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GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
OF
CALIFORNIA
SPECIAL BULLETIN
A PAPER BY
THOMAS CRAWFORD JOHNSTON, ESQ.
"DID THE PHŒNICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA ?”
EMBRACING
The Origin of the Aztecs, with some Further Light on Phoenician Civilization and
Colonization.
The Origin of the Mariners' Compass.
The Original Discovery of America.
ILLUSTRATED
Appearing in the "Californian Illustrated Magazine,"
November and December, 1892
Copyright, 1892, by Thomas Crawford Johnston
J.
S. F. PRINTING CO., 411 MARKET
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ン
​

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ORE.
VIRES ACQUIRIT EUNDO
1
Geographical Society of California
Incorporated 11th December, 1891
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
BUILDING
PRESIDENT
DAVID STARR JORDAN, M. D., LL. D., PH. D.
(President of the Leland Stanford Jr. University)
VICE-PRESIDENTS
FRED W. D'EVELYN, M. B. C. M., EDIN.
DIRECTORS
COLONEL JOHN O'BYRNE
GEO. W. DAVIS, M. D.
WM. HAM. HALL, C. E.
GEORGE A. MOORE
HENRY F. EMERIC
PETER MACEWEN
EDGAR D. PEIXOTTO
HON. W. H. PRATT, U. S. Surveyor General
TREASURER
R. H. McDONALD, JR., Vice-President of the Pacific Bank
SECRETARY
J. STUDDY LEIGH, F. R. G. S.
BANKERS
THE PACIFIC BANK
¡

THOMAS CRAWFORD JOHNSTON
GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
OF
CALIFORNIA
SPECIAL BULLETIN
A PAPER BY
THOMAS CRAWFORD JOHNSTON, ESQ.
“DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA ?”
EMBRACING
The Origin of the Aztecs, with some Further Light on Phænician Civilization and
Colonization.
The Origin of the Mariners' Compass.
The Original Discovery of America.
ILLUSTRATED
Appearing in the "Californian Illustrated Magazine,"
November and December, 1892
Copyright, 1892, by Thomas Crawford Johnston
E
109
P 5
57
Librarian
So-bele
7-13-40
41221
?
PREFACE.
Perhaps no question has so much perplexed the scientists of the past four hundred
years as the vexed one of the origin of the Aztecs and the ancient and high civilization of
Central America that confronted the Spanish conquerors on their arrival, and that up to the
present period has received no satisfactory solution. It is therefore with great pleasure
that this Society presents to the scientific world the following most valuable and scholarly
paper of Mr. Johnston's which seems in a fair way to clear up the mystery which has so
long shrouded this interesting region.
In order that this desirable result may be attained we invite the co-operation of the
learned in this and other countries and shall be happy to receive communications either
throwing light on the three absorbing topics embraced in this paper or inviting discussion
on whatsoever points may appear doubtful, so that d'accord with Mr. Johnston we may be
enabled to furnish such information as the vast fund of material which he has collected
bearing on those topics can afford, and which he has hitherto abstained from utilizing in his
work with a view to the attention of the reader not being diverted from the main issues by
its length.
In the meantime we venture to make a few remarks which may possibly be of some
assistance in arriving at a decision with regard to the correctness of Mr. Johnston's
theory.
According to the traditions still existing amongst the Central Americans, and so much of
the Aztec manuscript literature as escaped the destructive hands of the Spaniards and is
to be found in the elaborate work of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, the earliest Amer-
ican civilization originated in Yucatan and the neighboring districts, a region which is
amongst the most fertile in the New World. There, about 1000 B. c., Votan, the first of
the American legislators, established himself, anl Palenque, said to be the oldest city in
Central America, was founded. He and his people evidently came from the West for it is
stated that they found the whole coast from Darien to California occupied by a barbarous
people, thus showing that their first discoveries were made on that, and not on the East side
of the continent, at the same time that it will be apparent to any one acquainted with the
geographical configuration of this region that this journey must have been undertaken in
ships and not by land. Votan appears to have made four voyages to and from his original
country and stated that in one of them he visited the "dwelling of the thirteen serpents"
(Benares) as also the ruins of an old building which had been erected by men for the purpose of
reaching heaven. Now these four voyages would seem to correspond to an equal number
of the joint ones of the Jews and Phoenicians, which, according to the best historic infor-
mation, ceased with the death of Solomon-viz., in forty-five years, but at what period those
of the Phoenicians, when undertaken alone, came to an end, it is impossible to determine
with the limited knowledge at our disposal.
We have here, however, facts which have long been within the scope and cognizance of
the scientific world; the great difficulty consisted in ascertaining the nationality of the
strangers who arrived on the west coast of America clad "in long flowing robes" and who
had evidently visited Benares and the ruins of the Tower of Babel as above intimated.
The identification of two stages of the voyage was thus established, but what were the
intermediate ones? How were the vast intervening spaces traversed at a period when
navigation was comparatively in its infancy? The solution of this difficulty seems to have
been overcome by Mr. Johnston. Being familiar with the history and architecture of the
Phoenicians and Aztecs and with the facts above stated, he was fortunately placed on the
5

6
PREFACE.
track of discovery of the missing links in Votan's voyages by the examination of the
massive masonry existing in many of the Polynesian Islands which he spent a considerable
time in visiting, and which appeared to him to be of indisputably Phoenician origin. There
still remained one problem not easy to solve, viz., how the Phoenicians, if the builders of
that masonry and the original discoverers of America were really of that nation, could find
their way across considerable stretches of ocean without the aid of the pole star which in
ancient times was their guide in the northern hemisphere-that difficulty, however, in Mr.
Johnston's opinion, disappeared when he discovered a design of the mariner's compass in
the celebrated so-called Mexican calendar stone, the antiquity of which is unknown and
whose origin he also ascribes to the same source. (In this connection it may be mentioned
that this Society has recently received from Don Leopold Batres, the Mexican Govern-
ment archæologist, a pamphlet descriptive of this stone which he calls the "Piedra de
Agua" or "Water Stone," possibly on account of the Aztec hieroglyphic for water being
found at the foot of the southern point of the compass.
It might seem strange that the Phoenicians should make use of that instrument in
their voyages in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and their acquaintance with it not be sus-
pected during the long duration of their navigation in the Mediterranean, to the Cassiterides
or Tin Islands, the Baltic Sea, etc., but this may be accounted for as being one of the precau-
tions they adopted to conceal their routes of travel from possible rivals. That they should have
preserved this secret for so long a period does not however seem more strange than the loss
of the secret known to them for tempering copper. It may here be added that among
the Jews and Phoenicians the south pole was the emphasized point, being considered by
them the right hand of the world, and if we seek the magnetic positive pole of the earth
it is the south pole, because the negative point of the needle vibrates in that direction,
demonstrating that the Phoenician compass was scientifically more correct than the modern
one.
It has been objected that the Phoenician ships were not of sufficient size either to con-
tain an adequate quantity of provisions and water for a voyage of any great length or even
to make those voyages if in the open sea. The following quotation from the Encyclopedia
Britannica would seem to be a conclusive answer. "It is not hard to understand how the
ancients made navigation also an invention of the Phoenicians, whose skill as seamen was
never matched by any ancient people before or after them. Even in later times Greek
observers noted with admiration the exact order kept on board Phoenician ships, the
skill with which every corner of space was utilized, the careful disposition of the cargo,
the vigilance of the steersmen and their mates. All their vessels, from the common round
"gaulos" to the great Tharshish ships, the East Indiamen, so to speak, of the ancient
world, had a speed which the Greeks never rivalled."
Another point has already given rise to criticism, viz., that Mr. Johnston should lay
so much stress on the enormous quantities of gold brought to Judæ and Tyre on the
return voyages of the Phoenicians. The expressed idea is that it was imported from Arabia
and India and not from America. True it is that, according to x chap. 1st Kings-the
Queen of Sheba presented Solomon with one hundred and twenty talents of gold (about
$3,600,000); the Phoenician contributions were, however, far greater. But when the source
of supply of another precious metal, silver, has to be determined, it is clear that it cannot
be ascribed to either of those two countries and that such a seemingly fabulous quantity as,
according to the same authority, was received by Solomon (who on that account seems not
to have set much value on the metal) can only have come from such large silver producing
regions as Mexico and Peru. A great deal was undoubtedly brought from Spain, but this
consideration is entirely irrelevant to the voyages commenced at the head of the Red Sea
and ending with cargoes of "gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks" the latter of which
could only come from India.
Mr. Johnston begins the title of his paper with the words, "Origin of the Aztecs,"
but scientists will at once recognize that this is simply a generic term covering the

PREFACE.
7
D
various divisions and subdivisions of the races occupying the regions in question
prior to the arrival of the Spaniards-supposing Mr. Johnston's theory to be correct.
Those races must be considered in a great measure the issue of the inter-marriages
of the Phoenicians with the so-called savages whom they found in occupation of the country,
but whom they may possibly have so designated because they were not equally civilized
with themselves.
According to Biart (“Les Aztecs") it is beyond all doubt that the monuments to be
found in the ruins of the extremely ancient cities of the whole of Central America are the
work of a single race executed in different ages and obeying identical conditions of art and
civilization.
Dr. Morton divides the American races into two primitive ones—the Toltecan and the
American—the former embracing the civilized nations of Mexico, Peru and Bogotá, the
civilization of the Bogotese being, like their geographical position, intermediate between
the Peruvian and Mexican. That civilization was clearly derived from the same
source and we can now give a little attention to that of Peru so far as regards resemblances
between their arts and those of the Phoenicians, for instance: their masonry was of an
exceptional character; like the Phoenicians they understood mechanics sufficiently to move
stones of vast size, even of thirty feet in length, of which specimens are still to be seen at
Cuzco and which are of an identical nature with those found at Mayapam, on the Island of
Rappa, and as substructions of Solomon's temple; they had the art of squaring blocks for
building with great accuracy ;and it is now known that the Peruvians had hard chisels made of
copper with a mixture of thirteen per cent of tin, a proof of considerable experience in the
working of metals. This would coincide with what we learn of Phoenician proficiency in
metallurgy and especially their well-known skill in the use of bronze.
We may now conclude with a slight resumé of similarities to be found between the two
nations and which may tend to still further elucidate Mr. Johnston's theory and prove its
correctness.
1. When the Spaniards arrived in Mexico, Cortez received from Montezuma charts of
the harbors on the coast and we know from Herodotus that the Phoenicians were accustomed
to survey those with which they traded.
2. It is scarcely necessary to recall the fact that both the Aztecs and Phoenicians were
traders on a large scale.
3. They were equally expert in gem engraving and the manufacture of jewelry.
4. To both of them the use of paper was common, with the Phoenicians in the shape of
papyrus; with the Aztecs, manufactured from leaves, especially those of the aloe.
5. They had an almost identical cosmogony.
6. The earliest traditions of the history of the world, including the deluge, the build-
ing of the Tower of Babel, and the confusion of languages were common to both.
7. An intensely spiritual conception of the Deity was a distinctive feature of the early
religious worship of both peoples, while the decadence of the Phoenician worship which
ultimately degenerated into the appalling custom of human sacrifice was equally true in the
case of the Aztecs, at the same time that that decadence and the successive changes in the
modes of worship might almost seem to have been contemporaneous at what, according to
Mr. Johnston, might well be called the extremities of the Phoenician empire.
Still quoting M. Biart: "At the festivals in honor of Tlaloc, the Aztec Neptune, he was
worshipped with strange ceremonies and human sacrifices, especially of children, and in
the cemetery not long since discovered by M. Desiré Charnay on one of the slopes of Popo-
catapetl only bones of children were found; it is therefore considered by the learned Dr.
Hamy as the burial place of the young victims so sacrificed. It scarcely needs to be repeated
that this was also a peculiar feature of Phoenician worship.
8. Duplicates of the gigantic aqueducts built by the Phoenicians for Solomon are to
be found in Mexico.
9. The Lotus was a decoration common to both nations.
8
PREFACE.
10. The existence in both countries of a calendar of apparently identical origin. M.
Biart considers that the chief title of the Aztecs to glory even in the eyes of Europeans
has for a long time been their calendar which, being a lunar one, presents the principles of
both the Egyptian and Asiatic (Mr. Johnston has pleaded for the substitution of the word
Phoenician" for " Egyptian.") For the rest the Spaniards discovered that the Aztecs
were in possession of a calendar, which, to their great astonishment was found to be more
correct than the Gregorian.
This preface cannot be considered complete without a reference to the centenary of
Columbus' discovery of this Continent, which just now constitutes one of the most prom-
inent topics throughout the world. Should even an universal consensus of scientific opinion
be in favor of Mr. Johnston's theory it would not detract in the smallest degree from the
merits of that great man, owing to whose adventurous spirit we are now enjoying the bene-
fits of that discovery and not to the deeds of an extinct race however worthy of admiration
and respect.
To the members of this Society it is unnecessary to introduce Mr. Johnston as he has
already made his mark in this city. To kindred Societies we recommend a careful perusal
of his paper which will, we think, give them ample indication of the fine type of mind
which has been employed in the laborious elucidation of the, at first sight, most intricate
problems which it discusses.
In order that the topics of absorbing interest contained in Mr. Johnston's paper may
obtain all possible publicity and a wide local field be opened for their discussion arrange-
ments have been made for its publication in the now widely known Californian Illustrated
Magazine.
This special bulletin will shortly be followed by the ordinary bulletin containing the
proceedings of the Society.
SAN FRANCISCO, September 15, 1892
J. STUDDY LEIGH
Secretary.

500
Yaninia@nininipi
EX
BAY
Fig. 1-Aztec Calendar or Water Stone.
L
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA ?
No. I.
BY THOMAS CRAWFORD JOHNSTON.
IEUTENANT A. G. FINDLAY,
F. R. G. S., in describing the
stone remains on the Island of
Rappa, in the Austral group, says in
his
South Pacific Directory:" "On
the summit of six of the highest hills
are to be seen square terraces, or forti-
fied places, some of which are of very
elaborate construction; but what is
very singular, they are mostly solid
within. The stones are well squared,
of very large size, and well cemented,
and are evidently analogous to the
terraces described on Easter Is-
land."
Again, in describing Easter Island,
he says: "This is one of the most
9
interesting spots in the Pacific. It is
remarkably isolated, as it is some two
thousand and thirty miles from the
coast of Chile, and one thousand five
hundred miles from the nearest inhab-
ited land, except Pitcairn Island, so
that its people and their history are
an ethnological problem, worthy of
much consideration, while their origin
is one of the most important problems
connected with the migrations of races.
How the early navigators in their
canoes managed to reach this lonely
spot, in the teeth of the usual
tradewinds, is one of those mysteries,
the solution of which would clear up
many difficulties in the history of


ΙΟ
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
the early races and civilization of carefully fitted together; but another
Peru and Central America.
"The character of the architectural
and other remains evidently points to
Fig. 2-Sieumanu, Governor of Apia, Samoa.
an Eastern origin. This little island,
therefore, as a stepping-stone to the
solution of this question, is of more
than ordinary interest.
Its position
should afford a clue to the mystery of
its original settlers.
settlers. It is near the
southern verge of the southeast trades,
which blow during the Southern
summer, from October to April, when
they commence and leave off, being
strong for about a fortnight. During
the rest of the year, it is in the tropi-
cal variables. For a few months,
westerly winds prevail, which bring
much rain. It is therefore probable
that this was the time of the voyage;
but how such a craft could be guided
due east, without a compass, will be
a mystery to modern navigators.
"The papakoo, or cemetery, on
Easter Island, is a terrace, or platform,
by the sea, made of rolled sea stones
very singular structure found there
is the platform on which numerous
images have been placed. They are
built on the land facing the sea, and
constructed with large unhewn stones
fitted with great exactness. On this
platform are numerous images, now
prostrate; some low pillars, appar-
ently used for sacrifice, and others for
burning bodies, as burnt bones were
found near them. Similar platforms
have been found in the islands to the
northwestward, especially one buried
under guano, on Maldon Island, and
this, again, connects them with anal-
ogous ruins in Peru."
Mr. Rawlinson says of the Gibeon-
ites: "They were specially skilled
in the hewing and squaring of
those great masses of stone with
which the Phoenicians were wont
to build, and we probably see their
work in those recently uncovered
blocks of enormous size, which
formed the substructions of Solo-
mon's Temple (1 Kings, v. 18).
At a later date, they were noted as
'caulkers,' and were employed by
the Tyrians, to make their ves-
sels water-tight, Ezekiel (27 and
29)."
That there should be any connec-
tion between the Phoenician race, the
origin of the Aztecs, the mariner's
compass, the ancient cities and high
civilization of Central America, the
substructions found on the Islands of
the Pacific, and those of Solomon's
Temple, seems too wonderful to be
true, and yet I think that the data


Fig. 3-Easter Island Platform, center stone five and a
half tons.
contained in this paper will remove
any future doubt on this subject.
During a year and a half spent


DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
II
among the Islands of the South
Pacific, just prior to the Samoan war,
I came across some facts that so
arrested my attention as to awaken a
new line of inquiry, that in course of
time has woven itself into a series of
connected and inter-related data, of so
extraordinary and far-reaching
nature, that I now feel that it is time
to call the attention of the scientific
world to them, in order that a larger
field of observation, and a more
numerous body of capable investi-
gators may verify or contradict the
conclusion arrived at.
a
Those who are acquainted with
Mr. Rawlinson's scholarly work on
the Phoenicians may remember his
description of these people. He
says: "They were of a complexion
intermediate between the pale races
of the North and the swart inhabi-
tants of the South, having abundant.
hair, sometimes curly, but never
woolly. They were above the me-
dium height, and had features not
unlike the Aryans, or Caucasians,
but somewhat less refined and regu-
lar, the nose broadish and inclined
to be hooked, the lips a little too
full, and their frames inclined to
stoutness and massiveness, while
both in form and feature they resem-
bled the Jews, who were their near
neighbors, and not infrequently inter-
married with them."
It is impossible for one to spend even
a short time in Samoa without realizing
how suitable such a description would
be if applied to the Samoans, while
each day's observation of them, their
habits and customs, would only deepen
the conviction that the observer was
in contact with a people whose social
usages must, at some possibly remote
period, have been in very close touch
with Hebrew institutions. The only
point on which there is any weakness
in the description is the nose, and
this is easily accounted for by a curi-
ous custom that prevails over these
islands of manipulating the cartilages,
while the child is young, so that what
they call the disfigurement of the
canoe nose" of the Semitic may be
removed-a custom that is univer-
sal over these islands. Not only
is there to be found circumcision and
the test of virginity, neither of which
has the adopted Christianity of to-day
removed, but marriage itself is hedged
about with restrictions in the form of
a table of consanguinity that is almost

Fig. 4-Lanetiti, Sieumanu's Wife.
a duplicate of that found in the Bible,
while the intensely spiritual form of
the early native worship, with an
almost total absence of idols, gives
cause to look for further evidence of
the relation that at some date must
have existed between these people.
I am aware that there are many
other and different types found in that
region, but that is only what may be
expected when we recollect the influ-
ences that have been at work, and the
time that has elapsed since the first
settlement. This, however, does not
weaken but rather
weaken but rather strengthens the
claim of such evidence as we now find
of the presence of the Phoenicians in
that portion of the Pacific.
That a high civilization, having an
identical origin, must, at some remote
period, have prevailed throughout

12
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
Polynesia, no one who has come in
contact with the native usages, and
the various stone remains on Easter,
Rappa, Ascension, Marshall, Gilbert,
Ladrones, Swallow, Strong's, Navi-
gator, and Hawaiian Islands, can for
a moment doubt; and, curiously
enough, the native traditions of all of
them refer their origin to some land ly-
ing in the direction of the setting sun
The relation of Strong's Island to
round the harbor, which had been
occupied by a powerful people called
'Anut,' who had large vessels in
which they made long voyages east
and west. Many moons being re-
quired for these voyages."
When we come eastward, and reach
Mexico, we find the evidence of their
presence intensified a thousandfold,
not only in the architectural remains
where the conglomerate decorations

Fig. 5-Feisamoa, Chief, with Feather Head Dress.
this line of research is a peculiarly
interesting one. At the entrance to
the harbor may be seen a quad-
rangular tower, forty feet high, and
some stone-lined canals, while on the
adjacent island of Hele are cyclopean
walls formed of very large stones,
well squared, which form an enclosure
overgrown by forests. These walls
are twelve feet thick, and in them are
vaults, artificial caverns, and secret
passages. The natives of this island
have a remarkable tradition, namely:
"That an ancient city formerly stood
carry the marks of their peculiar genius
as clearly as the Greek does in its
own way, but also in the form of relig-
ious worship, which is clearly Phoeni-
cian in its base and entire outline.
The human sacrifice, and the idol,
half-man and half-brute, are beyond
question those of the Phoenician Baal
or Moloch; while on the various
bronzes we see the winged disc of
Egypt, which Mr. Rawlinson men-
tions as one of their peculiar designs.
And perhaps more curious still, we
*Fig. 17, in Part II, this article.


DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
13

find among the remains of this people
in the ancient and Capital city of
Mexico what has been called a calen-
dar stone (Fig. 1), which anyone may
see at a glance is a national monument
of a seafaring people in the form of a
mariner's compass, and to which they
probably attributed the fact that they
had discovered this new world.
entire thirty-two parts into which
what we are accustomed to call our
improved compass is divided are pres-
ent, while in the main point will be
seen the faces of Cox and Cox, the
Mexican Noah and his wife, the first
recorded navigators, and underneath
these the Aztec symbol for water.
The wonder does not, however,


Fig. 6-Siotolana, Maid of Village Samoa.
On looking at this stone carefully,
it will be noticed that the only feature
giving weight to the Calendar theory
is the hieroglyphics on the inner
circle, which correspond to the twenty-
day month of the Aztec. When, how-
ever, we read the stone as a memorial
of the compass, it is far otherwise, for
it will be seen that there is not only a
north and a south, but also the other
and remaining cardinal points, duly
emphasized; and amazing to relate,
not only this, but in subdivisions the
cease here; for if we place the stone in
the correct position with reference to
the sun-god, in the center, it will be
observed that the determined point is
not north but south, and that in this
respect it is identical with the Chinese
compass, indicating that it must have
had its origin among a people accus-
tomed to navigate in latitudes to the
south of their permanent home.
Now this so corresponds with our
knowledge of the main trend of early
Phoenician navigation and commerce
14
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
as to form a fresh and interesting link
in this chain of evidence; and this the
more so because we know that the
Chinese compass was a rude and
altogether unsatisfactory instrument,
having only twenty-four points,
whereas we find in this the evi-
dence of a comprehensive apprehen-
sion of the scientific value and use of
the instrument, which were essential
to the wide-spread navigation, and
characteristic of the finished work
and mathematical precision of the
Ocean, where the pole-star cannot be
seen, and where, indeed, if it could,
the knowledge of its existence would
be of little use to them. All steering
is done by a determined north; either
a true north or a magnetic north, and
we know that the magnetic qualities
of metals were known to the Phoeni-
cians, for Sanchoniathon ascribes to
Chronos the invention of "Batulia,
or "stones that moved as if they had
life," and we know that Chronos
lived two thousand eight hundred

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ALL
£
Him
Fig. 7-Easter Island Platform.
Phoenicians. But apart from this, there
are some historic facts in existence
which, while isolated, might be
questionable data, that in connection
with this receive a new value.
That the Phoenicians ventured on
long voyages, there can be no ques-
tion, for Herodotus makes a distinct
statement to this effect, and says they
were accustomed to steer by the pole-
star. In this he simply wrote as a
landsman would. Mariners do not
steer south by east, or due east or
west, as these Phoenicians were
accustomed to do on their historic
route, by the pole-star, for the
simple reason that the main trend of
their navigation was in the Indian
years before Christ. We therefore
conclude that the knowledge must
have passed from the Phoenicians into
China, the more so because McDavies,
whose elaborate investigation of the
history of the compass has made him
one of the eminent authorities on this
subject, states that the earliest date at
which it was known in China was
2604 B. C.; and, curiously enough,
the term used by the Chinese two
hundred years after Chronos, is
almost identical in its significance.
with that of the Phoenicians, the
Chinese compass being called the
Tche Chay, or directing stone.
The history of the Phoenicians was
a remarkable one for many reasons,
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
15
for apart from the fact that they
claimed to be the most ancient of
mankind, and in their day exercised
an influence on the world that in these
late years finds a suitable counterpart
only in the history of the scientific,
commercial and philological suprem-
acy of the English-speaking peoples,
yet their ruling characteristic seems
time, they were on the most familiar
footing, the Egyptians, Hebrews,
Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks and
Persians not only welcoming them to
their territory, but, as if by mutual
compact, protecting their caravans and
opening their ports to their merchant-
men, whose business it was to cater
to their needs and adapt themselves to

5
***
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الد سلام
*7.13 Sorlie..
4:4
Fig. S-Easter Island Platform.
to have been not so much their indi-
viduality as their pliability-a char-
acteristic that was absolutely essential
to their colonial and commercial suc-
cess.
They seem to have had a wonderful
faculty of adapting themselves to
every condition of human life, and to
the peculiar bias and feeling of the
varied civilized and uncivilized peo-
ples with whom they came in contact
in course of their mercantile ventures.
They were not warriors, although
they did and could fight when occa-
sion called for it, but even then, as
Alexander found, the quality that was
opposed to his force of arms was not
warriors so much as men of the
keenest intellectuality, who used that
power by methods never dreamed of
by their duller opponents.
With all the great nations of their
the requirements of every country
with which they had established busi-
ness relations.
In consequence of this fact, as Mr.
Rawlinson points out, their commer-
cial relations with these varied peoples
had a reflex influence on themselves,
their work, wherever found, showing
that in their metallurgy their motives.
are invariably either Egyptian or
Assyrian, while their sculptures usu-
ally showed a large admixture of
Greek.
This is a most important point, and
I seek to emphasize it, for it is the
key to what, up to this date, has been
an unsolved enigma of unusual impor-
tance, the solution of which will set
in operation a new set of facts, whose
influence will be so far-reaching as to
afford more or less light on some of
the most interesting as well as per-
16
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
plexing of the ethnological and
philological problems of to-day.
Of all the nations of their time, the
Phoenicians stood in the front rank.
In the practical arts, as well as in the
exact sciences, they were in their own
wide sphere, without a competitor.
They were masons, dyers, glass-
blowers, workers in metal, and at the
same time carpenters and shipbuilders,
but beyond all other peoples, navi-
gators and explorers, being the first
to face the dangers of the open ocean,
and make known to civilized nations,
not only the remoter regions of Asia,
Africa and Europe, but, as I think I
shall succeed in demonstrating, the
first to discover America, and the
authors of the ancient and high civil-
ization found there, which, up to this
time, has been an unsolved enigma.
Of the wares which they purveyed
to the various nations using their
commodities, many samples have in
ifill!!
Fig. 9-Aztec Vase with Assyrian Decoration.
these late years been found, that give
much light on the influences that
seem to have been at work in the
manufacturing establishments of this
extraordinary people, and as this is
essential to a complete understanding
of the subject, I may say that Mr.
Rawlinson, whom I have followed
closely in this investigation, points
out that the Phoenicians had two
instructors in their gem engraving,
namely, Babylon and Egypt, deriving
from each certain features of their
practice.
Animals, for the most part griffins
and sphynxes, but often accurately cop-
ied from nature, form the great staple of
Phoenician art. The subjects of their
designs, however, show little orig-
inality, being in almost every case
adapted either from Egypt or Baby-
lon-the hawk of Raa, the Egyptian
sun-god, the cynocephalous ape,
sphynxes, winged disks and serpents,
drawing of an original character being
shown only in very few instances.
It is impossible to overrate this
testimony as to the peculiar bent of
the genius of the Phoenicians, for in
its own broad line of demarkation, it
not only makes them a unique people,
with an apparent mission to the
remainder of mankind, but likewise.
enabled them to fill what was as
essential a sphere in the populating
and civilizing of the outskirts of the
then known world, as was the genius
of the Greeks for a more limited
sphere, or of the Jews for the preser-
vation of a pure moral code, when the
remainder of mankind had run riot
with undisciplined excess.
It is not strange that it was so.
Indeed, it was on just such lines that
we would expect to find the genius of
a great mercantile people develop
itself, for the reason that their success
depended in no small measure on
their recognition of the fact that the
national, and especially the religious.
prejudice of the peoples to whose
wants they catered must be respected
as well as stimulated. As artists and
artificers, there was ample room for
the exercise of their peculiar genius in
the production of wares whose form
and adornment would be acceptable to
the highest culture, and as merchants
in providing such wares as would
command the readiest sale among the
wealthier portions of those communi-
ties, where the highest forms of civil-
ization were found closely associated

t
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
17
. . . .
with all acceptable forms of govern-
ment. Of course, in the less civilized
countries it would not be necessary to
follow so closely this idea, and the
various articles in less active demand,
as style or pattern altered, would
naturally find their way to the less
frequented routes.
The flexibility of the Phoenicians,
like that of the English, who are their
modern and legitimate successors in
their peculiar sphere, was phenomenal.
tions found in such localities as they
are supposed to have visited by an
early English standard, would inev-
itably build data far removed
from the real facts of the case.
The determining quality in such
matters is neither Saxon nor Nor-
man; the solution will require to
be found on totally different lines,
since the strongest evidence of their
presence will not be found in any one
type so much as in the proof of their

м
Fig. 10-Ruins of Palace at Palenque-after Charnay.
He who would attempt to trace, a
thousand years after this, the course of
English adventure over the face of the
earth by comparing the languages
found in such localities as they were
supposed to have visited with the
Saxon root, would inevitably fail, for
the reason that it has now incorporated
inflections from every quarter in which
English influence has been felt, and
is, in consequence, the most flexible
as well as the most conglomerate of
all modern languages, and will become
increasingly so as time and the influ-
ence of the people and the language
increase. So, also, he that would
seek to determine the limit of the
presence of the English-speaking
peoples by measuring the stone erec-
versatility, and their faculty to make
tributary to a wide and pressing com-
mercial need the best found suitable
to their purpose, in every country that
has come in contact with their in-
Aluence, not simply reproducing
designs, but with peculiar skill adapt-
ing them, with suitable modifications,
to new conditions and environ-
ment.
In consequence of this fact, we must,
therefore, expect to find the marks of
the national life of the Phoenicians
most pronounced in what were, during
their time, new localities, and in places
where the circumscribing and limiting
influence of a large civilization (which
is usually conservative) is absent; and
in consequence of this fact, it may be
IS
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
wise to consider shortly one or two
points.
As masons, the Phoenicians were in
request by Solomon in the erection of
the temple; and as the record of this
association will be helpful in the
elucidation of this problem, I will
refer to it shortly.
It is doubtless well known to all
readers of Scripture that a warm
friendship existed between Hiram,
King of Tyre (by which name Phœni-
cia at that time went), and David,
King of Israel. In Kings, 5th
chapter, we read: And Hiram,
King of Tyre, sent his servants unto
Solomon; for he had heard that they
had anointed him king in the room of
his father: for Hiram was ever a lover
of David." What the nature of the
message sent to the young King of
Israel by this old friend of his father's
was, we do not know, but it is appar-
ent from what follows, that it was a
message that contained much more
than mere congratulation, and was
probably accompanied by an offer to
the son and successor of some tangible
evidence of the warmth of his feelings
towards the memory of his deceased
father, and of his interest in the future
of the young king; however that may
be, the reply sent by Solomon showed
his peculiar fitness for the onerous
position that he had been called to
fill, and bore on the face of it evidence
of so lofty an affection for his deceased
parent, and so loyal a desire to carry
out his last wish, that Hiram not only
acceded to the request of Solomon,
but in the words of the seventh verse
of the chapter "rejoiced greatly and
said, blessed be the Lord this day,
which hath given unto David a wise
son to rule over this great people."
The result of this interesting and
affecting exchange of courtesies be-
tween the old and the young kings
was that Hiram undertook in con-
junction with Solomon the erection of
the temple at Jerusalem, in fulfillment
of David's last wish, and also of the
projected palace of Solomon at
Lebanon. Hiram, undertaking to
fell the necessary timbers for both
buildings in the forests of Lebanon,
bring them down the rivers on the
winter floods, and deliver them in
rafts to such ports as Solomon should
find to be most desirable, the only
stipulation mentioned was that Sol-
omon provide food for the various
camps or households of workmen fur-
nished by Hiram. Of the stupendous
nature of the operations, which were
in this manner inaugurated, we may
form some idea from the following
quotation from 1 Kings, 5th chap-
ter. And the Lord gave Solomon
wisdom, as he had promised him: and
there was peace between Hiram and
Solomon; and they two made a league
together. And King Solomon raised
a levy out of all Israel; and the levy
was thirty thousand men. And he sent
to Lebanon ten thousand a month by
courses; a month they were in Leb-
anon, and two months at home; and
Adoniram was over the levy. And
Solomon had threescore and ten thou-
sand that bare burdens, and fourscore
thousand hewers in the mountains;
Besides the chief of Solomon's officers,
which were over the work, three thou-
sand and three hundred, which ruled
over the people that wrought in the
work.
And the King commanded and
they brought great stones, costly stones,
and hewed stones to lay the founda-
tion of the house. And Solomon's
builders and Hiram's builders did hew
them, and the stonesquarers; so they
prepared timber and stone to build the
house." That is, there were thirty
thousand timber fellers in Lebanon,
seventy thousand burthen bearers,
eighty thousand hewers, and three-
thousand three hundred overseers, or
in rotation, as explained, a total of
one hundred and eighty-three thou-
sand and three hundred Jews; and if an
equal number of Phoenicians were
added, an army of men amounting to
three hundred and sixty-six thousand
six hundred employed in this joint
undertaking, which explains, in con-
junction with the geographical situation
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
19
of Phoenicia, the necessity for Hiram's
request, and the obligation of Solomon,
as we find it in the 11th verse: "and
Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand
measures of wheat for food for his
household, and twenty measures of
pure oil; thus gave Solomon to Hiram
year by year."
There is one point in this connec-
tion which it is necessary to under-
stand in order that we may obtain
some light not only on
on the char-
from the Greek, is very contrary to
the art of the Hellenes. Grecian
architecture starts from the principle
of the division of the blocks of stone
into small pieces, and avows this
principle boldly. Never did the
Greeks derive from Pentilecus blocks
of a size at all comparable to those of
Baalbec and Egypt. They saw no ad-
vantage in them; on the contrary, they
saw that with masses of this kind,
which are to be used entire, the

Fig. 11-Mural Decoration at Uxunial-after Charnay.
acteristics of Phoenician
Phoenician architect-
ure and the substructions found in the
Pacific, but also on the enormous
army of laborers, or as they are
called here burthen bearers, em-
ployed on this work.
Archi-
M. Renan, in his work on
tecture, says: The foundation of
Phoenician architecture is the carved
rock, not the column, as with the
Greeks. The wall replaces the curved
rock without entirely losing its char-
acter. Nothing conducts to the belief
that the Phoenicians ever made use of
the keyed vault.
"The principle of monolithism,
which ruled the Phoenician and Syrian
art even after it had adopted much
architect had his
had his hands tied; the
material, instead of being subordinated
to the design of the edifice, runs
counter to the design.'
The Syrian and Phoenician archi-
tects and even those of Egypt are at
the command of their material. The
stone does not submit to the shape
which the artist's thoughts would
impress upon it; it continues to be
with them mere rock, more or less,
that is to say, undetermined matter.
This is the reason why the Grecian
architects never made what we meet
with at every step in Phoenicia, at
Jerusalem, in Persia, in Syria, in
Phrygia-architectural works in the
living rock.
Ꮩ
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
No. II.
BY THOMAS CRAWFORD JOHNSTON.
AST walls, in which the courses
are of colossal size, brought from
the quarry in some sort ready-
made, so that the characteristic work
of a building, made with care, was
that no sound of hammer or saw was
heard during its erection (1 Kings iv
and vii) - such was the essential
character of Phoenician monuments.
ܙ ܙ
The time consumed in the building
of the temple, we learn from the
6th chapter and 38th verse, was seven
years; and from the 7th chapter and
Ist verse, we learn that thirteen years
were occupied in the erection of the
palace at Lebanon, while from the
10th chapter and 21st verse, we
gather some information that seems
almost more wonderful than the erec-
tion of the temple and palace, namely,
that while this enormous drain was
still affecting the resources of the
people, all the vessels of the house
of the forest of Lebanon were of pure
gold; none were of silver: it was
nothing accounted of in the days of
Solomon." While in the 27th verse,
we read that, during this period,
Solomon made silver to be in Jerusalem
as stones; and the writer, as if appre-
ciating the incongruity of the facts
related, offers in the 22d verse what is
intended to be a satisfactory explana-
tion, namely, "For the king had at sea
a navy of Tharshish with the navy of
Hiram once in three years came the
navy of Tharshish, bringing gold
and silver, ivory, and apes and pea-
cocks."
For a considerable time prior to this,
Phoenician enterprise had opened a
way by land across the larger portion
of the western side of Asia, which
placed them in communication with
the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the
20
Persians. The course of this traffic is
distinctly traceable as far as the mouth.
of the Indus, and must, being over-
land, have been an unsatisfactory
method to so distinctly a maritime.
people as they were; for there is no
doubt that whatever access they pos-
sessed to the Red Sea and the Indian
Ocean for naval purposes was due to
the favor of the Egyptians. Shortly
before this date, however, Solomon,
by his conquests of the Edomites, had
come into possession of the important
seaport of Ezion-geber, at the head of
the Gulf of Elam, on the Red Sea, and
knowing how acceptable such a place
would be to the Phoenicians, turned it
over to them; and it must have been a
gift of no inconsiderable value, since it
gave them access to a new port, under
their own control, where they could
build such ships as might be necessary
for the conduct of their business in
the Indian Ocean and Ceylon, along
the shores of both of which countries
they had quite a large number of
business centers.
In return for the opening which
they thus obtained for the extension
of their business towards the east, the
Tyrians conceded to the Jews a par-
ticipation in the trade, which they
had carried on for so long a time with
the nations in that direction; and to-
wards its fuller development, two fleets
were formed, to which each of the nɛ-
tions contributed both ships and men.
In 1 Kings ix, 26, we read: “And
king Solomon made a navy of ships.
in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth,
on the shore of the Red Sea, in the
land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the
navy his servants, shipmen that had
knowledge of the sea, with the ser-
vants of Solomon. And they came to
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
2Ι
1
Ophir, and fetched from thence gold,
four hundred and twenty talents, and
brought it to King Solomon.”
The only difficulty there is, in
understanding this passage, is the
Fig. 12-Tablet of the Cross Palenque.
mixture of the Phoenician navy with
the ships of Tharshish, but this diffi-
culty will disappear, when we recol-
lect that vessels of that build were
pre-eminently suitable for making
long voyages and carrying large
freights, which would be necessary,
since it is expressly stated that these
voyages were so extensive as to occupy
a period of three years; and the
Phoenician ships of that time were
little better than open boats, so that
by dovetailing these facts, we arrive
at the following proposition: That
in connection with King Hiram, King
Solomon built at Ezion-geber a navy
after the pattern of the ships of Tharsh-
ish, which were more suitable for
carrying large freights and venturing
on long voyages than the Phoenician
biremes; and officering and manning
them with Phoenician seamen,
sent them to or by the land of
Ophir, on a series of voyages
which occupied a period of three
years each.
To the Jews, all the land lying
in the direction of the Indian
Ocean, on the east side of Babel-
mandeb, went by that name; the
term was as comprehensive as
ours is, when we speak of travel-
ing east or west. We know,
however, that the territory in the
direction of the Indian Ocean
was more familiar to the Phœni-
cians than to any other nation
of that time, for it is beyond
question that their chief renown
was not based on their caravan,
but on their maritime expedi-
tions, and that the lower portions
of the Indian peninsula were
reached like Ceylon, as suggested
by M. Ragozin, in his masterly
Work on Assyria, in large
armed vessels of the same build
as the Tharshish ships,” which
were used in the expeditions to
England.
The question naturally arises
here, Where did these large
armed vessels go, since the period
consumed in the voyages is ex-
pressly stated as three years, and the
freight carried on the return voyages was
gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks?
It is only natural that we should
find considerable difficulty in answer-
ing this question, when we recollect
that the vessels were manned by
Phoenicians, who were accustomed to
preserve with great secrecy the sea
routes over which they traveled, and
the destinations for which they set
out, lest some other nation trading on
their enterprise should follow and sup-
plant them, as the Greeks had
supplanted them nearer home. To
such an extent was this precaution

22
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
used, that a story has been preserved.
of a Phoenician captain, who, while on
his voyage to the Tin Islands," as
England was called, finding himself
pursued by some Roman ships, and
being unable to escape, deliberately
ran his vessel ashore, losing vessel
and cargo, besides drowning his crew,
so that he might not be questioned,
and the route found out-
a deed
ture. The cost of the vessels, the
unique nature of the enterprise, and
the importance of the voyages, drew
into that charmed circle the very élite
of Phoenician science and culture, that
class of men who have passed beyond
the merely animal tendency of life,
and rising above fog and miasma,
live in an atmosphere mainly intel-
lectual-men who dominate
their

رنامه
އ
Fig. 13-Pyramid of the Moon and Pathway of the Dead.
which was recorded at Tyre as one of surroundings, and in touching them,
the highest patriotic heroism.
It is here that the average investi-
gator has come to a standstill, and in
consequence of this that so many
curious answers have been given to
the question. Where were the gold
mines of Ophir, and this land that
yielded to Solomon one year thirty
million dollars and another twenty
million, and what evidence have we
of the location?
It has seemed to me that the only
way in which we could obtain light
on this enigma was by following the
traces of Phoenician influence and civ-
ilization, and this the more so when
we bear in mind the class of men who
officered these fleets, some account of
which we find in the 27th chapter of
Ezekiel. This was no rude, uneducated
horde, set adrift on voyages of adven-
leave an indelible trace of their pres-
ence and influence behind them.
(
The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad
were thy mariners, thy wise men that
were in thee, O Tyrus, were thy pilots."
(Ezekiel 27th chapter, 8th verse.)
We are still, however, confronted
by many difficulties, for though the
Phoenicians invented the alphabet,
and possessed a literary and scientific
knowledge of a high order, they seem
to have turned it all into practical
channels; so much so, indeed, was this
the case, that they do not appear to
have written any memorial of their
extraordinary career as a nation, or
of their exploits and adventure as
merchantmen and pioneers, although
their experiences in many cases must
have been as thrilling as they were
unique.
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
23
The object of the Phoenician mer-
chant was wealth, not fame, and while
possessing that unique quality of
inflexibility of purpose which won for
them in their own, if not for all time,
a pre-eminent position among nations.
they seem to have stopped there; for
record other than fragments, we have
found none.
Their enterprise it is impossible to
overrate. About the time of which
we write, their business establishments
were spread not only along the shores
eastward, for apart from the dangers
that beset the coast line of Europe,
and the tempestuous Bay of Biscay,
on the voyage to England, the Phœni-
cians from the most ancient times
believed that the pillars of Hercules—
those sentinel gate posts of the Strait
of Gibraltar-marked the end of the
world, beyond which lay the mysteri-
ous deep, into which Baal Melkarth,
the glorious sun-god, plunged nightly,
on his journey to the east, and whither
it was sacrilege for mortals to follow.

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Fig. 14-Chart of Phoenician Travel.
of the Mediterranean, from Phoenicia
to the Atlantic, but also along the
entire sea route from Ezion-geber and
the Red Sea to Ceylon. What need
was there, pray, for a new and double
fleet to pursue this course? The navi-
gation of the seas to the westward
required not only courage, but an
abandon, with respect to religious
respect to religious
prejudice, that it is hard for us with
the larger mental liberty, that is the
birthright of Christianity, to realize;
and that did not and could not condi-
tion the navigation of the ocean to the
If the reader will now take up the
map of the world, he will, I think,
obtain some new light on this enigma.
By following the line, from the head
of the Red Sea down to the Straits of
Babelmandeb, and from that to the
coast of India, and on to Ceylon, he
will have before him the known track
of Phoenician commerce; but if from
Ceylon he will continue the line to
Java and Sumatra, and from thence to
Mulgrave Island, in Torres Strait, pro-
ceeding to the Caroline Islands, Tonga,
Samoa, Rappa, in the Austral group,
24
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
and from thence to Easter Island, con-
necting therewith the coast of Amer-
ica, at Mexico and Peru, he will have
located a series of islands and points
on the mainland, which contain
remains of substructions of a charac-
ter identical with those found under
the remnants of Solomon's Temple,
and marked with those peculiarities
described by M. Renan, which he
demonstrates were not only a marked
feature, but were indeed characteris-
tically peculiar to Phoenician archi-
tecture.
If we now follow the northern line,
and enter Mexico at Yucatan, we are
confronted by buildings that not only
contain evidence of this peculiar
Phoenician method, in the size and
nature of the substructions, but whose
composite decorations leave no room
for doubt as to their origin. Not only
do we find strong evidence of Greek,
Egyptian and Assyrian influence, but
also, in plainest form, the Phoenician
wall previously referred to.
What nation of ancient times but
that of Phoenicia ever was permitted
to have a foothold in the land of the
Pharaohs, of a nature that would
influence them to such sympathy with
Egyptian art as would lead them in
other lands, and among a new set of
surroundings to reproduce it? There
was 110ne. To the civilization of the
period, of which we write, Egypt was
as completely closed as China, one
hundred and fifty years ago. One
nation, and one nation only, was per-
mitted to possess a permanent home
in its boundaries, and that one because
it was well known that the supremacy
it sought was mercantile, and not
territorial, in consequence of which it
so won upon the Egyptians, as not
only to be permitted to establish itself
at Memphis, and erect a temple for
the worship of its own gods, but so
completely subordinating Egyptian
prejudice, as in late years to have
some portion of its deities added to
the Egyptian pantheon.
The Egyptians never were seamen.
How, then, do we find so strong an
Egyptian influence among the remains
of the ancient cities of the New
World? The explanation is a simple
It is not Egyptian, but Phoeni-
cian art, and this the more so that the
one.

Fig. 15-Aztec Idol-Egyptian Type.
type is not merely Egyptian, but quite
as strongly Greek and Assyrian.
It is a somewhat remarkable fact that
the Phoenicians had an almost uninter-
rupted intercourse with the Greeks,
Persians, Assyrians and Jews, as well
as the Egyptians, and it seems that
their commercial supremacy and the
advantage which the association gave
to these countries was the means of
engendering not only a native skill,
but also a versatility and range of
method and design in art, as well as
architecture, that was not obtained by
any other of their time.
We could scarcely expect to find
much similarity between Greek and
Egyptian architecture or art. The
intercourse between these nations was
much too casual to warrant one look-
ing for it, but it would not be unreas-
onable to expect evidence of the influ-
ence of both of these countries as well as
of the others previously mentioned in
Phoenician remains, when we recol-
lect that the workshops and merchants
of Phoenicia made it their peculiar
business to cater to the needs of all of
them and curiously enough, the art
and the architecture found in Mexico
are just such as we would expect to
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
25
find produced by such a set of cir-
cumstances, when the restrictions of
a local market and a peculiar need
were removed.
In the architecture, as we see from
these photographs after M. Desiré
Charnay, the buildings are, as de-
scribed by M. Renan, of pronouncedly
Phoenician origin, and the decoration
not only Egyptian, but Greek, with
an unmistakable trace of Assyrian and
Persian, while, when we come to the
art of the Aztec, we find that the mo-
tive in the winged vase from Mexico
contained in the figure, is no other
than the winged disk of Egypt and
Phoenicia (Fig. 17).
We shall, however, leave this aspect
of the question, by simply calling
attention to the pieces of mural decor-
ation which speak so emphatically for
themselves, in the light of the fore-
going, and shall pass shortly to the
religious beliefs of the Aztecs and
Phoenicians, where we shall meet a
series of not only corroborative, but of
startlingly corroborative facts.
Starting originally as monotheists,
the Phoenicians, in process of time,
clothed each of the attributes of the
deity with a distinct personality,
which quickly developed into Poly-
theism, with a principal god and a
number of lesser and tributary deities,
who were supposed to act under his
guidance, and subject to his control;
and so widespread was the influence
of this form of belief emanating from
them, that it became not only the
basis of the Greek and Roman super-
stitions, but in various modifications.
seems to have overrun the face of the
earth, as peopled at that time. In
process of time, however, strange
developments were produced by this
mongrel worship and the decadence
from their once simple and pure faith,
so that the original conception of the
deity was ultimately buried beneath a
mass of superstition, that in time
sapped the very vitals of Phoenicia, ast
a nation.
Having once embarked in poly-
theism, the Phoenicians soon imported
into their system new and strange
ideas of the deity. Baal became
identified with the sun, and Ashtoreth
with the moon, and a general belief that
the anger of the gods was best averted
by human sacrifice prevailed; and to
such an extent did this prevail, that
in the later years of the nation's his-
tory not only in Phoenicia proper, but
throughout its entire colonial system,
there was an established practice of
offering up human sacrifices, especially
in times of public calamity, which
bore the most terrible aspects in par-
ents sacrificing their children to Baal,
under the presumption that being the
most precious possession of parents,
they were the offering most certain to
appease the wrath of the supernal
powers. When we now come to the
Pacific, we find the traces of this belief
spread from shore to shore, not only
in exact form in Samoa and Tahiti,
but sacrifice by mutilation in nearly
every island on this route laid down,
and as might be expected in most
pronounced form, where the largest
traces of their influence and civiliza-
tion are most apparent.
Among the early inhabitants of
Mexico, human sacrifice prevailed to
an appalling extent, and, curiously
enough, we find that the deity at
whose shrine this usually took place
was one which, while going under
another name, corresponds exactly
with the Phoenician Baal or Moloch,
this deity, among the Aztecs, being
represented by an image, half-human,
half-brute, with a cavity in front; and
when we turn to the Chinchemecs, we
find the old and distinctly Phoenician
custom of an open-air worship of the
sun and the moon, and the strange
usage of presenting to the sun the
bleeding heart, torn from the victim
before throwing it with the rest of the
carcass at the feet of the image to be
consumed with fire, while as many as
twenty thousand victims were offered
some years as a propitiation not confined
by any means to adults, but as in the
more degenerate days of Phoenicia,
including children of both sexes.

Arrows
Fig. 19-Pyramid of the Sun, Mexico.
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
27
Not
Like the Samoans and Tahitians,
the Aztec's idea of a supreme being
was that he was independent, abso-
lute and invisible; so much so, that
none of these peoples ever attempted
to represent him by image.
only did the Aztec, like the Samoan
and Maori, believe in the existence
of the soul as distinct from the body,
and regard it as immortal, but they
located the entrance to the other
world at a determined point to the
tion of the early Phoenician pantheon-
being men who found out and taught
Not fire by
to mankind this secret.
drilling, nor fire by striking stones,
but fire produced by the friction of
portions of the branches of trees; and
on the line of this migration across
the Pacific, not only in Samoa, Tahiti,
and Easter Island, but in Peru and
Mexico the plan pursued is the same,
and there seems to be no doubt that it
was of peculiarly Phoenician origin.

15
اليلنا !
A
ין
All
Ka
Thous
Fig. 16-Mural Decoration, Palenque.
westward, a circumstance that speaks
volumes for their origin, and which finds
an interesting correspondence, not only
in the Samoan Falealupo, but among
the Marquesans. These, from time
immemorial, but certainly reaching to
a date within historic record, fitted
out expeditions, and ventured on long.
voyages in search of the Elysium, which
the tradition of their ancestors reported
lay in a land toward the setting sun.
Again, we find a correspondence in
the Aztec plan of making fire. Philo
ascribes to the Phoenicians the dis-
covery of the means of producing fire
by the friction of two pieces of dry
wood, Phos, Phur and Phlox-a por-
But why attempt to continue this
argument? I have in my possession
still some twenty points of striking
similarity between the Aztecs and
the Phoenicians, and most of these are
of a nature that removes them out of
the sphere of chance. But I forbear,
for there has surely been enough said
to convince the most skeptical as to
the connection between the Phœnician
and the Aztec.
In conclusion I quote some short
paragraphs from the "Encyclopedia
Britannica's" article on America'
that seem so pertinent to the whole line
of this research, as to make a suitable
setting to all that has preceded.
28
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
Votan, it seems, came from a for-
eign land, and found the whole coun-
try, from Darien to California, occu-
pied by a barbarous people. Votan
and his followers arrived in large ships,
and wore long, flowing garments.'
According to one document by Ordonez
this event is laid a thousand years
before Christ.
It is desirable to notice that this
date corresponds exactly with the
dates given in the Bible narrative of
the historic voyages of Hiram and
Solomon, and the building of the
temple, which was about 1000 B. C.
This journey to America from their
native country was a long and painful
one and indicates that seas and lands
intervened between them. The tradi-
tion reports it to be in the far East,
and that the first comers filled seven
ships.'
Votan made four voyages to his
native land, and on one of these voy-
ages he visited the dwelling of the
thirteen serpents."
This undoubtedly refers to the tem-
ple in the ancient City of Benares on
the River Ganges.
This City of Benares is one of the
most ancient on the face of the globe,
and was the religious center of India
for centuries before the Christian era,
being the birthplace of Hindoo
mythology. Here special attention.
was given to the worship of the gods
incarnate in the serpent and monkey.
The Rev. Mr. Sherring, in his
"Sacred City of the Hindoos" (1868)
savs :
"Twenty-five centuries ago, at
least, it was famous, when Babylon
was struggling with Nineveh for
supremacy, when Tyre was planting
her colonies, when Athens was grow-
ing in strength, before Rome had
become known, or Greece had con-
tended with Persia, or Cyrus had
added luster to the Persian monarchy,
or Nebuchadnezzar had captured Jeru-
salem, and the inhabitants had been
carried into captivity, she had already
risen to greatness, if not to glory.
Nay, she may have heard of the
fame of Solomon, and sent her
ivory, her apes and her peacocks to
adorn his palaces, while partly with
her gold she may have overlaid the
Temple of the Lord."
All of which receives a peculiar
value in the light of what has preceded,

A
ANTAKATA LA
Fig. 17-Aztec Vase, with Winged Disc Symbol.
and is emphasized, if a little attention
be given to the Aztec Molloch, where
the drapery of the image will be found
to be serpentine in form, and bearing
the symbolic four hands of the goddess
Kali, the wife of Shira, to whom the
were
Monkey temple,' at Benares was
erected, and at
erected, and at whose shrine daily
sacrifices of human victims.
offered, up to a comparatively recent
date, when the English Government
interfered.
Votan also visited the ruins of an
old building which had been erected
by men for the purpose of reaching
heaven. The people who lived in its
vicinity told him it was the place.
where God had given to each family
its particular language."
1
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
29
We have no difficulty in recognizing
this as referring to the "Tower of
Babel," at Borsippa, a suburb of
Babylon, and in doing so the chain
becomes, link by link, more complete ;
but curiously enough the case does
not rest even here, for Humboldt in
nations received it from a common
source, and no one so perfectly fills
all the necessary conditions of the
case as the Phoenicians.
If anything more were necessary
to a complete establishment of this
theory, we find it in another interest-

Fig. 18-Aztec Molloch.
or
which says:
The architectural character of the
oldest towns lend some support to the
considerable antiquity claimed for
them."
เเ
describing the Aztec cycle of fifty-two ing paragraph from the same source
years, gives strong reason for believing
that it was borrowed from an ancient
Zodiac formed of twenty-seven
twenty-eight lunar houses, which was
made use of from the remotest
antiquity, in Tartary, Thibet and
India, which divided the month into
four weeks of five days, and enable
us to trace a distinct connection be-
tween the Mexican and the Asiatic
nations. Of course, we are com-
pelled to believe that these several
The ruins of Mexico and Central
America present so many different
architectural styles, that it seems very
probable that they were built at dif-
ferent times, and by different peoples.
Those which appear to be oldest,
and which are most uniform in
30
DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?
style are, the substructures in Maya-
pam."
The native traditions held that
Quetzalcoatl traversed the peninsula,
from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and
on reaching the last ocean, sent back
his companions to tell the Cholulans
that in a future age his brothers,
white men and bearded like himself,
would land there from the sea,
where the sun rises, and come to rule
the country.'
To this I append a note of the gold
and silver yield of Mexico, in support
of the contention that this was the
location referred to in Scripture.
GOLD.
SILVER.
TOTAL.
$70,000,000 $2,090,000,000 $2,160,000,000
£418,000,000 £432,000,000
$900,000,000 $950,000,000
£180,000,000 £190,000,000
1537 to 1821... £14,000,000
$50,000,000
IS21 to ISSO... 10,000,000
£24,000,000 £598,000,000 £622,000,000
$120,000,000 $2,990,000,000 $3,110,000,000
First.
SYNOPSIS.
We find a correspondence
between the architectural remains in
Mexico and those of Europe and Asia.
Second. We find that the details of
this art are not a distinct type but
composite, and the product of a variety
of sources.
Third. We segregate this com-
posite art, and reduce it to its original
sources.
Fourth. We determine the nation,
and the condition under which the
amalgamation took place.
Fifth. We show that they were
the only people capable of making
this journey and this amalgamation.
Sixth. We know that they made
such journeys.
Seventh. We show a motive for
these journeys.
Eighth. We trace the course they
pursued.
Ninth. We determine from historic
records the date at which the journey
took place.
Tenth. And show that the religious
beliefs of both were identical, and
consequently conclude that in conse-
quence of this and the other matters
referred to, the Aztec was the product
of Phoenician adventure and civili-
zation.

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