'" (Baldwin's "Ancient
America," p. 191.)
When we observe, in the table of alphabets of different European nations
which I give herewith, how greatly the forms of the Phoenician letters
have been modified, it would surprise us to find any resemblance between
the Maya alphabet of two or three centuries since and the ancient
European forms. It must, however, be remembered that the Mayas are one
of the most conservative peoples in the world. They still adhere with
striking pertinacity to the language they spoke when Columbus landed on
San Salvador; and it is believed that that language is the same as the
one inscribed on the most ancient monuments of their country. Senor
Pimental says of them, "The Indians have preserved this idiom with such
tenacity that they will speak no other; it is necessary for the whites
to address them in their own language to communicate with them." It is
therefore probable, as their alphabet did not pass from nation to
nation, as did the Phoenician, that it has not departed so widely from
the original forms received from the Colhuas.
###
The Alphabet
But when we consider the vast extent of time which has elapsed, and the
fact that we are probably without the intermediate stages of the
alphabet which preceded the archaic Phoenician, it will be astonishing
if we find resemblances between any of the Maya letters and the European
forms, even though we concede that they are related.
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