common in the East, and are perceived on the Mexican monuments; the dramatic entertainments, which were original with the Oscans, borrowed from them by the Etruscans, and thence introduced, subsequently, into Rome; the religious use of circular mirrors; the incinerary urns and vases; the Etruscan patterns observed in the Mexican monumental paintings; the Red men painted on the walls of the tombs at Tarquinii, all establish other links of connection between the Etrurians and the civilized nations of America; not as indicating, however, that the latter were of Etrurian origin, but as proving the great antiquity of these features in their monuments and institutions; not as establishing a regular and lineal descent, but rather suggesting an ancient connection in the remotest ages of the world, when the arts, customs, and religion of primitive nations received that stamp which still continued to characterize them after the separation of nations.

Egypt. As it has been attempted to trace the Etrurian civilization to Egypt, so the original connection and identical origin of the ancient inhabitants of Egypt and India has been maintained with great ability and learning. As will shortly be shown, some of the pyramidical edifices of Egypt are precisely similar to the Mexican terraced pyramids; in the ornamental stucco work of Mitlan and other American temples appear those peculiar borders of meanders and grecques, which are found alike upon the ruins of Etruria, Egypt,* and India; and the Cyclopean arch was common to the Mexican and Egyptian monuments. The entrances to the Egyptian temples or propyloa are in fact truncated pyramids. Most of the Egyptian py

* Denon, vol. ii. p. 5.

ramids face the cardinal points; many of the temples, or sacred places are surrounded like the American, by enclosures or walls of brick and stone;* the pyramids are often approached by elevated causeways or roads ;† and as is often the case in America, the temples were in the vicinity of water, with which they communicated by avenues, or by subterranean passages; or they contained in their interior, basins or tanks of water for the sacred services. Sepulchral mounds or tumuli are to be observed in Egypt, and the Egyptians interred with the dead the instruments of their profession. No nation bestowed more care in disposing of the remains of the dead than the Egyptians ; Dupuis declares " ancestral veneration" to be one of the traits of Sabaism, and this sentiment is a peculiar feature in the aboriginal character. Embalming was customary in Peru and other civilized countries, and was common also to many of the barbarous tribes. The same doctrines appear to have prevailed in relation to the transmigration of souls, and the Mexicans, like the Egyptians, believed in the existence of a mansion for the dead, where the spirit remained for a temporary period until it was sent back again to inhabit other bodies,-in Mexico, usually, the bodies of animals.|| Mictlanteuctli, the Mexican

66

* Burckhardt, p. 50.

† Belzoni, vol. ii. pp. 158, 160.

In the Aztec and Toltec sacrifices, the breast of the victim was opened with a knife of obsidian, and the heart taken out. In Egypt, though great skill had been attained in metallurgy, yet stone knives have been found in the tombs, and the body of the dead, in the process of embalming, was opened with an Ethiopic stone, or flint.- Wilkinson, vol. ii. pp. 261, 262.

§ Dupuis, vol. i. p. 25.

|| Clavig., vol. i. p. 242. Pritchard's Egyptian Mythology, p. 202.

"lord of hell" resembles the Egyptian Sarapis, or ruler of the dead; the Egyptian Anubis was represented in his statues with the head of a dog; dogs were sacred animals and fed in his temples, and it was the office of this god to conduct the souls of the dead to their place of destination.* One of the chief ceremonies at the Mexican funerals, " was the killing a techichi, a domestic quadruped, resembling a little dog, to accompany the deceased in their journey to the other world. * They were firmly persuaded, that without such a guide, it would be impossible to get through some dangerous ways which led to the other world."+

*

The religion of the aboriginal nations partook of the same primitive character as that of Egypt. The traits of resemblance were the recognition of the existence of a Supreme Being, the neglect of his worship for a debased idolatry, the belief in divine emanations, the doctrine of a divine triad, the worship of the elements, of the celestial bodies, and of animals, the practising of fasts, ablutions, and expiatory punishments in preparation for sacred festivals, the association of a female with some of the principal male deities, human sacrifices, astrological and magical divination, and the belief in the metempsychosis, and the immortality of the soul. Some of the animals sacred in America were also worshipped in Egypt, as the dog, the serpent, the eagle, the owl, the tortoise, and the wolf.§ As in the Egyptian mythology, Osiris stands opposed to Typhon,

* Pritchard, p. 126.

† Clavig., vol. i. p. 325.

The Pharaohs had the same name as the Peruvian Incas

"Children of the Sun."

§ Denon, vol. ii. p. 71. Pritchard, pp. 292, 295, 390.

Garcillasso de la Vega, vol. i. p. 72.

Herod., 1. i. c. 6.

the one representing the creative and the other the destroying power, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca take precisely the same place in the Mexican mythology. Osiris was the instructor of mankind, and taught them agriculture and.other useful arts,— the same office was assigned to Quetzalcoatl. Osiris travelled for the purpose of reclaiming foreign nations from barbarism, and it was in the midst of a banquet on his return, that Typhon laid a stratagem for his destruction. Tezcatlipoca desiring to drive away Quetzalcoatl, offered him a beverage which immediately inspired him with the desire to set out for the imaginary country of Tlapalla, and on his journey he suddenly disappeared upon the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.* On the other hand a similar parallel may be drawn between Isis and the Mexican goddess, Centeotl. Isis taught the cultivation of corn, and represented the earth and the passive productive powers of nature. Centeotl was "goddess of the earth and of corn," and typified the fertility of nature; Isis was called "mistress" and "mother," and was the first of the goddesses, and Centeotl was denominated Tonantzin, "our mother," and Teteoinan, "the mother of the gods." Without entering into details, it may be added, that the same impure worship which appears to have been produced by a recognition of these principles in the Egyptian religion, seems to have existed also in America. Humboldt thought otherwise; but the recent discovery of some ancient idols in the western part of the United States, and the sculptures at Uxmal described by Waldeck, set this question at rest at the same time it must be admitted that these rites were not extensively prevalent.

* Clavig., vol. i.

P.

248.

† Ibid., p. 253.

Quetzalcoatl in some of his attributes, presents also some remarkable analogies to the Egyptian Thoth or Hermes. The former was called "green feathered serpent," and "the god of the air," was supposed to have the most profound wisdom, and introduced the knowledge of melting metals and of cutting gems, established wise laws, the rites and ceremonies of religion, and the arrangement of the seasons and the calendar; he was also said "to clear the way for the god of water." Hermes taught the arts and sciences, sculpture and astronomy, and imparted the institution of religion; he was identical also with Sirius, "the star which served as the precursor of the inundation of the Nile."+ The Egyptians regarded the heart as the seat of the intellect, and hence the Ibis, which from its form was symbolical of the heart, was sacred to Hermes as the god of wisdom.‡ "The Cholulans," says Clavigero, " preserved with the highest veneration, some small green stones very well cut, which they said had belonged to Quetzalcoatl." These stones were sacred to that deity; and their signification appears from another passage from the same author in his description of the Mexican funeral rites. "After burning the body, they gather the ashes in an earthen pot, amongst which, according to the circumstances of the deceased, they put a gem of more or less value, which they said would serve him in place of a heart in the other world." And again, "they hung an emerald at the under lip, which was to serve in place of a heart." "Emeralds were

so common that no lord or noble wanted them, and none of them died, without having one fixed to his lip, that it might

* Clavig., vol. i. p. 249.

† Anthon's Class. Dict., article Mercurius.

Pritchard, p. 129.