The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

206 HISTORY OF INITIATION
out birds, by which it was ascertained that the waters
had subsided, for one of them brought back in its mouth
the branch of a tree when ; they quitted their asylum
and repeopled the earth. They inculcated the immortality
of the soul, and worshipped a triad
consisting of
Vitzliputzli Tlaloc Tescalipuca. Then followed an
account of their original population, which bears such a
striking analogy with the settling of the Israelites in the
promised land, as to induce some authors to suspect that
it proceeded from a tradition of the deliverance of that
people from their Egyptian captivity, and their subse-
who came out of her side. When the children were grown up, they
exercised themselves in hunting and as one of ; them was a much
more skilful hunter than the other, jealousy soon occasioned discord.
They lived together in irreconcilable hatred. The unskilful hunter,
who was of a very savage temper, treated his brother so as forced
ill,
him to leave the earth, and withdraw to heaven. After he had thus
withdrawn himself, the spirit returned again to the woman, and from
this second interview a daughter was born, who is the grand parent
of the North Americans." (Rel. Cerem. of Var Nat., p. 298.) In
commenting on the above legends, it will be needless to say that they
bear a decided reference to the Creation and the Deluge. The learned
Grotius tells us 1. s. (De verit., i., 16), that " in many parts of America
is preserved the memory of the Deluge, and the preservation of
animals, particularly the raven and the dove." Messou and his dogs
are but a transcript of Pwyll in the mysteries of Britain,
for dogs
were a legitimate token of the diluvian celebrations and it is remark-
;
able how generally this belief has prevailed in every region of the
world. The woman who descended from heaven resembles the Grecian
Juno (Yuneh), or the dove; and the tortoise reminds us of the
Courma Avater of the East, in which the same animal supports Vishnu
on his back while the Deluge is produced. The contact of the Spirit
with the sleeping woman is an evident specimen of the confusion
which pervades every idolatrous system. The act of Creation is so
intimately blended with the Deluge, as certainly to refer to the
for destruction was ever
doctrine of an endless succession of worlds ;
considered but as a necessary prelude to reproduction ; and creation
but the act of renewing matter which had been previously destroyed.
The two sons thus begotten were the Cain and Abel of Moses ; and,
perhaps, the manner in which they were born might have some indistinct
reference to the creation or birth of Eve from the side of her
husband. The second meeting of the Spirit and the woman produced
a daughter, who corresponds with the Great Mother of the eastern
world and ; the repeopling of the earth by means of these infant
deities was annually commemorated by a solemn sacrifice. The people
assembled on a lake or river in innumerable canoes to witness the
ceremony. A boy and girl of great beauty were produced by the
priests, and, after certain mysterious rites, they were placed in a leaky
boat, and abandoned to the miserable fate of perishing in the waters.
(Purch. Pilgr.. b. viii., c. 13. Fab. Pag. Idol., vol. i., p. 271.^