the globe. VIII 196* The fact <strong>of</strong> the Mexicans being themselves quite ignorant <strong>of</strong> the real situation <strong>of</strong> a country whichtheir national traditions identified with the Holy L<strong>and</strong>, even much more than the various namesstrictly applicable to the Holy L<strong>and</strong> which they bestowed upon it, affords strong presumtiveevidence that the country <strong>of</strong> Aztlan was the l<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Canaan, <strong>and</strong> the city <strong>of</strong> Tula Jerusalem. VIII196
FourThe Deluge* But the Mexican tradition <strong>of</strong> the Deluge is that which bears the most unequivocal marks <strong>of</strong>having been derived from a Hebrew source. This tradition records that a few persons escaped in theahuehuete, or ark <strong>of</strong> fir, when the earth was swallowed up by a Deluge, the chief <strong>of</strong> whom wasnamed Patecatle or Cipaquetona; <strong>and</strong> that he invented the art <strong>of</strong> making wine; that Xelua, one <strong>of</strong>his descendants, or at least one those who had escaped with him on the ark, was present at thebuilding <strong>of</strong> a high tower, which the succeeding generation constructed with a view <strong>of</strong> escapingfrom the deluge should it occur again; that Tonacatecutli, incensed the at the presumption,destroyed the tower with lightning, confounded their language, <strong>and</strong> dispersed them; <strong>and</strong> that Xelualed a colony to the New World. VI 401* This age, which was the first <strong>of</strong> the Mexican ages, <strong>and</strong> named by them Atonatiuh, or the age <strong>of</strong>water, closely bordered upon that <strong>of</strong> the Tzocuillicxeque, or age <strong>of</strong> giants; <strong>and</strong> it will be recollectedthet the age <strong>of</strong> the Flood in Scripture was that <strong>of</strong> the giants also. VI 401,402* The fact <strong>of</strong> the Mexicans recording, both in paintings <strong>and</strong> songs, the deluge, the building <strong>of</strong> theTower <strong>of</strong> Babel, the confusion <strong>of</strong> tongues, <strong>and</strong> the dispersion <strong>of</strong> tribes, being generally admitted bythe early Spanish writers on America, it is almost unnecessary to refer to the authority <strong>of</strong> anyparticular writer to prove what no one will deny. VI 402* <strong>From</strong> this account it will be perceived, that as not only in New Spain <strong>and</strong> in Peru, but likewise inNicaragua, the tradition <strong>of</strong> the Deluge was generally received among the Indians; <strong>and</strong> that thetemptation <strong>of</strong> Eve, <strong>of</strong> the fall <strong>of</strong> man, <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> the loss <strong>of</strong> Paradise, was no less general in the NewWorld. VI 402* The tradition <strong>of</strong> the inhabitants <strong>of</strong> Cuba certainly deserves to be compared with those <strong>of</strong> thepeople <strong>of</strong> Michuacan <strong>and</strong> Nicaragua, who also approxamated to the Mosaic history in theiraccounts <strong>of</strong> the Deluge; although the former <strong>of</strong> the last-mentioned nations believed that it was thecolibri, or the humming-bird, <strong>and</strong> not the dove, that returned with the branch <strong>of</strong> the tree. VI 394* The Indians <strong>of</strong> Chili, according to Rosales, had likewise a tradition <strong>of</strong> the Deluge; but heobserves, that shells <strong>and</strong> other fossil remains discovered in abundance on the highest ranges <strong>of</strong>mountains, might have suggested that to them. VI 394* Don Mariano Fern<strong>and</strong>ez de Echevannia y Veita ... "horrible calamity from excessive rains,accompanied with thunder <strong>and</strong> lightning, which deluged the whole earth, the highest mountainsbeing covered with water caxtolmalictli, which signifies fifteen cubits, <strong>and</strong> that only eight personsescaped from this general calamity in a Haptlipetlacalli, which signifies a house resembling aclosed ark ... " VIII 25* ... in the twentieth verse <strong>of</strong> the seventh chapter <strong>of</strong> Genesis, "Fifteen cubits upwards did the watersprevail, <strong>and</strong> the mountains were covered." VIII 25* The Peruvians were acquainted with the Deluge, <strong>and</strong> believed the rainbow was the sign that theearth would not again be destroyed by water. This is plain from the speech which Mango Capac,the reputed founder <strong>of</strong> the Peruvian empire, addressed to his contemporaries on beholding therainbow rising from a hill; ... recorded by Balboa in the ninth chapter <strong>of</strong> the third part <strong>of</strong> hisMiscellanea Antartica ... VIII 25
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