by opening the ears of this poor people, and feeding them with spiritual bread.” The Maya alphabet consists of only twenty-two letters, of which the following, viz., ↄ, ch, k, pp, th, tz, are peculiar to the language, and are very difficult of pronunciation. Mechanical rules, representing their sounds, are given in the grammar, but it is almost impossible to acquire them without the assistance of a native. It is deficient in the following letters:— d, f, g, j, q, r, s. The remaining letters are sounded as in Spanish. The parts of speech are the same as in English. The noun is indeclinable, that is, the cases are formed solely by means of prepositions; the accusative, like the objective in English, requiring no preposition when governed by an active verb. The genders are natural, as in English, and are designated by the particle _Ah_, for the masculine, and _Ix_ for the feminine, neuter nouns having no prefix; thus— Ah cambezah, ... master. Ix cambezah, ... mistress. These monosyllables, however, are generally written simply H and X. They are often used in a pronominal sense when mention is made of any peculiarity or attribute of a living person; thus, nohoch being an adjective, signifying great, and pol a noun, meaning head, we should say— H nohoch pol, ... He with the large head. X nohoch pol, ... She with the large head. The genders of beasts and birds are still further designated by the prefix xibil for the male, and chupul for the female. The numbers are expressed by affixing to the substantive the particle ob, to signify the third person plural, and the personal pronouns to express the first and second persons. The adjective is, like the substantive, indeclinable; admitting only, as in English, of the variation of degrees of comparison. These are formed by doubling the last syllable, and prefixing a pronoun for the comparative; as— tibil, good. û tibilil, his, her, or its better. noh, great. û nohol, ––––––– " –––––– greater. kaz, ugly. û kazal, ––––––– " –––––– more ugly. lob, bad. û lobol, ––––––– " –––––– worse. The prefix of u changed to y, and sounded with the adjective, when it begins with a vowel. The final syllable of all comparatives has been gradually corrupted into il or el, in the spoken language. The relation of comparison between two persons or things is expressed by several words analogous to than, in English; but this part of the subject belongs more properly to the syntax. The superlative degree is formed by simply prefixing to the adjective the word hach, very; as— lob, bad. hach lob, very bad, or worst. ez, enchanted. hach ez, most enchanted.