SIMILARITY - OR THE LEGENDS. 
183 
figures of stars, of the sun, of tigers, and of crocodiles, which 
" o found traced upon the rocks in spots now uninhabited, 
appeared to me in no way to denote the objects of worship 
those nations. Between the banks of the Cassiquiare 
a ud the Orinoco, between Encaramada, the Capuehino, and 
Caycara, these hieroglyphic figures are often seen at great 
'‘eights, on rocky cliffs which could be accessible only bv 
‘'instructing very lofty scaffolds. When the natives are 
asked how those figures could have been sculptured, they 
a hswer with a smile, as if relating a fact of which only a 
""kite man could be ignorant, that “at the period of the 
fffeat waters, their fathers went to that height in boats.” 
These ancient traditions of the human race, which wc find 
‘‘‘spersed over the whole surface of the globe, like the relics 
0 a vast shipwreck, are highly interesting in the philo- 
sophical study of our own species. Like certain families of 
j ,j e Vegetable kingdom, which, notwithstanding the diversity 
. c 'hmates and the influence of heights, retain the impres- 
( ! 0ri °t a common type, the traditions of nations respecting 
s ? e origin of the world, display everywhere the same phy- 
‘pguomy, and preserve features of resemblance that fill us 
astonishment. How many different tongues, belonging 
s branches that appear totally distinct, transmit to us the 
’j rne facts ! The traditions concerning races that have been 
^estroyed, and the renewal of nature, scarcely vary in 
ahty, though every nation gives them a local colouring. 
j! 1 the great continents, as in the smallest islands of the 
t Ocean, it is always on the loftiest and nearest moun- 
ari( ? that the remains of the human race have been saved ; 
iiat' tlUS evellt appears the more recent, in proportion as the 
°f ft 1 - aie uncu ltivated, and as the knowledge they have 
havi 61r own existence has no very remote date. After 
an(. n S> studied with attention the Mexican monuments 
p 0tlf r ‘ or t° the discovery of the New World; after having 
the ?' a t. e ^ iut0 the forests of the Orinoco, and observed 
a ° lit 'curmtive size of the European establishments, their 
Meri ri ant ^ tt> e state of the tribes that have remained 
a ^alo‘ ' ’ we cann ot allow om’selves to attribute the 
*i 0] £' lea just cited to the influence exercised by the mis- 
Jr Qr ne ?> ai >d by Christianity, on the national traditions. 
18 it more probable, that the discovery of sea-shells on 
