282 THE OLD FAITH AND THE NEW. 



the divinities of Aztlan and tlie divinity of the east 

 Cortez very artfully took advantage of a popular tradi- 

 tion, according to which the Spaniards were merely the 

 descendants of king Quetzalcoatl, who left Mexico for 

 countries situated in the east, to carry among them 

 civilization and laws. The ritual books composed by the 

 Indians in hieroglyphics at the beginning of the conquest, 

 several fragments of which Humboldt procured while in 

 Mexico, show that at that period Christianity was con- 

 founded with the Mexican mythology : the Holy Ghost 

 is identilSed with the sacred eagle of the Aztecs. The 

 missionaries not only tolerated, but even favoured to a 

 certain extent, this amalgamation of ideas, by means of 

 which the Christian worship was more easily introduced 

 among the natives. They persuaded them that the gospel 

 had, in very remote times, been already preached in 

 America ; and they investigated its traces in the Aztec 

 ritual with the same ardour which the learned, who in our 

 days engage in the study of the Sanscrit, display in dis- 

 cussing the analogy between the Greek mythology and 

 that of the Ganges and the Barampooter. 



The Indians knew nothing of religion beyond the ex- 

 terior forms of worship. Fond of whatever was connected 

 with a prescribed order of ceremonies, they found in the 

 Christian religion particular enjoyments. The festivals 

 of the church, the fireworks with which they were ac- 

 companied, the processions mingled with dances and 

 whimsical disguises, were a most fertile source of amuse- 

 ment for them. In these festivals their national charac- 

 ter was displayed in all its individuality. Everywhere 

 the Christian rites assume the shades of the country 

 where they have been transplanted. In the Philippine 



