American Antiquities: Corroborative of the Book of Mormon (2 April 1859)

AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES,

CORROBORATIVE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

(Continued from page 210.)

It would be in vain to attempt a description, by language alone, of this stupendous monument of human labour; or, whether viewed as a structure entirely of workmen's hands or as a natural mountain, terraced from top to bottom,—in either case, the grandeur of the design and its entire accomplishment cannot but fill the beholder with astonishment and admiration; for not only does it cover more ground than any pyramid in the known world, but it is incomparably higher; and, being in the form of a cone, with a spiral terrace winding around it from bottom to top, and covered as it now is and probably always was, to some extent, with verdure to its very summit, is far more beautiful than any square-based pyramid of barren rock can be. It must not be supposed, however, that it still stands in all its original beauty, unscathed by the bitings of time and the corrosion of centuries. On the contrary, its primeval beauties, like its builders, are all gone, but its sullen grandeur and wild magnificence remain; and though time may often whet his scythe to mow this structure down, unless the changes work with or call to his aid an earthquake, he will find something for ages yet in the Valley of Mystery that will turn its edge. An accurate description of its construction and dimensions will be given when we shall have made a more minute examination of this most remarkable and colossal structure. Having visited the four other most prominent objects in the valley—two on the north and two on the south of this, we find a field open before us, so extensive that its very magnitude is almost discouraging. For, in addition to the seven immense structures that form the principal feature of the valley when viewed from the surrounding heights or summit of the plain, there are numberless objects of startling interest to be met with in almost any direction we choose to cut our way. Broken columns of stones, obelisks, with monuments of every conceivable shape, many of them covered with hieroglyphics, some almost totally obliterated, while many remain as perfect as could be desired, fill this vale with such a complication of wonders, that, to a mind desirous of knowing the whole history of its race, its mighty and unparalleled magnificence, its final decline and total ruin, it presents so vast a field for study and contemplation as almost to induce a wish that they were not half so numerous as they really are. Omitting everything like a further description, without the accompanying drawings, I shall briefly say a few words in reference to the time in the early history of the world when this people had an existence. No one will dispute the existence of the Egyptian pyramids; no one will deny that, through the indefatigable labours of a Champollion, the hieroglyphics they present have been mosT accurately deciphered, and that what was once a mystery is now no longer such. Here, then, is the connecting link between the time of the final destruction of this people and the characters then in use with those that bear a date long anterior to them. Enough has already been deciphered from the pyramid of comparatively later origin to show that it was constructed not far from 1,300 years before the Christian era, and contains the well-connected history of at least 100 years before, and more than 400 years subsequent to its erection; and during this period of only 500 years there were introduced, particularly towards its close, characters utterly unknown to the Egyptian people, and yet easily understood when taken in connection with those that precede. In this way, and in connection with numerous other inscriptions upon tablets discovered in a place that seems to have been a repository of their records, a chain of incidents identical with, and which in fact becomes their history, is traced down even to the second century of the Christian era, and closing with a record of events the most startling and truly terrible that ever befel any nation of intelligent, happy, but inoffensive people. But how are we to remove the stumblingblock that is presented, when from our starting point we trace backward as unequivocally as we have forward the history of a people who, like the Chinese, date their era long before the flood? Shall we deny the literal meaning or translation of hieroglyphics that have everywhere received the sanction of the learned? As well might we deny the existence of Na-ha-go itself or the pyramids of the Nile. Or must we believe a part and deny all the rest? and that part believe a mere point of time in comparison with the whole, and that only believe because we have corroborative testimony in similar structures and records in ancient Egypt. That America was peopled long anterior to the Eastern continent I will not pretend to say, but will leave it for all who feel disposed to look at the evidences of its far higher antiquity that we shall present, and then to judge for themselves. … In my next that I send you, which may possibly reach you in about 60 days, I shall continue a description of the most remarkable objects that everywhere meet the eye, as day by day we continue our researches in the Valley of Mystery.”