58 



to throw some light on the history, the manners, 

 and the civilization of those nations of America, 

 that were ignorant of the admirable art of ana- 

 lyzing sounds, and painting them by separate 

 or combined characters. A comparison of the 

 documents which each other not only renders 

 their explanation easy, but affords also certain 

 data respecting the confidence, which the Azteck 

 traditions recorded in the writings of the first 

 Spanish missionaries deserve. I think, that such 

 powerful motives will be a sufficient justification 

 of the choice we have made of a few articles col- 

 lected from works already printed, and adding 

 them to the many inedited documents published 

 in this collection. 



The hieroglyphic sketch given in the 32d 

 plate has been hitherto so much the more ne- 

 glected, as it is found in a book, which, in con- 

 sequence of the most extraordinary scepticism, 

 has been considered as a mass of falsehood and 

 imposture. I durst not speak of Gemelli Car- 

 reri, says the illustrious author of the History 

 of America, " because it setms to be now a 

 received opinion, that this traveller was never 

 out of Italy ; and that his famous Giro del Man- 

 do is an account of a fictitious voyage." It is true, 

 that Robertson does not seem to adopt the opinion 

 he advances : for he judiciously adds, that this im- 

 putation of fraud does not appear to him founded 



