17 « 
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 
