New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-11-24

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se painted They exit OF ell dstes from the arrival Of
Te,era in 1872 uul 1870 the time whn thc industrious
Bspusis sui masking u-e Of the p-intinr p, writ, his
work entitled, HreglypAies Of corr-ss.i0H IN rticA
By nraEs a Pr,zts and Sgrss as nr,ices aye isSsk 10
es'''e lsse-. These Christian pan,ings 10 have
lsru Of three kinds:
FIRST: Thcse Of Testers ami the 6rst Frsn.iscans
vhCh wcrr Simple paintings, OF lss afaps>t 10 Ia
dian convcutislRnIs, in their ,tyle OF execution
SeoSI. Those o, m.xei kni in wh,ch soms simple
paintings were prcservcd largely Illustrated by fniian
rrf trtrv and ether hgure which, Tor lack OF hste-
tcrlr,. n.irht be called hiercglypAics.
TLf,s. Those in phonetic charsrter- In which there
Vas a ccrrlleic adoption OF Tire N'Nican system
The M,xcd MSS were only Tcsferan Mss. toGchciu p
ty IT, natives with proper AMI Other names in phonetic
re5ases and sometimes sisn Illustrating the acton rep
resented IN the painting The proper insnner IN ~ten
rcls among tie mona. nc Orers, and m Peru enied IN
battle in which the Jcsts their sale hal more tan
four hundred OF their number slam
In Mexico !: required the most encretc
a the secular arm 10 prevent them from coming %
blows To the first two classes OF these produc loAs
heoug ave OF the paintings in possession oil my lrleht
NJ Aubin Of Paris. one Of them Gears the name ana
Gurcigiodhy Sahagun Il iterward belonged 70 tne IN
oTtuuste Boturini, sud Il thus descr0ei IN ms c"-
loguc; -, 81. n.
iTne in figures and CyPaers ON Earopean paper is
author il the Father FIR Bernsrdno dc SShasun Fran
cscsn II u very curious thing. by ncsn- OF which
tie indians learned with Gaze the mysteries Oh our
faith" D.,-...
-
rbcpetic in character described a. follows ny Tor.
cueluuda who IxxOchill Us, the hrst wn0
succeeea IN Interpreting the pictures and poems o. S
Indians After speaking of the mole IN whisd some IN
diin learn the Psier Noster, ne ads; Others trans
lated the Latin into words IN their own language wnca
rescmtlld them in sound represe nting them NOT ~ e
ttls but y the things them-eyes ssnu ID Tor they n"i
no letters besides pctures and was by these ns Iney
undcrs oCd each ether. This VIII be more clear oy an
example Tue word most nearly rcscmoinS Pa-1 90,
ing T0t The name OF sort Of small nag wdien server
to express The number twenty they put TINS mail nag
for pdcr. In place OF Roster, word rescmohnS taer
sochA they paint tuna (oacts) g The name OF wncn
noohh reeals the Latin aud 20 they proceed 70
the end OF tie prayer.
"Py similar process and characters they wrote down
what they wished IN learn by heart Tals was during
tie period OF their conversion for now between
1892 ana 1919 they longer require TO use these an
cient characters"
Tns pasrsge which gives the true key 10 the xicsn
wiring confrms what TOrqucinsda elsewhere says of
the letters or hierogyphics in use IN his time lie
spsak oil tie existence oi class Of Iotonac monks VINO
were emrlcyed to compose "tO pat ia good siye, ard
10 v-te IN figures he d'seOurse hch me poTJs pro
nouneed in pabIe saagcn also assures ~, rs well os
ether Suthors that there were school books containing
poems in ancient characters
OF course TesterAs ignorance OF the native lang agcs
precuded any thing ike ph0Re.cisa from hls hrst CON
positions On the other hand hy were TOO unconuect
ed to deserve the name OF tdogTdPhic "a VIC nave
said they only rude paintin without any special
si.nnc ance in themselves, but simply expressive ~ IL
utIatons OF verbal dscourses ID was precisely these
led to the controversy between the Domlnicans, TO
which er Testera belonged and their rivals the Fran
Cl can; for when the last improving ON the paintin5s
OF Tesiers assimaied theirs and more 10 the ma
tive paintings records, the DOmuicans attempted 10
appro PIRATE the improvements 10 themselves. Now. al
though the Fars became very expert IN then use OF the
native systems, there were many things they could nor
EXPIRE either ior want Of thorough knowledge OF the
system or it, own detects The alb tract ideas con
necCd with her doctrines dehed their ingenuity to rem
der them And in these cases II VIII be seen, from inc
fkaNu aI In
rcfolt 10 foreign European Greek other characters
mCst likely from their pedsntry, or IN orderto preserve
,tricter exactitude Greek Hebrew characters. In
rendering any portions OF the Bible s almost certain
tie characters last named would be ulei
The languale Of Acosts is as follows; go,
zone of cur Jesuit fathers, experienced and skin,
full man. assembled the old men OF Tezeuco lula ana
Mexico and conferred much with them On reference %
the psmngs) They showed him their libraries, tneir
hi.tiies their calendars and other things worthy 70 oe
seen They had figures and herogyphcs which were
figure were represented by their own egy those which
Rad NOT were rendered by other significant Characters
and by tbs tfy expressed all they desired ror
dates they had complete signs etc bu a. tneT ngres
and characters not copous and ecient a. our
leoIs and writing they could not 20 accurately render
the words but only the substance Of the ideas And a.
they st reoe tie haIangues and discourses OF their
ancient orators and rhetorcians and many poetical
chants which il impossible 10 learn by m cans oil
the herogyphcs and characters, must infer that
the children were taught these by heart
they wrote the same dscourscs by images
and characters and IN order 10 convince myself of IT,
have examined tue prayers OF Pster Noster Ave ARIA
Creole etc, written in the same mode with the Indians
and they may well asonish whoever sees the H. For IN
order 10 express these words, confess myseV tney
paint Indian cOnessing his knees at the feet OF
monk; then, for the words TO God AtmigA'h they
Iin three heads crowned 10 represent the TRINITY Tor
10 The glorious V1giH Mary they paint the lace ana olst
Of OR Lady with CHILD; for So Peter and ~ PaLL
two heads surrounded by haO with kys and asword;
and IN this way the whole CoH6eator is written IN
HIfrs are
aud herein cons the point Oh tbs extract as Tar ~ re-
latCs 20 our immediate purpose "Nherc ygnes ore
xdn,in lkeypuf Character as for which have snned
Acosta has not told what kind Of characters he
nlesus and they yariously supposed - have been
European, Greek Hebrew, and topographic. De
Brotes m hi treatise on the Mechanical Formation OF
Languages &C. T. 40 translates tue chapter OF Aco-ta
iron which have quoted and throughout understands
Acosta to mean by eUdctsres" Mexican characters.
But when he comes 70 the passage IN question: ne SUIT
denly translates the word charac'ers IN our iet,srs
and roceeds to say that the figured writing of the M:x
cane never advanced far M AcOsa preends AMI init
il failed the moment II became necessary 10 express
sCme intellectual or moral idea, or anything IeaiVe or
abstract But De Brosses evidently undertakes tne ca
pacty of the Mexican SYSTEM tor they were obliged
10 resort as often be pretend 10 foreign alphabet
the accurate and scrupuous Acosa would have qualified
hie assertions and mentioned the TACT
Nevertheless there paintings composed party oi
6curef and partly OF alphabetical writing, such Us De
Bosses meant Such were the confessions whicn Tor
que mazda mentions, IN which the curative pert ~
European characters well formed and perfectly ieSDe
Nonnstic Christianity not always the same with ours
and sometmes " not oyerscrupulous. For, IN some oil
their painted prsyer etc, the monks took greatioeres
S. Francis IL interpolated by the franciscan' amer st
Peter and e. Paul in the Confeator Instead OF " In
thought word or action" they say or paint in eating
dripknc. etc in figures not wholly decent la sons
Jesus CErt does net die the crosf bur has battle
Nth Herod cuts in pieces his army, and then ascends
INTO Heaven In others he il delivered from the Jews BY
the spsniards, by force of arms Az late Ne 1881 n
Aubin saw sacred drama representation at Tezeuco
Eraa n
snted " n,erposng in behalf Of Ch-t In the same man
per This explains the reproach OF Renesa :" that The
Indians never knew Of the passion or death OF Christ be-
cause it had not been taught to hem-ths reason .,
which was thar the spaniards giving themselves out 20
be immortal, did not wish 70 admit that their God could
die" at.
NV friend " AubiD Of Paris has I'VE oil these CnrS.
80. iooks more O, ess IN the Mexican figures OF
knxirr snauish lnterspersed. Otners Oy0nl