CHAPTER II.

Sacrifice at obsequies, Mexico and its theology.

Travellers' tales not to be trusted. Prejudice perverts facts. The Esquimaux. Cause of reverence for parents. The Red Indian in the presence of immigration is a moral murderer. Inquiry into Indian religion. O.KEE. PA. Indian reverence for phenomena of nature. Ruins of a past civilization in America. Cairns and human sacrifices. Manufactured goods. Bronze in Yucatan. Resemblance between the ancient American people and certain Orientals. Abbé Domenech's travels. idea involved thereby. Scythian proceedings. Two different conceptions of deity. The Unity subdivided by Mexicans, Jews, and Christians. The God of war and the Lord of Hosts. The God of air a deity in Mexico, a devil in Judea or Ephesus. Mexican baptismal regeneration. Resemblances between the Occidental and Oriental people in many curious doctrines. Particulars. Mexican Heaven, Hell, and Limbo. Mexican baptism and prayers. Priests and their duties. A parallel. Romanists and Mexicans. Confession. Expiation. Human sacrifice to obtain pardon of sin. A comparison suggested. Mexican education. Purity of life in the Mexican priestesses. Father Acosta's opinion thereon. Tartary, Rome, and Mexico have something common in culture. Education of youth. Policy of the priesthood. Reflections thereupon. Teocallis or houses of God. Worship. Festivals. Human sacrifice. No sexual deities or rites. Question of credibility-God and the Devil act alike! Aztecs and Europeans compared. Christians have offered human sacrifice from the time of Peter downwards. Transubstantiation is a cannibal doctrine. Christian gods in Mexico as bad as the Aztec deities. History of Peru. The policy of its rulers. Roads and magazines. Nature of its government. Governors were instructed in their duties. Civil service examination. Inauguration of youths into honourable manhood. Travelling compulsory in rulers. system-division of the people-local magistrates-law speedy. Code of law. Punishment without torture. Peruvians and inquisitors. Reports required of lands and families. Register of births, &c. Rapidity of communication. Plunder not permitted. Peace the motive for war. The vanquished incorporated with the victors. A paternal government. Peruvian religion. Difference between political institutions and priestcraft. Peruvian sun god. An invisible God recognised. Priests.

Eternal life.

Postal

Heaven and Hell. Temple of the sun magnificent.

Golden ornaments. Huge urns of silver. Number of priests. Festivals. Cannibalism not permitted. Fire made from rays of sun and concave mirror, or by friction. Virgins of the sun. Concubines of the Inca. Matrimony. Reflexions.

WHEN the philosopher reads over the histories which adventurous travellers, or Christian missionaries, have given of the religions of the savage, or uncivilized, people whom they have visited, he feels painfully conscious that the accounts are not implicitly to be relied upon. In some he recognizes the fact that communications only take place between the one party and the other by signs, which not only may be, but very generally are, misinterpreted on both sides; in others he is able to see, or, at least, he comes to the conclusion, that the untaught barbarians have not a single idea which is not connected with eating and drinking, war, revenge, and love; -that such, indeed, resemble brute beasts, who have no more conception of hell or heaven, God and the soul, than an elephant has of aërostation, or a crow of theology. In other narratives the observer notices, that the individuals who interrogate the savages are themselves enthusiasts of a high order, who ask leading questions, and are content to receive, as a satisfactory answer, anything which can be considered as a reply. By this means very erroneous ideas have crept in amongst ourselves, and writers have built arguments upon a foundation as flimsy as a shifting sand. For example, I have repeatedly heard it alleged that every known tribe, in every part of the world which has yet been visited, has a tradition respecting an universal deluge, and the salvation of their progenitors by a floating vessel; and on this has been founded the hypothesis that all architecture, and even written characters, have an ark for their type. This development has been very ingeniously supported by J. P. Lesley, in Man's Origin and Destiny (Trübner, London, 1868), a work replete with learning, and bold, but somewhat unsound,

deductions. This assumed fact has also been used in support of the Biblical story of Noah, his ark, and the universal deluge-a myth so palpably extravagant, that everyone who professes to credit it is compelled to object to some detail, and to lean upon some frail reed, with the hope that he may thus be pardoned for his credulity. Since the above was written, it has been ascertained that the tale of Noah and his deluge is adapted from an Assyrian or Babylonian legend, written apparently with a view to make a story fitting to the sign of the Zodiac called Aquarius, one to the full as fabulous as that of the birth of Bacchus, and the amours of Zeus.

In some instances, moreover, and palpably in those cases where the account of the religion of barbarous nations is given by fanatics, such as the Roman Catholic invaders of America, or by such conquerors as Cæsar and others, who have themselves very hazy notions of their own faith, the philosopher feels that the savage is intentionally misrepresented; consequently, in these, as in all other instances, it behoves the philosopher to examine the evidence at his command with critical acumen, rather than accept the statements made by more or less careless observers. Endeavouring, therefore, to avoid these difficulties as far as possible, let us summarize the result of our reading, and record the impressions left upon our mind respecting the faith, ritual, and practice of certain modern and ancient barbarians.

Beginning with the vast American continent, we find that the Esquimaux appear to have no conception whatever of a Creator, of a future state, of a mundane theocracy, or of any unseen agency but good or bad "luck." But they, nevertheless, put a certain amount of faith in conjurers-cunning men or women who profess to be able to insure them a good supply of seals or walrus, and protection from Arctic dangers. For such a people as this the wants of the day form the chief, if

not the only, object of thought; and they resemble lions or eagles, who are now all but famished in the hunt for food, and now gorged to repletion with the result of their quest. To such a nation, Heaven, as described in the Bible, with its sea of glass, its harpists and singers, would afford no temptation, and, unless it was furnished with abundance of oily food, an Esquimaux would not visit it; nor would the fires and heat of Hell have any terrors for one whose torments on earth are connected with miserable cold. In practice, the Esquimaux are very much what they are made by their neighbours and visitors: they are very decently behaved to those who treat them well, and cruel, barbarous, and revengeful to strangers after they have themselves been worried by invaders. Alternately gluttons and starving they obey the necessities of their existence - they eat to keep themselves warm, and they must be anchorets as rigid as any Theban hermit whilst they are seeking their prey. With a temperature below zero, and winter huts constructed of ice, chastity is almost a necessary virtue, and adultery cannot possibly be frequent. Where everything of value is rare, covetousness is not common; but if the holder of the coveted prize be always alert, it is quite natural that murder shall be attempted, either by the thief or his victim. The reverence of parents here, as elsewhere, is a necessary accompaniment of savage life, and is quite independent of any knowledge of the decalogue. To prevent reiteration of this observation, let us consider for a moment, the chief if not the main cause, of the reverence given to the father, and, more rarely, to the mother in the economy of human life. We see that the Almighty has implanted an instinct in one or both parents, throughout the larger part of the animal creation, to nourish, guide, and teach their young. The duck leads her brood to a pond; the hen keeps her chicks from water, but teaches them to pick up seeds, grubs, and

worms; whilst the cock keeps order amongst the family. The weasel teaches its offspring how to attack its prey most advantageously, and the eagle instructs her young ones to fly. In like manner, man is at the head of his own household; he is the first power to which the young ones bow; they know the weight of his arm, and dread his anger, knowing that they will suffer from it when it is stirred up. We all know, as a rule, that a habit contracted in childhood adheres to us throughout life, consequently, the dread of the father which exists in the youth becomes, very generally, filial reverence in the man. But we also know that almost throughout the animal creation, the young and sturdy males will, as they grow up to maturity, fight for supremacy, even with their parents. So long as the latter retain the mastery they are respected; but as soon as age and its accompanying weakness have made them succumb, all filial respect vanishes. If, therefore, a parent, when old, is unable to make himself feared by his prowess, revered for his good sense or knowledge, or beloved for some faculty which makes him pleasing to his family or the tribe, he is neglected, and often sacrificed, so that the young shall have only themselves to provide food for. Even in Christian England, where filial regard is cultivated as an essential part of our religion, we too frequently find that parents are wholly neglected by their adult offspring, as soon as they become, from sickness, age, or other infirmity, useless members of the family.

Without having ever heard of a law, or set of laws, given. in a desert from Mount Sinai, the Esquimaux are as moral as modern Christians, and more so than the ancient Jews: they certainly have not more gods than one, and do not worship any graven image. Amongst them blasphemy is unknown. Parents are honoured; chastity is general; murder is very rare; theft only exists when strangers come amongst them