Diego Garcia de Palacio. "Carta dírigida al Rey de España," 1576, March 8th.—The chief importance of this report, in connection with this list, consists in its being the earliest notice of the ruins of Copan. Herrera made extensive use of Palacio's writings, but he omitted that part which referred to Copan because it was not confirmed (at his time) by any other testimony. The first publication of Palacio was by Ternaux-Compans, in 1840, "Recueil de Documents et mémoires originaux sur l'histoire des possessions espagnoles, &c."—French translation: fluent, but not always reliable. A Spanish copy appeared in 1866, in Vol. VII. of "Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos...."—A Spanish copy, with English translation, by E. G. Squier, in 1860, as Vol. I. of his "collection of rare and original documents, relations, &c., &c."—Finally. Dr. Alexander von Frantzius published a German translation in 1873, under the heading of "San Salvador and Honduras im Jahre, 1576,"—which is particularly valuable on account of the notes by the translator, as well as by Dr. C. H. Berendt.—Palacio must have visited Copan about 1576, and the fact is established through him that its buildings were in ruins at the time of the Spanish conquest, that is about 1530, and no distinct traditions of their origin left.
Passing over all general collections and geographical works, &c., &c., of the sixteenth century, I will mention:
"Cartas de Indias." (See Yucatan.) and the miscellaneous collections like "Colección de Documentos inéditos para la Historia de España," begun by Navarrete, Miguel Salvá, and Pedro Saing de Barada, in 1842, and still continued.
"Colección de Documentos relativos al Descubrimiento, Conquista y Colonizacion de las Posesiones Españolas en América y Oceanía." Commenced in 1864, and still continued.
(These collections contain chiefly documents from the "Real Archivo de Indias," and although they are of recent date, the papers are all from the earlier times of Spanish conquest and settlement.)
The library of the "Museo Nacional" at the City of Guatemala (la Nueva), contains the following:
Rafael Arévalo. "Libro de Actas del Ayuntamiento de la Ciudad de Guatemala." (Town book or record, from 1524 to 1530.)
"Colección de Documentos antiguos del Archivo del Ayuntamiento de la Ciudad de Guatemala."—(Both bound in one volume and published in 1856 and 1857.)