What is known of the history of this manuscript, is told us by Don Juan Gavarrete, who, for many years, was almost the only native of Guatemala interested in the early history of his country. He tells us in his introduction to his translation of it, soon to be mentioned, that in 1844 he was commissioned to arrange the archives of the Convent of San Francisco of Guatemala, by order of the Archbishop Don Francisco Garcia Pelaez. Among the MSS. of the archives he found these sheets, written entirely in Cakchiquel, except a few marginal glosses in Spanish, in a later hand, and in ordinary ink. The document was submitted to several persons acquainted with the Cakchiquel language, who gave a general statement of its contents, but not a literal and complete translation.[54-1] When, in 1855, the Abbé Brasseur (de Bourbourg) visited Guatemala, Señor Gavarrete showed him this MS., and the Abbé borrowed it for the purpose of making a full version, doubtless availing himself of the partial translations previously furnished. His version completed, he left a copy of it with Señor Gavarrete, and brought the original with him to Europe.[54-2] It remained in his possession until his death at Nice, when, along with the rest of the Abbé’s library, it passed into the hands of M. Alphonse Pinart. This eminent ethnologist learning my desire to include it in the present series of publications, was obliging enough to offer me the opportunity of studying it. Previous to its discovery in Guatemala, in 1844, we have no record of it whatsoever, and must turn to the document itself for information. The title given it by Brasseur, and adopted by Gavarrete, _Memorial de Tecpan Atitlan_, was purely factitious, and, moreover, is misleading. It was, indeed, written at the town of Tzolola or Atitlan, on the lake of that name, the chief city of the Tzutuhils; but its authors were Cakchiquels; its chief theme is the history of their tribe, and it is only by the accident of their removal to Atitlan, years after the Conquest, that its composition occurred there. I have, therefore, adopted for it, or at least that portion of it which I print, the much more appropriate name, _The Annals of the Cakchiquels_. I say “for that portion of it,” because I print but 48 out of the 96 pages of the original. These contain, however, all that is of general interest; all that pertains to the ancient history of the nation. The remainder is made up of an uninteresting record of village and family incidents, and of a catalogue of births, baptisms and marriages. The beginning of the text as printed in this volume, starts abruptly in the MS. after seventeen pages of such trivialities, and has no separate title or heading. The caption of the first page of the MS. explains the purpose of this miscellaneous collection of family documents. That caption is [Illustration: Cross] VAE MEMORIA CHIRE [C]HAOH. THIS IS THE RECORD FOR THE PROCESS.