appear from a passage of Gomara's History of the Indies, that the Spaniards were struck with the resemblance of some of the tribes of India to the Jews. "They are all very like Jews, in appearance and voice, for they have large noses and speak through the throat.”

"Torquemeda, who does not allow that the Mexicans borrowed any of their analogous customs from the Jews, nevertheless, in treating in the thirty-seventh chapter of the tenth book of his Indian Monarchy, of their art of divination, expresses himself thus, "Segun doctrina falso de estos diabolicus Rabbinas," by which he clearly shews the channel of his thoughts."

"Such was the reserve the Spanish historians imposed upon themselves in treating of Quetzalcoatl (the Mexican Messiah) that his name in fact would scarcely have been handed down to us but for the preservation of a chance copy of the first edition of the Indian Monarchy, by Torquemeda." "Again, it is evident that in Mexico, great pains were taken by the monks and clergy to root out the remembrance of him, and legendary tales relating to his life, were not allowed to be inserted in books published either in that city or in Spain. The temple of Cholula was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl; Bernal Diaz in his history, declares that he had forgot the name of the idol, to whom it was dedicated, although he remembers the number of steps which led up to the temple! This was either out of compliance with the wishes, or in obedience to the command of others."-p. 169.

"It is singular that Torquemeda, who was so well acquainted with the Mexican Mythology, should say so little of Totoc, occupying as he does, the next place to Quetzal

1 c and z sound soft in the Mexican language as s in the English.

coatl, in the Mexican calendar. This silence on the part of Torquemeda, must either be attributed to the oblivion in which half a century had involved many of the religious traditions of the Mexicans, or to the MS. copy of the Indian Monarchy having been mutilated, previously to licence being granted to publish it. Two writers have declared this to be the case. The editor of the second edition complains, that the first chapter of the second book, Clave de la de esto obra,' has been entirely omitted; nor did he think it expedient, as he himself says, to request licence to print it, although he adds, "Reasons for secrecy seemed no longer to exist.”—p. 179.

The early Spanish writers believed that the Mexican and Peruvian government, laws, and commonwealth, were modelled after the manner of the Jews, though the reason they assign for this is absurd; they say that Satan was jealous of the institutions which God had given to His chosen people, and therefore determined to imitate them in the new world. They have not failed either to point out some curious traits of resemblance to Hebrew usages, in certain acts performed by the Kings and Incas, and in the external marks of reverence these monarchs received from their subjects."

"Unfortunately, ecclesiastics received no encouragement to write histories of that nation; nor, does it appear that they were allowed to publish them :-since the works of Mendieta, of Toribio de Benavente, or Motolina, (a copy of whose valuable history Dr. Robertson seems to have procured from Spain; but of which he evidently made no use,) and of D'Olmas and Sahagun, have never been printed; and, strange to say, the royal historiographer of the Indies, Herrera, attempts to discredit the relations of Torquemeda, which may account for the relation of the latter author

having become so excessively rare, not more than a century after its publication, that the editor of the second edition says, that he despaired for a long time of being able to procure a copy of it in all Spain; but reasons too long to be here recited, perfectly convince us that the office of royal historiographer of the Indies was instituted quite as much for the purpose of veiling as of developing truth. And certainly in a country and in an age where the authority with which a person wrote, was so nicely scrutinized, as the criterion of his merits, Herrera, who really possessed the talents, if he had not the candor of an historian, had it in his power, if he had felt disposed, to deprecate by animadversion, and to consign to oblivion by criticism, the works of contemporary historians, who did not write with the same authority," p. 282, 283. Without stating his reasons for dissenting from Las Casas, he assumes it as an undoubted fact, that the Devil had taken unto himself a chosen people in the new world, and counterfeited in them the history of the children of Israel, and their pilgrimage from Egypt. He assumes this fact, but is very reserved in stating the reasons which induced him to do so, and very concise in his account of the Mexican migration; the same reserve actuating other Spanish historians who possessed equal means of obtaining information with Herrera, has nearly robbed the world of a secret which it is hoped may yet be brought to light."Antiq. Mex. vol. vi. p. 263.

The Mexican paintings seem to have become objects of suspicion and mistrust, even in Europe. The first that were sent to Spain, came to Charles v. in 1519. Peter Martyr mentions them.-His description corresponds more exactly with the painting which is preserved in the royal library at Dresden; some of the symbols contained in it are not unlike Hebrew letters. Peter Martyr gives the following descrip

tion of these paintings, in an epistle addressed to Leo X. "We have sayde before that these nations have bookes whereon they write, and the messengers, who were procurators for the new colony, Coluahana, brought many of them into Spayne."-Peter Martyr again says, "I have heretofore sayde that they have bookes, whereof they brought many to Spayne, but this Ribera saith, they are not made for their use of readinge: I suppose them to bee bookes, and that those characters and images signified some other thinges, seeing I have seen the like thinges in the obeliskes and pillars at Rome, which were accounted letters, consideringe also that we reade that the Caldeis used to write after that manner." "It does not appear that Peter Martyr had the opportunity of seeing any more of "these bookes," or that any further presents of that kind were sent to the king of Spain, &c. Ribera, from whom Peter Martyr received the information that the Mexican paintings were merely patterns for clothes and jewels, was the intimate friend and companion of Cortez ; he had been four years in Spain and had acquired a knowledge of the Mexican language; he must therefore have known the real use of those paintings, and what his motive could be, in saying that they had no signification nor meaning, it would be difficult to explain." 'Rigid orders were given, shortly afterwards, to the Bishop and clergy of New Spain to cause them all to be burnt." "Spain passed some extraordinary laws, prohibiting lawyers, surgeons, literati, Jews, heretics and the descendants to the third generation, of persons, suspected by the Inquisition, and foreigners of all sorts, who had not received a licence at Seville, from passing over to America."

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"Father Joseph Gumilla says, in page 59 of the Oronoco Illustrada, “I affirm, in the second place, that the nations. of Oronoco and its streams, observed many Hebrew cere

C

monies, during the time of the paganism which they followed blindly and rudely, without knowing wherefore, (ceremonies) that had been transmitted by traditions, handed down from father to son, without their being able to assign any reason for the practice of them."-p. 272. Torquemeda, acknowledging that the religious rites, ceremonies, and even moral laws of the Indians closely resembled those of the Jews, thought it more probable that the devil had instructed the Indians in them, than that the Hebrews had carried them over to America. Learned men of the present age will not consider themselves bound by the example of those of the sixteenth century; and that learning is most useful, the object of which is the attainment of truth, with a regard for the best interests of mankind."

"All that Peter Martyr says of Huitzilopoctli, the tutelary deity of Mexico, whose temple he briefly describes in his eight decades, is comprised in a single line, in the fourth chapter of his fifth decade, where he writes to Adrian VI. It is a fearful thing to be spoken, what they declare and report concerning their idols;' and he does not so much as mention Quetzalcoatl." p. 329.

"On the supposition that Cortez discovered the Jewish religion, established in Mexico, it is easy to assign a reason for the three years' delay, in sending over regular clergy from Spain, notwithstanding the pressing solicitations which Cortez, publicly at least, made to the Emperor, to that effect since the real cause might have been to avoid scandal, and to have time to root out, by the secular arm, the traces of Judaism, which could not fail to strike a clerical order of men, however they might have been overlooked by the military followers of Cortez. It is proper however to observe that this delay, which seems very extraordinary, considering the age, the zeal of the Spanish nation, and