If the story of Plato is true,
there now lies beneath the waters of the Atlantic, covered, doubtless,
by hundreds of feet of volcanic debris, an amount of gold and silver
exceeding many times that brought to Europe from Peru, Mexico, and
Central America since the time of Columbus; a treasure which, if brought
to light, would revolutionize the financial values of the world.
I have already shown, in the chapter upon the similarities between the
civilizations of the Old and New Worlds, some of the remarkable
coincidences which existed between the Peruvians and the ancient
European races; I will again briefly, refer to a few of them:
1. They worshipped the sun, moon, and planets.
2. They believed in the immortality of the soul.
3. They believed in the resurrection of the body, and accordingly
embalmed their dead.
4. The priest examined the entrails of the animals offered in sacrifice,
and, like the Roman augurs, divined the future from their appearance.
5. They had an order of women vowed to celibacy-vestal virgins-nuns; and
a violation of their vow was punished, in both continents, by their
being buried alive.
6. They divided the year into twelve months.
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