destroyed by a series of frightful cataclysms at long intervals apart.
_Three_ of these are frequently referred to (see Baldwin's _Ancient
America_, p. 176). It is a curious confirmation that the Kelts of
Britain had a legend that part of _their_ country once extended far
into the Atlantic and was destroyed. Three catastrophes are mentioned
in the Welsh traditions.

Quetzalcoatl, the Mexican Deity, is said to have come from "the
distant east." He is described as a white man with a flowing beard.
(N.B.--The Indians of North and South America are beardless.) He
originated letters and regulated the Mexican calendar. After having
taught them many peaceful arts and lessons he sailed away _to the
east_ in a canoe of serpent skins (see Short's _North Americans of
Antiquity_, pp. 268-271). The same story is told of Zamna, the author
of civilization in Yucatan.

The marvellous uniformity of the flood legends on all parts of the
globe, alone remains to be dealt with. Whether these are some archaic
versions of the story of the lost Atlantis and its submergence, or
whether they are echoes of a great cosmic parable once taught and held
in reverence in some common centre whence they have reverberated
throughout the world, does not immediately concern us. Sufficient for
our purpose is it to show the universal acceptation of these legends.
It would be needless waste of time and space to go over these flood
stories one by one. Suffice it to say, that in India, Chaldea,
Babylon, Media, Greece, Scandinavia, China, amongst the Jews and
amongst the Keltic tribes of Britain, the legend is absolutely
identical in all essentials. Now turn to the west and what do we find?
The same story in its every detail preserved amongst the Mexicans
(each tribe having its own version), the people of Guatemala,
Honduras, Peru, and almost every tribe of North American Indians. It
is puerile to suggest that mere coincidence can account for this
fundamental identity.

The following quotation from Le Plongeon's translation of the famous
Troano MS., which may be seen in the British Museum, will
appropriately bring this part of the subject to a close. The Troano
MS. appears to have been written about 3,500 years ago, among the
Mayas of Yucatan, and the following is its description of the
catastrophe that submerged the island of Poseidonis:--"In the year 6
Kan, on the 11th Muluc in the month Zac, there occurred terrible
earthquakes, which continued without inte