It took ages for the nations to reach the more distant lands; ages for them to become settled in their new homes; ages for them to people these lands densely. Hundreds of years after the deluge, some of the peoples who reached the western shores of the Pacific Ocean, and who ventured on its waters, were carried away on the stream whose currents sweep to the north, then to the east, and thence down again to the south. It has happened in the last few centuries that Malays and Japanese sailors have thus been swept away by the Kuro Shiwo (Black Stream). Thus, in all probability, the continent of America was peopled. Thus the present Japanese nation originated from the mixing of these Malays from south-eastern Asia and the Ainos, the nation which had made its way overland to Japan. In the languages and traditions of these nations, even after they were well settled, are to be found traces of Monotheism. Not distinct and clear, it is true, for the Polytheistic worship of after ages has destroyed to a great extent these indications of the early worship of one God, and yet in almost all systems of religion a supreme place is given to some one Deity, who is above all the others, and who is recognized as the ruler of all. [Illustration: Illman Brothers, Engravers & Printers. THE TEMPLE OF TEN THOUSAND IDOLS IN JAPAN.] CHAPTER II. WHENCE CAME THE MANY GODS AND IDOLS? The fair humanities of old religion, The power, the beauty and the majesty. They had their haunts in dales or piny mountain, Or forest by slow stream, or pebbly spring, Or chasms and watery depths. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.