American Antiquities: Corroborative of the Book of Mormon (4 June 1859)

AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES,
CORROBORATIVE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON

(Continued from page 312.)

(From the London Athenaeum, Dec. 8, 1835.)

“Paris, Nov. 26.

I have received a letter from my friend, the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, dated Rabinal, Department of Vera Paz, state of Guatemala, Central America, Aug. 7, from which, omitting the portions strictly private, I have taken the following extracts. They cannot fail to interest all students in American Archaeology, as well as all enquirers into the aboriginal and colonial history of the Central American states. ...

Respectfully, &c.,

E.G. Squier.”

Rabinal, Department of Vera Paz,

August 7.

My dear Sir,—My journey to this point has been through the States of Nicaragua and San Salvador. They offered little to my curiosity in the form of antiquities; and I was only able to obtain a few traditions, a few words belonging to two of their languages, and four or five airs of their ancient bayles, or religious dances. I hoped to find much of interest in Guatemala; nor was I disappointed. From every quarter, official and private, I received every assistance possible; and although the various archives have suffered much during the late revolutions, I have been able to make a fine collection of manuscripts. … I should mention that I have consulted the original MS. of Ximenes, of which a part only is copied in Ordonez. It is composed of two distinct parts: the first contains, in three large volumes, a History of the Conquest, but more particularly of the establishment of the Dominican Order in the kingdom of Guatemala, with many geographical details and observations on natural history; the second a comparative Grammar of the three metropolitan languages, a Catechism and Confessionario in the same languages, and finally, the Ancient History of Quiché, in Spanish and Quiché. … This begins with the creation of the world, as given in Ordonez, who took his copy from this book; but there are pretty large discrepancies, and the latter has not always been very faithful to the original. It has the same history of the demi-gods Hanaphu and Xbalanque; and, with the exception of a few marvellous tales, the whole is an historical episode of the most interesting character. The scene is generally in Quiché and Vera Paz; and most of the names are of places which I have been able to discover. After the semi-fabulous part of the book comes an account of the passage of the Indians to these parts of America. They are represented as coming from the north-east. I speak only of the Kachiquels, Zutugils, and Quichés, as, long before their arrival, these countries were peopled and civilized. As I have said, they came from the north-east, and certainly passed through the United States. As they say themselves, they crossed the sea in darkness, mist, cold, and snow. I suppose they must have come from Denmark or Norway. They came in small numbers, and lost their white blood by mixture with the aborigines whom they found either in the United States or these regions. … After a sojourn of three months in Guatemala, I was, in May last, appointed Cura of Rabinal, by favour of the Archbishop, who made the appointment expressly to facilitate my studies in the languages and traditions of the country. My parish extends very far into Vera Paz, and is peopled by a very quiet and peaceable set of Indians, quite the reverse of the warriors of old. I begin to speak with them in their own language, which is of the utmost importance, as very few of them understand Spanish. Some weeks ago, as there is no physician here, I ventured to give one of them a remedy which cured him of a dangerous illness. From gratitude, he afterwards told me that he was the lineal descendant of the ancient chiefs,—that, by order of his fathers, he had committed to memory the whole of one of their bayles, or dramatic dances, in which he had recited a principal part in the time when they still danced and played it. Knowing that I had vainly endeavoured to obtain an idea of that bayle from the other Indians, he proposed that I should write it down from his dictation, which I eagerly undertook to do, notwithstanding that it was to be repeated in the Quiché dialect of Rabinal. Improbus labor omnia vincit: after twelve days of the most arduous labour I ever undertook, I got the whole of the bayle. With the aid of my grammars and dictionaries, I have corrected the orthography; and now I can boast of possessing the only original American drama in the world. It is a real drama, comparable in subject and style with the best of the old German poems of the middle ages, to which it bears a great resemblance. The scene is laid here in Rabinal, and the personages are the first heroes of the Quiché and Rabinal nations,— the time being, I should say, about the beginning of the twelfth century. It is an historical drama, agreeing in most of its facts with my Kachiquel MS.; and what is very interesting is, that these both agree with Ximenes. Two ancient cities, full of large ruins, spoken of in my drama, I have visited. They are called Zamaneb, or Cakyug, and Tzac-Pokoma. I shall send you a description of them by the first opportunity.

Sincerely yours,

Brasseur de Bourbourg.”

(To be continued.)