Somewhat later, about 1625, Don Domingo de San Anton Munon
Chimalpain wrote his _Historia Mexicana_ and his _Historia de la
Conquista_, which have been mentioned with respect by various
writers.
Along with these examples of literary culture in Mexico may be named
several native Peruvian writers who made use of the language of their
conquerors; as Don Joan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui, whose
_Relacion de Antiguedades de Piru_ is a precious document, though
composed in very uncritical Spanish; as Don Luis Inca, whose
_Relacion_, prepared in Spanish, seems now to be lost, but is
referred to, with praise, by some of the older writers; and, above all
others, Inca Garcillasso de la Vega, whose vivid and attractive style,
and numerous historical writings place him easily in the first rank of
Spanish historians of America.
From the above it would seem evident enough that the American aborigines
were endowed, as a race, with a turn for literary composition, and a
faculty for it. They were generally, however, an unlettered race. What
they composed was for oral use only. This might be carefully arranged,
committed to heart, and handed down from generation to generation; but
as for recording it in forms which would convey it to the mind through
the eye, that was a discovery they had but partially made.
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