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

_Philadelphia, Nov. 1883._




CONTENTS.


Section 1. _Introductory_


Section 2. _The Literary Faculty in the Native Mind_

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