The appropriate name of “calculiform”[64] has been given to the Maya hieroglyphics because of their resemblance to pebble forms. Besides the inscriptions carved on stone from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the northern border of Honduras, there are some on wood and in stucco, but there exist, so far as known, but very few of the numerous records and books of perishable material which the pious zeal of the Spanish priests hastened to gather together and purify of heresy and wickedness in the fires of bigotry. Bishop Landa says: “As they contained nothing that did not savour of superstition and lies of the devil, we burnt them all, at which the natives grieved most keenly and were greatly pained.” The practice of the Mayas, it is said, was to bury the books with the priest who had written them, in which case large numbers of the writings must have been disposed of before the Spaniards took a hand. Doubtless, however, only certain books were thus buried with the authors, and perhaps copies of these may have been preserved. At any rate, unless some of the books have been protected in an absolutely dry place, tomb or what not, or there were also writings on tablets of clay or stone, we are not likely to have our present scanty knowledge of the ancient Mayas much increased through this channel. There are possibilities of discovery in many ways, even amongst the papers in forgotten archives. [Illustration: VASE FROM LABNA, YUCATAN, WITH PECULIAR MARKINGS Diameter at top, 5 inches; diameter at bottom, 4 inches; height, 4½ inches ] In the Peabody Museum at Cambridge I saw a small vase from Labna that fixed my attention at once, and I understand there are others in existence of a similar character. It bears certain marks in the clay that suggested to my mind an alphabetic system. The marks are in groups, each group contained in a space that apparently corresponds to the calculiform inscriptions of the monuments. It seems possible, therefore, that this may be a development out of the calculiform. Afterwards I found a reference apparently to this same vase in Brinton’s _Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphics_. He says: “There is some reason to suppose, however, that in this part of the Mayan territory there had been a development of this writing until it had become conventionalized into a series of lines and small circles enclosed in the usual square or oval of the katun. I have seen several examples of this remarkable script, and give one, Fig. 79, part of an inscription on a vase from Labna, Yucatan, now in the Peabody Museum.” If these marks should turn out to be alphabetic, then we may expect to find slabs and tablets similarly inscribed. [Illustration: CONVEX DISCOIDAL STONE, NORTH CAROLINA]