In the previous Sections of this important chapter, the customs and analogies of the _living_ have been reviewed and compared,--those now to be investigated have relation to the _dead_. In all countries the peculiar customs observed at the interment of the dead, have a distinct, and a National character:--those customs proclaim the people of a nation with as much certainty, as the Ruins of the Parthenon speak of Athens and the Athenians. At the present day "the _ashes_ of the dead" is a strong, and a poetic phrase, and used even by Christian writers,--whereas it is strictly heathen in its application:--"_dust to dust_" is essentially Christian, and the sentence belongs to, and identifies the modern European family;--while,--"_ashes_ of the dead,"--indicating thereby, _fire_ as the consuming quality,--points to India, Rome, and many ancient Nations as authors of the pyro-ceremony. Pompey's decapitated body, though thrown upon the shore of Egypt, was consumed to "ashes" by the humble but honest follower of Cæsar's Master, that the sepulchral custom of ancient _Italy_ should be accomplished upon, and by, a Son of Rome. The self-immolation of the widow upon the funeral pyre of her departed husband, points to the nation following that inhuman custom to be Hindoostan;--while the embalmed Mummies with their Sarcophagi, direct the antiquarian mind to Egypt, with as much certainty, as her "starry-pointing Pyramids," or her Sphinx-guarded Temples. Upon this accredited conclusion of the identity of nations, from the manner of disposing of their dead, will be claimed authority to establish a strong argument and analogy in support of the present subject,--and founded upon the _fac-simile_ resemblance between the ancient Mummies of the Canary Islands, and those in Mexican America. The general reader may not be aware that Mummies have been found in any other nation than Egypt;--they have, however, been discovered (but without the Sarcophagi) at _Arico_, in the Island of Teneriffe, and at _Arica_ in Peru,--a similitude is discernible even in the local name given to the districts where the Mummy-pits are found. An analogy is at once perceptible in analyzing the ancient word _Guanches_ (the Aborigines of Teneriffe),--it is derived from _Guan_,--_i. e._ Man,--consequently in his natural and uncontrolled state,--therefore Freemen,--this fact is sanctioned _by their escape from thraldom_ or SLAVERY, when they first arrived on the Island, as will be shewn in the Second Book of this Volume. Again, in Ancient America, the places where Mummies are found are called _Guacas_,--_i. e._ the abode of Man in his decayed state. The Reader will instantly perceive that in the construction of the word, as used in both localities, there is a direct similitude. The first land also rediscovered by Columbus in the Western Hemisphere, was called by the natives--_Guanahani_,--the Genoese named it St. Salvador.