Chapter I: On the Origin of the Americans (5)

[I-57] Bochica, the great law-giver of the Muyscas, and son of the sun, a white man, bearded, and wearing long robes, appeared suddenly in the people's midst while they were disputing concerning the choice of a king. He advised them to appoint Huncahua, which they immediately did. He it was who invented the calendar and regulated the festivals. After living among the Muyscas for two thousand years, he vanished on a sudden near the town of Hunca. _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 187; _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p. 174, quoting _Stevenson's Travels in South America_, vol. i., p. 397.

[I-58] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 35; _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._, pp. 67-8; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, p. 13.

[I-59] In a work entitled _Fenix del Occidente_.

[I-60] _Felicidad de Mej._, Mex. 1685, fol. 55.

[I-61] _Boturini_, _Catálogo_, in _Idea_, pp. 43, 50-2. Although the opinion that Quetzalcoatl was St Thomas, 'appears to be rather hazardous, yet one cannot help being astonished at the extent of the regions traversed by St. Thomas; it is true that some writers do not allow of his having gone beyond Calamita, a town in India, the site of which is doubtful; but others assert that he went as far as Meliapour, on the other side of the Coromandel, and even unto Central America.' _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., p. 50. 'Apud Iaiaobæ Indos in Occidenti tradita per avos viget memoria S. Apostoli Thomæ, quam retinent a transitu ejus per illas plagas, cujus non levia extant indicia: præcipuè quædam semita in illis solitudinibus hactenus perseverat, in quâ non oritur herba nisi valdè humilis et parvula, cum utrumque latus herbescat ultra modum; eo itinere dicunt Apostolum incessisse, et inde profectum in Peruana regna. Apud Brasilienses quoque traditio est, ibi prædicasse. Apud alios barbaros, etiam in regionem Paraguay venisse, postquam descendit per fluvium Iguazu, deinde in Paranam per Aracaium, ubi observatur locus in quo sedit defessus Apostolus, et fertur prædixisse, ut a majoribus acceptum est, post se illuc adventuros homines qui posteris eorum annuntiarent fidem veri Dei, quod non leve solatium et animos facit nostræ religionis prædicatoribus, ingentes labores inter illos barbaros pro dilatione Ecclesiæ perpetientibus.' _Nieremberg_, _Historiæ Naturæ_, lib. xiv., cap. cxvii.

[I-62] Following are a few points of Lord Kingsborough's elaborate argument: 'How truly surprising it is to find that the Mexicans, who seem to have been quite unacquainted with the doctrines of the migration of the soul and the metempsychosis, should have believed in the incarnation of the _only_ son of their supreme god Tonacatecutle. For Mexican mythology speaking of no other son of that god except Quecalcoatle, who was born of Chimalman the Virgin of Tula, without connection with man, and by his breath alone, (by which may be signified his _word_ or his will, announced to Chimalman by word of mouth of the celestial messenger, whom he dispatched to inform her that she should conceive a son,) it must be presumed that Quecalcoatle was his only son. Other arguments might be adduced to show, that the Mexicans believed that Quecalcoatle was both god and man, that he had previously to his incarnation existed from all eternity, that he had created both the world and man, that he descended from heaven to reform the world by penance, that he was born with the perfect use of reason, that he preached a new law, and, being king of Tula, was crucified for the sins of mankind, as is obscurely insinuated by the interpreter of the Vatican Codex, plainly declared in the traditions of Yucatan, and mysteriously represented in the Mexican paintings.' If the promise of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary,--The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God--be couched in the language of ancient prophecy, 'it is not improbable that the head of the dragon which forms the crest of three of the female figures (in one of the Mexican pieces of sculpture), as it may also be presumed it did of the fourth when entire, (if it be not a symbol which Chimalman borrowed from her son's _name_,) was intended to denote that she had been overshadowed by the power of Huitzilopuchtli, whose device, as we are informed by Sahagun in the first chapter of the first book of his History of New Spain, was the head of a dragon.' _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi., pp. 507-8. See, more especially, his elaborate discussion of Quetzalcoatl's crucifixion and identity with the Messiah, vol. viii., pp. 5-51. As we have seen in a preceding volume, Quetzalcoatl is compared with the heathen deities of the old world, as well as with the Messiah of the Christians. See vol. iii., chap. vii.

[I-63] See vol. iii., p. 450, et seq.

[I-64] Though the presumption may be in favor of communication by Bering Strait, yet the phenomena in the present state of our knowledge, favors the Aleutian route. _Latham's Comp. Phil._, p. 384. The Aleutian archipelago is 'probably the main route by which the old continent must have peopled the new. Behring's Straits, though ... they were doubtless one channel of communication, just as certainly as if their place had been occupied by solid land, were yet, in all likelihood, only of subordinate utility in the premises, when compared with the more accessible and commodious bridge towards the south.' _Simpson's Nar._, vol. ii., p. 225. 'There is no improbability that the early Asiatics reached the western shores of America through the islands of the Pacific.' The trace of the progress of the red and partially civilized man from Oriental Asia was left on these islands. _Willson's Amer. Hist._, pp. 92-3. The first discoveries were made along the coast and from island to island; the American immigrants would have come by the Aleutian Isles. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 10. To come by Aleutian islands presents not nearly so great a difficulty as the migrations among Pacific Islands. _Prescott's Mex._, vol. iii., p. 374. Immigration from Asia 'appears to have taken place mostly by the Aleuthian islands.' _Smith's Human Species_, p. 238.

[I-65] Some of the early writers were of course ignorant of the existence of any strait separating America from Asia; thus Acosta--who dares not assume, in opposition to the Bible, that the flood did not extend to America, or that a new creation took place there--accounts for the great variety of animals by supposing that the new continent is in close proximity to if not actually connected with the Old World at its northern and southern ends, and that the people and animals saved in the ark spread gradually by these routes over the whole land. _Hist. de las Ynd._, pp. 68-73, 81; _West und Ost Indischer Lustgart_, pt i., pp. 8-9. See also _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, pp. 38-42; _Gottfriedt_, _Newe Welt_, p. 4; _Villagutierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, pp. 26-8. Clavigero produces instances to show that upheavals, engulfings, and separations of land have been quite common, and thinks that American traditions of destructions refer to such disasters. He also shows that certain animals could have passed only by a tropic, others only by an arctic road. He accordingly supposes that America was formerly connected with Africa at the latitude of the Cape Verde islands, with Asia in the north, and perhaps with Europe by Greenland. _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. iv., pp. 27-44. The great objection to a migration by way of the cold latitude of Bering Strait, says a writer in the _Historical Magazine_, vol. i., p. 285, is that tropic animals never could have passed that way. He apparently rejects or has never heard of the theory of change in zones. See farther, concerning joining of continents, and communication by Bering Strait: _Warden_, _Recherches_, pp. 202, 221; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii., p. 68, et seq.; _Snowden's Hist. N. and S. Amer._, p. 198; _Taylor_, in _Cal. Farmer_, Sept. 12, 1862; _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 62-3, 82-3; _Valois_, _Mexique_, p. 197; _Adair's Amer. Ind._, p. 219. Bradford denies emphatically that there ever was any connection between America and Asia. 'It has been supposed,' he writes, 'that a vast tract of land, now submerged beneath the waters of the Pacific Ocean, once connected Asia and America.... The arguments in favor of this opinion are predicated upon that portion of the Scriptures, relating to the "division" of the earth in the days of Peleg, which is thought to indicate a physical division,--upon the analogies between the Peruvians, Mexicans and Polynesians ... and upon the difficulty of accounting in any other manner for the presence of some kinds of animals in America.' After demolishing these three bases of opinion, he adds: 'this conjectured terrestrial communication never existed, a conclusion substantiated, in some measure, by geological testimony.' _Amer. Antiq._, pp. 222-8. Mr Bradford's argument, in addition to being thoughtful and ingenious, is supported by facts, and will amply repay a perusal.

[I-66] _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii., p. 68.

[I-67] _Mex._, vol. iii., p. 418.

[I-68] _Prehist. Man_, p. 615.

[I-69] _Human Species_, p. 238.

[I-70] _Rel., 2de expéd._, p. 28.

[I-71] _Peruvian Antiq._, p. 24. America was probably first peopled from Asia, but the memory of that ancient migration was lost. Asia was utterly unknown to the ancient Mexicans. The original seats of the Chichimecs were, as they thought, not far to the north-west. They placed Aztlan not in a remote country, but near Michoacan. _Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., pp. 158-9, 174. There are strong resemblances in all things with Asiatic nations; less in language than other respects, but more with Asia than with any other part of the world. Anatomical resemblances point the same way. _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 196-203. The Americans most probably came from Asia soon after the dispersion and confusion of tongues; but there has been found no clear notice among them of Asia, or of their passage to this continent. Nor in Asia of any such migration. The Mexican histories do not probably go so far back. _Venegas_, _Noticia de la Cal._, tom. i., pp. 72-3. If a congregation of twelve representatives from Malacca, China, Japan, Mongolia, Sandwich Islands, Chili, Peru, Brazil, Chickasaws, Comanches, &c., were dressed alike, or undressed and unshaven, the most skillful anatomist could not from their appearance separate them. _Fontaine's How the World was Peopled_, pp. 147-9, 244-5. The people of Asia seem to have been the only men who could teach the Mexicans and Peruvians to make bronze, and could not teach them to smelt and work iron, one thousand or one thousand five hundred years before the Spanish Conquest. _Tylor's Researches_, p. 209. It is almost proved that long before Columbus, Northern India, China, Corea, and Tartary, had communication with America. _Chateaubriand_, _Lettre aux Auteurs_, p. 87. See also: _Smithsonian Rept._, 1866, p. 345; _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. i., p. 20; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 23-4; _Simpson's Nar._, vol. i., p. 190; _Gregg's Com. Prairies_, vol. ii., pp. 250-1; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 426-7; _Saint-Amant_, _Voyages_, p. 245; _Malte-Brun_, _Précis de la Géog._, tom. vi., pp. 290, 295-6; _Warden_, _Recherches_, pp. 118-36; _Macgregor's Progress of Amer._, vol. i., p. 24; _Mühlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. i., p. 230; _Dodge_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1869, p. 590; _Whymper's Alaska_, pp. 278-85; _Prichard's Nat. Hist. Man_, vol. ii., p. 519; _Mitchill_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., pp. 325-32; _Vigne's Travels_, vol. ii., p. 36; _Latham's Man and his Migrations_, p. 122; _Sampson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. v., p. 213. _Robertson's Hist. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 280-1; _Snowden's Hist. N. and S. Amer._, p. 200; _Stratton's Mound-Builders_, MS.; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 208, 215-16, 432; _Pickering's Races of Man_, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. ix., pp. 287-8; _Carver's Trav._, pp. 209-13; _Kennedy's Probable Origin_; _Davis' Discovery of New Eng._; _Hellwald_, in _Smithsonian Rept._, 1866, p. 334. Herrera argued that as there were no natives in America of a color similar to those of the politer nations of Europe, they must be of Asiatic origin; that it is unreasonable to suppose them to have been driven thither by stress of weather; that the natives for a long time had no king, therefore no historiographer, therefore they are not to be believed in this statement, or in any other. The clear conclusions drawn from these pointed arguments is, that the Indian race descended from men who reached America by the nearness of the land. 'Y asi mas verisimilmente se concluye que la generacion, y poblacion de los Indios, ha procedido de hombres que passaron a las Indias Ocidentales, por la vezindad de la tierra, y se fueron estendiendo poco a poco;' but from whence they came, or by what route the royal historiographer offers no conjecture. _Hist. Gen._, dec. i., lib. i., cap. vi.

[I-72] _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., p. 179.

[I-73] _Quarterly Review_, vol. xxi., pp. 334-5. The communication between Anáhuac and the Asiatic continent was merely the contact of some few isolated Asiatics who had lost their way, and from whom the Mexicans drew some notions of science, astrology, and some cosmogonic traditions; and these Asiatics did not return home. _Chevalier_, _Mexique_, pp. 59, 56-8; _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Charnay_, _Ruines Amér._, pp. 87-9; _Fossey_, _Mexique_, pp. 120-1; _Democratic Review_, vol. xi., p. 617; _Lafond_, _Voyages_, p. 133.

[I-74] Deguignes writes: 'Les Chinois ont pénétré dans les pays très-éloignés du côté de l'orient; j'ai examiné leur mesures, et elles m'ont conduit vers les côtes de la Californie; j'ai conclu de-là qu'ils avoient connu l'Amérique l'an 458 J. C.' He also attributes Peruvian civilization to the Chinese. _Recherches sur les Navigations des Chinois du côté de l'Amérique_, in _Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions_, tom. xvii. Paravey, in 1844, attempted to prove that the province of Fousang was Mexico. _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., p. 51. 'In Chinese history we find descriptions of a vast country 20,000 le to the eastward across the great ocean, which, from the description given, must be California and Mexico.' _Taylor_, in _Cal. Farmer_, Sept. 12, 1862. 'L'histoire postérieure des Chinois donne à penser qu'ils ont eu autrefois des flottes qui ont pu passer au Mexique par les Phillippines.' _Farcy_, _Discours_ p. 46, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. i.

[I-75] A Chinese li is about one third of a mile.

[I-76] '_Fou sang_, en chinois et selon la prononciation japonaise _Fouts sôk_, est l'arbrisseau que nous nommons _Hibiscus rosa chinensis_,' _Klaproth_, _Recherches sur le pays de Fou Sang_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1831, tom. li., p. 55, note. Others suppose the fusang to be the maguey, and, indeed, it was used for much the same purposes. It was, however, most probably, the mulberry; _fu-soh_, the Japanese equivalent for the Chinese _fusang_, being compounded of _fu_, to aid, and _soh_, the mulberry, a tree which abounds in a wild state in the province of Yesso, and which has been cultivated by royal command in other parts of Japan, where, as the reader will presently see, Fusang was probably situated. Mr Brooks, Japanese Consul in San Francisco, also tells me that Fu Sang is a name used in Chinese poetry to mean Japan. In Japan it is also thus used, and also used in trade marks, as 'first quality of Fu Sang silk cocoons,' meaning Japanese cocoons.

[I-77] I follow Deguignes in this sentence; Klaproth has it: 'Ceux qui peuvent recevoir leur grace sont envoyés à la première (méridionale), ceux au contraire auxquels on ne veut pas l'accorder sont détenus dans la prison du nord.' _Recherches_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1831, tom. li., p. 55.

[I-78] Deguignes translates: 'des habitants élèvent des biches comme en Chine, et ils en tirent du beurre.'

[I-79] 'Il y a dans l'original _To Phou thao_. Deguignes ayant décomposé le mot _Phou tao_, traduit: "on y trouve une grande quantité de glayeuls et de pêches." Cependant le mot _Phou_ seul ne signifie jamais _glayeul_, c'est le nom des joncs et autres espèces de roseaux de marais, dont on se sert pour faire des nattes. _Thao_ est en effet le nom de la pêche, mais le mot composé _Phou tao_ signifie en chinois la vigne.' _Klaproth_, _Recherches_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1831, tom. li., pp. 57-8.

[I-80] 'Les images des Esprits,' &c.; _Id._, p. 59.

[I-81] 'Deguignes traduit: 'Pendant leurs prières ils exposent l'image du défunt.' Le texte parle de _chin_ ou génies et non pas des ames des défunts.' _Id._

[I-82] 'C'est une analogie curieuse qu'offre le pays à vignes de Fousang (l'Amérique chinoise de Deguignes) avec le Vinland des premières découvertes scandinaves sur les côtes orientales de l'Amérique.' _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii., p. 63, note.

[I-83] _Nouv. Jour. Asiatique_, 1832, p. 335, quoted by _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii., pp. 65-6.

[I-84] _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 123.

[I-85] It is enough to look at an Aleut to recognize the Mongol. _Wrangel_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1853, tom. cxxxvii., p. 213. 'The resemblance between north-west coast Indians and Chinese is rather remarkable.' _Deans' Remains in B. Col._, MS. 'I have repeatedly seen instances, both men and women, who in San Francisco could readily be mistaken for Chinese--their almond-shaped eyes, light complexion and long braided black hair giving them a marked similarity.... An experience of nearly nine years among the coast tribes, with a close observation and study of their characteristics, has led me to the conclusion that these northern tribes (B. Col. and surrounding region) are the only evidence of any exodus from the Asiatic shore ever having reached our borders.' _Taylor_, in _Cal. Farmer_, July 25, 1862. Grant, _Ocean to Ocean_, p. 304, says that the Chinese and Indians resemble one another so much that were it not for the queue and dress they would be difficult to distinguish. 'The Pacific Indian is Mongolian in size and complexion, in the shape of the face, and the eyes,' and he wants many of the manly characteristics of the Eastern Indians. Morelet, _Voyage_, tom. i., p. 148, says of the Yucatan Indians, 'leur teint cuivré et quelquefois jaunâtre présente un ensemble de caractères qui rapproche singulièrement leur race de celle des tribus d'origine mongole.' This point of physical resemblance is, however, denied by several writers; thus Kneeland, _Wonders_, p. 53, says that though Americans have generally been accepted as Mongolians, yet if placed side by side with Chinese, hardly any resemblance will be found in physical character, except in the general contour of their faces and in their straight black hair; their mental characteristics are entirely opposite. Adair writes: 'Some have supposed the Americans to be descended from the _Chinese_: but neither their religion, laws, customs, &c., agree in the least with those of the Chinese: which sufficiently proves that they are not of that line.' He goes on to say that distance, lack of maritime skill, etc., all disprove the theory. He also remarks that the prevailing winds blow with little variation from east to west, and therefore junks could not have been driven ashore. _Amer. Ind._, pp. 12-13. 'Could we hope that the monuments of Central and South America might attract the attention and excite the interest of more American scholars than hitherto, the theory of the Mongol origin of the Red-men would soon be numbered among exploded hypotheses.' _Nott and Gliddon's Indig. Races_, p. 188. 'MM. Spix et Martius ont remarqué la ressemblance extraordinaire qui existe entre la physionomie des colons Chinois et celle des Indiens. La figure des Chinois est, il est vrai, plus petite. Ils ont le front plus large, les lèvres plus fines, et en général les traits plus délicats et plus doux que ceux des sauvages de l'Amérique. Cependant, en considérant la conformation de leur tête, qui n'est pas oblongue, mais angulaire, et plutôt pointue, leur crâne large, les sinus frontaux proéminents, le front bas, les os des joues très saillants, leurs yeux petits et obliques, le nez proportionnellement petit et épaté, le peu de poils garnissant leur menton et les autres parties du corps, leur chevelure moins longue et plate, la couleur jaunâtre ou cuivrée de leur peau, on retrouve les traits physiques communs aux deux races.' _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 123. The Americans certainly approach the Mongols and Malays in some respects, but not in the essential parts of cranium, hair, and profile. If we regard them as a Mongol branch, we must suppose that the slow action of climate has changed them thus materially during a number of centuries. _Malte-Brun_, _Précis de la Géog._, tom. vi., p. 289.

[I-86] This will be best shown by referring to Warden's comparison of American, Chinese, and Tartar words. _Recherches_, pp. 125-6. The Haidahs, are said, however, to have used words known to the Chinese. _Deans' Remains in B. Col._, MS. Mr Taylor writes: 'The Chinese accent can be traced throughout the Indian (Digger) language,' and illustrates his assertion with a comparative vocabulary of Indian and Chinese. _Cal. Farmer_, Sept. 12, 1862. The Chinese in California 'are known to be able to converse with them (the Indians) in their respective languages.'! _Cronise's California_, p. 31.

[I-87] Warden, _Recherches_, pp. 127-9, gives a long list of these resemblances. See also _Ampère_, _Prom. en Amér._, tom. ii., p. 301; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. iii., p. 396; _Faliés_, _Études Hist. sur les Civilisations_, tom. i., pp. 380-1. Molina found (in Chili?) inscriptions resembling Chinese. _M'Culloh's Researches on Amer._, pp. 171-2. Bossu found some similarity between the language of the Natchez of Louisiana, and the Chinese. _Nouveaux Voyages aux Indes Occidentales_, tom. i., let. xviii.; cited by _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 121. The last mentioned author also quotes a long list of analogies between the written language of the Chinese and the gesture language of the northern Indians, from a letter written by Wm Dunbar to the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and comments thereon. _Recherches_, p. 176. Of the value of these philological proofs the reader may judge by the following fair sample: 'the Chinese call a slave, shungo; and the Naudowessie Indians, whose language from their little intercourse with the Europeans is the least corrupted, term a dog, shungush. The former denominate one species of their tea, shousong; the latter call their tobacco, shousassau.' _Carver's Trav._, p. 214. The supposition of Asiatic derivation is assumed by Smith Barton on the strength of certain similarities of words, but Vater remarks, these prove only partial migrations. _Malte-Brun_, _Précis de la Géog._, tom. vi., p. 290. 'On the whole, more analogies (etymol.) have been found with the idioms of Asia, than of any other quarter. But their amount is too inconsiderable to balance the opposite conclusion inferred by a total dissimilarity of structure.' _Prescott's Mex._, vol. iii., p. 396. Barton, _New Views_, gives a comparative vocabulary to show that Asiatic traces have been discovered in the languages of South as well as North America. Latham, _Man and His Migrations_, p. 185, has proofs that 'the Kamskadale, the Koriak, the Aino-Japanese, and the Korean are the Asiatic languages most like those of America.' 'Dans quatre-vingt-trois langues américaines examinées par MM. Barton et Vater, on en a reconnu environ cent soixante-dix dont les racines semblent être les mêmes; et il est facile de se convaincre que cette analogie n'est pas accidentelle, qu'elle ne repose pas simplement sur l'harmonie imitative, ou sur cette égalité de conformation dans les organes, qui rend presque identiques les premiers sons articulés par les enfans. Sur cent soixante-dix mots qui ont des rapports entre eux, il y en a trois cinquièmes qui rappellent le mantchou, le tungouse, le mongol et le samojède, et deux cinquièmes qui rappellent les langues celtique et tschoude, le basque, le copte et le congo.' _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 27-8. Prichard, _Nat. Hist. Man_, vol. ii., pp. 512-13, thinks that the Otomí monosyllabic language may belong to Chinese and Indo-Chinese idioms; but Latham, _Varieties of Man_, p. 408, doubts its isolation from other American tongues, and thinks that it is either anaptotic or imperfectly agglutinate.

[I-88] _Nouveaux Voyages aux Indes Occidentales_, tom. i., lettre xviii. Cited by _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 121.

[I-89] _Trav._, p. 213.

[I-90] _Hist. of Louisiana_, London 1774.

[I-91] Speaking of the ruins of Central America, Stephens says: 'if their (the Chinese) ancient architecture is the same with their modern, it bears no resemblance whatever to these unknown ruins.' _Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 438.

[I-92] _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., p. 236. Speaking of the Popol Vuh, Viollet-le-Duc says: 'Certains passages de ce livre ont avec les histoires héroïques de l'Inde une singulière analogie.' In _Charnay_, _Ruines Amér._, p. 40. See also, _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Quatre Lettres_, pp. 212-13, 236-42.

[I-93] _Geschichte der Religion Jesu Christi_, tom. i., p. 426. Quoted in _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., p. 256.

[I-94] _Vues_, tom. i., p. 257. Tschudi, again, writes: 'As among the East Indians, an undefined being, Bramah, the divinity in general, was shadowed forth in the Trimurti, or as a God under three forms, viz., _Bramah_, _Vishnu_, and _Sciva_; so also the Supreme Being was venerated among the Indians of Mexico, under the three forms of _Ho_, _Huitzilopoctli_, and _Tlaloc_, who formed the Mexican Trimurti. The attributes and worship of the Mexican goddess Mictanihuatl preserve the most perfect analogy with those of the sanguinary and implacable Kali; as do equally the legends of the Mexican divinity Teayamiqui with the formidable Bhavani; both these Indian deities were wives of Siva-Rudra. Not less surprising is the characteristic likeness which exists between the pagodas of India and the Teocallis of Mexico, while the idols of both temples offer a similitude in physiognomy and posture which cannot escape the observation of any one who has been in both countries. The same analogy is observed between the oriental Trimurti and that of Peru; thus Con corresponds to Bramah, Pachacamac to Vishnu, and Huiracocha to Siva. The Peruvians never dared to erect a temple to their ineffable God, whom they never confounded with other divinities; a remarkable circumstance, which reminds us of similar conduct among a part of the inhabitants of India as to Bramah, who is the Eternal, the abstract God. Equally will the study of worship in the two hemispheres show intimate connection between the existence and attributes of the _devadasis_ (female servants of the Gods) and the Peruvian virgins of the Sun.

All these considerations, and many others, which from want of space we must omit, evidently prove that the greater part of the Asiatic religions, such as that of _Fo_, in China, of _Buddha_, in Japan, of _Sommono-Cadom_, in India, the _Lamaism_ of Thibet, the doctrine of _Dschakdschiamuni_ among the Mongols and Calmucs; as well as the worship of _Quetzalcoatl_, in Mexico, and of _Manco-Capac_, in Peru, are but so many branches of the same trunk; whose root the labors of archæology and modern philosophy have not been able to determine with certainty, notwithstanding all the discussion, perseverance, sagacity, and boldness of hypothesis, among the learned men who have been occupied in investigating the subject.' After remarking upon the marvelous analogy between Christianity and Buddhism as found to exist by the first missionaries to Thibet, he goes on: 'Not less, however, was the surprise of the first Spanish ecclesiastics, who found, on reaching Mexico, a priesthood as regularly organized as that of the most civilized countries. Clothed with a powerful and effective authority which extended its arms to man in every condition and in all the stages of his life, the Mexican priests were mediators between man and the Divinity; they brought the newly born infants into the religious society, they directed their training and education, they determined the entrance of the young men into the service of the State, they consecrated marriage by their blessing, they comforted the sick and assisted the dying.' Finally, Tschudi finds it necessary to 'insist on this point, that Quetzalcoatl and Mango Capac were both missionaries of the worship of Bramah or Buddha, and probably of different sects.' _Peruvian Antiq._, pp. 17-20. Domenech, _Deserts_, vol. i., p. 52, has this passage, nearly word for word the same as Tschudi, but does not mention the latter author's name. There is 'a remarkable resemblance between the religion of the Aztecs and the Buddhism of the Chinese.' _Gentleman's Magazine_; quoted in _Washington Standard_, Oct. 30, 1869. In Quetzalcoatl may be recognized one of the austere hermits of the Ganges, and the custom of lacerating the body, practiced by so many tribes, has its counterpart among the Hindoos. _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, p. 211. Quetzalcoatl, like Buddha, preached against human sacrifice. _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., p. 265.

[I-95] 'Il est très-remarquable aussi que parmi les hiéroglyphes mexicains on ne découvre absolument rien qui annonce le symbole de la force génératrice, ou le culte du _lingam_, qui est répandu dans l'Inde et parmi toutes les nations qui ont eu des rapports avec les Hindoux.' _Vues_, tom. i., p. 275.

[I-96] _Recherches Asiatiques_, tom. i., p. 215.

[I-97] _Vues_, tom. i., p. 276.

[I-98] See vol. iii., p. 501, et seq.; see also _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Quatre Lettres_, pp. 202-8.

[I-99] See vol. iv., p. 163, for cut of this ornament. 'D'abord j'ai été frappé de la ressemblance qu'offrent ces étranges figures des édifices mayas avec la tête de l'éléphant. Cet appendice, placé entre deux yeux, et dépassant la bouche de presque toute sa longueur, m'a semblé ne pouvoir être autre chose que l'image de la trompe d'un proboscidien, car le museau charnu et saillant du tapir n'est pas de cette longueur. J'ai observé aussi que les édifices placés à l'Est des autres ruines offrent, aux quatre coins, trois têtes symboliques armées de trompes tournées en l'air; or, le tapir n'a nullement la faculté d'élever ainsi son museau allongé; cette dernière considération me semble décisive.' _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, p. 74. 'There is not the slightest ground for supposing that the Mexicans or Peruvians were acquainted with any portion of the Hindoo mythology; but since their knowledge of even one species of animal peculiar to the Old Continent, and not found in America, would, if distinctly proved, furnish a convincing argument of a communication having taken place in former ages between the people of the two hemispheres, we cannot but think that the likeness to the head of a rhinoceros, in the thirty-sixth page of the Mexican painting preserved in the collection of Sir Thomas Bodley; the figure of a trunk resembling that of an elephant, in other Mexican paintings; and the fact, recorded by Simon, that what resembled the rib of a camel (la costilla de un camello) was kept for many ages as a relic, and held in great reverence, in one of the provinces of Bogota,--are deserving of attention. _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. viii., p. 27. 'On croit reconnoître, dans le masque du sacrificateur (in one of the groups represented in the _Codex Borgianus_) la trompe d'un éléphant ou de quelque pachyderme qui s'en rapproche par la configuration de la tête, mais dont la mâchoire supérieure est garnie de dents incisives. Le groin du tapir se prolonge sans doute un peu plus que le museau de nos cochons; mais il y a bien loin de ce groin du tapir à la trompe figurée dans le _Codex Borgianus_. Les peuples d'Aztlan, originaires d'Asie, avoient-ils conservé quelques notions vagues sur les éléphans, ou, ce qui me paroît bien moins probable, leurs traditions remontoient-elles jusqu'à l'époque où l'Amérique étoit encore peuplée de ces animaux gigantesques, dont les squelettes pétrifiés se trouvent enfouis dans les terrains marneux, sur le dos même des Cordillères mexicaines? Peut-être aussi existe-t-il, dans la partie nord-ouest du nouveau continent, dans des contrées qui n'ont été visitées ni par Hearne, ni par Mackensie, ni par Lewis, un pachyderme inconnu, qui, par la configuration de sa trompe, tient le milieu entre l'éléphant et le tapir.' _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 254-5.

[I-100] _Squier's Observations on Memoirs of Dr Zestermann_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, April, 1851; _Atwater_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., pp. 196-267.

[I-101] In this, as in all other theories, but little distinction is made between the introduction of foreign culture, and the actual origin of the people. It would be absurd, however, to suppose that a few ships' crews, almost, if not quite, without women, cast accidentally ashore in Peru in the thirteenth century, should in the fifteenth be found to have increased to a mighty nation, possessed of a civilization quite advanced, yet resembling that of their mother country so slightly as to afford only the most faint and far-fetched analogies.

[I-102] Manco 'afterwards received from his subjects the title of "Capac," which means sole Emperor, splendid, rich in virtue.' _Ranking's Hist. Researches_, p. 56. He cites for this, _Garcilasso de la Vega_, book i., chap. xxvi., a work on which he relies for most of his information.

[I-103] _A relation of two Russe Cossacks trauailes, out of Siberia to Catay_, &c., in _Purchas his Pilgrimes_, vol. iii., p. 798.

[I-104] _Ranking's Hist. Researches_, pp. 171-2.

[I-105] Quoted by Ranking, _Hist. Researches_, p. 183, from Abul Ghazi Bahadur, _History of the Turks, Moguls, and Tartars_, vol. i., p. 11.

[I-106] _Du Halde_, _Empire of China_, vol. i., p. 275. Quoted by Ranking, _Hist. Researches_, p. 197-8.

[I-107] Concerning the Mongolian origin of the Peruvians, see: _Ranking's Hist. Researches_. Almost all other writers who have touched on this subject, are indebted to Mr Ranking for their information and ideas. See also _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii., p. 67, et seq.; _Malte-Brun_, _Précis de la Géog._, tom. vi., pp. 293-4; _Forster's Voyage Round the World_. Grotius thinks that the Peruvians must be distinct from other American people, since they are so acute, and believes them, therefore, to be descended from the Chinese. Wrecks of Chinese junks have been found on the coast. Both adore the sun, and call the king the 'son of the sun.' Both use hieroglyphics which are read from above downwards. Manco Capac was a Chinaman who gave these settlers a government founded on the Chinese system. _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, pp. 32-3. De Laet, replying to these arguments, considers that the acuteness of the Peruvians does not approach that of the Chinese. Nowhere in Peru have the cunning and artistic works of Chinese artificers been seen. The Chinese junks were too frail to withstand a storm that could drive them across the Pacific. And if the voyage were intentional they would have sought nearer land than the coasts of Mexico or Peru. The religion of the two countries differs materially; so does their writing. Manco Capac was a native Peruvian who ruled four hundred years before the coming of the Spaniards. _Novus Orbis_, in _Id._, pp. 33-4. Mr Cronise, in his _Natural Wealth of California_, p. 28, et seq., is more positive on this subject than any writer I have yet encountered. I am at a loss to know why this should be, because I have before me the works that he consulted, and I certainly find nothing to warrant his very strong assertions. I quote a few passages from his work. 'The investigations of ethnologists and philologists who have studied the Hindoo, Chinese, and Japanese annals during the present century, have brought to light such a chain of evidence as to place beyond doubt that the inhabitants of Mexico and California, discovered by the Spaniards, were of Mongolian origin.' Hindoo, Chinese, and Japanese annals all agree that the fleet of Kublai Khan, son of Genghis Khan, was wrecked on the coast of America. 'There are proofs clear and certain, that Mango Capac, the founder of the Peruvian nation, was the son of Kublai Khan ... and that the ancestors of Montezuma, of Mexico, who were from Assam, arrived about the same time.... Every custom of the Mexicans, described by their Spanish conquerors, proves their Asiatic origin.... The strange hieroglyphics found in so many places in Mexico, and from California to Canada, are all of Mongolian origin'.... 'Humboldt, many years ago, conjectured that these hieroglyphics were of Tartar origin. It is now positively known that they are.... The armor belonging to Montezuma, which was obtained by Cortez and is now in the museum at Madrid, is known to be of Asiatic manufacture, and to have belonged to one of Kublai Khan's generals.' It is unnecessary to multiply quotations, or to further criticise a work so grossly misleading. The following unique assertion is a fair specimen of Mr Cronise's vagaries when treading on unfamiliar ground: '"Alta," the prefix which distinguishes Upper from Lower California, is a word of Mongolian origin, signifying "gold."' The most superficial knowledge of Spanish or of the history of California, would have told Mr Cronise that 'alta' simply means 'high,' or 'upper,' and that the name was applied to what was originally termed 'New' California, in contradistinction to 'Baja' or 'Lower' California.

[I-108] This relation, says Ranking, 'has naturally enough been considered by Robertson and others as a ridiculous fable; and any reader would be inclined to treat it as such, were it not accounted for by the invasion of Japan, and the very numerous and convincing proofs of the identity of the Mongols and the Incas.' _Hist. Researches_, p. 55. He thinks that the giants were the Mongolian invaders, mounted upon the elephants which they brought with them. 'The elephants,' he says, 'would, no doubt, be defended by their usual armor on such an extraordinary occasion, and the space for the eyes would appear monstrous. The remark about the beards, &c., shows that the man and the elephant were considered as one person. It is a new and curious _folio_ edition of the Centaurs and Lapithæ; and we cannot wonder that, on such a novel occasion, Cape St. Helen's did not produce an American Theseus.' _Id._, pp. 53-4.

[I-109] See _Ranking's Hist. Researches_, p. 56, et seq.; _Warden_, _Recherches_, pp. 187-9.

[I-110] _Origin of the Japanese Race, and their Relation to the American Continent_, MS.

[I-111] See report of a lecture read by Charles Wolcott Brooks before the California Academy of Science, in _Daily Alta California_, May 4, 1875; _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, same date.

[I-112] See report of paper submitted by Mr Brooks to the California Academy of Sciences, in _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, March 2, 1875. In this report the details and date of each wreck are given. The author of the paper assures me that he has records of over one hundred such disasters. Every one of these wrecks, when examined, proved to be Japanese, and not one Chinese. See also _Irving's Bonneville's Adven._, p. 427; _Smith's Human Species_, p. 239; _Roquefeuil_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1823, tom. xviii., pp. 248-9; _Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., pp. 80-1; _Lassepas_, _Baja Cal._, pp. 45-6.

[I-113] _Id._ _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., pp. 216-7. 'Looking only at the _forms_ and endings of the words, their _ring_ and _sounds_ when uttered, we could not but notice the striking similarity, in these respects, between the proper names as found on the map of Japan, and many of the names given to places, rivers, etc., in this country.' (America.) _Rockwell_, in _Hist. Mag._, n. s., vol. iii., p. 141.

[I-114] There were in California at the time of the Conquest, Indians of various races, some of the Japanese type. _Vallejo_, _Hist. Cal._, MS., tom. i., p. 3; _Vallejo_, _Remin. Cal._, MS., p. 6. The Aleutian Islanders resemble the Japanese in various respects. _Simpson's Nar._, vol. ii., p. 228. Priest, _Amer. Antiq._, p. 214, thinks that Quetzalcoatl may be regarded as a Japanese, as comparatively white and bearded.

[I-115] Introduction to _Charnay_, _Ruines Amér._, pp. 28-31.

[I-116] _Nieuwe Weereld_, p. 39.

[I-117] _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 217.

[I-118] See: _Ampère_, _Prom. en Amér._, tom. ii., pp. 300-4; _Atwater_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., pp. 212-14, 338-42; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, pp. 38-42; _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 58-9; _Religious Cer. and Cust._, vol. iii., pp. 4-10; _Robertson's Hist. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 277-81; _Vigne's Travels_, vol. ii., pp. 37-8; _Gage's New Survey_, p. 162; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 7-9; _Farcy_, _Discours_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. i., p. 45; _Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, tom. i., pp. 79-80; _Adair's Amer. Ind._, pp. 12-13; _Norman's Rambles by Land and Water_, pp. 215-16; _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., p. 267; _Vater_, _Ueber Amer. Bevölkerung_, pp. 155-69, cited in _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., p. 175; _Laplace_, _Circumnav._, tom. vi., p. 156; _Warden_, _Recherches_, pp. 201-2; _Josselyn's Two Voyages_; _Williamson's Observations on Climate_; _Hill's Antiq. of Amer._; _Ixtlilxochitl_, _Relaciones_, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. ix., pp. 392-3, 450; _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 334-5; _Volney's View_; _Bossu_, _Nouveaux Voy._; _Slight's Indian Researches_; _Carver's Trav._, pp. 187-96, 208-19; _Fontaine's How the World was Peopled_, pp. 241-5; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, cap. ccix., quoted in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. viii., pp. 398-9; _Delafield's Antiq. Amer._, pp. 13-104; _Malte-Brun_, _Précis de la Géog._, tom. vi., pp. 293-4; _Monglave_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. i., p. 60; _Heylyn's Cosmog._, p. 947; _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, p. 174.

[I-119] _Ensayo de un Estudio comparativo._

[I-120] _Delafield's Antiq. Amer._, p. 57.

[I-121] _Ranking's Hist. Researches_, p. 356.

[I-122] See vol. iv., pp. 88, 95-6, for further description, also plan of Copan ruins, p. 85, for location of vault. Jones, commenting on the above, remarks: 'This last sentence brings us to a specimen of Gem engraving, the most ancient of all the antique works of Art. Not only is the death "Chamber" identical with that of Egypt, but also the very way of reaching it--viz., first, by ascending the pyramidal base, and then descending, and so entering the Sepulchre! This could not be accidental,--the builders of that pyramidal Sepulchre must have had a knowledge of Egypt.' _Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp. 116-17. Stephens, who in his first volume of travels in Central America, p. 144, describes this vault, writes in vol. ii., pp. 439-40: 'The pyramids of Egypt are known to have interior chambers, and, whatever their other uses, to have been intended and used as sepulchres. These (American pyramids), on the contrary, are of solid earth and stone. No interior chambers have ever been discovered, and probably none exist.' Mr Jones criticises Mr Stephens very severely for this apparent contradiction, but it is customary with Mr Jones to tilt blindly at whatever obstructs his theories. Stephens doubtless refers in this passage to such chambers as would lead one to suppose that the pyramid was built as a token of their presence. Löwenstern is very positive that the Mexican pyramid was not intended for sepulchral purposes. _Mexique_, p. 274. Clavigero is of the same opinion: 'quelli degli Egizj erano per lo più vuoti; quelli de' Messicani massiccj; questi servivano di basi a' loro Santuarj; quelli di sepolcri de' Re.' _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. iv., pp. 19-20. Foster, on the other hand, writes: 'There are those who, in the truncated pyramids, see evidences of Egyptian origin. The pyramids, like the temple-mounds, were used for sepulchres, but here the analogy ends.' _Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 187.

[I-123] See vol. iv., p. 474.

[I-124] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 440.

[I-125] The reader can compare the various accounts of pyramidal structures given in vol. iv. on this point. See heading 'pyramid,' in Index.

[I-126] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 439.

[I-127] _Antiq. Amer._, p. 56.

[I-128] Humboldt reviews the points of resemblance and comes to the conclusion that they afford no foundation upon which to base a theory of Egyptian origin. _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 120-4. 'There is much in the shape, proportions and sculptures of this pyramid (Xochicalco) to connect its architects with the Egyptians.' _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, p. 186. Bradford finds that some 'of the Egyptian pyramids, and those which with some reason it has been supposed are the most ancient, are precisely similar to the Mexican Teocalli.' But he only sees Egyptian _traces_ in this; he shows that similar pyramidal structures have been found in very many parts of the world; and he believes the Americans to have originated from many sources and stocks. See _Amer. Antiq._, p. 423.

[I-129] See vol. iv., chap. v., vii., and x. Quoting from Molina, _Hist. Chili_, tom. i., notes, p. 169, M'Culloh writes: 'Between the hills of Mendoza and La Punta, upon a low range of hills, is a pillar of stone one hundred and fifty feet high, and twelve in diameter.' 'This,' he adds, 'very much reminds us of the pillar and obelisks of ancient Egypt.' _Researches_, pp. 171-2. Jones, _Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp. 122-3, is very confident about the obelisk. He asks: 'What are the Obelisks of Egypt? Are they not square columns for the facility of Sculpture? And of what form are the isolated columns at Copan? Are they not square, and for the same purpose of facility in Sculpture with which they are covered, and with workmanship "as fine as that of Egypt?"... The columns of Copan stand detached and solitary,--the Obelisks of Egypt do the same, and both are square (or four-sided) and covered with the art of the Sculptor. The analogy of being derived from the Nile is perfect,--for in what other Ruins but those of Egypt, and Ancient America, is the square sculptured Column to be found?'

[I-130] _Essai Pol._, tom. i., p. 265. Notwithstanding certain points of resemblance, says Prescott, 'the Palenque architecture has little to remind us of the Egyptian, or of the Oriental. It is, indeed, more conformable, in the perpendicular elevation of the walls, the moderate size of the stones, and the general arrangement of the posts, to the European. It must be admitted, however, to have a character of originality peculiar to itself.' _Mex._, vol. iii., pp. 407-8.

[I-131] There is a plate showing an Aztec priestess in Delafield's _Antiq. Amer._, p. 61, which, if correctly drawn, certainly presents a head-dress strikingly Egyptian. The same might almost be said of a cut in vol. iv. of this work, p. 562, and, indeed, of several other cuts in the same volume. Mr Stephens, _Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 441, gives, for the sake of comparison, a plate representing two specimens of Egyptian sculpture; one from the side of the great monument at Thebes known as the Vocal Memnon, and the other from the top of the fallen obelisk at Carnac. 'I think,', he writes, 'by comparison with the engravings before presented, it will be found that there is no resemblance whatever. If there be any at all striking, it is only that the figures are in profile, and this is equally true of all good sculpture in bas-relief.' He happens, however, here, to have selected two Egyptian subjects which almost find their counterparts in America. In the preceding volume of this work, p. 333, is given a cut of what is called the 'tablet of the cross' at Palenque. In this we see a cross, and perched upon it a bird, to which (or to the cross) two human figures in profile, apparently priests, are making an offering. In Mr Stephens' representation from the Vocal Memnon we find almost the same thing, the differences being, that instead of an ornamented Latin cross, we have here a _crux commissa_, or _patibulata_; that instead of one bird there are two, not on the cross but immediately above it; and that the figures, though in profile and holding the same general positions, are dressed in a different manner, and are apparently binding the cross with the lotus instead of making an offering to it; in Mr Stephens' representation from the obelisk of Carnac, however, a priest is evidently making an offering to a large bird perched upon an altar, and here, again, the human figures occupy the same position. The hieroglyphs, though the characters are of course different, are, it will be noticed, disposed upon the stone in much the same manner. The frontispiece of Stephens' _Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., described on p. 352, represents the tablet on the back wall of the altar, casa No. 3, at Palenque. Once more here are two priests clad in all the elaborate insignia of their office, standing one on either side of a table, or altar, upon which are erected two batons, crossed in such a manner as to form a _crux decussata_, and supporting a hideous mask. To this emblem they are each making an offering.

[I-132] Delafield, it is true, discerns a distinct analogy between the hieroglyphs of Egypt and America. And the evidence he adduces is absurd enough. 'Hieroglyphic writings,' he says, 'are necessarily of three kinds, viz: phonetic, figurative, and symbolical.' He then goes on to show at great length, that both in Egypt and in America all three of these systems were used: hence, the resemblance. _Antiq. Amer._, pp. 42-7. 'Les monumens du Palenque présentent des inscriptions hiéroglyphiques qui ne paraissent pas différer des hiéroglyphes de l'ancienne Thèbes.' _Giordan_, _Tehuantepec_, p. 57. Jomard pronounces an inscription found at Grave Creek to be Lybian. _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 411-12. Says M'Culloh: 'The _Game of the Flyers_, we notice in this place, as M. Denon in the plates to his Travels in Egypt, has given the copy of some figures taken from the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which have every appearance of a similar design with this Mexican amusement or ceremony.--The similarity of device will be best seen, by comparing the plate given by Clavigero, with the (lxiii. plate) of Denon's Atlas, &c.' _Researches on Amer._, pp. 170-1. Priest, _Amer. Antiq._, p. 122, gives a comparative table of Lybian characters, and others, which he affirms to have been found at Otolum, or Palenque: the whole statement is, however, too apocryphal to be worthy of further notice. See, also, a long letter from Prof. Rafinesque to Champollion, 'on the Graphic Systems of America, and the Glyphs of Otolum, or Palenque, in Central America,' in _Id._, pp. 123-9. The hieroglyphics of Palenque and Tula encourage the idea that they were founded by an Egyptian colony. _Juarros_, _Hist. Guat._, p. 19.