Page:Here and there in Yucatan - miscellanies (IA herethereinyucat00lepl 0).djvu/127

 exactly to what we have discovered, regarding that royal family, in our study of the ancient paintings and inscriptions.

The author of the Troano Manuscript appears to have had a knowledge of the various strata of which the crust of our planet is composed, for he has painted them of different colors. He seems to have also known that the convulsions of these superficial strata, earthquakes, were due to volcanic forces, and to have been acquainted with these forces, since he represented the activity of volcanoes by appropriate signs.

In this book we find records of cataclysms by which the face of the earth has more than once been changed, owing to the submersion of some lands, and the upheaval of others. It confirms the story of the disappearance of a great island, Plato's Atlantis, in the Atlantic ocean. The text consists of very brief sentences that tell the facts in as few words as possible.

How old is the Troano Manuscript? is a question frequently put to us; and one that we cannot answer positively. It is, however, our opinion that the book was written thirteen hundred years ago; although it refers to events which took place in very remote ages.