New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-05-01

rom above, through this chosen channel Thus,
Quetzalcoatl, like Boobies, established religion
and laws and taught ignorant and he pless men
agriculture and the useful arts dls mss on f1l-
flied, be disappeared mysierlou'iy, WIKI apto
mise that be would one day return With new CUTS,
10 introduce new era. when peace ana good
will" should prevail. and the world enter upon
new and mil ennial age. Quetzalc0at belongs to
the mvthic realm; he 10 an impers0naton OF sn
idea. not historical character. and caanot be al
rit,ed 81 such in these investigations, under that
or any other Of his numerous names
IL appears 70 ne that If we are % ascrioe any
importance to the traditions Of straogers- singu'
larlv dressed and OF extraordinary aspect, VINO
penetrAted into Mexico Central America, or Peru,
we may look rather - Asia. 70 China, or India
for the place Of their origin, than 20 northern hu.
rope. So far as we may infer the doctrines OF
these traditional teachers, they were essentially
those of Bu6dhismI / II So grave concluslo'
IS a migration to America however small, may
be based upon traditions or vague ancientrecords,
il is better supported by the Chinese accounts OF
the distant country Of Fu.Ssng, than by any oth'
ers with which am acquainted. These accounts
refer 10 great nstous already possessing clyu
and religious organizations. and It admitted 90
their fullest extent, leave the question OF tne or
ain of the American Race, Of American Monu-
ments, and Of American Civilization unaffected
If l have attached their true value 20 the evil
dences submitted by DR.. Zestermsnn, IN support
of his proposition il cannot be entertained and
consequently the cOniectura suggestions as to noe
and trbea the Hypothetical migration took place
need not occupy our attention
Our learned correspondent, however, very jdst-
" observes, in the concluding paragraph OF his
memoir, that bis evidence is fatally incomplete
unless il is shown that the American Monuments
= cannot be ascribed TO any American people 10
show that q portion if not all OF them, are OF aoo'
riginal American origin 1t appears 20 me- Is NOT a
d,ncult undertaking. have said elsewhere that
the principles ofcUnstructlon In the earth WORKS OF
the | nited States are the same with those OF the
monuments OF Mexico and Central America; that
the latter are in fact, the more developed types
nj the former A comparison of the structures az
Cohokia Illinois at Marietta, Ohio, at Williams
Bayou, in Mississippi, in Madison PARISH, Lousi-
ana and at numerous other places IN the Msss-
sippi alley, with the plans Of those OF lucatau,
presented by Messrs Stephens aud Catherwood,
and Of Mexico by Du Pax, is alone necessary to
the subsiantiatiOn of this remark. The ability
10 construct the latter involves the ability 70 erect
the former and We have direct evidence that
the people of Yucatan, equally with those oil
Mexico, built such structures at the period OF the
Conquest. The history Of the building OF the great
Temple of Mexico, by the first Montezuma is not
only preserved tradltionslly but is recorded In
the paintings. The construction OF the great
symbolical temple Of nine stages by Nezahual
coyotl, King OF TezcucO, also falls within what
n ay be called the historical period. The pant
ines also record the constructions OF sacred ed.
fees in the course OF the mlgrations to whlchthey
refer. ard their names aud the places where their
ruins exist may even now be ascertained with
out difficulty The building of xmal and May
apan are events referred 10 with great exact
ness in the traditions OF Nucitan; and the Tact
that many of the structures OF that country are oil
comparatively recent origin sufficiently evident,
from their investigation in themselves, apart from
al prh construction
mounds occasionally by our Northern savage Ind
ian tribes often by the partially civilized Florld-
ians and generally by the Peruvisns and Auraca.
mans is sufficiently shown by the facts which !
have brought together in the Appendix to my
work upon the Aboriginal Monuments OF New
York / have there also shown that portion of
the Earth-works in Northern Ohio and New y ork,
which, misled by erroneous representations as 10
their true character, had classified I'm the WORK
TO which DR. Zestermann 40 often reiers) as OF the
same system with those of the Mississippi alley,
are Of different origin and later date, and were
actually built by the tribes found in occupation OF
the country at the time OF the discovery by Euro
pesns in the 18th century.
The fatal deficiency, the effect Of which DR..
Zestermann so well comprehends, does therefore
exit A portion certainly, and probably all, oil
the monuments of America were constructed oy
nations belonging to the great American family
that race which, under all OF its aspects, Ia Ian
gusge, religion, and in physical traits, besrays
conclusive evidences of unity, and radical separa.
tion from all the other great families of men,
How far casual and partial migrations or inter
mixtures from abroad have Introduced neW ele-
ments into the religions new features into the
civil and social organizations, new forms into the
monuments, or new traits into the physical consti-
tuition of this race it Is. of course, difficult if not
impossible to say it may, nevertheless, DO
claimed. that if such migrations and intermlxtures
have occurred, they have been without any ex-
tended or decided not to say without any per-
ceptible effect