INDIRECT EXTERNAL EVIDENCES--AMERICAN TRADITIONS. Continued.
Always closely allied with the native American traditions of a deluge
are those which bear close analogy to the Bible account of the
existence of giants in the earth, [1] of the Tower of Babel, [2] the
confusion of languages, [3] the dispersion of mankind throughout the
earth, [4] including migrations to this western hemisphere. The first
four items above enumerated will be recognized as Bible events; while
the last will be remembered as a very important Book of Mormon event
fulfilled in the migration of the Jaredite colony from the Tower of
Babel to the western hemisphere. [5] But as the Nephite migration, as
also that of Mulek's colony, is committed to the traditions of the
native Americans, one must not be surprised if these several migrations
are sometimes confounded, resulting in confusion that is quite
perplexing.
III.
_Tradition of the Tower of Babel_
On the way between Vera Cruz and the capital not far from the
modern city of Puebla, stands the venerable relic, with which the
reader has become familiar in the course of this narrative--called
the temple of Cholulua. It is, as he will remember, a pyramidal
mound, built, or rather cased, with unburnt brick, rising to
the height of nearly one hundred and eighty feet. The popular
tradition of the natives is that it was erected by a family of
giants, who had escaped the great inundation, and designed to raise
the building to the clouds; but the gods, offended with their
presumption, sent fires from heaven on the pyramid, and compelled
them to abandon the attempt. The partial coincidence of this legend
with the Hebrew account of the Tower of Babel, received also by
other nations of the east, cannot be denied. [6]
Prescott also has a footnote on this passage, from which I make the
following quotation:
A tradition, very similar to the Hebrew one, existed among the
Chaldeans and the Hindoos. (_Asiatic Researches_, vol. III, mem.
16.) The natives of Chiapa, also, according to the bishop Nuez
de la Vega, had a story, cited as genuine by Humboldt (_Vues des
Cordilleres_, p. 148), which not only agrees with the scripture
account of the manner in which Babel was built, but with that of
the subsequent dispersion, and the confusion of tongues. [7]
Ixtlilxochitl the Christian descendant of the ancient rulers of
Anahuac, relates that after the dispersion of the human race which
succeeded the attempt at building the Tower of Babel (which he had
learned from his Catholic instructors) [8] seven Toltecs reached
America and became the parents of a numerous race. The Quiches
speak of white men who came from the land of the sun. The people of
Yucatan believe that their ancestors had come from the east, across
a great body of water that God had dried up to let them pass over.
[9]
The Mexicans round Cholula had a special legend, connecting the
escape of a remnant from the great deluge with the often mentioned
story of the origin of the people of Anahuac from Chicomoztoc, or
the Seven Caves. At the time of the cataclysm, [i. e. the flood]
the country, according to Pedro de los Rios, was inhabited by
giants. Some of these perished utterly; others were changed into
fishes; while seven brothers of them found safety by closing
themselves into certain caves in a mountain called Tlaloc. When
the waters were assuaged, one of the giants, Xelhua, surnamed
the architect, went to Cholula and began to build an artificial
mountain, as a monument and a memorial of the Tlaloc that had
sheltered him and his when the angry waters swept through all the
land. The bricks were made in Tlamanalco, at the foot of the Sierra
de Cocotl, and passed to Chulua from hand to hand along a file of
men--whence these came is not said--stretching between the two
places. Then were the jealousy and the anger of the gods aroused,
as the huge pyramid arose slowly up, threatening to reach the
clouds and the great heaven itself; and the gods launched their
fire upon the builders and slew many, so that the work was stopped.
But the half-finished structure, afterwards dedicated by the
Cholultecs to Quetzalcoatl, still remains to show how well Xelhua,
the giant, deserved his surname of the Architect. [10]
"The Tower of Babel is," indeed, clearly remembered by several
aboriginal nations of our continent," says P. DeRoo, "especially of
Central America," and then he adds:
Ixtlilxochitl relates the tradition of the Toltecs, according
to which the few men who escaped the deluge, after multiplying
again, built a "zacuali" or tower of great height, in which to
take refuge when the world should be destroyed a second time.
After this their tongues became confused and, not understanding
one another any longer, they went to different parts of the world.
The Toltecs, seven in number, and their wives, who understood
one another's speech, after crossing great lands and seas and
undergoing many hardships, finally arrived in America, which they
found to be a good land and fit for habitation. When Coxcox and
his wife Xochiquetzal had landed on the peak of Calhuacan they
increased and multiplied, and children began to gather about them;
but these were all born dumb. A dove came, however, and gave them
tongues, innumerable languages. On an ancient hieroglyphical map,
first published by Carreri, who was vindicated from suspicion as
to his integrity by Boturini, Clavigero, and von Humboldt, there
is also depicted a dove with the hieroglyphic emblem of languages,
which it is distributing to the children of Coxcox. Only fifteen
of the descendants of Coxcox could not all understand one another,
and these were the ancestors of the Nahua nations. Thus runs the
Mexican tradition, which the learned Von Humboldt further relates
when he says, "Wodan, one of the fifteen ancestors of the American
nations, was a grandson of the venerable old man, who with his
family escaped the fury of the flood, and was one of those who,
according to the Chiapan legend, had helped in building the
monument that was to reach heaven but remained unfinished through
the anger of the gods. After each family had received a different
language, Teotl ordered Wodan to go and settle Anahuac" [11]--(the
Mexican table land).
The Cholulan tradition, as told by Duran, differs somewhat from
the foregoing version. "I inquired," he says, "about the ancient
Mexican legends, from a native of Cholula who was a hundred years
old, and well versed in the antiquities of his tribe. 'Take pen and
paper,' he answered me, 'because you could not remember all that
I am to tell you: At first, there was nothing but a dark world,
without any creature in it; but as soon as light was made with the
sun rising in the east, gigantic men with ugly features made their
appearance and took possession of this earth. Desirous of knowing
the rising and the setting of the sun, they divided themselves into
two groups, those of one group traveling east on their search, and
the others west, until the ocean prevented them from going any
further. They returned, therefore, and, unable to get at the sun by
his rising or sinking, whilst, however, they were enamoured with
his light and beauty, they decided to build a tower tall enough to
reach him in his course. They set out gathering materials, found
clay and a very sticky bitumen, and they hurried on to erect the
tower, and raised it so high that, they say, it seemed to attain to
the sky. And the Lord above, annoyed at their work, spoke to the
inhabitants of heaven: 'You have noticed how those of the world
have built a high and superb tower to climb up higher, after the
beauty and light of the sun; come and let us confound them, for it
is not right that those of the world living in the flesh, should
mix up with us.' The inhabitants of heaven sallied forth at once,
like thunderbolts, by the four corners of the earth and demolished
the monument. Terrified and trembling, the giants fled in every
direction.'" [12]
Passages of like description to these might be multiplied, but the
foregoing are sufficient for our purpose here. [13]
I have already called attention to the fact that authorities upon the
subject of traditions and legends of the new world are as much divided
and as irreconcilable as they are upon the origin and antiquity of
American ruins. A number of writers, especially those of recent date,
seek to discount the value of the analogy which is plainly evident
between these native American accounts of the creation, the flood,
the building of the Tower of Babel, the confusion of tongues, the
dispersion of mankind, and the Bible accounts of the same events; but
I fail to find any reason advanced sufficiently strong to discredit
the obvious analogy, and the significance there is in such analogy,
viz., that the native Americans in ancient times were acquainted with
the Bible facts concerning these several things. Those who accept the
Book of Mormon know by what means and how the ancient Americans became
acquainted with these scriptural truths. Those writers who seek to
discredit the native traditions resort in the main to the theory that
these so-called creation, flood, and tower legends have not escaped
the "renovating touch of the Spanish priests and chroniclers, who,
throughout their writings, seem to think it their bounden duty to make
the ideas of the history of the new world correspond to those of the
old;" [14] while others see in them an adaptation by pious fraud of
Indian mythologies to Bible statements. [15] Such Nadaillac represents
the theories of some other writers to be; but he himself, in speaking
of a number of traditions which resemble Bible historical incidents,
disclaims the necessity of accrediting them to Christian origin:
A general belief * * * * in a deluge or flood is widely spread
among the American races, and can hardly be attributed to Christian
teachings. * * * * * * It is probable that all these traditions
have some foundations in truth. * * * * No dissemination of merely
Christian ideas since the conquest is sufficient to account for
these myths. [16]
With the Book of Mormon in hand, however, one does not need to
accept these strained explanations nor this wholesale repudiation
of the writings of respectable authorities on the validity of these
legends among native Americans, derived--not as some would have us
believe, from picture-paintings of the natives alone, but from these,
supplemented by the oral traditions of the natives. The source of
traditions here referred to is made clear by the Book of Mormon.
IV.
_Migrations._
As already stated, some confusion exists in native American traditions
relative to migrations. This doubtless arises from the fact that the
native traditions confound the three great migrations of which the Book
of Mormon speaks, viz., the Jaredite, Nephite and Mulek migrations, and
also the subsequent intercontinental movements among both Nephites and
Lamanites, especially those following the disaster at Cumorah, with the
general migrations from the old world. This confusion in the native
traditions results in dividing the writers on American antiquities,
both in respect of the number of migrations and the direction whence
they came, as also the time of them. It should be stated that there
are some respectable authorities who doubt ancient migrations at all,
holding the native population of America, and also its civilization, to
be indigenous.
Migration passages already quoted in connection with the Tower of
Babel matter, are as follows: "The Toltecs reached America [from the
Tower] and became the founders of a numerous race." "The Quiches speak
of white men who came from the land of the sun. The people of Yucatan
believe that their ancestors had come from the east across a great body
of water that God had dried up to let them pass over." [17] Here it
will be observed that with these traditions of the migration from the
east has been coupled the Bible story of the Israelites crossing the
Red Sea, through which God opened a way to let them pass. [18]
It is also to be observed that in some instances the American
traditions fix the building of the notable tower to escape floods in
the western world. [19] Not a surprising variation when one considers
how oral tradition, unchecked by written annals, distorts facts. From
another passage already given, [20] after referring to the facts of
the confusion of languages, it is stated that the people went to
different parts of the world; then, "the Toltecs, seven in number,
and their wives, who understood one another's speech, after crossing
great lands and seas and undergoing great hardships, finally arrived
in America, which they found to be good land and fit for habitation. *
* * Only fifteen of the descendants of Coxcox could at all understand
one another, and these were the ancestors of the Nahuac nations."
[21] In this last quotation one perceives very clearly in outline the
story of the Jaredite migration as follows: First, the number of the
colony is small. The Book of Ether represents that the Jaredite colony
crossed the great waters between their native land and America in eight
barges; [22] and they were small. [23] The two principal families of
this colony, that of Moriancumr and Jared, some time after reaching
America, are set down as follows: The former had of sons and daughters
twenty-two; while the number of sons and daughters of the latter were
twelve, he having four sons. Some of these sons and daughters may,
of course, have been born en route to, and after the arrival in,
America--that, at least, is a very great probability--and hence the
original colony would be cut down by as many as were so born. [24] The
number of "friends" of Jared and his brother who accompanied them from
Babel to America are set down at "about twenty and two souls, and they
also begat sons and daughters before they came to the promised land.
[25] This may mean that the twenty-two friends were all adults, while
the number of children is not given; or it may mean that they numbered
twenty-two including children. In any event the Jaredite colony was not
large, and it is quite possible that the families were not more than
seven in number as held in the native tradition before us.
Second, the American traditions represent that the colony which
came from the tower and peopled America all understood each other's
language, and the number of them was fifteen; which, if this number
represents the adult members of the colony, we have again about the
seven families indicated in the foregoing passage; and it will be
remembered that when the Lord made known to the prophet Moriancumr that
he was about to confound the languages of the people, his brother Jared
suggested to him that he ask the Lord not to confound their language;
"and it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord,
and the Lord had compassion upon Jared, therefore he did not confound
the language of Jared." [26] A second appeal was made in behalf of
their friends (who we have already learned numbered twenty-two) that
their language might not be confounded; "and the Lord had compassion
upon their friends, and upon their families also, that they were not
confounded." [27]
Third, this colony, of the American traditions, crossed great lands and
seas and underwent many hardships before finally arriving in America.
Now Ether's account of the Jaredite journey: "And it came to pass that
they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they
did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the
Lord. And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the
sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even
unto the land of promise"--America. [28] Arriving on the shores of the
great ocean which separated them from the land of their destination
they received a commandment to build barges for crossing this ocean.
"And it came to pass that when they had done all these things they
got aboard of their vessels or barges and set forth into the sea,
commending themselves unto the Lord their God. And it came to pass
that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon
the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were
tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind." [29] This journey
continued three hundred and forty-four days upon the water. This surely
was "crossing great lands and seas and undergoing many hardships."
Fourth, the American tradition says that the Toltec colony finally
arrived in America, which they found to be a good land, "and fit for
habitation." Concerning the land to which the Jaredite colony came
Ether says that it is "a land of promise, which is choice above all
other lands which the Lord had preserved for a righteous people." [30]
In other words, to use the language of the native American tradition,
it was "a land fit for habitation."
Other passages on the fact of ancient migrations to America follow;
but I caution the reader again concerning the confusion existing in
the traditions on this subject, which arises, as I believe, from the
traditions mingling indiscriminately together the three migrations of
the Book of Mormon, and later movements of native tribes since the
overthrow of the Nephites at Cumorah.
One fact appears probable, and that is that there was a tendency
of population extending over a long period from the north toward
the south, one driving another before it as one wave of the sea
follows that in advance of it. We cannot do better than compare
these successive invasions, with those of the barbarous races that
quarreled over the parts of the dismembered Roman empire, or with
that of the Aryans, who from the farther end of Asia fell in hordes
first upon India and Persia and then upon the different countries
of Europe, giving to the vanquished as the price of their defeat a
culture undoubtedly superior to that they had formerly possessed.
[31]
That successive waves of migration occurred there is no reason to
doubt, and that these successive bodies of immigrants differed to
some extent in culture and in race is highly probable. [32] * *
* The ancient American races preserved the tradition of distinct
migrations, in their hieroglyphics and pictographs. [33]
That America was peopled from Asia, the cradle of the human race,
can no longer be doubted, but how and when they came is a problem
that cannot be solved. [34]
The testimony "of migration to the western coast of America from the
eastern coast of Asia," Rivero and Tschudi hold to be strong and
conclusive; and further "that it explains many facts in America, which
long perplexed our archaeologists;" but "it by no means aids us in
determining the origin of our earliest population." [35] On the same
subject Gallatin remarks:
After making every proper allowance, I can see no possible reason
that should have prevented those who, after the dispersion of
mankind, moved towards the east and northeast from having reached
the extremities of Asia and passed over to America within five
hundred years after the flood. However small may have been the
number of those first emigrants, an equal number of years would
have been more than sufficient to occupy in their own way every
part of America. [36]
Bancroft, quoting the substance of a passage from Sahagun, whom he
pronounces one of the best of authorities, says:
Countless years ago the first settlers arrived in New Spain. Coming
in ships by sea, they approached a northern port and because
they disembarked there it was called Panutla, or Panoaia, "place
where they arrived who came by sea," now corruptly called Pantlan
(Panuco); and from this port they began to follow the coast,
beholding the snowy Sierras and the volcanoes, until they reached
the province of Guatemala; being guided by a priest carrying their
god, with whom he continually took counsel respecting what they
ought to do. They came to settle in Tamoanchan [37] where they
remained a long time, and never ceased to have their wise men, or
prophets, called amoxoaque, which means "men learned in the ancient
paintings," [books], who, although they came at the same time, did
not remain with the rest in Tamoanchan; since leaving them there,
they re-embarked and carried away with them all the paintings
[books] which they had brought relating to religious rites and
mechanical arts. [38]
Speaking of the traditions of the migration of the Nahuatl nations
Bancroft says:
In its ancient center--not in Anahuac, whether it was in the north
or south--the primitive Nahua power was overthrown, or from that
center it was transferred to be re-established by exiled princes
and their descendants on the Mexican plateaux. This transfer,
whose nature we may vaguely comprehend, but of whose details we
know nothing, is the event or series of events referred to by
various migration-traditions. The recollections of these events
assumed different forms in the traditions of different tribes until
each nation claimed, or were deemed by the Spaniards to claim, a
distinct migration from its former home. [39]
After the creation of the first men Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab,
Machucutah and Iqui-Balam, wives were given to them, and these were
the parents of the Quiche nation. * * * * All seem to have spoken
one language and to have lived in great peace, black men and white
men together. Here they awaited the rising of the sun and prayed
to the Heart of Heaven. The tribes were already very numerous
including that of the Yaqui (Nahuas). At the advice of Balam-Quitze
and his companions they departed in search of gods to worship, and
came to Tulan-Zuiva and seven caves where gods were given. * * * *
* * Tohil was also the god of Tamub and Ilocab and the three tribes
or families kept together, for their god was the same. Here arrived
all the tribes; * * * * * and here their language was confounded.
They could no longer understand each other and they separated,
going to the east, and many coming hither (to Guatemala). They
dressed in skins and were poor, but they were wonderful men, and
when they reached Tulan-Zuiva long had been their journey, as the
ancient histories tell us. [40]
Bancroft condenses the foregoing from _Popol Vuh_, of which work I
have already given a description, [41] and in it may be observed the
essential facts of the Jaredite migrations to the new world. That is,
some time after the creation men are represented as living together and
speaking one language. Later comes the confusion of tongues. Certain
families adhere together because they speak the same language. There is
a general dispersion and after a very long journey one of the groups
reaches Gautemala; i. e., Central America.
Concluding the primitive period of Gautemala history, Bancroft quotes
a striking passage from the Spanish writer Juarros; who, he says,
follows the manuscript writings of Fuentes y Guzman, founded, as is
claimed, on native documents, "but full of inconsistencies," he adds,
"and doubtless also of errors." There is, it is true, some confusion
in the story told in this quotation; yet, making allowance for the
imperfections of oral traditions, and confusion likely to occur in
them, one may see in it something akin to the Nephite migration
recounted in the Book of Mormon. And now the story:
The Toltecs referred to were of the house of Israel, and the great
prophet Moses freed them from the captivity in which they were held
by Pharaoh; but, having passed the Red Sea, they gave themselves
up to idolatry, and persisting in it notwithstanding the warnings
of Moses, either to escape the chidings of his law-giver, or for
fear of punishment, they left him and their kindred and crossed
the sea to a place called the Seven Caves on the shores of the Mar
Bermejo (Gulf of California) now a part of the Mexican kingdom,
where they founded the celebrated city of Tula. The first chief
who ruled and conducted this great band from one continent to the
other, was Tamub, ancestor of the royal families of Tula and of
Quiche, and first king of the Toltecs. The second was Capichoch;
the third Calel Ahus; the fourth Ahpop; the fifth Nimaquiche, who,
being the best beloved and most distinguished of all, at the order
of his oracle, led those people away from Tulan, where they had
greatly increased in numbers, guided them from the Mexican kingdom
to this of Guatemala. In this migration they spent many years,
suffered unspeakable hardships, and journeyed in their wanderings
for many leagues over an immense tract of country, until, beholding
a lake (that of Atitan), they determined to fix their habitation
at a certain place not far from the lake, which they named Quiche,
in memory of the king Nimaquiche (or, the "great" Quiche), who had
died during their long wanderings. There came with Nimaquiche three
of his brothers, and by an agreement between the four they divided
the region. [42]
In some respects--in the matter of the seven caves and the name of the
leader of the colony, Tamub--the story touches the tradition which
doubtless refers to the advent of the Jaredites; and also, perhaps,
some of the later migrations of native tribes in Central America. But
one has, in the foregoing tradition, the Hebrew origin of the colony
plainly declared; their departure from their kindred and the journey
across the sea; their leader becomes the first king, as did Nephi;
[43] he founds a royal line--becomes, in fact, the ancestor of the
royal families of Tula and Quiche, as Nephi founded the royal line
among his people; [44] the fifth king, greatly beloved, instructed
by his oracle--God--led part of the people away from an old place of
settlement, where they had greatly increased, and led them to another
land. Both character and achievement corresponds admirably with the
first Mosiah of the Book of Mormon, and his leading the more righteous
part of the Nephites from the land of Lehi-Nephi to Zarahemla; [45] and
there is also the Nephite custom of naming lands after distinguished
leaders who first settled them; [46] while one may see in the fact that
with Nimaquiche there came three brothers in his migration, a close
resemblance to the fact of three brothers being associated with Nephi
in the Nephite colony led from Jerusalem. [47]
Let it be remembered also that this is a tradition concerning the
"Nahuatl" tribes. Is this very name "Nahuatl" but a variation of the
Hebrew root whence the word Nephi is derived, as undoubtedly the
following words are: Nepheg, [48] Nephish, [49] Nephishesim, [50]
Nephusim, [51] Naphtali; [52] and Nephtoah? [53]
This Nahuatl tradition very much resembles one among the Peruvians
concerning their migration to Peru; but which still more closely
resembles some of the facts of the Nephite migration, except as to
the matter of the time of it, which is placed at five hundred years
after the deluge. The tradition is thus related by Rivero and Tschudi,
following Montesinos:
Peru, says Montesinos, was populated five hundred years after the
deluge. Its first inhabitants flowed in abundantly towards the
valley of Cuzco, conducted by four brothers. * * * The eldest of
the brothers mounted to the summit of a ridge, and threw with
his sling a stone to each of the four quarters of the world,
thus taking possession of the soil for himself and his family.
He afterward gave a name to each one of the quarters which he
reached with his sling, calling that beyond the south, Colla;
beyond the north, Tahua; beyond the east, Antisuyu; beyond the
west, Contisuyu, and for that reason the Indians called their kings
Tahuantin-Suyu-Capac, i. e., lords of the four quarters of the
globe. The younger of the brothers, who, according to tradition,
was at the same time the most skilful and hardy, wishing to enjoy
alone the plenitude of power, rid himself of two of his brothers,
by enclosing one of them in a cave, and throwing the other into a
deep hole and thus caused the third to fly to a distant province.
The fratricide consoled his sisters, and told them that they must
consider him as the only child, or son of the sun, and obey him as
such. He commanded his kinsmen to level the ground and make houses
of stone; such was the origin of the city of Cuzco. * * * For sixty
years did this first king govern (whom Indian tradition also called
Puhua-Manco), leaving the throne to his eldest son. [54]
Here we have undoubted reference to historical events, but the
tradition in which they are held has assumed a form somewhat childish.
That, however, does not prevent one from seeing in the tradition
some of the main facts of the Nephite migration. The migration is
conducted by four brothers, as was the Nephite migration--for Lehi, the
patriarchal head of the Nephite colony, seems to have influenced the
migration after its departure into the wilderness of Arabia but very
little; the eldest of the brothers seeks for the leadership on arrival
in the new world, by asserting his dominion over the four quarters of
the land, in which one may see reflected the claims which the unworthy
Laman, the eldest of the four Nephite brothers, made to leadership over
the Nephite colony. In the younger brother of the Peruvian tradition
being the more worthy of leadership, and finally attaining it, one may
see the Book of Mormon historical fact of the youngest of the four
sons of Lehi, taking his leadership of the colony, though arriving
at undisputed leadership of his people not by the means described in
the Peruvian tradition, but by the blessing and favor of God, and by
separating from his brothers and their following, and removing his
people a long distance from the place of the first landing of the
colony in America.
In that part of the tradition where the youngest brother is represented
as commanding his kinsmen "to level the ground and make houses
of stone," we have the evidence that he taught them the arts of
civilization; a circumstance which corroborates the Book of Mormon fact
that the first Nephi did the same thing. It is thus recorded by him:
And I did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all
manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of
steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were
in great abundance. * * * * And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did
cause my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands.
[55]
This youngest brother of the tradition--after reigning sixty years,
(the first Nephi's reign was also long, but the exact number of years
may not be ascertained, [56]) bequeathed his throne to his eldest
son; so also did Nephi. At least that he did so is a most reasonable
conclusion from the Book of Mormon data. In his old age, seeing death
approaching, Nephi "anointed a man to be a king * * * over his people,
according to the reign of kings." [57] Being anxious to revere the name
of this first ruler, the people provided that those who came to the
throne should be called First Nephi, Second Nephi, Third Nephi, [58]
etc. Of course this does not prove that Nephi chose his eldest son to
succeed him; but a later writer than Jacob, speaking of the Nephite
kingdom, makes the statement that "the kingdom had been conferred upon
none but those who were descendants of Nephi." [59] Hence it must have
been that the man whom Nephi anointed king when his own career was
closing, was his own son, and most likely his eldest son.
Thus every item of the native Peruvian tradition under consideration,
is met by the facts of the Book of Mormon; and the tradition gives
strong presumptive evidence of the truth of the Book of Mormon
statement, and hence also to the book itself.
Nadaillac has a passage which wonderfully confirms the possibility of
the Nephites being able to make the journey from the coast of Arabia to
South America. After discussing the probability of migrations from Asia
via Behring Strait, he says:
On the other hand, a knowledge of navigation no better than that
possessed at present by the lowest people of Melanesia would have
enabled a migration on the line of the thirtieth parallel, south,
to reach the coast of South America, and, in time, to give it a
considerable population. A different distribution of land and
water from that at present existing, is a possible factor in the
problem, but of which it is too early in ocean exploration to avail
ourselves. Squier, Gibbs, and numerous other American ethnologists
believed in a migration from the west to South America. [60]
An item of interest connected with the Nephite migration, and one very
likely to fasten itself in the traditions of the natives, would be
the Nephite "Director" or "Liahona" as the Nephites called it. This
"Director" was found by Lehi, early in the Nephite migrations, at his
tent door, and is described as "a round ball of curious workmanship;
and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and
the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness. * * *
And we did follow the directions of the ball, which led us in the more
fertile parts of the wilderness." [61] Later, when the prophet Alma
refers to it, after informing his son Helaman that it was called, by
their fathers, "Liahona," he adds:
And behold, it was prepared to show unto our fathers the course
which they should travel in the wilderness. And it did work for
them according to their faith in God; therefore, if they had faith
to believe that God could cause that those spindles should point
the way they should go, behold, it was done. [62]
In the traditional account of how the first Inca and his sister-wife
were directed to Peru, one may see the distorted account of this Book
of Mormon fact. The tradition is thus related by Prescott:
The celestial pair, brother and sister, husband and wife, advanced
along the high plains in the neighborhood of Lake Titicaca to about
the sixteenth degree south. They bore with them a golden wedge,
and were directed to take up their residence on the spot where the
sacred emblem should without effort sink into the ground. They
proceeded accordingly but a short distance, as far as the valley
of Cuzco, the spot indicated by the performance of the miracle,
since there the wedge speedily sank into the earth and disappeared
forever. Here the children of the Sun established their residence,
and soon entered upon their beneficent mission among the rude
inhabitants of the country; Manco Capac teaching the men the arts
of agriculture, and Mama Oello initiating her own sex in the
mysteries of weaving and spinning." [63]
Squiers relates the tradition substantially in the same manner, except
that in place of a "golden wedge," he represents the celestial pair as
being divinely guided by "a golden rod," which sinks into the earth on
reaching the divinely appointed place of their destination. [64]
The student of the Book of Mormon will at once recognize how well the
Nephite and Lamanite religious wars, at some periods of their history,
are described in the following passage:
There appear to have been very hotly contested religious disputes;
constant wars broke out between the sectarians following the god
Votan and those who worshiped Quetzalcohuatl, and the vanquished on
either side perished under horrible tortures, or were compelled to
fly their country [65]
Much confusion exists among authorities concerning the Toltecs. Because
of their clear knowledge of the creation, flood, tower of Babel,
confusion of languages and dispersion of mankind, [66] they are thought
to have commenced their wanderings at the dispersion of mankind from
Babel. But if a people had in their possession a version of the Hebrew
scriptures, as the Nephites had, for instance, it is not difficult
to understand how these Bible facts could be incorporated in their
traditions, without insisting that they were immediately connected with
those very ancient Bible events. In whatever way the controversies
about the Toltecs may terminate, the following description of them
could well stand for a description of the Nephites, barring the items
of cruelty, revengefulness, and sanguinary nature of their religion,
and their ignorance of iron. [67]
In spite of wars and discord the time of the Toltec domination is
enshrined in the memory of the Nahuas as their golden age. The
Toltecs, they tell us, were tall, well proportioned, with clear,
yellow complexions; their eyes were black, their teeth very white;
their hair was black and glossy; their lips were thick; their
noses were aquiline, and their foreheads were receding. Their
beards, were thin, and they had very little hair on their bodies;
the expression of their mouths was sweet, but that of the upper
part of their faces severe. They were brave, but cruel, eager for
revenge, and the religious rites practiced by them were sanguinary.
Intelligent and ready to learn, they were the first to make roads
and aqueducts; they knew how to utilize certain metals; they
could spin, weave and dye cloth, cut precious stones, build solid
houses of stone cemented with lime mortar, found regular towns;
and, lastly, build mounds which may justly be compared with those
of the Mississippi valley. To them popular gratitude attributes
the invention of medicine, and the vapor bath (temazcalli).
Certain plants to which curative properties were attributed were
the remedies mostly used. [68] In the towns we are told, were
hospitals where the poor were received and cared for gratuitously.
Our information respecting the commerce of the Toltecs is very
vague. We know, however, that it was important. At certain periods
of the year regular fairs were held at Toltan and Cholula; the
products of the regions washed by both oceans were seen side by
side with numerous objects made by the Toltecs themselves. These
objects were of great variety, for though iron was unknown to them,
the Toltecs worked in gold, silver, copper, tin and lead. Their
jewelry is celebrated, and the few valuable ornaments which escaped
the rapacity of the Conquistadores are still justly admired.
The Toltecs cut down trees with copper hatchets, and sculptured
bas-reliefs and hieroglyphics with stone implements. For this
purpose flint, porphyry, basalt, and above all obsidian, the istlie
of the Mexicans, were used. Emeralds, turquoises, amethysts, of
which large deposits were found in various places, were sought
after for making jewelry for both men and women. At Cholula a
famous kind of pottery was made, including vases and the utensils
in daily use, censers, and idols for the temples of the gods and
common ornaments for the people. [69]
Let this description be compared with that which Helaman [70] gives of
the Nephites in the sixty-fourth year of the Nephite republic--a date
corresponding with the year 27 B. C.--and it will be seen that either
one might stand for the other.
These traditions concerning the Toltecs, reflecting as they do the
state of their civilization, which so nearly resembles that of the
Nephites in so many particulars; as also all the traditions and
mythologies dealt with in this and the preceding chapter respecting
the creation, the flood, the great tower, the confusion of language,
the dispersion of the people, the migrations to a new home, the strife
for power among the leaders of these colonies--usually brothers, and
most strikingly "four brothers," as also the status and nature of their
civilization--all these things constitute strong testimony to the truth
of the Book of Mormon.
Footnotes
1. Gen. 6:4.
2. Gen. 11.
3. Gen. 11:9.
4. Gen. 11:8.
5. See Book of Ether, chs. 1, 2, 3, 4.
6. _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. II, pp. 386, 387, Prescott.
7. _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. II, p. 187, note, Prescott.
8. The suggestion of Nadaillac in this clause in parenthesis to the
effect that this tradition of the Tower of Babel had its origin in
the Christian teachings imparted to Ixtlilxochitl, will receive
consideration at the conclusion of this series of quotations on the
subject of the Tower of Babel, etc.
9. _Pre-Historic America_, Nadaillac, p. 526.
10. _Native Races_, vol. III, pp. 67, 68. For this statement Bancroft
in a foot note quotes the following authorities: _Boturini, Idea de una
Hist_., pp. 113, 114; id., _Catalogo_, pp. 39, 40; _Clavigero, Storia
Ant. del Messico_, tom. 1, pp. 129, 130, tom. 2, p. 16; _Spiegazione
delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano_ (VĂ cano) tav. 7, in Kingsborough's
_Mex. Ant_., vol. V, pp. 164, 165; Gemelli Carreri, in _Churchill's
Col. Voy_., vol. IV, p. 481; Humboldt, _Vues des Cordilleres_, tom.
1, pp. 114, 115, tom. 2, pp. 175-8; Tylor's _Anahuac_, pp. 276, 277;
Gondra, in Prescott, _Conquesta de Mexico_, tom. 3, pp. 1-10. The
remainder of Bancroft's note following this citation of authorities,
wherein he seeks to discredit the force of these native traditions
concerning the Tower, the confusion of tongues and the dispersion of
mankind, as in the case of Nadaillac's effort of a similar character,
remarked in a previous note, will receive consideration at the close of
this series of quotations concerning the Tower, etc., p. 273.
11. _America Before Columbus_, P. De Roo, vol. I, pp. 415, 416.
12. _America Before Columbus_, P. De Roo, vol. I, pp. 417, 418.
13. Should any one desire to make a larger collection I refer him to
the authorities already referred to in a previous note on a passage
from Bancroft; as also Nadaillac's _Pre-Historic America_, ch. 10; P.
De Roo, _America Before Columbus_, vol. I, chapters sixteen to twenty
inclusive; and Rivero & Tschudi's _Peruvian Antiquities_, chapter VII.
14. _Native Races_, vol. V, p. 12.
15. _Pre-Historic America_, p. 530. For the objections of the agnostic
Bancroft see _Native Races_, vol. III, 68, 69, note; and for the
objections urged by Prescott see _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. II,
appendix, p. 387.
16. _Pre-Historic America_, pp. 525, 531.
17. Ante., p. 436.
18. Exodus, 14.
19. Ante., pp. 435, 436.
20. Ante., p. 436.
21. Ante., p. 436. Ibid.
22. Ether 3:1.
23. Ether 2:16.
24. Ether 6:20.
25. Ether 6:16.
26. Ether 1:35.
27. Ether 1:37.
28. Ether 6:4, 5.
29. Ether 6:4, 5.
30. Ether 2:6, 7.
31. _Pre-Historic America_, Nadaillac, p. 261.
32. _Pre-Historic America_, Nadaillac, p. 523.
33. _Pre-Historic America_, Nadaillac, p. 272.
34. Dupaix, quoted by Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. V, p. 31.
35. _Peruvian Antiquities_, Tschudi, p. 24.
36. _American Ethnology and Sociology_, vol. I, p. 179.
37. This place, according to Sahagun, is the first home of the Nahua
nation. It is definitely located, says Bancroft, (_Native Races_, vol.
V, p. 191) down the coast from Panuco, in the province of Guatemala.
38. _Native Races_, Bancroft, vol. V, p. 189.
39. _Native Races_, Bancroft, vol. V, p. 220.
40. _Native Races_, Bancroft, vol. V, pp. 546, 547.
41. Ante., p. 463, _et seq_.
42. _Native Races_, Bancroft, vol. V, pp. 564, 566. Stephens also
relates this tradition at length, see _Central America_, vol. II, pp.
172, 173.
43. II Nephi 5: 18.
44. Jacob 1:11; Mosiah 25:13.
45. Omni 1:1-23.
46. Alma 8:7.
47. I Nephi 2:5.
48. Exod. 6:21.
49. I Chronicles 5:19.
50. Nehemiah 7:52, see also margin.
51. Ezra 2:50.
52. Gen. 30:8.
53. Joshua 15:9.
54. _Peruvian Antiquities_, Tschudi, pp. 52, 53. See also Baldwin,
_Ancient America_, p. 264.
55. II Nephi 5:15, 17.
56. Jacob 1:11.
57. Jacob 1:9.
58. Jacob 1:11.
59. Mosiah 25:13.
60. _Pre-Historic America_, Nadaillac, p. 523.
61. I Nephi 16:10, 16.
62. Alma 37:39, 40.
63. _Conquest of Peru_, vol. I, p. 31.
64. Peru, _Travel and Exploration in the Lands of the Incas_, pp. 301,
331.
65. _Pre-Historic America_, Nadaillac, p. 174.
66. See their associations with the events as given by Ixtlilxochitl,
quoted by Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. V, pp. 19, 21, and 208-218.
67. Concerning which more later.
68. See Book of Alma 46:40.
69. _Pre-Historic America_, Nadaillac, pp. 275, 277.
70. See Helaman 6:7-13, see also p. 124.
END OF VOLUME II.