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enough to withstand the inevitable shocks and casualties of a long journey upon the backs of men and mules, upon springless drays and railroad trains.

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After some months of experimenting, I succeeded in producing a composition containing all of the above qualities, and subjected it to thorough trial by practical tests. then sought for the façade of an edifice, that should contain, within a suitable area, the characteristic examples and effects produced by the ancient builders.

While upon my expeditions to Labna, a certain façade had especially attracted my notice, as containing upon its surface, remarkably striking characteristic effects. It was a typical structure of the ancient workers. During explorations among nineteen recorded and unrecorded groups of ruins, I failed to find one other, that upon an equal surface, combined so much that was typical in character and striking in design. Having arranged these matters to my satisfaction and being convinced as to the practicability of the scheme, I communicated the idea to our fellow-member, Mr. STEPHEN SALISBURY, and aided by his kind offices and counsel, began the task, which, I am pleased to say, was completed successfully.

There were in this, as in other undertakings, disappointments, delays and obstacles, but they were not insurmountable, and to-day we have the honor of presenting to the Society, a cast representing a section of the most interesting façade in the ruins of Labna, a typical specimen of the ancient architecture of Yucatan.

The edifice of which this structure represents a section, is the largest one in the group of ruins known as Labna, and seems to have been still unfinished when deserted, and partially destroyed. Its carved and sculptured front, with its numerous turns and angles, has a length of over three hundred feet. Twenty or more chambers are as yet visible. Some of them, especially the one of which the entrance is here represented, are in a very perfect state, others are

buried and broken into almost utter ruin. The façade, of which the section before us is a part, is thirty-five feet long by eighteen feet high, and the entire upper portion of it is incrusted with rich carvings and ornaments. Complete moulds have been taken of this elaborate work and are now within this building. This section represents about one-fifth of the entire façade. It will be observed that the hieroglyphics inscribed upon the up-raised portion of the Serpent symbol, closely resemble some of the characters given in the Landa alphabet. Whether an American Rosetta Stone will enable us ever to decipher them is a question for the future to determine.

On motion of Hon. HAMILTON B. STAPLES, LL.D., the thanks of the Society were tendered to Mr. THOMPSON for his very valuable work in bringing to light one of the interesting ruins of Yucatan.

WILLIAM B. WEEDEN, Esq., read a paper on "The Early African Slave-Trade in New England."

ANDREW MCF. DAVIS, Esq., read by its title a paper entitled "A History of the First Scholarship at Harvard." REUBEN A. GUILD, LL.D., read by its title a paper on "Roger Williams, Freeman of Massachusetts."

Rev. EDWARD E. HALE, D.D., presented a paper written by Mr. Edwin D. Mead, entitled "John Hampden in America."

For all the above-mentioned papers, the Society voted its thanks, and they were referred to the Committee of Publication.

On recommendation of the Council, it was voted that the Society refer to the Committee of Publication with power to act, the question as to a separate presentation and publication of the Report of the Council in its business portion, and the essay which has for many years been published as a part of it.

The meeting was then dissolved.

JOHN D. WASHBURN,

Recording Secretary.

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.

THE Council of the American Antiquarian Society respectfully submit their Seventy-fifth Annual Report.

Our Charter dates from October 24, 1812: so that this week completes three-quarters of a century of organization, and it might be instructive at the present anniversary, if time allowed, to sum up the results accomplished in this round of years. The last occasion for a like review was in connection with the semi-centennial commemoration of 1862; and the briefest comparison of the present condition of the Society with what was then reported will indicate sufficiently, perhaps, our satisfactory progress.

In 1862, the Society's library, the centre of its activity, was estimated at about 34,000 volumes; the number of volumes now is at least 80,000, not to speak of large additions of valuable pamphlets, while the facilities for making these acquisitions useful to all inquirers have more than kept pace with the increase in numbers.

The permanent fund of the Society had, in 1862, reached $42,500; while the total is now nearly $104,000. The component parts of this total were, in 1862, only four,—of which the Bookbinding Fund remains substantially unchanged, but the Librarian's and General Fund, the Collection and Research Fund, and the Publishing Fund, have risen severally to twice or thrice their former value, and no less than eight special funds have been established by as many benefactors.

During this twenty-five years, the Society's publications, which attest to the world its right to live, have comprised three volumes of Transactions and fifty-three numbers of

Proceedings,—in amount keeping pace with the increase in the Library and Treasury, and in value not falling below our own high standard.

In 1862, the Society already owned and occupied this building, in smaller dimensions, but was cramped in the provision for its growing collections. Five years later, our munificent benefactor, President Salisbury, presented an adjoining tract of land, with the nucleus of a buildingfund, thus making possible the erection of the western half of this hall in 1877, by which means our shelf accommodations were nearly doubled, while the connected improvements have increased beyond measure the convenience and the safety of administration.

The changes thus recalled awaken at this turning-point of history our lively congratulations and hopes; but the personal changes which accompany, inevitably, every such passage of years supply the strain of melancholy from which few human joys are free. "Other men labored, and we are entered into their labors." Our very progress is the strongest reminder of the devotion and zeal of such friends as our late President and our late Librarian, in preëminent measure, and of others who were associated with them.

At the date of the meeting in October, 1862, three of the Society's charter members were still living, of whom the last, the Hon. Levi Lincoln, died in 1868. The senior members at the present date, Mr. Bancroft and Mr. Winthrop, were elected forty-nine years ago; and besides these two twenty others remain with us who were active members prior to the semi-centennial meeting.

Of the officers in 1862, no survivors remain except Dr. Hale and Dr. Deane, of the Council and the Publication Committee.

Turning to the record of the six months just elapsed, the Reports of the Treasurer and the Librarian, which are submitted separately, give in detail the current history of the Society in these departments.

We add the customary minute of losses by death. Four members of the Society have died since April :—Ben : Perley Poore, Elias Nason, Charles Rau and Spencer Fullerton Baird.

Major Ben: Perley Poore, of the seventh generation from Samuel Poore, who emigrated to Massachusetts in 1638, and settled, in 1650, on Indian Hill in the present township of West Newbury, was born, November 2, 1820, on this farm (which has never been alienated from the family), and in the house built by the first settler.

His grandfather, Daniel Noyes Poore, was a graduate of Harvard in 1777, and a physician of Newbury, and his father was engaged in mercantile business in New York City. His mother, Mary Perley Dodge, was a native of Georgetown, D. C., and so it happened that in his sixth year he was taken to Washington on a visit, and thus his personal recollections of the Capital began at almost the earliest possible moment. Five years later, he accompanied his parents on a trip to Europe. He was then for a short time a pupil in Dummer Academy, near his own door, and later in a New York school, while his father was expecting for him an appointment to the United States Military Academy; but the preparation for West Point proved so distasteful to the youth that he ran away from school, and for nearly two years was not traced by his friends. Meantime he came to Worcester (about 1837), and apprenticed himself as a printer with Jubal Harrington, the publisher of the Republican newspaper. When discovered he was persuaded to return home and begin the study of law; but the taste for journalistic enterprise and for independence had seized him, and his father soon bought for him the Southern Whig, a newspaper published in Athens, Georgia, which he edited for about two years, or until 1842, when the Hon. Henry W. Hilliard, of Alabama, was appointed Minister to Belgium, and Mr. Poore was invited to act as Secretary of Legation.

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