149 



larly his Mines of the East, have greatly contri- 

 buted to facilitate the study of the analogies that 

 exist between the nations of central Asia and 

 those of America. 



The Codex Mexicanus of the imperial library 

 at Vienna is very remarkable, on account of its 

 beautiful preservation, and the great vividness of 

 the colours, which distinguish the allegorical 

 figures. It resembles in its external form the 

 manuscripts of the Vatican and Veletri, which 

 are folded in the same manner. It has fifty-two 

 pages ; and each page is ten inches one line 

 long, and eight inches two lines broad. The 

 skin, on which these hieroglyphics are inscribed, 

 is not a human skin, as has been falsely assert- 

 ed : it is probable, that it is a skin of the mazatl, 

 which naturalists call the Louisiana stag, and 

 which is common in the north of Mexico. The 

 pages shine, as if they had been varnished ; 

 but this is the effect of a white earthy coating 

 fixed on the skin. A similar varnish is found 

 on the Dresden manuscript, though this is not 

 formed of a skin, but of metl paper. The 

 Codex Mexicanus of Vienna contains more than 

 a thousand human figures, disposed in the most 

 varied manner, and not uniformly arranged, as 

 they are found in the rituals of Veletri and the 

 Vatican. Sometimes two figures are grouped 

 together ; but more frequently each figure is 

 separate, and seems to be pointing at something 



