verence paid to the wind-god (Hindu, Iranian, and
Teutonic, V[=a]ta-Wotan); these and many other traits at different
times, by various writers, have been united and compared to illustrate
primitive Aryan belief and religion.

The traits of the Five Nations of the Veda for this reason may be
compared very advantageously with the traits of the Five Nations of
the Iroquois Indians, the most united and intelligent of American
native tribes. Their institutions are not yet extinct, and they have
been described by missionaries of the 17th century and by some modern
writers, to whom can be imputed no hankering after Aryan primitive
ideas.[1] It is but a few years back since the last _avat[=a]r_ of the
Iroquois' incarnate god lived in Onondaga, N.Y.

First, as an illustration of the extraordinary development of memory
among rhapsodes, Vedic students, and other Aryans; among the Iroquois
"memory was tasked to the utmost, and developed to an extraordinary
degree," says Parkman, who adds that they could repeat point by point
with precision any address made to them.[2] Murder was compromised for
by _Wehrgeld_, as among the Vedic, Iranic, and Teutonic peoples. The
Iroquois, like all Indians, was a great gambler, staking all his
property[3] (like the Teutons and Hindus). In religion "A mysterious
and inexplicable power resides in inanimate things ... Lakes, rivers,
and waterfalls [as conspicuously in India] are sometimes the
dwelling-place of spirits; but more frequently they are themselves
living beings, to be propitiated by prayers and offerings."[4] The
greatest spirit among the Algonquins is the descendant of the moon,
and son of the west-wind (personified). After the deluge (thus the
Hindus, etc.) this great spirit (Manabozho, _mana_ is Manu?) restored
the world; some asserting that he created the world out of water. But
others say that the supreme spirit is the sun (Le Jeune, Relation,
1633). The Algonquins, besides a belief in a good spirit (_manitou_),
had also a belief in a malignant _manitou_, in whom the missionaries
recognized the devil (why not Ormuzd and Ahriman?). One tribe invokes
the 'Maker of Heaven,' the 'god of waters,' and also the 'seven
spirits of the wind' (so, too, seven is a holy number in the Veda,
etc.).

The Iroquois, like the Hindu (later), believe that the earth rests on
the back of a turtle or tortoise[5], and that this is ruled over by
the sun and moon, the first being a good spirit; the second,
ma