t work on Mexican Antiquities there are
several of the Mayan manuscripts printed in facsimile, and others in a
book by M. Aubin, of Paris.

Each group of letters in a Mayan inscription is enclosed in an irregular
oval, supposed to resemble the cross-section of a pebble; hence the term
_calculiform_ (i. e., "pebble-shaped") is applied to their hieroglyphs,
as _cuneiform_ (i. e., "wedge-shaped") is applied to the Babylonian and
Assyrian letters.

The paper which the prehistoric Mexicans (Mayas, Aztecs, or Tescucans,
etc.) used for writing and drawing upon was of vegetable origin, like
the Egyptian papyrus. It was made by macerating the leaves of the
_maguey_, a plant of the greatest importance (_v._ p. 94). When the
surface of the paper was glazed, the letters were painted on in
brilliant colors, proceeding from left to right, as we do. Each book was
a strip of paper, several yards long and about ten inches wide, not
rolled round a stick, as the volumes of ancient Rome were, but folded
zigzag, like a screen. The protecting boards which held the book were
often artistically carved and painted.

The topics of the ordinary books, so far as we yet know, were religious
ritual, dreams, and prophecies, the calendar, chronological notes,
medical superstitions, portents of marriage and birth. The written
language was in common and extensive use for the legal conveyance and
sale of property.

One of the most remarkable facts connected with this extinct
civilization was the accuracy of their calendar and chronological
system. Their calendar was actually superior to that then existing in
Europe. They had two years: one for civil purposes, of three hundred and
sixty-five days, divided into eighteen months of twenty days, besides
five supplementary days; the other, a ritual or ecclesiastical year, to
regulate the public festivals. The civil year required thirteen days to
be added at the end of every fifty-two years, so as to harmonize with
the ritual year. Each month contained four weeks of five days, but as
each of the twenty days (forming a month) had a distinct name, Humboldt
concluded that the names were borrowed from a prehistoric calendar, used
in India and Tartary.

Wilson (Prehistoric Man, i, 133) remarks:

By the unaided results of native science the dwellers on the
Mexican plateau had effected an adjustment of civil to solar time
so nearly correct that when the Spaniards landed on their coast,
thei