|Lo liege Lib, 
 
 IZJ9 
 
 IZe 
 
 Bancroft 
 The Early American Chroniclers
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE 
 
 EARLY AMERICAN 
 
 CHEONICLEES. 
 
 BY 
 
 HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO : 
 
 A. L. BANCROFT & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 
 1883.
 
 F 
 
 rr 
 
 THE EARLY AMERICA 
 
 CHRONICLERS. 
 
 Facts can be accurately known to us only by the most rigid observation 
 and sustained and scrutinizing scepticism. p, . , 
 
 IN the North American Review for April 1876 
 appeared an article by Lewis H. Morgan entitled 
 " Montezuma's Dinner," to which some prominence 
 has been given, notably and of late by Thomas Went- 
 worth Higginson in Harper's Magazine for August 
 1882, in an article entitled "The First Americans." 
 As Mr Morgan takes for his text the second vol- 
 ume of my Native Races of the Pacific States, which 
 treats of the aboriginal civilization of the Mexican and 
 Central American table-lands, and as his remarkable 
 hypotheses, which seem to find intelligent support, 
 affect not alone the quality of American aboriginal 
 culture, but the foundations of early American his- 
 tory, and indeed of all historic evidence, I deem it 
 my duty to state briefly and plainly my views upon 
 the subject. 
 
 I confess to have been a little startled by the state- 
 ment of Colonel Higginson, that the speculations of 
 Mr Morgan were so generally accepted by scholars. 
 
 634989
 
 2 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 Nevertheless I was pleased to learn that within a few 
 \vars there seemed to have come an answer to the 
 (jiK-stioM, who and whence were the aboriginal Amer- 
 icans; that the literary and monumental remains of 
 the Aztecs, Mayas, and Mound-builders might now 
 be translated by skilful students; that a clew to the 
 labyrinths of race and origin had been found found 
 thirty years ago, though successfully applied for only 
 right or ten years; and when further assured that 
 conjecture in this direction has begun for science 
 a new era, and that although there may be some 
 mysteries relating to humanity not yet solved, there 
 re-mains little affecting American archaeology which 
 tlif new theory will not make plain I was pleased, 
 i use these are things I have long wished to know. 
 But when informed that early American annals are 
 by the light of this new theory transformed, and to a 
 great extent annulled, the eyes of the first comers 
 having deceived them; that the aboriginal culture, its 
 arts, literature, sciences, polities, and religions being 
 not these but other things, as is clearly shown by 
 the ' new interpretation,' and that the tales of the 
 conquerors must accordingly be written anew, written 
 and read by this new transforming light; that there 
 never was an Aztec or a Maya empire, but only wild 
 tribes leagued like the northern savages; that Yucatan 
 IH-VCT had great cities, nor Montezuma a palace, but 
 that as an ordinary Indian chief this personage had 
 lived in the communal dwelling of his tribe; that we 
 can see America as Cortes saw it, not in the words of 
 CortcSs and his companions, or in the monumental 
 remains of the south, but in the reflection of New 
 Mexican villages, and through the mental vagaries 
 <'f one man after the annihilation of facts presented 
 1 y a hundred men, I was surprised that such conceits 
 should ever assume tangible form and be received as 
 truth by any considerable number of scholars. I was 
 not suqirised, however, to see my much admired friend 
 fYankly admit, before concluding his essay, that there
 
 THE MORGAN THEORY. 3 
 
 were lions in the path in the form of facts, that it was 
 easier to believe the Spanish conquerors than to accept 
 some of Mr Morgan's positions, and that, after all, 
 the matter of origin must still end in an interrogation 
 mark. 
 
 If I rightly comprehend the Morgan hypothesis, it 
 is that, by systems of kinship conspicuous in partic- 
 ular among the Iroquois and Ojibways, and present in 
 fainter proportions everywhere, the races of the earth 
 may be divided into savage and civilized, in some such 
 way as hitherto they have been classified by physical, 
 linguistic, and social characteristics. In one category 
 would thus be placed the Aryan and Semitic races; 
 in the other the Turanian, Malayan, and American. 
 Convinced that the American nations all belong to 
 one family, Mr Morgan assumes that their various 
 institutions must be practically identical, and that the 
 social customs of extinct tribes may best be learned, 
 not from the statements of men who wrote from 
 actual observation, but from the study of existing 
 tribes. Himself familiar with the Iroquois, and to 
 some extent with other northern tribes, he applies 
 the Iroquois tribal organization of gentes, phratries, 
 tribes, and confederations to the nations of Mexico and 
 Central and South America, thus making all savages, 
 and all statements to the contrary falsehoods. Among 
 other tests of civilization are those of the marriage 
 of single pairs and inheritance, a plurality of wives or 
 husbands, and community of property belonging of 
 course to savagism. By this system unity of race is 
 established, and the Americans are referred for their 
 origin to Asia. 
 
 With Mr Morgan's theory, as such, I have nothing 
 to do. Not dealing in theories of race and origin 
 myself, further than sometimes to catalogue them and 
 wonder which of them all is most absurd; not being 
 specially concerned whether the inhabitants of the 
 Mexican and Central American table-lands are called 
 savage or civilized, especially by those whose concep-
 
 4 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 tion of the meaning of these words is quite different 
 from my own, I paid little attention to Mr Morgan's 
 article, not even once carefully reading it until my 
 attention was called to it by Colonel Higginson. But 
 concerning the effect of such teachings on popular 
 estimates of historical evidence, particularly as touch- 
 ing the early American chroniclers, I am deeply inter- 
 ested. 
 
 If I am correctly informed, Mr Morgan obtained 
 but little information from Mexico and Central Amer- 
 ica supporting his theory; but as it must be common 
 and universal in order to stand at all, it was necessary 
 his ipse dixit should be employed to extend his doc- 
 trines over the southern plateaux; so with all his 
 strength he said it must be so, and was so, all eyes 
 and brains to the contrary notwithstanding. All that 
 was seen and said at the time of the conquest, and 
 all that has since been seen or said conflicting with 
 this fancy, is illusion. Now I venture to affirm, with 
 all respect, that no adequate proof exists in support of 
 his suppositions concerning Mexico; that is, no rea- 
 sonable, tangible evidence, such as would be accepted 
 by unbiassed common-sense. There are analogies, 
 some of them remarkable. Nature is everywhere 
 one; the nations of the earth, of whatever origin, are 
 formed on one model. But for every analogy these 
 theorists have found, their predecessors have found a 
 score of analogies in support of some other theory. 
 Arguing from analogy to prove origin or race is not 
 sound reasoning. 
 
 In looking over Mr Morgan's writings, it is to be 
 noticed that traces of his tests become more and more 
 vague as the southern and more advanced nations 
 are approached. His attempt to locate the ancient 
 Ci'bola shows no small lack of skill in the use of evi- 
 dence. Likewise, though more dogmatical in some 
 respects, in his later works he apparently relinquishes 
 in some degree the positions which at first were main- 
 tained with such arbitrary obstinacy, and spends some
 
 RADICAL DIFFERENCES. 5 
 
 time in qualifying former errors; but it seems that 
 disciples, more wild than their master, have arisen, 
 who by the blind pursuit of their ignis fatuus are 
 rushing headlong into a gulf of absurdity. It seems 
 a long leap indeed, but one made by them with ap- . 
 parent ease, from a theory resting on a trace of cer- 
 tain organizations in the north, and which may by 
 much research be made to assume some weight, to an 
 arbitrary conclusion that the Mayas were identical in 
 their institutions with the Pueblo Indians. Grant the 
 fundamental doctrine, and there is yet a wide distance 
 between Zuni and Uxmal. It requires a vivid im- 
 agination to see only joint-tenement structures in the 
 remains at Palenque. But admitting it, the radical 
 difference in plan, architecture, and sculptured and 
 stucco decorations, to employ his own line of argument, 
 suggests a corresponding development and improve- 
 ment in other institutions and arts which would in- 
 troduce some troublesome variations in the assumed 
 identity with the Pueblos and Iroquois, even if all 
 started together. The Maya hieroglyphs, and even 
 certain of the Aztec, form also an obstacle by no means 
 so easily removed. True, not being deciphered, their 
 actual grade cannot be positively proved ; yet the com- 
 mon picture-writing contains enough of the phonetic 
 element to place the better class high above the line 
 fixed by the new transforming light as the mark of 
 civilization. Even by this bright illumination it seems 
 scarcely possible to reconcile the testimony of exist- 
 ing relics, and of Spanish witnesses who came into 
 contact with the Maya and Nahua nations, with the 
 narrow conclusions of supporters of the all -directing 
 consanguinity. In the earlier life of the hypothesis 
 the change to what is called descriptive consanguinity 
 and the inheritance of property were made tests of 
 civilization; but these tests were abandoned when it 
 was ascertained, among other things, that the Aztecs 
 did inherit personal property, and to a certain extent 
 landed estate.
 
 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 If this were the only theory ever advanced to prove 
 improvable propositions regarding the Americans, it 
 might be more imposing; but as it is only one of fifty, 
 each of which has had its day and its supporters, 
 much as we would like to know what it professes 
 to be able to tell, we cannot look forward with any 
 degree of confidence to seeing its mighty promises ful- 
 filled. Nor do I regard such investigation as in every 
 respect beneficial: on the contrary, it appears to me 
 detrimental where facts are warped to fit theories, the 
 theory being of less importance to mankind than the 
 fact. Unless care is taken, the investigations now 
 going on may be absolutely damaging to science and 
 truth by the evident bias of some of the investigators. 
 On the other hand it is true that great discoveries 
 have sprung from apparently puerile conceits; and 
 facts are sure to live, however sometimes distorted, 
 while false doctrines are sure to die, however ably 
 presented. 
 
 In common with all such suppositions, the paths by 
 which the advocate reaches his conclusions are fuller 
 of instruction than the conclusions themselves. There 
 is something of instruction in the nine massive folios 
 left by the poor demented Lord Kingsborough, who 
 greatly desired to prove the American Indians Jews, 
 though he was not one whit nearer such proof at the 
 end than at the beginning. The more knowledge the 
 learned Abbd Brasseur de Bourbourg brought to the 
 subject the more confused he became, until the latter 
 parts of his labors were directed toward revising his 
 earlier conjectures. Such a course appears not unusual 
 with theorists from the dogmatic to the argumenta- 
 tive, then back to the dogmatic again, forever explain- 
 ing away mistakes and falling into new ones. The 
 eloquent Robert Mackenzie is still in the first stage 
 of dogmatism when with a glance at the map showing 
 the proximity of Asia and America he would forever 
 settle the question of origin. Nor is the straining of 
 modern scientists to prove Asiatic intercourse by
 
 ABSURDITY OF THE POSITION. 7 
 
 shipwrecked Japanese junks at all necessary. It is a 
 well established fact that for many centuries there has 
 been free intercourse between the peoples on either 
 side of Bering Strait, both by means of boats and by 
 crossing on the ice. It may be as Mr Morgan says, 
 though his arguments appear scarcely more convincing 
 than the arguments of those who preceded him, or of 
 those who came after him. Some of these other 
 theories are .held to-day; grant them all what then? 
 Grant that the Americans are one stock with the 
 people of Asia, or Scandinavia, or Africa, or Armenia, 
 there still remains to be proven whether the Old 
 World peopled the New, or the New the Old; where 
 stood the primordial cradle or cradles of the race; 
 where man was first made, and how. This involves 
 a knowledge of all things tangible, to know which 
 involves a knowledge of things intangible. 
 
 It seemed easy for Mr Morgan, from his famil- 
 iarity with certain of the northern tribes of America, 
 to express the opinion, and bolster it by plausible 
 arguments and analogies, that the various aboriginal 
 nations of America were one people and their insti- 
 tutions practically identical; but his whole line of 
 argument in the North American Review, so far as 
 relates to the extension of his system over Mexico 
 and Central America and with that alone am I 
 concerned is exceedingly weak, so much so that, as 
 before stated, when the article was first published I 
 deemed it not worth serious consideration; so do 
 I now, except that it appears to be misleading certain 
 honest minds. 
 
 He begins by telling what the Spanish conquerors 
 found in Mexico ; not what they reported themselves 
 to have seen, but what they should have seen to 
 establish the new interpretation, which being infal- 
 lible, the Spanish conquerors did not see what they 
 saw, but something else. Nor does it affect the facts 
 to call the Nahua culture savagism or civilization, 
 Montezuma's dwelling a palace or a tenement-house,
 
 8 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 himself emperor or cacique, and his subordinate rulers 
 lords or chiefs. It is certainly cool for Mr Morgan, 
 who never examined the monumental remains of the 
 Aztecs, who had no greater opportunity than others 
 of studying their social system, and who in fact never 
 knew anything about it except upon the evidence of 
 the very witnesses he denounces as blind and false, 
 sweepingly to assert, in order to extend a preconceived 
 theory over all the nations of America, that the con- 
 querors were mistaken, that they could not have 
 seen what they thought they saw. It is the old line 
 of reasoning employed by learned superstition these 
 many centuries; if the universe, or any part of it, 
 does not accord with the doctrine, so much the worse 
 for the universe, which must thereupon be recon- 
 structed. As the good elder of one of our fashionable 
 churches lately remarked, " If the bible affirmed that 
 Jonah swallowed the whale, I should believe it." 
 
 Without advancing adequate evidence to show the 
 existence of his system among the Nahuas,Mr Morgan 
 engages in sage discussions concerning it, transform- 
 ing by the light of the new interpretation, as many 
 of the new facts into his fancies as suits his purpose. 
 In doing this, he allows the chroniclers to be right in 
 whatever they say supporting his views; in all such 
 statements as oppose his system they w r ere in error. 
 It was indeed a transforming light that enabled this 
 man to see, not being present, what others could by 
 no means perceive though they were on the ground; 
 and he kindly admits that the early histories of 
 Spanish America may for the most part be trusted, 
 except where his pet project is touched. 
 
 This, then, is my opinion of the Morgan theory: 
 There may be grounds for certain of its suppositions in 
 certain directions, but there are not sufficient grounds 
 for its acceptance in regard to the nations of the Mexi- 
 can and Central American table-lands, and not the 
 slightest excuse fur its authors in attempting to sweep 
 from the face of the earth, by mere negation, all
 
 WHAT IS CIVILIZATION? 9 
 
 persons and facts opposing their theory. It is not 
 by such means that reasonable hypotheses are estab- 
 lished; blank negation never yet overturned sub- 
 stantial truth. Further than this, were Mr Morgan's 
 system all that he claims for it, and did it in reality 
 pervade all the nations of America, including the 
 Aztecs and the Mayas, it still proves nothing against 
 aboriginal civilization, or against the veracity of the 
 Spanish chroniclers. 
 
 Colonel Higginson says truly that whether a people 
 may properly be called civilized is a matter of defini- 
 tions, though I must confess my inability to follow 
 him when he makes a radical difference of meaning 
 in the terms prehistoric civilization and a very skilful 
 barbarism. I may be altogether at fault in my con- 
 ception of progressional phenomena and the meaning 
 of the terms savage and civilized. I am so, or else 
 their popular signification and use are incorrect and 
 absurd. Probably no words so freely used are so 
 little understood. The terms are almost universally 
 employed to designate fixed conditions, when by the 
 very nature of things such conditions as applied to 
 man are impossible. 
 
 Mr Morgan classified culture periods under the 
 categories of savagism, barbarism, and civilization: 
 to emerge from the first of which there should be 
 knowledge of fire, fish subsistence, and the bow and 
 arrow ; from the second, pottery, domestication of ani- 
 mals, agriculture, and smelting of iron; and to attain 
 full civilization a phonetic alphabet was necessary, or 
 use of hieroglyphs upon stone as an equivalent. 
 
 This may have been a convenient arrangement for 
 his purpose, and I see no reason why he, and all who 
 choose, should not employ it. But surely the same 
 right should be accorded others, who perchance may 
 find another classification convenient. For instance, 
 .one might wish to throw Mr Morgan's three divisions 
 into the one category of savagism, and spread his idea
 
 10 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 of civilization upon a higher plane; for surely our 
 present highest civilization is as much superior to the 
 condition essential to admission into his highest class 
 as his highest class is superior to his lowest. Italian 
 song, French art, German letters, English poetry, 
 and American invention are certainly far enough m 
 advance of the first use of the phonetic alphabet to 
 entitle such accomplishments to a new category. 
 
 One estimates a nation's civilization by its agri- 
 culture; another by its industrial arts; others by the 
 quality of its religion, morality, literature, or politi- 
 cal and social institutions. Some say that tillers of 
 the soil should be preferred before herders of cattle; 
 some hold workers in iron and coal above workers 
 in gold and feathers; some place pottery in advance 
 of sculpture, the fine arts before the industrial; some 
 compare implements of war, others phonetic characters, 
 others knowledge of the movements of the heavenly 
 bodies; some would take a general average. 
 
 But weighing a people's civilization, or lack of it, 
 by any of these standards, yet other standards are 
 necessary by which to measure progress. What is 
 meant by half civilized, or quarter civilized, or wholly 
 civilized? A half civilized nation is a nation half as 
 civilized as ours. But is ours civilized, fully civilized? 
 Is there no higher culture, or refinement, or justice, 
 or humanity in store for man than those formed on 
 present European models, which sanction coercion, 
 bloody arbitrament, international robbery, the exter- 
 mination of primitive peoples, and hide in society 
 under more comely coverings all the iniquities of sav- 
 agism ? Judging from the past and the present there 
 is yet another six thousand, or sixty thousand years 
 of progress for man, and then he may be as much a 
 savage, compared with his condition at the end of the 
 next twelve thousand or one hundred and twenty 
 thousand years' term, as he was at the beginning 
 compared with the present. Is there then no such 
 thing as civilization? Assuredly not, in the signifi-
 
 THE UPWARD LEADING LINE. 11 
 
 cance of a fixed condition, a goal attained, a complete 
 and perfected idea or state. Civilization and savagism 
 are relative and not absolute terms. To attempt to 
 make them absolute and apply them to fixed con- 
 ditions is to render them meaningless, and make 
 null the conditions indicated. For if civilization is 
 a fixed state, and not a moving forward, then the 
 nation which ten thousand years ago was civilized, 
 having made some progress from primeval savagism, 
 may be to-day savage, having yet as much progress 
 to make during the next hundred centuries; that is 
 to say, the present people of London and Paris may 
 perhaps not improperly be called savages by the 
 wonderfully advanced citizens of Wrangel Island ten 
 thousand years hence. The moment the man primeval 
 kindles a fire, or employs a crooked stick in catching 
 food, he has entered upon his never ending progres- 
 sional journey ; he is no longer wholly and primordially 
 savage. The terms being rightly employed, there are 
 no absolute savages or civilized peoples on the earth 
 to-day; and when there are so many standards by 
 which progress may properly be measured, is it wise 
 to warp fundamental facts in dogmatically thrust- 
 ing one people into the category of half civilized, and 
 another but slightly different into that of one quarter 
 savage? Perhaps it would do to designate the ever 
 constant advance by prefixes, first a super-civilization, 
 then a super-super-civilization, and so on until, between 
 the beginning and end, instead of a poor single semi, we 
 might have a hundred fixed stages, not one of which 
 by any possibility could be so defined in words as com- 
 pletely to fit any one of the millions of human con- 
 ditions. At intervals along the early part of the 
 Upward leading line are arbitrarily placed marks, and 
 those who for the moment happen to occupy the spaces 
 are given designations which are supposed to adhere to 
 them and all who come after them throughout all time, 
 when howsoever definite an idea we may have of that 
 end of the line which began with man, of the other,
 
 12 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 which will never cease spinning until the last human 
 being has left the planet, we can have no conception. 
 For aught we know it may not stop short of omnis- 
 cience. 
 
 Take any one of Mr Morgan's tests of civilization 
 and see how absurd it is. Who gave this man the 
 right to say that workers in iron should be preferred 
 before workers in wool, or that he who trained 
 animals was greater than he who trained the light- 
 ning; or that were Utah to attain to the culture of 
 ancient Greece, so long as polygamy was practised 
 they could not be called civilized nay, if John Stuart 
 Mill were to marry George Eliot and Mrs Browning, 
 the prattle of the preacher that bound them would 
 transform them into savages I 
 
 There are as many varieties of civilization as there 
 are civilized peoples. Civilization is an unfolding, and 
 civilization develops mainly from its own germ; it is 
 not a superficial acquisition, but an inward growth, 
 even if nourished by extraneous food. You may 
 whitewash a savage with your superiority, but you 
 cannot civilize him at once. 
 
 Whether we turn to the extreme eastern kingdoms 
 of Asia, or to the region watered by the Euphrates 
 and the Nile, all inhabited since the remotest historic 
 past by races of acknowledged culture, everywhere we 
 find vast differences and strong peculiarities in the 
 respective cultures, developed by environment. Some 
 of the characteristics are of a high order, others de- 
 scend to a grade of actual barbarism; some are in 
 course of development, . others stationary, or even 
 retrograding. The Nahua culture partakes of the 
 same traits, fashioned by its peculiar environment. 
 For purposes of his own, Mr Morgan arbitrarily pre- 
 scribes limits to what is called civilization in order if 
 possible to prevent the Nahuas from entering its pre- 
 cincts. In this effort he ignores many distinctively 
 higher traits which the most superficial observer must 
 discover among the southern races; he chooses to dis-
 
 SOMETHING OF THEIR CHARACTER. 13 
 
 regard or slight the very distinct evidences of not 
 merely settled life, but of settled communities under 
 a high form of government, with advanced institu- 
 tions and arts. 
 
 -I will now introduce some of the principal chroni- 
 clers in person, making as close and critical an analysis 
 of their characters and writings as the most sceptical 
 could desire, weighing the quality of their evidence 
 with evenly balanced judicial scales; after which I 
 will present briefly some facts and characteristics on 
 which, according to my conception of the term, the 
 Nahuas and Mayas may justly lay claim to be called 
 civilized. I will give beforehand the proof that 
 these traits did actually exist among the peoples of 
 the Mexican and Central American table-lands at the 
 time of their conquest by the Spaniards, laying before 
 the reader the principal authorities in their true 
 character as fully as I am able to discover it, with all 
 their merits and demerits, their veracity and men- 
 dacity. I am not aware of any special desire to prove 
 the presence or absence of a civilization in this in- 
 stance. If my historical writings display any one 
 marked peculiarity, it is that of a critical incredulity 
 in respect of both Indian- and Spanish tales. I have 
 never placed myself in a position where I was tempted 
 to create or exaggerate. I have no theory to advo- 
 cate. My narrations are based on the reports of eye- 
 witnesses whose characters have been studied, whose 
 education, idiosyncrasies, positions, conditions, temper, 
 and temptations have all been carefully considered in 
 weighing their evidence, and the results are so given 
 that the reader can easily form conclusions of his own 
 if mine do not satisfy him/ 
 
 Imagine the history of the conquest written from the 
 Morgan standpoint. The story might be told based on 
 the authority of the chroniclers it can never other- 
 wise be written; but all that they report in any way 
 conflicting with the preconceived idea must be thrown
 
 14 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 out or explained away. Imagine my account of the 
 aborigines announced as A Description of the Native 
 Races of North America, founded on such parts of 
 existing Spanish Testimony, and on such Material 
 Relics as seem to agree with the researches of Lewis 
 H. Morgan among the Iroquois of New York! If, 
 after the evidence in the present instance is fully 
 given, the reader prefers denominating the peoples 
 referred to as savages or satyrs, I have not the 
 slightest objection. 
 
 With the first expedition to Mexico went two men 
 by the name of 'Diaz, one a priest and the other a 
 soldier. Both wrote accounts of what they saw, thus 
 giving us at the outset narratives from ecclesiastical 
 and secular standpoints. It was a voyage along the 
 coast ; they did not penetrate the interior. Observa- 
 tion being general, the descriptions are general. There 
 was nothing remarkable about the priest; he was not 
 particularly intelligent or honest. I see no reason to 
 doubt the commonplace incidents of the voyage as 
 given in the Itinerant) de Grijalva. The towns, with 
 their white stone buildings and temple-towers glisten- 
 ing in the foliage, remind him of Seville; when he 
 mentions a miracle which happens at one of them, 
 we know he is not telling the truth. Indeed, an 
 experienced judge can almost always arrive at the 
 truth even if the evidence comes only from the 
 mouths of lying witnesses, provided he can examine 
 them apart. Where the evidence is abundant, the 
 judge soon knows more of the facts of the case than 
 any one witness, and can easily discern the true state- 
 ments from the false. But on the whole, the priest 
 Juan Diaz was quite moderate in his descriptions of 
 what we know from other sources to have been there. 
 
 The same evidence is offered in the Historia Ver- 
 dadera of Bernal Diaz, who attended not only on this 
 voyage, but on the first and succeeding expeditions; 
 all is plain, unvarnished, and devoid of coloring. If 
 hyperbole was ever to be employed it should be in
 
 DIAZ, TERRAZAS. 15 
 
 connection with the revelation of these first startling 
 evidences of a new art and a strange race. But the 
 enthusiasm of the author becomes marked only as he 
 ascends later with Cortes to the table-land and there 
 beholds the varied extent of the new culture. What 
 stronger proof can there be of its superior grade when 
 he passes by with comparative indifference the Yucatec 
 specimen, known to us to be of rare beauty, and ex- 
 presses marked wonder only on reaching Mexico? 
 
 Bernal Diaz wrote rather late in life, after many 
 accounts had already been given. He prided himself 
 on giving a true history, was quite as ready to fight 
 with his pen as with his sword, and having had many 
 quarrels, and still harboring many jealousies, was 
 very apt to criticise what others said; and he did so 
 criticise and refute. The truth is, there were here 
 many and opposing elements in the evidence to win- 
 now it of falsehood, far more than are usually found 
 in early materials for history. 
 
 The memorials of the relatives of Velazquez to the 
 king are not worth considering, being little more than 
 masses of misstatements and exaggerations. 
 
 The personage known as the Anonymous Con- 
 queror, probably Francisco de Terrazas, mayordomo 
 of Cortes, gave a clear description of Mexico, the 
 country, people, towns, and institutions, and particu- 
 larly the capital city, arranged in paragraphs with 
 proper headings, with drawings of the great temple 
 and of the city. His method and language denote in- 
 telligence and inspire confidence. No reason is known 
 why he should exaggerate, many being apparent 
 why he should render a true account. If his testi- 
 mony can be ruled out on the ground that it does not 
 fit a theory, then can that of any man who furnishes 
 material for history, and our histories may as well be 
 written with the theories as authorities, and have done 
 with it. Dealing wholly with native institutions, the 
 writer seems to have no desire, as is the case with 
 some, to magnify native strength and resources for the
 
 10 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 sake of raising the estimate of the deeds of himself 
 and comrades; on the contrary, in speaking of native 
 troops and arms, where a soldier would be most in- 
 clined to boast, the description rather moderates the 
 idea of their prowess. The population of Mexico he 
 gives lower than most writers, and yet, when describing 
 the city and its arts, he grows quite eloquent on the 
 size, the beauty, the advanced features. The whole 
 narrative bears the stamp of reliability, and the stu- 
 dent may easily from internal evidence and com- 
 parison deduct approximate truth. 
 
 There are documents, such as Carta del Ejercito and 
 Probanza de Lejalde, attested under oath by hundreds, 
 and therefore apparently worthy of credit above others ; 
 but when we examine the motives for their production, 
 and find that they were intended to palliate the con- 
 duct of the conquerors, our confidence is shaken. 
 
 Hernan Corte's was ever ready with a lie when it 
 suited his purpose, but he was far too wise a man need- 
 lessly to waste so useful an agent. He would not, and 
 did not, acquire a name for untruthfulness. He knew 
 that others were writing as well as himself, and it 
 could by no possibility bring him permanent benefit 
 to indulge in much deception. His misstatements 
 chiefly aft'ect himself and his enemies and opponents 
 among his own countrymen; in giving detailed infor- 
 mation concerning the natives there was little temp- 
 tation to deceive. His Cartas might naturally be 
 expected to aim at extolling his achievements and the 
 value of his discovery. Expecting some coloring, the 
 student is forewarned. We find at times what we feel 
 inclined to stamp as exaggeration, but here also the 
 enthusiasm of the narrator rises only as he approaches 
 Mexico, the fame of which is dinned into his ears all 
 along his march, and that by the natives nearer the 
 coast, whose high advancement is attested by ruins 
 and relics. Internal and collateral evidence shows his 
 first descriptions of sights to be far from overrated, 
 and his later discoveries to be in the main quite trust-
 
 HEKNAX CORTES. 17 
 
 worthy. Indeed, aware that some of his statements 
 may be doubted, he urges his sovereign more than, 
 once to send out a commission to verify them. 
 
 Such verification was exacted. Officials did come 
 out to report on the conquest and its value, only to 
 join, in the main, in confirmation of what had been 
 said. A series of questions was also sent to public 
 men in Mexico not long after the conquest, bearing to 
 a great extent on the native culture, and the answers 
 all tend to confirm the high estimate already formed 
 from the specimens and reports forwarded to Spain. 
 One of the most exhaustive answers was sent by the 
 eminent jurist Alonso de Zurita, connected for nearly 
 twenty years with Spanish audiencias in New Spain. 
 He reviews the native institutions with calm and clear 
 judgment, and it is only in rejecting the epithet of 
 barbarians as bestowed by unthinking persons a term 
 applied also to Europeans by Chinese that he grows 
 indignant, declaring that none who had any knowledge 
 of Mexican institutions and capacity could use such 
 a term. He spoke while evidences were quite fresh, 
 and well knew what he affirmed. Similar confirm- 
 atory evidence may be found massed in the various 
 collections of letters and narratives about the Indies 
 brought to light from the archives of Spain and 
 America, and published by the editors of the extensive 
 Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos; Coleccion de Docu- 
 mentos para la Historia de Mexico, etc. ; by the learned 
 Navarrete, Ramirez, Icazbalceta, Ternaux-Compans, 
 and others. 
 
 Still stronger evidence of the reliability of the 
 early authorities comes from the consideration that 
 the rumors of Mexico's grandeur and wealth attracted 
 vast hordes of hungry seekers for gold, grants of land, 
 and office. Of course, most of them were disap- 
 pointed, and Cortes, from his inability to please and 
 gratify all, raised a host of enemies, who joined the 
 large number already arraigned against him by reason 
 of his successes. Their aim was naturally to vilify 
 
 ESSAYS AND MISCELLANY. 2
 
 18 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 him, to lower the achievements of the conquest, and 
 to detract from the land which had failed to satisfy 
 them. If ever a subject was assailed, it was this of 
 Mexico, her resources and people; assailed, too, during 
 the very opening years of the occupation, when the 
 testimony of eye-witnesses was abundant, and particu- 
 larly of the disappointed, whose voice was loudest. 
 Notwithstanding all this the glories of Mexico stand 
 unshaken, and greater grow the confirmed ideas of 
 the superior condition of her race in number, culture, 
 and resources; and this, too, when the Spanish gov- 
 ernment began to discountenance the glowing reports 
 of native superiority, and to lower the estimates of 
 aboriginal wealth and condition, with a view to keep 
 foreign attention from the country, and to hide the 
 facts which would tell against it for crushing a high 
 culture and enslaving a noble race. 
 
 Thus it was that the writings of Sahagun, Las 
 Casas, and others, were suppressed or neglected. But 
 if many such were lost, others came finally to light 
 to receive additional confirmation from the native 
 records. It is to these records that we must look 
 not only for confirmation of what the chroniclers 
 relate, but for the only reliable data on political ma- 
 chinery and other esoteric subjects with which Span- 
 iards could not become so well acquainted. The value 
 of native records as supplementary and confirmatory 
 evidence is self-evident, since they were written by 
 and for the natives themselves, and naturally without 
 the idea of exaggeration or deception being dominant. 
 A sufficient number of original and copied native 
 manuscripts or paintings exists in different museums 
 and libraries, relating not only to historic events, out 
 describing the nature and development of institutions 
 and arts. 
 
 Besides the actual records, many histories exist, 
 by natives and friars, based wholly on such paintings 
 and on traditions and personal observations, such 
 as those of Tczozomoc, Camargo, and Ixtlilxochitl.
 
 NATIVE HISTORIANS. 19 
 
 Each of these native authors wrote from a different 
 standpoint, in the interest of his respective govern- 
 ment. Camargo, for instance, as a Tlascaltec is bit- 
 terly hostile to the Aztecs, and seeks of course to 
 detract from their grandeur in order to raise his own 
 people. He rather avoids dwelling on Aztec glories; 
 nevertheless frequent admissions appear which help 
 to confirm the impression of their advanced institu- 
 tions. Ixtlilxochitl, again, writes from the family 
 archives of his royal house of Tezcuco, and dwells 
 upon the deeds and grandeur of his city and tribe. 
 None of these authors possess sufficient skill to con- 
 ceal the coloring which constitutes their chief defect 
 as authorities. A number of chroniclers, and even 
 modern writers like Brasseur de Bourbourg, have 
 used native paintings and narratives more or less for 
 their histories, while certain others, like Veytia, de- 
 pend upon them or their translations almost wholly. 
 
 Ixtlilxochitl was called by Bustamante the Cicero 
 of Anahuac, and of course is to be taken with allow- 
 ance in speaking of his people. And so with Father 
 Duran I would no more trust a zealous priest while 
 defending the natives than I would trust Morgan 
 while defending his theory. 
 
 The reliability of translators is best judged by the 
 method used by Father Sahagun in the formation 
 of the Historia General, the three volumes of which 
 are devoted to an account of native manners and cus- 
 toms, their domestic and public life, their festivals 
 and rites, their institutions and traits. Instructed by 
 his superiors, the friar called upon intelligent and 
 learned Indians in different places to paint in hiero- 
 glyphics their accounts of these subjects. To these, 
 explanations were attached in full Mexican text, and 
 tested by further inquiries, and then translated into 
 Spanish by Sahagun. Many of the narratives are 
 vague and absurd, yet these very faults point in most 
 cases to simple-minded earnestness and frankness, and 
 render the work rather easier for the discriminating
 
 20 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHROXICLERS. 
 
 student to sift. The honesty of Sahagun's labors 
 brought upon them obloquy and neglect, which only 
 the more serve to commend the work to us. 
 
 It is from such sources, original and translated 
 native records, and verbal and written narrations of 
 eye-witnesses, that succeeding writers, or chroniclers 
 proper, obtained the main portion of their accounts 
 of conquests and aboriginal institutions. They them- 
 selves had opportunities for observation ; and actuated 
 by different motives, they were naturally impelled to 
 investigate and weigh to a certain extent, whether 
 for zeal of Spanish fame, or with desire to raise the 
 achievements of favorites, or to detract from the 
 glories of envied or detested leaders. 
 
 Las Casas, for instance, in his different works 
 stands forward as a pronounced champion of the 
 natives, and unflinchingly lashes the conquerors and 
 historians for what he terms cruelty, unjust policy, 
 and false statement. His Ilistoria Apologetica is 
 purely a defence of the Indians, their institutions and 
 characteristics, and consequently to be accepted with 
 caution. The need of this caution becomes stronger 
 when we behold the extreme exaggerations to which 
 he is led in the Breve Relation, claiming to be an expose 
 of Spanish excesses and cruelties. In the Ilistoria de 
 las Indias, again, he allows his feelings of friendship 
 for Velazquez to detract from the achievements of 
 Cortes. On every hand, therefore, the historian finds 
 reasons for accepting with caution the statements of 
 Las Casas; but thus forewarned, he is able to reject 
 the false and determine the true. He also finds that 
 \vlu-n not blinded by zeal the worthy bishop is honest, 
 and withal a keen and valuable observer, guided by 
 practical sagacity and endowed with a certain genius. 
 
 His contemporary, Oviedo, although less talented, 
 is by no means deficient in knowledge, and a varied 
 ( xprrience in both hemispheres had given him a 
 u.M-lul insight into affairs. He is not partial to the 
 natives, and Las Casas actually denounces his state-
 
 LAS CASAS, OVIEDO, PETER MARTYR, GOMARA. 21 
 
 ments against thein as lies. This is hardly just, ex- 
 cept in some instances. While personally acquainted 
 only with the region to the south of Nicaragua Lake, 
 his account embraces all Spanish conquests in the 
 western Indies, the facts being gathered from every 
 accessible source, and either compiled or given in 
 separate form. Indian and Spaniard, friend, foe, and 
 rival, all receive a hearing and a record, so that his 
 work is to a great extent a mass of testimony from 
 opposite sides. This to the hasty reader may present 
 a contradictory appearance, as Las Casas is led to 
 assume, but to the student such material is valuable. 
 
 A third contemporary and famous writer is Peter 
 Martyr, a man of brilliant attainments, deep clear 
 inind, and honest purpose, who had gained for him- 
 self a prominent position in Spain, and even a seat in 
 the Council of the Indies. Naturally interested in 
 the New World, whose affairs were then unfolding, 
 he eagerly questioned those who came thence, con- 
 sulted their charts and reports, and was thus enabled 
 to form a more accurate opinion about the Indians 
 and their land than their own, based as it was on so 
 much and varied testimony. A fault, however, is 
 the haste with which his summaries were formed, 
 both in order and detail; yet even this defect tends 
 to leave the narrative unvarnished and free from a 
 dangerous elaboration. Even Las Casas admits its 
 credibility. 
 
 The different minds, motives, prejudices, and even 
 antagonisms, of these three writers each impart an 
 additional value to their respective writings from 
 which theJiistorian cannot fail to derive benefit. 
 
 Like Peter Martyr, Gomara took his material 
 entirely from testimony, chiefly letters, reports, and 
 other documents in the archives of Cortes, his patron, 
 and collections to which his influence gained access. 
 His high literary tastes gave a zest to his writings, 
 but impelled him also to elaboration, and his Historia 
 de Mexico is colored by his predilections as biographer
 
 22 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 of the conqueror. On the other hand, lie finds en- 
 dorsement in the decree which was issued against 
 his production for its free treatment of government 
 affairs, and comparison with other histories reveals 
 the many valuable points which he has brought to 
 light. The adoption of his Mexican work by so 
 prominent a native as Chimalpain is to a certain ex- 
 tent an assurance of its truthfulness. 
 
 Muiioz places Gomara among the first of the 
 chroniclers. He had no special reason that we can 
 see to extol unduly native institutions. He wrote 
 early enough to know all about them, but not so early 
 as to be carried away by a first enthusiasm. Made 
 secretary and chaplain to Cortds in 1540, his object 
 of adulation was his patron, in recounting whose 
 deeds he cannot be trusted. Neither had Cortds, as 
 before remarked, special interest, least of all at this 
 time, in magnifying the civilization the civilization 
 he had destroyed. Alvarado and others of the chron- 
 iclers were repeatedly tried by the Spanish govern- 
 ment for their cruelty to the natives, whom it was 
 the desire of both church and state to preserve. It 
 would therefore be rather in their favor for the con- 
 querors to hold them up as ignoble and low. 
 
 The learned and elegant Antonio de Solis, though 
 so bigoted as to render his deductions in many in- 
 stances puerile, and though constantly raving against 
 the natives, was closely followed by both Robertson 
 and Prescott. 
 
 Herrera, the historiographer of the Indies, uses 
 the material of all the preceding writers, in addition to 
 original narratives, and has in his Historia General 
 the most complete account of American affairs up to 
 his time. His method of massing material makes it 
 most valuable, but a slavish adherence to chronology 
 destroys the sequence, interferes with broad views, 
 and renders the reading uninteresting. This defect is 
 increased by a bald, prolix style, the effect of inexpe- 
 rienced aid, and by the extreme patriotism and piety
 
 HERRERA, TORQUEMADA, MENDIETA 23 
 
 which often set aside integrity and humanity. On 
 the other hand, he in some measure tempered and 
 corrected the exaggerations of his predecessors. 
 
 Torquemada was less critical in accepting material, 
 but he was indefatigable in his efforts to exhaust the 
 information about New Spain and her natives, and 
 his Monarquia Indiana is the most complete account 
 extant on its combination of topics. Though an able 
 work, it contains many errors; yet the manifold sources 
 of information all the more help the student to arrive 
 at the truth. Torquemada amassed a great deal of 
 private information about native institutions during 
 the fifty years of his labor among the Indians, and 
 he made use of many histories then unpublished 
 instance those of Sahagun, Meiidieta, and others. 
 
 Mendieta was an ardent champion of the natives, 
 and a bitter opponent of the audiencia and govern- 
 ment officials, yet in mundane affairs he possessed 
 sound judgment, so much so that he was frequently 
 intrusted with important missions of a diplomatic na- 
 ture. He became the historian of his provincia, and 
 gained the title of its Cicero. His Historia Eclesi- 
 dstica, which treats chiefly of the missionary progress 
 of his order, contains a great deal of matter on native 
 customs, arts, and traits. 
 
 Mendieta may be regarded as the pupil of Toribio 
 de Benavente, whose humility of spirit caused him to 
 adopt the name of Motolinia, applied by the Indians 
 out of commiseration for his appearance. Not that 
 he was very humble in all matters, as may be seen 
 from his bitter attack on Las Casas. In this in- 
 stance, however, he was merely an exponent of the 
 hostility prevailing between the Franciscans, to which 
 he belonged, and the Dominicans, which led to many 
 pen contests and contradictory measures for the In- 
 dians, from all of which the historian gains new facts. 
 Motolinia arrived in Mexico in 1524, and wandered 
 over it and the countries to the south for a series of 
 years, teaching and converting. He is claimed to have
 
 2* THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 baptized over four hundred thousand persons. His 
 knowledge of the aborigines and long intercourse with 
 them before their customs were changed, enabled him 
 to acquire most important information about them. 
 All this, together with the story of his mission work, 
 is related in the Historia de los Indios de Nueva 
 Espaila, written in a rambling manner, with a naive 
 acceptance of the marvellous, yet bearing a stamp of 
 truthfulness that wins confidence. 
 
 Occasionally there have risen writers who, from 
 excess of zeal, personal ambition, or careless study of 
 facts, sought to cast doubts on native culture and 
 similar topics, like De Pau and Raynal, only to evoke 
 replies more or less hasty. This unsatisfactory contest 
 roused the ire, among others, of the learned Jesuit 
 Clavigero. Himself born in Mexico, his patriotic 
 zeal was kindled, and during a residence there of 
 thirty-five years, till driven forth by the general edict 
 against his order, he made the ancient history and 
 institutions thereof his special study. The result was 
 the Storia Antica del Messico, which if less bulky than 
 Torquemada's work, is far more satisfactory in its 
 plan for thoroughness and clearness, and remains the 
 leading authority in its field. Clavigero is generally 
 admitted to have refuted the two prominent oppo- 
 nents above named on the culture questions, even 
 though his statements are at times colored with the 
 heat of argument and with zeal for race. 
 
 Among the remaining historians who treat on civi- 
 lized tribes may be named Acosta, who in speaking 
 of Mexican culture borrows wholly from Duran, a 
 Franciscan, born in New Spain of a native mother, 
 and consequently predisposed in favor of his race. 
 Indeed, nearly all of Duran's bulky narrative on 
 ancient history and institutions is not only from native 
 sources, but from a native standpoint. Vetancurt, 
 who agrees mainly with Torquemada, follows both 
 native and Spanish versions. Benzoni offers a good 
 deal of personal observation on Central American
 
 OTHER WRITERS'. 25 
 
 Indians and affairs, but copies hearsay when he 
 touches on Mexico. Writers on special districts are 
 also numerous. Bishop Landa wrote on Yucatan and 
 its culture, and is accused of having given forth an 
 invented alphabet as the Maya, Cogolludo adds much 
 to his accounts, while Fuentes, B-emesal, Vasquez, 
 Villagutierre, and Juarros exhaust the adjoining fields 
 of Chiapas and Guatemala. Thence northward the 
 circle may be continued with Burgoa's works on 
 Oajaca, Beaumont's on Michoacan, Mota Padilla's 
 on Nueva Galicia, Arlegui's on Zacatecas, Bibas' on 
 Sinaloa; and so forth. 
 
 Descriptions of the chroniclers and their works 
 might be carried to almost any extent, but sufficient 
 has been given, I trust, to prove their testimony, 
 taken as a whole, closely sifted and carefully weighed, 
 to be quite as worthy of credence as that from which 
 history is usually derived. I cannot throw to the 
 winds such testimony in order that certain specu- 
 lators may the better win converts to their fancy. 
 
 The traducers of Aztec culture and its chroniclers 
 have evidently failed in that most important point of 
 carefully reading, comparing, and analyzing the author- 
 ities which they so recklessly condemn as a mass of 
 fiction or exaggeration. It seems to me ridiculous for 
 the superficial readers of a few books to criticise the 
 result of such throrough researches as Prescott's, and 
 even to sweep them all away with one contemptuous 
 breath. I for one can testify to Prescott's general 
 fairness and accuracy. His researches and writings 
 are beyond all comparison with those of any modern 
 theorist. Others also have read, compared, and ana- 
 lyzed the authorities on Mexico, perhaps even more 
 than Prescott, for fresh documents have appeared 
 since his time; and while some errors and discrep- 
 ancies have been discovered, yet in the main neither 
 Nahua culture nor the chronicles and records de- 
 scribing it can be said to have been misrepresented or 
 exaggerated by him.
 
 26 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 The very discrepancies in the accounts of different 
 chroniclers, which to the experienced observer indi- 
 cate genuineness and truthfulness, are paraded by the 
 superficial reader as proof of falsity. The chroniclers 
 have for centuries been exposed to numerous and 
 severe ordeals of critique, and their respective defects 
 and merits have been widely discussed; but on the 
 whole these discussions tend to confirm the state- 
 ments which I have given, some of the strongest 
 testimony being found in their very differences and 
 blunders. Thus not even their bigotry, then so strong 
 and wide-spread, their simplicity, their prejudices in 
 different directions, none of these can conceal the 
 truth or its main features, although occasional points 
 may still remain hidden under a false coloring. The 
 rigid censorship exercised in Spain over all writings 
 led to the suppression of many works, but the main 
 effort was to suppress heterodoxy and unfavorable 
 reflections on Spanish policy, and if culture questions 
 were touched, to lower the estimate thereof in order 
 to cover vandalism. 
 
 While thoroughly convinced that we have in the 
 early American chroniclers a solid foundation for his- 
 tory, as before stated I do not by any means accept 
 as truth all they say; I do not accept half of what 
 some say, while others I find it difficult to believe 
 at all. Upon this basis, then that is, on the basis 
 of truth and well sifted facts I will present a few of 
 the leading characteristics of the Nahua and Maya 
 peoples, sufficient in my opinion to justify their claim, 
 as the world goes, to be called civilized. 
 
 Whether those who thus affect to disbelieve in 
 Aztec culture, including such men as Lewis Cass 
 and R. A. Wilson, advocate an Old World origin for 
 some of the advanced features does not matter, for 
 there is absolutely no evidence for such origin beyond 
 resemblances which may be traced between nations 
 throughout the world; on the other hand, there are
 
 THE CITY OF MEXICO. 27 
 
 strong internal evidences of the autochthonic origin 
 of some of the highest features of this civilization, 
 such as hieroglyphics and many branches of the higher 
 arts. Besides, the existence or non-existence of these 
 advanced arts is the point in question, not whence 
 they came. 
 
 The city of Mexico presents many features of ad- 
 vanced urban life under Aztec occupation, not alone 
 as related by chroniclers, but as proved by incidental 
 details in the account of the sieges of and by the 
 Spaniards, and by the ruins. Humboldt found distinct 
 traces of the old city, extending in some directions far 
 beyond the present actual limits; and the numerous 
 and substantial causeways which led to it for several 
 miles through the lake prove that it must have been 
 of great extent. The causeways, though now passing 
 over dry land, are still in use, and reveal their solidity. 
 Any one who will carefully read the military report 
 and other accounts of the long and hard siege must 
 become impressed with the vast extent and strength 
 of the city; the large number and size of its temple 
 pyramids affirm the same. Through an aqueduct of 
 masonry several miles long it was supplied with water, 
 which was distributed by pipes, and by boatmen. 
 Light-houses guided the lake traffic; a large body of 
 men kept the numerous canals in order, swept the 
 streets, and sprinkled them. The houses were, many 
 of them, large and well built. The emperor's palace 
 contained many suites of rooms designed for individual 
 occupation, not at all like anything in New Mexico. 
 Temple -towers and turrets were frequent, proving 
 that structures several stories in height were in use. 
 
 Among the Nahuas the several branches of art 
 were under control of a council or academy, with a 
 view to promote development of poetry, music, oratory, 
 painting, and sculpture, though chiefly literary arts, 
 and to check the production of defective work. Before 
 this council poems and essays were recited, and inven- 
 tions exhibited.
 
 28 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 If distortion assumes prominence in a large class of 
 models instead of ideal beauty, this must be attributed 
 to the peculiarity and cruelty of certain Aztec insti- 
 tutions, which stamp their traits on subjective art. 
 
 Beauty of outline is nevertheless common, notably 
 in the rich ornamentation to be seen on ruins, and 
 on art relics transmitted in large numbers to Spain 
 by the conquerors. The friezes or borders equal the 
 Grecian in elegant outline and combination. The 
 well known calendar stone contains in itself a vast 
 number of beautiful designs. Some of the vases in 
 the museums at Mexico and Washington surpass the 
 Etruscan in beauty of form and in tasteful decora- 
 tions. Again, the terra-cotta heads picked up round 
 Teotihuacan, some of which I have in my possession, 
 exhibit a most truthful delineation of the human face, 
 with considerable expression, and are of actual beauty. 
 
 Other admirable specimens are the female Aztec 
 idol in the British Museum, the mosaic knife with its 
 human figure from Christy's collection, the skin-clad 
 Aztec priest, the Ethiopian granite head, the beauti- 
 ful head from Mitla, and the grotesque figures from 
 the Mexican gulf. Such specimens suffice to establish 
 the existence of a high degree of art among the 
 Nahuas. 
 
 As for the advance exhibited by adjoining races, 
 one glance at the numerous artistic designs and 
 groupings on Yucatan ruins must command admira- 
 tion, which rises as the observer examines the monu- 
 ments at Palenque, with their extent of massive 
 edifices, their advanced mode of construction, their 
 galleries, their arches, their fine facade and interior 
 ornamentation, and above all, their numerous human 
 figures of absolute beauty in model. This applies 
 also to some terra-cotta relics from the same quarter. 
 
 Ornamental work in gold and silver had reached a 
 perfection which struck the Spaniards with admira- 
 tion, and much of the metal obtained by them was 
 given to native smiths to shape into models and set-
 
 WORK IN METALS. 29 
 
 tings. Many pieces sent to Europe were pronounced 
 superior to what Old World artists could then pro- 
 duce. Birds and other animals were modelled with 
 astonishing exactness, and furnished with movable 
 wings, legs, and tongues. The so-called 'lost art' of 
 casting parts of the same object of different metals 
 was known; thus fishes were modelled with alternate 
 scales of gold and silver. Copper and other metals 
 were gilded by a process which would have made the 
 fortune of a goldsmith in Europe. Furnaces, perhaps 
 of earthen- ware, and blowpipes, are depicted on native 
 paintings in connection with gold-working. 
 
 Although there had been but little progress in 
 mining, yet a beginning appears to have been made 
 to obtain metals and minerals from the solid rock, and 
 melting, casting, hammering, and carving were in use 
 among goldsmiths and other workers, as shown in 
 native paintings. This is one of the strongest proofs 
 that the Nahuas were in a progressive civilization, 
 not at a stand-still nor retrograding, for such mining 
 and melting methods must surely lead to the discovery 
 of iron ere they stopped. Cutting implements were 
 made of copper alloyed with tin, and tempered to 
 great hardness. Yet stone tools were still chiefly 
 used, particularly those of obsidian, from which mir- 
 rors were also made, equal in reflecting power to 
 those of Europe at that time, it was said. Softer 
 stone being chiefly used, flint implements sufficed 
 for the sculptor; yet specimens exist in hard stone. 
 Precious stones were cut with copper tools, with the 
 aid of silicious sand, and carved in forms of ani- 
 mals. Specimens of their art in stone and metal were 
 received in Europe, where chroniclers of different 
 minds and impulses write in ecstasy over workman- 
 ship which in so many instances surpassed in excel- 
 lence that of Spain. The fabrics and feather-work 
 were equally admired for fineness of texture, brilliancy 
 of coloring, and beauty of arrangement and form. So 
 accurate were the representations of animals in relief
 
 30 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 and drawing as to serve the naturalist Hernandez for 
 models. 
 
 The Nahua paintings show little artistic merit, be- 
 cause the figures have necessarily to be conventional, 
 for better intelligence, as were the Egyptian hiero- 
 glyphics. This necessity naturally cramped art. But 
 while the Egyptians carried the conventionality even 
 to sculpture and painting generally, the Nahuas clung 
 to it closely only in their writings; and it needs 
 but a glance at many specimens among ruins and 
 relics to see that considerable skill had been reached 
 in delineating even the human form and face in 
 plastic material, for in painting the development was 
 small. An art, however, which approached that of 
 painting was the formation of designs and imitation 
 of animal forms, and even faces, with feathers feather- 
 mosaic so beautifully done that the feather-pictures 
 are declared by wondering Spaniards to have equalled 
 the best works of European painters. Specimens are 
 still to be seen in museums. The artist would often 
 spend hours, even days, in selecting and adjusting 
 one feather in order to obtain the desired shade of 
 color. 
 
 Fabrics wore made of cotton, of rabbit-hair, or of 
 both mixed, or with feather admixture. The rabbit- 
 hair fabrics were pronounced equal in finish and text- 
 ure to silk. The fibres of maguey and palm leaves 
 were used for coarser cloth. Paper in long narrow 
 sheets was made chiefly of maguey fibres, and though 
 thick, the surface was smooth. Gums appear to have 
 been used for cohesion. Parchment was also used. 
 Skins were tanned by a process not described, but the 
 result is highly praised. In dyeing they appeared to 
 have excelled Europeans, and cochineal and other 
 dyes have been introduced among us from them. 
 Many of their secrets in this art have since been lost. 
 
 There is little doubt that the palaces of the rulers 
 were of immense extent, and provided with manifold 
 comforts and specimens, of art. Numerous divisions
 
 NAHUA INSTITUTIONS. 31 
 
 existed for harems, private rooms, reception and state 
 rooms, guard -rooms, servants' quarter, storehouses, 
 gardens, and menageries. The chroniclers speak of 
 walls faced with polished marble and jasper; of balco- 
 nies supported by monoliths, of sculptures and carvings, 
 of tapestry brilliant in colors and fine in texture, of 
 censers with burning perfume. The admitted excel- 
 lence in arts and wealth, the possession of rare stones 
 and metals, permits to some extent the belief in a 
 Hall of Gold, Room of Emeralds, and so forth, which 
 the chroniclers place within the palaces. 
 
 The menagerie at Mexico was large and varied, and 
 the many beautifully laid out gardens in all parts of 
 the country, some devoted to scientific advancement, 
 denote a high status in natural history. 
 
 Throughout the narratives of the chroniclers the 
 Aztec ruler receives the title of emperor, which it was 
 not the custom of the conquerors to give unadvisedly. 
 It was almost a sacred title in their eyes, their own 
 sovereign being so called, and they were not likely to 
 apply that title to a common Indian chief. Indeed, 
 the native records relate that Montezuma II. after 
 many conquests assumed the title emperor, or ruler, 
 of the world. In two of the Nahua kingdoms the 
 succession was lineal and hereditary, and fell to the 
 eldest legitimate son, those born of concubines or 
 lesser wives being passed over. In Mexico election 
 prevailed, but the choice was restricted to one family. 
 The system resembled very much that of the electoral 
 German empire. Each of these rulers was expected 
 to confer with a council, the number and composition 
 of whose members are not quite satisfactorily estab^r 
 lished. Executive government was intrusted to regu- 
 larly appointed officials and tribunals. In Tlascala a 
 parliament composed of the nobility and headed by 
 the four lords determined the affairs of government. 
 
 The native records indicate a number of classes and 
 orders among nobles, officials, and warriors. The 
 highest were the feudal lords, as in Tezcuco v whose
 
 32 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 position corresponded very much to that of the mighty 
 baron of Germany in former times, all kept from defying 
 the supreme ruler by a balancing of power, by private 
 jealousies, and later by the ruler increasing their num- 
 bers, and thus closely attaching to himself a large pro- 
 portion, and by obliging others to constantly reside in 
 the capital, either to form a council or on other pre- 
 tences. Another means for controlling the haughty 
 feudal lord, and indeed a step toward abolishing their 
 power, was to divide the kingdom into sixty -five de- 
 partments, whose governors were nearly all creatures 
 of the king. The population of certain districts was 
 moved in part to other districts, or made to receive 
 inwanderers, both operations tending to give the king 
 greater control. Instances of such master-strokes of 
 policy as are related in aboriginal records serve to 
 show the power of the monarch and the advanced 
 system of government. 
 
 In Mexico the people had had access in a great 
 measure to military, civil, and court offices, but with 
 the enthronement of Montezuma II. the nobles man- 
 aged to obtain exclusive access to nearly all dignities. 
 This reform naturally served to alienate the people 
 and to aid in the downfall of the empire. 
 
 The list of royal officials is imposing in its length, 
 and is vouched for not only by the minute account of 
 the titles and duties of the dignitaries, but by the 
 many incidental allusions to them and their acts in 
 the native records of events. The list embraces offices 
 corresponding to minister of war, who was also com- 
 inandcr-in-chief, minister of finance, grand master of 
 ceremonies, grand chamberlain, superintendent of .arts, 
 etc. There were also military orders, corresponding 
 to the knights of mediaeval Europe, while the church 
 had its gradations of priests, guardians, deacons, friars, 
 nuns, and probationers. 
 
 Several tribunals existed, each with a number of 
 appointed judges and a staff of officials; and appeals 
 could be carried from one to the other, and finally to
 
 JUDICIARY AND LAND TENURE. 33 
 
 the supreme judge, who was without a colleague. In 
 the wards were elected magistrates, who judged minor 
 cases in the first instance, and an inferior class of 
 justices, assisted by bailiffs and constables. Some 
 courts had jurisdiction over matters relating only to 
 taxes and their collectors, others over industries and 
 arts. Cases were conducted with the aid not alone of 
 verbal testimony under oath, but of paintings, repre- 
 senting documents ; and names, evidence, and decisions 
 were recorded by clerks. Whether advocates were 
 employed is not clear, but the judges were skilled in 
 cross-examination, arid many a perjury was proved, 
 followed by the penalty of death. Suits were limited 
 to eighty days. Bribery was strictly forbidden. The 
 judges were selected from the higher class, the superior 
 from relatives of the kings, and held office for life, 
 sustained by ample revenues. Adultery and similar 
 crimes were severely punished. 
 
 Land was divided in different proportions, the 
 largest owned by king and nobles, and the remainder 
 by the temples and communities of the people. All 
 such property was duly surveyed, and each estate 
 accurately marked on maps or paintings, kept on file 
 by district officials. Each class of landed estate had 
 then its distinctive color and name, and from each 
 owner or tenant was exacted tribute in product or 
 service, regular or occasional. Portions of the crown, 
 land were granted to usufructuaries and their heirs 
 for service rendered and to be rendered. In con- 
 quered provinces a certain territory was set aside for 
 the conqueror and cultivated by the people for his 
 benefit. The estates of the nobles were, many of 
 them, of ancient origin, and often entailed, which fact 
 establishes to a certain extent the private ownership 
 of land. These feudatories paid no rent, but were 
 bound to render service to the crown with person, 
 vassals, and property, when called upon. The people's 
 land belonged to the wards of the tow r ns or villages, 
 with perpetual and inalienable tenure. Individual 
 
 ESSAYS AND MISCELLANY. 3
 
 34 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 members of the ward were on demand assigned por- 
 tions for use, and could even transmit the control 
 thereof to heirs, but not sell. Certain conditions 
 must be observed for the tenure of such lands, and 
 the observance was watched over by a council of 
 elders or its agents. 
 
 There is much in this to confirm the resemblances 
 to the feudal system of Europe already noticed. The 
 exactness of the information on land tenure is con- 
 firmed by investigations instituted under auspices of 
 the Spanish government with a view to respect the 
 rights of the natives, so far as the claims of con- 
 querors and settlers permitted. Cortds obtained from 
 the native archives and officials copies of the estate 
 maps, and tax lists, by which he was guided in his 
 distribution of land and collection of tribute. 
 
 In the department of the minister of finance, and 
 in the offices of the numerous tax collectors, were kept 
 hieroglyphic lists of the districts, towns, and estates, 
 designating the kind and quantity of tax to be paid 
 by each, in product or service. A copy of such a list 
 is given by Lorenzana, and others are reproduced in 
 the Codex Mendoza, and other collections. Certain 
 cities had to supply the palaces with laborers and ser- 
 vants, food and furniture, fabrics and other material; 
 others paid their service and products regularly to 
 the finance department, or when called upon. Manu- 
 facturers and merchants paid in the kind they pos- 
 sessed, and artisans often in labor. The tenants of 
 nobles tilled land for their own benefit, and paid 
 rent in a certain amount of labor for the landlord, 
 and in military service when called upon; besides 
 this, they paid tribute in kind to the crown, the pro- 
 duce being stored away in magazines in the nearest 
 towns. 
 
 There were nearly four hundred tributary towns 
 in the Mexican empire, some paying taxes several 
 times a month, others less often, and still others only 
 once a year, the amount being in many instances over
 
 COMMERCE AND SOCIETY. 35 
 
 a third of everything produced. Custom-houses also 
 existed for exacting duties. 
 
 In the capitals of the provinces resided chief treas- 
 urers, each with a corps of collectors, who not only en- 
 forced the payment of taxes but watched that lands 
 were kept under cultivation and industries generally 
 maintained. 
 
 To illustrate the extent to which organization en- 
 tered into the affairs of life, we can point to the mer- 
 chants, with their guilds, apprenticeship, caravans, 
 markets, fairs, agencies, and factories in distant re- 
 gions. Tlatelulco was renowned for her trade and 
 vast market, and her merchants really formed a 
 commercial corporation controlling the trade of the 
 country. Sahagun's records sketch the development 
 of this company. Maps guided them in their journeys, 
 tribunals of their own regulated affairs, and different 
 articles were accepted as a medium for exchange, in- 
 cluding copper and tin pieces, and gold-dust. The 
 market at Tlatelulco, in the vast extent of booths, 
 and of articles for sale, and in its regulations, was a 
 source of wonder to the Spaniards. Couriers and 
 inns existed to aid travel and intercourse; also roads, 
 well kept and often paved, such as late exploration 
 in Yucatan shows to have connected distant cities. 
 In navigation the Mexicans were less advanced 
 
 One lawful wife was married with special ceremo- 
 nies, and her children were the only legitimate issue. 
 Three additional classes of mates were admissible: 
 those bound to the man with less solemn ceremonies, 
 and bearing the title of wife, like the legitimate one, 
 yet deprived of inheritance or nearly so, together with 
 their children; those bound with no ceremonies, and 
 ranking merely as concubines; and those who co- 
 habited with unmarried men, and who might be 
 married by their lovers or by other men. These two 
 classes of concubines were not entitled to the respect 
 accorded to the first-named, yet no dishonor attached 
 to their condition. Public prostitutes were tolerated
 
 36 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 as a necessary evil. This is a social condition which 
 needs not for its justification to seek a parallel among 
 other nations recognized as civilized, nor among the 
 European princes who publicly maintained the same 
 classes of consorts and mistresses. 
 
 Schools existed in connection with the temple, under 
 control of the priests, and in Mexico every quarter had 
 its school for the common people, after the manner 
 of our public schools. Higher schools or colleges 
 existed for sons of nobles and those destined for the 
 priesthood, wherein were taught history, religion, 
 philosophy, law, astronomy, writing, and interpreting 
 hieroglyphics, singing, dancing, use of arms, gymnas- 
 tirs, and many arts and sciences. A result of this 
 high training may be found in the many botanical 
 and zoological collections in the country, and the pro- 
 motion of art in sculpture, weaving, feather orna- 
 ments, and jewelry, by the nobles and the wealthy. 
 
 Picture-writing is practised to a certain extent by 
 all savages, both in representative and symbolic form, 
 but it is only by studying the art, or following its 
 development to a higher grade, that it acquires per- 
 manent value, or can be made the means to gain for 
 its possessors the culture stamp of keeping records, 
 and records were kept by the Nahuas. They had ad- 
 vanced to some extent even in the phonetic form of 
 picture-writing, but had not reached the alphabetic 
 grade. Any codex will show in abundance the repre- 
 sentative and symbolic signs, and some that are pho- 
 netic. In religious and astrologic documents the signs 
 vary so greatly that the theory has been strongly 
 rtcd that the priests used a partially distinct 
 symbolic system for certain records. When studying 
 church forms under the missionaries the natives used 
 phonetic signs to aid their memory in remembering 
 abstract words, a method also recognized in the pre- 
 scrv.-.l paintings for designation of names. The sys- 
 t.-in i> apparently of native origin. The Maya writing 
 is still more phonetic in its character.
 
 HISTORY AND ASTRONOMY. 37 
 
 The Nahua records, in hieroglyphic characters, in- 
 clude traditional and historical annals, with names and 
 genealogic tables of kings and nobles, lists and tribute 
 rolls of provinces and towns, land titles, law codes, 
 court records, calendar, religious rules and rites, edu- 
 cational and mechanical processes, etc. The hiero- 
 glyphic system was known in its ordinary application 
 to the educated classes, while the priests alone under- 
 stood it fully. The characters were painted in bright 
 colors, on long strips of paper, cloth, or parchment, or 
 carved in stone. Original specimens on stone and 
 paper or skin exist to prove the efficiency of the sys- 
 tem for all ordinary requirements, and to establish for 
 the race that high index of culture, the possession of 
 written annals. The Spanish authorities for a long 
 time had to appeal to them to settle land and other 
 suits, and to fix taxes, etc. The several codices in 
 European libraries and museums, with their early and 
 recent interpretation, have added much valuable ma- 
 terial to ancient history; Ixtlilxochitl and others built 
 their histories mainly on such paintings. 
 
 The Nahuas were well acquainted with the move- 
 ments of the sun, moon, and of some planets, and 
 observed and recorded eclipses, though not attributing 
 them to natural causes. Their calendar divided time 
 into ages of two cycles, each cycle consisting of four 
 periods of thirteen years, the years of each cycle being 
 distinctly designated by signs and names with num- 
 bers, in orderly arrangement, as shown on their sculpt- 
 ured stones. The civil year was divided into eighteen 
 months of twenty days, with five extra days to com- 
 plete the year; and each month into four sections 
 or weeks. Extra days were also added at the end of 
 the cycle, so that our calculations are closely ap- 
 proached. The day was divided into fixed periods 
 corresponding to hours. All the above divisions had 
 their signs and names. The ritual calendar was lunar, 
 with twenty weeks of thirteen days for the year, all 
 differing in their enumeration, though the names of
 
 38 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 the days were the same as in the solar calendar. The 
 system of numeration was simple and comprehensive, 
 without limit to the numbers that could be expressed; 
 and so were the signs for them. It was essentially 
 decimal. 
 
 These are some few instances of Nahua culture 
 which might easily be extended to -fill a volume after 
 all exaggeration has been thrown out; and all this, 
 be it remembered, w r as the condition of things four 
 hundred years ago. Compare it with the European 
 civilization or semi-civilization of that day on the one 
 hand, and with the savagism of the Iroquois and 
 Ojibways on the other, and then judge which of the 
 two it most resembled. 
 
 It is with regret that I find myself obliged to speak of two reviews of the 
 first volume of my Ilutory of the Pacific Stales. They were so different in 
 tone and temper from two hundred others appearing about the sunn: time, as 
 to excite in the mind of an ordinary observer suspicion of a hidden motive. 
 I think I shall have no difficulty in showing what that motive was; in which 
 case it will not leave either the reviewers, or the editors admitting to their 
 columns such articles, in a very favorable light among fair-minded men. 
 
 I first heard of Lewis H. Morgan as a person going about from one re- 
 viewer to another begging condemnation for my Native Race*. His object 
 I could not imagine. Some time afterward one of these reviewers, whose 
 letter I still have, wrote me regretting the circumstance, for though a fol- 
 lower of Morgan he was an honorable man, and gave my book conscientious 
 treatment. Later I learned that Morgan was angry l>ecause I omitted his 
 book from my list of authorities, and did not subscribe to his doctrine. The 
 book was not in my possession at the time, and I had never heard of hia 
 theory. I regarded the matter as of little moment, and soon it dropped 
 from my mind. I certainly entertained no feeling for or against Mr Morgan ; 
 and as for his theory, when making a summary of forty or fifty others, none 
 of which I was prepared fully to accept, and desiring the catalogue to be as 
 complete as possible, I would hardly have left out his because of my inability 
 to believe it all. This is yet more apparent in view of the fact that I have no 
 conflicting theory of my own, that I object to no one's fancies, and that I 
 regard the Morgan hypothesis as exceedingly innocent, except where it at- 
 tempts the overthrow of material truths. I cannot entertain a l>elief in 
 opposition to the testimony of my senses ; I cannot support an unprovable 
 proposition aa against a provable one. Nor did I take exceptions to Morgan's 
 notice of the Native Races in the North American Review. It was open ; the 
 portions objected to were arrayed and combated, and the other portions were 
 not generally slurred. He did not attack the author in a sweeping way,
 
 SCIENCE-FANATICS. 39 
 
 while attempting to bring him into disrepute by artfully covering the real 
 cause of his antagonism. In this respect he was a better man than some of 
 his successors. 
 
 The years passed by with but little thought on my part upon these things 
 Occasionally one of my assistants would call attention to a work by one of 
 the Morgan school, in which traces of a free use of the Native Races were 
 plainly visible without a word of credit. To such slights, however, I am not 
 at all sensitive. It is the primary object of all my efforts that they may be 
 of use to the world. The matter of credit is an exceedingly small one, to be 
 left to the taste and sense of justice of the person using it. For myself I 
 prefer to cite my sources of information fully, as my pages show. I certainly 
 never obtained any information or ideas from the men of Morgan that I did 
 not give them credit for. In the present instance we survived the heavy 
 blow, and were glad if the shade of the great chief could be thus appeased. 
 
 For meanwhile Morgan had departed to his happy hunting-ground, and in 
 his place had arisen a school of followers, among whom, as is usual in such 
 cases, there were fanatics seven times more the children of darkness than had 
 been the master. The more radical of these seized upon the weird fancies 
 that sometime floated through the brain of their dead chief and wove them 
 into what they regarded as tangible realities, while others accepted Morgan's 
 hypotheses only in part. Happy indeed must have been that great soul which- 
 from its celestial wilderness beheld the cloud of dust that it had raised ! The 
 speculations contained in his works now to some became words of inspiration, 
 and the writer himself the founder of a new faith. There was to be a new 
 departure in science, literature, and art ; learning was to be revolutionized ; 
 and the originator, of the new doctrine, which was a true revelation from 
 heaven, was to be deified. All who accepted his words were to be received 
 in due time into the happy hunting-ground ; all who did not were anathema 
 maranatha. 
 
 We must not wonder too greatly at the occasional foolishness of wise men. 
 There are those high in position, able and learned in some directions, who are 
 shallow-pated enough in others. It is not out of the ordinary course of 
 things to find among Morgan's disciples some learned and able men. How- 
 ever we may wonder at it, the proposition is none the less true, that there 
 never has been set on foot a doctrine so illogical or a dogma so absurd as not 
 to find adherents and champions among the so-called wise of this world. 
 There is no question that to-day, as at any time since men were made, there 
 cannot be concocted a system of theology so extravagant but that supporters 
 may be found for it among the studious. It has always been so, and judging 
 from present appearances it will always be so. It is not necessary to cite 
 examples; history is full of them. The very fact that the proposition ia 
 unreasonable prompts some to lay aside their reason. The more acute and 
 powerful the mind, the more studious it may become over unprovable hy- 
 potheses, and the more forced to resort to strange conceits and wild delusions. 
 Take the sages of antiquity and tell me what the opinions entertained by 
 them upon the origin of things and the future state of man are worth to 
 the world to-day. Peradventure some of the followers of Morgan may be so 
 fortunate as to be classed a thousand years hence among the sages of antiquity.
 
 40 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 Without referring to the close students of alchemy or astrology for examples, 
 or stopping to consider the effect of the application of brain power to tradi- 
 tional formulas, we have only to notice the totally opposite views taken on 
 every problem of life and death by the foremost intellects of the age to be 
 aware that it is possible for the modern scholar to entertain views favorable to 
 the subordination of sense to aboriginal consanguinities. Nor is the success of 
 a new delusion according to the measure of its subtilities, or governed by the 
 plausibility of its hypotheses; it will be believed according to the force with 
 which it is proclaimed. The nature of the scheme presented and the power 
 of discrimination on the part of the recipient have less to do with its promul- 
 gation than the teacher's strength of brain and body. This accounts for our 
 finding among the followers of Morgan some intelligent and able men, some 
 who occupy conspicuous positions, and are looked up to as models of refined 
 human intelligence. The very strength and elasticity of the mind accepting 
 fancy as a substitute for fact often plunge the possessor farther and farther 
 into the mazes of infatuation. It is not always proof of a proposition that 
 an able mind entertains it. The savage can see as far into a granite bowlder 
 as the sage. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that for several years I rested under the wrath of 
 Morgan's men without knowing it. At length the first volume of my Hixtory 
 was published. This was the hour of sweet revenge ! It hnd not been unlooked 
 for, nor were the holy brotherhood unprepared. Allusion in a bibliographi- 
 cal note to the folly of throwing to -the winds testimony as good as that upon 
 which rests the history of any nation, was sufficient to rouse the refined demon 
 of the new dispensation. "This book must be put down, the author annihi- 
 lated: we have praised him hitherto; now we will sapiently sit upon him. 
 For if his work be permitted to stand, ours must fall ; if his chronicles are 
 to remain as recognized foundations of American history, then our beloved 
 dogma must be buried." He who formerly was a man of independent thought 
 and action, a patient laborer in a praiseworthy field, winning the approbation 
 of eastern and European scholars, is now an upstart, a presumptuous fellow, 
 unworthy to touch the sacred garments of this guild. His formerly intelli- 
 gent and able assistants are now sneered at and ridiculed ; the very richness 
 of his materials, the handling of which elicited wonder, is now transformed 
 into a great gulf which in due time is to swallow this huge California!! under- 
 taking. Of this concerted and predetermined course of action, in effect, I 
 was credibly informed. 
 
 For their first shot the columns of the New York Independent were used. 
 The attack was so vehement, however, as to defeat its own purpose. It was 
 clearly apparent that fairly to point out the merits and demerits of the work 
 was not the writer's purpose, but on the contrary to hide all that was good, 
 distort the truth, and magnify trivial matters so that they should appear 
 great faults ; and to the thoughtful reader the wonder was if either the writer 
 of the article or the editor of the journal ever had been taught to distinguish 
 right and wrong or carried a conscience. What an egregious blunder the 
 leading journals of New York and lloston, of Chicago, St Louis, Cincinnati, 
 and San Francisco, to say nothing of those of Europe what a blunder they 
 had made in reviewing this volume to speak well of it ! I do not suppose the
 
 MENDACIOUS JOURNALISM. 41 
 
 editor of the Independent wishes to plead ignorance for admitting sweeping 
 and untruthful denunciation and attempting to pass it off on his readers as 
 fair criticism, which would be equivalent to an acknowledgment on his part 
 of his unfitness for the position, or that he would admit himself to be capable 
 of wilful misrepresentation in printing what he knew to be false, which course 
 would be to place himself outside the category of good men ; yet one or the 
 other of these positions he is bound to take. 
 
 I do not propose to follow this reviewer and notice his misstatements ; the 
 article cannot be placed in the category of reputable criticism. It was simply 
 mud-throwing. I will point out a few features of it, however, that we may 
 see how the thing is done. " It was a very difficult book to review," the 
 editor remarked afterward, "a very difficult book. There were but few who 
 would undertake it." So it would seem; and the one who did undertake it 
 was not long in showing his ignorance of the subject. First, no criticism was 
 attempted of the history proper ; not a word was said about it in the whole 
 five columns of disparagement. One half of the article was devoted to a 
 general tirade against the book, and personal abuse of the author ; the other 
 half was given to astute hair-splitting over a summary of voyages, printed in 
 fine type, not directly connected with the subject of the volume, and wherein 
 the author expressly disavows the intention to make it exhaustive. Here in 
 some cases the reviewer was right but not original, for he always artfully 
 concealed the fact that the note was not offered as an exhaustive treatise on 
 American geography, but simply as a resume from a dozen well known author- 
 ities named. While endeavoring to convey the idea of gross inaccuracy, he 
 failed to show that I did not do accurately everything that I attempted. 
 
 There is nothing which so enrages an erudite dogmatist as to meet an 
 opinion positively expressed in direct opposition to his own positive opinion. 
 And the move extravagant the doctrine, the more enraged is the biassed mind 
 over it. It is not simply the real and tangible that men most dispute, but the 
 hypothetical and unknowable. It requires no discussion to prove the presence 
 of the palpable, but for the impalpable men will lay down their lives. Pure, 
 unreasoning, and unreasonable fantasy has set on foot most of the battles of 
 the world. Men fight over fancies, not facts. 
 
 Another article of similar import appeared in the New York Post and 
 Nation. Recognizing the excess of zeal on the part of the Independent re- 
 viewer, the Post article between its spasms of spleen threw in clauses of 
 praise. I would advise the Morgan men to exercise care in their commenda- 
 tions, else every evil charge they make will be contradicted by one member 
 or another of the guild, and thus their united efforts fall to the ground. Au 
 air of moderation is here assumed, but only that the book may be damaged 
 the more. A number of the Morgan men are mentioned by name as martyrs 
 to science, victims of my crushing silence. The ignorance of the reviewer in 
 regard to Pacific coast history, of which he pretends to know so much more 
 than one who has made it the special study of a lifetime, is nowhere more 
 clearly shown than when complaining of the omission from my list of au- 
 thorities of certain of the men of Morgan. The works of two of the writers 
 uamed appeared among the authorities for the Native Laces; one was omitted 
 as already explained ; the rest wrote on ethnological and antiquarian topics,
 
 42 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 after the list was printed, and I may be excused for not foreseeing their 
 investigations. Of course they do not appear in the list for the History of 
 Central America, for the good reason that not one of them so far as I know 
 has written a word on the subject ! The article closes with a few flat denials 
 of any Aztec or Maya culture, the common argument of the schooL 
 
 A fit sequel to the Pwt article was the admission into its columns, of cer- 
 tain statements by an irresponsible and unprincipled person, who with a view 
 of extorting money 6r obtaining notoriety, concocted a series of falsehoods, 
 intermingled with facts so warped as to make them appear to my disadvan- 
 tage, all which if true would amount to nothing. It was my method of writ- 
 ing history that troubled him, poor fellow, and he thought my assistants were 
 imposed upon. But after all he was but an auxiliary of the /'<>*/. and with 
 such a person I have no issue. There are always at hand those who for money 
 or notoriety will not hesitate to concoct lies, and labor with others to make 
 them appear plausible, as this person has done. If my work or my reputa- 
 tion rested on a sandy foundation, if I feared him in the least, or the Post, 
 or the men of Morgan, perhaps I should have paid him his price and stopped 
 his bark. As it was I desired the matter should go on; I preferred to know 
 what they were trying to do, what they expected to gain by it all, and if 
 indeed by such means I and my work could be brought to grief. 
 
 Charges like these, and emanating from such a source, were as I said a fit 
 sequel to the first attack, and very properly admitted into his columns by the 
 editor. "First we will condemn the book, and then annihilate the author; 
 BO that there shall be none in all the earth to stand before the men of Morgan. " 
 A prominent New York pnblisher denied the statements for me as palpably 
 false ; but he need not have taken the trouble. There was not a subscriber 
 of ordinary intelligence but saw through the editor's artifice by this time. 
 He had admitted from one of the men of Morgan a defamatory article, and 
 now a few more stalwart strokes and the western coast of North America 
 would be overturned into the sea. It only lacked some such effusions aa 
 these from this most worthy coadjutor to show the real purpose of the paper 
 in admitting the review. But for this proceeding on the part of the editor 
 there might have been some who really would have thought that the reviewer 
 liad intended to be sincere regarding his very intelligent and learned remarks 
 about the book. I will admit that the ethics which obtain in such cases, par- 
 ticularly the Post's morality, are beyond me; but I will say that in commercial 
 matters, a man who showed such an utter disregard for truth and fair conduct 
 as did the editor of the Pott in this case, would be ruled out of any respectable 
 society of merchants. The responsibility cannot be thrown upon the accom- 
 plice under cover of communications. It was the admission of the false state- 
 JIM nt- into the columns of the journal that did the injury, and not the writing 
 of them. And this editor knew them in the main to be false ; or if he had en- 
 tertained doubts, he might easily have ascertained the truth; but from the 
 course of proceedings it seems evident that truth was exactly what he did 
 not want. During a business career hutting from boyhood I have been well 
 known both on the Pacific coast and at the east, and neither my life nor 
 my acts have been hidden or secret. My Library and its details have always 
 been open to the public, and my system has been a thousand times ex>.
 
 MY METHOD OP WRITING HISTORY. 43 
 
 plained, verbally and in the newspapers and magazines ; and before publish- 
 ing a volume I personally visited the leading literary men at the east, laid 
 before them the scheme with my plan for its accomplishment, and received 
 their warm commendations, ample proof of which I can produce both from 
 the persons themselves, and from their letters in my possession. 
 
 f My historical undertakings are such as in all civilized and half-civilized 
 societies are deemed important. For this western coast if the work was ever 
 to be fully done it must be done at once, as much valuable knowledge was daily 
 dropping out of existence, and there was no government or society Ut hand 
 ready to save it. Nor would gathering alone satisfy me. It seemed evident 
 that unless I went on and placed the large unwieldy mass in form available 
 to the world, \t would be long before any one else would do so.*? 
 
 Whoever or whatever the author may be, there are points about the work 
 which truth cannot gainsay. Among these are diligence in collecting ma- 
 terial, and great thoroughness in correctly bringing out all the facts and 
 arranging them in natural sequence. That this is true, and that vast stores 
 of information would but for me have been lost, and that no such work has 
 been done for other nations, can be made clear to any ordinary mind. And 
 this as I regard it, is nine tenths of history. Style, ways of working, the use 
 of big words or little words, and like matters of comparatively minor moment 
 may always be distorted into material for ridicule ; though in my own case 
 even here, where one man has spoken evil, fifty, ay a hundred, each as capable 
 of judging truly as are my learned friends of the Post, have expressed approval. 
 
 <' My plan of historical labor is my own, and grew out of the necessities of 
 the case; the collection was made and the work begun and carried on by 
 myself alone, without government or other aid, or any thought of it. \ The 
 importance of the work itself it is impossible to estimate too highly; and 
 that I ask or desire from the public any consideration for myself further than 
 I deserve is so preposterous, the idea of it so repugnant to my nature, so 
 inconsistent with a life of retirement and self-sacrifice, that I should have 
 paid no attention to these slanders bad they not come from so-called respect- 
 able sources. \The proposition was simply this : In order to accomplish within 
 a lifetime the labor for one man of two hundred years assistants must be 
 employed. My work is not of that quality that one man could do it in forty 
 or fifty years. I could do much, but not allA Every one knows that it is 
 more difficult to do work by the hand of another than by one's own hand. 
 My assistants are my friends, my pride, and I never was capable of depreci- 
 ating their merits in order to exalt my own.^My work is peculiar. It is 
 drawn almost wholly from raw material, not such as has before been worked 
 over twenty times as was the material used by writers like Hume, Gibbon, 
 and Macaulay, and it cannot justly be made subject to the same standard of 
 criticism.Jj The attempt to make finished and standard history, upon an ex- 
 tensive soile, out of crude, unworked material, is something new, and the 
 effort might at least be regarded with common charity. Nevertheless, the 
 actual defects pointed out by my assailants were few and insignificant. "If 
 that is all the fault they can find," said one of my assistants, "it must be 
 regarded as a great compliment. " It is the propensity to inflict injury under 
 false pretences alone that I deplore.
 
 44 THE EARLY AMERICAN CHRONICLERS. 
 
 ( "My assistants are occupied for the most part in abstracting and preparing 
 material. After long experience some of them are able to furnish me manu- 
 script in a more or less advanced state, and of their highest services I gladly 
 avail myself. 1 The bnrdcn of the work, however, falls on me where it rightly 
 belongs. For the past fourteen years I have devoted on an average more 
 than eight hours a day to my literary work, and at least one half of the 
 manuscript has been written by my own hand, and the remainder lias been 
 so rewritten and revised by me as to make it my own. I did not rewrite 
 what was perfectly satisfactory to me merely for the sake of rewriting; I 
 could employ my time to greater advantage. Very little of the manuscript 
 as it comes to me, whether in the form of rough material or more finished 
 chapters, is the work of one person alone.^ If after collecting the material at 
 a vast outlay of time and money, making a plan of the work, writing all the 
 leading parts alone and unaided, training assistants after innumerable failures 
 and discouragements to help me handle the immense mass, otherwise wholly 
 beyond the strength and control of one man, meanwhile paying them fairly 
 for their services as the work went on if after this I deemed it my duty to 
 account for every line or page, which I certainly did not, to whom should I 
 credit the work: to the indexer, or to the note-taker, or to the one who did 
 the arranging, or to the one who put it into the rough form, or to the one who 
 rearranged and rewrote some portions and divided it into chapters, all these 
 several parts having been accomplished by different persons at different times; 
 or to myself, who besides conceiving and carrying forward the work thus far, 
 supplementing my labors by the help of others, and being alone responsible 
 for the result, must now make it yet more completely my own by careful 
 study, rewriting, revising, adding, eliminating, absolutely the hardest and 
 most wearing labor a literary man can find to do who is the author of this 
 work I ask?" 
 
 * Still another set of men compare every statement, after it is in type, with 
 the original authority, while yot others draw the maps, prepare the lists of 
 authorities, and make the index. And of this I am sure: call the method by 
 any name you please, there is nothing secret, there is nothing counterfeit 
 about it. I should like to see those who sneer at my efforts produce equiva- 
 lent results by this or any other means. Of course I should be better 
 satisfied if I could do all the work myself, including even the indexing 
 and note-taking. It is what I do that I take pleasure in, and not what 
 others do for me ; but owing to the magnitude of the work, and having but 
 the remnant of one short life-time before me, such a course was not pos- 
 sible. It has ever been my greatest happiness to recognize the merits of 
 my assistants. Though they have not been my teacher I have learned from 
 them and honor them. Some of them have been my almost daily associates 
 during the entire term of my literary efforts. Among them arc my most 
 valued and devoted friends, and it is not true that I have ever assumed 
 aught rightfully belonging to them. Often have they attempted to restrain 
 me in my public acknowledgments of their merits. I glory in them, in what 
 they are doing and can do; and it is with pride that I can say tliat were I to 
 die to-morrow, they could and would fairly enough finish my w ork. I say 
 there is no attempted secrecy about my work as has been implied, and I am
 
 BRUTUM FULMEN. 45 
 
 not conscious of pretending to be other than I am. Results are more to me 
 than means, but results are valueless if the means are questionable. The 
 name of having performed what I deem a most important task is of small 
 moment to me as compared with its being well and faithfully done. 
 
 But why continue ? Surely the evidence is clear enough that I and my 
 labors are condemned by these men for no other reason than that I do not 
 support the Morgan doctrine. Else why, as I before observed, have but two 
 journals thus far assumed this tone of jeering at what is universally admitted 
 as well-directed effort? After all it may be thought that I should be satisfied 
 in coming before the world with so pretentious a work with receiving but 
 two generally unfavorable criticisms against two hundred favorable ones. 
 But that is not the point. Criticism I do not object to if made in a spirit 
 of fairness. Were this the case I would not give out my volumes to review. 
 No one is more my friend than he who in good faith points out my defects 
 that I may remove them. No one will go further than I to avoid or rectify 
 mistakes, and to follow the right in all subjects that come up for investi- 
 gation. 
 
 No doubt it is presumption on the part of one not of this fold to attempt 
 to write history; and when the work undertaken is not upon the scale to 
 which they are accustomed, or performed in the ordinary way, the author 
 must be put down. 
 
 Finally, I would ask : If these statements are true, and I believe I have at 
 hand the proofs of all I have said, would it not be well to receive with some 
 degree of allowance the criticisms printed in the columns of such papers as 
 have fallen under the sway of these science-fanatics? I appeal to the editors 
 and reviewers of the world to say if the quality of journalism thus dispensed 
 by the New York Independent and the New York Post is reputable ; I appeal 
 to the fair-minded of the world to say if the proceedings of these reviewers 
 and editors can be called honorable. It is time this low cheating and chi- 
 cancrv was done awny with in criticism. Those who will make the review- 
 ing of ti book a cloak to cover a, malicious spirit should be condemned by 
 all good men. 
 
 I do not expect this to be the last of it. The men of Morgan will con- 
 tinue their assaults as occasions offer, fighting from behind stones and trees 
 after the manner of Indians. Nor do I wish them to stop, as I said before ; 
 I have a curiosity to see what will come of it, to what further lengths they 
 will go. I will endeavor to live through it all; and I trust this explanation 
 to my friends and the world will forever suffice, so that whatever attitude 
 my assailants may assume, or whatever else they may concoct, I shall not be 
 obliged again to reply to them.
 
 METHODS OF LITERARY WORK. 
 
 From the San Francisco Bulletin. 
 
 "Certain commentaries and criticisms which have appeared of late, not so 
 much about literary production as the methods of literary work, strike us as 
 not only lacking in the judicial quality of temper, but as going altogether be- 
 yond the province of fair criticism, and becoming merely impertinent com- 
 ments. When a gentleman goes to the table of his host, the dishes may or 
 may not be to his liking. But he has no business with the process by which 
 the cook prepared the dishes. His nose thrust into the kitchen is an imperti- 
 nence, for which he should be soundly snubbed. When it comes to literature, 
 the fair-minded critic has nothing to do with the processes by which any 
 particular work has been produced. He deals with the quality only. He may 
 be interested in the fact that Hawthorne produced his most brilliant romance 
 while holding a political office, and was daily giving attention to the affairs of 
 the Salem Custom House ; or that Charles Lamb was a clerk, sitting on his 
 stool during business hours in the office of the East India Company; or that 
 Napoleon III. had a corps of paid writers and investigators to help him in 
 bringing out his Life of Julius Ccesar; or that the greater number of poems 
 written by Bryant, and nearly all his literary work were performed while he 
 was editor of a leading newspaper, and was every day doing his work in the 
 editorial office. But these incidents are never lugged in to depreciate literary 
 work ; or if done at all, it is by some captious or impertinent popinjay who 
 does not know the province of honest criticism. The irresponsible Ishinaelite 
 who whacks right and left may hope to make a mark in that way, but the 
 mark is rather that which he makes upon himself, and which in the long run 
 becomes repugnant to those who have some correct notions of intellectual 
 honesty. 
 
 "Not long since the Nation had a criticism of a volume which had been 
 written by an author on this coast. The writer wen behind his knowledge of 
 the book to hint, at least, about the methods of its production. The merits of 
 the volume itself were a fairer subject for criticism. Within this limit, even 
 the harshest comment must be tolerated. For no matter how stinging the 
 blow is, if it is fairly dealt, it is to be accepted in good faith. There is this 
 also to be said, that no unfavorable criticism ever permanently injured a 
 meritorious work. The author can afford to have any amount of adverse 
 criticism, so that the writer is decently honest, however much he may be mis- 
 taken in his judgment. Nor is it likely that the impertinence which meddles 
 with his methods of literary production the number of hours he is engaged 
 in other pursuits outside of the work of authorship, the number of offices or 
 places of business he may have, the number of persons on his pay roll, the 
 checks he may sign, the amount of copy he may revise will do him much
 
 METHODS OF LITERARY WORK. 
 
 hurt. When a book is published, the judgment of a discriminating public is 
 challenged as to its merits. They may like it or not. Its merits and defects 
 are legitimate subjects of comment. The critic is not invited to his back- 
 room, nor to share any business or literary confidence. Here is so much work. 
 The plan, design, character, years of preliminary labor, collection of docu- 
 ments, and all that relates to the execution of the work, has been conceived 
 by one man. The critic has nothing to do with his early literary qualifications, 
 whether lie was a blacksmith, basket-maker, dealer in second-hand clothes, 
 pawnbroker, or a bookseller by early occupation. The irrepressible Philistine, 
 for the very reason that he is not an honest critic, will go beyond and dwell 
 on these immaterial circumstances. Personal and confidential knowledge 
 would be used, and the bushwaoker might even go further and tell the public 
 what the writer had daily for his dinner, whether he paid his market bills 
 promptly, his lanndryman and baker, what wages he paid to his employes, 
 and so on. 
 
 "All this might be greatly relished as gossip, but it is not legitimate 
 criticism. It belongs rather to the department of literary mendicancy. There 
 are days of literary puppyhood before the juvenile teeth arc shed, when theso 
 excrescences are expected ; but in a more mature stage of development, we 
 expect better things. Xo fair judgment, and none which is worth a rush, can 
 be made up on the trivial and immaterial circumstances of authorship. Nor 
 is it a matter of the least concern as to the way in which a writer lias come by 
 his methods whether he was formerly a cook in a restaurant, a candle-maker, 
 or a tanner. His work is the only thing which challenges critical judgment, 
 and that only when he has given it to the public." 
 
 From the San Francisco Argonaut. 
 
 " Mr H. II. Bancroft retired from active business for the express purpose 
 of devoting himself to his histories ; he placed the management of that busi- 
 ness in the hands of his brother, Mr A. L. Bancroft, who is still conducting it. 
 As to the question of his employment of assistants, that is a matter of no- 
 toriety. There has never been any secresy concerning it. Mr Bancroft has 
 made repeated acknowledgment of their services, in the prefaces to his volumes 
 and elsewhere. When a man devotes a large fortune, acquired during half a 
 life-time, and devotes the remainder of that life-time as well, to the erection 
 of a literary monument which will do honor to his native land, it is a sad com- 
 mentary upon the envious and carping spirit of the day, that he should have 
 such unjust and cruel slurs made concerning his motives and his personal 
 honor." 
 
 [From the San Francisco Chronicle.] 
 
 "A short time ago the New York Eivnhiij Post published what it called a 
 review of the first volume of H. H. Bancroft's ///Won/ of the Pnrifif Strttf* 
 In reality it was an attack on Mr Bancroft's conception of the A/tec or Maya 
 civilization, and very little space was given to the book under discussion. This 
 was followed in a few days by a letter to the editor from an obscure lawyer in 
 San Francisco, who made a failure of the Cafi/ornian, and who charged that
 
 METHODS OF LITERARY WORK. 
 
 Mr Bancroft's historical writing was done for him by assistants, and that he 
 was merely the editor of what purported to be his own work; that he spent 
 his time in conducting the affairs of a large publishing house and not in writ- 
 ing history, and that he offered to pay for favorable reviews of his book. The 
 letter was so full of personal malice that it is difficult to ascertain how the 
 editor of the Post came to admit it, especially as the man who made these 
 charges is unknown and irresponsible. Of course those who know Mr Ban- 
 croft do not need to have the falsehood in these charges exposed. The his- 
 torian, however, could not keep silent under such scandalous accusations, and 
 he sent to the Post an answer which completely disposes of his slanderer. In 
 it he gives some details of his work, which we reproduce, as they are of in- 
 terest to anyone who has read his books." 
 
 From the Sacramento Record-Union. 
 
 "We can congratulate the author of this work that he has met with an unkind 
 critic. It is well that the sneer should at times play its part. In the unani- 
 mity with which Mr Bancroft's works have been received with open arms, 
 there has been danger of praise palling upon taste. In an Eastern review he 
 and his work have been mercilessly criticised and literally torn in twain. Re- 
 duced to its essence, the objection that our Eastern contemporary takes to Mr 
 Bancroft's volumes consists of two things that he employes amanuenses who 
 do the real labor of transcription and assist in the work of composition; and 
 secondly, that he has not taken the conventional view of early history of the 
 Western shores, ventured to differ with some eminent authors, and has treated 
 legend and romance as historical facts. Added to this is some carping that Mi- 
 Bancroft has not cited authors whom the reviewer deems the better writers on 
 certain points of historic dispute. This is all there is in the criticism that 
 has awakened so much public attention, and interested even the prosaic tele- 
 graph, when it is divested of the unquestionably scholarly guise. It is not 
 to be conceded that the objections found to the style of Mr Bancroft are at all 
 essential to be considered we prefer, with the vast majority of readers, to 
 look only at the accomplishments of the author. In the first place though 
 we have no commission to speak for Mr Bancroft, and no personal knowledge 
 of what his own defense may be it has never been a matter of concealment 
 here that he was engaged in a work demanding the aid of a large number of 
 ladies and gentlemen in the collation of the notes and data necessary to the 
 work in hand. Certainly it was well known on this coast, and the designer 
 of the work has been rather proud to make it known. Hubert Howe Bancroft, 
 i etiring from a long life of labor as a merchant, inspired by a natural love for 
 books, and by a taste for literature, qualified by a broad reading and a liberal 
 education, began the collection of a private library, consisting, in the main, 
 of works devoted to the history of the peoples of the Pacific shores of this 
 continent. In this labor he visited Europe twice, searching in every nook and 
 corner for treasures for his library, and for rare and desirable manuscripts and 
 maps and charts. He spared no outlay of money in ransacking the world for 
 the material so necessary to his task. His much travel, his untiring labor and 
 patient research in this matter, are facts of local history, and need not be re- 
 peated. Suffice it to say no private library on the globe has been drawn from such
 
 METHODS OF LITERARY WORK. 
 
 varied sources or accumulated under such difficulties. It now stands in a hand- 
 some building in San Francisco, which its owner erected as a fitting shrine for 
 his work, a collection of 35,000 volumes. In detail, this library has been twice 
 described in these columns. It was in the midst of these treasures that Mr 
 Bancroft gave himself up to the arrangement and classifying of the facts of 
 history relating to this coast, and the races of people who have dwelt here, the 
 adventurers who have invaded it, the conquests it has been subject to, the 
 scenes it has been the witness of, the growth and the development which have 
 resulted from the contending forces of three centuries. When we listen to the 
 theme Wagner's genius has prepared for our ear, and through it for our soul, 
 we do not pause to ask how he accomplished it in detail. It is enough to 
 know that he has grasped more of the divine inspiration of melody, has given 
 it grander expression, than any of his predecessors; that he has gone beyond 
 and before the age, and has drawn it up to him by the power of his genius. 
 We do not invade the sanctuary of the composer and nib his pens, or test the 
 quality of his inks; we do not care to know whether he was aided by aman- 
 uenses or not. What we do care to know is, whose was the mind that con- 
 ceived, whose the perseverance that accomplished ? It would add nothing to 
 the appreciation of the work to know that the writer alone had penned every 
 line, collated every fact, copied out every date, written every chapter and 
 formulated every passage of a work, the very scope and character of which proves 
 that to its accomplishment no single life would be sufficiently ample. On the 
 contrary, the world is indebted to this man, because he had the broad com- 
 prehension and the unselfish liberality and the genius to enter upon a task 
 that can only be compassed by the very means he has employed. There were 
 unwritten pages of history covering in their sweep such vast periods of time, 
 that no single intelligence had before dared to even contemplate them in their 
 full extent, until Mr Bancroft essayed the task of gleaning from the world 
 of scattered manuscript, books, maps, charts, letters ami wasting tomes, the 
 fact and the romance, saving to the literature of our day these molding and 
 fast being forgotten records. It is to him that the people of this century owe 
 it that in a compact form and a reasonable number of volumes they are to be 
 enabled to command at one view all of historical value that is existent in the 
 world concerning this coast. To the very few was it given alone to even peer . 
 into the treasures of the history now undertaken by Bancroft, but by his 
 agency, the humblest scholar will be enabled to walk in fields where he had 
 never before hoped to tread. To the unselfish ambition of an humble citi/.en 
 in gratifying the desire to add to the treasure-house of the world's knowledge, 
 we are indebted for records that will endure as long as this country has a his- 
 tory. We do not care to inquire into the hidden influence that inspires him 
 to this work. We know it is not hope of gain, for from such a vast under- 
 taking, involving such an outlay of money, there can be no adequate return 
 in one lifetime, and we much doubt if ever the money-cost of producing this 
 history of the Pacific States of America can be realized from the sales jKwsible 
 to such a work. There are certain events in the life of every man that stamp 
 and fashion his character, but it is of no present consequence to this people 
 what the event was that moved our fellow-citizen to enter upon the work 
 which now absorbs the hours and years of his life and the fortune that com-
 
 METHODS OF LITERARY WORK. 
 
 mercial pursuits had gathered. It is enough to know that he is contributing 
 to the intelligence of the world, and is doing a work that will not he lost 
 when he is gone, but will, by coming generations, be prized more richly than 
 is possible by us. What, then, if the carping critic shall discover flaws in the 
 style of the writer; shall we allow these to blind us to his marvelous resolu- 
 tion and indomitable perseverance, even if we shall admit for the time and 
 the argument that the critic is correct in his view ? What if it be true that 
 Bancroft is at times " strained and pragmatical, or that his philosophizings are 
 sometimes in narrow grooves and superficial " shall we permit these defects 
 of minor importance to blind us to the inestimable value of this ample store- 
 house of knowledge which he has piled to the very rafters for the delectation 
 of his fellow-men ? That in his methods and his style he gives evidence of 
 rare originality and marked vigor of thought; that he is no mere copyist; that 
 he is just in his estimates, cool in his judgment, dispassionate in his arraign- 
 ments and faithful in his recitals, none have denied. As to the criticism that 
 he has elevated myths into historical realities, and has sought to build into 
 facts romances and legends, let the impartial reader determine. Certainly 
 neither the critic nor Mr Bancroft can discuss those matters with satisfaction 
 in the ordinary limits of newspaper columns. But we pass these profitless 
 considerations growing out of the methods Mr Bancroft employed to index, 
 arrange and annotate his vast collection and divide it into historical, ethnogra- 
 phical, biographical and physical divisions, and to draw therefrom the facts 
 and data necessary to his task. We turn to consider rather the work itself 
 the result of the fine tastes of a gentleman of culture the contribution of a 
 Californian to the literature of his country, the gift of an unselfish man to 
 
 the historical records of a nation as yet upon the threshold of life and action. 
 
 ******* 
 
 The series contemplated by Mr Bancroft could never have been prepared had 
 he not adopted the system he did of engaging in the work a number of assist- 
 ants, who carry out the conception that is his alone, and every line of whose 
 work passes under the master's eye and is prepared according to the model 
 and outline he has given, while all the more important commentaries come 
 from his pen direct, as we understand it. " 
 
 SAN FHANCISCO, CAL., Feb. '28, 1883. 
 MR HUBERT H. BANCROFT, 
 
 Dear Sir: After an examination of your historical works, and a care- 
 ful consideration of their scope, the territory covered, the importance of the 
 subject, the fullness of material at your command, and the ability displayed 
 in handling it, we feel it our duty to express to you our warmest admiration: 
 and to wish you that recognition which your efforts so richly deserve. To 
 your method of writing this history we give our unqualified approbation, sat- 
 isfied as we are, that it is not only the best, but the only way in which the 
 work can be exhaustively done. Had you not undertaken it, at this time, 
 and in this or some similar mode, the loss to the Pacific Coast, and to the 
 world, would have been great and lasting, if not irreparable. 
 Respectfully Yours, 
 
 LORENZO SAWYER, Judge U. S. Circuit Court, 
 OGDEN HOFFMAN, Judge U. S. District Court. 
 OLIVER P. EVANS, Judge Superior Court, San Francisco, 
 I). J. TOOHY, Judge Superior Court, San Francisco.
 
 WHAT IS BEING SAID OF MR HUBERT II. BANCROFT 
 AND HIS LITERARY WORK. 
 
 STYLE. 
 
 "His style is clear and without affectation, recalling the straightforward 
 simplicity of Herodotus." London Westminster Review, 
 
 " He writes well and gracefully." New York Sun. 
 
 " I am full of admiration at the immense reading it displays, and at the 
 singular, vivid, and graceful English in which tliat reading is expressed." 
 W. H. Lecky. 
 
 "The work is intensely interesting. Mr Bancroft's style is clear, his 
 arrangement of materials judicious, and his symmetry admirable. '' Chicago 
 Journal. 
 
 " Striking passages are welded together with a logical cohesion so strict 
 that it is almost impossible to detach them. " New York Herald. 
 
 "It is written in a clear, concise way, the language being always well 
 chosen, and quite frequently very beautiful, without any straining for effect." 
 Pittsbury Gazelle. 
 
 "High standard of style and scholarship." Boston Zion's Herald. 
 
 "It is of great value, which is enhanced by its charm of style." Chicago 
 Tirnct. 
 
 " I am particularly pleased with the sharp, condensed form in which the 
 facts are given." Oliver Wendell Holmes. 
 
 " Mr Bancroft's style deserves great commendation. He has evidently 
 sought to be concise those who do so often become obscure. He has not 
 fallen into this fault. It has been said that the first qualification of a good 
 writer is to have a clear notion of what he wishes to express. Mr Bancroft 
 always has this; he must have great analytical power, and yet his descrip- 
 tions manifest an unusual skill in synthetical reconstruction. His style is 
 , lucid, graphic, often epigrammatic." San Francisco Bulletin. 
 
 ' ' The information has been digested into a flowing and entertaining na na- 
 tive." New York Observer. 
 
 "Clear, concise, forcible, and well adapted to the requirements of modern 
 students. " Overland Montldy. 
 
 ABILITY. 
 
 "He has applied the scientific methods of history writing in a manner 
 never before dreamed of." liecord-Union. 
 
 "Beyond all the patient labor in marshalling details, Mr Bancroft shows 
 also a sound, healthy literary judgment." Atlantic Monthly.
 
 2 WHAT IS BEING SAID. 
 
 " He has investigated with the most conscientious care and criticised with 
 no little skill the enormous mass of official documents which in different ways 
 relate to his subject; and he has digested the results of his laborious toil into 
 a narrative clear, logical, and attractive. " London Times. 
 
 " You have handled a complex, sometimes even tangled and tautological 
 subject, with much clearness and discrimination. The conscientious labor in 
 collecting, and the skill shown in the convenient arrangement of such a vast 
 body of material, deserve the highest praise. " J. R. Lowell. 
 
 "The plan of the great work has been honored in the execution." Daily 
 Oregonian. 
 
 " It is a monument of well-directed industry and great ability." Edinburgh 
 Scotsman. 
 
 "A lasting monument to the scholarship and ability of its author." Louis- 
 ville Courier-Journal. 
 
 "The industry, the sound judgment, and the excellent literary style dis- 
 played in this work cannot be too highly praised. It stands quite alone of 
 its class in this department. " Boston Post. 
 
 "Mr Prescott was carried away by his vivid imagination, and errs in ex- 
 cess. Mr Morgan errs in the opposite direction. Mr Bancroft avoids both 
 extremes. Without such preliminary work as that which has been done by 
 Mr Bancroft, a history would be impossible. " Edinburgh Review. 
 
 " The manner in which you have sifted and weighed the testimony, derived 
 as it is from various and sometimes contradictory sources; the penetration 
 and impartiality you have displayed in discarding whatever is erroneous or 
 doubtful, and accepting that only which is well authenticated, would be cred- 
 itable in a judicial investigation." J. Ross Browne. 
 
 " Never was a large library more thoroughly ransacked or more completely 
 laid under tribute by a writer." T/ie Nation. 
 
 "Where Mr Bancroft expresses opinions of his own, or discourses on the 
 bearing and significance of the observations of others, he performs the part 
 of the enlightened critic with much shrewdness and modesty." London Tele- 
 graph. 
 
 "Every reader must admire the single-heartedness with which he devotes 
 himself to the investigation of facts. His volumes are really a marvel of 
 research and discrimination. Although he does not conceal his consciousness 
 of a mission, he shows no trace of the credulity with which specialists are 
 apt to pursue the inquiries to which they have devoted their lives. His sound 
 judgment is no less apparent on the pages of his work than his indefatigable 
 diligence and supreme self-devotedness. No one but an enthusiast could 
 grapple with such a task, but his enthusiasm is without weakness, and is in- 
 spired by the pure love of knowledge, not by the caprices of sentiment. 
 Hence it is of the quality demanded for the successful accomplishment of one 
 of the foremost literary enterprises of the day." Ntw York Tribune. 
 
 "What good sense, painstaking labor, and honesty of purpose can hope to 
 achieve, Mr Bancroft has accomplished." London Standard. 
 
 "Nothing seems to have been too minute to escape his eyes." Boston 
 Transcript. 
 
 "The history of literature does not contain many examples of a grander 
 literary purpose, a more thorough preparation, or a more successful achieve 
 ment. " Boston Oongregationatiat.
 
 WHAT IS BEING SAID. 3 
 
 THE WORK. 
 
 " Not only unequalled, but unapproached. A literary enterprise more de- 
 serving of a generous sympathy and support has never been undertaken on 
 this side of the Atlantic." North American Review. 
 
 " One of the most notable in our literature." Literary World. 
 
 " I am finding your collection of facts very valuable for my own more im- 
 mediate ends iu writing the Principle* of Sociology." JJtrbtrt Spencer. 
 
 "A work of enormous research, and requiring careful study." Sir II. C. 
 Rawlinaon. 
 
 "The wonder and admiration of all literary men; and will be a lasting 
 monument of the indomitable energy and perseverance of a man who is de- 
 voting the best part of his life to enrich the literature of the world by giving 
 to it a correct history of this hitherto almost unknown and incomprehensible 
 part of the globe." J. M. Hamilton. 
 
 " Magnificent work." Charles Darwin. 
 
 " A solid one." Max Miiller. 
 
 "Exceedingly interesting and important." Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 "One of the noblest literary enterprises of our day." John G. Whittirr. 
 
 " He has discovered a thousand rivulets of doubtful source and uncertain 
 direction, and united them into a broad historic stream. We know of no 
 volume of history more instructive to the student, or more interesting to the 
 general reader. It will remain forever a monument to the industry and abil- 
 ity of the author." 7 1 erritorial Enterprise. 
 
 "A monument of literary and historical industry." A. R. Kpofford. 
 "It is simply fascinating." Clarence King. 
 
 " An interesting work, conveying great profit and instruction." Sir John 
 Lubbock. 
 
 "It is a production of almost incredible labor, of excellent arrangement, 
 and admirable execution, everywhere betraying the union of quiet enthu- 
 siasm and sound judgment which Lave been exercised iu its preparation." 
 George Riplf.y. 
 
 "Of surpassing interest, and of a value great and constantly increasing." 
 JIartford C'ourant. 
 
 "Interests readers of every class." Christian Union. 
 
 "A very valuable addition to the history of the American continent." 
 Advert'mer. 
 
 "A monument that will cause his name to be remembered ages after he has 
 ceased to be in the flesh." Tlie Guardian. 
 
 " It is safe to say that there has not occurred in the literary history of the 
 United States a more piquant surprise. " Scribnrrs Monthly. 
 
 " The work forms one of the most valuable contributions of modern times, 
 and should have an honored place in every well-selected library." Journal 
 of Science. 
 
 " His completed work will be reckoned among the most precious treasures 
 of our literature." Literary World.
 
 4 WHAT IS BEING SAID. 
 
 "A great storehouse of facts which bear upon the most important specula- 
 tions." San Francisco Post. 
 
 " One of the most formidable and important literary undertakings of mod- 
 ern times. " Stockton Independent. 
 
 " It will be a standard work on this interesting subject for all coming time, 
 and will immortalize the author." San Jose Mercury. 
 
 " Your work has taught me a great many things. It needs no praise from 
 me. It will be consulted and read centuries after you are gone." Jno. W. 
 Draper. 
 
 " The work is one of immense magnitude and importance; yet the promise 
 is of its being well done. " Norwich Bulletin. 
 
 " The work will be one of the most important in the language." American 
 Bookseller* 1 Guide. 
 
 "One of the most complete and exhaustive works ever published." Ne- 
 vada Transcript. 
 
 " It is worthy of special attention by the historical student and the general 
 reader." Boston Globe. 
 
 "A more interesting book has seldom been put in our hands, containing a 
 mine of information of which we confess we were utterly ignorant." Land 
 and Water, London. 
 
 "Embodies much more than any other single literary production." Deseret 
 News. 
 
 "A fascinating tale." Vallejo Chronicle. 
 
 " The book contains a wealth of information, and its interest is quite that 
 of an entrancing romance, notwithstanding the severely accurate manner in 
 which the author deals with his subject." Milwaukee Sentinel. 
 
 "The plan sketched is a magnificent one, and a substantial contribution 
 will be made to the realized knowledge of the world." Family Treasury, 
 London. 
 
 "The history of this book as well as its contents is of public interest." 
 The Academy, London. 
 
 "It is the only history of the kind in existence, and its value can hardly 
 be overestimated." Gold Hill News. 
 
 " The value of this work is certainly beyond calculation. " Stanislaus News. 
 
 " Dans cette grande oeuvre, il a prodigu^ les bank notes comme un sp^cula- 
 teur, pour travailler ensuite avec la longue patience d'un 6rudit." Paris 
 Revue. 
 
 " Exceptionally great historic work." Springfield Republican. 
 
 " The most unique and extensive literary enterprise ever undertaken in any 
 country by a single private individual." Buffalo Advertiser. 
 
 " J'en connaissais le plan, grace & un article du Times, que 1'un de nos cor- 
 respondants de Londres avait eu 1'attention d'addresser a 1'academie de Sta- 
 nislas, dont je fais partie. L'execution repond completement & ce qui a eUi 
 annonco par la presse." Luc'ien Adam.
 
 WHAT IS BEING SAID. 5 
 
 
 
 "It shows great merit, and is an excellent contribution to the permanent 
 literature of the country." A. A. Sarycnt. 
 
 "Beyond all ordinary forms of praise." San Francisco Chronicle. 
 
 " It is certainly a worthy scheme, and is being carried out most conscien- 
 tiously." London Sjxctator. 
 
 " It shows you are working for true success and not for momentary ap- 
 plause." Daniel C. Gilman. 
 
 " It is a labor the value of which will be more clearly seen as time goes by." 
 Baltimore Gazette. 
 
 " Of extraordinary research, and of the deepest interest to every intelligent 
 citizen." Baktrsjield Courier. 
 
 "The chapter which Prescott devotes, in his Conquest of Mexico, to the 
 manners and customs of the Aztecs, is the most attractive in his attractive 
 book, and that has hitherto been the best source of information upon the 
 matter, within reach of the general English reader; but it is now thrown into 
 the shade, at least so far as comprehensiveness of treatment is concerned, by 
 Mr Bancroft's labors." Alia California. 
 
 "Ademas del m6rito incontestable de la obra, hay otro muy grande en las 
 notas, y el libro ofrece nueva utilidad como tabla general de las cosas do 
 America. No haquerido V. presentar solamenteel resultado de sus immensas 
 iuvestigaciones, sino que tambien ha querido dar u otros los mcdios de tratar 
 los mismos materias, bajo diferente punto de vista." Joaquin Garcia Icaz- 
 lalceta. 
 
 "A clearer and more truthful picture has never yet been produced." Lon- 
 don Sews. 
 
 "La bibliotheque, qui est son eeuvre, 1'a beaucoup aidd pour ce travail, 
 mais il s'est en outre entourd de documents precieux puises dans les archives 
 qui des republiques qui se sont fait un honneur de les mettre a sa disposi- 
 tion." L'Jtalie, Rome. 
 
 "Auch im entferntesten Westen giebt es Manner, die sich fiir Kunst und 
 Wissenschaft interessiren, und zwar nicht, wie mancher vielleiclit annelimen 
 mochte, urn pekuniaren Nutzen daraus zu ziehcn, sondern allein aus Licbe 
 zur guten Sache. Ein treffendes Beispiel hierzu gewiihrt die grosse und reiche 
 Privatbibliothek des Hrn. Hubert H. Bancroft in San Francisco. " Bibliotlwk- 
 wusenschaft, Dresden. 
 
 " II Presidente Quadra mentre commenda altamente il colossale lavoro isto- 
 rico condotto con tauta intelligente sagacia dall' onor. Hubert H. Bancroft 
 (che come gia annunciammo in altro numero, si propone di compilare la isto- 
 ria della California e delle Repubbliche ispano-americane) dice che a causa 
 clelle convulsioni politiche che 1m dalla loro esistenza di mezzo secolo tenncro 
 sempre sossopra quei paesi, fecero trascurare quest' opera. Ed invero quelle 
 repubbliche hanno pur gloriose pagine !" L'Eco d" Italia. 
 
 "A tantas palabras de encomio y estimulo por parte de hombres notables 
 por su saber, hay quo agregar la prestcza y benevolencia con que los Presi- 
 dcntes del Salvador y Nicaragua, y loa gobernadores de los Estados mejicanos 
 de Jalisco y Sonora so han ofrecido d suministrar al senor Bancroft cuantos 
 dates, manuscritos 6 impresos scan necesarios para que pueda llevar d buen 
 tc-rmino hi historia dc los paises comprcndidos entre el istmo de Panamd y el 
 estrecho do Behring." Voz del Nuevo Mundo.
 
 6 WHAT IS BEING SAID. 
 
 PERSONAL. 
 
 " No tribute can be too great to the industry and research of the author." 
 British Quarterly Review. 
 
 " Mr Bancroft's manner is calculated to give us confidence." London 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 "Mr Bancroft's motto is 'Thorough.' His mind is of the German cast." 
 Cltarle.* Nordluo/. 
 
 "Mr Bancroft is the historian for whom we have all been looking, and we 
 may count ourselves fortunate in finding him so worthy of hia task." T/ie 
 Galaxy. 
 
 "To Mr Bancroft we tender cordial congratulations, with assurances of 
 our sincere appreciation of the ability, candor, and research which charac- 
 terize every step in the progress of his great work." New York Independent. 
 
 "He has entered on one of the boldest literary enterprises ever under- 
 taken." Francis Parkman. 
 
 "He has done more than any public society would have done for fifty 
 years to come, and what perhaps no society could do at any later period." 
 P. B. Avery. 
 
 "His success has been remarkable, and his work will be of the greatest 
 service." Nature, London. 
 
 " He is evidently a most painstaking and conscientious worker." Popular 
 Science Monthly. 
 
 " We question whether it has ever fallen to the lot of one man to conduct 
 so successfully, so colossal a literary enterprise." Boston Journal. 
 
 "Won the praise of Herbert Spencer and Sir Arthur Helps, in England, 
 and that of all interested in the subject in that country, and of very many in 
 Germany and France. The praise was well deserved. " Philadelphia Gazette. 
 
 "I am glad to see your work welcomed in Europe as well as in your own 
 country. In the universality of your researches you occupy a field of the 
 deepest interest to the world, and without a rival." George Bancroft. 
 
 "Several of the Presidents of the Central American and Mexican States 
 have appointed commissioners to collect and forward to Mr Bancroft mate- 
 rials for his history. " New York Post. 
 
 "The projector of such an enterprise can have no sordid motive; a very 
 limited endowment of sagacity may perceive the futility of pecuniary return 
 awaiting work of this character." T/t/e Examiner. 
 
 " What a godsend such a devotee would have been for the Atlantic coast 
 a hundred years ago !" Wendell Phillips. 
 
 " I am amazed at the extent and minuteness of your researches." William 
 Cullen JSryant. 
 
 " What strikes me most in it is the exceeding fairness with which he treats 
 the researches and the theories of other inquirers into subjects akin to his 
 own." Sir Arthur Helps. 
 
 "Whittier, Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes, Emerson, Higginson, Gray, 
 Phillips, Warner, Adams. Porter, Nordhoff, of the Atlantic literati, as well 
 as all Californians of erudition, have congratulated Mr Bancroft on his great 
 undertaking and successful accomplishment." MarysviUe Appeal.
 
 WHAT IS BEING SAID. 7 
 
 "Children yet unborn in the Golden State of the Pacific will rise np and 
 call him blessed who has left them such a rich inheritance. "Sartta Cruz 
 Sentinel. 
 
 "You have done yourself and your State great honor." Samuel L. II. 
 Barlow. 
 
 " I am amazed at your courage and perseverance in working your way 
 through such a chaparral of authorities as you quote. Your labor is im- 
 mense." Henry \Y. Longfellow. 
 
 "Your practised eye, by looking at a single one of his notes in the first 
 volume of his great book, will recognize an extraordinary thoroughness and 
 wealth of preparation, and his patience and modesty in doing this work in 
 comparative obscurity and without sympathy, furnish an example for us 
 all. T. W. H iijyinson to James Parton. 
 
 "Men have before devoted life and fortune to the prosecution of great 
 historical works, and have labored with a diligence and a thoroughness which 
 can scarcely be surpassed ; but it has been reserved for Mr Bancroft to unite 
 complete mastery of his subjects with rapidity of workmanship quite unpar- 
 alleled, and possible only through a scientific process of study and classifica- 
 tion. " Sacramento Record. 
 
 " 'God bless such workers !' says Charles D. Warner, and we heartily say 
 the same." Literary Review. 
 
 "The Macaulay of the West." Wendell Phillips. 
 
 SOME LATER NOTICES. 
 
 "One is carried alon^j from the very first page by an impetuosity which is 
 at once charming and irresistible. The interest is immediately awakened, 
 the attention promptly fixed. There is something in the dash and flow which 
 in itself attracts and excites. * * * The present volume is a marvel 
 of industry and hard work. The material collected, the authorities consulted, 
 the ski.l with which all have been collected and arranged, and the attractive- 
 ness of style in which the whole has been presented to the public, merit the 
 highest praise. The narrative abounds in incidents of exciting interest and 
 facts of great importance social, historical, and political; rendering this latest 
 literary achievment of Mr Bancroft as work attractive alike to the general 
 reader, the historian, the statesman, and the sociologist. Of Mr Bancroft's 
 Native Race*, men of prominence, like Mr Herbert Spencer and Mr Lecky, 
 wrote in the most eulogistic terms ; and no juster criticism can be pronounced 
 on the distinguished American historian's recent publication, than to say that 
 it is in every res pect worthy of its predecessor in the instructive and im- 
 portant series of contributions to American history, on which our author is 
 engaged." London Morniny Pout. 
 
 " We hardly know which to admire most the marvelous patience and per- 
 severance of the author, or the scholarly learning and just and discriminating 
 judgment which is displayed. The style is one that should be followed by 
 historians. It is clear and forcible, and the manner in which he has chronicled 
 the events is masterly. " Liverpool A Ibion and Telephone. 
 
 " Of the work in hand, the first volume is now before us ; and, accepting it 
 as a fair sample of the whole, we are bound to offer our tribute to the author, 
 for the enormous industry indicated and for the style in which the work is 
 being carried through." tfla->gow lltrald.
 
 8 WHAT IS BEING SAID. 
 
 "His style is at once vigorous and suave ; descending now with Hutne into 
 the profundities of philosophic thought ; now soaring with Ruskin into the 
 realms of poetic fancy, or breaking forth frequently with the unmistakable 
 brilliancy of genius. He shows ability in depicting the beauties of nature, 
 and in portraying character and motive. Nor does he fail in the subtleties of 
 sarcasm ; and in the use of classic allusions he shows a prudence admirably 
 distinct from the affectation of mere sippers at the Pierian fountains. Though 
 precise like Gibbon, he avoids his formality; though massive, he rounds his 
 acute stateliness. America may well be proud of her western historian, who 
 must take his place with the foremost of the age." Sacramento Record- Union. 
 
 "His research, no less than his vivid and graceful style, has extorted the 
 admiration of Mr. Lecky and Mr. Herbert Spencer ; and the present volume 
 bears abundant traces both of his laborious collection of materials and of his 
 power of using them in the construction of a narrative of fascinating interest." 
 London Daily News. 
 
 1 ' The vivid narrative flows on with astonishing ease and power. There is 
 not a dull page in the book." The, Continent. 
 
 "Your method of study is absolutely the only way of accomplishing the 
 vast undertaking which you have entered upon one of the most remarkable 
 in literary history. The example of wealth successfully devoted to a high 
 intellectual object, will be a benefit to the whole country ; and the throwing 
 of so much enterprise and energy into such a channel will go far to remove 
 one of the stigmas of our American civilization." Francis Parkman. 
 
 " Mr Bancroft is a remarkable man. His volumes are rich and attractive, 
 and crammed full of good learning;. It cannot be read in haste, particularly 
 if one wishes to get at the substance of the notes as he goes along, which have 
 so much real historical meat in them. The Columbus portion, I have enjoyed 
 thoroughly. It seems to me the author's aim is truth, and not eulogy. Hav- 
 ing previously studied somewhat the subject of the early maps, I was par- 
 ticularly interested in his long note on that important theme. His criticisms 
 on those writers who had previously gone over his ground, or a portion of it, 
 seem fair and generous. The introduction to this book is a marvellous piece 
 of generalization." Charles Dean, L.L.D. 
 
 " The advance volume you sent me has been eagerly examined, and proves 
 more than I dared to hope full of interesting facts, well marshalled; the nar- 
 rative well sustained, and the basis of profound, exhaustive knowledge of the 
 whole ground apparent everywhere. " Wendell Phillips. 
 
 " Mr Bancroft knows how highly I appreciate the importance of the great 
 work upon which he is engaged, and also the fearless and impartial spirit in 
 which it is undertaken. I am certain that the early history of the continent 
 will gain in interest by the revision of judgment of many historical characters 
 and events." diaries D. Warner. 
 
 "The plan and execution thus far is worthy of the author of the Native 
 Races, a work monumental of his industry and ability, and of which every 
 American should be proud. I shall look for the succeeding volumes with eager 
 interest." John G. Whittier. 
 
 " It is amazing to see what a man dares undertake, still more to see what 
 he has accomplished. After your first magnum opus there is nothing we do 
 not think you capable of ; and, if you should announce the prospective publi- 
 cation of ' A Diary of the World from A. M. One to the present day, in one 
 hundred cords of octavo volumes,' we should believe you would do it accord- 
 ing to the prospectus. I found wonderful pleasure in your previous work, 
 and I doubt not that the coming one will equal the expectations which the 
 first has raised." Oliver Wendell Holmes.
 
 WHAT IS BEING SAID. 9 
 
 " Probably there is nothing in the world which exactly corresponds in 
 value, in interest, in abundance, and in completeness, with this priceless 
 library. Both hemispheres have been searched for treasures to fill it, and with 
 such results that there is no country on the globe, for whose early history such 
 ample material has now been brought together as for that of California. The 
 jY"fitv JKac'-s gave Mr Bancroft at once a distinguished position as an investi- 
 gator, and it is not too much to say that his additions to our previous knowl- 
 edge of the civilization which the Spaniards found on the Pacific Coast were 
 so important and so interesting that they seemed like disclosures. He is now 
 recognized as an authority of the first rank. Mr Bancroft has had access to 
 a multitude of documents, which were unknown to the earlier historian, and 
 lias followed a method much more searching and precise than suited Irving's 
 temperament. As a consequence, we have a narrative which is practically 
 new, alx>uuding in picturesque detail, and presenting tlio tragical romance of 
 discovery and conquest with a particularity and vividness it has never pos- 
 sessed in any previous record. The story is well constructed, and in spite of 
 the profusion of incidents, it is clear, it is interesting, and it is animated. Of 
 the writer's sincere regard for the truth there cannot be a doubt. To the his- 
 tory proper lie prefixes a brilliant introductory chapter upon Spanish charac- 
 ter and civilization at the period of the conquest; and this is followed by the 
 story of Columbus, and an exhaustive and admirable summary of geographi- 
 cal knowledge and discovery from the earliest record to the year 1540. NVe 
 might copy specimen pages almost at random without danger of doing Mr 
 Bancroft injustice, for he is never dull." New York Tribune. 
 
 " As Bacon took the co-ordination of all knowledge for his province, so 
 Mr Hubert H. Bancroft has taken the co-ordination of all western North 
 American history for the task-book of his literary ambition. Designing to 
 present a series of full and accurate histories of the Pacific States of North 
 America from their discovery and settlement by Europeans down to the 
 present time, he preluded that great undertaking by the publication of his 
 magnificent volumes on the Native liaces of those States a work which, 
 on its first appearance, a few years ago, commanded for its author the highest 
 applause in mouths of wisest censure, and which will ever remain as a 
 monument to the writer's intelligence and industry. But what shall be said 
 in adequate praise of this intelligence and this industry when we add that it is 
 the purpose of Mr Bancroft to continue the work thus begun, in a series of 
 thirty-four successive volumes, relating to the history and literature of this 
 great continental section ? As a fitting preface to the whole series, Mr 
 Bancroft commences the present volume with a vivid and pictoral review of 
 European society, and especially of the Spanish civilization and polity at the 
 close of the fifteenth century. It is a line analysis by which Mr Bancroft 
 traces in this composite character the reckless courage and insouciance of the 
 volatile Celt, the adventurous spirit of the Phoenician, the mining skill of 
 the Italian, etc. 
 
 " We need not say that the contents of this volume relate to the two most 
 splendid achievements of the human race, for as such we certainly must ac- 
 count the discovery of America by Columbus, and the discovery of the 
 Pacific Ocean by Balboa. It has been reserved for Mr Bancroft to place the 
 character and exploits by the hitter for the first time in their proper historical 
 framework, for we presume that most readers arc not aware that the tidings of 
 B;illx>a's discovery created little less sensation in Europe than that of Columbus, 
 twenty-two years before." New York JJerald. 
 
 " The character of Columbus is treated in the light of facts, without any 
 aid from the imagination, and differs widely from that which Irving's 
 exuberant fancy has made a tradition. As depicted by Mr Bancroft. 
 Columbus i.s less the dcmi-god, but more the man. flic nar.ntive, while never 
 sacrificing photographic exactnes3 to vivid coloring, or cold fact to brilliancy, 
 is of absorbing interest, and reads like one long romance." Syracuse Herald.
 
 10 WHAT IS BEING SAID. 
 
 " He is the Herbert Spencer of historians. His diligence in collecting 
 data, his painstaking in arrangement, his accuracy of statement, as well as 
 the vastness of his undertakings, contribute to give him a place among histo- 
 rians similar to that occupied by Mr. Spencer among sociologists. His style 
 is energetic, strong and picturesque. His judgments are just ; his conclu- 
 sions follow from the facts, and his narrative is almost invariably of unflag- 
 ging interest. Not only do the American people and the historical student 
 owe to the author a large debt of gratitude for this work, which one not pos- 
 sessed of enthusiasm and historical genius, as well as patience, would never 
 have undertaken ; but many governments of Europe, whose explorers set foot 
 on the Pacific Coast, should feel the obligations under which they are 
 placed. " Boston Journal. 
 
 "Open the book at random, and interesting matter greets your eye. The 
 style is good, and the pages fairly glisten with incidents. Not a dull 
 page between those covers young aud old will delight in it. The contents 
 are fresh and new ; not even Prescott can claim more homage from the 
 reader than should be given Mr. Bancroft for his noble beginning of a noble 
 endeavor to be truthful and captivating at the same time. " Pittsbury Tele- 
 graph. 
 
 "I take pleasure in calling your attention to Mr. Hubert H. Bancroft's 
 Hiatori/ of the Pacific States. The volumes already issued, as indeed the greater 
 part of the work, treat of times and events of great interest to the Catholic 
 world. I am assured that five out of the seven volumes on California will bo 
 devoted to the history of the country under Missionary regime, nine-tenths 
 of which has never appeared in print, being drawn from Government and 
 Archiepiscopal Archives, and from private and wholly original sources. The 
 Histories of Central America and Mexico are altogether of Catholic countries, 
 societies and institutions. It has been carefully noted in the volumes already 
 in print that the distinguished author has treated all subjects bearing on 
 Church History or Religion, with both great ability and candor, which guaran- 
 tees the assurance that as a History of the Pacific States it will compare favor- 
 ably with the best literary productions of the kind. I intend to enrich my 
 diocesan library with this interesting work, as I should deem it incomplete 
 without it." 
 
 * J. S. ALEMANY, A. S. F. 
 
 "His style is clear and forcible; it is attractive for its incisiveness, its 
 plainness, its smooth, rapid, energetic, logical progression. He might be 
 classed with Herodotus for logic and perspicuity, with Gibbon for studious 
 thoroughness, with Macaulay for brilliant attractiveness, with Napier for 
 truth, analysis and critical judgment." Rochester Morniny Herald. 
 
 " His methods of writing history are nothing less than royal. Judged purely 
 and simply as a literary performance, there is the highest praise to be awarded 
 to this history of Central America. Too much praise cannot be given for his 
 candor, his spirit of equity and love of truth. The book grows more and moro 
 interesting until the final page. The work as a whole is superb and calls for 
 genuine enthusiasm. We are proud that such an undertaking has arisen in 
 this land an undertaking which will surely add no less glory to our literary 
 history than Prescott's or Irving's immortal work." Philadelphia Press. 
 
 "Of the thoroughness of his research, the indefatigableness of his spirit, the 
 enthusiasm of his temper, the honesty of his mind, the independence and 
 candor of his judgment, there can be no question." Literary World. 
 
 "This work is so thoroughly that of a man possessed of his subject, anxious 
 to read it in all its lights, to search out its sources, and trace its bearings that 
 it will not fail to captivate the general reader, as well as arrest the attention 
 of the scholar, who will \va interested in the presence some of the hcroea of 
 history make in the unqualified light turned upon them." Albany Times.
 
 WHAT IS BEING SAID. " 
 
 " He docs not stand much in awe of traditional reputations, and seems 
 determined to state frankly the facts as he finds them, and never hesitates to 
 express his own conclusions. *The author's brilliant and picturesque narration 
 will attract readers, and his outspoken positions will attract the critics. He 
 takes a decidedly different view of Columbus from those given by Irving and 
 Prescott, and he does not, like those authors, forget that the good Isabella 
 was a bigot of the most unrelenting sort, and largely responsible for the In- 
 quisition ; nor does he praise her at the expense of her husband. The later 
 misfortunes of Columbus lie attributes not so much to jealousy and loss of 
 royal favor, through the intrigue of enemies, as to his own incompetence for 
 affairs, his vanity and impracticability." Hartford Courant. 
 
 " Hubert H. Bancroft is getting to be noted alike as a careful, industrious 
 historian, and a collector of very valuable books and manuscripts. The com- 
 prehensive scope and detail of his work are both unusual. His new book is a 
 marvel of painstaking research and accuracy." Philadelphia Times. 
 
 ' ' Mr Bancroft has pursued a most scholarly method in the arrangement 
 of his work. He is conscientious and sagacious i i his balancing of authori- 
 ties, and his frequent classical allusions show a deep study of ancient and 
 modern autlors. S. F. Pout. 
 
 " The work is so thoroughly that of a man possessed of his subject, anxious 
 to read it in all its lights, to search out its sources, and trace its bearings, 
 that it will not fail to captivate the general reader, as well as arrest the at- 
 tention of the scholar, who will be interested in the presence some of the 
 heroes of history make in the unqualified light now turned upon them. The 
 volume before us leads to the return of Cortes; and those who follow the 
 picturesque and rapid sweep of its story will await with eagerness the next 
 number, which relates to the gorgeous history of the Conquest of Mexico. " 
 S. F* Argonaut. 
 
 " A shining current of history streams through the pages. For hundreds 
 of pages this book burns with the infernal record of religious crime. The 
 historian writes through it with his pen afire; the reader shudders through it, 
 his heart sick and his eyes ablaze. While this book lives, the memory of the 
 hapless Indian and his unequaled wrongs can never die out of the conscious- 
 ness of mankind. The style is, upon the whole, admirable. It is vivid and 
 truthful as expressive of the idea. Much of it touches a high eloquence. 
 Pictures stand out sometimes, each from a single felicitous word. The his- 
 torian frequently suggests the picturesque groupings of Carlyle without any 
 of his outlandish dressing of words. You see the thing which is sought to le 
 presented, and the eye is not too much caught by the pigments. Sometimes 
 the long oar-sweep of words is exchanged ny a fine sententiousness. Thus, 
 ' Discipline begotten by necessity, engenders strength, which, fattened by 
 luxury, swells to weakness ;' and the analysis of the Castilian from which we 
 have just quoted, is, throughout, as cool and clear a chapter of scholarly ex- 
 position as it has been our good fortune to see for many a day." S. F. 
 Bulletin. 
 
 " Seven or eight years ago Mr Hubert H. Bancroft, of San Francisco, sur- 
 prised the reading world with his Native Races of the Pacific Stolen, wherein 
 he cave astonishing glimpses into an antiquity rivaling that of Egypt, and 
 disclosed the little-thought-of fact, that what is called the New World is 
 quite as likely as not, the old one, ethnologically as well as geologically. That 
 work was regarded as a marvel of research, and justly so, in conparison with 
 most works in the historic field, and had the further credit of investing 
 a naturally dry theme, with a singularly living interest. This was. at once 
 accepted as a standard work, and its author thought to have fixed himself 
 among the first historic writers of the day. But the work of collecting ma- 
 relating to the Pacific States of North America went on after th
 
 12 WHAT IS BEING SAID, 
 
 completion of that work, until the author has now collected a library of more 
 than thirty-five thousand volumes, all relating to that region, and he has pro- 
 jected and begun a historical work of colossal proportions. So far as is 
 known, business methods, as they may be called, have never been applied on 
 so complete a scale, to the preparation of such a work. The result is marvel- 
 lous marvellous in respect to the amount of labor which one man is thus 
 enabled to accomplish within a given time. The value of the history, consid- 
 ered as a whole, depends upon the master-mind which directs the whole upon 
 its capacity to group facts and generalize from them. This breadth, vigor, 
 and clearness of mental grasp, Mr Bancroft has in an eminent degree. Tor 
 the first time, the story of the beginnings of Spanish occupation of America 
 is put into a connected and lucidly arranged form in the English tongue. A 
 large portion of the cited authorities has never hitherto been known to the 
 world. Mr Bancroft has unearthed old State and ecclesiastical manuscripts, 
 of whose existence all traces had been lost, and has thrown a flood of light 
 upon subjects which have seemed forever obscured. This is notably so in two 
 or three points. For example, it has always seemed a most extraordinary 
 thing that Columbus should meet with the failures which attended his coloni- 
 zation enterprises, and the repeated neglects and abuses of those in power, if 
 he was indeed the ready-to-be-canonized saint that Irving, for instance, paints 
 him. Mr Bancroft makes the matter clear. With judicial fairness he shows 
 the weak as well as the strong points of the man's character, and one sees 
 clearly how the very characteristics that lead to his success as a navigator and 
 discoverer, totally unfitted him to be either soldier or politician ; and, com- 
 bined with unquestionably unjust treatment, made the latter part of his life 
 full of almost, or quite, insane delusions. Among the most interesting feat- 
 tures of the work are the copious bibliographical foot-notes, many of them 
 containing criticisms, nearly always bold, original, acute, of Irving, Prescott, 
 and other authors ; but criticism which, however fearless and incisive, is 
 always frank and good-tempered. It would be a pleasure to follow the begin- 
 ning of this colossal undertaking further in detail, but it is impracticable 
 here. The day will come when the beginnings of the history of the vast em- 
 pire, yet in its babyhood, on our Pacific slope, will be studied more curiously 
 than that of any other part of the world, and no other work can ever hope to 
 rival that of Mr Bancroft as the standard authority. It presents evidence of 
 wide and patient research ; it is generalized with remarkable breadth of view ; 
 it is clear in statement, lucid in arrangement, and last, but by no means least, 
 it is pervaded with a flavor of living, breathing interest in its author, which 
 makes it interesting to the reader. In fine, the completed work, finished on 
 the scale of this opening volume, will be worthy to take rank with the very 
 best of modern historical works, with points of superiority to nearly all of 
 them." Chicago Times. 
 
 " So vast is the field opened up by such a plan that one would doubt the 
 ability of a single man to do more than skirt its borders ; but Mr Bancroft has 
 proved in his previous work that he has reduced the writing of history to an 
 exact science. Endowed with large means, with unusual executive abilities 
 which enable him to direct and make use of the labor of a large corps of intel- 
 ligent assistants, he is really in a position enjoyed by few literary workers. 
 He is enabled to do more in one year than the ordinary historian can do in a 
 decade. Mr Bancroft has an eminently practical way of looking at history. 
 There is no effort made to bolster up a man or a creed, as we find in Macaulay 
 and Froude; there is absolutely none of that ingenious work which has been 
 aptly called 'historical whitewashing.' The historian seems to be free from 
 all prejudice, free from partisan bias and rancor. Greater scope will be given 
 in subsequent volumes to this admirable method of impartial criticism; but 
 instances of it are not lacking here, and they are an earnest of the spirit in 
 which this work will be written. 
 
 " Especially worthy of careful reading are the notes on Columbus, and on 
 the credibility of the early chroniclers. In the former he makes a keen
 
 WHAT IS BEING SAID. 13 
 
 analysis of the defects of Irving and Prescott, showing that each was a special 
 pleader, sacrificing the truth of history to the hero he was placing on a 
 pedestal. The author pays a generous tribute to their work, but he shows 
 that it is not history in the best sense of the word." S. F. Chronicle. 
 
 ' ' In exposing the mistakes of his predecessors, Mr Bancroft combinea im- 
 partiality of spirit and soundness of judgment with thoroughness of research, 
 so that his opinions, generally, will probably be accepted by scholars as 
 final." S. F. Alia 
 
 " The conscientious and intelligent care in the treatment of his subject 
 gives the best of auguries for the value of the work. The conspicuous ab- 
 sence of hero-worship, in the treatment of his characters, is another peculiarity 
 of the work. Mr Bancroft's style is marked by a charming grace and 
 rhythm. It not infrequently presents long sustained examples of sentential 
 structure, modeled and polished by the severest rules of the schools, and it 
 sometimes pours itself along with a natural force and ruggedncss, now anil 
 then rising to the height of grandeur. But its generic quality is formed in a 
 straightforward directness which seems to ignore art, but which is, in reality, 
 the equivalent of the best art in speech." Kansas City Journal. 
 
 "The volumes thus far issued commend themselves to the historical student 
 and the literary critic for their deep research, their conscientious and pains- 
 taking handling of details, and for their grace of style." Los *.n<jdcs Daily 
 Times. 
 
 " This is a most stupendous xmdertaking ; but Mr Bancroft seems to bo 
 adequately equipped for it, as well in the material ho has brought together as 
 in the intelligence, industry, and enthusiasm with which he prosecutes his 
 work." Washington Evening Star. 
 
 "His style is always clear and concise, often graphic and picturesque, with- 
 out attempting sensational effects. His power of analysing events, as well as 
 characters, cannot be denied ; and his ability of constructing a consecutive 
 narrative out of a chaos of incoherent material, betrays unusual literary skill" 
 Xew York Times. 
 
 " The work has no parallel in literature." Henry Ward Beecher,
 
 ONE OF THE LATEST NOTICES RECEIVED. 
 
 London Morning Post. 
 
 "The national distinctiveness of American character appears, perhaps, no- 
 where so clearly as in the style of American writers. In this country the style 
 of a writer is individual, in America' it is national. To take, for example, the 
 case of English historians, there is not a single common feature in the style of 
 such men as Mr Lecky, Mr Froude, or Mr Freeman. So much cannot be said 
 to take the case of three American historians whose works are more or less 
 familiar to English readers of the styles of Mr Bancroft, Mr Motley, or Mr 
 D'Orsey Gardiner. Though differing in some respects in modes of thought 
 and expression, there is a common feature of resemblance in the writings of 
 all three. When one takes up the book of an English author and criticises its 
 style, he never thinks of saying " this is quite an English style. " He says, 
 "This is very like Mr Lecky, or Mr Froude, or Macaulay," as the case may 
 be. But almost the first idea that strikes one in turning over the pages of an 
 American book is "how thoroughly American is the style." And what is the 
 distinguishing feature of American style? The distinguishing feature of 
 American style, like the distinguishing feature of American character, gen- 
 erally is "go." One is carried along from the very first page by an impetu- 
 osity which is at once charming and irresistible. The interest is immediately 
 awakened, the attention promptly fixed. There is something in the dash and 
 flow of the style which in itself attracts and excites. We can perhaps give no 
 better illustration of wlmt we mean than by quoting the opening passages of 
 Mr Bancroft's History of the Pacific States of North America. 
 
 ******* 
 "The freshness and vigor here displayed last to the end of the volume. 
 But if we were to single out the individual characteristic which pre-eminently 
 distinguishes Mr Bancroft's writings, we should fix on the wonderful care of 
 which all his works bear such unmistakable signs. The present volume is a 
 marvel of industry and hard work. The materials collected, the authorities 
 consulted, the skill with which all have been collated and arranged, and the 
 attractiveness of style in which the whole has been presented to the public, 
 merit the highest praise. Mr Bancroft commences his History of the Pacific 
 States, which may be described as a continuation of his Native Races of the 
 Pacific States, with a brilliant sketch of Spain and European civilization in the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century, and lie then dashes into the subject proper 
 of his book. In the Native Races of the Pacific States, Mr Bancroft, as the 
 title of the work suggests, dealt with the aboriginal inhabitants of the country. 
 In the work now before us he treats of the European discoverers and settlers, 
 and continues the history of the aboriginal inhabitants in a more advanced 
 stage of social and political evolution. The narrative abounds in incidents of 
 exciting interest and facts of great importance, social, historical, and political, 
 rendering this latest literary achievment of Mr Bancroft a work attractive 
 alike to the general reader, the historian, the statesman, and the sociologist. 
 Of Mr Bancroft's Native Races, men of prominence like Mr Herbert Spencer 
 and Mr Lecky wrote in the most eulogistic terms, and no juster criticism can 
 be pronounced on the distinguished American historian's recent production 
 than to say that it is in every respect worthy of its predecessor in, the in- 
 structive and important series of contributions to American history on which 
 our author is engaged. "
 
 'Not only unequalled, but unapproachcd. A literary enterprise more deserving of a generous 
 
 sympathy ;m.l support hns never been undertaken on tins Bide of the 
 
 Atlantic." [ NORTH AMERICA* KEVIEW.] 
 
 THE WORKS OF HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT. 
 
 In 39 Volumes, Octavo, with Maps and Illustrations. 
 
 Vols. I-V. THE NATIVE RACES OF THE PACIFIC STATES. 
 
 Vols. VI- VIII. HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 VoU. IX-XIV. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Vols. XV-XVI. HISTORY OF THE NORTH MEXICAN STATES. 
 
 Vol. XVII. HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA. 
 
 VoU. XVIII-XXIV. HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Vol. XXV. HISTORY OF NEVADA. 
 
 Vol. XXVI. HISTORY OF UTAH. 
 
 Vols. XXVII-XXVIII. HISTORY OF THE NORTH-WEST COAST. 
 
 Vols. XXIX-XXX. HISTORY OF OREGON. 
 
 Vol. XXXI. HISTORY OF WASHINGTON, IDAHO, AND MONTANA, 
 
 Vol. XXXII. HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 Vol. XXXIII. HISTORY OF ALASKA. 
 
 Vol. XXXIV. CALIFORNIA PASTORAL. 
 
 Vol. XXXV. CALIFORNIA INTER POCULA. 
 
 Vols. XXXVI-XXXVII. POPULAR TRIBUNALS. 
 
 Vol. XXXVIII. ESSAYS AND MISCELLANY. 
 
 Vol. XXXIX. LITERARY INDUSTRIES. 
 
 THE HISTOKY OF THE PACIFIC STATES is the central figure of this literary 
 undertaking, the Native Race* being preliminary, and the works following 
 the History supplementary thereto. The territory covered is the western half 
 of North America, from i'an.iiii;i to Alaska, including all of Central America 
 and Mexico, and is equivalent in area to one-twelfth of the earth's surface. 
 
 CONDITIONS. The volumes will be well printed, on good paper, and 
 neatly and substantially bound ; they will be uniform in style, and will average 
 over 700 pages each. Three or four new volumes per annum will appear until 
 the entire series is completed. Subscribers will not be obliged to take the 
 work unless it corresponds with the description in every particular. 
 
 PER VOLUME. 
 
 Bound in Extra English Cloth, neat and attractive style. - $ 4 5O 
 Bound In Fine Leather, Library Style, - - - 6 5O 
 
 Bound in Half Calf, Half Russia, or Half Morocco, - - 8 OO 
 Bound in Russia Leather or Tree Calf, - - - 1O OO 
 
 A. L. BANCROFT & CO., Publishers, 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
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