Tattooing was practised in both continents.  Among the Indians it was fetichistic in its origin; “every Indian had the image of an animal tattooed on his breast or arm, to charm away evil spirits.” (Dorman, “Prim.  Superst.,” p. 156.) The sailors of Europe and America preserve to this day a custom which was once universal among the ancient races.  Banners, flags, and armorial bearings are supposed to be survivals of the old totemic tattooing.  The Arab woman still tattoos her face, arms, and ankles.  The war-paint of the American savage reappeared in the woad with which the ancient Briton stained his body; and Tylor suggests that the painted stripes on the circus clown are a survival of a custom once universal. (Tylor’s “Anthropology,” p. 327.)

In America, as in the Old World, the temples of worship were built over the dead., (Dorman, “Prim.  Superst.,” p. 178.) Says Prudentius, the Roman bard, “there were as many temples of gods as sepulchres.”

The Etruscan belief that evil spirits strove for the possession of the dead was found among the Mosquito Indians. (Bancroft, “Native Races,” vol. i., p. 744.)

The belief in fairies, which forms so large a part of the folklore of Western Europe, is found among the American races.  The Ojibbeways see thousands of fairies dancing in a sunbeam; during a rain myriads of them bide in the flowers.  When disturbed they disappear underground.  They have their dances, like the Irish fairies; and, like them, they kill the domestic animals of those who offend them.  The Dakotas also believe in fairies.  The Otoes located the “little people” in a mound at the mouth of Whitestone River; they were eighteen inches high, with very large heads; they were armed with bows and arrows, and killed those who approached their residence. (See Dorman’s “Origin of Primitive Superstitions,” p. 23.) “The Shoshone legends people the mountains of Montana with little imps, called Nirumbees, two feet long, naked, and with a tail.”  They stole the children of the Indians, and left in their stead the young of their own baneful race, who resembled the stolen children so much that the mothers were deceived and suckled them, whereupon they died.  This greatly resembles the European belief in “changelings.” (Ibid., p. 24.)

In both continents we find tree-worship.  In Mexico and Central America cypresses and palms were planted near the temples, generally in groups of threes; they were tended with great care, and received offerings of incense and gifts.  The same custom prevailed among the Romans—­the cypress was dedicated to Pluto, and the palm to Victory.

Not only infant baptism by water was found both in the old Babylonian religion and among the Mexicans, but an offering of cakes, which is recorded by the prophet Jeremiah as part of the worship of the Babylonian goddess-mother, “the Queen of Heaven,” was also found in the ritual of the Aztecs. ("Builders of Babel,” p. 78.)