341 



most remote from each other, of the ancient tra- 

 ditions of Menou, Noah, and the Deucalions fa- 

 mous among the Scythians and people of Thes- 

 saly. It is true, according* to Germanicus, that 

 Deucalion, whom we may consider as the Cox- 

 cox, or the Teo-Cipactli of the Mexican mytho- 

 logy, was placed not in the sign of Capricorn, but 

 in the sign that immediately follows it, in that of 

 Aquarius (v$po%oos)' In this circumstance there 

 is nothing to surprise us ; it rather confirms the 

 ingenious opinion of Mr. Bailli on the ancient 

 connexion of the three signs of the -Fishes, 

 Aquarius, and Capricorn, or the antelope fish *. 

 Ocelotl, tiger, the jaguar (fells onca) of the 

 warm regions of Mexico ; toch/li, hare : ozo^- 

 matli, female ape ; itzeuihtli, dog ; cohuatl, ser- 

 pent ; quauhtii, bird, are asterisms that'bear the 

 same names in the Tartar and Thibetan zodi- 

 acs. In the Chinese astronomy, the -hare de- 

 notes not only the fourth tse, or sign of the zo- 

 diac ; the Moon, from the remote period of the 

 reign of Yao, was figured as a disk, on which 

 a hare -j~, seated on his hinder feet, turns a stick 

 in a vase, as if employed in making butter ; a 

 peculiar idea, which might have had its origin 

 in the steppes of Tartary, where hares are abun- 

 dant, and which are inhabited by shepherd na- 



• Astr. moderne, torn. 3, p. 297. 



t Grosier, Hist. gen. de la Chine, p. SOI. 



