ligions is simply to render them still more obscure and
unattractive, and to deprive them of the only general interest they
now have, that of illustrating the gradual development of the
religious ideas of humanity.

But while thus regretting the use he has made of them, all
interested in American antiquity cannot too much thank this
indefatigable explorer for the priceless materials he has unearthed
in the neglected libraries of Spain and Central America, and laid
before the public. For the present purpose the most significant of
these is the Sacred National Book of the Quiches, a tribe of
Guatemala. This contains their legends, written in the original
tongue, and transcribed by Father Francisco Ximenes about 1725. The
manuscripts of this missionary were used early in the present
century, by Don Felix Cabrera, but were supposed to be entirely
lost even by the Abbe Brasseur himself in 1850 (_Lettre a M. le Duc
de Valmy_, Mexique, Oct. 15, 1850). Made aware of their importance
by the expressions of regret used in the Abbe's letters, Dr. C.
Sherzer, in 1854, was fortunate enough to discover them in the
library of the University of San Carlos in the city of Guatemala.
The legends were in Quiche with a Spanish translation and scholia.
The Spanish was copied by Dr. Scherzer and published in Vienna, in
1856, under the title _Las Historias del Origen de los Indios de
Guatemala, por el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenes_. In 1855 the Abbe
Brasseur took a copy of the original which he brought out at Paris
in 1861, with a translation of his own, under the title _Vuh Popol:
Le Livre Sacre des Quiches et les Mythes de l'Antiquite Americaine_.
Internal evidence proves that these legends were written down by a
converted native some time in the seventeenth century. They carry
the national history back about two centuries, beyond which all is
professedly mythical. Although both translations are colored by the
peculiar views of their makers, this is incomparably the most
complete and valuable work on American mythology extant.

Another authority of inestimable value has been placed within the
reach of scholars during the last few years. This is the _Relations
de la Nouvelle France_, containing the annual reports of the
Jesuit missionaries among the Iroquois and Algonkins fr