; and it
would be a mere waste of time to construct out of such elements a
systematic history, only to be destroyed again sooner or later by some
Niebuhr, Grote, or Lewis.

But if we do not find history in the stories of the ancient races of
Guatemala, we do find materials for studying their character, for
analysing their religion and mythology, for comparing their principles
of morality, their views of virtue, beauty, and heroism, to those of
other races of mankind. This is the charm, the real and lasting charm,
of such works as that presented to us for the first time in a
trustworthy translation by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg.
Unfortunately there is one circumstance which may destroy even this
charm. It is just possible that the writers of this and other American
MSS. may have felt more or less consciously the influence of European
and Christian ideas, and if so, we have no sufficient guarantee that
the stories they tell represent to us the American mind in its
pristine and genuine form. There are some coincidences between the Old
Testament and the Quiche MS. which are certainly startling. Yet even
if a Christian influence has to be admitted, much remains in these
American traditions which is so different from anything else in the
national literatures of other countries, that we may safely treat it
as the genuine growth of the intellectual soil of America. We shall
give, in conclusion, some extracts to bear out our remarks; but we
ought not to part with Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg without expressing
to him our gratitude for his excellent work, and without adding a hope
that he may be able to realise his plan of publishing a 'Collection of
documents written in the indigenous languages, to assist the student
of the history and philology of ancient America,' a collection of
which the work now published is to form the first volume.

_Extracts from the 'Popol Vuh.'_

The Quiche MS. begins with an account of the creation. If we read it
in the literal translation of the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, with all
the uncouth names of divine and other beings that have to act their
parts in it, it does not leave any very clear impression on our minds.
Yet after reading it again and again, some salient features stand out
more distinctly, and make us feel that there was a groundwork of noble
conceptions which has been covered and distorted by an aftergrowth of
fantastic nonsense. We shall do best for the present to leave out all