and of the pardon of sins. They look up at his large golden ear, with wreaths of smoke depicted upon it, which, they are told, are meant to signify the prayers of the afflicted that are addressed to him. They are dazzled by the plate of burnished gold in his left hand, in which, they are informed, lie mirrored the deeds of the whole world, and they learn with satisfaction that the arrows in his right hand signify the punishments which he inflicts upon the wicked.

The more they investigate, the more they find of strange resemblances to their own religion. They marvel at the dexterity, and shudder at the audacity with which the Evil One has imitated* the sacraments mava Tezcatlipuca, el qual era de una piedra muy relumbrante, y negra como azavache, vestido de algunos atavíos galanos á su modo. Tenia çarcillos de oro, y de plata en el labio baxo un cañutillo christalino de un xeme de largo, y en el metida una pluma verde, y otras vezes azul, que parecia Esmeralda, ó Turquesa. La coleta de los cabellos le ceñia una cinta de oro bruñido, y en ella por remate una oreja de oro con unos humos pintados en ella que significavan los ruegos de las afligidos, y pecadores, que oya quando se encomendavan á él. Entre esta oreja y la otra salian unas garçotas en grande numero: al cuello tenia un joyel de oro colgado, tan grande que le cubria todo el pecho: en ambos braços braçales de oro: en el ombligo una rica piedra verde, en la mano yzquierda un mosqueador de plumas preciades, verdes, azules, amarillas, que salian de una chapa de oro reluziente muy bruñido, tanto que parecia espejo: en que dava á entender, que en aquel espejo via todo lo que se hazia en el mundo. 'A este espejo, ó chapa de oro llamavan Itlacheáya, que quiere dezir, su mirador. En la mano derecha tenia quatro saetas, que significavan el castigo, que por los pecados dava á los malos."-AcOSTA, Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias, lib. v., cap. 9.

* See the following chapters in ACOSTA, Hist. Nat. y Moral de las Indias. Lib. v., cap. 23. Como el demonio ha procurado remedar los Sacramentos de la sancta Iglesia. Cap. 24. De la manera con que el demonio procuró en México, remedar la fiesta del Corpus Christi, y communion que usa la sancta Iglesia. Cap. 25. De la Confession, y confessores, que usavan los Indios. Cap. 26. De la uncion abominable que usavan los Sacerdotes Mexicanos, y otras naciones, y de sus hechizeros.

and the usages of the Catholic Church. A few of the more thoughtful among these explorers, when they consider these startling resemblances, conclude, with justice, that such things either manifest great laws of the mind, developing themselves alike in various races of the human family, however differently situated, or that they offer indications of much descent yet untraced, and much history yet hidden from the world; and, in either case, that these resemblances afford worthy material for the most diligent research.

Throughout these investigations, one subject of surprise impresses itself upon their minds, namely, how the Indians themselves are induced to bear the tyranny of this idolatry. The explorers venture by degrees to intimate this question, the terms of which are not even understood, or seem not to be, by the greater part of those to whom they address themselves, though from one faithful guide they learn with delight that there are men who, like himself, are wearied by the hard things which these false gods impose upon them, and who have long been thinking of flying to some other creed.*

The expedition, with great pain and labor, construct a new "Santa Flor," and take ship again at the port

Even the mode of sustaining the priests must have reminded the explorers of similar usages at home, “Habia (en la Nueva España), como en nuestras Iglesias decimos, 'Mesa Capitular'—conviene a saber estaban ciertas tierras y heredades dedicadas por los Reyes y Señores para propios de los Templos.”—Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, cap. 141.

*See a speech made by an Indian to a missionary, who told it again to the author quoted below. "No creas padre, que tomamos la ley de Christo tan inconsideradamente como dizes, porque te hago saber, que estavamos ya tan cansados y descontentos con las cosas que los ydolos nos mandavan, que aviamos tratado de dexarlos, y tomar otra ley."-ACOSTA, Hist. Nat. y Moral de las Indias, lib. v., cap. 22.

of Acapulco; and now steering southward, they reach a land where, though they see great edifices, they happily find a less severe superstition, and fewer buildings dedicated to unholy purposes than they had left in Mexico.

Soon they discern no buildings and no temples; and when they land, as they do in the Bay of Panamá, they find that they have returned to a ruder and more primitive race of men. Slowly, along the beautiful shores of the mild Pacific, the vessel makes its laboring way, when of a sudden the evening sun is reflected from vast buildings of a stately aspect, but of a different character from any they have yet beheld. This time the pious explorers are rejoiced to behold none of those "accursed" pyramids, for so the sailors, seldom choice in their language, are wont to call them. Our explorers are anticipating Pizarro in his discovery of Tumbez.

On they go, still preceding that intrepid discoverer, along a coast thickly inhabited, and adorned with what wise men would most desire to see in a new country, magnificent roads. The expedition, mindful of its chief intent, still seeks to ascertain the religion of the natives; and in the distance the mariners think they can discern rites round a funeral pile, which remind the traveled among them of the burning of widows and the slaying of slaves, as practiced by the natives of the Eastern Indies.

At last they approach the sacred city and temple of Pachacamác, more ancient than any thing they have seen; and the boldest of the crew, penetrating by night into its filthy courts, happily find reason to doubt whether these dread precincts have ever been stained by human blood, and whether it is not the great centre

of wizardry in the New World, whence oracles proceed more mysterious than those of ancient Delphi. Here, too, they discover signs of an established priesthood, and of mysterious virgins dedicated to the Sun.

The same thing, which had filled the hearts of many of our devout explorers with mixed feelings of admiration and disgust in Mexico, was visible also in Peru. They found, for instance, in the feast called Râyme, something which forcibly reminded them of the administration of the Holy Communion*-if, as the pious narrators would afterward have said, and as the missionaries did say, "it is permitted to use such a word of so diabolic a thing."t

Again they steer southward, and again, as in the beginning of their voyage, they coast along a land where there are no temples, and no idols, and no signs of human sacrifice; and our mariners, having discovered by this time that where the gods are held to be least cruel, men are found to be most kind, land and penetrate into the country of the undaunted Araucans. Here, to their amazement, they discover a people who are without God and without law, though some wondrous angel or prophet, called Eponamon, is appealed to by incan

*"Las Mamaconas del Sol, que eran como monjas del Sol, hacian unos bollos pequeños de harina de mayz teñida y amassada en sangre sacada de carneros blancos, los quales aquel dia sacrificavan. Luego mandavan entrar los forasteros de todas las provincias, y poníanse en órden, y los Sacerdotes que eran de cierto linaje decendientes de Lluquiyupángui, davan á cada uno un bocado."-AcoSTA, Hist. Natural y Moral de las Indias, lib. v., cap. 23. See also cap. 27, in which occurs the following passage: "Me mostró un Sacerdote honrado una informacion, que yo la tuve harto tiempo en mi poder, en que avia averiguado de cierta Guaca, ó adoratorio, donde los Indios professavan adorar á Tangatanga, que era un ydolo, que dezian que en uno eran tres, y en tres uno."

"Si se sufre usar deste vocablo en cosa tan diabólica."-Acosta, lib. v., cap. 23.