58 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



as idols in stone, terra-cotta masks, amulets and seals or stamps, rows 

 of beads, and models of temples. Among the weapons of warfare were 

 shown lance points, knives, some from a peculiar yellow stone, nuclei 

 of obsidian from which the flakes had been detached, and numerous 

 examples of the form in which these flakes were obtained. 



The musical instruments from the same state included spherical jars 

 of burnt clay, whistles made of the same material, and rattles. 



Certainly the most celebrated of the objects in this collection was 

 the ancient manuscript written before the discovery by the natives of 

 Yucatan, known as the &quot; Codex Troano.&quot; It is divided into two por 

 tions, and for a long time they were considered to be two separate 

 ancient hieroglyphic books, but now most of those who have carefully 

 studied the relationship existing between the two have reached the 

 conclusion that they are parts of the same manuscript, which have 

 been detached and separated. They are written upon long strips of 

 the native paper, made from the maguey plant, which was covered 

 with a white sizing and folded on the principle of a screen. Both sides 

 were written, or rather painted upon, and the pages are to be read first 

 along one side, and then, by turning the manuscript, along the other, 

 in a direction inversely of the first. 



This precious manuscript has been carefully reproduced and is now 

 accessible to all students of the subject. 1 It may justly be considered 

 one of the most remarkable remains of the literary culture of the 

 natives of southern Mexico. The characters in which it is written are 

 distinctly those which we find inscribed on walls of the oldest cities of 

 Yucatan, Tabasco, Honduras, and Chiepas, and are not at all like those 

 which are familiar to us in the manuscripts obtained from the area occu 

 pied by the ancient Aztecs. 



Various religious objects, specimens of pottery, weapons, domestic 

 utensils, and a few archaeological remains are shown from the cities of 

 Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and undetermined portions of Cen 

 tral America. 



From South America there was a series of relics shown from Colom 

 bia, among them a large number of small idols, in bronze, and copper 

 and gold, from the celebrated nation of the ancient Chibchas. These 

 merited examination the more, as not only was this nation one of the 

 most highly civilized of any within the area of that State, but, as is 

 shown by recent researches, it alone of all the South American nations 

 appears to have extended its influence and language into North Amer 

 ica certainly as far as the western boundary of Costa Eica, and perhaps 

 even farther. (See above.) One of the remains which was alleged to 

 illustrate the sacrifices offered by this nation in the Temple of the Sun 

 at their capital city, Sogarnoso, was a piece of the great stone upon 

 which the human victims were immolated. 



1 First published by the Abb6 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Paris, 1869; Manuscript 

 Troano, etc., and later by others. 



