Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/186

174 founders of Mexican civilisation. These men are said to have come across the sea in vessels in search of the Earthly Paradise. "In coming southward to seek the earthly paradise," the historian says, "these men certainly did not deceive themselves, for it is the opinion of those who know that it is under the equinoctial line: and in thinking that it ought to be a high mountain they are also not mistaken, for, so say the writers, the earthly paradise is under the equinoctial line, and it is a very high mountain, whose summit almost touches the moon. It appears that these men or their ancestors had consulted an oracle on this matter, either a god or a demon, or they possessed an ancient tradition that had been handed down." Apparently they found the place, which was named Tollan, and in the subsequent movements of these Nahua peoples the memory of Tollan is faithfully preserved. These strangers who were seeking the earthly paradise, as we are told by Torquemada, worked gold and silver, and were in every way great artists. They arrived at Tollan, a land of abundance of wealth, the earthly paradise. All sorts of food grew there in the greatest abundance, and cottons of all colours. There were birds with rich plumage and beautiful melodious voices. There grew the best cocoa, as well as the black gum that was so highly prized. It is also, we are told, the place where are found emeralds, turquoises, gold and silver. So these people had an idea of the earthly paradise that agrees with those of the nations of the Old World in making it a place where gold and precious stones exist in abundance.

We have seen that expeditions set out from Ireland and China to find the Isles of the Blest. We find also that, on the American side, there are traditions that strangers came in search of the earthly paradise. We find, moreover, that the traditions of the peoples of Mexico speak of an earthly