nd, the survivors would imagine that the whole country had
been lost, and so would turn towards those other shores which their
race had colonized. They would carry with them the story of the Flood
which had submerged the whole of the western continent, and from this
account we would finally inherit our version of the awful event.
Having accepted the theory of the destruction of their home-land, and
being thus compelled to adopt permanently their new abiding-places,
would not these colonists immediately set about making their new home
to resemble as much as possible the old? Undoubtedly! Hence we find
them building the tower of Babel, in which project they were foiled by
the confusion of tongues. Would it surprise you, however, to know that
a similar legend is found in Central America?"

"I am ignorant, Doctor, of all that pertains to the subject.
Therefore, of course, I should be surprised, but I am deeply
interested."

"The legend is still current among the natives dwelling near the
pyramid of Cholula, to which it alludes, but I will give you a version
of it which is recorded in a manuscript of Pedro de Los Rios. It is as
follows:

"Before the great inundation, which took place four thousand
eight hundred years after the creation of the World, the
country of Anahuac was inhabited by giants. All those who did
not perish were transformed into fishes, save seven, who fled
into caverns. When the waters subsided, one of these giants,
Xelhua, surnamed the Architect, went to Chollolan, where, as
a memorial of the mountain Tlaloc, which had served for an
asylum to himself and his six brethren, he built an
artificial hill in form of a pyramid.... The gods beheld with
wrath this edifice, the top of which was to reach the clouds.
Irritated at the daring attempt of Xelhua, they hurled fire
[lightning?] on the pyramid. Numbers of the workmen perished;
the work was discontinued."

"Indeed, Doctor, the two traditions are similar. How is that to be
understood, since certainly from the time of the Flood, until the
discovery by Columbus, there was no communication between the Old and
the so-called New World?"

"Wherever, in two places devoid of communication, similar occurences
are recorded, they have a common inspiration. So it was in this
instance. The colonists built the temple to their God whom they had
worshipped in Mexico. The Mexicans did likewise, moved to t