r them beautiful wives, and from these
came all the tribes and families of the earth.

No account of the rescued fragments of this old literature of Ancient
America should omit giving due credit to Chevalier Boturini, the
Milanese, who went from Italy to America in 1735 as an agent of the
Countess Santibaney, who claimed to be a descendant of Montezuma. He,
too, was a devotee, and believed that St. Thomas preached the Gospel in
America; but he had antiquarian tastes, and was sufficiently intelligent
to understand the importance of the old manuscripts which had furnished
so much fuel for the bonfires of fanaticism. During the eight years of
his residence in Mexico and Central America he hunted diligently for
those still in existence, and made a considerable collection, including
in it some of the Mexican "picture writings." But when about to leave,
he was despoiled of his treasure and flung into prison by the Spanish
viceroy. He finally left the country with a portion of them, but was
captured by an English cruiser and again despoiled. The manuscripts
left in Mexico were finally sold at auction while Humboldt was there; he
secured a portion of them. Another portion was brought to France about
1830 by M. Aubin, who made important additions to it. M. Aubin himself
spent years searching for remains of the old writings, and he has now,
it is supposed, the most valuable collection in Europe.

It is likely that most of the recovered books may be translated by those
who can bring to the work habits of patient study and a thorough
knowledge of the native dialects. Dictionaries of these dialects, as
they were spoken at the time of the Conquest, were prepared by some of
the Spanish priests, and other facilities are not wanting. It is
surprising, however, that no one has translated the "Codex Chimalpopoca"
(which seems the most important) if the language in which it is written
is in fact sufficiently modern to be managed as easily as that of "Popol
Vuh." It must be translatable, for its general tenor is known, and
passages of it are quoted. Brasseur de Bourbourg states that he has
undertaken a translation. But who will translate the inscriptions at
Copan and Palenque? Is the language in which they were written an old
form of speech, from which the dialects of the Maya family, or a portion
of them, were derived? They have not been translated. No one has found a
clew to their meaning. The characters are understood, but they appear to