No. 151.] 421 



ties. So to-night the virtues of corn meal will be tested by some of 

 the best livers in Birmingham. 



Mythology. 



The Indians of Peru and the adjacent country, who existed 

 before the empire of the Incas began, were at best but tamed ani- 

 mals, and often they were more brutish than the beasts of the 

 field. They possessed no right of property, no fixed laws, no reli- 

 gion nor goverhment; neither did they plow, sow, or ti!l the earth, 

 nor did they understand the art of weaving cotton or woolj but 

 dwell together in small hordes as they happened to meet in caves or 

 holes in the rpcks and mountains, subsisting on grass, herbs and 

 roots, wild fruits and the flesh of man, with no other clothing than 

 the leaves and bark of trees, and the skins of beasts. In short, they 

 were altogether savage. 



As ever has been the case with most of the primitive tribes of the 

 human race, these Indians derived their original being from divers 

 objects, animate or inanimate, of which they entertained respect, ad- 

 miration, or awe. Some who lived near a great lake which supplied 

 them with a store of fish, called that the parent whence they emerged; 

 some esteemed the mighty Andes as their prime mother, who from 

 her deep caverns, first gave them birth; and others fancied them- 

 selves to be the descendants of the great bird, condor, in token of 

 which, on days of solemnity and festival, they M'ore its wings fast- 

 ened to their arms. 



Every nation, province, tribe, and house among them, had its par- 

 ticular idol. For their opinion was, that one god would have enough 

 to do, to take care of its own province or family, and that its power 

 was so limited, that it could have no virtue or extent within the ju- 

 risdiction of another. Some adored whatever they saw in which an 

 excellence could be observed, whether good or bad. The tiger, the 

 jaguar, and the bear, they worshipped for their ferocity, and with 

 such humility, that they would not fly from them in case of danger, 

 but offered themselves to be devoured. The fox and the monkey 

 they adored for their craft; the stag, for his swiftness; the hawk, for 

 agility and courage; the eagle, for acuteness of sight; while other 

 nations were more considerate in their deities, and worshiped no- 

 thing except what afforded them benefit or advantage — as fountains 

 and cool springs, which furnished them with drink; rivers, that wa- 

 tered their pastures; the earth, which they called their mother, be- 

 cause it yielded them food } the air, because it gave them breath and 



