The conception of the unity of deity was not easily developed from the character of American mythology, and was opposed by the prevailing structure of American languages, which usually associate the idea with numerous accessories (see p. 87). Yet there are distinct traces of its gradual approach in the Aztec prayers as preserved by the missionary Sahagnn. A god is addressed as the sole creator and governor of the universe, the one master of life, etc.; but this is to be explained by what Professor Max Mullet calls is, the mental process in which the idea of any one divinity fills the mind of the votary to the temporary exclusion of all others, a supremacy, however, which is merely conceded by the passing emotions, not permanently recognized by the intellect.
Probably the only clear recognition of the unity of divinity to be found on the continent was among the Peruvians, and there it is as evi dent, certainly, as in the esoteric doctrines of the ancient Egyptian priests. The more intelligent natives of Peru worshipped their divinity of light, Viracocha, as the creator of all things and as the sole, ever-present, efficient god ; he alone answered prayers, he alone helped in time of need. All prayers to the sun, to the deceased kings, or to idols were directed to them as intercessors and mediators only, not as independent deities. This is clearly stated by several of the best-informed and earliest writers on Peru.
Parallelisms in will be seen that the three extensive mythologies which are compared above in a few of their salient traits are founded upon closely related natural occurrences—to wit, the diurnal change from day to night and the weather. These interested primitive man deeply, for they intimately concerned his comfort and his daily life. Hence they were very widely introduced into his mythologies. This sim ilarity of origin led to marked analogies in the subsequent development of his myths, which is the more important to note and to allow for, as not a few ethnologists, misunderstanding the nature of such analogies, have brought them forward as proving some historic relationship or community of descent between widely-remote nations. An inference to this effect must be drawn with the utmost caution, and, standing alone, cannot be accepted as of any weight in ethnology. The human mind is so much the same in all races, and in its progress proceeds in paths so nearly par allel, that frequently the results of its labors are almost identical, although no historic contact is credible. Such similarities meet the reader at every
turn, and are to be construed as proofs of the psychologic unity of the species, not as pieces of historic evidence.
Examfiles from Greek and Aztec select one out of the many examples which are at hand, we may compare the opinions entertained by the Greek Aryans as to the fate of the soul after death with those accepted on the same subject by the Aztecs of Mexico.
The Greeks taught that after death the soul descended into a realm below the surface of the earth, whose ruler was Hades, which means "the all-receiver," as, at •last, death gathers all that exists. The entrance to this realm was guarded by savage dogs, which the soul must pacify if it would pass beyond. Beyond these guardians stretched a broad desert which the soul must cross in order to reach the shores of the river of the under world, sometimes spoken of as Acheron, and often referred to as divided into seven or nine branches. The silent ferryman, Charon, received such as had been provided at death with an obolus to pay their fare, and this coin was carefully buried with the deceased. The river crossed, the soul appeared before its judges, who either condemned it to wander in darkness or sent it onward to the Elysian Fields.
The Aztec realm of the dead was also in an tinder world, ruled by Mic tlantecutli, " the lord of those who are slain," or have died. Its entrance was through a narrow defile where lay in wait a serpent and a huge lizard, which the soul must coax into good-humor. Beyond lay deserts and steep, cold mountains, and at their farther limit a broad and dark stream called " the Nine Rivers." To cross its current in safety the soul must cling to a red dog, and to provide such an animal and solemnly slay it at the grave was an essential feature of the Aztec funeral ceremonies. On the other bank the location of the soul was settled, principally by the manner of death, some passing to "the Nine Abodes of the Dead," and others to the paradise, Tlalocan, where they remained for a few years and then returned to life among men, chiefly in the form of singing-birds.
The similarities between these two myths are not accidental, neither are they historical, but are the results of the mind acting in parallel lines of thought on the same materials.