tly advanced in the study of American philology to
draw any inference from these resemblances, but they should not be
overlooked.

[187-1] Cortes, _Carta Primera_, pp. 113, 114.

[188-1] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espana_, lib. xii. caps. 2, 3.

[188-2] La Vega, _Hist. des Incas_, lib. ix. cap. 15.

[188-3] Peter Martyr, _De Reb. Oceanicis_, Dec. iii. lib. vii.

[189-1] Lizana, _Hist. de Nuestra Senora de Itzamal_, lib. ii. cap. i. in
Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, ii. p. 605. The prophecies are of the
priest who bore the title--not name--_chilan balam_, and whose offices
were those of divination and astrology. The verse claims to date from
about 1450, and was very well known throughout Yucatan, so it is said.
The number thirteen which in many of these prophecies is the supposed
limit of the present order of things, is doubtless derived from the
observation that thirteen moons complete one solar year.

[190-1] Squier, _Travels in Nicaragua_, ii. p. 35.

[191-1] Whipple, _Report on the Ind. Tribes_, p. 36. Emory, _Recon. of
New Mexico_, p. 64. The latter adds that among the Pueblo Indians, the
Apaches, and Navajos, the name of Montezuma is "as familiar as Washington
to us." This is the more curious, as neither the Pueblo Indians nor
either of the other tribes are in any way related to the Aztec race by
language, as has been shown by Dr. Buschman, _Die Voelker und Sprachen
Neu Mexico's_, p. 262.

[191-2] Humboldt, _Essay on New Spain_, bk. ii. chap. vi, Eng. trans.;
_Ansichten der Natur_, ii. pp. 357, 386.

CHAPTER VII.

THE MYTHS OF THE CREATION, THE DELUGE, THE EPOCHS OF NATURE, AND THE
LAST DAY.

Cosmogonies usually portray the action of the SPIRIT on the
WATERS.--Those of the Muscogees, Athapascas, Quiches, Mixtecs,
Iroquois, Algonkins, and others.--The Flood-Myth an unconscious
attempt to reconcile a creation in time with the eternity of
matter.--Proof of this from American mythology.--Characteristics of
American Flood-Myths.--The person saved usually the first man.--The
number seven.--Their Ararats.--The role of birds.--The confusion of
tongues.--The Aztec, Quiche, Algonkin, Tupi, and earliest Sanscrit
flood-myths.--The belief in Epochs of Nature a further result of
this attempt at reconciliation.--Its forms among Peruvians, Mayas,
and Aztecs.--The expectation of the End of the World a corollary of
this belief.--Views of various nations.