the first man whom God sent to divide and distribute these lands of
America," (Vol. I. p. 42,) indicates that he found the continent
inhabited, and either originated the distribution of property or became
a conqueror of the country. The evidence of tradition would clearly
prove that at the arrival of Votan the great proportion of the
inhabitants, from the Isthmus of Panama to the territories of
California, were in a savage condition. The builders of the Cyclopean
ruins were the only exception.

[Footnote A: The resemblance of this name to the Teutonic Wuotan or Odin
is certainly striking and will afford a new argument to the enthusiastic
Rafn, and other advocates of a Scandinavian colonization of
America.--Edd.]

The various traditions agree that this elevated being, the father of
American civilization, inculcated first of all a belief in a Supreme
Creator, Lord of Heaven and Earth. It is a singular fact, that the
ancient Quiche tradition represents the Deity as a Triad, or Trinity,
with the deified heroes arranged in orders below,--a representation not
improbably connected with the Hindoo conception. The belief in a Supreme
Being seems to have been generally diffused among the Central American
and Mexican tribes, even as late as the arrival of the Spaniards. The
Mexicans adored Him under the name of Ipalnemoaloni, or "Him in whom and
by whom we are and live." This "God of all purity," as he is
addressed in a Mexican prayer, was too elevated for vulgar thought or
representation. No altars or temples were erected to him; and it was
only under one of the later kings of the Aztec monarchy that a temple
was built to the "Unknown God."--Vol. I. p. 46.

The founders of the early American civilization bear various titles: