Hand this page to your AI agent
Give your agent (Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that can open web pages) this address and ask it to do the task on the page:
https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/lima1909.html
Or copy the block below into the chat. It is the whole task: the reading, every open gap, what has been tried, the steps, and how to report back.
TASK: take a partial decipherment further: Venceslau de Lima to King Manuel II, November–December 1909
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/lima1909.html
You are helping a public research project finish reading historical cipher letters. This one is read in part:
the key works, but some pieces are still open. Your job is to close one or more of the open gaps below.
THE READING
Write-up: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/lima1909.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
Date: 1909
Outcome: existing decipherment · partial
Read now: 97.8% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
Files: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/lima1909 (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)
OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
1. [no-key-material: needs a new source] m0007: 50667 - blocker: no-key-material. Circled by the receiver, who wrote "uma palavra indecifravel"; single occurrence, and the code is two-part, so no bracketing.
2. [no-key-material: needs a new source] m0011: 595191 - blocker: no-key-material. Garbled six-figure group, underlined, no gloss.
3. [no-key-material: needs a new source] m0018: 33125 - blocker: no-key-material. Underlined, no gloss; single occurrence.
4. [illegible: needs a new source] m0011 line 7: 85178, 70706, and the gloss of 43243 - blocker: illegible. Faint pencil ("Tratando", "rendoso", "dep.." [?]); the scan does not show more.
5. [illegible: needs a new source] m0009: 18703, 10586 - blocker: illegible. Faint pencil ("comp..são", "Th.." [?]).
6. [illegible: needs a new source] m0020: 83636 - blocker: illegible. Gloss read "o Rojo", "o Rozo" or "o Bojo"; 05068 and 19313 are read with doubt.
ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
[x] siblings: all 21 images of M09 examined; the clear telegram m0003-m0004 is transcribed in related_clear.md
[x] clear-pages: the decodes are on the forms themselves; no separate decode cards in M09
[x] known-keys: the codes of carlos1903, sabugosa1910, manuel1910 and hintze1903 compared; no group shared
[x] print: one web search (Venceslau de Lima, telegrams to Manuel II, 1909 journey, Medina, Bussaco): nothing on these telegrams; the published correspondence of Manuel II was not searched
[x] key-rebuild: 261 values from the glosses; the code is two-part (order test), so no bracketing of the open groups
[x] retry: every open group was looked up among the 261 values; none recurs with a gloss elsewhere except 43243, which is "da" in four telegrams but carries a different gloss in m0011 and stays open there
STEPS
0. Set up. If you can run a shell, fork and clone the repository and work inside it:
git clone https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver.git
Then read, in this order: CONTRIBUTING.md (how a contribution is sent and credited); README.md, sections
"Repository layout" and "Conventions" (how readings are measured and named); targets/lima1909/NOTES.md in full, and the
key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
Work in targets/lima1909/. Add your findings to NOTES.md under a dated heading without rewriting what is there, and
update the "## Remaining gaps" line of every gap you close. Keep WORKLOG.md there: one dated line per step
(hypothesis, value tried, solver run, crib, control), failures included. Do not edit docs/ (the site is generated).
If you cannot run a shell, fetch the files from the links above and keep your work in files you send with the issue.
1. Pick a gap. Start with the ones marked "doable now" (open-codes, not-attempted, left-open): the images and the key
are online, so they need only work. A gap marked "needs a new source" (no-key-material, too-short, illegible,
needs-physical-access) can be closed only by something new: a key
or a deciphered sibling found elsewhere, a better image, a printed edition or calendar, a photograph from the archive.
For those, search for that material first, and say where you looked even when you find nothing.
2. Start from the existing key and transcription in the folder. Do not rebuild the key from scratch, and do not
re-read parts that are already read unless you find an error in them.
3. For a code group or sign value: list every place the group occurs, show how each reads with the value you propose,
and say what still does not fit. For a passage: re-read it at the image and give the folio and line. For a missing
letter or leaf: say where it is held and how it can be reached.
4. Measure again. Apply the key to the whole text, write the reading file, and count the share of cipher tokens that
give sense (not an estimate). The reading is "complete" only when (1) at least 95% of its cipher tokens give sense;
(2) no gap is left untried; (3) every letter in it is covered; (4) what stays open is scattered code groups or names,
or pieces blocked from outside. Otherwise it stays "partial": say which gaps are still open and why.
5. Be honest. Mark every uncertain word with [?], leave unread groups as their numbers or signs, and never fill a gap
with a plausible guess. A gap retried and still open, with what was ruled out, is worth reporting.
REPORT BACK
With a clone: open a pull request with your changes to targets/lima1909/. Say in the description which gaps you worked on,
the share read before and after, and how you want to be credited (name, initials or handle, and a link).
Without one: open an issue: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new?template=further-reading.yml&title=Further+reading%3A+lima1909&page=lima1909.html
Give the write-up, the gap you worked on (its line in Remaining gaps, or the code group, folio and line), what you
propose, the evidence (every occurrence, the images or sources), the share read before and after, your step log,
and the tools and AI model you used.
If you cannot open issues or pull requests, write this report for your human to send. Credit goes to the person who sends it.Open gaps
gold can be done now: the images and the key are online, it needs only work. grey needs a new source first: a key, a better scan, an edition or the archive.
- no key known m0007: 50667 - blocker: no-key-material. Circled by the receiver, who wrote "uma palavra indecifravel"; single occurrence, and the code is two-part, so no bracketing.
- no key known m0011: 595191 - blocker: no-key-material. Garbled six-figure group, underlined, no gloss.
- no key known m0018: 33125 - blocker: no-key-material. Underlined, no gloss; single occurrence.
- hard to read on the scan m0011 line 7: 85178, 70706, and the gloss of 43243 - blocker: illegible. Faint pencil ("Tratando", "rendoso", "dep.." [?]); the scan does not show more.
- hard to read on the scan m0009: 18703, 10586 - blocker: illegible. Faint pencil ("comp..são", "Th.." [?]).
- hard to read on the scan m0020: 83636 - blocker: illegible. Gloss read "o Rojo", "o Rozo" or "o Bojo"; 05068 and 19313 are read with doubt.
Already tried
- ☑ siblings all 21 images of M09 examined; the clear telegram m0003-m0004 is transcribed in related_clear.md
- ☑ clear-pages the decodes are on the forms themselves; no separate decode cards in M09
- ☑ known-keys the codes of carlos1903, sabugosa1910, manuel1910 and hintze1903 compared; no group shared
- ☑ print one web search (Venceslau de Lima, telegrams to Manuel II, 1909 journey, Medina, Bussaco): nothing on these telegrams; the published correspondence of Manuel II was not searched
- ☑ key-rebuild 261 values from the glosses; the code is two-part (order test), so no bracketing of the open groups
- ☑ retry every open group was looked up among the 261 values; none recurs with a gloss elsewhere except 43243, which is "da" in four telegrams but carries a different gloss in m0011 and stays open there
Send a result
One closed gap counts: a code group valued, a passage re-read, a key or clear copy found elsewhere. It is credited to you on the write-up.