ETHNOLOGY. 421 



So far as I can learu, the English minister who accompanied me on 

 my first visit to the place, and myself, are the first foreigners who have 

 visited the spot. This ruin is not mentioned in any work on Central 

 America that I have ever had access to ; but there is a tradition that a 

 large Indian population lived around the base of the high mountain 

 ridge shown in the sketch. 



COLLECTIOXS OF HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS IX GUATEMALA. 



By Dr. C. H. Berexdt. 



The city of Guatemala having been for nearly three centuries the 

 seat of the colonial government of the "Kingdom of Guatemala,'' (com- 

 prising parts of actual Mexico and the other Central American republics,) 

 a vast amount of documents has been accumulated and carefully pre- 

 served by the various departments of administration, by the municipal- 

 ities, and in the convents and churches. After the separation from the 

 mother country, and with the suppression of the monastic orders, they 

 have become the property of the government and of the public libraries. 

 Their extent and importance are but imperfectly known, but, to judge 

 from what scientific travelers occasionally report, from what we glean 

 from the works of the few native scholars which have reached the sci- 

 entific world abroad, and from what I have seen myself during a month's 

 sojourn in the capital, it is safe to say that they contain many rare and 

 unique documents whose study would considerably extend our knowl- 

 edge of the history of this continent, particularly regarding the periods 

 of the conquest and of the Spanish dominion, and also of the condition 

 of the country and peo^)le before the conquest. I heartily concur with 

 Mr. Williamson in the wish that these treasures, by carefully-made 

 copies, might be made accessible to other students besides those who 

 happen to visit this country. There is a particular reason for wishing 

 that such may be done soon, as else it might be too late. The actual 

 government of Guatemala, wide awake as it seems to be to the material 

 progress of the country, is strangely neglectful with regard to the pres- 

 ervation and utilization of those scientific treasures. At the simple 

 request of a foreigner, a German residing in Nicaragua, a considerable 

 amount of most valuable original documents have lately been given 

 away, with astonishing coolness, as so much waste paper, to the Xica- 

 raguan government, which never asked for them nor will care to pre- 

 serve them. It is to be feared that invalua.ble sources of information 

 may thus be lost forever if not saved from perdition by transcripts 

 made in time. 



The MSS. to be found here are scattered through a number of archives 

 and public and private libraries. Of important works one volume be- 

 longs to one individual, another is found at another placei of some only 

 j)arts or fragments are remaining. The principal collections are — 



