I ^.. / ,J--*'-*-^-^c,'-f--^^^y0yC/^^t:^^^,^J i^:j.c E'V^IDEDSrOES J O '• IZMTI0M fr CONSTITUTIKO A—— Lecture Delivered on Behalf of the Mechanics' Institute, -ox- TTJESIDJL'^, 1ST OIP n^^^I^OII, 1870, -BY- W. E. BESSEY, M. D„ C. M., L & M. C. P. & S, Q. C. a- Tj- DB Xi :p 13: : PRINTED AT THE UERALD BOOK AND JOB rUlXTIXa KSTABLIitflMENT, WVN'DUAM STREET. 1870. Ill I' ERR A.T^ •\.'N.-'--V.-V,X-^-»v'X-^-i,%.-\.^ - In 12tli and 21st lines from top of 1st column, on Ist page, for the word tanntls read tumuli. In 10th Hue, 1st col, 2rid page, for paUlccs rjad palaces. In 22nd line, ditto, for tumrclus read tumulus. In 37th lino, 2ud col. 2ad page, the word seeming should read seen, and in H8th line the word seems should read appears. In 1st line, 1st col. 3rd page, for mention read refer to. In 3rd line, ditto, for has read have. In 12th Hue, 2nd col. 5tb page, for Atlandes read Atlantides. In 31st l.nc, ditto, for Toa-arik read Touarilc. In 33rd li«e, ditto, for Cettihercan read Celtihcrcan. In 37th Hue, 1st col. 6th page, the word Canu should be CanuU. In 18th Une, 2nd col. 6tli p.igc, luguicres should read Bruguieres. In 50th line, 2ud col. 13th page, for fossil i/erous read coralifcrom. " Evidences of Ancient Civilization in America." 'G A Lecture deliverad for the Cuolph Klechanics' Institute, on Tuesday, ist ar March, !870, by Dr. W. E. Bessey. x * G77~'" Ladies akd Gentlemen. — We are met this { traces of ancient workings. A little to th« evening to take into consideration some of! east ate lofty rocks, (the Sierra Madre) theevidencesof an ancient civilization which ! traversed by veins of copper, so richly have been found to exist in the American j mixed with gold that the ore was formerly continent. The immense deserts of the west transferred to Mexico for the purpose of aftbrd an interest beyond that of their natu- i smelting and separation. An ancient fori ral beauties : they offer a wide field to the , is here erected, of a square shape with archcologist and the antiquarian, whose : a tower at each corner. The walla are every lootstep is met by countless ruins, the I four feet thick and in a state of tolerable origin of which disappears in the night of' preservation. The banks of the Rio Verde time. These monuments of an extinct civi- j abound in ruins of stone dwellings and ferti- lization, which include mounds, tunnels, fications, which appear to have belonged to fortifications of immense proportions, gar- ! a more civilized people than the Aztecs, dens, wells, artificial meadows, ruins of { They are found in the mof . fertile valleys, towns and cities, once wealthy and populous, I where traces of former cultivation, and of are to be found scattered throughout the con ; small canals for artificial irrigation aie yet tinent, from Peru on tne south and Mexico on the west, to Lake Superior on the north and Florida on the sast. The valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi abound in ancient mounds, tunnels, exten- sive fortifications and traces of wells, salt mines, and artificial meadows, which speak in unmistakeable terms of a long period of time, during whieh a numerous and powerful people of settled agricultural habits had made considerable progress in civilization, 80 as to require large temples for their relig- ious rites, and extensive fortifications to pro- tect them from their enemies. Near the I'iver Gila, on the banks of the Blue river, the Black river and the St. Charles, and upon an alluvial soil, which reposes upon basaltic rocks, the remains of ancient colo- nies are very numerous. Rows and piles of stones show the plan of houses, though nearly obscured bv the accumulated soil of visible. The solidly built walls of these dwellings are twenty and thirty yards long, to thirty or forty-five feet high, and from four feet thick at the base, gradually taper to the top. The houses were four storied, with small openings for doors, windows, and loop- holes for defence against outside attacks* Excavations among these majestic ruins, have yielded abundant fragments of beauti* ful pottery, red, yellow, black, striped, scol- loped, and ornamented, with brilliantly colored paintings. Of the ruins in New Mexico, the most modern are the pueblos or stone dwellings, they comprised usually a main portion and two receding wings at right angles to the main part, from the ex- tremities of which extended a circular wall enclosing a large yard or coun. They had the appearance of an immense barrack^ being of four .stories high, each receding ages. Here is seen a ruined circular stone i from the preceding one, like a series of ter- wall about 250 yards iu circumference, with an entrance on the eastern side, and contain- ing in Its centre the ruins of a dwelling, in races, rising above one another. The outside wall had no openings in the first or lower story, and each story is readied from which no traces of wood exist ; | of a mile ! the court or yard, having no doors, by lad- from here the soil IS strewn with enormous j ders, which can be drawn up after the in- remnants of spacious edifices, which contain- ! mates, thus giving no opportunity for the ed rooms 15 feet square. In must of these enemy to enter. The smaller details of the traces of decaying cedar wood have been these structures are indicative of much found amidst the iragments of painted })0t- ' art and ingenuity. Some of them appear, tery. These houses are surrounded by a in the distance, like splendid mosaic-work, rampart 300 yards in length. Speaking of ' being constructed of stones of various col - this locality one writer observes : ♦• Snbter ' org. They are built of small, A A slabs (hi anean fires appear to have ruined all ti;is j some cases) of very fine grained sandstone country and converted it into a barreti waste; the countrv mav also have been deserted in consequence of volcanic convulsions spread- ing death and misery among the inhabitants." All this region of country seems onc«^ to have been very populous, judging from the walls, houses and remains of pottery met at every step. Near the Rio Grande, in the Apache ter yitory, isAcoppermtM, which showt distinct bable that the puebIo»iKrhieen a species of brick or fire clay. In the South- ern States funeral urns have frequent- ly been discovered within tumuli of this kind, also beds of charcoal from which it is inferred that fire was used in their funeral rites. In these monuments also have lieen found ornaments of silver, brass, stone or bone and ornamented beads made ot phell«, also pieces of ailex, quartz, garnei and obsidian, points of arrows, tools of copper, and 18 accessable only on one side ; around I marine shells, sculpturesof human heads, or this plateau of elevated ground extends a Btone wall. It is said no engineer could have selected a stronger position. On the little Miami and its tributaries and in Ohio, Beveral of these strongholds are said to have existed in which the walls were disposed in a parallel manner as in a gridiron. Enough has been said to shew that the kind of stronghold erected by theje ancients were not of the meaner sort — however the tarth works seem to be possessed of the great- est durability — for they have bten protected by a growth of forest or thick grass, while the stone structures have crumbled — in most cases — to a mass of ruins, only intel- ligible to the penetrating glance of the antiquarian. The Indians themselves know nothing of the origin of these tombs' or tlie people by whorfi they wore erected, but thev hold them in traditional veneration. The Tumuli are massive and pyramidal in form, and some contain a vault within which the remains of the dead are laid — these vaults are usually built of stones placed one above another without any cement, sometimes of wood, or of both combined. The mounds of (lifTerent animals, fragments of beautiful pottery ornamented with brilliantly colored paintings of butterflies, animals, &c.. Sic, and several other things indicating a know- ledge of art. Very valuable discoveries have been made in New Grenada, of this kind, where arms, idols and medals were found enclosed in tombs of people whose successors have dis- appeared for many centuries, and whose en- ormous wealth is reported by tradition. The archaeologists of Panama declare these works of art to belong to very remote An- tiquity, and acknowledge them to {xissesa characteristics of both Chinese and Egyptian art. Domenech describes enclosures made of earth, situated on low flats of circular, ellip- tical or quadrangular form, but in all cases regular. About 300 yards in circumference, and having one single entrance. Indepen- dently of these there are a multitude t)f small circles about fifty yards in circumler- ence, near which are grouped mounds that appear to have served as altars. Die large circles extend over a surface of fitty acres, and are connected with rectangular enclo- are of various sizes, from 3 to 90 feet in i sures by means of broad avenues. These walls arc all made of earth. The relitjious height and from 100 to 700 feet in circum- ference at the base. In the top there exists ftltars of baked clay or stone in the shape of large basins, varying from 19 inches to 17 yards in length, but the average is irom 2 to 3 yards. ^ Messrs. Squier and Davis examine t a number of these and found the basin to con- tain usually ashes and remains of calcined human bones, with sometimes a few orna- tnentfl, this leads to the belief that the ancient people sometimes burned their dead. In the larger burial mounds tlie vaulted •hamber usually contains a raised pedestal or altar upon which is laid the human re- mains. These skelstons are usually covered with sheets of mica, and carefully placed ar- ound them arc fou^d orndfrientd,and utt'nsils of various descriptions; — one was discovered near Utah in which a polished silver breast plate lay upon the skeleton — at each side of its head lay what appears to have been two tapers extending upwards — while between the feet was found an earthen vessel of X^inote antiquity. Some of the vaults have a stone pave- nient flopr, while others are vaulted and feelings which actuated tlie authors of these immense and numerous structures, can alone account for their erection. The learned Abbe Doiiifnech writes of them in these words "If religion were out of the question, it would be difficult to account for the object of works like those of Newark which extend with their avenues over a space of more than four square miles, and to which only the great teniples of Abury and Stonehenge in England, and Cornac in Briianny, can be compared. PROBABLE AGE OF THESE RVINS. In the valleys of the Ohio, and the Miss- issippi, where the tumuli and ancient for- tifications are found in the greatest ftumber, trees of enormous growth have grown up upon ihem, the age of which furnish the surest data on wliich to form a judgement as to the period when these diffe'-ent struc- tures were abandoned. Tn 1787 Dr. Cutler found trees of immense size on the ruins of Marietta. Many of those cut down were hollow, but one in which decay had only just commenced, Bhowed 463 concentric circle*, and as natur- alists have conceded a years growth to each ring, this tree must have existed more than that number ot years. On the ground lay hu-redecaye.1 trunks measuring pix yards in circumference, he then conchules that as these were not the tirst trees to grow on these ruins, they must have been abandoned 900 or 1000 years ago. On the same spot Sir Charles Lyeil relates that in company with Dr. Hildreth in 1842, he saw a tree whicii v.hen sawn, numbered 300 rings of annual growth. The late General Hairison, President of the United States in 1841, well skilled in woodcraft, remarked in a memoir upon this subject : " Several generations of trees must have lived and died before the time it was covered with moss, detritus and dirt, eo that the inscription was not noticed until the middle of the last century, when it became a subject of much interest and scientific discuMsion. The characters entering into the compositioti of this inscription are hiero5lyphic. kyriolopic, and symbolical, the strokes roughly sculptured seem to hftv« been cut in the stone with a cylindrical in- strument, the depth of the incision about two lines. It has be."n attributid by M Mathieu (a french writer) to the Atlandes about the year of the world a. m. 1902, or 2102 B. C. Messrs. Yates & Moulton in their History of New York, say it is of Phenician origin. In Grave Creek tumuli in western Virginia mounds could have been overspread with j was also discovered an inscription of much that variety of species which they supported ! interest. It was found buried with a skeleton when the white man f^r^:t beheld them, for l in a mound containing two vaults ; it is com- the number and kind of trees were precisely ! posed of twenty two characters in three lines the same as those which distinguished the surrounding forest." We may be sure, he observes that no trees were allowed to grow BO long as the earthworks were in use, and when they were forsaken, the ground, like with a cross and a masK engraved on a dark hard stone of an elliptic shape, about 2^ in, long and 2 in. wide and about five lines thick. Learned men who have examined this inscription most carefully, neither agree on all newly cleared land in Ohio, would for a its origin nor on the nature of its characters time be monopolized by one or two species i of which four had a resemblance to the of trees, as the white poplar, the hickory, | Ftruscan signs, four to the Thugg* (Africa) the yellow locust, and the black and white ! five to the ancient Runic in Scandanivia, walnut. When these had died out one after ! six to the Towarik, seven to the old charac* another, they would in many cases be sue- j ters found in Ireland, ten to the Phwcician, ceeded (by virtue of that law which makes ! and fifteen to the Cettiberian, several resem' rotation in crops, profitable in Agriculture) ' bling more than one kind of character. The by other kinds, till at last, after a great i divided state" of opinion upon the relic only number of centuries, (several thousand ' proves its uncertain character, and causes years perhaps) that remarkable diversity of' one writer to ask the questions concerning species characteristic of North America, and it. Is it a sign, a motto, an ornament, or an iar exceeding what is seen in European historical remembrance? Forests, would be established. Taking this | There is one fact full of meaning and of great in connection with the opinion of a celebrated naturalist who assumes that the oak is 500 years in growing, that it remains 500 years in statu quo, and is another 500 years in dying, and we get an idea of the great an- tiquity of the American Tumuli, on which ^normous oaks are found growing amid the remains of other oaks reduced to dust from extreme old age. ANCIENT HIEROGLYPHICS. Hieroglyphic inscriptions have also been discovered at one time or other, in the States of Connecticut, Georgia, Ktntucky Minne- sota, Ohio and Rhode Island, while some, remarkafily well preserved have, been found j being "their father"), the rivers and in the Islands of lake Erie. The red pipe j fountains. The Zunis above all, not using stone quarries of the meadow hillocks in the | artificial irrigation to water their fields, historical significance among the evidences of civilization on this continent, to which I connot help alluding, I refer to the evidences of " fountain worship." The ancient people of Peru, Mexico and the desert plains of the west have left traces, notonly of the Phallic worship and its accompaniments but also of that ancient material worship, that be- lieved the spiritual essence of things, to be manifested in the expressions of life areund, them, God or Deity was seen everywhere, in everything ; and thus they worshipped the sun, the moon, (which they supposed con» trolled the weather,) the stars, the earth, (which they called their mother,) the sua western states conceal numbers, wfiile others are met with in New Mexico. The most im- portant and significant of these is that of Dighton rock. This rock is situated at the east of the mouth of the Taun- ton river ill iuanchuctka, the w-idth of tfie rock is about 44 feet and the height in use about 5 feet ; the surface is polished either by nature or by the hand of man. For a long and whose crops therefore depended entirely upon tlie rain that fell — believe to this day — if they npglect to make their annual ofTering to the spirit of the fountains their harvests will be destroyed by drought — ' TliU3 in Mexico, as in Ireland, Scotland, Ancient Carthage, Persia, Chaldca, HindoS' tan, China, and Arabia, holy wells are held in great reverence and esteem hj .^h« inliftbitants, to which trtry j«tLi, they . irepair to make their offerings to the spirit git th« MpringA. In the country of the Zuni, />ne of these is still fuund; it is seven or 4.'ight yards in circumference, and su'-rounded by J* low circuhir wall. The water is with- ^raiwn ouce a year, when offerings of var- nished pottery are placed upon the wall, lher« to remain until they fall by accident or time, hence here are to he seen .specimens of 'pottery of great anticjuity. They liave a tradition that any one attemptinji to steal one of these offerings would be punifthed by instantaneousdeEtructiun. It iu well known that the worship of wells and (Springs is of Oriental origin and of the highest antiquity, . for not only waa it practised by the woiahip- pers of Baa), by the Scythians and their uescendantH, but also by the Chinet^e, Hin- doos, Moors, Persians, Mahoniedans, Egyp- I tian8, Jews and Celtic populations of Ireland and Scotland, where these objects of a ven- . eration wliich kad a deep hold upon all the ancient Celtic people, were uaualfy situated in the moel picturesque spots, on the slops -or hilU shaded by pines and venerable oaks, ' amidst rocks covered with heaths, in retreats difficult of access, and above all in tiie vi- cinity of an ancient oak, or upright unhewn , etone, and in dark and mysterious solitudes . where the breeze and the rivulets murmur incessantly, and where the voice of man finds a faithful echo, always ready to make i nature resound with the songs and praises, inspired by the piety of the people.. In England, the druida practised this wor- , ehip, and under the xeigns of Canu and Edgar, edicts were promulgated against those who venerated these " Sacred Wells,*" while i in the Scandinavian manuscript it is related s, that in the tenth Century a schism arose i among the Americans, some of vvhom were 1 accused of despising the ''sacred well of i vagarscriebat. It is, we think, of the great- '% est significance, that a worship so ancient ^ and so general in the old world as that of i. springi*, wells and fountains should have . been found to exist in the new. In these fj times people existed who believed that there ', were spirits who presided over these foun- ', tains, rivers and springs, and that these ' spirits were invisible and hovered around T them, and received with pleasure the otFer- , ings made to them jy men, either as thanks- ii. giving or propitiation. ^r: :' idols anu shells of tenessee. I will now turn to a consideration of cer- tain idols, shells, pottery and ancient mum- I inies fuund in the niuuuds and caves of ' li Tenespee, which Beem to point to an Asiatic 5|,or Pelusgian origin. In retierence to these remain?!, the Abbe Domenech writes, ''a " 1 knciwled^e of Chuncology is by no means ' -t umuijKjrtant in the study of the origin of the thirst iuiiabitants of North America, since it -■ pp^^ra that ihoy employed lar^e Riariqe shells fbr their persODai us* and for thtir sacrifices." The tumuli found in the valleys of tht great riverf* and the fortified ruins contain a great 'lumber of these ehells which are mostly ol the species known as murex) Cassis Ci.rnutus) anil FiiJgar Perversvs; as also fometimes shelU of the species Magin- ella Florida which ia very common on the coasts of Florida. These shells have formed the subject of long discusbions among Ethnographers : who are not agreed as to their origin — Accord- ing to Rumphius the " Cassis Corn- utits'^ is f(jund at Amboyna, in the peninsula of Malacca, and on the neighbor- ing shores, Linnanis beleived it to be indig- enous to the American coast, but ruguierea (a more modern writer) believes Linnceua mistaken and that the shell in question belongs to the Asiatic ocean, while Hum- phreys maintains thati tis peculiar to the East Indies, and China. It is never found on the coasts of America, and it is highly prob- able that it was brought to America from ■A-sia. IDOLS. The Idols found in some of the ruins are also believed to be of Asiatic origin, of which perhaps the most curious have also been found in the state cf Tenessee, one of these was found enclosed in a pmall shell of the species " Cassis Jiammea^^ which is of tropi- cal origin, the others are without shells, and either seated upon their heels or kneeling^ the hands being upon the thighs or abdomen, they are naked, and represent different; sexes, the largest is about 14 inches in length, they are cut in a stone common to the country. One of the professors of the university of Tenessee is of opinion that all these idols were representations of the anci- ent Phallic worship, and were similar to those exposed in the temples of Eluesis. We are assured, (on the authority of Cortez) that an ancient Egyptian form of worship, recalling the mysteries of Isis and Osiris, was found by the Spaniards established in America. One of these idols appeared to be a badly finished image of the God Priapus. Some are made of a mixture of clay and pounded marine shells, and are easily recog- nised as a representation of the Tartar type of feature, ia the form of the face and the elongated nose and chin. One resembles the the liroad round face of t!ie Chinese and has a tuft on the vertex representing the scaly tuft of the CUnaman. The Asiatic type is also seen in a small stone idol found at Natchez, in the state ol Missist^ippi, on the site of an ancient temple, which tradition sava existed long betore the arrival of the Europeans, while pipes of extraordinary workmanship have been found at a great ' deptii in Ohio. ^ .'' MUMMIES. ' '^**- '"' The existence of .American roumjuies ■wftthed io ibe ?eriUbU in»nner of tuo »uc\- •nt Egyptians, excited no little Burpriae an.l comment at the time of their diacovery. They were found only in the neighborl.ood of large rivers, where vessels could easily approach, they evidently belong to a r*ice anterior to the red Indian and from tkeir dis- covery some writers arjrue that the ancient inhabitants of the Continent were E;:yptians» or at least came from the Mediterranean ehores, whi'e the learned Dr. Mitchell en- deavors to prove that the ancient inhabitants of America were of Malay origin, andreeem- bled the natives of the Islands of t le Poly- nesia and Australasia. He founded this opinion on the rertemblancc of the cloth in which these mummies were enveloped, to that brought from the Sandwich and Fegee Is- lands, which is similarly made of fins cord, doubled and twisted by hand, and again on the fact that feather mantles are applied to a similar use l)y the Islanders of the South ern ocean. The-^e mummies were found in great numbers in Kentucky, in 4be Tuainmoth cave near Louisville. This cave contains a large quantity of nitre, and the preservation of these mummies is attributed to its presence. Domenech describes one ot these found nine feet below the surface of the eoil : it was placed between two large stones, and covered by a fiat slab, the knees were drawn up to the chest, the arms crossed, and the hands folded one over the other at the height of the chin. The hands, nails, ears, luiir, teeth and fill the features were in perfect preservation. The skin resembled leather of ayellowish color, and no traces of an opening in the body could be detected. Thoujih this mummy was that of a person six feet in height, it was so dried up that it did not weigh more than fourteen pounds. This body was not surrounded by either bandages or any bitumious or aiomatic substance, but was wrapped in four cover- ings. The first or interior one was com- posed of a stuff made of fine cord doubled and twisted in a peculiar manner, and of large feathers interwoven with great art, the second wrapping was of the same stuti", but without feathers, the third consisted of a deer skin without hair, and the fourth and external covering of another deer-skin but with hair. The bodies of a man and woman found in a saltpetre cave in Warren county, Tenessee, are also described by the same vv-riter, these were wrapped in deer-skins and in a cloth made of the fibres of the bark of trees and ornamented with feathers, while in the hand of the female was a fan com- posed of Turkeys feathers and made to open and shut at pleasure. These relics of a past age have greatly occupied the attention of American antiquaries, but the race to which they belong, although evidently anterior to the Indian, is not decided. Naturalists tell us that the horse Id not a native of the Aii>eric«n cor^tinenty- thAt ii is (itcoordlng to Linnaus,) * oalife' of Europe «nd the East; while GotdsmitU believen it to be a natiT* of Africa. AU though it is diffiouit to ua/ from what country of the Old World the horse came ; according to the Ancients it is a native of Europe, and yet, wheu the European first sot fout upon the continent, vast herde of these animals, in a wild state, were found roam- ing at will over the immense plains of thu west. Nothing can be more suggestive than the presence of these animals; may we not believe them to be the deiiceiidenta of the domesticated animals ouoe used by the ancient agriculiuril population, who were the primitive possessors of the soil. However, on this matter Goldsmith writes thus, "These American ho'^ses carmot bo ranked among the wild races, since they were originally bred from such as wero tame. They are of a Spanish breed; (?) (he continues) which being sent thither upon its first discovery, have nnce become wild,^ and have spread over all the South of that vast Continent almost to the Straits of Magellan. It is not in the New but iu the Old World that we are to look for the ani- mal, in a true stai* of nature ; in the exten- sive deserts of Africa or Arabia, and those wide-spread countries that separate Tartary from tlie more Southern nations." And then there are herds of sheep iu the north of Mexico, apparently quite wild. Of these there are two varieties — one called the "Rocky Mountain Sheep," found inhabit- iua: the elevated region between the 4Hth and 60th parallels of north latitude, and near the head waters of tiie Columbia, the country at the sources ot the Marais. the Saskatchawan and Arthabaska rivers, but less numerous on the Eastern than on the Western slope of the Ilocky Mountains — r^nd a second, bearing the name of the American Argali or Ovis Pygargus, believed to be identical with the Ovis Amnion of Cen- tral Asia, Siberia and Kamscbatka. In- the time of Hernandez, it was known by the name of the " Sheep of California." It is believed to be undoubtedly of Asiastic origin, and its introduction to America to be of comparative recent date, since it has not spread east of the mountain range or south of Calfornia. Then the wildbison are also found in large l^erds, (of which the domestic ox is a vari<;ty), these together with immense flocks ot tcild turkeys, hold high carnival in a state of perfect liberty among the luxurious pastures of the great prairies of the west. The turkey wa.-* supposed by some to be a native of Peru, South America, but it is believed by other.s to be a native of the East Indies or Japatj, probably some of the isles of the Indian Ocean, whence it was brought lo America by the ancient Maiayun ittaratime adveu- turerB."--i^-*"P<^**i*^H-** * ^ r-- i^*'Ait^^--^ iA- Tropica! plants hihI varieties of j{ra«s*«t* © iixligenoua to oiher countries oul/, are found growing in the western sections of the conti- seQt, among ihese are the Maise and garden Bean. • We draw from the varicua relics whicli have been mentioned, and others time will continent among the people of the other hemisphere. Inquirers of the greatest care and intelli- gence believe that communication between the two liemispheres, did exist at a very re- mote period. Evidence of this they discover not permit us to refer to, that a great and j in the ruins to which we haVe referred, and powerful people, advanced in the arts and agriculture, and acquainted with the u>e of metala, held sway over :his continent prior to the red Indians. Ruins of ancient Pueblos, remarkable for their construction and immense size, some of which were con structed on opposite sides of streams, and connected by briJj^es, are scattered over the country, south of the great plains of the west. The Configuration of the soil, the existence of river-beds, long since ceased to flow, whose banks, once gay with a tropical Yerdure, plants, flowers and trees, have now given place to deserts ol sand, presenting everywhere a picture of desolation, so that Domenech and others who have explored these regions and written upon them, be- lieve that at some indefinite period this whole territory was densely populated by a Settled agricultural people, but who, by 80me great geological change, (perhaps vol the traditions of a.icient America, as well as in the traditions and myths of classical an- tiquity. The antiquities of Mexico and Central America, reveal religious symbols, devices, and ideas nearly identical with those found in all countries of the old world, where cushite communities formerly existed. They exhibit evidences of planet worship, with its usual orphic and phallic accompaniments. Rumbolt visited America, observed these remains of civilization, and was convinced that communication with the old world for- merly existed. The Abbe Domenech also trav- ersed the desert wilds of America and Mexi- co, and produced tvvo volumes as the results of his discoveries, abounding with evidences of l.n extinct civilization. Humbolt found evidences of it in the re- ligious symbols, the architecture, the hiero- glyphics, and the social customs made man- canic) taking place in the country, changing ifest among the ruins ; which he was sure the eoil from a rich and fertile country, well j came from across the seas, and in his view, watered, to a dry, barren, sandy desert, were compelled to seek a settlement else- where. Domenech suggests that the great centres of this ancient civilizaiion, was near the great lakes in Ohio, and in Mexico and Pera, whither the native repaired to have commercial interchange with each other. This he gathers from the discoveries of mica sheets, from the Alleghanies, shells from the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, and Obsidian from the mountains of Mexico, and tools of copper, with specimens of ore from Lake Superior, which are found buried, together with ornaments of silver, brass, stone, and bone in the ancient mounds of the Ohio, and whose origin and history seems as impene- trable as the night of ages. , In the history of mankind, we have recog- nised the age of rough stone implements, or .the age of primitive barbarism. The age of polished stone implements, or the dawn of i civilization, the age of copper tools, the age of brass ornaments and tools, and the modern OT iron age in which we live. To one of I these ages every relic of the past belongs. , Those found in America, represent the ilhree first ages, or thosp of rude and pol- r ished atone and the age of copper. , If it be granted that relics of a past civili- - iMition exist in the continent, which, no one .will deny, then it becomes a matter of in- f terest to enquire whether among the ancient 2 traditioaa of America or the writings and ^BiXtholugStf of the old world, any traces can be diaoovered of a.a acquaintAace with thi« the date of this communication was older than the present division of Asia into Chin- ese, Mongols, or Tartars, and Hindoos (na- tives of India). [Vide Researches concern- ing the institutions and monuments of the ancient people of America.'] The high state of agriculture, mechanical art, commerce, the profusion of gold and copper, and the religious views and domestic manners which were found to exist among the long since extinct Aztec and Zezcucon peoples, found in possession of the eastern shores of Mexico by the rapacious Spaniards are suggestive of a long period of peaceful possession and prosperity in that country, during which time they had succeeded in surrounding themselves with every conceiv- able kind of luxury; and there are traces of a superior civilization even bevond the Aztecs, They possessed a system of numer- als, and divided their years into 18 months of 20 days each — five complimentary days (as in Egypt) being added to make up the full number of 365 days. — They were also devoted astrologers, and their knowledge of astronomy is truly astonishing. They used the sun dial to mark the day, which was di- vided into 16 parts, commenoing at sun. ice. An immense circular block of carved stone, disinterred in 1790, in the great square of Mexico, has supplied the means of estab- lishing some interesting facts in regard to Mexican science. This collos&al fragment, on which the calender is engraved, shows that they had the means of settling the hours of the day with precision, the periods of the ■1r' Kolstiees and uf the cquitiuxe.i^ and tliat of the iranBit ol'thesun acro.ssthe zenitli of Mexico. It is liurdly pO:?siL]e that u nutiori so far advanced as the Aztecs in mathematical .science, .Hliould not have niude considerahie prugrebs in tlie mechatiical art«. Indeed, a dfgree of refinement is shewn hy intellectual ])i-(>;:re.'^8 of any kind requiring as it does a certain cultivatiuii of both useful and ele- gain art. Agriculture in Me.\ico was in the same advanced .state as the other arts of social life, their chief productions consisted of heans, Indian cijrn or maze, banana, the cacao — from which chocolate is derived — the vanilla, u.sed for flavouring their food and drink. The gigantic stalks of the great staple, Indian corij, afforded them a ?achar- nie matter which supplied the natives with sugar, little inferior to that of the cane it- .self ; but the mu^t miraculous productiua of their .«uil was the great Mexican aloe, or Maquey tree, who.se clustering pyramids of flowers towering above their dark coronals of leaves, were seen pprinkled over many a broad acre of the table-land. Its bruised leaves atFurded a paste from which they manufactured paper, its juice was fermented into an intoxicating beverage, ^•'d\\ed pulque, of which they were excessively fond ; with its leaves the more humble dwellings were that&hed ; thread of which coarse stuffs were made, and strong cords were made from its tough and twisted fibres ; pins and needles were made of the thorns on the extremity c* its leaves also, U of gold and silver, carving vessel them with their metallic chissela in a very delicate manner. Some uf the .•silver vases were so large that a man could not encircle them with his arms. They inuta- ted with great nicety, the figures of animals, and, what was extraordinary, could mix the meta's in such a manner that the feathers of a bird, or the scales of a fish, should be alternately of gold and silver. They used another metal, made of Jiztli, or obsidian — a dark transparent mineral, exceedingly hard, found in abun- dance iu their hills. This they made into knives, razors and serrated swords. It was said to take a keen edge although soon blunted, and wit)» it tliey wrought the vari- ous stones and alabasters employed in the construction of their public works and prin- cipal dwellings. These ancient Mexicans made utensils of earthenware for their ordi- nary purposes of domestic life. They made cups and vases of a lacquered or painted wood, impervious to wet,and gaudily colored. Their dyes were obtained from both mineral and veiietable substances. Among these was the rich Cochineal, the modern rival of the farfamed Tyrian purple — with this they gave a brilliant colour to the vvebs which were manufactured of every degree of fineness from the cotton plant — which grew in abun- dance in the southern parts of the country. The had the art, also, of interweaving, with these the delicate hair of rabbits and other a cloth of Aztec. We could not here enumerate tlie great varieties of plants — many of great liiedicinal virtue — which hav.e been introduced into Europe from those regions. Its tlowere also are of the moai variegated and gaudy col- ours, and now form the greatest attraction of our Greenhouses. They weie well ac- quainted with the mineral as well as the vegetaljle treasures of their country. They drew silver, lead and tin, from the mines of Tasco; also copper from the mountains of Zacotollan, taken not only from the crude masses on the surface, but also from veins wrought in the solid rc^ck, into which they opened extensive galleries. Gold was found on the surface and gleaned from the beds of rivers; tJiey cast it into bars, in which state, or in the form of dust, it made part of the regular tribute. Iron existed in the soil, but they knew nothing of its uses. They found a substitute in-an alioy of tin and copper; and with tools made of this bronze, could cut not only metals, but it is said, with the aid of silicious dust, the hardest substances, as basalt, porphyry, amethysts and emeralds. They fashioned these last, which were foun(^ very lai-gc, into many nirious and fantastic forms. They cast, ; and the root, when properly animals, which made a cloth of great cooked, was converted into a palatable and warmth as well as beauty, and of a kind al- nutritious food, it furnished, in short, meat, {together original to themrelves, on this they Irink, clothing and writing material for the | often laid a rich embroidery of birds, flowers or some other fanciful device. But the art in which they most dalighted was their plu- mage or feather work, and wi^h this they couid produce all the effect of a beautiful mosaic. ■:";, ^^T": J, .. /r'T^*'.;. Z-.Jy'':'f^^":\ The gorgeoiis pTuinage of the '.ropidal bikls, especially of the parrot tribe, afforded them every variety of color : and tlie fine down of the humming bird, which revelled in swarms among the honey suckle bowers of Mexico supplied with soft atrial tints, which gave an exquisite finish to the picture. The feathers pasted on a. fine eotton web, were wrought into dresses for the wealthy, hang- ings lor apartments, and ornaments for the temples. The profusion in which gold existed in Mexico and Peru, and the estimation in which it was held by these ancients was best seen in the manner in which it was used in liberal decorations of their temples " which one writer says ''shone resplendent by reason of the abundance in which it was used " and for the adornment and magiuficence of their princes. (Jf these the Tezcucans displayed by farthermost nuigaificence. Their gardenw, pala'jes, fbuntaius and temples exceed^ii those of every other portion of the country, a detailed account of which is given' by Fre.=cott in his reference to thegoldtn afgeo^ Tezcuco. ! the Huns,) whucunK' inucli later ixs {icacc- Truiislatious ia the Eii^li^h und Spimisli I ablf iiDinigrauts, but uniling witli the un- laiisuaKe;-! liave beeu nu^'le of ancient manu- I civilized Chiciiiniecs caused a civil war and scripts found in Mexico by Ihe Spaniards at i jiainod the ascendancy over the land, De.siri the time of the conquest ol that counti-y — { Charna;/, speaking of tha ruinsof the luicient one especially contains the advice oi an ■ city ot Mitla, points out that the most anci- Aztec mother to her daughter on the occa- eion of her marriage — inculcating tlie pre- ent architecture, paintings, mosaics and artistic designs are in the the higtiest style, cepts of mouogaiiiy ; conjugal fidelity, the | shewing marvellous workmanship, while the idea of a Supreme Being to whom we are respouiiible, and who sees ail our actions. This document also contained an admonish- ment to the bride to persevere in the practice vi' those graces and virtues which had ad,orned her ancestors-r-advice in fact alto- j^ether equal to what might be expected of a Chi'istian mother of the present day. The Abbe Jirasseur De J^ourbourg shews that the syjiibols of phallic worship were described by S])anish writers at the time of the conquest. That they were prevalent in the countries of Central America,abounding in Colkuacany a ciiy on the Gulf of California and at Panuco, (the former was at one time a flourisliing city and the capital of an important kingdom). -here Phallic institu- tions had existed from time immemorial. In the temples at Panuco, phallic symbols abounded, and also on the pnblic monuments. These with the serpent devices, the sun wor- 8hip,theremarkable knowledge of astronomy accompanying them, shews a system of re- of which, the Abbe says: "Asia ligion appears to have been its cradle as also that of the social institutions which it consecrat- ed." The traditions of the inhabitants of Mex- ico and Central America are very explicit, they uniformly assert that the ancient ! quarians of the present day later additions are in a much lower style and scem.to be the work of a people less advanced in culture and skill than the original found- ers of the city. The finest and most remarkable monu- ments found in these countries are believed to be remains of the ancient kingdom of Xibalba. Other traditions point to an exist- ing acquaintance with the country among the' Malays and Chinese. The Abbe Dc l>our- boui'g relates that there was a constant tradition among che people who dwelt on the' Pacific ocean, ■ that p;'ople ^frorn distant countries across the Pacific, (ormerly came to trade at the ports of Cor^tulco and Pech- ugui which belonged to the kingdom of' Tehauntepec. Again, the traditions of Peru tell of people who came to that country, by sea and landed on the Pacific coast, probably the Malays of the great Malayan maratime empire that- flourished, in ancient days. If we now turn to the ancient writings, traditions, and mythology of the old world' we will find much that points directly to an acquaintance with the ^'Atlantic or continent beyond the sea," which either refers to America or is utterly meaningless, which latter opinion is not entertained by any anti- American civilization came originally from the East ''across the ocean." In ancient mythology there is reference ta " a great continent beyond the Cronian sea. The Abbe de Bourbourg speaking of 1 meaning the Atlantic. And it was in the the earliest civilization ol the inhabitants uf these countries says; the native traditions generally attribute it to ■' bearded white men, v»-ho came across the ocean from the east." The history of Sahagun also states that according to the traditions of the people of Yucatan '• the original civilizers came in f-hips from the east." Montezumo related a similar tradition to the Spaniards. There were in Central America three classes of ancient inhabitants, first the Chichimiecs, who seem Atlautadis of Homer and Horace, ' beyond the ' western waters ' that the ancient poets placed their "Elysian fields." Theopompus, a learned historian and cele- brated orator, who lived in the days of Alex- ander the Gre^t, relates in his book entitled- Thaumasia, a very ancient dialogue which took place between Midas, king of Phrygia, and Silenus, in which the latter is made to say "there is a continent bevond the sea, the dimensions of w .chare immense, almost to have been the uncivilized aborigines of the i without limit, greater than Asia, Europe and country: The Colhuas, who were the first j Lybia (Africa) together ; and so fertile that civilizers, aiKi who were "the bearded j animals of prodigeous size, are to be seen whitemen" who aame in the earliest times i there ; as likewise a race of men, calling across the Atlantic, and who built Palenque j themselves Meropes, whose statue is mucli and other cities, originated the oldest and j greater than ordinary men, and who attain -> finest monuments of the ancient civilization, j to an extreme old age; that a great many and established the greatkingdom of Xibalba large towns and cities were to be found in celebrated in tradition and history; it com- ; that continent, one of which contained above - ]irised Guatamala, Chiapas, Yucata' , and | a million of inhabitants; and having different probably other countries. laws and customs from those of the people of The third class of inhabitants mentioned, Asia, Africa and Europe ; and finally, that !'!<>> the Toltecfe, a powerful race, (whom gold and pilver were found very common liumbolt believed derived their origin from over a'" the surface of *iiat vast countrj. 1 1 Anotlier writer narrated that these ^leropes were so persuaded that there was no conti- Tieiit but their own, tliat out of curiosity alone some of tlieui cros?ed the ocean and visited tiie liyperborofiiis. Another ancient writer, DioJorus of Sicily, in his fifth book chapter 11, has an important passage con- cerning this continent which is not mythical but historical, in which lieaffirniP that some Phenicians were cast upon the shores of an exceedingly fertile iciund situated opposite to Africa. The passage runs thus: Over against Africa lies a very great island in the vast ocean, many days sail trom Lybia west- ward. The soil is very fruitful, it is diversi- j fied with mountains and pleasant vales, and I the towns are adorneii with stately buildings. | Its* shores are indented with countless : navigable rivers, its fields are well cultivated and dotted with delicious gardens, and with plants and trees of every sort, finally he des- cribes it as being the most beautiful country known, with inhabitants wholive in spacious dwellings and every kind of abundance, of this the learned Domenech says, th.e recital made by Diodorus exactly corresponds v, ith that of the first Spaniar-ls who landed in Mexico. It is narrated of Hanno, who lived before the foundation of Rome, perhaps 800 B. C. that he made a A'oyage beyond the pillars of Hercules and visited a strange coast, which he reached by keeping due West, after tra- versing the ocean for tliirty dayT. The best autliors suppose this coast to have been Ameri-ca or one of the West India Islands, ! Homer, Horace iind 8olon, speak of the i Atlantidcs as being islands situated at a: distance often thousand stadia (a stadia is ! COGij English feet) west of Europe and Africa. | Aristotle speaks of tin island placed beyond j the straits of Hercules in these words : '' It I ]!? said that the Carthagenians have discov- | •ered beyond the pillars of Hercules, a very j fertile island, hut wliich is witliout inhabi- I tiints, yet full of forests, navigable rivers and ; abounding in fruit, it is estimated many ^ days voyage from tiie mainland." j Plutarch, also, has a, passage quoted by j Humbolt, in which mention is made in unmis- ' taki'.ble terms of a great transatlantic ccnti- i iient, and of a mysterious stranirer. who ; ^anie from that distant country to Carthage, | where he lived many years, about 300 B, C. : According to Cabrera, the ffrst Cartha- i genian emigration to America took place I during the first punic war. \ According to Sandoval, a succession of | emigrations came from Ceylon, Java, and I i. Mi\ the south of India to America,' many I centuries before Christopher Columbus. In ' support of this, carved figures representing! the gQu Boudha of Java, seated on a Siva's I head, w^re found at Wxmal, in Yucatan. ! It is Will established that a knowledge of! 1 Xhe American continent existed in China I and Japan long before the timcof Columbus. M. de Guigies i*elying upon the (^hinese chronicles preserved in the Chinese work entitled Pran. y. fien, attribute-* the Peru-i vian civilization to emigrations proceeding from the Celestial empire from Japan and the East Indies; recent investigations seem to confirm this opnion. M, T>aravey in the year 1844, proved that the province of Fus- any described in tne Chinese annals was nothing less tha'n Mexico, known to them in the 5th century, and the Abbe DeBuurbourg says in his introduction to the Popolvxih. '"It has been known to scholars nearly a century that the Chinese were acquainted wiih the American continent in the 5tl> century of our era, their _ships visitei it, they called it P\i-sang, and said it was situated at the distance of 20,000 li (about 7000 miles} froqi Ta-Han." A competent authority upon these matters J. Hanley, the Chinese interpreter, in San Francisco, has lately written an essay upon this subject in which he makes the follow- ing startling statements, drawn from Chin- ese historians and geographers. Fourteen hundred years ago even America had been discovered by the Chinese, and de- scribed by them. They stated that land to be about 20,000 Chinese miles distant from China. About 500 years after tiie birth of Christ, Buddhist priests repaired there, and brought "back the news that they had met with Buddhist idols and religious writings in the country already. Their descriptions, in many respects, resemble, those of the Spaniards a thousand years afler. They called the country "Fusany." after a tree wliich grew there, the Maquey tree, whose leaves resemble those of the bamboo, whose bark the natives mad'rica, tliei^e weajv-!».s are believed by the cd beep transplantei, and wlio returned fn;ni A'irtrinin uii'd the coast of Carolina (called f:reaX Irela,nd) to setile in the island of •'apar ai; 1 the southeastern coast of Iceland. Im the a.iclent rec )rds of Iceland are given aceo'jnts of christian Papas or fithers who . returijci from izvi^.xt Ireland on the west, /AniP":ci)to lij'^land to instruct then', in the j>r:nc:pl 'S t.f [he christian religion, about SOO 'veaj- after tlip birlh of Curist. Accounts Hre given also of , persons who having been fi^^^^ awav in ship-, landed upon a western poast (jailed 'Mmitra manna lantl" or the '*' Q'^\}^.frv of tjip ^iiite M,en,'") ThG-^6 I titovies are considered as authentic and are I considered an in; pcrtant proof in favor of the prevailing opinion that at a very early per- ; iod of the christian era, Irish Cuhjines exist- 1 ed on the coast of the Carolinas and farther south. These events transj)ired about A. P. 800. and are tJie first authentic acC'.tunts that we possess of a discovery of the main portion of the North xVmerican Continent by Europeans. Tiio lu-arned Abbe Brasseurde Bourbourg in a not'.; to his translation of the P..ipol-Yuh, 3 lys on this matter, "there IS an abun be found the accounts ! of the Normans fir> the Ancients and was compara- ' fern trees and grasses must liave required a lively well known to Europeans in the early ' period of 210,000 years, aS the minimum part of the Christian era, centuries before : time, for their accumulation (tssuming tiiat ColuniLus is heard of. or the classics dreamt of changing their putristic geography. The period or extent of time that must liave elapsed since the abandonment of the ancient riKinuinents of America, of which we it is impossible to sup}X)8e tliat they were formed taster than at the rate of one tenth of an inc!> iu a year), and this unfolds to uf but a fragment ot geological time. Or i( we discover from it tiiat the great liave spoken — sufHcient to allow of firests of. chasm, seven nnles in length, tiirongh v. hich so ancient a character to hmve become I flow's the Niagara River, frjin Ait J'la >d 14 to Queeneton !ieightfi, required a period of over thirty taousand years for its ex- cavation. Or that in certain fluviatile beds, numerous specimens of tlie Masto- don-Giganteus have been found, on the shores of lake Ontario, one at a great depth in Burlington heights, Hamilton, and one in the old river bed on Goat Island ; and that these individuals must have lived and flourished (says Sir Charles Lyell in his ** Age of deposits in North America,") pre- vious to the gradual excavation of that deep long chasm, for this ravine is not only post glacial but also posterior in date to the mas- todon bearing beds. Or, again, if the depres- sion of the fern forests, which now form the coal beds of Nova Scotia took place at the rate of four feet in a century, there were re- ^'^; ^. ■' -nyi-iA.- .:\.\U " ': , /rfj^- i 'ii^'i;- 77