Fifteen individual manuscripts, in contemporary paper covers, bound together (Ms. Coll. 700, Items 162-165, 167-175, 218, and 219). All of the manuscripts were prepared by C. Hermann Berendt, based on material from various authors. Most of the items pertain to the languages spoken by Indians of Panama and northwestern Colombia. Only two items are on other topics: Item 162 concerns the Guatuso Indians of Costa Rica; and Item 175, the Chibcha language of the plain of Bogotá. With respect to the dating of the manuscripts, Item 168 is dated New York 1873; Item 164 was begun in New York in late 1872 and completed in 1873; and 10 additional items (Items 163, 167, 169, 170, 171,172, 173, 174, 218, and 219) have been tentatively dated to 1873, based on their similar appearance and content, which is likewise reflected in the paper that Berendt delivered before the American Ethnological Society in New York in November 1873, entitled: The Darien language (American Historical Record, vol. 3, no. 26, February 1874, p. 54-59). Item 175, although on a different topic, is drawn directly from a work that Berendt consulted for the same paper. Finally, Item 162 is dated 1876, and Item 165 probably dates to 1876 as well. Item 168 contains two maps. A pencilled note pertaining to the binding of the volume (Bind covers & all; front paper cover, Item 163) is probably in the hand of Berendt. The volume has a table of contents at the front that is in a different hand. A small rectangular piece of paper related to Item 175 is housed in a separate folder that is shelved with the bound volume.
