175 



and surrounded by several young persons, to 

 whom he was explaining the contents of these 

 books. The savages would not at first permit a 

 white man to approach the teacher ; and in- 

 formed the missionary by means of Indians of 

 Manoa, who alone understood the language of 

 the Panoes, " that these paintings contained hid- 

 den things, which no stranger ought to know." 

 With great difficulty N. Gilbar procured one of 

 these collections, which he sent to Lima for the 

 inspection of P. Cisneros, the learned compiler of 

 a periodical journal*, which has been translated 

 in Europe. Several persons of my acquaintance 

 have seen this book of the Panoes, every page of 

 which was covered with paintings. These were 

 figures of men and of animals, and a great num- 

 ber of isolated characters, which were deemed 

 hieroglyphical, arranged in lines, with admirable 

 order and symmetry. The liveliness of the co- 

 lors was particularly striking ; but as no one at 

 Lima had seen a fragment of Azteck manu- 

 scripts, it was impossible to judge of the identity 

 of the style of paintings found at the distance of 

 eight hundred leagues from each other. 



P. Cisneros wished to deposit this book in the 

 convent of the missions of Ocopa ; but whether 

 the person, to whom it was entrusted, lost it in 

 the passage over the Cordilleras, or whether it 



* El Mcmirio Peruano. 



