149 
larly his Mines of the East^ have greatly coriti-i- 
bated to facilitate the study of the analogies that 
exist between the nations of central Asia and 
those of America. 
The Codex Mexicanus of the imperial library 
at Vienna is very remarkable^ on account of its 
beautiful preservation, and the great vividness of 
the colours, which distinguish the allegorical 
figures. It resembles in its external form the 
manuscripts of the Vatican and Veletri, which 
are folded in the same manner. It has fifty- two 
pages ; and each page is ten inches one line 
long, and eight inches two lines broad. The 
skin, on which these hieroglyphics are inscribed, 
is not a human skin, as has been falsely assert- 
ed : it is probable, that it is a skin of the mazatl^ 
which naturalists call the Louisiana stag, and 
which is common in the north of Mexico. The 
pages shine, as if they had been varnished ; 
but this is the effect of a white earthy coating 
fixed on the skin. A similar varnish is found 
on the Dresden manuscript, though this is not 
formed of a skin, but of metl paper. The 
Codex Mexicanus of Vienna contains more than 
a thousand human figures, disposed in the most 
varied manner, and not uniformly arranged, as 
they are found in the rituals of Veletri and the 
Vatican. Sometimes two figures are grouped 
together ; but more frequently each figure is 
separate, and seems to be pointing at something 
