chambo in one dialect, and chimpo in another. Then, if they added to this a certain form of an open hand it was to be read as ma, meaning in this case "free," and so continuing to add other symbols^__these having each a phonetic value, and a fully understood meaning^__until the sentence was completed. They also used certain simple and other more complex figures, which had a value or sound for reading, and which expressed, and was equivalent to the verb, noun, adjective or other part of speech, and were used according to recognised laws of combinations in compositions, or, as in these inscriptions, the sentence constructions, or on the statues, &c., the titles and names. Thus proceeding, the scribes added figure to figure until the passage, thought, or combined ideas were worked out completely. To fully explain all their methods would occupy a considerable amount of printing, and cannot therefore be here entered upon further, but it will all be clear enough for even those who know nothing of American writings of the ancient scribes when my grammar, &c., is published; but from these explanations any one will perceive how and in what manner these characters were written, and are to be read and interpreted. The indication as to which dialect or language the tablet inscription is to be deciphered into is shown by the inscription itself. When the language is one of those used in Ecuador or Quito it clearly shows it by the characters and symbols; or if it is the language of the Cunturazos, it is shown in a similar way; or if it is the language of the Chamborazos, or of the Mantas, or of the Tschimu, or if it is one of the Quichua dialects, or that of the Caribs, or of the Aymara, or of the Canarios, or the Collas, or any of the many distinct families of the languages of those in the S.W. American regions, the same indication by the change in the characters show which language they were written in.
   The shields that are so often drawn in the inscriptions, show the clan about which the scribe was writing. They will be seen to have 3, 4, or 5 lines attached to them; these represent feathers, and indicate the clan whose crest or totem enabled them to wear this number of feathers. (Some of these clans have thus distinguished themselves in their ownward migrations from Asia or Manchuria, to Alaska, from thence to Mich-cho-a-can^__"the land of abundant fish" (now "Mitchigan")^__onward to Central America, and thence to the Southern Cordilleras, during 2,300 years, under 104 different and successive chiefs, all this time retaining their totems, their shields, and the number of their feathers to distinguish their clans and subdivisions; their scribes engraving and painting their records, and their priests and chiefs learning and reciting their traditions and histories in their assemblies.) The shields are thus important in these inscriptions, as are the attached feathers; and the chevrons or bands marked upon these shields indicate the tribes and the families or