r appears to be indicated in numerous places by the symbols
of the cardinal points inserted in the text, as they (supposing the
conclusion as to their assignment in my "Notes on certain Maya and
Mexican manuscripts," accepted by Drs. Foerstemann and Schellhas, to be
correct) follow one another in the proper order if read towards the left,
to wit, south, east, north, west.

As the writing over each figure, consisting usually of four compound
characters, appears to refer to that over which it is placed, it follows
that these character groups must be taken in the same order as the
pictures. The suggestions on this point are presented here more as proper
subjects of investigation by students of American paleography than as
fixed conclusions of the writer. If found to be justified by the facts,
they will furnish some additional aid in the work of deciphering these
manuscripts.

SIGNIFICATION OF THE CHARACTERS.

As Landa's alphabet has so far proved useless as an aid in deciphering
these manuscripts, our only hope of accomplishing this end is by long and
careful study of these records and laborious comparisons of characters
and the relations in which they stand to one another and to the figures.

Some discoveries made while preparing this paper for the press, which are
mentioned further on, may possibly give us the key to the method used by
Landa in forming his alphabet, and, if so, will probably furnish some
slight additional aid in our investigations.

The direction in which the writing is to be read having been ascertained,
our next step is to determine by comparison the probable signification of
as many characters as possible before discussing the question of
phoneticism. The relation of the characters to the pictorial
representations forms our chief reliance in this branch of the
investigation.

As a commencement in this work and as a basis for further attempts in the
same direction, attention is now called to some characters, other than
the day and month symbols, whose signification seems to be satisfactorily
determined. As there is still some difference of opinion as to the
assignment of the symbols of the cardinal points they are also omitted
from the list. M. Leon de Rosny has given, as a supplement to his edition
of the Cortesian Codex, a list of characters with their supposed
signification. It is not my intention to discuss here the merits of this
vocabulary, although I shall avail myself of so much found t