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ligions is simply to render them still more obscure and unattractive, and to deprive them of the only general interest they now have, that of illustrating the gradual development of the religious ideas of humanity. But while thus regretting the use he has made of them, all interested in American antiquity cannot too much thank this indefatigable explorer for the priceless materials he has unearthed in the neglected libraries of Spain and Central America, and laid before the public. For the present purpose the most significant of these is the Sacred National Book of the Quiches, a tribe of Guatemala. This contains their legends, written in the original tongue, and transcribed by Father Francisco Ximenes about 1725. The manuscripts of this missionary were used early in the present century, by Don Felix Cabrera, but were supposed to be entirely lost even by the Abbe Brasseur himself in 1850 (_Lettre a M. le Duc de Valmy_, Mexique, Oct. 15, 1850). Made aware of their importance by the expressions of regret used in the Abbe's letters, Dr. C. Sherzer, in 1854, was fortunate enough to discover them in the library of the University of San Carlos in the city of Guatemala. The legends were in Quiche with a Spanish translation and scholia. The Spanish was copied by Dr. Scherzer and published in Vienna, in 1856, under the title _Las Historias del Origen de los Indios de Guatemala, por el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenes_. In 1855 the Abbe Brasseur took a copy of the original which he brought out at Paris in 1861, with a translation of his own, under the title _Vuh Popol: Le Livre Sacre des Quiches et les Mythes de l'Antiquite Americaine_. Internal evidence proves that these legends were written down by a converted native some time in the seventeenth century. They carry the national history back about two centuries, beyond which all is professedly mythical. Although both translations are colored by the peculiar views of their makers, this is incomparably the most complete and valuable work on American mythology extant. Another authority of inestimable value has been placed within the reach of scholars during the last few years. This is the _Relations de la Nouvelle France_, containing the annual reports of the Jesuit missionaries among the Iroquois and Algonkins fr
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