0 B.C. and 1200 A.D.

The ancient native chronicles record that under "divine" leadership great
migrations of tribes took place within this period, the purpose of which
was to find a locality which fulfilled certain ardently-desired conditions
connected with religious cult.

From various centres of civilization in Mexico and Central America we also
hear different accounts of how, at different times, small bands of earnest
men, under a leader of superior intelligence, bent on a peaceable but
unexplained errand, arrived from distant regions and departed for an
unknown goal, after delaying just long enough to teach social organization
and impart a higher civilization to the tribes encountered on their
passage.

These preserved the memory of the _title_ of the leader, in their
different languages and he became the culture-hero of their tribe. The
fact that, in each case, these sages taught the ignorant tribes the
division of time and instituted the calendar, proves that they were
skilled in astronomy.

From a sentence uttered by Montezuma to the native astronomers whom he
termed "the Sons of the Night," we learn that it was their custom "to
climb mountains" so as "to study the stars." When one considers the full
import of the problems which had to be faced by these ancient sages, who
earnestly endeavored to account for the great changes which had taken
place in the heavens, within the memory of man, it seems natural to
suppose that many an expedition was undertaken for the purpose of
acquiring further astronomical knowledge, of finding, perhaps, the
immovable star which had been revered in past ages by the ancestors of the
native race.

The cult of Polaris may well have made such expeditions assume the aspect
of an imperative religious duty and sacred pilgrimage. As all expeditions
across Mexico and Central America would necessarily be limited by the
oceans and be fruitless as far as Polaris was concerned, it is obvious
that the line of exploration which would be ultimately adopted, would run
from south to north and _vice versa_. A small band of enthusiasts, setting
forth under the leadership of some of the most advanced thinkers of the
time, would undoubtedly have been prepared to devote their entire lives to
the object in view. As long as a single member of such an expedition
existed, he would be a powerful and active agent in spreading the
fundamental set of ideas derived from the observation of Polaris. In lapse
o