ (Field Columbian
Museum, Chicago, 1895); E. Seler, _Die alten Ansiedelungen von
Chacula_ (Berlin, 1901), _Wandmalereien von Mitla_ (Berlin, 1895),
_Ges. Abhandlungen_, vol. i. (Berlin, 1902) and vol. ii. (1904),
_Fuhrer von Mitla_ (Berlin, 1906). E. Forstemann has contributed many
valuable essays to _Globus_ and the _Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie_
(Berlin); especially important are his commentaries to the _Dresden
Codex_ (Dresden, 1901), to the _Codex Tro-Cortesianus Madrilensis_
(Danzig, 1902), and to the _Codex Peresianus_ (Danzig, 1