The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-11-24
tP. A. Towne in N. Y. sentry.l
The Lost Continent

age relate TO Socrates and Critias what a
Egyptian priest told Scion about the ancien
history of the Athenians. Said he: "Man
and mighty deeds of your State are here re
corded in writing and call forth our admira
ton; nevertheless there is one in particular
which in magnitude and valor surpasses then
| all. For these writings relate what prodig
lous force your city once overcame. when
mighty warlike power, rushing from the At
lantic Sea, spread itself with hostile fury al
over Europe and Asia The sea, indeed wa
then navigable, and had an island fronting
that mouth which you in your tongue call tn,
Pillars of Hercules Straits of Gibraltar; ant
this island was larger than Libya and Asia pu
together; and there was passage hence TO-
travellers of that day to the rest of the islands
as well as from those to the whole opposite
continent that surrounds that real sea- For az
respects what is within the mouth here men
toned, it appears to be bay with kind O.
narrow entrance and that sea is indeed true
sea, and the land that entirely surrounds il
may truly and most correctly be called con
tInent. In this Atlantic island, then, was form
ed powerful league of kings who subdued
the entire island, together with many others
and parts also of the continents besides which
theyssa5jected tostheir rnlethe inland parts Of
Libya, as far as Egypt, and Europe also, as fal
as Tyrrhena The whole force, then, being
collected in q powerful league, undertook at
one blow to enslaye both your country Greece
and ours Egypt, and all the land besides that
lies within their mouth. This was the period
Scion, when the power of your State was uni
yersally celebrated for its virtue and strength
far surprising all others, both in magnlmity
and skill, sometimes taking the lead of the
Greek nation, at others, left to itself by the
detection of the rest, and brought into the
most extreme danger, it still prevailed, raised
the trophy over its assailants, and insured the
most ample liberty for all of us, without ex-
ception, who dwell within the Pillars OF Her
cules. Subsequently, however, through vic
lent earthquakes and deluges, which brought
desolation in single day and night, the whole
OF the Warlike race was at once merged under
the earth, and the Atlantic Island itself was
plunged beneath the sea and entirely disap-
peared, whence even now that sea lin the in
terror of the contlnent is neither Davigabe
nor to be traced out, being blocked up by the
great depth of mud which the subsiding island
produced"
The continent here described in the cosmog
ony of Plato extended from a point about Is
deg. west longitude to the northeast coast of
South America, with which it was united,
forming part of the Western Continent. 1t
covered the AZore Islands, the Islands of Cape
Verde, and the whole of what is now known
as the Sargasso Sea. This sea was encounter
ed by the three little ships of Columbus in
1892, and the vast area OF almost unnavigable
water struck terror into the sailors under the
command of the ''discoverer of North Ameri-
ca" 1t was not less than five millions of
square miles in extent, and two thousand years
before the Christian era, was covered with
millions of the most civilized people of the
earth. Its climate was delightful. Around its
na of Horya6
which, since the sinking of the continent, has
been converted into the Gulf Stream. There
were cities on the continent of 500, 900 inhabi
tants, whose walls WED in their costly struct-
ure with those of Nineyah and Babylon. In
the height OF their power, according to the
of the Egyptian priest, the people OF
this continent made an invasion into the East,
on scale of grandeur and magnificence that
far exceeded that OF which Aerxes was after
wards leader. After fierce conflict with the
Aryan people, who had at that time made
their way west as far as Europe, they began
retreat, but learned before reaching home that
the great continent had, in one of the most
awful cataclysms of the earth's physical histo
ry, sunk beneath the waves of the now At
lantic Ocean. No trace of the continent re-
mains unless the Sargesso Sea may be regard
ed as evidence OF its existence.
Whoever studies the prehistoric relics of the
Canary Islands and those of Central America
and Mexico, will not only find continuation OF
the story told by Plato in his '''Fimaeus," but
he will asnd a full solution Of the question
whence came the inhabitants OF Mexico, whom
Cortez found in SO high state OF civilization.
They were the descendants OF the lost CONT
nent of the Atlantic Ocean. These people
were not only in Mexico, but III Central Ameri
ca, and in South America as far south as Peru
and Chile Many specimens of prehistoric
pottery found in the Canary Islands, in Mexi-
60, Peru and in the Mississippi valley, are
identical in form and structure Such OF
,hese specimens as are taken from Indian
mounds in our Western States are doubtless
he evidences of traffic that was once carried
IN between the Indian race and the Aztecs OF
Mexico They were not made by the Indians
1t all. The Indian race had its origin in the
north of Europe and Asia and came to Ameri
"a by way of Behring Straits or Iceland and
Greenland. The Esquimaux, now in Brit sh
America, are all that is left of a prehistoric
people that once inhabited France The veri
ication of these statements is the great object
IF the work of the Archaeological Societies OF
America and Europe. 1t is Of the utmost i'm
Dortance to push back authentic history as far
IS possible into what are called prehistoric |
lines" As we catch glimpses of the splendid
civilizations that have IN ages past existed on
our globe the query naturally arises, how did
t happen that the art Of transmitting thoughts
rom one generation to another was of such !
slow growth? And how did it happen that
even after this art was developed in the form |
If alphabet at least six thousand years passed !
before the art of printing was discovered? |
Had the people who inhabited the lost CONT |
lent possessed this art, what a world of his |
orical matter would be ours to-day.