Beo^imn'jiq^s of Ahitiiral I fislory in America. 371 



Garcilasso de la Vega was not the only descendant of the aboriginal 

 Americans who has written upon their history. Among the authors of 

 works upon Mexican archaeology published in the seventeenth and 

 eighteenth centuries were Taddeo de Niza and Gabriel d'Ayala, "noble 

 Indians" of Tlazcala and Tezcuco, the three named Ixtlilxochitl, and 

 ten or tw^elve more. Gongora, a native INIexican, professor of mathe- 

 matics in the University of Mexico, was one of the earliest American 

 astronomers, the author of the Mexican Cyclography, printed two 

 centuries ago. Herrera, Martinez, Garcia, Torquemada, Castillejo, De 

 Betancourt, De Solis, Del Pulgar, and Beneducci have done what they 

 could to preserv'e a portion of this ancient American lore, and it seems 

 almost incredible that, sometime in the future when American arclue- 

 ology shall have gained a firmer footing, some of the treasures of fact 

 wdiicli these men garnered up are not to have an important function in 

 elucidating anthropological problems wdiicli are as yet entirely unsolved. 



IV. 



The colony on Roanoke Island having been abandoned by the English, 

 twenty years elapsed before their next effort toward peopling America. 

 Then came the adventurers to Jamestown in 1606, and with them that 

 picturesque personage, Captain John vSniith, who, though unversed in 

 the mathematics and astronomy which made up to a great extent the 

 science of the day, was a keen observer and an enterprising explorer. 

 His contributions to geography were important, and his descriptions of 

 the animals and plants of Virginia and New Kngland supplement well 

 those of his predecessor, Harriot. 



Captain vSmith was the first to describe the raccoon, the nnisquash, and 

 the fli'ing squirrel : 



There is u beast they call yh-on<^Jicii)! (raccoon), much like a badj^er, but useth to 

 live on trees, as Squirrels doe. Their vS(|uirrels some are neare as great as our smallest 

 sort of wilde Rabbets, some blackish, or blacke and white, but most are gray. A 

 small beast they have they call ^-Issapaiiidc, Init we call them flying Squirrels, 

 because, .spreading their legs, and so stretching the largenesse of their skins that 

 they have been scene to fly 30 or 40 yards. An ('>possi(iii hath a head like a Swine, 

 and a taile like a Rat, and is of the bignessc of a Cat. Vnder her belly she hath a 

 bat^ge, wherein .she lodgeth, carrieth, and suckletli her ycmn.t^. A 3liissasctis (nuis- 

 ciuash) is a beast of the forme and nature of our water Rats, but many of them smell 

 exceedingly .strongly of Muske. 



And in the same strain he goes on to mention a score of mannnals, 

 identifying them with those of Europe with surprising accuracy. 



His " Utchun qicoyes, which is like a Wild Cat," is evidently the bay 

 lynx. With the birds he was less familiar, but he mentions a number 

 which resemble tho.se of Etuope, and states that many of them were 



