145 



AN AZTECK . 

 HI EROGLYPHICAL MANUSCRIPT, 



PRESERVED IN THE 



LIBRARY OF THE VATICAN. 



PLATE XIII. 



The Mexican paintings, a very small number 

 of which has reached our times, excite a double 

 interest, both from the light they throw on the 

 mythology and history of the first inhabitants of 

 America, and the apparent connexion with the 

 hierogiyphical writing of certain nations of the 

 Old Continent. We shall bring together in this 

 work whatever can afford information with 

 respect to the communication which at the most 

 distant periods seems to have taken place be- 

 tween groups of nations separated by deserts, 

 by mountains, or by seas ; and shall here mark 

 the result of our investigations on the hierogiy- 

 phical paintings of the Americans. v 



Characters are found in Ethiopia, which have 

 an astonishing resemblance with those of the 



VOL. XIII. L 



