Jan. 7, 1887.] -•■ [Brinton. 



PROCEEDINGS 



OP THE 



AMERICAN" PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 



HELD AT PHILADELPHIA, FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. 



Vol. XXIV. January to June, 1887. No. 125. 



Critical Remai^ks on the Editions of Diego de Lnnda^s Writings. 



By Daniel G. Brinton^ 3LD. 

 (Read before the American PhilosojJhical Society^ Jan. 7, 18S7.) 



No document bearing upon the ancient Ma3'a civilization of 

 Yucatan surpasses in importance the work written by Diego de 

 Landa, the second Bishop of the Diocese of Merida, who was a 

 resident of Yucatan from 1549 until 15*19, the year of his death. 

 The description of the country and its inhabitants which he com- 

 posed has been preserved to us in one MS. copy, now in the 

 library of the Royal Academy of History, at Madrid. In the 

 winter of 1863-4, the late Abbe Brasseur (de Bourbourg) tran- 

 scribed a portion of it, and published it with notes, and a trans- 

 lation into French, the following summer, under the title. Rela- 

 tion des Choses de Yucatan de Diego de Landa ^ etc. (Paris, 

 Arthus Bertrand, 1864). As it contained the signs of the cal- 

 endar, and what purports to be the alphabet of the Ma3'a hiero- 

 glyphic writing, as well as much material relating to the customs 

 of the natives, Landa's Relation at once took a leading position 

 among Americana. 



The well-known peculiarities of the Abbe Brasseur, however, 

 the freedom with which he dealt with his authorities, and the 

 license he allowed his imagination, have always cast an atmos- 

 phere of uncertainty about his work,* and hence it was a decided 



* This general distrust with reference to the particular instance of the Landa MS. has 

 been very vigorously expressed by Dr. P. J. J. Valentini in his article on tlie Landa al- 

 phabet, in Proceedings oj tlie American Antiquarian Society for 1880, p. 91. 



PROC. AMER. PHII.OS. SOC. XXIV. 125. A. PRINTED FEB. 2, 1887. 



