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, ^Hhat these paintings contained hid-r 
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 Mercurio Peruano. 
