"Popol Vuh." (the People'S Book.)

The "Popol Vuh," or the sacred book of the people of Gautemala, of which the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, an eminent decipherer of Mexican antiquities, has recently published the original text, together with a French translation, holds a prominent rank among works composed by American Indians in their own dialects, and written down by them with the letters of the Roman alphabet.

"There are but two works," says Max Muller, "that can be compared to it in their importance to the student of American antiquities and American languages. These are 'Chimalpopoca' in Nahuatl, the written language of the ancient Mexicans, and the 'Codex Cakchiquel,' in the dialect of Guatemala. These, with the 'Popol Vuh,' form the starting-point of all critical inquiry into the antiquities of the ancient American peoples. The Manuscript was first discovered by Gonzalvo Ximenes towards the end of the seventeenth century in an old temple, and was translated by him into Spanish."

The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg copied that translation in 1855. But not satisfied with a mere reprint of the text or with Ximenes' Spanish translation of a book three centuries old, which was founded on oral traditions and the pictorial documents of the ancient inhabitants of America, and written in dialects spoken at the time of Columbus, Cortez, and Pizarro, Abbe Brasseur traveled in Central and South America and acquired a practical knowledge of several of the native dialects, particularly the quiche, which is still spoken in various dialects by about six hundred thousand people. He was able to consult them as so many living dictionaries-thus, with the help of the manuscript of Ximenes and his own acquired experience, Bourbourg made his French translation from the ancient chronicles of the Quiche. The author of the "Popol Vuh" says, in the beginning, that he wrote his book "after the word of God had been preached, and in the midst of Christianity; and that he did so because the people could no longer see the written word." Almost all of the books of the Mexicans were burned by Cortez. The author of the "Popol Vuh" wished to preserve the stories he had heard, from his childhood, of his gods and of his ancestors. To extract anything like consecutive history from it is impossible, but there is, in these stories of the ancient races of Central America and Mexico, material for studying the character, religion and mythology of the people, and for comparing their principles of morality, their views of virtue, beauty and heroism with the more Northern races. The lasting charm of such a work, presented for the first time in a trustworthy translation by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, cannot but be of invaluable service to all who are interested in the history and philology of ancient America.

The story of the Creation of man from the "Popol Vuh" is interesting. "Before the beginning of dawn, and before the sun and moon had risen, man had been made, and nourishment provided for him which was to supply his blood, namely, yellow and white maize." Four men are mentioned as the real ancestors of the human race, or rather the race of Quiches. "They were neither begotten by the gods nor born of women, but their creation was a wonder wrought by the Creator. They could reason and speak; their sight was unlimited, and they knew all things at once. When they rendered thanks to their Creator for their existence, the gods were frightened at their perfection and breathed a cloud over the eyes of men that they might see only a certain distance, and not be like unto the gods themselves. Then, while the four men slept, the gods gave them beautiful wives, and these became the mothers of all the tribes, great and small." Then follows the story of the heroes.

The rest of the work gives an account of the migrations of the tribes and their various settlements. The four ancestors of the race seem to have had a long life, and when at last they came to die they disappeared in a mysterious manner, and left to their sons what is called the Hidden Majesty, which was never to be opened by human hands. "What it is no man knoweth unto this day." But there are those who say it may have contained some knowledge of the coming Christ.