d to have been natives of Hindostan; since we are told
that, in very remote ages, _Maya_, a prince of the Davanas, established
himself there. We do not find the etymology of his name in any book
where mention is made of it. We are merely told that he was a wise
magician, a great architect, a learned astronomer, a powerful Asoura
(demon), thirsting for battles and bloodshed: or, according to the
Sanscrit, a Goddess, the mother of all beings that exist--gods and men.

Very little is known of the Mayas of Afghanistan, except that they call
themselves _Mayas_, and that the names of their tribes and cities are
words belonging to the American Maya language.

Who can give the etymology of the name _Magi_, the learned men amongst
the Chaldees. We only know that its meaning is the same as _Maya_ in
Hindostan: magician, astronomer, learned man. If we come to Greece,
where we find again the name _Maia_, it is mentioned as that of a
goddess, as in Hindostan, the mother of the gods: only we are told that
she was the daughter of Atlantis--born of Atlantis. But if we come to
the lands beyond the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, then we find a
country called MAYAB, on account of the porosity of its soil; that, as a
sieve (_Mayab_), absorbs the water in an incredibly short time. Its
inhabitants took its name from that of the country, and called
themselves _Mayas_. It is a fact worthy of notice, that in their
hieroglyphic writings the sign employed by the Egyptians to signify a
_Lord_, a _Master_, was the image of a sieve. Would not this seem to
indicate that the western invaders who subdued the primitive inhabitants
of the valley of the Nile, and became the lords and masters of the land,
were people from MAYAB; particularly if we consider that the usual
character used to write the name of Egypt was the sieve, together with
the sign of land?

We know that the _Mayas_ deified and paid divine honors to their eminent
men and women after their death. This worship of their heroes they
undoubtedly carried, with other customs, to the countries where they
emigrated; and, in due course of time, established it among their
inhabitants, who came to forget that MAYAB was a locality, converted it
in to a personalty: and as some of their gods came from it, Maya was
considered as the _Mother of the Gods_, as we see in Hindostan and
Greece.

It would seem probable that the Mayas did not receive their civilization
from the inhabitants of the Asiatic peni