The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1852-05-13
Grleftc0.



city of the Aztecs, somewhere in Central
America, has been much mooted of late,
though by some entirely disbelieved
The presence of the Aztec children has
given occasion to considerable inquiry
and discussion on the subject, and will
continue to do so. We find in the New
Orleans Picayune the following interest
ing statement, which encourages the
hope, aud not only that We may yet
learn something more of the antiquities
of Central America, but that the ancient
whereabouts of the lost tribes of Israel
may be made manifest. 1t has long
been the opinion Of some that the miss
ing tribes found their way to this CONT
nent, and the alledged discoveries here.
matter referred to, lend countenance t.
that opinion We know nothing of the
gentleman who is the Picayune's au,
!, thority, but that paper would not make
such statements without satisfactory as,
surances of their truth. The v-lume
spoken of is in in the hands Of the edit.
or, and of that he speaks from personal
inspection of course. We quote now
from the Picayune
"About three weeks since, gentle.
man, who had recently returned from Te-
huantepec, placed in our hands volume
composed of number of layers of parch-
ment, bound together with brazen clasps,
and presenting appearances of great an
tiquity. 1t was obtained from an Indian
curate-thcre are many, in that part of
Mexico-and the history of it, as relat-
ed by himself, is this: He said he had
purchased it from native trader who,
once 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 Coax
chenchingo, 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 Coaxchenchingo are kept about
fifty volumns similar in appearance to
the one referred to, which, it is said by
the priests, were preserved from the ex-
tensive collection of records known to
have existed in Mexico at the time of
the conquest, and which were destroyed
by Cortez in his Incorporate zeal against
the paganism of the Aztecs. The vol
umes preserved at Coaxchenchingo are
regarded as holy things, and are only to
be seen on days of great public rejoicing
or solcmnity. 1t was on an occasion of
this kind that the Indian trader succeed
ed i'll abstracing one of them.
This volume, which we have now be-
fore us, is filled up 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 descendants of race which migrat-
ed to this continent from the eastern
shores of Asia, about twenty centuries
ago. 1t is remarkable that on one or
two pages of the volumn, Immediately
beneath the hieroglyphics, there are in
scriptions in Greek characters, forming
words in that language, but written back
wards, in the oriental style. On the
first page, these Greek inscriptions run
thus 1--WE give English characters for the
Creek: not napnOt sogol, which, revers-
ed, reads, O' Logos tom pantom-literally
word of all, or of all things 1t is to
be presumed from this, that the book is
4 history of the mysterious people among
whom it was found, and could it be
deciphered, it would, no
loubt, completely solve the problems of
,ur aboriginal archaeology. On another
page there is picture of water, and
,nder it the word, 'sessalaht,' which is
evidently haiasses,' Greek for sea. a
of vessel full of men ac-
this, aud conveys the impress
sion that it refers to voyage or migra-
lion from beyond tho sea. II
The existence of these Greek words
IN this volume is very singular circum-
stance, and proves conclusively that itI
must have been the work OF some nation
rom the old continent which held SUI
;c;ent communication with Greece TO
earn the language. That it is Asiatic
: nrovcd by the fact of the reversed :
writing, which method is used by all orr =