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country of Anahuac ever since the end of the 

 seventh century. The Kamtschatdales, the Ton- 

 gooses, and other tribes of Siberia, described by 

 Strahlenberg, paint figures which represent his- 

 torical facts. Under every zone, as we have 

 already observed, we find nations more or less 

 addicted to this kind of painting ; but there is a 

 wide distance between a plate covered with 

 certain- characters, and those Mexican manu- 

 scripts, which are all composed according to a 

 uniform system, and which may be considered 

 as the annals of the empire. We are ignorant 

 whether this system of hieroglyphic painting 

 was invented in the New Continent, or whether 

 it was owing to the emigration of some Tartar 

 tribe acquainted with the exact duration of the 

 year, and whose civilization was as ancient as 

 that of the Oighours of the elevated plain of 

 Tiirfan. If we do not find in the Old Continent 

 any nation, that has made so extensive a use of 

 painting as the Mexicans, it is because we dis- 

 cover neither in Europe nor in Asia a civilization 

 so much advanced, without the knowledge of an 

 alphabet, or certain characters that serve as a 

 substitute, such as the characters of the Chinese 

 and the Coreans. Before the introduction of 

 hieroglyphical painting, the nations of Anahuac 

 made use of those knots, and threads of various 

 colours, which the Peruvians call quippus, and 

 which are found not only among the Canadians, 



