The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-11-16
WAS AMERICA KNOWN TO THE AN.
~ GENTS

l1S OAStISSlOA VI LAAA5 HhCSClOA O0b OAAS |
state shortly the grounds whyI consider
it almost certain that there once, but
very long ago, longer ago than our usual
chronology would like to admit, has
been communication with the Western
Continent from countries in the Old
World.
In the Greek mythology we find ref
erences to a great continent beyond the
"Cronian Sea- (the Atlantic OCEAN,,
which, I have no doubt, preserve vague
rccollections of a very ancient knowl-
edge of the Western continent. While
ifEgypt, Scion heard of a large island,
Atlantis, West Of Europe and Africa.
This fact has been preserved by Platon
in his Timaios and Kritias. In a skho-
lion ~(explanation) to PlatOn's works by
Proxies we read: "The historians who
speak of the islands of the exterior sea
tell us that i'll their time there were seven
islands consecrated to PersefOne, and
three others of immense extent, Ofwhich
the first was c~Onsecrated to PlutOn, the
second to Ammon, and the third to Pos
eidOn. observation-disclosures of the latter had
preserved a recollection transmitted to
them from their ancestors) of the island
Of Atlantis, which was extremely large,
and for a long time, held sway over all
the islands Of the Atlantic Ocean.
In Diodoros from Sicily we find an
important passage concerning our con-
tinent, which is notmythical, and seems
to be given as a historical fact rather
than as a tradition. He says, lib. ",
cap. l.: cover against Africa lies IL very
great island in the vast ocean, many
days sail from Libya westward. The
soils very fertile. 1t is diversified with
mountains and pleasant valleys, and tho
towns are adorned with stately build
ings.' After giving a description of the
gardens, orchards and fountains, he tells
us how this country was discovered.
"The Phnnicians,' he says, "having
built Gades, sailed along the Atlantic
coast of Africa. A PhUniciansh ship, yoy-
aging down this coast, was, sudden,
driven by a furious storm far into the
main Ocean; and, after they had lain
under this tempest many days, they at
length arrived at this island"
Aristoteles and Plutarkhos speak like
wise of a continent beyond the Ocean,
but do not describeit Ailianos tells us,
lib. Ill, cap. XVIII: Europe, Asia and
Africa compose an island, around which
flows the Ocean, the great boundary of
the world; but that only is continent
which lies beyond the ocean," Hefurth-
ermore says that this continent was in
habited bya race of men, called Meropes,
| who had extensive cities.
Finally | will mention the we'll known
quotationfrom Seneea's tragedy Medea,
that seems to imply eithera remarkably
prophetic spirit, or a real, though vague
knowledge of a Western continent. 1t
has been translated by Mr.. j. T. Smith,
thus:
"Naught now its ancient place retains:
AraXGs' banks the Indian gains;
The Persian Elbe and Rhine has found,
Far from his country's ancient bound.
And ages yet to come shall see.
Old Oceans limits pasBd and free,
! Where lands, wide stretched beyond our view lie
Renoter than remotest Thule"
All this seems to me to prove that the
Phmnicians, or rather the great people
they, the Egyptians and Chaldeans
sprung from, the old Cushites, as the
Bible, or A~ethiopians, as the Greek au-
thors call them, have had a real knowl-
edge of the Western Continent so very
long ago, that it already had become, as
it were, a mythd when the Hellenic peo-
pie commenced to emerge from barbar-
ity. That the Phenicians, being civil
lied and literary people, must have had
relations of voyages, involuntary OF
voluntary, across the Atlantic, can
hardly be doubted; but the old track
seems to have been so forgotten in the
remote antiquity, that the existence OF
this continent to the descendants of the
original discoveries may have appeared
more as a sort of fairy tale than as a real
fact. One thing is certain that the Phe.
~nicians did not keep mp any connection
with this continent, otherwise this emin.
emily enterprising and commercial peo-
pie would not have, as itwere, forgotten
all about their ancient discovery. F.B