ever used by the inhabitants of the countries bordering
on the shores of the Mediterranean or by the Assyrians, or that it ever
was discovered among the ruined temples or palaces of Egypt.

The meaning of the red hand used by the aborigines of some parts of
America has been, it is well known, a subject of discussion for learned
men and scientific societies. Its uses as a symbol remained for a long
time a matter of conjecture. It seems that Mr. Schoolcraft had truly
arrived at the knowledge of its veritable meaning. Effectively, in the
2d column of the 5th page of the _New York Herald_ for April 12, 1879,
in the account of the visit paid by Gen. Grant to Ram Singh, Maharajah
of Jeypoor, we read the description of an excursion to the town of
Amber. Speaking of the journey to the _home of an Indian king_, among
other things the writer says:--"We passed small temples, some of them
ruined, some others with offerings of grains, or fruits, or flowers,
some with priests and people at worship. On the walls of some of the
temples we saw the marks of the human hand as though it had been steeped
in blood and pressed against the white wall. We were told that it was
the custom, when seeking from the gods some benison to note the vow by
putting the hand into a liquid and printing it on the wall. This was to
remind the gods of the vow and prayer. And if it came to pass in the
shape of rain, or food, or health, or children, the joyous devotee
returned to the temple and made other offerings." In Yucatan it seems to
have had the same meaning. That is to say: that the owners of the house
if private, or the priests, in the temples and public buildings, called
upon the edifices at the time of taking possession and using them for
the first time, the blessing of the Deity; and placed the hand's
imprints on the walls to recall the vows and prayer: and also, as the
interpretation communicated to me by the Indians seems to suggest, as a
signet or mark of property--_in naa_, my house.

I need not speak of the similarity of many religious rites and beliefs
existing in Hindostan and among the inhabitants of _Mayab_. The worship
of the fire, of the phallus, of Deity under the symbol of the mastodon's
head, recalling that of Ganeza, the god with an elephant's head, hence
that of the elephant in Siam, Birmah[TN-13] and other places of the
Asiatic peninsula even in our day; and various other coincidences so
numerous and remarkable that many would not re