Shcll-Tniiiif^cts mid their Distiibntiott. 55 



It is altogether inconceivable that people so far apart 

 as India anil Mexico could have independentlj' associated 

 the conch-shell with the moon and adopted it as the 

 symbol of their Moon God, in addition to using it as a 

 trumpet, and one may justly conclude that we have here 

 definite [)ro()f of the transmission of an element of culture 

 from the Old to the New World. 



If any further evidence is needed regarding the simi- 

 larit}- in the moon-cult of these two people, it is provided 

 by the fact that the ancient Mexicans, like the Hindus, 

 regarded what we call the " Man in the Moon " as a rabbit, 

 and explained the present fainter brightness of the moon 

 by the myth that the gods flung a rabbit in the face of 

 the moon, which originally shone as brilliantly as the sun. 

 Strangely enough Dr. Seler points out this fact in his 

 descrijDtion of the Codex Vaticanus, but makes no further 

 comment. 



In Aztec picture-writings the moon is figured — usually 

 as a nasal crescent of bone with a rabbit seated in a water\- 

 field — beside the so-called " Goddess of Filth " — the old 

 Huaxtec Earth Goddess. 



The "God in the Shell" idea, i.e., the curious belief in the 

 presence of gods, spirits, or human beings, indwelling in 

 shells is remarkable for its wide-spread occurrence. P'orste- 

 mann, in his discussion of the " Tortoise and Snail in 

 Maya Literature'""' ventures to connect the snail with the 

 winter solstice ; the tortoise with the summer solstice. In 

 the Dresden Maj-a manuscript, he informs us " the sea 

 snail ai)pears very curiousl)- in page 37/'. Here it lies in 

 the water and appears to be in the act of giving birth to a 

 tiny person (female?)" This seems to bear some relation 

 to the ancient m)-th that \'enus was born of the froth of 

 the sea, within a shell, which trans|)orted her to Cj'prus. 



"'' Hill can of .Americait Etlmology, Hull. 2S, 1904, pp. 423-4.?o. 



