to their Gods, as
frankincense. They used the Aztec drum in their religious ceremonies
and war dances. They employed the very ancient Asiatic art of recording
ideas, by means of representative devices. They believed in the
oriental doctrines of transformation, and the power of necromancy.
Their oral fictions on this head, are so replete with fancy, that they
might give scope to the lyre of some future western Ovid. They held,
with Pythagoras, the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. They
believed, indeed, in duplicate souls. They believed with Zoroaster, in
the two great creative and antagonistical principles of Ormusd and
Ahriman, and they had THEN, and have STILL, an influential and powerful
order of priests, who uphold the principles of a sacred fire.

To these principles, they appeal _now_, as they did in the days of the
discovery. They believe in the sacred character of Fire, and regard it
as the mysterious element of the Universe, which typifies the Divinity.
They believe, and practice strictly, with the descendants of Abraham,
the law of separation, but not the practice of circumcision. With the
ancient Phoenicians, they attribute extraordinary powers, to the wisdom
and subtlety of the Serpent, and this reptile holds a high place in
their mythology. They regard the Tortoise, as the original increment,
and medium of the creation of the Earth, and view the Bear and the Wolf
as enchanted heroes of supernatural energies. And they have adopted the
devices of these three animals as the general Totemic types and bond of
their separation into clans. They are as observant as any of the
orientalists were, of the flight of birds. They draw, with the ancient
Chaldeans, prognostications from the clouds. They preserve the simple
music of the Arcadian pipe, which is dedicated to love. They people
their woods and mountains, and romantic water-falls, with various
classes of wood and water nymphs, fairies and genii. They had
anticipated the author of the "Rape of the Lock" in the creation of a
class of personal gnomes, who nimbly dance over the lineaments of the
human frame. They have a class of seers and prophets, who mutter from
the ground, the decisions of fate and Providence. They believe in the
idea of ghosts, witchcraft, and vampires. They place the utmost
reliance on dreams and night visions. A dream and a revelation, are
synonymous. Councils are called, and battles are fought on the
prognostications of a dream. They ar