This was current among the Aztecs in 1519, and the voyage
of the United States' Exploring Expedition has furnished a
philological proof of connection, in the peculiar termination of nouns
in _tl_, which is common to the inhabitants of Nootka Sound, as it was
to the Aztecs. The more the Indians are studied, the more does
everything about them appear to be Eastern--their language, religion,
calendar, architecture, &c. Their worship of fire in the open air,
avoiding the use of temples, is precisely that of Zoroaster, as is
also their leading doctrine of two spirits--good and evil--ruling the
world; and the allegory of the _egg of Ormuzd_ has been found in an
earthwork on the top of a hill in Adams's County, Ohio. 'It represents
the coil of a serpent, 700 feet long, but it is thought would reach,
if deprived of its curves, 1000 feet. The jaws of the serpent are
represented as widely distended, as if in the act of swallowing. In
the interstice is an oval or egg-shaped mound.' This repetition of a
symbol is considered as further proof of Eastern derivation.
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