A Brief Chapter on Sacrificial Mounds. 69 



mound, as has been shown— as indeed do all the structures of that class 

 in the United States — more nearly resembles the earlier Toltec struc- 

 tures which served the Aztecs as models for their own ; and hence 

 our inferences as to the religious system of the Mound-Builders, point 

 to the same elevated source — a system Vihich, according to the tradi- 

 tions of the Aztecs, embraced a policy in some respects as rational as 

 any of modern times. 



It is evident, that whatever may have been ihe religious belief and 

 practice of these ancient people, it was the prominent and pervading 

 feature of their civilization. Kelio-ious works and tombs alone remain 

 to attest their devotion, while private dwellings and other structures 

 have long since crumbled into dust. Noble obelisks, porticos, pyra 

 mids erected as pedestals for temples, and massive structures of stone, 

 accurately fitted and covered with intricate and elaborate carving, lie 

 buried and forgotten in the gloomy recesses of Central American for- 

 ests, or nestle among the picturesque heights of Mexico, all bearing 

 the stamp of the religious zeal and veneration of the builders. The 

 more unpretending works of the United States bear equally unmis- 

 takable evidence of their sacred character. 



The peaceful and elevated character of the Toltec system, upon 

 which the Aztecs engrafted their barbarous customs, was one of its 

 distinguishing features. Their supreme deity was a benevolent being, 

 whom they held in such reverence as to deter any attempt at embodi- 

 ment in material forms. His chief representative, among the inferior 

 deities, was the god Quetzalcohuatl, whom they venerated with almost 

 equal fervor. To this beneficent being, they ascribed their knowledge of 

 the arts of civilization and government; in which respect Osiris of the 

 Egyptians presents a striking analogy, strengthened by the fact, that, 

 according to the respective traditionary mythologies, after teaching these 

 arts, both dej)arted to other nations to impart the same knowledge. 



The advancement made by the ancient Mexicans in astronomy, is 

 also important to be considered in connection with the uses made of the 

 elevated Teocallis. As the rise of astronomical knowledge among the 

 Egyptians is attributed to the pastoral custom of tending flocks 

 by night, under cloudless skies, so it may be referred among the 

 American races to the custom of observing the firmament, during 

 the long watches of the night, from the elevated platforms of the 

 Teocallis. "That they should be capable," says Prescott, concern- 

 ing the ancient Mexicans, " of accurately adjusting their festivals 

 by the movements of the heavenly bodies, and should fix the true 

 length of the tropical year with a precision unknown to the great 



