XXVI Introduction. 
The exploits of the American “long-nosed god,” 
(Chace of the Mayas; 7Va/oc of the Aztecs) as depicted in 
the ancient codices, clearly reveal that this elephant- 
headed deity is none other than Indra, the famous Vedic 
deity of India, confused with Ganesa in the process of 
transmission, and modified in certain respects by Cambo- 
dian and Indonesian influences.” In this book Mr. Jackson 
has called attention to other equally definite examples of 
late Hindu influence in America, in which certain of the 
avatars of Vishnu reappear in America in unmistakable 
form. 
The episodes to which he has called attention are 
complexly interwoven with the early mythology not only 
of India but also of Babylonia and Egypt. For they are 
part of the story of the creation and of the deluge, and 
intimately related to the early history of the dragon and 
of the Naga kings, whose palace of treasures was at the 
bottom of the ocean. The genesis of this remarkable 
story is closely connected not only with the use of the 
conch-shell trumpet, but also with the search for pearls. 
Something of the symbolism of the cowry is attached to 
these “ pearls that grant every desire.” 
I have already referred to the custom, in various parts 
of Africa and elsewhere, of placing cowries in the grave 
or with the king’s relics to secure the continued existence 
of the dead. Sometimes the cowries were placed in the 
mouth. The two-fold significance of the cowry—the 
belief in its vitalising powers and its use as currency—led 
to a confusion between these two properties, and was 
responsible for the origin of a remarkable custom. The 
2° ** Pre-Columbian Representations of the Elephant in America,” 
Nature, Dec. 16, 1915. 
** Compare M. W. de Visser, *‘ The Dragon in China and Japan,” 
Amsterdam, 1913. 
