the Pacific before Europeans sailed there^__might have left such a mode of writing upon Easter Island; but all such voyagers wrote in very different characters, and in a manner not at all like the inscriptions under consideration. But, without pursuing this part of the subject further here, it is only needful to say, that from the examinations made, it became clear from many direct and collateral kinds of evidence that the Easter Island inscriptions were engraved on the tablets by scribes who had learned the characters, and the methods of writing with them, from those who had learned and knew how they were used in ancient times in America, and especially in S.W. America.
   Then came the question: In which language were they to be read or deciphered into? At that time believing that in the Inca times those monarchs had destroyed all kinds of writing within their dominions, and that only knotted cords, or quipus, were used, as the Spaniards had affirmed; and that no hieroglyphics, characters, or writings were permitted, I did not think the inscriptions could be in the languages of the regions over which the Incas reigned; but some of my correspondents soon convinced me that there were many distinct nations that wrote, in S.W. America, even during the Inca times, as they had done long before those monarchs. It therefore became probable that these inscriptions might be read in some of these S.W. American languages, as the characters and symbols were those used by such nations; and thus all the difficulties were gradually removed. From the time that these facts and keys were obtained, all doubts and uncertainties disappeared; and, by using the knowledge thus obtained, it was comparatively easy and simple enough^__by comparing with known symbols and characters, and their equivalents and values^__to decipher, and to put into syllables or words, and to read into the dialects or languages into which they combined. The only difficulty was that more than one language was employed by the scribes in the different inscriptions; and these had to be studied before they could be rendered into English correctly. Having thus given, as briefly as possible^__reserving the steps and proofs for the work hereafter to be published^__the circumstances and the mode by which the discovery was reached and arrived at, it now remains to describe what these hieroglyphics are; the nature and method of the inscriptions; the plan upon which the figures are read into syllables, words, parts of speech, and sentences. Of course it would be much easier, and please me much more, to have a means of printing the characters and the parts of these, so as to bring them before the eyes of the reader, instead of having to trust to descriptions only; but this would necessitate the casting of type for the purpose, and by the long delay in course of posting, after correction of proofs or errors, would prevent the publication of the information as to how these inscriptions