Note 2 — Chapter II

Of Boturini, Humboldt observes. "This Milanese traveler had crossed the seas with no other view than to study on the spot the history of the native tribes of America; but in traversing the country to examine its monuments and make researches into its antiquities, he had the misfortune to fall under the suspicion of the Spanish government. After having been deprived of the fruit of his labors, he was sent in 1736 as a state prisoner to Madrid. The king of Spain declared him innocent, but this did not restore to him his property; and this collection * * * lay buried in the archives of the University of Mexico; those valuable relics of the culture of the Aztecs were preserved with so little care that there scarcely exists at present an eighth part of the hieroglyphic records taken from the Italian traveler."