MEXICAN HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY. 5 



calculated to throw around it. He admits, I think with great justice, that Antonio 

 de Leon y Gama " has achieved the first and only rigorously archaeological investi- 

 gation in his country j" 1 and he very properly adds, in regard to these mythic 

 periods, that " historical criticism, notwithstanding the quantity written on the 

 subject, is probably the most difficult and least advanced portion of Mexican litera- 

 ture; for, while some of our writers incur imminent risk from excessive credulity, 

 others are governed by a scepticism which is radically destructive of all scientific 

 investigation. A history may be true and highly instructive, though it contains 

 the most incredible absurdities ; for while it states what may be absolutely false, 

 either through invention or insufficient proof, it may faithfully transmit the tradi- 

 tions, beliefs, and customs of the people it describes. * * * * Mexican history, 

 like that of all nations, is made up of two classes of narratives ; the usages, customs, 

 and ruling beliefs which present the type of the people, and of the public and private 

 life of its eminent men, together with facts which concern the mass of the commu- 

 nity, and constitute the very life and essence of a people." 2 



Thus, it may be said that the deciphered picture writings found among the 

 Mexicans by the Spaniards, together with the traditions recorded by Ixtlilxochitl, 

 Sahagun, and others, will, in all likelihood, be found to present a typical idea of the 

 individual, tribal, and national character. Some great historical facts may stand 

 out in bold relief; some persons, and certain biographical incidents may appear in 

 shadowy outline through the veil of the past; but the whole antiquity, blurred by 

 dilapidation, looms up dimly, like a noble ruin in the gloom of twilight. 



1 Gama's " Description historica y chronologica de las dos piedras descubiertas en la plaza principal 

 de esta ciudad." Mexico, 1832. 2d edition. 



3 Ramirez; Notes to the Spanish translation of Prescott's Conq. Mex., II, p. 8 (of notes). 



