Part I.] ORIGIN OF MEXICAN CIVILIZATION.

389

startling supposition, nor even to call up an apostlefrom the dead, or any later missionary, to explainthe coincidences with Christianity ; yet these coin-cidences must be allowed to furnish an argumentin favor of some primitive communication with thatgreat brotherhood of nations on the old continent,among whom similar ideas have been so widelydiffused. The probability of such a communication,especially with Eastern Asia , is much strengthen-ed by the resemblance of sacerdotal institutions,and of some religious rites, as those of marriage , 36and the burial of the dead ; 37 by the practice ofhuman sacrifices, and even of cannibalism, traces ofwhich are discernible in the Mongol races ; 33 and,lastly, by a conformity of social usages and manners,so striking that the description of Montezuma’s

36 The bridal ceremony of theHindoos, in particular, containscurious points of analogy with theMexican. (See Asiatic Research-es, vol. Vn. mem. 9.) The institution of a numerous priesthood,with the practices of confession andpenance, was familiar to the Tar­ tar people. (Maundeville, Voiage,chap. 23.) And monastic estab-lishments were found in Thibet and Japan , from the earliest ages.Humboldt , Vues des Cordilleras,p. 179.

37 “ Doubtless,” says the ingen-ius Carli, “ the fashion of burningthe corpse, collecting the ashes ina vase, burying them under pyram-idal mounds, with the immola-

tion of wives and servants at thefuneral, all remind one of the cus-toms of Egypt and Hindostán.”Lettres Améric., tom. II. let. 10.

38 Marco Polo notices a civilizedpeople in South-eastern China ,and another in Japan , who drankthe blood and ate the flesh of theircaptives; esteeming it the mostsavory food in the world, — l, lapiú saporita et migliore, che sipossa truovar al mondo.” (Viag-gi, lib. 2, cap. 75 ; lib. 3, 13, 14.)The Mongols, according to SirJohn Maundeville, regarded theears “sowcpd in vynegre,” as aparticular dainty. Voiage, chap.23.