408 
to Qurselves in this work, to dwell on theories 
respecting the ancient civilization of the inha- 
bitants of the north, and of the centre of Asia. 
Thibet and Mexico offer analogies sufficiently 
remarkable in their ecclesiastical hierarchy, in 
the number of religious assemblies, in the severe 
austerity of their penitentiary rites, and in the 
order of their processions. It is impossible not 
to be struck with this resemblance, in reading 
with attention the recital, which Cortez made 
the Emperor Charles V, of his solemn entrance 
into Cholula, which he calls the holy city of the 
Mexicans. 
A people who regulated its festivals accord- 
ing to the motion of the stars, and who engraved 
\\^ fasti on a public monument, had no doubt 
reached a degree of civilization superior to that 
which has been allowed by Pauw, Raynal, and 
even Robertson, the most judicious of the histo- 
rians of America. These writers consider every 
state of society as barbarous, that did not bear 
the type of civilization, which they, according to 
their systematic ideas, had formed. We cannot 
admit these abrupt distinctions into barbarous 
and civilized nations. After having examined 
in this work with scrupulous impartiality what- 
ever we ourselves have been able to discover 
respecting the ancient state of the nations of the 
New Continent, we have endeavoured to com- 
bine tbe features by which they are immediately 
