For the present purpose the most significant of
these is the Sacred National Book of the Quiches, a tribe of
Guatemala. This contains their legends, written in the original
tongue, and transcribed by Father Francisco Ximenes about 1725. The
manuscripts of this missionary were used early in the present
century, by Don Felix Cabrera, but were supposed to be entirely
lost even by the Abbe Brasseur himself in 1850 (_Lettre a M. le Duc
de Valmy_, Mexique, Oct. 15, 1850). Made aware of their importance
by the expressions of regret used in the Abbe's letters, Dr. C.
Sherzer, in 1854, was fortunate enough to discover them in the
library of the University of San Carlos in the city of Guatemala.
The legends were in Quiche with a Spanish translation and scholia.
The Spanish was copied by Dr. Scherzer and published in Vienna, in
1856, under the title _Las Historias del Origen de los Indios de
Guatemala, por el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenes_.
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