novum sub solem!_ And in that slab we have a clue to the
deciphering of the Maya inscriptions,--an American Rosetta stone.

I will now say a few words of that language that has survived
unaltered through the vicissitudes of the nations that spoke it
thousands of years ago, and is yet the general tongue in
Yucatan--the Maya. There can be no doubt that this is one of the
most ancient languages on earth. It was used by a people that lived
at least 6000 years ago, as proved by the Katuns, to record the
history of their rulers, the dogmas of their religion, on the walls
of their palaces, on the facades of their temples.

In a lecture delivered last year before the American Geographical
Society of New York, Dr. C. H. Berendt has shown that the Maya was
spoken, with its different dialects, by the inhabitants of Mayapan
and Xibalba and the other nations of Central America south of
Anahuac. He ought to be a good authority on the subject, having
dedicated some years in Yucatan to its study.

The Maya, containing words from almost every language, ancient or
modern, is well worth the attention of philologists. And since, as
Professor Max Muller said, philology is the shining light that is
to illuminate the darkness of ethnology, besides the portraits of
the bearded men discovered by me in Chichen, those of the princes
and priests, and the beautiful statue of Chac-Mool, which serve to
determine the different types, may be a guide to discover whence
man and civilization came to America, if the American races can be
proved not to be autochthonous. Notwithstanding a few guttural
sounds, the Maya is soft, pliant, rich in diction and expression;
even every shade of thought may be expressed.

* * * * *

Whence, then, are the Maya language and the Mayas? I should like to
learn from the Americanists who are soon to congregate in
Luxembourg.

AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M.D.

NOTE. The omission (as indicated) at the close of Dr. Le Plongeon's
letter is a repetition of what he has previously stated in other
communications, in regard to the many foreign words found in the
Maya language, and that the Greek is there largely represented.
Then the question arises, who brought this language to Mayapan? He
continues: "The customs, rel