Mail won't import messages to inbox after envelope file moved to desktop

I had some kind of problem with a HD backup that cause my mac pro quad to lapse into beach ball mode. I had to restart and found my mail app had problems. All messages in other mailboxes are ok, sent items are ok, but inbox has lost messages. The messages are viewable from pop mailbox folder (in library). I moved envelope file to desktop and tried importing messages, but received a sql error notification and only very old message appeared. I backed up my mail folder before this procedure, and I have a copy of the same account on my laptop. So I have the messages, but can't seem to get them back into the mail program on the mac pro (running latest version of 10.4 osx).thx ra

after running the command the mac supplied me with this wonderful response. Hope it means something to you..thx ra
Failed to decode utf-8 data, treating as binary
2008-08-07 08:43:49.455 mdimport[10141] error deserializing message property list: XML parser error:
Encountered unknown tag /key on line 1
Old-style plist parser error:
Malformed data byte group at line 1; invalid hex
2008-08-07 08:43:49.462 mdimport[10141] error deserializing message property list: XML parser error:
Unexpected character A at line 1
Old-style plist parser error:
Unexpected ';' or '=' after key at line 1
2008-08-07 08:44:07.159 mdimport[10141] * Failed to decode data, treating as binary
2008-08-07 08:44:44.389 mdimport[10141] error deserializing message property list: XML parser error:
Encountered unexpected EOF
Old-style plist parser error:
Malformed data byte group at line 1; invalid hex

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