64 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



Other portions, on the other hand, as coming from one of the earliest 

 and cei tainly the most sympathetic observer of his time, are of value as 

 indicating the state of feeling and the methods of treatment which in 

 the age of the writer existed between the two races on the American 

 Continent. 



The National Library of Spain exhibited a series of very valuable 

 documents in manuscript, referring to Columbus and Cortes, to Pizarro 

 and to others of the early conquerors and explorers, the most of which, 

 however, have already been printed in the extensive work entitled, 

 U A Collection of Documents Hitherto Unpublished, Relating to the 

 History of Spain and her Colonies.&quot; 



Another item of interest was the original manuscript, bearing the 

 date 1575, of the history of the Indies and of New Spain, by the Friar 

 Diego Duran, in the original form. The paintings in this work are gen 

 erally colored, and from a note in the catalogue it would appear that the 

 supposition is that these colors were not reproduced in the edition of 

 Duran published at Mexico under the auspices of the late Senor Ramirez, 

 minister to the Emperor Maximilian. Such, however, is not the case, 

 as the atlas which accompanies Duran s work in that edition gives an 

 accurate representation of the colors of the copy of the original man 

 uscript as it appears in Mexico. 



Another interesting manuscript is the synopsis of the history of 

 Paraguay by the Jesuit Nicolas del Techo, bearing the date 1684. 

 It is signed by the author, but was written by Indians of the mis 

 sion in imitation of printed letters, the initials and head and tail pieces 

 to the chapters being engraved on wood. This curious document is 

 quite unique in its character. 



Along with these are many old printed books and other manuscripts 

 of less importance, also a collection of maps and plates relating to the 

 early voyages to America, showing the geographical notions of the con 

 tinent which were prevalent in the first two centuries of this discovery. 

 Several paintings are shown, once the property of Christopher Columbus 

 and Heruan Cortes; and a small but valuable collection of early and 

 rare printed books relating to the languages and the native tribes of 

 the New World, to which reference will be had later. 



Among the rarest of these scarce imprints should be noticed as 

 probably the only complete copy in existence that of Bernando de 

 Lizana s History of Yucatan, published in 1033. From an incomplete 

 fragment of this work, the Abbe Brasseur extracted the chapter relating 

 to the ancient ruins of Yucatan which he appended to his edition of 

 Bishop de Landa s description of that country. It is hoped that this 

 extremely rare volume will at some time in the near future be reprinted. 



Among other very early editions of historical works may be men 

 tioned the Relation of Cabeza de Vaca, dated in 1555; the Ordenazas 

 and collection of laws relating to the management of the affairs of New 

 Spain, printed at Mexico in gothic letters in 1548; a similar volume on 



