The predilection of the nations of antiquity in which the sacred mysteries were celebrated, for number _seven_ appears in many ways. The _seven days_ that the rainfall that produced the deluge lasted, according to the Chaldeans, is reproduced in the _seven days_ of the prophesy of the deluge by Vishnu to Satyravata, as we read of it in the _Bhagavata purana_; and the _seven days_ of the prophesy of the same event, made by the Lord to Noah, according to Genesis; on account of the _seven days_ of rainfall the Babylonian priests used _seven vases_ in the sacrifices; and in the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven Marouts_ or genii of the winds; the _seven rounds_ of the ladder in the cave of Mithra. The Aryans had the _seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the sun; the _seven Apris_ or shapes of the flame; the _seven rays of Agni_; the _seven steps_ of Buddha at his birth. The Egyptians had divided their nation into _seven classes_; the week into _seven days_: according to them the creation was completed in _seven days_. Among the Hebrews, we find the _seven lamps_ of the ark, and of Zacharias vision; the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick; the _seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple; the _seven years of plenty; and the seven years of famine_. In the Christian dispensation, the _seven churches_ with the _seven angels_ at their head; the _seven golden candlesticks_; the _seven heads_ of the beast that rose from the sea; the _seven seals_ of the book; the _seven trumpets_ of the angels; the _seven vials_ full of the wrath of God; the _seven last plagues_ of Apocalypse. In Greek mythology, the _seven heads_ of the hydra killed by Hercules, the _seven islands_ sacred to Proserpine mentioned by Proclus. The prevalence of _seven_ as a mystic number among the inhabitants of the "Western Continent" is not less remarkable. It frequently occurs in the _Popol-Vuh_. We find it besides in the _seven families_ said by Sahagun and Clavigero to have accompanied the mystical personage named _Votan_, the reputed founder of the great city of Nachan, identified by some with Palenque. In the _seven caves_ from which the ancestors of the Nahualts are reported to have emerged. In the _seven cities_ of Cibola, described by Coronado and Niza, the site of which has been accurately fixed by Mr. Frank Cushing in the immediate neighborhood of the village of Zuñi. In the _seven Antilles_; in the _Seven heroes_ who, we are told, escaped the deluge.