747 



find the general results of comparative hydro- 

 graphy in the astrological monuments, the di- 

 visions of time, and the religious traditions of 

 nations the most remote from each other in their 

 situation, and in their degree of intellectual ad- 

 vancement. 



As the equatorial rains take place in the flat 

 country when the Sun passes through the zenith 

 of the place, that is when it's declination becomes 

 homonymous with the zone comprised between 

 the equator and one of the tropics, the waters of 

 the Amazon sink, while those of the Oroonoko 

 rise perceptibly. In a very judicious discussion 

 on the origin of the Rio Congo *, the attention of 

 philosophers has been already called to the mo- 

 difications, which the periods of the risings must 

 undergo in the course of a river, the sources and 

 the mouth of which are not on the same side of 

 the equinoxial line-f\ The hydraulic systems 



brated among the Scythians and the Thessalians." As the 

 Tatarian and Mexican zodiacs contain the signs of the 

 Monkey and the Tiger, they, no doubt, originated in the torrid 

 zone. With the Muyscas, inhabitants of New Grenada, the 

 first sign, as in eastern Asia, was that of Water, figured by a 

 frog. It is also remarkable, that the astrological worship of 

 the Muyscas came to the tableland of Bogota from the eastern 

 side, from the plains of San Juan, which extend toward the 

 Guaviare and the Oroonoko. See several hieroglyphic 

 paintings in my Amer. Monuments. 



* Voyage to the Zaire, p. xvii. 

 f Among the rivers of America this is the case with the 

 Rio Negro, the Rio Branco, and the Jupura. 



