Now we consider the comparative perfection of the preservation of this _Bible_ account as an evidence that the people among whom it was found must have settled in this country at a very early period of time after the flood, and that they did not wander any more, but peopled the continent, cultivating it, building towns and cities, after their manner, the vestiges of which are so abundant to this day; and on this account, viz., their fixedness, their traditionary history was not as liable to become lost, as it would have undoubtedly been had they wandered, as many other nations of the old world have done. As evidence of the presence of a Hindoo population in the southern, as well as the western parts of North America, we bring the Mexican traditions respecting some great religious teacher who once came among them. These say, that a wonderful personage, whom they name _Quetzalcoatl_, appeared among them, who was a white and bearded man. This person assumed the dignity of acting as a priest and legislator, and became the chief of a religious sect, which, like the Songasis, and the Buddhists of Hindostan, inflicted on themselves the most cruel penances. He introduced the custom of piercing the lips and ears, and lacerating the rest of the body, with the prickles of the agave and leaves, the thorns of the cactus, and of putting reeds into the wounds, in order that the blood might be seen to trickle more copiously. In all this, says Humboldt, we seem to behold one of those Rishi, hermits of the Ganges, whose pious austerity is celebrated in the books of the Hindoos. Respecting this white and bearded man, much is said in their tradition, recorded in their books of skin; and among other things, that after a long stay with them he suddenly left them, promising to return again in a short time, to govern them and renew their happiness. This person resembles, very strongly, in his promise to return again, the behavior of Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, who, on his departure from Lacedæmon, bound all the citizens under an oath, both, for themselves and posterity, that they would neither violate nor abolish his laws till his return; and soon after, in the Isle of Crete, he put himself to death, so that his return became impossible.