[216-2] The Scandinavians believed the universe had been destroyed nine times:--
says the Voluspa (i. 2, in Klee, _Le Deluge_, p. 220). I observe some English writers have supposed from these lines that the Northmen believed in the existence of nine abodes for the blessed. Such is not the sense of the original.
[216-3] At least this is the doctrine of one of the Shastas. The race, it teaches, has been destroyed four times; first by water, secondly by winds, thirdly the earth swallowed them, and lastly fire consumed them (Sepp., _Heidenthum und Christenthum_, i. p. 191).
[217-1] Echevarria y Veitia, _Hist. de la Nueva España_, lib. i. cap. 4, in Waitz.
[217-2] Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, iii. p. 495.
[218-1] The contrary has indeed been inferred from such expressions of the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes as, "that which hath been, is now, and that which is to be, hath already been" (chap. iii. 15), and the like, but they are susceptible of an application entirely subjective.
[218-2] Voluspa, xiv. 51, in Klee, _Le Deluge_.
[219-1] _Natur. Quæstiones_, iii. cap. 27.
[220-1] Velasco, _Hist. du Royaume du Quito_, p. 105; Navarrete, _Viages_, iii. p. 444.
[220-2] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, An 1637, p. 54; Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, i. p. 319, iv. p. 420.
[221-1] Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucathan_, lib. iv. cap. 7.
"En la ultima edad, segun esta determinado, Avra fin el culto de dioses vanos; Y el mundo sera purificado con fuego. El que esto viere sera llamado dichoso Si con dolor lloraré sus pecados."
(_Hist. de Nuestra Señora de Itzamal_, in Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, ii. p. 603). I have attempted to obtain a more literal rendering from the original Maya, but have not been successful.
Usually man is the EARTH-BORN, both in language and myths.--Illustrations from the legends of the Caribs, Apalachians, Iroquois, Quichuas, Aztecs, and others.--The underworld.--Man the product of one of the primal creative powers, the Spirit, or the Water, in the myths of the Athapascas, Eskimos, Moxos, and others.--Never literally derived from an inferior species.
No man can escape the importunate question, whence am I? The first replies framed to meet it possess an interest to the thoughtful mind, beyond that of mere fables. They illustrate the position in creation claimed by our race, and the early workings of self-consciousness. Often the oldest terms for man are synopses of these replies, and merit a more than passing contemplation.