Note 181 — Chapter III

“I know of no man better qualified than was Brasseur de Bourbourg, to penetrate the obscurity of American primitive history. His familiarity with the Nahua and Central American languages, his indefatigable industry and general erudition, rendered him eminently fit for the task, and every word written by such a man on such a subject is entitled to respectful consideration. Nevertheless there is reason to believe that the Abbé was often rapt away from the truth by the excess of enthusiasm, and the reader of his wild and fanciful speculations cannot but regret that he has not the opportunity or the ability to criticise by comparison the French savant’s interpretation of the original documents.”—Bancroft’s Native Races, p. 127.