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, the whole of the text having been re-written and the notes added.

It does not pretend to be an exhaustive bibliographical essay, but was designed merely to point out to an intelligent and sympathetic audience a number of relics of Aboriginal American Literature, and to bespeak the aid and influence of that learned body in the preservation and publication of these rare documents.

Philadelphia, Nov. 1883.

CONTENTS.

Section 1. Introductory

Section 2. The Literary Faculty in the Native Mind

Vivid imagination of the Indians. Love of story telling. Appreciation of style. Power and resources of their languages. Facility in acquiring foreign languages. Native writers in the English tongue. In Latin. In Spanish. Ancient books of Aztecs. Of Mayas, etc. Peruvian Quipus.

Section 3. Narrative Literature

Desire of preserving national history. Eskimo legends and narratives. The Walum Olum of the Delawares. The Iroquois Book of Rites. Kaondinoketc's Narrative. The National Legend of the Creeks. Cherokee writings. Destruction of Ancient Literature. Boturini's collection. Historians in Nahuatl. The Maya Books of Chilan Balam. Other Maya documents. Writings in Cakchiquel. The Memorial de Tecpan Atitlan. Authors in Cakchiquel and Kiche. The Popol Vuh. Votan, the Tzendal. Writers in Qquichua. Letters, etc., in native tongues. Tales and stories of the Tupis and other tribes.

Section 4. Didactic Literature

Progress of natives in science. Their calendars and rituals. Their maps. Scholastic works. Theological writers. Sermons in Guarani. Las Pasiones.

Section 5. Oratorical Literature

Native admiration of eloquence. The Oratorical style. Custom of set orations. Specimens in the Nahuatl tongue. Ancient prayers and rhapsodies.

Section 6. Poetical Literature

Form of the earliest poetry. Unintelligible character of primitive

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