320 



day of a small period. According to the 

 ancient traditions, collected by the Bishop 

 Francis Nunnez de la Vega, " the Wodan of 

 the Chiapanese was grandson of that illustrious 

 old man, who, at the time of the great deluge, 

 in which the greater part of the human race 

 perished, was saved on a raft, together with his 

 family." Wodan co-operated in the construc- 

 tion of the great edifice, which had been under- 

 taken by men to reach the skies ; the execution 

 of this rash project was interrupted; each family 

 received from that time a different language, 

 and the great spirit, Teotl, ordered Wodan, to 

 go and people the country of Anahuac. This 

 American tradition reminds us of the Menou of 

 the Hindoos,, the Noah of the Hebrews, and the 

 dispersion of the Couschites of Singar [the 

 Cushites of Shinar]. Comparing this tradition 

 either with those of the Hebrews and Indians 

 preserved in Genesis and the two sacred Poura- 

 nas % or with the fable of Xelhua the Cholulain f, 

 and other facts cited in the course of this work, 

 it is impossible to avoid being struck with the 

 analogy, which exists between the old memo- 

 rials of the people of Asia, and those of the New 

 Continent. 



W T e shall here prove, as we have just asserted, 



* L. c. vol. 3, p. 486. 

 f See above, p. 96. 



