178 
must we place the seat of this culture ? Is it to 
the north of the river Gila, on the elevated plaiu 
of Mexico ? or in the southern hemisphere, in 
those lofty plains of Tiahuanacu, which the Incas 
themselves found covered with ruins of majestic 
greatness, and which may be considered as the 
Himala and the Thibet of South America? These 
problems are not to be solved in the present state 
of our knowledge. 
We have now examined the relations, that 
exist between the Mexican paintings and the 
hieroglyphics of the ancient world. We have 
endeavoured to throw some light on the origin 
and migrations of the nations that introduced into 
New-Spain the use of symbolic writing, and the 
fabrication of paper ; what remains is to notice 
the manuscripts {Codices Mexicani), that, since 
the sixteenth century, have been sent to Europe, 
and preserved in public and private libraries. 
We shall be astonished to find how rare are be- 
come these precious monuments of a nation, 
which in its progress toward civilization appears 
to have struggled with the same obstacles, that 
opposed the advancement of the arts among all 
the nations of the North, and even of the East of 
Asia. 
From the researches I have made it appears^ 
that there exist at present in Europe only six 
collections of Mexican paintings, those of the 
Escurial, Bologna, Veletri, Rome, Vienna, and 
