In his account of the obsequies of the Aztec kings, Bancroft (=3=, Vol. II., p. 603) tells us that “the body was washed with aromatic water, extracted chiefly from trefoil, and occasionally a process of embalming was resorted to. The bowels were taken out and replaced by aromatic substances.” “The art was an ancient one, however, dating from the Toltecs as usual, yet generally known and practised throughout the whole country” (p. 604). He then proceeds to describe “a curious mode of preserving bodies used by the lord of Chalco,” which consisted of desiccation; and adds a singularly interesting reference to libations, not only curiously reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian practice, but also described in language which might be regarded as a paraphrase of the Pyramid text expounded by Blackman (=5=). “Water was then poured upon its [the mummy’s] head with these words: ‘this is the water which thou usedst in this world’—Brasseur de Bourbourg uses the expression ‘C’est cette eau que tu as reçue en venant au monde’” (Bancroft, =3=, Vol. II., p. 604). It is altogether inconceivable that such a curious practice, embodying so remarkable an idea, could by chance have been invented independently in Egypt and in America. This can be no mere coincidence, but proof of the most definite kind of the derivation of these Toltec and Aztec ideas from Egypt. Bancroft further describes (=3=, p. 604 _et seq._) a whole series of other ritual observances, many of which find close parallels in the scenes depicted in the royal Egyptian tombs of the New Empire. I have already referred to Tylor’s case (=102=) of the adoption _in toto_ by the Aztecs of the Japanese Buddhist’s story of the soul’s wanderings in the spirit-land. In the case recorded by Bancroft almost the same story is reproduced, but with the characteristic Egyptian additions relating to parts of the way guarded by a gigantic snake and an alligator respectively [in the Egyptian ritual it is of course the Crocodile; see Budge, “The Egyptian Heaven and Hell,” Vol. 1, p. 159]. This is a most remarkable example of syncretism between the Egyptian ritual of the New Empire with Buddhist practices on the distant shores of America. As the connecting link between the Old and New World, it may be noted that in Oceania “everywhere is the belief that the soul after death must undertake a journey, beset with various perils, to the abode of departed spirits, which is usually represented as lying towards the west” (=61=, p. 138).