American Antiquities: Corroborative of the Book of Mormon (6 August 1859)

(From a letter by Mr. E.G. Squier, read before the American Ethnological Society, Oct. 17, 1849.)

“I have been able to pay some attention to the antiquities of the country. I have succeeded to an eminent degree in obtaining the confidence of the Indians, and have secured some of their vocabularies. In fact, the Indian Pueblo of Subtiava has presented me a formal address, written in the aboriginal tongue, and would rise in arms to-morrow at my call. In presenting it, the spokesman exclaimed, with startling emphasis, ‘The Spaniards have had their feet on our necks very long. We hope the sons of Washington will overwhelm them as they havens. We hate them!’ The Indians of Subtiava have dug up for me a number of their buried idols, and are now exhuming more. They impose but one condition—that I shall have no Spaniard with me when I go to see them, and shall keep the localities secret. These idols, though much smaller, closely resemble those of Copan in workmanship, and were no doubt dedicated to the same or very similar purposes. I have eight in my possession, ranging from five-and-a-half to eight feet in height, and from four to five in circumference. Some of the statues to which I have referred have the same elaborate headdresses with others of Copan: one hears a shield upon his arm, another has a girdle, to which is suspended a head, and still another has rising above its head the sculptured jaws of an alligator. All are very ancient, and the places of their deposit have been handed down from one generation to another. Many of these have been removed and are scattered over the country; and some, I believe, have been sent abroad. A number still remain; but the largest of all I brought away with me, at the cost of a day’s hard labour, and at great risk in passing fifteen miles upon the lake, in a gusty night, and a boat scarce able to sustain the great weight, This had resisted the exertions of twelve men on one occasion: after moving it a few rods, they had abandoned it in despair. The boatmen thought me mad and crossed themselves devoutly when I proceeded to carry it away. ‘The Indians of Honduras,’ says Herrara, ‘worshipped two images, male and female,' which they called ‘the great father and the great mother,’ and of which he says, a little further on the sun and the moon were also representatives. I have heard of other localities similar to this, which I propose to visit; and shall therefore not repeat what is told me concerning them. I must not, however, forget to mention that there has lately been discovered, in the province of Vera Paz, 150 miles north-east of Guatemala, buried in a dense forest, and far from any settlements, a ruined city, surpassing Copan or Palenque in extent and magnificence, and displaying a degree of art to which none of the structures of Yucatan can lay Claim."

(From a letter by Dr. S.P Hildred to the President of the American Antiquarian Society, dated “Marietta, Nov 3, 1819.”)

“In removing the earth composing an ancient mound in the streets of Marietta, [Ohio,] on the margin of the plain, near the fortifications, several curious articles were discovered. They appear to have been buried with the body of the person to whose memory the mound was erected, lying immediately over or on the forehead of the body, were found three large circular bosses, or ornaments for a sword-belt or a buckler: they are composed of copper overlaid with a thick plate of silver. The fronts are slightly convex, with a depression like a cup in the centre, and measure two inches and a quarter across the face of each, on the back side, opposite the depressed portion, is a copper rivet or nail, around which are two separate plates, by which they were fastened to the leather. Two small pieces of the leather were found lying between the plates of one of these bosses. They resemble the skin of a mummy and seem to have been preserved by the salts of copper. The copper plates are nearly reduced to an oxyde, or rust. The silver looks quite black, but is not much corroded, and in rubbing is quite brilliant. Two of these are yet entire; the third one is so much wasted that it dropped in pieces in removing it from the earth. Around the rivets of one of them is a small quantity of flax or hemp, in a tolerable state of preservation. Near the side of the body was found a plate of silver which appears to have been the upper part of a sword-scabbard: it is six inches in length and two inches in breadth, and weighs one ounce. It has no ornaments or figures, but has three longitudinal ridges, which probably corresponded with the edges or ridges of the sword, it seems to have been fastened to the scabbard by three or four rivets, the holes of which remain in the sliver. Two or three broken pieces of a copper tube were also found filled with iron rust. These pieces, from their appearance, composed the lower end of the scabbard, near the point of the sword. No signs of the sword itself were discovered except the appearance of rush above mentioned. Near the feet was found a [round] piece of copper weighing three ounces. … It [the mound] has every appearance of being as old as any in the neighbourhood, and was at the first settlement of Marietta, covered with large trees. … The bones were much decayed, and many of them crumbled to dust on exposure to the air."

(From John Baily's “Central America,” published in 1850.)

“On the left bank of the river Motagua, in the lands called Quirigua, about six leagues from the town of Yzabal, on the Gulf of Dulce, there are some remains of antiquity, that, were they better known, would excite the admiration of archaeologists. They consist of seven quadrilateral columns, from 12 to 25 feet high, and three to five feet at the bases, as they now stand; four pieces of an irregularly oval figure, 12 feet by 10 or 11 feet, not unlike sarcophagi; and two other pieces, large square slabs, seven-and-a-half feet by three feet, and more than three feet thick. All are of stone resembling the primitive sandstone, and except the slabs, are covered on all tides with sculptured devices, among which are many heads of men and women, animals, foliage, and fanciful figures, all elaborately wrought in a style of art and good finish that cause surprise on inspecting them closely. The columns appear to be of one piece, having each side entirely covered with the figures in relief. The whole have sustained so little injury from time or atmospheric corrosion, that, when cleared from an incrustation of dirt and moss, they show the lines perfect and well-defined. Evidently they are the performances of a skilful and ingenious people, whose history has been lost probably for ages, or rather centuries. … investigation as to their origin and purpose would lead into a labyrinth of conjecture. They suggest the idea of having been designed for historical records rather than mere ornament; and as so little if known of this country previous to the subjection of it by Pedro Alvarado and others, they well deserve the scientific consideration of antiquarians."

(To be continued.)