SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—H. 361 
The manuscript consists of seventy-one folio pages and is divided into 
three parts: the first, beginning with the traditional settlement of the 
Mexicans on the shores of Lake Tetzcuco, contains a list, length of reign, 
and conquests of the nine successive lords of ‘Tenochtitlan ; the second is 
a copy of the Tribute Roll of Motecugoma Xocoyotl, whose authority ended 
with the coming of Cortés in 1519 ; while the third part illustrates the life 
of the Indian from the cradle to the grave. 
The Viceroy employed a native artist who used his own colours of yellow 
ochre, indigo, and cochineal, with, of course, their eo ees He was 
supplied with European-made paper. 
The vessel conveying this document to Europe was captured by a French 
frigate and so, instead of being handed to Charles V of Spain, it was delivered 
to Henry II of France. Int 553 it came into the possession of André Thevet, 
the French king’s cosmographer, who sold it to Richard Hakluyt for twenty 
French crowns, and he, dying, left all his books and manuscripts to Samuel 
Purchas the Elder, who included the Mendoza MS. in his 1625 edition of 
Hakluytus Posthumus ; from Purchas it passed to John Selden, who, in 
turn, bequeathed his books to the Bodleian Library. 
Prof. W. C. O. Hitt.—The physical anthropology of the existing Veddahs 
of Ceylon (11.0). 
Definition of Veddahs ; present range, status and numbers ; reasons for 
disappearance ; effects of miscegenation ; probable fate. Changes since 
the visits of the Sarasins and Seligmans. 
General appearance of the typical Veddah of to-day. Misleading state- 
ments of the older writers. New material for study. ‘The living Veddahs. 
Results of studies on recent skeletons. Recovery of two complete cadavers. 
Morphological characters. External characters. Stature; skin; hair; 
facial characters ; limb-proportions ; flat-feet; foot-prints. Skeletal char- 
acters ; skull ; spine ; comparison with Sinhalese and Tamil. Characters 
of soft parts; brain, brain-weight; interesting anomalies so far discovered. 
Relative frequence of similar anomalies in Sinhalese and Tamil bodies. 
Summary ; affinities of the Veddahs to Indian jungle-tribes, Negritoes 
and Australians. - 
Rey. Canon J. A. MacCuLtocu.—Folk-lore and archaic magic in the 
Scottish witch trials (12.0). 
The foundation of all witchcraft, ancient and modern, savage and 
civilised, is the old and universal belief in maleficium, working through magic 
or with the aid of spirits. In its narrower sense, maleficium was believed 
to be exercised in many different ways—destroying life, causing disease or 
madness, taking the substance of crops, milk, etc. In later times the witch 
was often merely a person learned in traditional methods of healing, more 
or less magical, and all harmless. Yet this was counted as maleficium, 
because she was believed to have been instructed by the devil, as examples 
prove. 
The witch flight, nocturnal assemblies, homage to Satan, etc., may be 
regarded partly as imaginative elements, partly as the creation of current 
beliefs, folk-lore, and gossip, codified into a system in the fourteenth century. 
In Scottish witchcraft, as depicted in the trials, maleficium is the main 
fact which emerges. Now it was exercised according to the methods of 
archaic and universal magic. Now it was merely more or less harmless 
traditional folk-lore. Or it was connected with spirit and fairy lore. 
oO 
