es of Varuna in
the monotheistic god Viracocha of the Peruvians, to whom is addressed
this prayer: "Cause of all things! ever present, helper, creator, ever
near, ever fortunate one! Thou incorporeal one above the sun,
infinite, and beneficent[10]"; of the Vedic Snake of the Deep, in the
Mexican Cloud-serpent; of the Vedic Lightning-bird, who brings fire
from heaven, in the Indian Thunder-bird, who brings fire from
heaven[11]; of the preservation of one individual from a flood (in the
epic, Manu's 'Seven Seers') in the same American myth, even including
the holy mountain, which is still shown[12]; of the belief that the
sun is the home of departed spirits, in the same belief all over
America;[13] of the belief that stars are the souls of the dead, in
the same belief held by the Pampas;[14] and even of the late Brahmanic
custom of sacrificing the widow (suttee), in the practice of the
Natchez Indians, and in Guatemala, of burning the widow on the pyre of
the dead husband.[15] The storm wind (Odin) as highest god is found
among the Choctaws; while 'Master of Breath' is the Creeks' name for
this divinity. Huraka (hurricane, ouragon, ourage) is the chief god in
Hayti.[16] An exact parallel to the vague idea of hell at the close of
the Vedic period, with the gradual increase of the idea, alternating
with a theory of reincarnation, may be found in the fact that, in
general, there is no notion of punishment after death among the
Indians of the New World; but that, while the good are assisted and
cared for after death by the 'Master of Breath,' the Creeks believe
that the liar, the coward, and the niggard (Vedic sinners _par
excellence!_) are left to shift for themselves in darkness; whereas
the Aztecs believed in a hell surrounded by the water called 'Nine
Rivers,' guarded by a dog and a dragon; and the great Eastern American
tribes believe that after the soul has been for a while in heaven it
can, if it chooses, return to earth and be born again as a man,
utilizing its old bones (which are, therefore, carefully preserved by
the surviving members of the family) as a basis for a new body.[17]

To turn to another foreign religion, how tempting would it be to see
in Nutar the 'abstract power' of the Egyptian, an analogue of _brahma_
and the other 'power' abstractions of India; to recognize Brahm[=a] in
El; and in Nu, sky, and expanse of waters, to see Varuna; especially
when one compares the boat-journey of the Vedic seer with R[