17G 



was taken and sent clandestinely into Europe, it 

 is certain, that it never reached the place of its 

 first destination : every search made to regain so 

 curious an object was fruitless, and the regret of 

 not having copied these characters came too 

 late. The missionary, Narcissus Gilbar, with 

 whom I was intimately acquainted at Lima, pro- 

 mised me to make use of every endeavour to 

 procure me another collection of these paintings 

 of the Panoes : he knows that several exist 

 among them ; and that they say themselves, 

 that these books were transmitted to them by 

 their fathers. The explanation they give of 

 these paintings seems founded on an ancient tra- 

 dition, which is perpetuated in some families. 

 The Indians of Manoa, whom P. Gilbar commis- 

 sioned to make researches on the meaning of 

 these characters, imagined, that they related to 

 travels, and ancient wars with the neighbouring 

 tribes. 



The Panoes differ at present but very little 

 from the other savages, who inhabit these damp 

 and sultry forests : naked, living on the fruits of 

 the plaintain, and the produce of their fishery, 

 they are far removed from all knowledge of 

 paintings, and from feeling the want of commu- 

 nicating their ideas by graphic signs. Like the 

 greater part of the tribes planted on the banks of 

 the spacious rivers of South America, they appear 

 to have been but recent occupants of the soil 



