altered to the eastward, the Cross turning upwards like the hand of a clock which had passed the half-hour marked at the bottom of the dial.

In illustration of the amazing precision with which God the Creator first planned the astral system, and established the distances and angles for the measurement of times and seasons, ́and for their application to navigation, we will here give the relative position of those splendid constellations, the Ursa Major in the north, and the Cross in the south. By the Nautical Almanack, published by the astronomers of Greenwich, it appears that on the 1st January, 1853, the star a, the upper star of the pointers of Ursa Major, was in north declination 62° 32′ 35′′; distance from North Pole, 27° 27′ 25′′. The star a Crucis was in south declination 62° 16′ 59′′; distance from South Pole, 27° 43′ 1′′.

The celebrated Pole Star of the north is a star of the second magnitude, and is therefore easily seen and distinguished, and is of great value in navigation. The apparent altitude of the star above the horizon nearly coincides with the latitude of the spot whence seen. The Pole Star of the south, "Octantis," is of the sixth magnitude, and from its minuteness, and the consequent difficulty in finding it with the telescope, it is of no practical use in navigation. It is, however, nearer to the Pole of the South than the north star is to the North Pole.

On 1st January, 1853, the North Polar star had declination of 88° 31′ 33′′; distance from Pole, 1° 28′ 27′′.

On 1st January, 1853, the South Polar star, "Octantis," had declination of 89° 16 29′′; distance from Pole, 0° 43 31".

CHAPTER III.

The Era of the Astronomical Discovery of the Astral Cross of the South.-The Discovery is due to the Columbian Navigators.-Reference to the Egyptian, Babylonian, and Mexican figures of the Cross.-The deep Meaning attached to the Mexican Cross.-Divine Honours paid to Cortes by the Mexicans on his appearance in the Settlement of the True Cross.Atrocities committed in America by the Emissaries of Rome under the figure of the Cross.-Rapid Sketch of the Religion of the ancient Peruvians.-A system of Sabeanism.-Compared with the ancient Persians.-The Eagle was on the Standards of the ancient Persians and Peruvians.-The Peruvians, in the worship of the Heavenly Bodies, paid adoration to the Astral Figure of the Cross, while the Spaniards adored a Wooden Cross.-Columbus acquitted of the Cruelty by the Spaniards on the natives of America.-The Papal Claim to Infallibility tested by the Discoveries made by Navigators in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries.-Extraordinary Transactions which issued from the Pretensions of the Romish Bishops.-Blunders made in the Latitude and Longitude of the Ocean.-The Ignorance of Geography and the Mundane System displayed by the Italian Priests and Monks. They try to number the Stars before they can count by "quipos.”—Their Ignorance, Conceit, and Cruelty consummated on Galileo.The Banners of Achievement of the great Navigators unfurled against the Banners of Pretension of the Bishops and Monks of Rome.

THE discovery of the Southern Cross was the result of those great argonautical expeditions which went forth from Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and which have produced such changes in the

condition of the human race. To the intrepid and enlightened minds of Columbus and Gama, and the other navigators of that age, the world is indebted for America and its islands, and for the practical solution of the problem of the earth's rotundity. We have dared to accept the challenge of the papal power to its claim to infallibility; and as that power was very remarkably extended and strengthened by those events, we intend to consider, as briefly as possible, some of the transactions arising out of the enterprises of Columbus, Gama, and Magalhaens, among which were the abuses of the material cross by the emissaries of the Pope, and the atrocities on the aboriginal inhabitants, under that sacred sign.

This may be the proper place to refer to the use of the figure of the cross as a mysterious symbol among the ancient civilised peoples of Asia and of Egypt. The figure of the cross, modified into the Tau, is found on the sculptured ruins of temples and cities in Hindustan, Babylonia, and Egypt. The figure of the cross, to the great surprise of the Spaniards, was also found in various parts of Central America, more particularly on the sculptured walls of a temple in the ancient ruined city of Palenque. The architecture, with its sculptures of men and animals, and hieroglyphics on the temples and palaces of the ruined cities of Central America and Yucatan, are generally of the style of Egypt and Central Asia. There is, however, a remarkable difference between the ancient Egyptian and Asiatic crosses as they are sculptured on ruined buildings, and the crosses discovered in America. The former are of an antiquity vastly anterior to the Christian era. The crosses of the Central Americans are of a more interesting and

mysterious character, as there were in the traditions circumstances having an allusion to the Saviour who suffered on the cross. This is a subject which is as enticing for speculation as the great Astral Cross of the heavens, but we must be as succinct as possible.

When the Spaniards arrived among the Mexicans and Peruvians, they found the chronology comparatively modern, and almost all the traditions were within the Christian era. Without any direct historical evidence on the subject, there was such a convergence of myths and traditions, and such a remarkable similarity in religious rites and moral precepts, among the different tribes and peoples of America from Mexico to Peru, as to leave a strong probability that the inhabitants had heard the glad tidings of salvation by a crucified Saviour; and there is very little doubt that that mysterious person Quetzalcoatl, the Mexican deity, was identified with the Son of God. The meanings of the various names given to him; the incidents of his history, his attributes, his character; and his expected reappearance, have a striking resemblance to Christ the Saviour. It is well established by the historical evidence of the Spanish writers, at the time of the invasion and plunder of Mexico by Cortes, that the Mexicans expected the advent of an extraordinary stranger from the eastward over the ocean, and when the Mexican messengers arrived in the settlement since called the True Cross, they actually prostrated themselves before Cortes on board of his vessel, and paid him divine honours in an address in the following words :-"O God, our Lord, we welcome your arrival, since we who are your vassals and servants, have long expected you. Montezuma, your vassal, and the regent of your kingdom, has dispatched us to your presence, that we may salute you in his

name; and he beseeches you to accept this meagre present, these precious ornaments which you were accustomed to wear when you were amongst us in the character of our King and God.” * One cause, and the principal one, of the want of the authentic history of the Mexican race was the deliberate destruction, by the Spanish priests and monks, of manuscripts and hieroglyphical paintings of that people. A similar tradition and expectation prevailed among the Peruvians when the Spaniards appeared.†

The odium of all the cruelties and atrocities committed by the Spaniards on the Mexican and Peruvian races must be attached to the papal power at Rome, and to the holy office of Spain. The rude soldiers and their officers who were the executioners on the defenceless peoples, passively obeyed the commands of the priests and emissaries from Rome and the Inquisition. The cross, in the hands of the military adventurers, was like the eagle on the Roman labarum, the idol god which they carried to battle and slaughter. The cross was presented to the inhabitants for adoration, and if the worship was refused, the sword immediately fell on the victims. Cortes himself became the crusader to Montezuma. He upbraided the unhappy monarch for his worship of idols, broke them, and placed in their stead a crucifix, and an image of the mother of God, explained the doctrines of the church, and exhibited the cross and the image to be adored. The king being at the time a prisoner and wounded, and finding how degraded he was, tore the bandages from his wounds, refused nourishment, and rejected with disdain the solicitations of the Spaniards to embrace the Christian

* Torquemeda, quoted in the "Mexican Antiquities," by Simon.

+ Robertson's "America." Notes and Illustrations.