Thus do I answer the questions which I proposed at the outset of my thesis. If I have failed to justify the expectations which I may have raised, at least I have thrown into strong relief the cause of my failure, to wit, the utter and incredible neglect which, up to this hour, has prevailed with regard to the preservation of what relics of native literature which we know have existed,—which do still exist. Time and money are spent in collecting remains in wood and stone, in pottery and tissue and bone, in laboriously collating isolated words, and in measuring ancient constructions. This is well, for all these things teach us what manner of men made up the indigenous race, what were their powers, their aspirations, their mental grasp. But closer to very self, to thought and being, are the connected expressions of men in their own tongues. The monuments of a nation's literature are more correct mirrors of its mind than any merely material objects. I have at least shown that there are some such, which have been the work of native American authors. My object is to engage in their preservation and publication the interest of scholarly men, of learned societies, of enlightened governments, of liberal institutions and individuals, not only in my own country, but throughout the world. Science is cosmopolitan, and the study of man is confined by no geographical boundaries. The languages of America and the literary productions in those languages have every whit as high a claim on the attention of European scholars as have the venerable documents of Chinese lore, the mysterious cylinders of Assyria, or the painted and figured papyri of the Nilotic tombs. * * * * * FOOTNOTES:[Footnote 1: What Dr. Washington Matthews says of one of the Sioux tribes is, in substance, true of all on the Continent:— "Long winter evenings are often passed in reciting and listening to stories of various kinds. Some of these are simply the accounts given by the men, of their own deeds of valor, their hunts and journeys; some are narrations of the wonderful adventures of departed heroes; while many are fictions, full of impossible incidents, of witchcraft and magic. The latter class of stories are very numerous. Some of them have been handed down through many generations; some are of recent origin; while a few are borrowed from other tribes. Some old men acquire great reputation as story tellers, and are invited to houses, and feasted, by those who are desirous of listening to them. Good story tellers often originate tales, and do not disclaim the authorship. When people of different tribes meet they often exchange tales with one another. An old Indian will occupy several hours in telling a tale, with much elegant and minute description."—Ethnography and Philology of the Hidatsa Indians, pp. 62-3. (Washington, 1877.)] [Footnote 2: That these assertions are not merely my own, but those of the most profound students of these tongues, will be seen from the following extracts, which could easily be added to:— "This language [the Cree] will be found to be adequate, not only to the mere expression of their wants, but to that of every circumstance or sentiment that can, in any way, interest or affect uncultivated minds."—Joseph Howse, A Grammar of the Cree Language, p. 12. (London, 1865.) "J'ai affirme que nos deux grandes langues du Nouveau Monde [the Iroquois and the Algonkin] etaient tres claires, tres precises, exprimant avec facilite non seulement les relations exterieures des idees, mais encore leur relations metaphysiques. C'est ce qu' out commence de demontrer mes premiers chapitres de grammaire, et ce qu'achevera de faire voir ce que je vais dire sur les verbes."—Rev. M. Cuoq, Jugement Errone de M. Ernest Renan sur les Langues Sauvages. p. 32 (2d Ed. Montreal, 1869.) "Affermo che non e facile di trovare una lingua piu atta della Messicana a trattar le materie metafisiche; poiche e difficile di trovarne un' altra, che tanto abbondi, quanto quella, di nomi astratte."—Clavigero, Storia Antica del Messico, Tomo IV, p. 244. (Cesena, 1781.) "Todos los bellisimos sentimientos que se albergan en los nobles corazones en ninguna otra de aquellas lenguas (Europeas) pueden encontrar una expresion tan viva tan patetica y energica como la que tienen en Mexicano. ?En cual otra se habla con tanto acatamiento, con veneracion tan profunda, de los altisimos mysterios de ineffable amor que nos muestra el Cristianismo?"—Fr. Agustin de la Rosa, in the Eco de la Fe. (Merida, 1870.) Alcide d'Orbigny argues forcibly to the same effect, of the South American languages:—"Les Quichuas et les Aymaras civilises ont une langue etendue, pleine de figures elegantes, de comparaisons naives, de poesie, surtout lorsqu'il s'agit d'amour; et il ne faut pas croire qu'isoles au sein des forets sauvages ou jetes au milieu des plaines sans bornes, les peuples chasseurs, agriculteurs et guerriers, soient prives de formes elegantes, de figures riches et variees."—L'Homme Americain, Tome I, p. 154. For other evidence see Brinton, American Hero Myths, p. 25. (Philadelphia, 1882.). Horatio Hale, The Iroquois Book of Rites, p. 107. (Philadelphia, 1883.)] [Footnote 3: Ethnography and Philology of the Hidatsa Indians, p. 18.] [Footnote 4: The Tribes of California, p. 73. (Washington, 1877.)] [Footnote 5: "Il n'est pas rare de trouver des individus parlant jusqu'a trois ou quatre langues, aussi distinctes entr'elles que le francais et l'allemand."—Alcide D'Orbigny, L'Homme Americain, Tome I, p. 170. The generality of this fact in South America was noted by Humboldt, Voyage aux Regions Tropicales, T. III, p. 308.] [Footnote 6: "Hay muchos de ellos buenos gramaticos, y componen oraciones largas y bien autorizadas, y versos exametros y pentametros."—Toribio de Motilinia, Historia de los Indios de la Nueva Espana, Tratado III, cap. XII.] [Footnote 7: Menologio Franciscano de los Varones mas Senalados de la In the Prologue to the Sermonario Mexicano of F. Juan de Bautista (Mexico, 1606), is a well-written letter, in Latin, by Don Antonio Valeriano, a native of Atzcaputzalco, who was professor of grammar and rhetoric in the College of Tlatilulco. Bautista says of him that he spoke extempore in Latin with the eloquence of a Cicero or a Quintilian; and his contemporary, the academician Francisco Cervantes Salazar, writes: "Magistrum habent [Indi] ejusdem nationis, Antonium Valerianum, nostris grammaticis nequaquam inferiorem, in legis christianae observatione satis doctum et ad eloquentiam avidissimum."—Tres Dialogos Latinos de Francisco Cervantes Salazar, p. 150 (Ed. Icazbalceta, Mexico, 1875).] [Footnote 8: Francisco de Paula Garcia Pelaez, Memorias para la [Footnote 9: Ritos Antiguos, Sacrificios e Idolatrias de los Indios de la Nueva Espana, in the Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos para la Historia de Espana, Tom. 53, p. 300.] [Footnote 10: A Study of the Manuscript Troano. By Cyrus Thomas, [Footnote 11: "Tenian libros de pergaminos que hacian de los cueros de venados, tan anchos como una mano o mas, e tan luengos como diez o doce passos, e mas e menos, que se encogian e doblaban e resumian en el tamano e grandeza de una mano por sus dobleces uno contra otro (a manera de reclamo); y en aquestos tenian pintados sus caracteres o figuras de tinta roxa o negra, de tal manera que aunque no eran letura ni escritura, significaban y se entendian por ellas todo lo que querian muy claramente."—Oviedo, Historia General y Natural de Indias, Lib. XLII, cap. I.] [Footnote 12: "Une ecriture consistant en raies tracees sur de petites planchettes."—Alcide D'Orbigny, L'Homme Americain, Tomo L, p. 170, on the authority of Viedma, Informe general de la Provincia de Santa Cruz, MS.] [Footnote 13: Legends and Tales of the Eskimo. (Edinburgh and [Footnote 14: Pok, Kalalek avalangnek, etc., Nongme, 1857; or, Pok, en Groenlaender, som har reist og ved sin Hjemkomst, etc. Efter gamle Handskrifter fundne hos Groenlaendere ved Godthaab. Godthaab, 1857.] [Footnote 15: Kaladlit Assilialit, etc. See Thomas W. Field, Indian Bibliography, p. 199. (New York, 1873.)] [Footnote 16: First printed in The American Whig Review, New York, [Footnote 17: Horatio Hale, The Iroquois Book of Rites. The introductory essay, in ten chapters, treats at considerable length of the ethnology and history of the Huron-Iroquois nations, the Iroquois League and its founders (Hiawatha, Dekanawidah, and their associates), the origin of the Book of Rites, the composition of the Federal Council, the clan system, the laws of the League, and the historical traditions relating to it, the Iroquois character and public policy, and the Iroquois language. A map prefixed to the work shows the location of the United Nations and of the surrounding tribes.] [Footnote 18: Recit de Francois Kaondinoketc, Chef des Nipissingues (tribu de race Algonquine) ecrit par lui-meme en 1848.—Traduit en Francais et accompagne de notes par M.N.O., 8vo. pp. 8. (Paris, 1877.)] [Footnote 19: The National Legend of the Chata-Muskokee Tribes. By Daniel G. Brinton, M.D. Morrisania, N.Y., 1870. 4to. pp. 13. Reprinted from The Historical Magazine, February, 1870.] [Footnote 20: "Les chefs des vieillards m'avoient souvent parle de leurs ancetres, des courses qu'ils avoient faites, et des combats qu'ils avoient eu a soutenir, avant que la nation put se fixer ou elle est aujourd'hui. L'histoire de ces premiers Creeks, qui portoient alors le nom de Moskoquis, etoit conservee par des banderoles ou chapelets," etc.—Memoire ou Coup-d'Oeil Rapide sur mes different Voyages et mon Sejour dans la Nation Creck, Par le Gen. Milfort, pp. 48, 229. (Paris, An. XI, 1802).] [Footnote 21: "We burned all we could find of them," writes Bishop Landa, "which pained the natives to an extraordinary degree."—Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 316. For a discussion of what was destroyed at Mani see Cogolludo, Historia de Yucatan, 3d Ed., Vol. I, p. 604, note by the Editor. The efforts which have of late been made by Senor Icazbalceta and the Reverend Canon Carrillo to modify the general opinion of these acts of vandalism cannot possibly be successful. The ruthless hostility of the Church to the ancient civilization, an hostility founded on religious intolerance, could be proved by hundreds of extracts from the early writers.] [Footnote 22: Boturini's work is entitled Idea de una Nueva Historia General de la America Septentrional fundada sobre material copioso defiguras, Symbolos, Caracteres, y Geroglificos, Cantares y Manuscritos de Autores Indios. Madrid, 1746. The fate of his collection is sketched by Brasseur de Bourbourg, in the introduction to his Histoire des Nations civilisees de Mexique et de l'Amerique Centrale, Vol I.] [Footnote 23: The following extract from Ixtlilxochitl sums up the native authorities on which he relied for the particulars of the life of the last prince of Tezcuco, and merits quotation as a bit of literary history:— "Autores son de todo lo referido, y de los demas de su vida y hechos los infantes de Mexico Ytzcoatzin y Xiuhcozcatzin, y otros Poetas y Historicos en los anales de las tres cabezas de esta Nueva Espana, y en particular en los anales que hizo el infante Quauhtlazaciulotzin, primer Senor del pueblo de Chiauhtla; y asimismo se halla en las relaciones que escribieron los infantes de la ciudad de Tezcuco, Don Pablo, Don Toribio, Don Hernando Pimentel y Juan de Pomar hijos y nietos del Rey Nezalhualpiltzintli de Tezcuco, y asimismo el infante Don Alonso Axiaicatzin Senor de Itztapalapan, hijo del rey de Cuitlahuac, y sobrino del rey Motecutzomatzin."—Ixtlilxochitl, Historia Chichimeca, cap. XLIX.] [Footnote 24: In the celebrated library of J.F. Ramirez, were two folio volumes, containing 1022 pages, entitled Anales Antiguos de Mexico y sus Contornos. They included, besides various Spanish accounts, 27 fragments in the Nahuatl language, some translated and some not. The titles of all are given by Don Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta, in his valuable and rare Apuntes para un Catalogo de Escritores en Lenguas Indigenas de America, pp. 140-142. (Mexico, 1866.)] [Footnote 25: Memorial del Pueblo de Teptlaustuque, en la Nueva [Footnote 26: "Don Gabriel Castaneda, Indio principal, natural de [Footnote 27: For testimony to this interesting fact see The Maya [Footnote 28: The Books of Chilan Balam, The Prophetic and Historic [Footnote 29: Library of Aboriginal American Literature, Vol. I, p. 189. (Philadelphia, 1882.)] [Footnote 30: An intelligent appreciation of the linguistic labors of Pio [Footnote 31: Disertacion sobre la Historia de la Lengua Maya o [Footnote 32: A fine manuscript of Vico's work, as well as a number of other productions in Cakchiquel, by the missionaries, are in the library of the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia.] [Footnote 33: Tecpan Atitlan is a village on the shore of Lake Atitlan, in the province of Solola, Guatemala.] [Footnote 34: Don Domingo Juarros, Compendio de la Historia de la The native Cakchiquel writers were also the authorities on which Father Vazquez depended, in part, in composing his history of Guatemala. He gives a partial translation of one, beginning the passage: "Los Indios de Zolola dizen en sus escritos," etc.—Fray Francisco Vazquez, Cronica de la Provincia de Guatemala, Lib. III, Cap. XXXVI. (Guatemala, 1714, 1716.)] [Footnote 35: Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bibliotheque [Footnote 36: Titulos de la Casa de Ixcuin-Nehaib, Senora del Territorio de Otzoya. Guatemala, 1876. 8vo. pp. 15. Reprint from the Boletin de la Sociedad Economica de Guatemala.] [Footnote 37: Las Historias del Origen de los Indios de esta Provincia de Guatemala, traducidas de la lengua Quiche al Castellano. Por el R.P.F. Francisco Ximenez. 8vo. Vienna, 1857.] [Footnote 38: Popol Vuh. Le Livre Sacre et les Mythes de l'Antiquite [Footnote 39: The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths of Central [Footnote 40: Boturini, Idea de una Nueva Historia de la America [Footnote 41: Cabrera, Teatro Critico Americano, p 33.] [Footnote 42: American Hero-Myths, pp. 213-217. (Philadelphia, 1882.)] [Footnote 43: On this Qquichua MS. see Marcos Jimenez de la Espada, Tres Relaciones de Antiguedades Peruanas. Introd. p. 34.] [Footnote 44: Relacion de las Costumbres Antiguas de los Naturales del [Footnote 45: "En cabildo de 29 de Julio de 1692, el capitan Don Antonio de Fuentes y Guzman trajo a esta sala siete peticiones escritas en cortezas de arboles."—Francisco de Paula Garcia Pelaez, Memorias para la Historia del Antiguo Reyno de Guatemala, Tom. II, p. 267. (Guatemala, 1852.)] [Footnote 46: O Selvagem. Trabalho Preparatorio para aproveitamento de Selvagem e de solo por elle occupado no Brazil. Rio de Janeiro, 1876.] [Footnote 47: Notes on the Lingoa Geral, or Modern Tupi of the [Footnote 48: Boturini, Idea de una Nueva Historia, etc., App. pp. 57 et seq.; Didacus Valades, Rhetorica Christiana, Pars Secunda (Perusia, 1579); Gemelli Carreri, Giro del Mundo.] [Footnote 49: Stephens, Travels in Yucatan, Vol. I, p. 449 [Footnote 50: Relacion de las Ceremonias y Ritos de Mechoacan. The MS. of this work, in the Library of Congress, does not contain the Calendar which the author, in the body of the work, promises to append; nor apparently does the copy in Madrid, from which the work was printed, in Vol. 53 of the Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos para la Historia de Espana.] [Footnote 51: Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regidores de Mexico. [Footnote 52: Stephens, Travels in Yucatan, Vol. II, p. 265, gives [Footnote 53: Silabario de Idioma Mexicano, dispuesto por el Lic. [Footnote 54: Elementos de la Gramatica Megicana, por Don Antonio [Footnote 55: Confessionario Mayor y Menor en Lengua Mexicana, y Platicas contra las Supersticiones de Idolatria, que el dia de oy an quedado a los Naturales desta Nueva Espana. Ano de 1634. Mexico. A copy of this scarce volume is in my library.] [Footnote 56: Dr. Couto de Magalhaes remarks: "Como o nome indica, este missionario devia ser algum mestico que, com o leite materno, beben os primeiros rudimentos da grande lingua Sul-Americana."—Origens, Costumes e Regias Selvagem, p. 62 (Rio de Janeiro, 1876). In 1876 M. Varuhagen published, at Vienna, a Historia da paixao de Christo e taboa dos parentescos em lingua Tupi, written by Yapuguay, an extract, apparently, from the volume mentioned in the text. The edition was only 100 copies.] [Footnote 57: C.F. Hartt, On the Lingoa Geral of the Amazonas, p. 3, in the Transactions of the American Philological Association, 1872.] [Footnote 58: Tah-gah-jute; or, Logan and Cresap. An Historical [Footnote 59: History of the American Indians, pp. 52, 63. [Footnote 60: James Howse, A Grammar of the Cree Language, p. 11. [Footnote 61: "Piensan que un hombre que habla sin cortarse y con soltura debe ser de una naturaleza superior y privilegiada. Por solo esta circumstancia ascienden el grado de Ghulmenes o caciques, u hombres notables." Federico Barbara, Manual o Vocabulario de la Lengua Pampa, p. 164. (Buenos Aires, 1879.)] [Footnote 62: Rev. Cyrus Byington, Grammar of the Choctaw [Footnote 63: Huehue, ancient; tlatolli, words, speeches. A special variety were the calmecatlatolli, the declamations which the youths of noble families were taught to deliver in the spacious halls of the calmecac, or public schools. "Calmeca tlatolli, palabras dichas en corredores largos. E tomase por los dichos y fictiones de los viejos antiguos." Molina, Vocabulario de la Lengua Mexicana, sub voce. The word calmecac is a compound of calli, house, and mecana, to give, it being the building furnished by the State for purposes of public instruction.] [Footnote 64: Fr. Juan Baptista (or Bautista), Platicas Morales en Lengua Mexicana, intitulados Huehuetlatolli, 8vo. Mexico (1599? or 1601?). This work is not mentioned by Icazbalceta, but is described in Berendt's notes, and a copy was sold in Paris in 1869. It is enumerated by Vetancurt, Menologio Franciscano, p. 446 (2d ed.).] [Footnote 65: Olmos, Grammaire de la Langue Nahuatl, pp. 231 sqq. [Footnote 66: Narratives of the Rites and Laws of the Incas. Translated by C. R. Markham. Printed for the Hackluyt Society (London, 1873).] [Footnote 67: Chrestomathie de la Langue Maya, in Etude sur le [Footnote 68: Bernal Diaz gives an interesting account of this "black sermon," as he calls it. The incident is significant, as it shows that the natives were accustomed to gather around their places of worship, to listen to addresses by the priests. See the Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva Espana, Cap. XXVII. (Madrid, 1632.)] [Footnote 69: Some judicious remarks on the origin and development of aboriginal poetry are offered by Theodore Baker, in his excellent monograph on the music of the North American Indians, but his field of view was somewhat too restricted to do the subject full justice, as, indeed, he acknowledges. Über die Musik der Nord-Americanischen Wilden, von Theodor Baker, pp. 6-14. (Leipzig, 1882.)] [Footnote 70: Schoolcraft, History, Condition and Prospects of the [Footnote 71: Grammaire et Vocabulaire de la Langue Taensa, avec [Footnote 72: "Or, i'ay assez de commerce avec la poesie pour juger cecy, que non seulement il n'y a rien de barbaric en cette imagination, mais qu'elle est tout a faict anacreontique."—Essais de Michel de Montaigne, Liv. I, cap. XXX, and comp. cap. XXXVI.] [Footnote 73: "Chez les Guarayos, ces hymnes religieux et allegoriques, si riches en figures.—Il est impossible de trouver rien de plus gracieux." "Quant a leurs poetes, le charme avec lequel ils peignent l'amour, annonce, certainement en eux, une intelligence developpee et autant d'esprit que de sensibilite."—Alcide D'Orbigny, L'Homme Americain, Tome I, pp. 155, 170.] [Footnote 74: "Negli avanci, che si restano della lor Poesia, vi sono alcuni versi, ne'quali tra le parole significative si vedono frapposte certe interjezioni, o sillabe prive d'ogni significazione, e soltanto adoperate, per quel ch'appare, per aggiustarsi al metro. Il linguaggio della lor Poesia era puro, ameno, brilliante, figurato, e fregiato di frequenti comparazioni fatte colle cose piu piacevoli della natura, siccome fiori, alberi, ruscelli, &c."—Clavigero, Storia di Messico. Tom. II, p. 175.] [Footnote 75: The originals of some of these poems were in the hands of [Footnote 76: Sahagun, Psalmodia Xpiana. (Mexico, 1583?) An extremely rare book, which I have never seen. Clavigero saw a copy, and thinks it was printed about 1540. Storia di Messico, Tom. II, p, 178, Note.] [Footnote 77: It is mentioned by Icazbalceta, Apuntes para un Catalogo de Escritores en Lenguas Indigenas de America, p. 146. (Mexico, 1866.) There are, however, two copies of it extant, somewhere.] [Footnote 78: See Mr. Clements R. Markham's Introductions to his edition of the Ollanta drama (London, 1871); and to his Qquichua Grammar and Dictionary (London, 1864).] [Footnote 79: "I'en demeurai tout rauy; mais aussi toutes les fois qu'il m'en ressouuient, le coeur m'en tressaillant, il me semble que ie les aye encor aux oreilles."—Jean de Lery, Histoire d'un voyage faict en la terre du Bresil, autrement dite Amerique, pp. 258, 286. (Geneve, 1585.)] [Footnote 80: See his Origens, Costumes e Regiaeo Selvagem, pp. 78-82, 140-147. (Rio de Janeiro, 1876.)] [Footnote 81: Spix and Martius, Reise in Brasilien, Brasilianische [Footnote 82: Une Fete Bresilienne celebree a Rouen en 1550 suivie [Footnote 83: The Arawack language, which is now spoken in Guiana only, [Footnote 84: The Memoirs of Lieutenant Henry Timberlake, p. 80 [Footnote 85: In the ancient Qquichua literature the tragic dramas were called huancay; those of a comic nature, aranhuay. Both were composed in assonant verses of six and eight syllables, which were not sung or chanted, but repeated with dramatic intonation.] [Footnote 86: On the bibliography of the drama see Zegarra, Ollantai, [Footnote 87: The recent attempt of General Don Bartolome Mitre, of Buenos Ayres, to discredit the antiquity of the Ollanta drama (in the Nueva Revista de Buenos Ayres, 1881), has been most thoroughly and conclusively refuted by Mr. Clements R. Markham, in the volume of the Hackluyt Society's Publications for 1883.] [Footnote 88: Rabinal-Achi, ou le Drame Ballet du Tun, published as an appendix to the Grammaire de la Langue Quiche (Paris, 1862). The Abbe Brasseur asserts that he wrote down this drama from verbal information, at the village of Rabinal in Guatemala; but a note by Dr. Berendt in my possession characterizes this statement as incorrect, and adds: "Brasseur found the MS. all written, in the hands of an hacendado, on the road from Guatemala to Chiapas. The original exists still in the same place." It was a weakness with the Abbe to throw, designedly, considerable obscurity about his authorities and the sources of his knowledge.] * * * * * |