Remarkable Discoveries in America

REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA.

Mr. Kinkaid, of Idaho, U.S.A., for thirty years an employee of Smithsonian Institute at Washington, recently made a discovery while travelling through the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, that may shed additional light upon the early inhabitants of that country. Mr. Kinkaid’s report is to the effect that while rowing down the river in a canoe looking for mineral, he saw a peculiar formation of rocks in the side of the gorge at a height which subsequent calculations placed at 2,000 feet above the river bed. With much difficulty he reached the place and discovered an open­ing in the face of the cliff. Steps were carved in the stone, leading down from the entrance a distance of about thirty feet. He con­cludes that at the time this opening was made the bed of the river was but a little way below it—probably no lower than the bottom of the steps already mentioned. What he found is described by him in part as follows:

“The main passageway is about twelve feet wide, narrowing to nine feet toward the farther end. About fifty-seven feet from the entrance, the first side-passages branch off to the right and left, along which, on both sides, are a number of rooms about the size of ordinary living rooms of to-day, though some are thirty or forty feet square. These are entered by oval-shaped doors and are ventilated by round airspaces through the walls into the passages. The walls are about three feet six inches in thickness. The passages are chiseled or hewn as straight as could be laid out by an engineer. The ceilings of many of the rooms converge to a centre. The sidepassages near the entrance run at a sharp angle from the main hall, but toward the rear they gradually reach a right angle in direction. Over a hundred feet from the entrance is the cross­-hall, several hundred feet long, in which was found the idol, or image, of the people’s god, sitting cross-legged, with a lotus flower or lily in each hand. The cast of the face is oriental, and the carv­ing shows a skilful hand, and the entire relic is remarkably well preserved, as is everything in this cavern.

“On all the urns, on walls over doorways, and tablets of stone which were found by the image are the mysterious hieroglyphics, the key to which the Smithsonian Institute hopes yet to discover. These writings resemble those on the rocks about this valley. The engraving on the tablets probably has something to do with the religion of the people. Similar hieroglyphics have been found in the peninsular of Yucatan, but these are not the same as those found in the orient. Some believe that these cave dwellers built the old canals in the Salt River valley. Among other finds are vases or urns and cups of copper and gold, made very artistic in design. The pottery work includes enamelled ware and glazed vessels. Another passageway leads to granaries such as are found in the oriental temples. They contain seeds of various kinds. One very large storehouse has not yet been entered, as it is twelve feet high and can be reached only from above. The copper hooks ex­tend on the edge, which indicates that some sort of ladder was attached. These granaries are rounded, and the material of which they are constructed, I think, is a very hard cement. A grey metal is also found in this cavern, which puzzles the scientists, for its identity has not been established. It resembles platinum.

“Among the discoveries no bones of animals have been found, no skins, no clothing nor bedding. Many of the rooms are bare but for water vessels. One room, about forty by seven-hundred feet, was probably the main dining hall, for cooking utensils are found here. What this people lived on is a problem, though it is pre­sumed that they came south in the winter and farmed in the valleys, going back north in the summer. Upwards of fifty-thousand people could have lived in the cavern comfortably. One theory is that the present Indian tribes found in Arizona are descendants of the serfs or slaves of the people which inhabited the cave. Un­doubtedly a good many thousands of years before the Christian era a people lived here which reached a high stage of civili­zation.”

Discoveries of this kind are especially interesting to the Latter-day Saints, and to students of the Book of Mormon, as external evidence of the genuineness of that inspired record. The Book of Mormon tells us that at the time of the confusion of tongues, when the Tower of Babel was being built, a few families found favor with the Lord because of their righteousness and were spared the punishment meted out to the wicked. These families, under the leadership of “the brother of Jared,” made their way out of the country and to the shores of the mighty waters, which they crossed in barges designed by revelation from the Lord, and came to “the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands.” This colony is supposed to have landed on the shores of North America, since their historians refer to a journey southward even to the “narrow neck of land,” the name by which the Isthmus of Panama was known by Book of Mormon writers.

About 1500 years later, or 600 years B.C., another colony was led out of Jerusalem by Lehi, who had hearkened to the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, and they two were led by the Lord to the western hemisphere, landing somewhere near the present site of the City of Valparaiso, Chili. This fact is learned from their description of the country and the reference in the records to the long journeys northward before they reached “the narrow neck of land.” Eleven years after this second colony left Jerusalem, King Zedekiah was taken captive into Babylon and the people were scattered. A small company under the leadership of Mulek man­aged to escape and finally found their way to the land of America, going ashore a short distance south of the “narrow neck of land,” where they spread out and built cities and grew in numbers.

While these Israelitish people occupied the land at different times, they all came from the same continent and it is reasonable to con­clude that where evidence is found of their traditions and language, it would be much the same. This may account for the fact referred to in Mr. Kinkaid’s report that the hieroglyphics engraved on the urns, walls and over the doors, are “similar to hieroglyphics previously found on the peninsula of Yucatan.” He mentions the evidence of a high degree of skill in the construction of this great underground passage; of a knowledge of the arts of architecture, engraving and the working of metals. The Book of Mormon makes frequent mention of the high state of civilization attained by these ancient peoples. In the Book of Ether, which contains a record of the colony that came from the Tower of Babel, we read: “they became exceeding rich, having all manner of fruit and of grain, and of silks, and of fine linen, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious things.” We read further that under the reign of King Riplikish, the people were taxed heavily “and with taxes he did build many spacious buildings, * * * and he did build many prisons, and whoso would not be subject unto taxes, he did cast into prison; * * * and .he did cause that they should labor continually, * * * wherefore he did obtain his fine work; yea, even his fine gold did he cause to be refined in prison; and all manner of fine workmanship he did cause to be wrought in prison.” Referring to the reign of Morianton, it is written,” and the people became exceeding rich under his reign, both in buildings and in gold and silver,” and under one of his successors, “they did work in all manner of ore, and they did make gold, and silver, and iron, and brass, and all manner of metals, and they did dig it out of the earth. * * * And they did make all manner of tools to till the earth, * * * and all manner of weapons of war, and they did all manner of exceeding curious workmanship.”

We look for continued discoveries of this character, all of which will ultimately show that the Prophet Joseph Smith was certainly inspired of God in bringing forth the Book of Mormon.—S.N.L.