176 Antiquities and Languages of the Mexican Indians. 



phically so distant, and placed under physical conditions so dis- 

 tinct, are, in truth, analogies belonging generally to the whole 

 globe ; and thus we shall obtain data adequate for the founda- 

 tion of a general geological theory. 



Well acquainted with the attention you have paid to the for- 

 mations on this side the Atlantic, I am convinced that the execu- 

 tion of this task, cannot fall into more competent hands. 



W. D. CoNYBEARE. 



To G. W. Featherstonhaugh, Esq. 

 Philadelphia. 



ANTiaUITIES AND LANGUAGES OF THE MEXICAN INDIANS. 

 No. 2. — Mythology of the Mexicans. 



It appears to be beyond controversy, that the gods of the Pa- 

 gan mythology were cradled in Egypt. Inachus and Cecrops 

 introduced the Egyptian divinities into Greece, and from Greece 

 they passed to Rome, the mistress of the universe, and the slave 

 of the deities worshipped by the people they had subdued. It is 

 worthy of notice, that Moses, the legislator of the Jewish people, 

 emigrated from Egypt to Palestine, where temples and cere- 

 monies were established, to which some have altogether attri- 

 buted an Egyptian origin. 



Of all the opinions which hitherto have been declared on the 

 subject of th6 first peopling of our American continent, one which 

 appears the most reasonable, and which is contained within the 

 limits of probability, is that which supposes the Asiatics to have 

 been the first inhabitants of the new world. As it is not my in- 

 tention to enter upon a question of this nature at present, I shall 

 not allude to the reasons which have induced me to consider this 

 as a well founded opinion, and shall confine myself to treating of 

 the similarity which exists between the Egyptian and Mexican 

 divinities. 



If Dupuy and Volney had been acquainted with the mythology 

 of the ancient Mexicans, their investigations respecting Egyptian 

 physiognomy, would have received some aid from that of the 

 Mexican deities. Fortunately, we have reached the age of ana- 

 lysis and comparison, when truth is divested of its shackles, and 

 when conclusions established by the eyes of reason, are most ac- 

 credited. 



