Buckingham Smith, but in a very limited number of copies
(only fifty in all). Others in Nahuatl and Maya, also in fac-simile,
appear in that magnificent volume, the _Cartas de Indias_, issued
by the Spanish Government in 1880. Doubtless more examples could be
found in the public Archives in Spain, and they should all be collected
into one volume. They were probably prompted by the Spanish local
authorities; but it is likely that they show the true structure of the
language, and, of course, they have a positive historical value.
It is related in the Proceedings of the Municipal Council of Guatemala
that, in 1692, the Captain Antonio de Fuentes y Guzman laid before the
Council seven petitions, written in the native language, on the bark of
trees.[45] Whatever of interest they contained was, no doubt, extracted
by that laborious but imaginative writer, and included in his
_History_, which has never been published, though several
manuscript copies of it are in existence.
It will be seen that some of the so-called historical literature I have
mentioned rests uncertain on the border line between fact and fancy.
These old stories may be vague memories of past deeds, set in a frame of
mythical details; or they may be ancient myths, solar or meteorological,
which came to receive credence as actual occurrences.
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