de Bourbourg. Its name comes from
that of its possessor in Madrid, Sr. Tro y Ortolano, and nothing
whatever is known of its origin. The original is written on a strip of
_maguey_ paper, about fourteen feet long, and nine inches wide, the
surface of which is covered with a whitish varnish, on which the figures
are painted in black, red, blue and brown. It is folded fan-like into
thirty-five folds, presenting when shut much the appearance of a modern
large octavo volume; The hieroglyphics cover both sides of the paper,
and the writing is consequently divided into seventy pages, each about
five by nine inches, having been apparently executed after the paper was
folded, so that the folding does not interfere with the written
matter."[36-*]

It is probable that early manuscripts, as well as others of less
antiquity than the above mentioned, but of great historical importance,
yet remain buried among the archives of the many churches and convents
of Yucatan; and it is also true that a systematic search for them has
never been prosecuted. A thorough examination of ecclesiastical and
antiquarian collections in that country, would be a service to the
students of archaeology which ought not to be longer deferred.

The discovery of the continent of America was made near this Peninsula,
and the accounts of early Spanish voyagers contain meagre but still
valuable descriptions of the country, as it appeared at the time it was
first visited by Europeans. It may be interesting to call to mind some
of the circumstances connected with their voyages, and with the first
settlement of Yucatan by the Spaniards, and also to notice briefly some
of the difficulties met with in obtaining a foot-hold in the new world.

Columbus on his fourth and last voyage, in 1502, left the Southern coast
of Cuba, and sailing in a South-westerly direction reached Guanaja, an
island now called Bonacca, one of a group thirty miles distant from
Honduras, and the shores of the western continent. From this island he
sailed southward as far as Panama, and thence returned to Cuba on his
way to Spain, after passing six months on the Northern coasts of Panama.
In 1506 two of Columbus' companions, De Solis and Pinzon, were again in
the Gulf of Honduras, and examined the coast westward as far as the Gulf
of Dulce, still looking for a passage to the Indian Ocean. Hence they
sailed northward, and discovered a great part of Yucatan, though that
country was not then explore