BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/bookofmormonveriOOphilrich 
 
No. 231 
 
 Jhe 
 Book of Mormon 
 Verified j 
 
 Established by Forty Eminent 
 Archaeologists and Authors 
 
 BY ELDER A. B, PHILLIPS 
 
 LAMONI. IOWA 
 
 Published by Herald Publishing House 
 
 1912 
 
NO. 231. r ' 3 
 
 The Book of Mormon Verified. 
 
 Established by Forty Eminent Archaeologists and Authors. 
 BY ELDER A. B. PHIULIPS. 
 
 The Book of Mormon was published in 1830, copy- 
 righted June 11, 1829, and the plates from which it 
 was translated were first received by Joseph Smith in 
 1827. It comes to us as the record of the ancient 
 inhabitants of America, of whom but little was then 
 written and much less known. But much has been 
 discovered concerning these mysterious aborigines in 
 recent years which almost perfectly accords with the 
 Book of Mormon record in its prominent features, 
 thus confirming it as a true history of these ancient 
 people of whom numerous ideas have been advanced 
 concerning their origin. On this point A. J. Gonant 
 says, page 113: "None of the many theories, some 
 of which seemed quite probable at first view, have 
 withstood the test of later investigations." — Foot- 
 prints of Vanished Races, published 1879. 
 
 Notwithstanding the failure of all these theories, we 
 confidently present the only work ever claiming to 
 give a true record of these ancients, believing inves- 
 tigation will show it to be genuine. 
 
 Short's North Americans of Antiquity, published 
 in 1880, says, on pages 144 and 145: "Closely alHed 
 to the theory of the ten lost tribes, is the claim set 
 forth in that pretentious fraud, the Book of Mormon. 
 . . . The claim, of course, merits mention only on 
 the ground of its romantic character, and not on the 
 supposition, for a moment, that it contains a grain of 
 truth.'' 
 
 As the Book of Mormon shows that the first peo- 
 ple came to America nearly or quite five hundred 
 years before any of the twelve tribes were in exist- 
 ence, and the second colony consisted of less than 
 twenty grown people, as recorded, of the tribe of 
 
2 BOOK OP MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 Joseph, we fail to see that it is **closely allied to 
 the theory of the ten lost tribes.'' But it is hardly 
 proper to insert romances in a scientific work 
 which is evidently what Mr. Short feels that he has 
 done, and we expect to show that the Book of 
 Mormon is not a romance, but contains **a grain" 
 of truth in each of its statements that we shall 
 examme, which will relieve Mr. Short of the result 
 of his conclusions, which, however, he has p-iven 
 without showing wherein the Book of Mormon con- 
 tains anything untrue. 
 
 It is claimed that in 1827 the Book of Mormon 
 plates were delivered by an angel into the hands 
 of Joseph Smith, being inscribed in characters 
 called reformed Egyptian, and was translated by 
 means of Urim and Thummim, instruments similar 
 to those used anciently by Jewish priests. (1 
 Samuel 28:6; Exodus 28: 30.) It is a record of 
 the descendants of Jared and his people who came 
 from the Tower of Babel about 2240 b. c. (Gene- 
 sis 11:9), and also of a people who were of the 
 tribe of Joseph who came from Jerusalem 600 b. 
 C., and of the people of Zarahemla who came to 
 America at the time Zedekiah was carried a can- 
 tive to Babylon. ^ 
 
 At the time the Book of Mormon was published 
 what little was written of the antiquities of this 
 continent was almost entirely in foreign publica- 
 tions, and so expensive that few even knew of their 
 existence; in fact it was not until several years 
 afterward that the more important discoveries were 
 made, and these discoveries have corroborated the 
 Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon statement 
 that a colony came from the Tower of Babel, not 
 only agrees with Genesis 11:9, but also with the 
 traditions had by the American aborigines, of 
 which St. Giles says in his Faiths of the World, 
 page 298, ''almost all tribes preserved the story of 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 3 
 
 a flood and a great destruction and repeopling of 
 the earth; there were many legends, too, reminding 
 us of the scriptural Babel Tower. ... As in the 
 Bible, the differences of dialect are accounted for 
 by the interposition of Deity causing confusion of 
 tongues." 
 
 Charnay's Ancient Cities of the New World, pub- 
 lished in 1860 and 1884, says on pages 15 and 16 of 
 introduction: "Wo are constantly referred to the 
 tradition of a foreign origin and the native flood 
 myths. ... As a sequel to the flood myths we come 
 upon traditions of the building of a tower of refuge, 
 and this has. led some writers to identify the Ameri- 
 cans with certain of the builders of Babel, who were 
 scattered over the earth after the confusion of 
 tongues." How does the Book of Mormon, which 
 was published before these works containing the 
 aforementioned traditions, happen to agree with dis- 
 coveries since made known to the public, unless it is 
 a true record? 
 
 On pages 501 and 502 (small edition) of the Book 
 of Mormon, we find: ''The brother of Jared did cry 
 unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon 
 their friends, and their families also, and they were 
 not confounded" in their language. This is con- 
 firmed by Bancroft in "Native Races," volume 5, 
 pages 20 and 21, published in 1875, as follows: "It 
 is found in the histories of the Toltecs . . . that man 
 and all the earth were destroyed by great showers 
 and by lightning^ from heaven, so that nothing 
 remained, and the most lofty mountains were covered 
 up and submerged to the depth of caxtolmoletltU, or 
 fifteen cubits ; and here they add other fables of how 
 men came to multiply again from the few who 
 escaped the destruction in a toptUpetlacali ; which 
 word very nearly signifies a closed chest; and how, 
 after multiplying, the men built a zacuali of great 
 height, and by this is meant a very high tower, in 
 
4 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 which to take refuge when the world should be a 
 second time destroyed. After this their tongue 
 became confused, and, not understanding efoh 
 other, they went to different parts of the world '' 
 Fnest s American Antiquities, edition of 1835 
 fnFiX ?T °,V^^ confusion of tongues, accoS^^ 
 ing to their traditions: "Among them were fifteen 
 
 speak the same language, and these were the Taltecs 
 Aculhucans and Azteca nations, who embodied 
 themselves together, which was very natural, and 
 traveled, they knew not where, but at length arrived 
 Amiica'''"''^ ^^*^^^" °'' *^^ lake country in 
 The Book of Mormon states that they went north- 
 ward into the valley of Nimrod, and from there "into 
 the wilderness, yea into that quarter where there 
 never had man been;" they crossed many waters 
 
 ri1!^i^P^^e*?03.*'^* ^''' ^'^ Which Videth 
 Nineveh and Calah were about four hundred miles 
 nor h and Calneh and Erech east and southeast, and 
 Fhilistim southwesterly from Babel, (see Gen. 10- 10 
 
 Ih i*'.^^u° ^?^® ™^P'> Therefore it logicall^^ 
 follows that they traveled west or northwest if thev 
 went where "never had man been," and after arriv- 
 ing on the border of the ocean they built boats "tight 
 
 i'S.'^Ki" ^- ^'!^ ^^^ ^'•«"^^<i *° Central Amerka, 
 probably, in three hundred forhr-four days, and 
 built a great city by the narrow neck of land " 
 Also in this region they built "many mighty cities." 
 (See Book of Mormon, pages 617 and 520.) 
 
 ..rpK ^l^^^ ^^y^ °^ *^®i'' traditions, on page 298: 
 They have come over the sea, come from the far 
 Jiast, great oceans have been crossed, lone iour- 
 neyings have been performed." Concerning the 
 remains of their "many mighty cities," Bancroft says 
 m Native Races, volume 4, page 145, that Stephens 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 5 
 
 and Catherwood "boldly left the beaten track and 
 brought to the knowledge of the world about forty- 
 ruined cities, whose very existence had been pre- 
 viously unknown." These explorations were made 
 from 1840 to 1849 and hence could not have been the 
 source of the Book of Mormon record, which must be 
 what it claims or it could not have stated this fact 
 more than ten years in advance of science, and 
 before their "very existence" was known. 
 
 The Jaredites were skilled in the arts and sciences, 
 their remains being similar in some respects to those 
 of Egypt, from which they probably learned to some 
 extent before their emigration to America. On this 
 subject, Nadaillac's Prehistoric America, first pub- 
 lished in 1882, page 14, says: "To erect the monu- 
 ments of Mexico and Peru, the yet more ancient ones 
 of Central America, — the singular resemblance of 
 which, in some particulars, to the temples and 
 palaces of Egypt, strikes the archaeologist, — must 
 have required skilled labor, a numerous population, 
 and an established priesthood." Page 386 says: 
 "Everything goes to prove that the ancient races 
 of Central America possessed an advanced culture, 
 exact ideas on certain arts and sciences, and remark- 
 able technical knowledge." Of architecture he says 
 on page 411: "In certain characteristics this archi- 
 tecture recalls that of the Egyptians." Why should 
 it not, as they came from that region near Egypt? 
 Confirming this, Jones' History of Ancient America, 
 published in 1843, pages 168 and 169, says: "Egypt 
 claims at once the general character of the architec- 
 ture, but not sufficient to establish that it is strictly of 
 national order, as practiced on the border of the 
 Nile;— but, enough is shown to prove, that a people 
 built those cities in America who had a knoivledge of 
 Egyptian architecture." 
 
 Pidgeon's Traditions of De-Coo-Dah and Anti- 
 quarian Researches, published in 1852, says on 
 
6 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 page 19: '* Ancient Egypt, first in science and 
 famous in art, has also left her impress here." 
 Marquis De Nadaillac says in a work published 1892, 
 Prehistoric Peoples, page 364, '* Embalming was also 
 practiced in America." He cites several instances 
 and gives some illustrations of Peruvian mummies. 
 
 The Book of Mormon, on page 517, states that they 
 had cattle, oxen, cows, sheep, swine, goats, horses, 
 asses, elephants, cureloms, and cumoms. For years 
 after the pubHcation of the Book of Mormon the 
 prevailing opinion was that the horse was unknown to 
 America until brought here by the Spaniards. ^ It 
 was taught in at least two of our school geographies, 
 and William Robertson, Histographer to His Majesty 
 for Scotland, in his publication of 1790, The His- 
 tory of America, says on page 31: *'The camel, the 
 dromedary, the horse, the cow were as much 
 unknown in America as the elephant or the lion." 
 (See report of Committee on American Archaeology, 
 page 95.) 
 
 Modern investigation has shown that Robertson 
 was wrong and the Book of Mormon right, as the 
 following will plainly show. 
 
 Larkin's Ancient Man in America, published in 
 1880, page 19, says: '*My theory that the prehis- 
 toric races used, to some extent, the great American 
 elephant, or mastodon, I believe is new, and no 
 doubt will be considered visionary by many readers, 
 and more especially by prominent archaeologists. 
 Finding the form of an elephant engraved upon a 
 copper relic some six inches long and four wide, in a 
 mound on the Red House Creek, in the year 1854, 
 and represented in harness with a sort of breast 
 collar with tugs reaching past the hips, first led me to 
 adopt the theory." (See ''American Archaeology," 
 page 75.) This new theory of 1854 had, however, 
 been stated as a fact by the Book of Mormon more 
 than twenty-five years before that time, saying that 
 
BOOK OP MORMON VERIFIED. 7 
 
 these animals were all useful to man, but "more 
 especially the elephants, and cureloms and cumoms." 
 —Page 517. 
 
 Dana's Manual of Geology, published 1880, page 
 671, says: ''Viewing the globe as a whole, in this 
 Quaternary era, we observe, — 1. The gigantic size as 
 well as large numbers of the species, — -the elephants, 
 lions, bears, and hyenas of the Orient far larger than 
 the modern kinds; so also the horse, elephant, 
 mastodon, beavers, and lion of North America." 
 
 The American Antiquarian, volume 22, page 231, 
 says: *'In the post-Pleiocene period, for example, 
 the horses and elephants and camels of North 
 America and Europe were so closely allied that their 
 common ancestors must have passed from one 
 continent to the other." The Book of Mormon 
 shows that they came from the Eastern Continent. 
 
 Winchell's Sketches of Creation, published in 1871, 
 page 356, says: *'I have myself observed the bones 
 of the mastodon and elephant imbedded in peat at 
 depths so shallow that I could readily believe the 
 animals to have occupied the country during its pos- 
 session by the Indians; and gave publication to this 
 conviction in 1862." He further says: "Remains of 
 the hog, the horse, and other animals of recent date, 
 together with human bones . . . are there lying 
 mingled with the bones of the mastodon." — Ibid., 
 p. 356. 
 
 The Jaredites extended northward from Central 
 America and finally became so numerous that the 
 whole face of the land northward was covered with 
 inhabitants. (See Book of Mormon, p. 520.) 
 
 This record is confirmed by the following from 
 Baldwin's Ancient America, published in 1871, page 
 70: "That appears to me the most reasonable sug- 
 gestion which assumes that the Mound-builders came 
 originally from Mexico and Central America. It 
 explains many facts connected with their remains." 
 
8 BOOK OP MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 On page 520 of the Book of Mormon we are told 
 that they worked in ''all manner of ore," to obtain 
 which ''they did cast up mighty heaps of earth to get 
 ore, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of copper." 
 This statement was opposed to opinions of the scien- 
 tific world at that time, but even the manner of obtain- 
 ing ore as stated in the Book of Mormon has since 
 been established as a fact, as shown by Baldwin's 
 Ancient America, page 43. He says: "Remains of 
 their mining works were first discovered in 1848 by 
 Mr. S. O. Knapp, agent of the Minnesota Mining 
 Company, and in 1849 they were described by Dr. 
 Charles T. Jackson in his geological report to the 
 national government. Those described were found at 
 the Minnesota mine, in Upper Michigan, near Lake 
 Superior. Their mining was chiefly surface work; 
 that is to say, they worked the surface of the veins in 
 open pits and trenches. At the Minnesota mine, the 
 greatest depth of their excavations was thirty feet." 
 
 These accounts agree perfectly that by "surface 
 mining" or casting up "mighty heaps of earth" they 
 obtamed their ore, and are evidence of the strongest 
 kmd that the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be 
 a record written by the aborigines of America. This 
 record also states on page 520 that they worked in 
 "all manner of cloth," "and they did have silks and 
 fine twmed linen." For years it was claimed that 
 these ancients did not have cloth, but it has now been 
 proven that they could spin and weave, as is shown 
 by Baldwin's Ancient America, on page 41: "There 
 appears to be evidence that the Mound -builders had 
 the art of spinning and weaving, for cloth has been 
 found among their remains. At the meeting of the 
 International Congress of Prehistoric Archaeolo^v 
 held at Norwich, England, in 1868, one of the speak- 
 ers stated this fact as follows: 'Fragments of 
 charred cloth made of spun fibres have been found 
 m the mounds. A specimen of such cloth, taken 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 9 
 
 from a mound in Butler County, Ohio, is in m^ek- 
 more Museum, Salisbury/ " ,,.,-, 
 
 Also in Maclean's, The Mound Builders, published 
 in 1879, on page 73, we read they ''used cloth regu- 
 larly spun with a uniform thread, and woven with a 
 warp and woof." 
 
 We also read in the Book of Mormon, page 520, 
 that they made ''all manner of tools" and "all man- 
 ner of weapons of war," and "all manner of work of 
 exceeding curious workmanship," and so numerous 
 had they become previous to the Nephite civilization 
 that they described them as "a people who were as 
 numerous as the hosts of Israel."— Page 158. 
 
 Pidgeon confirms this in Antiquarian Researches, 
 page 5, as follows: "It can not be any longer 
 doubted that there has been a day when this conti- 
 nent swarmed with millions of inhabitants, when the 
 arts and sciences flourished." 
 
 Also Baldwin in Ancient America, page 34, says : 
 '*No savage tribe found here by Europeans could 
 have undertaken such constructions as those of the 
 Mound-builders. . . . This condition of industry, of 
 which the worn and decayed works of the Mound- 
 builders are unmistakable monuments, means civih- 
 zation." Also he says: "Relics of art have been 
 dug from some of the mounds, consisting of a con- 
 siderable variety of ornaments and implements, made 
 of copper, silver, obsidian, porphyry, and greenstone, 
 finely wrought. There are axes, single and double; 
 adzes, chisels, drills or gravers, lance-heads, knives, 
 bracelets, pendants, beads, and the like, made of 
 copper. There are articles of pottery, elegantly 
 designed and finished. "—Ibid., p. 40. 
 
 Donnelly's Atlantis, published in 1882, page 142, 
 says: "The American nations manufactured woolen 
 and cotton goods; they made pottery as beautiful as 
 the wares of Egypt; they manufactured glass; they 
 .engraved gems and precious stones." 
 
10 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 They w^re also highly developed in the art of 
 surgery according to Professor McGee, who at the 
 American Association of Sciences Convention, at 
 Detroit, August, 1897, said: *'I have examined 
 twenty-four cases of trepanning on nineteen skulls 
 out of a collection of one thousand. Trepanning, the 
 most daring and difficult modern surgical opera- 
 tion, was performed more plentifully in Peru in 
 ancient days than in mihtary hospitals of the pres- 
 ent." — Zion^s Ensign. 
 
 ' Youth's Companion, May 16, 1901, says at the 
 Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo is '*a collection 
 of nearly a hundred human skulls which were tre- 
 phined by the natives of Peru in the time of the 
 Incas . . . the condition of most of the skulls show- 
 ing that the patient recovered and survived for years." 
 
 Nadaillac says, page 267: *'We meet with numer- 
 ous examples of trepanation in America, and fresh 
 discoveries are daily made by the energetic men of 
 science in that country."— Prehistoric Peoples, pub- 
 Hshed in 1892. He mentions three examples from 
 Peru of trepanning. The great knowledge exhibited 
 in these and numerous other remains of this ancient 
 people are most convincing monuments of their intelH- 
 gence and skill, confirming, also, the Book of Mor- 
 mon as a true record of them. 
 
 Baldwin says of Yucatan ruins, page 101: ''Some 
 of their works can not be excelled by the best of our • 
 constructors and decorators." Of Mexican and Cen- 
 tral American ruins, page 153: ''Many ages must 
 have been required to develop such admirable skill in 
 masonry and ornamentation." 
 
 This great people was finally nearly exterminated 
 by wars, and Coriantumr is mentioned as the last 
 of the Jaredites found by the people of Zarahemla, 
 who came to Central America about 588 b. c. (see 
 Book of Mormon, pages 137 and 532), where they 
 were found by the Nephites, who left Jerusalem 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 11 
 
 ©00 B. C- and landed presumably in ChM; from 
 whence they moved northward and found the Zara- 
 hemlaites about 200 B. C, who had become quite 
 numerous, but had degenerated to a great extent 
 in their civilization, and finally were numbered 
 among the Nephites, by whom many of the Jaredite 
 cities were rebuilt. Of the antiquity of the Mound- 
 builders, Baldwin says of their skeletons: "The 
 earth around them has invariably been found * won- 
 derfully compact and dry.' And yet, when exhumed, 
 they are in such a decomposed and crumbling con- 
 dition that to restore them is impossible. Sound 
 and well preserved skeletons, known to be nearly 
 two thousand years old, have been taken from 
 burial-places in England and other European coun- 
 tries less favorable for preserving them." '*This," 
 he says, * 'allows us to assume that these extremely 
 decayed skeletons of the Mound -builders are much 
 more than two thousand years old." — Ancient 
 America, p. 49. 
 
 On page 73 he says: **What has been said of 
 the antiquity of the Mound -builders shows that a 
 very long period, far more than two thousand years, 
 it may be, must have elapsed since they left the 
 Valley of the Ohio." 
 
 This is just what the Book of Mormon showed to 
 be a fact, forty years before Baldwin's work. It also 
 states that they built houses of wood in the land 
 northward, and Baldwin in explanation of the bare 
 mounds found in such abundance says that they 
 doubtless were built "of wood or some other perisha- 
 ble material; therefore not a trace of them remains." 
 But of the southern ruins he says: "Many of the 
 great buildings erected on such pyramidal founda- 
 tions, at Palenque, Uxmal, and elsewhere in that 
 region, have not disappeared, because they were 
 built of hewn stone laid in mortar." — Ancient 
 America, p. 18. Also he says: "Everywhere in the 
 
12 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 older ruins, nothing remains but the artificial mounds 
 and foundations of earth, the stone, the cement, 
 the stucco hard as marble, and other imperishable 
 materials used by the builders." But had they used 
 only perishable material as in the north, he says: 
 ''The places where they stood with no relics save the 
 mounds and pyramidal platforms, would resemble 
 the works of our Mound-builders."— Ibid., page 157. 
 We have stated that the later civilization (the' 
 Nephites), rebuilt some Jaredite cities, the ruins of 
 which were abundant. That there was a people dis- 
 tinct from the Jaredites, who rebuilt their cities, is 
 shown by recent archsBological works.. Baldwin 
 says: "The monuments suggest successive and 
 yarymg periods in the civilized condition of the old 
 inhabitants, some of the oldest and most mysterious 
 monuments seeming to indicate the highest develop- 
 ment." Also: ''The evidence of repeated recon- 
 structions in some of the cities before they were 
 deserted has been pointed out by explorers." An- 
 cient America, pp. 76 and 156. 
 
 Short says of the later civilization: "They were 
 preceded by a race possessed of no inferior civiliza- 
 tion, who were not their ancestors, but a distinct 
 people."— North Americans of Antiquity, page 27. 
 
 Baldwin says: "These are not the oldest cities 
 whose remains are still visible, but they may have 
 been built, in part, upon the foundations of cities much 
 more ancient." Also : "It can be seen that some of 
 the ruined cities which can now be traced were 
 several times renewed by reconstructions." — Ancient 
 America, pp. 156 and 152. 
 
 What science here proclaimed, was published in 
 the Book of Mormon forty or fifty years previous, as 
 follows : "And it came to pass that there were many 
 cities built anew and there were many old cities 
 repaired."— Page 443. We read that they also used 
 cement in their constructions (see Book of Mormon, 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 13 
 
 p. 324), which is also attested by Baldwin on page 
 99. Of Palenque we read: "The floors are of 
 cement as hard as the best seen in the remains of 
 Roman baths and cisterns." Remains of their works 
 in cement are extended from South to North America 
 in abundance and volumes could be written showing 
 stupendous works to have been constructed by these 
 ancients. 
 
 But we now consider the Nephites ; a colony com- 
 posed of at least eighteen people (and probably some 
 children additional), chief of whom were Lehi and his 
 four sons, Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. Nephi 
 was the junior, and from whom the civilization was 
 named, he becoming the leader, and at his death his 
 successor being called second Nephi; each successor 
 for a long time taking his name. This record is 
 corroborated by archaeologists as shown by Rivero 
 and Tschudi in"* 'Peruvian Antiquities," pubHshed in 
 1853 on page 52. He. says: "Its first inhabitants 
 flowed in abundantly toward the valley of Cuzco, 
 conducted by four brothers," . . . "The youngest of 
 the brothers, who, according to tradition, was at the 
 same time the most skillful and hardy." 
 
 Baldwin says this civilization was originated "by 
 a people led by four brothers, who settled in the 
 valley of Cuzco, and developed civilization there in a 
 very human way. The youngest of these brothers 
 assumed supreme authority, and became the first of a 
 long line of sovereigns." — Ancient America, p. 264. 
 As the Book of Mormon stated this more than twenty 
 years before it was disclosed to us by archaeologists, 
 there is every reason to believe that the book is true. 
 
 Shortly after the Nephites "journeyed in the wil- 
 derness" from the coast, there was a division among 
 them, one party being called Lamanites and the other 
 Nephites, who journeyed for "many days" and finally 
 settled down, tilled the soil, raised flocks, built build- 
 ings, and worked in iron, copper, brass, steel, gold, 
 
14 BOOK OP MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 and silver, and "precious ores/' The Book of Mor- 
 mon was attacked upon the ground that the ancient 
 Americans never at any time had iron, but not long 
 afterward it was sustained by archaeology as the fol- 
 lowing shows: On page 248 of Ancient America, 
 Baldwin quotes from Molina, who says: "Iron; 
 which has been thought unknown to the ancient 
 Americans, has particular names in some of their 
 tongues." 
 
 Baldwin says: "It is impossible to conceive how 
 the Peruvians were able to cut and work stone in 
 such a masterly way, or to construct their great 
 roads and aqueducts without the use of iron tools. 
 Some of the languages of the country, and perhaps 
 all, had names for iron." — Ancient America, p. 248. 
 Priest says of a mirror found at Circleville: "On 
 this mirror was a plate of iron which had become 
 an oxide; but before it was disturbed by the spade 
 resembled a plate of cast ^Vo7^."— American Antiqui- 
 ties, p. 185. Caleb Atwater says: "Iron has been 
 found in very few instances, having oxidized. They 
 made use of it in some cases for knives and swords, 
 the remains of which have been discovered in many 
 tumuli."— Writings of Caleb Atwater, published in 
 December, 1833, page 127. Bancroft says of the 
 ThHnkeets, a wild tribe who lived north of the 
 Columbia River: "They excel in the working of 
 stone and copper, making necklaces, bracelets, and 
 rings; they can also forge iron . "—Native Races, 
 volume 1, page 107. Of Peruvian remains, Bancroft 
 says: "The ancient people were especially skillful 
 in the construction of aqueducts, some of which were 
 reported by the early writers as several hundred miles 
 in length, and a few of which of less extent are still 
 in actual use."— Ibid., vol. 4, p. 801. Baldwin says: 
 "It is noticed everywhere that the ancient Peruvians 
 made large use of Aqueducts, which they built with 
 notable skill, using hewn stones and cement." — 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 15 
 
 Ancient America, p. 243. He mentions one which 
 was 450 miles long. How could such works be hewn 
 from stone without iron tools? Perhaps they did it 
 with their finger-nails ! Iron, in time, will rust away, 
 and for this reason, alone, we have but few remains 
 to prove their knowledge of this metal. 
 
 The Book of Mormon says on page 433: "There 
 were many highways cast up, and many roads made, 
 which led from city to city, and from land to land." 
 This statement is proven true by modern writers, as 
 shown by Nadaillac, who says of the ancient Peruvian 
 civilization : 
 
 "At the present day its memory is everywhere 
 preserved in the imposing ruins covering the country, 
 the fortress defending it, the roads intersecting it, the 
 acesquias, or canals conducting the water needed for 
 fertiUzing the fields."— Prehistoric America, pp. 387 
 and 388. Also Baldwin, who says: "Nothing in 
 ancient Peru was more remarkable than the public 
 roads. No ancient people has left traces of works 
 more astonishing than these, so vast was their extent 
 and so great the skill and labor required to construct 
 them. One of these roads ran along the mountains 
 through the whole length of the empire, from Quito 
 to Chili. Another starting from this at Cuzco, went 
 down to the coast and extended northward to the 
 equator. These roads were built on beds or 'deep 
 understructures' of masonry. The width of the road- 
 ways varied from twenty to twenty -five feet, and 
 they were made level and smooth by paving, and in 
 some places by a sort of macadamizing with pulver- 
 ized stone mixed with lime and bituminous cement. 
 This cement was used in all the masonry. On each 
 side of the roadway was 'a very strong wall more 
 than a fathom in thickness.' These roads went over 
 marshes, rivers, and great chasms of the Sierras, and 
 through rocky precipices and mountain sides. The 
 great road passing along the mountains was a mar- 
 
16 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 velous work: In many places its way was out 
 through rock for leagues. Great ravines were filled 
 up with solid masonry. Rivers were crossed by 
 means of a curious kind of suspension bridges, and 
 no obstruction was encountered which the builders 
 did not overcome. The builders of our Pacific rail- 
 road, with their superior engineering skill and 
 mechanical appliances, might reasonably shrink from 
 the cost and the difficulties of such a work as this." 
 *'It was quite as long as the two Pacific railroads, and 
 its wild route among the mountains was far more 
 difficult." *'They are called *roads of the Incas,' but 
 they were probably much older than the time of 
 these rulers."— Ancient America, pp. 243-245. 
 
 The record of the Incas extends to A. D. 1021 and 
 how much farther their history, if known, would take 
 us we can only conjecture, but Baldwin says "it 
 is now understood that they represent only the last 
 period in the history of a civilization which began 
 much farther back in the past." — Ibid., p. 261. There- 
 fore, if these roads are "much older" than the time 
 of the Incas, as Baldwin states, it would agro) with 
 the Book of Mormon account, which shows some of 
 them to have been begun as early as A. D. 27. No 
 people known to the first discoverers of this region 
 could have accomplished such an enormous work as 
 the constructing of these roads involved, and no other 
 record than the Book of Mormon claims to be a 
 history of these ancient people. 
 
 Frequent wars and contentions finally caused some 
 of the Nephites, led by Mosiah, to flee from the 
 Lamanites who had become the most numerous, and 
 about 200 B. c. they arrived among the Zarahemlaites, 
 uniting with them and finally spreading out over 
 North America. Many of the people became very 
 wicked and about 50 B. c. there was organized a 
 secret band, afterward called Gadianton robbers, who 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 17 
 
 became very numerous, dwelling in the mountains 
 and wilderness. Prophets also began to go forth 
 exhorting the people to repent, saying that Christ 
 should shortly come to earth and giving signs that 
 would shortly come to pass. Finally, 634 years after 
 Lehi left Jerusalem, there ''arose a great storm" and 
 a '^terrible tempest" and thunder that "did shake the 
 whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder," and 
 many cities were destroyed, some buried or sunk, the 
 roads broken up, and especially ''in the land north- 
 ward" where "the whole face of the land was 
 changed," and sixteen cities are mentioned by the 
 Book of Mormon as having been destroyed, with 
 many inhabitants. This tempest and earthquake 
 lasted three hours and "a thick darkness" which 
 lasted "for the space of three days" prevailed over 
 all the land. See Book of Mormon, pp. 438, 439. 
 This statement is sustained by the multitude of 
 upheavals seen in America, by the ruins discovered in 
 recent years buried at various depths, and by the tra- 
 ditions of the aborigines of this continent. Bancroft's 
 "Native Races," volume S, page 209, says of these 
 traditions: "The second age, the 'sun of air,' termi- 
 nated with a great hurricane which swept away trees, 
 rocks, houses, and people, although many men and 
 women escaped, chiefly such as took refuge in caves 
 which the hurricane could not reach. After several 
 days the survivors came out to find a multitude of 
 apes living in the land; and all this time they were in 
 darkness, seeing neither the sun nor moon." Of 
 Aztec traditions St. Giles says there were "four great 
 ages or cycles, each measuring thousands of years, 
 each ended by the action of the elements." "The 
 third age was closed by tempests and hurricanes so 
 disastrous that only few of mortals were left." — Faiths 
 of the World, p. 301. Where did these traditions 
 originate, if not from actual occurrences? and how do 
 they, in substance, happen to agree with scientific 
 
18 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 disclosures recently made, if the Book of Mormon is 
 untrue? 
 
 After the darkness passed away, a great multi- 
 tude gathered "round about the temple which was 
 in the land Bountiful" (Central America), convers- 
 ing about this fulfillment of prophecy, when ''they 
 heard a voice as if it came out of heaven;" this 
 they heard three times, and as they looked 
 *'Behold, they saw a man descending out of heaven; 
 and he was clothed in a white robe, and he came 
 down and stood in the midst of them." **And it 
 came to pass that he stretched forth his hand, and 
 spake unto the people, saying, Behold I am Jesus 
 Christ, whom the prophet&^ testified shall come into 
 the world."— Book of Mormon, p. 443. This appear- 
 ance and teachings of Jesus Christ to the people of 
 this continent after his crucifixion at Jerusalem 
 are a bone of contention with those not believers 
 in the Book of Mormon, but to us are entirely rea- 
 sonable and scriptural. Christ is ''the Savior of all 
 men" (1 Timothy 4: 10). He has "made of one 
 blood all nations of men to dwell upon all the 
 face of the earth," in order that they "might seek 
 the Lord" "and find him" (Acts 17: 26, 27); hence 
 why not these as well as others find him? He was 
 to die "not for that nation only, but that also he 
 should gather together in one the children of God 
 that were scattered abroad." (John 11:52.) He 
 said: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of 
 the house of Israel" (Matt. 15: 24), yet he tells us 
 m John 10: 16: "And other sheep I have, which 
 are not of this fold [Judah]: them also I must 
 brmg, and they shall hear my voice; and there 
 shall be one fold and one shepherd." The fold of 
 Judah had heard his voice, and hence his appear- 
 ance to the fold of Joseph on this continent. Eze- 
 kiel 37: 15-22 shows Judah and Joseph to be the 
 two folds that shall be gathered with Christ as their 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED, 19 
 
 shepherd, hence those who have died in Christ of 
 either fold will reign with him at his coming, as 
 also those alive at his appearing who have received 
 him. But we leave this part of the subject and 
 examine that from archaeologists, which abundantly 
 attest that Christ did appear or was known here 
 as well as in Palestine. 
 
 Donnelly says: "When the Spanish missionaries 
 first set foot upon the soil of America, in the fifteenth 
 century, they were amazed to find that the cross was 
 as devoutly worshipped by the red Indians as by 
 themselves.*'— Atlantis, p. 319. 
 
 Bancroft mentions a "cross nine feet high" on 
 Cozumel Island which was "annually visited by a 
 great number of pilgrims." — Native Races, vol. 2, 
 pp. 792 and 793. He also says in volume 3, pages 
 467 and 468: "One of the most remarkable emblems 
 of Maya worship, in the estimation of the conquerors, 
 was the cross, which has also been noticed in other 
 parts of Central America and in Mexico." Kings- 
 borough mentions traditions in Yucatan of the Father 
 called Yzona, the Son called Bacab, and the Holy 
 Ghost called Echvah (vol. 6, p. 164). According to 
 these traditions Bacab was crucified upon a cross. 
 Of this, he says on page 166: "So in these Mexican 
 paintings many analogies may be traced between the 
 events to which they, evidently relate, and the history 
 of the crucifixion of Christ as contained in the New 
 Testament. The subject of them all is the same, — 
 the death of Quecalcoatle upon the cross, as an 
 atonement for the sins of mankind. In the fourth 
 page of the Borgian MS., he seems to be crucified 
 between two persons who are in the act of reviling 
 him." On page 163, he says Gomez while in 
 Guiaxca was shown "drawings which had been 
 copied from some extremely ancient painting. . . . 
 She who represented Our Lady had her hair tied up 
 in the manner in which the Indian women tie and 
 
20 BOOK OP MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 ?f ifrii*^®'"' ^^u' ^l^ ^ *^« ^'^o* ''^J^ind was inserted 
 9h« wL T^' ^yj^'''^ "was intended to show that 
 ill ^u^ '"''^* ^°^y' and that a great prophet 
 would be born of her, who would come from hea?en 
 whom she should bring forth without connection with 
 man, still remammg a virgin, and that his own peo- 
 ^^^ZT^ persecute that great prophet, and meditate 
 evil against him, and would put him to death, cruoi- 
 tying him upon a cross;— and accordingly he was 
 l?rSf f the painting as crucified with his hands 
 ana teet tied to the cross and without nails." (See 
 Kmgsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. 6.) 
 
 J^. <M« i^'^P^^ "h^ ?"=" ^^ ^ °^°^« which Baldwin 
 says is supposed to have been the central object of 
 interest. It was wonderfully sculptured and deco- 
 rated; human figures stand near it, and some grave 
 wTn^^®""^ *lh« represented. The infant held 
 toward the cross by one of the figures suggests a 
 ohristenmg ceremony. The cross ii one of the most 
 f^™<^°.K ®,?hlems present in all the ruins. This led 
 the Catholic missionaries to assume that knowledge 
 of Christianity had been brought to that part of 
 Americalong before their arrival. "-Ancient America, 
 
 fT,?^'*^T°f as clearly confirming the Bible, as are 
 these which sustam the Book of Mormon, would be 
 received with eagerness by the Christian world, but 
 withm the same period of time those of the Book of 
 Mormon preponderate in number, variety, and con- 
 vincing proof . 0', o-iiu ouii 
 
 ^.^he Book of Mormon also shows that the doctrines 
 ot baptism and the resurrection were taught by these 
 ancient religious teachers in America, Ind this is 
 tr^llL^TTlt hy various authors, from which we 
 present, first, the Anhquarian Journal, \ohxme 20 
 
 saT- "M?F H^r 'v^''"'^ "^^^^'^-^ ^ ^°°*"'t« 
 says. Mr. P. H. Cushing was initiated into one of 
 
 the secret orders of the Zunis and was baptized by 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 21 
 
 one of the Zuni chiefs in the waters of the Atlantic 
 Ocean while on an eastern tour with these chiefs. 
 Also in Rivero's Peruvian Antiquities, page 180, says : 
 **Baptism was general among all the Peruvian 
 nations west of the Andes." 
 
 De Roo says: '^Baptism was m the Mexican 
 empire a religious ceremony, which in Yucatan was 
 called 'Zihil,' signifying to be born again; and the 
 Nahua nations freely admitted that it would cleanse 
 the soul from all sin." (See History of America 
 before Columbus, published 1900, volume 1, page 
 
 itfi7 ^ 
 
 St. Giles says of this custom: **None might marry 
 who had not been baptized; an unbaptized person 
 was held to be incapable of leading a good life; the 
 banquet at baptism was called the Descent of God, 
 and the baptized were spoken of as 'born again. — 
 Faiths of the World, p. 294. A belief in the immor- 
 tality of the soul and ''resurrection of the body was 
 common both in South and North America, and 
 especially pronounced in Mexico and Peru (see Con- 
 quest of Peru, published 1847, vol. 1, p. 89). ^ 
 
 Bancroft says: "The opinions of the Mexicans 
 with regard to the resurrection of the body accorded 
 with those of the Jews."— Native Races, vol. 5, p. 86. 
 
 So numerous are the traditions in America which 
 agree with the Old World history that Baldwin says : 
 "The traditions on both sides of the Atlantic are 
 without meaning unless it be admitted that there was 
 communication between the two continents in times 
 of which we have no history."— Ancient America, p. 
 186. In another work. Prehistoric Nations, published 
 1873, he, on page 403, says of "very remote 
 antiquity": "Nor is it improbable that there was 
 communication across the Pacific." 
 
 The Nephites were an "exceeding fair" people, 
 while the Lamanites were cursed with darkness 
 because of their iniquity, and the Indians are their 
 
22 
 
 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 descendants according to the Book of Mormon 
 account. The fact that a light-haired race, entirely 
 different from the Indians, did dwell here is clearly 
 proven. •' 
 
 The Antiquarian Journal, volume 20. page 259, says 
 of a skeleton found in New Mexico r ' "A bunch of 
 this person's hair was about two inches in length and 
 was as fine as average Caucasian hair, a little inclined 
 to be curly, and of a dark brown color, which is evi- 
 dence to my mind that they were a different race 
 trom the ordinary Indians. The skulls dug out were 
 well formed, not the shape of the Indian, but more 
 resembling that of the white race, full in front and 
 wide above and in front of the ears, showing that 
 toey had well developed and well shaped heads." 
 H-ighty skeletons were found at the above place. 
 
 bhort says: "The siliceous sand and marl of the 
 plain southward of Arica, where the most remarkable 
 cemeteries are situated, is slightly impregnated with 
 common salt as well as nitrate and sulphate of soda. 
 Ihese conditions, together with the dry atmosphere 
 rivalling that of Egypt, and in which fleshy matter 
 dries without putrefaction, the human hair has been 
 perfectly preserved, and comes to us as one of the 
 best evidences of the diversity of the American races 
 yet produced. In general it is a hghtish brown, and 
 ot a fineness of texture which equals that of the 
 Anglo-Saxon race. ... The ancient Peruvians 
 appea,r, from numerous examples of hair found in 
 tfteir tombs, to have been an auburn-haired race."— 
 
 T* ^u '^®"*^^"® °^ Antiquity, pages 186 and 187. 
 i L 1^®., °°^ °* Mormon contains not "a grain of 
 truth, then Mr. Short's statements are also false: for 
 what science was long in discovering, the Book of 
 Mormoji presented years before to the world. Haines 
 says the Mandans "wera remarkable for their fair 
 complexion, blue eyes, and lack of prowess in war "— 
 American Indian, p. 235. Short says on page 189 of 
 
BOOK OP MORMON VERIFIED. 23 
 
 Menominees or ''White Indians": ''The peculiarity 
 of the complexion of this people has been marked 
 from the first time a European encountered them. ' 
 Evidencing the truth of the Book of Mormon state- 
 ment of their Israelitish origin, we now present the 
 following from Bancroft: "Many traces of their 
 [Jewish] old laws and ceremonies are to be found 
 among them at the present day. . . . There do actu- 
 ally exist, besides, many Hebraic traces in the Ameri- 
 can languages."— Native Races, vol. 5, pp. 82, 83. 
 Page 81 says : "The Jews were famous for fine work 
 in stone, as is shown by the buildings of Jerusalem, 
 and a similar excellence in this art is seen m the 
 American ruins. The Mexicans have a tradition of a 
 journey undertaken at the command of a god, and 
 continued for a long time under the direction of cer- 
 tain high priests, who miraculously obtained supphes 
 for their support." 
 
 High priests were a Jewish institution and were 
 also had in America according to the Book of Mor- 
 mon; this Bancroft confirms; also Donnelly says: 
 "The priesthood was thoroughly organized in Mexico 
 and Peru. They were prophets as well as priests." — 
 Atlantis, p. 159. 
 
 Le Plongeon's Sacred Mysteries among the Mayas 
 and Quiches, pubhshed in 1886, page 48, says Mr. 
 Gushing was commissioned by the Smithsonian Insti- 
 tution to study the customs and manners of the Zuiiis 
 of New Mexico. He discovered "the existence of 
 tioelve sacred orders, with their priests, their initia- 
 tions, their sacred rites, as carefully guarded as the 
 secrets of the ancient sacred mysteries to which they 
 bear great resemblance." 
 
 Concerning traces of Hebrew in American lan- 
 guages, Priest saysr "Their Jewish customs are too 
 many to be enumerated in this work."— American 
 Antiquities, p. 59. 
 
 Boudinot, Adair, and several others mention this 
 
24 
 
 BOOK OP MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 ENGLISH 
 
 INDIAN ] 
 
 •God 
 
 Ale 
 
 Shiloh 
 
 Shilo 
 
 heavens 
 
 chemim 
 
 father 
 
 abba 
 
 man 
 
 Ish 
 
 wife 
 
 awah 
 
 winter 
 
 kora 
 
 woman 
 
 ishto 
 
 his wife 
 
 Hani 
 
 this man 
 
 vwoh 
 
 man of god 
 
 ashto alio 
 
 very hot 
 
 hew hara or hala 
 
 Jehovah 
 
 Yohewah 
 
 singularity, and lists of Hebrew words with their 
 English and Indian equivalents are given also in 
 Haines' American Indian, published in 1888, page 
 100, from which we extract a partial list as follows : 
 
 HEBREW OR CHALDEAN. 
 
 Ale Alein 
 
 Shiloh 
 
 Bhemin 
 
 abba 
 
 ish 
 
 eweh eve 
 
 korah 
 
 ishto 
 
 lihene 
 
 huah 
 
 ishda alloa 
 
 hara hara 
 
 Jehovah 
 
 Several writers show Indian words in abundance 
 which are similar to the Hebrew. Although this 
 appears true of only certain tribes, yet the similarity 
 IS too perfect in many instances to be regarded as 
 accidental, and some words are identical. 
 
 Adair says: ''They always invoke Yo He Wah a 
 considerable space of time before they apply any 
 medicines, let the case require ever so speedy an 
 apphcation."— History of the American Indians, p. 
 172, pubHshed at London in 1775. 
 
 The Prophetic Watchman, September 14, 1866, said 
 of a stone relic: ''It was found in 1860, and has 
 engraved upon it, Moses and the Ten Command- 
 ments. . . . Over the figure is a Hebrew word signi- 
 fying Moses. The other inscriptions are almost 
 literally the words found in some parts of the Bible 
 and the Ten Commandments are given in part and 
 entirely the longest being abbreviated. The alpha- 
 bet used, it is thought, is the original Hebrew one, as 
 there are letters not known in the Hebrew alphabet 
 now m use, but bearing a resemblance to them. All 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 25 
 
 things on this stone point to the time before Ezra." — 
 Palmyra to Independence, p. 69. 
 
 As the Nephites came from Palestine about sixty - 
 five years before the time of Ezra, it is but reasonable 
 that a stone engraved by them soon after they arrived 
 in America would ''point to the time before Ezra" 
 instead of after, although many years afterward the 
 Nephites altered their characters by combining 
 Hebrew and Egyptian and naming it ''reformed 
 Egyptian." 
 
 The Gadianton robbers, previously mentioned, 
 after a time became a strong and numerous band, and 
 the Book of Mormon says of them: "And they did 
 commit murder and plunder; and then they would 
 retreat back into the mountains, and into the wilder- 
 ness and secret places." — P. 408. 
 
 Also on page 423 we read: "The Gadianton rob- 
 bers, who dwelt upon the mountains, who did infest 
 the land; for so strong were their holds and their 
 secret places, that the people could not overpower 
 them." These bands of robbers are frequently men- 
 tioned in the Book of Mormon ; they lived in the time 
 of the later civilization, . the Nephites, and their 
 remains are doubtless the same that are known now 
 as "ruins of the Cliff-dwellers," which are found in a 
 variety of places. Some of them were discovered by 
 Simpson in 1849, but hardly anything was published 
 concerning them until F. V. Hayden's report to the 
 government in 1874-76. 
 
 Justin Windsor confirms this. He says the reports 
 of Hayden "brought to us in those of 1874-76 the 
 knowledge of the Cliff-dwellers."— Narrative and 
 Critical History of America, p. 440, published in 1889. 
 For years they were thought to have been the most 
 ancient of American civilizations, but more recent 
 research shows to the contrary, and again the Book 
 of Mormon record is sustained. 
 
 The American Antiquarian says : ' 'It was formerly 
 
26 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 the ©pinion that the Cliff-dwellers were among the 
 most ancient people in America. ... This opinion 
 has been greatly modified by recent exploration, and 
 the evidence now is, that so far from being the 
 earhest people they belonged to the last of three 
 periods of occupation."— Vol. 19, p. 100, published in 
 1897. On the same page he says: *'The people had 
 dwelt and continued in a peaceful and an agricultural 
 condition for many years, and perhaps centuries, but 
 had at last suffered from the attacks of wild tribes, 
 who invaded their possessions, kept them constantly 
 disturbed, and drove them first to the mesas Snd 
 afterward to the cliffs, as the only places where they 
 could be secure." The Book of Mormon account 
 agrees with the foregoing except that it shows the 
 Gadianton robbers to have been driven to the mesas 
 and cliffs instead of the "peaceful and agricultural 
 people," which is the most reasonable, as the follow- 
 ing shows: ''They (cliff- dwellings) were not mere 
 refuges for the people in the time of attack, nor sum- 
 mer homes for an agricultural people, . . . they made 
 them strongholds which they occupied permanently." 
 —American Antiquities, vol. 20, p. 87. This is pre- 
 cisely what the Book of Mormon stated nearly seventy 
 years beforOo 
 
 The Gadianton robbers finally united with the 
 Lamanites and exterminated the Nephita nation, after 
 years of wars which ended more than four hundred 
 years after Christ's birth; therefore the inference is 
 that the Gadianton robbers were builders of both the 
 cliff-dwellings and the pueblos, if we accept Book of 
 Mormon history. Hence both were occupied at the 
 same time, although archaeologists have formerly 
 supposed them to be two distinct peoples, living at 
 different periods, yet they find it impossible to prove 
 that such was the case. The American Antiquarian 
 says on this point: ''It is indeed difficult to draw 
 the distinction between the earlier and later people. 
 
BOOK OP MORMON VERIFIED. 27 
 
 for the pueblos and the cliff- dwellings are built in the 
 same general style, and contain similar relics and 
 specimens of art, and are attended with similar 
 pictographs and symbols." — Ypl. 19, pp. 100, 101. 
 
 While the Lamanites, the descendants of which are 
 the American Indians, were cursed with a dark skin, 
 the Gadianton robbers were a white people, except 
 some who had come from the Lamanites to unite with 
 them; therefore it is not strange that their remains 
 show some of them to have been a light-haired race. 
 
 Of Cliff-dweller remains at the World's Fair, 
 Chicago, '*Stebbins' Lectures" says, page 63: 
 "Upon all the skulls the hair was as fine as the 
 hair of the white people of our time, and some was 
 both fine and light colored. Indian hair is all dark, 
 all coarse. The skulls were shaped like the skulls of 
 white people." Also *'Appleton's Annual Cyclo- 
 pedia," 1899, page 19, says: "A number of well- 
 preserved mummies found by a prospector in a sealed 
 cliff dwelling in the upper Verde canon had well- 
 developed skulls, covered with fine, silky hair, and 
 were bandaged with cotton and woolen cloths of vari- 
 ous degrees of fineness, some of it embroidered in 
 open work." 
 
 When the Gadianton robbers amalgamated with 
 the Lamanites it would have naturally produced a 
 variety of complexions in their descendants, and vari- 
 ous authors show this to be true of the Indian tribes. 
 On this point Prichard says, volume 1, page 269: 
 "The American races show nearly as great a variety 
 in this respect as the nations of the old continent. 
 There are among them, white races with a florid com- 
 plexion." — Researches, published 1841. 
 
 From Baldwin we quote as follows: "It has been 
 suggested that the Mandan Indians were a separated 
 and lost fragment of the mound -building people, 
 they being noticeably unlike other Indians in many 
 respects, lighter in color, and peculiar in manners 
 
28 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 and customs. . . . That the Mandans were like what 
 a lost community of Mound-builders might have 
 become by degeneration through mixture and asso- 
 ciation with barbarians may be supposed." — Ancient 
 America, p. 74. 
 
 As we have said, the Book of Mormon shows they 
 are from the Lamanites instead of the Mound-build- 
 ers, which is sustained by researches of recent time, 
 while Baldwin says: ''Those who seek to identify 
 the Mound-builders with the barbarous Indians find 
 nothing that will support their hypothesis." — ^Ibid., 
 p. 62. 
 
 Of the Menominees, Short says: *'The whiteness 
 of these Indians, . . . early attracted the attention of 
 the Jesuit missionaries, and has often been com- 
 mented upon by travelers. The peculiarity of the 
 complexion of this people has been marked from the 
 first time a European encountered them." — North 
 Americans of Antiquity, p. 189. Catlin also remarks 
 on this singularity among various tribes. Is it likely 
 that any man, however well educated, could have 
 written such an accurate history of these aborigines 
 years before the facts were known to the world, 
 except, indeed, he had received a true record written 
 by themselves? Indeed, if all the works of modern 
 archaeologists had been then accessible, he still could 
 not have accomplished such a work as the Book of 
 Mormon, which has stood the test of every modern 
 investigation and has proven its account true in spite 
 of its opposition to the erroneous theories had at the 
 time it was first published. 
 
 These aboriginal inhabitants also used coins of 
 different values, according to the Book of Mormon. 
 This is sustained by Donnelly, who says: *'A round 
 copper coin with a serpent stamped on it was found 
 at Palenque, and T-shaped copper coins are very 
 abundant in the ruins of Central America." — 
 Atlantis, p. 345. 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. . 29 
 
 Priest says, at Circleville, ''was dug up from 
 beneath the roots of a hickory tree seven feet eight 
 inches in circumference, a copper coin, but bearing 
 no comparison with any coin now known." — Ameri- 
 can Antiquities, p. 175, fifth edition. 
 
 The Pittsburg Leader, November 6, 1891, says that 
 at Laconia, "A well was being drilled; at the depth 
 of one hundred twenty-five feet the drillings showed 
 they were passing through a layer of brick. ... As 
 there were no brick houses in town and never had 
 been it could not be believed. While quite a crowd 
 was around the well-hole, the men brought up to the 
 surface a lot of mud and examined it, as they had 
 done from the time they found the brick residue. In 
 the mass of mud there was a small piece of metal, 
 which when cleaned off, was found to be a piece of 
 money. It was octagonal in shape and had hiero- 
 glyphics on it, which could not be deciphered, but 
 which were evidently meant to represent the value of 
 the piece. ... It is claimed by antiquarians here 
 that the bricks and coin are the relics of a prehistoric 
 race which lived here many years before the Indians 
 and built the pavements and roads which were dis- 
 covered at Memphis, on the other side of the river 
 above here." — Palmyra to Independence, pp. 94, 95. 
 Baldwin says the Muyscas north of Quito ''used small 
 circular gold plates as coin." — Ancient America, p. 
 271. 
 
 An extended list of finds could be made but would 
 be superfluous. We therefore omit them, and hasten 
 to an account of the closing scenes of Book of Mor- 
 mon history, which states that the record having 
 been handed down from ancestors was finally 
 deposited by the last of the Nephites in the hill 
 Cumorah, where it continued until delivered to Joseph 
 Smith for translation in 1827. 
 
 Traditions of "sacred records" hid in the earth are 
 
30 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 recorded in Priest's "American Antiquities,*' page 
 69; also in "Indian Myths," pages 225, 226. 
 
 Bancroft mentions "a complaint in the Quiche 
 annals known as the Popul Vuh, that the 'national 
 book' containing the ancient records of their people 
 had been lost." — Native Races, vol. 2, p. 770. 
 
 Boudinot says of the Nauatalcas who live in 
 Mexico: "That their forefathers wandered eighty 
 years in search of it (Mexico) through a strict obedi- 
 ence to the commands of the Great Spirit : . . . that 
 the book which the white people have was once 
 theirs: that while they had it they prospered exceed- 
 ingly. . . . They also say that their forefathers were 
 possessed of an extraordinary divine spirit, by which 
 they foretold future events and controlled the com- 
 mon course of nature, and this they transmitted to 
 their offspring on condition of their obeying the 
 sacred laws. That they did by these means bring 
 down showers of plenty on the beloved people. But 
 that this power, for a long time past had entirely 
 ceased."— A Star in the West, pp. 110, 111. 
 
 The Book of Mormon was engraved upon gold 
 plates, about seven by eight inches in, size, not as 
 thick as tin, in characters called "reformed Egyp- 
 tian"; both Egyptian and Hebrew "hath been altered 
 by us," says the Book of Mormon on page 600. At 
 the time these plates were found it was supposed that 
 the aborigines had left no records in hieroglyphics, 
 much less was it supposed anything would be found 
 approximating Egyptian or Hebrew characters; but 
 as already shown, traces of both Egyptian and 
 Hebrew knowledge have since been evidenced, so 
 also hieroglyphics; even phonetic characters have 
 been found in recent investigation. But in 1833 
 Atwater said: "No article has been found, within 
 my knowledge, which contained on it either letters or 
 heiroglyphics." — Western Antiquities, p. 138. The 
 Book of Mormon claim was therefore scorned and 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 31 
 
 ridiculed, but since then several articles have been 
 found which prove the claim to be reasonable and in 
 harmony with recent discoveries. 
 
 Delafield says, in Antiquities of America, published 
 in 1839, page 43: ''Hieroglyphic writings are neces- 
 sarily of three kinds, viz. : phonetic, figurative, and 
 symbolical." Page 46 says: "We find the three 
 species of hieroglyphics common to Mexico and 
 Egypt." 
 
 Taylor says: "There is even evidence that the 
 Maya nation of Yucatan, the ruins of whose temples 
 and palaces are so well known from the travels of 
 Catherwood and Stephens, not only had a system of 
 phonetic writing, but used it for writing ordinary 
 words and sentences." — Bancroft's Native Races, 
 vol. 2, p. 781. 
 
 Foster says on page 322: '*The hieroglyphics dis- 
 played upon the walls of Copan, in horizontal or 
 perpendicular rows, would indicate a written language 
 in which the pictorial significance had largely disap- 
 peared, and a kind of word-writing had become pre- 
 dominant. Intermingled with the pictorial devices 
 are apparently purely arbitrary characters which may 
 be alphabetic." — Prehistoric Races. 
 
 Bancroft says: "The Palenque inscriptions show 
 the abbreviated hieratic writing." — Native Races, 
 vol. 2, p. 782. 
 
 In the St. Louis GJironide^ February, 1889, and 
 copied by.Etzenhouser in Palmyra to Independence, 
 page 91, we read: "Rev. S. D. Peet, the well known 
 antiquarian, is reported as having found in Illinois, 
 two crossplates which have all the appearance of 
 being rude musical instruments. These plates are 
 about fifteen inches square and there are places for 
 strings and a bridge. Along the lower edge is a row 
 of hieroglyphics similar to those on the famous Pal- 
 myra plates, said to have been discovered by Joseph 
 Smith and from which he interpreted the Book of 
 
32 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 Mormon." This discovery has since been corrobo- 
 rated by others. Another one made in Ohio is 
 described by A. A. Bancroft as finding ''o, stone 
 dressed to an oblong shape, about eighteen inches long 
 and twelve wide, which proved to be a casket, neatly 
 fitted and completely water-tight, containing a slab 
 of stone of hard and fine quality, an inch and a half 
 thick, eight inches long, four inches and a half wide 
 at one end, and tapering to three inches at the other. 
 Upon the face of the slab was the figure of a man, 
 apparently a priest, with a long flowing beard, and a 
 robe reaching to his feet. Over his head was a 
 curved line of characters, and upon the edges and 
 back of the stone were closely and neatly carved 
 letters. The slab, which I saw myself, was shown to 
 the Episcopalian clergyman of Newark, and he pro- 
 nounced the writing to be the ten commandments in 
 ancient Hebrew."— Native Races, vol. 5, pp. 94, 95. 
 
 The Book of Mormon plates, years before 'these 
 discoveries, were also found in a stone box. Joseph 
 Smith and eleven others testified to having handled 
 and seen the plates, and also the engravings in hiero- 
 glyphic characters upon them. The witnesses have 
 never been impeached, some of them reaffirmed their 
 testimony at death. 
 
 On the top of the Copan altar are hieroglyphics 
 within which may be seen, apparently, phonetic char- 
 acters; they are shown by Bancroft, Stephens, Bald- 
 win, and others. We present in this work three 
 tablets and three other specimens of hieroglyphics 
 (Figures 1 to 6), as taken from archaeological works- 
 
 Figure 1 is the Grave Creek Tablet, found in 1838 
 near Wheeling, West Virginia, of which Mr. School- 
 craft says: ''There was a large oak tree, at the top 
 of the central part of the mound, from which the 
 tablet was taken, the cortical layers of which was 
 stated at from three hundred to five hundred; which 
 would show that the mound had not been disturbed 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED, 
 
 r 
 
34 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 for at least that number of years, or since 1338." 
 The tablet is shown in Figure 1, plate 38 of his work 
 'Indian Tribes of the United States," volume 1, 
 description page 122, published in 1851 by the 
 authority of Congress. 
 
 Mac L^n says: *' . . . I have no hesitation in 
 declaring that if the authenticity of the Grave Creek 
 Tablet has not been established, then no reliance can 
 be placed upon human testimony."— The Mound- 
 builders, p. 95. Some of the characters on this tablet 
 resemble Book of Mormon characters transcribed by 
 Joseph Smith, as a comparison will show, and yet 
 there may have been changes in the hieroglyphics 
 between the time and the people of each. The char- 
 acters as transcribed by Joseph Smith are found in 
 Presidency and Priesthood, opposite page 204, or in 
 Report of Committee on American Archaeology, after 
 page 100. Figures 2 and 3 are characters found on 
 tablets dug from a mound near Davenport. . The 
 small tablet is about seven and the large one about 
 twelve inches in length; they were found in 1877, five 
 and one half feet below the surface of the mound, and 
 four feet below some Indian rehcs, a fact which shows 
 that the Indians had used the mound for burial pur- 
 poses, probably long after the tablets had been placed 
 there. A more complete description may be found in 
 Peet's ''Prehistoric America," pp. 44, 45 (volume 1, 
 pubHshed in 1892), together with a reproduction of 
 them. Eight of the characters in figure 2, and six in 
 figure 3 closely resemble those of the Book of Mor- 
 mon, as closely as like characters could be expected 
 to do when written by different people on different 
 material and at a different time, perhaps, and both 
 being copied from their originals, which would cause 
 the same characters to appear slightly different 
 Figures 4, 5, and 6 are from ''Antiquites Ameri- 
 caines," pubHshed by Charles Christian Rafn, Copen- 
 hague, 1845, and are shown in plate 13 of that work. 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 35 
 
 Figures 4 and 5 are from the Portsmouth rocks, and 
 figure 6 from the Tiverton rocks. Page 356 says: 
 *'Many rocks, inscribed with unknown characters, 
 apparently of very ancient origin, have been dis- 
 covered, scattered through different parts of the 
 country; rocks, the constituent parts of which are 
 such as to render it almost impossible to engrave on 
 them such writings, without the aid of iron or other 
 hard metallic instruments. The Indians were ignorant 
 of the existence of these rocks." 
 
 Several other works might be referred to which 
 show that the art of writing with phonetic characters 
 was had anciently in America, he Plongeon says 
 on page 113: "The ancient Maya hieratic alpha- 
 bet, discovered by me, is as near alike to the ancient 
 hieratic alphabet of the Egyptians as two alphabets 
 can possibly be, forcing upon us the conclusion .that 
 the Mayas and the Egyptians either learned the art 
 of writing from the same masters, or that the Egyp- 
 tians learned it from the Mayas." — Sacred Mysteries 
 Among the Mayas and Quiches. 
 
 The Book of Mormon says there were many rec- 
 ords kept by their people and Baldwin says: ''The 
 ruins show that they had the art of writing, and that, 
 at the south, this art was more developed, more like 
 a phonetic system of writing than that found in use 
 among the Aztecs. The inscriptions of Palenque, 
 and the characters used in some of the manuscript 
 books that have been preserved are not the same as 
 the 'Mexican Picture Writing.' It is known that 
 books or manuscript writings were abundant among 
 them in the ages previous to the Aztec period.'* — 
 Ancient America, p. 187. 
 
 The Book of Mormon, pages 203, 204, shows that 
 they had civil courts with judges and a supreme court 
 with a "chief judge," and Bancroft says: "In 
 Mexico, and in each of the principal cities of the 
 empire, there was a supreme judge. ... He heard 
 
36 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 appeals in criminal cases from the court immediately 
 below him, and from his decisions no appeal was 
 allowed, not even to the king." — Native Races, vol. 
 2, page 434. 
 
 The state of civilization among the Aztecs was of a 
 superior order, and yet it is agreed that it was greatly 
 inferior to the Mayas or their ancestors. Bancroft 
 says: "In Mexico every quarter had its school for 
 the common people, after the manner of our public 
 schools. There were higher schools or colleges for 
 sons of noBles and those destined for the priesthood, 
 wherein were taught history, religion, philosophy,' 
 law, astronomy, writing, and interpreting hiero- 
 glyphics, singing, dancing, use of arms, gymnastics, 
 and many arts and sciences." — Essays and Miscel- 
 lany, page 36. 
 
 The "Aztec Calendar Stone" shows their ancestors 
 kept a perfect system of time, and this was 
 announced on the Book of Mormon plates had by 
 Joseph Smith in 1827, and is confirmed by Bancroft. 
 Of the Nahuas he says: "Their calendar divided time 
 into ages of two cycles, each cycle consisting of four 
 periods of thirteen years, the years of each cycle 
 being distinctly designated by signs and names with 
 numbers, in orderly arrangement, as shown on their 
 sculptured stones. The civil year was divided into 
 eighteen months of twenty days, with five extra days 
 to complete the year; and each month into four sec- 
 tions or weeks. Extra days were also added at the 
 end of the cycle, so that our calculations are closely 
 approached. The day was divided into fixed periods 
 corresponding to hour^ All the above divisions had 
 their signs and names." — Ibid., page 37. He con- 
 tinues on page 38: "All this, be it remembered, was 
 the condition of things four hundred years ago. 
 Compare it with the European civilization or semi- 
 civihzation of that day on the one hand, and with the 
 savagism of the Iroquois and Ojibways on the other, 
 
BOOK OP MORMON VERIFIED. 37 
 
 and then judge which of the two it most resembled." 
 
 Beside the Aztec Calendar Stone, they had calen- 
 dars of gold which the avarice of the Spaniards 
 destroyed. Baldwin mentions them, both of gold and 
 silver, which fell into Spanish hands, and remarks : 
 **But these Spaniards did not go to Mexico to study 
 Aztec astronomy, nor to collect curiosities. In their 
 hands every article of gold was speedily transformed 
 into coin." — Ancient America, p. 215. 
 
 So also it was with the ancient manuscripts; all 
 that could be found by the Spanish priests were des- 
 troyed, in order that they might have no memory of 
 the religion of their ancestors; therefore but little 
 can be known from their written history, outside of 
 the Book of Mormon, until some one deciphers the 
 hieroglyphics left among their remains. 
 
 We previously quoted from writers concerning 
 their skill in erecting beautiful and massive buildings. 
 The temple at Copan is eight hundred nine feet long; 
 the width is six hundred twenty-four feet, and the 
 wall on one side * 'rises perpendicularly to a height, in 
 its present ruined state, of from sixty to ninety feet." 
 "The whole is built of cut stone in blocks a foot and 
 a half wide by three to six feet long, and, without 
 taking into account the excess of superimposed pyra- 
 mids over sunken courts, must have required in 
 round numbers over twenty- six million cubic feet of 
 stone in its construction." (See Bancroft's Native 
 Races, vol. 4, pp. 86, 87.) This temple is inclosed by 
 a wall about nine hundred by one thousand six hun- 
 dred feet, which is about twenty-five feet thick; in 
 all, a work which challenges us in its greatness. 
 The great temple of Mexico was eighty -six feet high 
 and "about three hundred and seventy-five feet long 
 and three hundred feet broad at the base." — Ibid., 
 vol. 2, p. 579. 
 
 The Book of Mormon as before quoted shows that 
 they built many large cities, some of which were 
 
38 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 destroyed; this statement is sustained by Bancroft, 
 who says: ^'Mexico Tenochtitlan has been esti- 
 mated to contain sixty thousand houses, and Tezcuco 
 was said to contain one hundred and forty thousand 
 houses."— Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 560 and 569. As previ- 
 ously shown, only indestructible material remains to 
 evidence the extent of these ancient cities, which 
 must naturally have been built of wood, excepting 
 the more important public buildings, the ruins of 
 which plainly attest the superior skill of their build- 
 ers. But many extensive ruins probably remain to 
 be explored in this locality, and Baldwin says a great 
 forest * 'covers the southern half of Yucatan, and 
 extends far into Guatemala, which is half covered by 
 it. . . . Its vast depths have never been much 
 explored. ... It is beheved that ruins exist in 
 nearly every part of this vast wilderness."— Ancient 
 America, pp. 94, 95. The Copan and Palenque ruins 
 are near the southern edge of this forest. Of Palen- 
 que, one explorer says: ''A city which, I hazard 
 little in saying, must have been one of the largest 
 ever seen."— Ibid., p. 96. Del Rio gives its ruins an 
 extent of about eight leagues (Description, p. 4), 
 while the London Geographical Society gives it an 
 extent of twenty miles. (Vol. 3, p. 60.) Recent 
 explorations have been less successful in determining 
 its extent, owing to the heavy and dense tropical forest 
 growth which now covers a portion of its ruins. 
 
 Some of these ancient cities show such superior 
 civilizations to that of the aborigines found here, that 
 some may regard it improbable that they are descend- 
 ants of them, but Mr. Haines, who made an extensive 
 comparison of their conditions, says: ^'Whilst this 
 higher state of civilization spoken of might have 
 existed on the Western Hemisphere at some period in 
 the earth's existence may not be denied, yet there is 
 no proof, or even fair presumption that such a people, 
 if they ever existed, were not the ancestors of the 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 3fl 
 
 aborigines found here at the time of the discovery. 
 The native Indian possessed as high an order of 
 intellect as the white invaders of his country. . . . 
 The beginning of civilization is but the beginning of 
 vice and corruption, and the history of the world goes 
 to prove that it is but a question of time when vice 
 and corruption will prevail, and when human society 
 will relapse into its original condition from the over- 
 growth of what we call civilization." — ^The American 
 Indian, published in 1888, p. 74. 
 
 Concerning a relapse of this kind, from the sixth to 
 the sixteenth centuries, known as the Dark Ages, 
 Bancroft says: '*I have no disposition unduly to 
 magnify the New World civilization, nor to under- 
 rate Old World culture, but during these ten centuries 
 of almost universal mediaeval gloom, the difference 
 between the two civilizations was less than most 
 people imagine. On both sides of the Dark Sea 
 humanity lay floundering in besotted ignorance." — 
 Native Races, vol. 2, p. 97. 
 
 The Book of Mormon, on page 133, shows the 
 above to have been true concerning their degen- 
 erating to almost barbarous conditions in some 
 instances; also on page 436 that they finally 
 divided into tribes, although of common origin; 
 which is shown to be reasonable according to 
 Haines, who says of the aborigines of North 
 America: '*The evidences we have, as to a com- 
 mon origin, are apparent to every one who has 
 given attention to this subject, and are quite con- 
 clusive on this point, even as to those tribes and 
 nations whose languages are radically different. 
 . . . They all have the same, or essentially the 
 same, religion." — The American Indian, p. 73. 
 
 Domenech says of this common faith: *'A11 the 
 savages of the New World, without exception, 
 believe in the existence of a supreme being whom 
 they call the Good or Great Spirit; they adore 
 
40 BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 and pray to him, as we adore and pray to the Creator 
 of all things. They believe likewise in the exist- 
 ence of an evil spirit, who is their enemy, and the 
 antagonist of the Great Spirit, but less powerful." 
 —The Great Deserts of North America, vol. 2, pp. 
 376, 377, published in 1860. This fact of a religion 
 so universal, plainly shows that the period of dis- 
 integration among them could not have been as 
 long as that of the Old World, and yet quite awhile 
 must have elapsed for them to develop their many 
 tribal and other peculiarities. 
 
 We might fill volumes with the proofs of this 
 record, called the Book of Mormon, but have con- 
 tented ourselves with quoting a few of the principal 
 statements made in it concerning the aborigines, as to 
 their origin, journeyings, extent of their civilization, 
 their cities, arts, and sciences, animals, customs of 
 the people, religion, manufactures, mining, coins, 
 metals, roads, and other constructions, their knowl- 
 edge of astronomy, writing, agriculture, government, 
 sacred records, the great destruction by earthquakes, 
 etc., knowledge of Christ; the Gadianton robbers or 
 Cliff-dwellers; and their final decline from civiliza- 
 tion to the condition in which they were discovered 
 four hundred years ago; all of which have been 
 abundantly proved by more than one hundred and 
 twenty statements from the works of about forty 
 eminent archaeologists and authors of recent time, or 
 since the publication of the Book of Mormon, with 
 the exception of one or two which could have been 
 dispensed with. 
 
 American archsBology is such a broad field of 
 research that, in no one, nor a half dozen modern or 
 older works upon the subject, can a sufficient amount 
 of information be found for a definite outline of the 
 principal events and statements of the Book of 
 Mormon record, and Baldwin may well say of the 
 "more important" as well as all other works on the 
 
BOOK OP MORMON VERIFIED. 41 
 
 subject; **not one of them attempts to give a com- 
 prehensive view of the whole subject." — Ancient 
 America, preface. 
 
 The importance of the Book of Mormon may there- 
 fore be better understood when it is reahzed that it 
 was years ahead of all archaeologists on the subject 
 and that everything discovered by recent research 
 confirms it as a true record, engraved by the ancients 
 upon plates of gold, and translated by the gift and 
 command of God. The Christian world behoves that 
 God revealed the past through Moses from the crea- 
 tion of the world; it is therefore not inconsistent with 
 their belief to accept this revealment of a later time, 
 which also gives knowledge of a prehistoric people, 
 and is consistent with their manner of recording 
 events on metaUic substances; concerning this, 
 Brown's Antiquities of the Jews, vol. 2, page 90, 
 says: ''It is generally thought that engraving on 
 brass and lead, and on a rock or tablet of stone, was 
 the form in which the public laws were written." 
 
 As a fitting conclusion we present some characters 
 for comparison, that the resemblance may be seen. 
 
 Some of the Book of Mormon characters are 
 slightly enlarged but retain the form of the originals, 
 so that an accurate comparison can be made. 
 
 The first line of No. 1, are Egyptian demotic and 
 phonetic characters, taken from the works of Rawlin- 
 son in his History of Ancient Egypt, vol. 1, pp. 116 
 and 122, and from Wilkinson's The Egyptians, p. 
 214. The demotic was invented at least 700 B. c, 
 and rapidly succeeded the hieratic, which we are told 
 was invented "as early as the ninth dynasty." (See 
 ''Museum of Antiquity," p. 861.) As the Nephites 
 came to America about one hundred years or more 
 after the time the demotic characters were introduced, 
 it would be fair to presume that the ''reformed Egyp- 
 tian" with which the Book of Mormon plates were 
 engraved, would contain some characters of Egyp- 
 
42 BOOK OP MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 tian hieratic and demotic and some Hebrew charac- 
 ters of the old type as well. This, upon examination, 
 IS found to be the case ; and the first line of No. 2, 
 which contains the old form of Hebrew, according to 
 Rawlinson (see History of Phoenicia, page 378, and 
 The Album of Language, by G. Naphegyi, page 54) 
 IS similar to Book of Mormon characters shown 
 below it. 
 
 no- 1 
 
 So- Z 
 i/tlL3'X3)liyU)0"\o 0/<f MreHC 
 
 NO'S 
 
 U H-'^ e H^ Book of Mormn,:i 
 
 Uo-f 
 /\ / Z. o^ e- T t= <V> e =- D X Urn WerM, 
 
 No. 3 contains, on the first line, Egyptian hieratic 
 characters as discovered by ChampoUion and shown 
 '^^ L,e Plongeon's Sacred Mysteries Among the Mavas 
 and Quiches, preface, p. 12, the next line being Book 
 
BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. " 43 
 
 of Mormon characters. Some of these characters it 
 will be noticed are reversed in the Book of Mormon 
 characters, — as the third in line No. 1, — and this it 
 should be explained does not necessarily imply that 
 they do not stand for the same characters, as the 
 authors quoted show that they are sometimes 
 reversed; also the tenth character of No. 2, we are 
 informed, was made both with the loop and with the 
 perpendicular cross marks, and a few others which 
 are slightly different, resemble each other enough to 
 show a common origin, but also that, as the Book of 
 Mormon states, both the Egyptian and Hebrew *'hath 
 been . . . altered by us according to our manner of 
 speech." 
 
 The first line of No. 4 shows the ancient characters 
 of the American aborigines called by Le Plongeon, 
 "the Maya Hieratic," which is shown on page 12 of 
 the work previously quoted, and which he says was 
 "discovered by me" while making a tour of research 
 in the regions of Central America, and among the 
 remains of this prehistoric race. (See page 113, also 
 11 of preface.) This work it must be borne in mind 
 was not published until 1886, at which time the dis- 
 covery of these characters was first made known to 
 the world; and Atwater said, more than five years 
 after Joseph Smith received the Book of Mormon 
 plates, that no characters within his knowledge had 
 been found, -of either letters or hieroglyphics; hence 
 the fact that Le Plongeon discovered these charac- 
 ters, which are so identical with those had by Joseph 
 Smith more than fifty-eight years before, proves to 
 unbiased minds that they are genuine; and with 
 other confirming evidences which have been pre- 
 sented, enough has been evidenced to satisfy the 
 minds of any impartial jury on earth that the Book 
 of Mormon is indeed a true record of the people who 
 anciently inhabited America; and the dealings of 
 God with them are therein contained; therefore our 
 
^* BOOK OF MORMON VERIFIED. 
 
 hearts swell with gratitude to our gracious Gk)d as we 
 hft our voices and sing: ^ «» we 
 
 Book of Mormon, hid for ages 
 
 On Cumorah's lonely hill, 
 Written by those ancient sages 
 Whom Jehovah taught his will: 
 
 Glad we hail it, 
 Fullness of the gospel stilll 
 
 r.lt *^^,?^ov® ^^e add our humble testimony that the 
 
 ZT^^^ f.T^- ¥^y '^' ^^^"^^^^ %^* shine forth to 
 all men as it has to us, until they are led to worship 
 -m spirit and in truth" Him who is "no resplcter S 
 
 In^S -""Ir ^""^"^ ""^^^'^^ h^ <^h^* feareth him and 
 worketh righteousness is accepted with him. ' '