The Nevada Democrat., 1860-11-24
A LOST WORLD.

ring from the dust of ages the hidden Sc.
crets Of generations 80 long gone by, that
the very names Of many OF the nations
which once figured so conspicuonsly in the
worlds annals have perished with them, has
developed many strange facts with regard
to ancient America. II would be strange,
after all, If, instead of having "no past,
mo antiquity" as has been alleged ny her
detractors, the continent discovered by Co
lumbus should prove to be the older OF the
tive.
Throughout It's entire length and breadth
traces have been discovered of race, or
rather of q world of people. who performed
their part in the great life drama at 80 ear
ly an epoch that nearly every vestIge OF
their existence must have disappeared cen-
turtles before the discovery OF Columbus.
Tho hardy Northmen who visited the At
Iantic coasts as early as the fourth or fiftb
centuries, found them occupied by hostile
races In such numbers as to repel every at
tempt TO penetrate the interior; the N0rth
fmen who made the irst authenticated dis
coveres In the western hemisphere, IN spite
Of the fact that Columbus has always re-
ceived that honor, and who must still have
been preceded by others, whose accounts OK
the strange lands they had visited, and the
wonders they had seen, in the absence OF
confederation, were received as fables by
their countrymen. Had there been in those
days such things as newspapers, The whole
world would have learned Of another con-
tinent. 1t would have been interesting in
q historical, point Of view, as it would have
developed the existence. aud perhaps have
preserved the record of a number OF nations
of which the last vestiges are now fading
from the earth.
Whatever may have been the origin of
our aborigines, II Is certain that large por-
tions of what is now the United States, and
of countries farther south, were inhabited
by numerous people, wearing comfortable
clothing, and being somewhat advanced IN
the arts. Some of them, as those OF Mexico
and Central America, have left behind them
vast ruins. proving that their cities were
not unworthy of being ranked with the
proudest Of the olden time.
Throughout the Northern country numer-
GUS traces of vanished people have been
from time to time discovered, but fainter
and less absolutely defined than those of the
Aztecs-sbowing c0nclusively the greater
antiquity Of the Northeners. The mound
builders, indications Of whose industry and
engineering skill have been found by the
Archaeological. Squires, scattered over the
Middle aud Northern States, must have been
more numerous in their day than the en-
lightend people that have supplnnted them,
yet they have vanished so entirely from the
scene OF their earthly labors, that, unless
we adopt the theory of retrogresslon, and
accept the North American Indians and the
Southern Aztecs as the last representatives
of the ancents Of America, we have not the
slightest clue to them.
The most remarkable circumstances in
connection with these 'peoplc" Is, that they
left behind them no utensils or other imple-
ments and that, in cases where records have
been discovered, they we're in an alphabet
so unlike anything ever before known 1.-THE
tables of Copan aud Palenque, for instance)
as to defy oil research. Traces there are of
customs similar to those of the Asiastcs-
traces of an identity of language, but all too
vague and uncertain, as yet, to base the
ory upon. II seems as though at some far
gone period of the worlds history, Al
mighty Providence, as q punishment for its
sins, had blot'ed at once from existence an
entire world, whose very monuments mock
the proud, vain and glorious spirit which
led TO their erection. But there will doubt
less, arisepersons competent to the task,
who, from their knowledge Of dialects and
hieroglyphic writing, may yet succeed in
clearing up this most wonderful and i'm
pressive of modern mysteries.
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