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 Cholulainf, 
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^e shall here prove, as we have just asserted, 
^ L<. c. vol. 3, p. 486. 
f See above, p, 96. 
