47 



A slight resemblance between the calantica of 

 the heads of Isis, and the Mexican headdress ; 

 the pyramids with terrasses, like those of Fa- 

 youm, and of Sakharah ; the frequent use of 

 hieroglyphical painting ; the five complementary 

 days added to the end of the Mexican year, 

 similar to the epagomena of the Memphian year ; 

 exhibit very remarkable points of comparison 

 between the people of the Old and the New 

 Continent. We are nevertheless very far from 

 indulging in hypotheses, which would be as 

 vague and uncertain as those which make 

 the Chinese a colony from Egypt, and the Bis- 

 cayan language a dialect of the Hebrew. 

 These analogies for the most part disappear, 

 when the facts are examined separately. The 

 Mexican year, for instance, notwithstanding the 

 epagomena, differs entirely from that of the 

 Egyptians. An illustrious geometrician *, who 

 examined the fragments which I brought to Eu- 

 rope, found by the Mexican intercalation, that 

 the duration of the tropical year of the Aztecks 

 is almost identical with the duration found by 

 the astronomers of Almamon. 



If we go back to the early ages, history marks 

 several central points of civilization, of the mu- 

 tual relations of which we are ignorant ; such 



* La Place, Exposition du Systcme du Monde, 3 e ed. p. 

 554. 



