It is difficult to understand the neglect into which the study of the Mexican and Peruvian mythologies has fallen. A zealous host of interpreters are engaged in the elucidation of the mythologies of Egypt and Assyria, but, if a few enthusiasts in the United States of America be excepted, the mythologies of the ancient West have no following whatsoever. That this little book may lead many to a fuller examination of those profoundly interesting faiths is the earnest hope of one in whose judgment they are second in importance to no other mythological system. By a comparative study of the American mythologies the student of other systems will reap his reward in the shape of many a parallel and many an elucidation which otherwise would escape his notice; whilst the general reader will introduce himself into a sphere of the most fascinating interest--the interest in the attitude towards the eternal verities of the peoples of a new and isolated world. L. S. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. THE ORIGIN OF AMERICAN RELIGIONS, 1 II. MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY, 9 III. THE PRIESTHOOD AND RITUAL OF THE ANCIENT MEXICANS, 27 IV. THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT PERUVIANS, 44 V. PERUVIAN RITUAL AND WORSHIP, 58 VI. THE QUESTION OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE UPON THE RELIGIONS OF AMERICA, 71 A LIST OF SELECT BOOKS BEARING ON THE SUBJECT, 79 THE MYTHOLOGIES OF ANCIENT MEXICO AND PERU CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN OF AMERICAN RELIGIONS The question of the origin of the religions of ancient Mexico and Peru is unalterably associated with that of the origin of the native races of America themselves--not that the two questions admit of simultaneous settlement, but that in order to prove the indigenous nature of the American mythologies it is necessary to show the extreme improbability of Asiatic or European influence upon them, and therefore of relatively late foreign immigration into the Western Hemisphere. As regards the vexed question of the origin of the American races it has been thought best to relegate all proof of a purely speculative or legendary character to a chapter at the end of the book, and for the present to deal with data concerning the trustworthiness of which there is little division of opinion.