American Antiquities: Corroborative of the Book of Mormon (9 July 1859)

AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES,
CORROBORATIVE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

(Continued from page 434.)

(From the Report of a Lecture delivered in Bristol in 1849, by Professor Waterman, on the “Antiquities of America” &c.)

“A lecture on the above subject was delivered, a short time ago at the Exhibition-room of the Fine Arts Academy, Bristol, by Professor Waterman, of Boston, U.S. A numerous and respectable audience was present. A drawing taken from a tablet in Copan, exhibiting a number of hieroglyphics, was appended to the wall at the back of the platform. Professor Waterman commenced by stating that during his residence in America he had been much engaged in visiting the ruins of that country—the remains of other days—which were interesting, as they carried the mind back to scenes, times, and men that were gone by. … From Hudson’s Bay to the Isthmus of Panama there existed a vast chain of antiquities throughout the whole distance, different in many respects from anything in this country, Nineveh, Petra, or any other part of the world. There were two different classes of those antiquities; the first consisted of irregular mounds of earth, beneath which were found quantities of human skeletons, and with them those implements generally used in warfare. These tumuli, which were very similar to those in the counties of Dorset and Wilts, in England, ran entirely through North and South America. The second class was of a regular character, indicating a regular design and construction, often of very great dimensions, and made for different purposes to the first. These also extended throughout the whole country, and would be found, if a line were taken from the Isthmus of Panama, to become of increased antiquity as they proceeded in a northerly direction. In Central America were found entire cities, many of them not known twenty years ago, some of which excited as much interest as Nineveh, Babylon, or any city of the Nile; and Mr. Stevens, who had been celebrated for his travels in that part, had produced specimens equal to any found in either Thebes or Memphis. There were remains of what appeared to have been palaces and temples, covered with hieroglyphics, which, could they be translated, would give something definite, in all probability, of their former history. It was remarkable that in those hieroglyphs were taken entire portions of the human body; the drawing taken from the tablet in the ruins of Copan, so called from the province in which it was situated, was illustrative of the fact, many of them not extending back farther than 600 or 1000 years. Squier and Davis, in their researches in the valley of the Mississippi, discovered no less than 200 of those tumuli, differing in their nature from the first. They were mounds which contained traces of a once great and civilized nation: in them were found agricultural implements, figures, and almost every kind of ornamental work that the mind could conceive. In some mounds they were made of brass, silver, copper, and various other metals, showing the nature and extent of the intercouse of the inhabitants with other parts of America. Numbers of those mounds were of immense dimensions—some of them as large as the fourth part of London, many exhibiting ruins of fortifications and walls of cities. But the question arose as to who were the authors of those remains, so unique in their character, and manifesting such a high degree of intelligence. When the American continent was discovered, there were found two different classes of inhabitants; the first were those known as the red men of the forest, or American Indians, who were for a long time considered the only inhabitants, and the Mexicans, who were a people equalling in many respects the most refined of the Old World. Many and wild had been the speculations put forth at different times as to the origin of those people, which were, however, resolvable into two suppositions—either that the inhabitants were indigenous to the country or came from another land. The first hypothesis was untenable, as the manners, customs, and traditions of the people identified them as part of the great human family. When and whence, then, did they come? Albert Galatin, one of the profoundest philologists of the age, concluded that, so far as language afforded any clue, the time of their arrival could not have been long after the dispersion of the human family. Dr. Morton, after a series of investigations of many of the human crania found in the sepulchral mounds, concluded that they must have dated back at least 2,000 or 3,000 years. It would not seem that all the family to which they belonged came with them, as they were but representatives of a people still in existence in the Old World, or who had become extinct since they emigrated. This people could not have been created in Africa, for its inhabitants were widely dissimilar to those of America; nor in Europe, which was without a native people agreeing at all with American races: then to Asia alone could they look for the origin of the American. … Mr. Pallas, in the fifth volume of his Travels in Siberia, gave an account of very interesting discoveries near Kraznoiarck, about 56 deg. north, which indicated the occupancy of the country at a remote age by a people of civilization and refinement. Ancient mines were discovered, with mining implements like pickaxes, wedges of copper, and hammers of stone; also tombs, containing knives, arrow-heads, daggers, and ornaments in gold and silver, embossed with figures of elks, stags, reindeers, and other animals, of the most exquisite workmanship. In proof of the antiquity of these mines, Mr. Pallas stated that so long a time had elapsed since they were wrought, that the props which sustained them had become petrified, and some of them contained specimens of copper formed by the hand of nature since they were first erected. ... In the mines and tombs of Kraznoiarck had been found different kinds of instruments, such as knives, &c., made of copper so hardened as to take the place of steel, as used among us; and it was known, on the testimony of veritable historians, that the Mexicans, Peruvians, and southern notions possessed the means of hardening copper to such perfection that they were able to bestow on it an edge equal to that of the best steel. It was a fact worthy of special attention that not only copper wedges, but other instruments, identical in form and material to those found in Siberia, had been found in the mounds and tumuli of Mexico and other parts. The fact was thus established, either that one and the same people occupied at different tipies these different places—Siberia, Ohio, and Mexico, or that the nations possessed, in common, a secret now lost to the entire world. The lecturer then cited a number of facts in regard to astronomy and design, to show that they must have obtained their knowledge from some eastern nation, and concluded by observing that it was to be regretted that a subject so replete with interest should be long neglected."

(From “Cassell’s Illustrated Family Paper,” July 2, 1859.)

Civilization—proud of its luxury and refinement.—has often vitiated the character of an uncivilized people; and the nation that, in its rude simplicity, was accounted barbarous, has become ten times more barbarous under the influence of self-styled civilization. When the Spaniards first discovered Mexico, they found an upright people, in no way deficient in intellect, nor destitute of material comfort, nor devoid of artistic ingenuity. What have they made them? Let the present condition of Mexico reply. Humboldt, Bullock, and other European travellers have satisfactorily established the ingenuity of the ancient Mexicans. The numerous monuments which still remain fully attest this fact. There are pyramids, in some cases, larger than those of Egypt; there are sculptures beautiful as those of Etruria; there are broken walls, and prostrate columns, and the remains of artificial canals spreading far and wide. The ruins of Pelanqne extend for twenty miles, and the mountains of Tezenco are covered with the debris of ancient cities. The accompanying illustration represents the ruins of a celebrated temple in the Tierra Caliente, about seventy miles south of the city of Mexico. ... It occupies an area of about 500 square yards, and is nearly 600 feet in length. It is somewhat remarkable that the gigantic stones of which it is composed have been brought from a quarry of blue porphyry, several leagues distant. Some of these stones measure no less than 13 feet in length, four or five in breadth, and two or three in height. The stones are completely covered with curious hieroglyphics. The study of Mexican antiquities presents many highly interesting features, and amply repays the toil and trouble of laborious research.”