The Aztec City in Central America—The Lost Tribes

THE AZTEC CITY IN CENTRAL AMERICA.—THE LOST TRIBES.

(From the Boston U.S. Weekly Journal.)

Rumours of the existence of an ancient city in Central America, inhabited by de­scendants of the Aztecs, have been re­peatedly mentioned by travellers. Ste­phens, in his valuable work on Yucatan, we believe, alludes to this subject, and seems to place reliance in the statement. The “Aztec children,” who were exhibited in this city, and are now in New York, are reported to have been brought from this mysterious city. They are said to belong to an order dedicated to the sacer­dotal service. The stories of the origin of these singular children were disbelieved in this city, but seem to be credited in New York, and a belief in the existence of an Aztec city is gaining ground.

The editor of the New Orleans Pica­yune has recently been put in possession of some facts which have confirmed his belief in these stories. He says:—

“About three weeks since, a gentle­man who had recently returned from Tehuantepec, placed in our hands a volume composed of a number of layers of parch­ment, bound together with brazen clasps, and presenting appearances of great anti­quity. It was obtained from an Indian curate—there are many such in that part of Mexico—and the history of it, as re­lated by himself, is this. He said, that he had purchased it from a native trader, who once a year was in the habit of visit­ing a city among the mountains towards the south, which is inhabited exclusively by Aztecs. The name of this city is Coaxchencingo, which, in the language of the tribe to which the curate belongs, signi­fies, ‘the mystery of the mountains.’ Within an inner apartment of the grand temple of Coaxchencingo are kept about fifty volumes, similar in appearance to the one referred to; which, it is said by the priests, were preserved from the ex­tensive collection of records known to have existed in Mexico at the time of the conquest, and which were destroyed by Cortez in the heat of his intemperate zeal against the paganism of the Aztecs. The volumes preserved at Coaxchencingo are regarded as holy things, and are only to be seen on days of great public rejoicing or solemnity. It was on an occasion of this kind that the Indian trader succeeded in abstracting one of them.

“This volume, which we have now be­fore us, is filled with hieroglyphical characters, almost all of which are of course perfectly unintelligible to us. But one circumstance connected with it is of the highest importance, and tends to confirm the theory that the Aztecs are the descen­dants of a race which migrated to this continent from the eastern shores of Asia, about twenty centuries ago. It is re­markable that on one or two pages of the volume, immediately beneath the hiero­glyphics, there are inscriptions in Greek characters, forming words in that lan­guage, but written backwards, in the Oriental style. On the first page these Greek inscriptions run thus (we give English characters for want of Greek): notnap not sogol, which, reversed, reads, O logos ton panton—literally, ‘world of all,' or ‘of all things.’ It is to be pre­sumed from this, that the book is a his­tory of the mysterious people among whom it was found: and could it be thoroughly decyphered, it would no doubt thoroughly solve the problem of our abori­ginal archaeology. On another page there is a picture of water, and under it is the word sessalaht, which is evidently ‘thalasses,’ Greek for the sea. A representa­tion of a vessel full of men accompanies this, and conveys the impression, that it refers to a voyage or emigration from be­yond the sea.

“The existence of these Greek words in this volume is a very singular circumstance, and proves conclusively that it must have been the work of some nation from the old continent, which held suffi­cient communication with Greeks to learn the language. That it is Asiatic is proved by the fact of the reversed writing, which method is used by all the oriental nations. A coincident fact with this one is the dis­covery lately made of a Hebrew volume, found in the possession of a western tribe of Indians, an account of which has al­ready been given in almost all the news­papers, and will doubtless be remembered by our readers.

“To what nation the authors of this Aztec volume belonged is yet a mystery, though the facts would seem to indicate a Jewish origin; for although there are no Hebrew characters in the book, the known fact of the disappearance of the Ten Tribes, the many similarities between the customs, rites, and ceremonies of the Aztecs and those of the ancient Jews, and other circumstances of the same nature, lend plausibility to the theory of a Hebrew origin.

“The Elders and priests among the Jews were well acquainted with Greek; in fact, it was the polite language of that era; and it is not surprising that, with a certain affectation of erudition, they should have made use of it in their wri­tings. However, this is a point which we leave to those more learned than we are, to decide. We may remark, nevertheless, en passant, that the physiogonomy of the Aztec children, as described by the nor­thern papers, is essentially Jewish. We understand that it is the intention of the proprietor of the strange volume referred to, to submit it to the inspection of Pro­fessor Gliddon, whose hieroglyphical at­tainments may enable him to make some interesting discoveries in this new field of investigation.”

[The Book of Mormon gives an account of the ancient inhabitants of America, their origin, civilization, religion, prosperity, and decay; and is one of the most inter­esting and valuable works extant. It declares that the aborigines of America are not descendants of the lost Ten Tribes of Israel, but that they are principally a remnant of the Tribe of Joseph. It states that America anciently was inhabited by two distinct races, from three distinct colonies, all emigrating from Asia. The first colony from the Tower of Babel, when the Lord confounded the language of the human family; the second from Jerusalem in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah; the third also from Jerusalem, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah. The two former colonies were led by the Lord to the land of America, having revela­tions from Him; and were more civilized and enlightened than the latter were: the first colony were destroyed about the time the second colony reached America; the second and third colonies united themselves together about four hundred years after they arrived on the American continent. The magnificent ruins of once large and populous cities and splendid temples which travellers and adventurers in America are continually reporting; and the traditions, ancient manuscripts, and rites and ceremonies amongst American aborigines, which evidently betray Hebrew and Mosaic features; as well as remarkable hieroglyphics which the learned are unable to de­cipher—these are some of the remains of these three colonies and arc strongly corrobora­tive evidence in favour of the truth of the Book of Mormon. Notwithstanding all this confirmatory testimony in favour of that instructive book, it is rejected by the learned world simply because it was brought forth and translated by the power of God, and not by the wisdom and learning of men. But the world will yet have proof upon proof, evidence upon evidence, in support of the Book of Mormon, until a belief in it will be far more extensive and universal than a belief in the Bible now is. The wisdom and learning of men will in this instance be brought to nought by the “foolishness” of God, and the “weakness” of God will eventually prove more potent than the strength of men.—Ed.]