The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-02


 and misfortune at a distance, and the old Tapuya squaw on whose neck Dr. Rodrisues found his first specimen re- tused to part with her invaluable chat tel Tor love or money. They are also found In the "Iukaoauas," or burial eases, near the Lake Yacyuarua, which was once important as the an- nual rendezvous of the ancient Anna zons-of which more anon. And these relics, rich and rare' of a bygone civilization, occur not only in the Anna zon valley, but in many other parts of the new world, particularly in Peru, Where in all the legends of the Incas we find it connected with "the Chil- dren of the Sun and the Serpent" and Tn Mexico among the Aztec ruins and in various parts of North America,
 Now-and here is a critical point this wonderful muyrakytan has been definitely proved to be not the Anna zonstein of German writers. It is in- disputably genuine jade of the hard ness and specific gravity of the variety found in Asia. Jade is an extremely hard, fine stone, holding the sixth place among the minerals. To cut and pol ish 1t would be possible only for skilled lapidary. Yet these muyraky- tans, the heirlooms of the savage Anna zons, are not only beautifully polished, but are fashioned as cylindrical disks with figures cut upon their surfaces in the shape of little fishes, miniature hatchets or horses heads. And these shapes and figures are identical with thOCa n ia1a Q fp1I,,1 n 1ya rious parts of the old world. A stone of this jade of considerable size, in the shape of a horses head, found in the vicinity of the Nhumunda river, is now to be seen in the Museum of Boulogne, the celebrated museum of Pope Bene- dict XIV. In the ruins of the Temple of Mercurius" in France, which was destroyed A. D. 451 by the Huns (whom archaeologists aver to be the ancestors of the Aztecs) Masselin tells us that he found the skeletons of tall men, among whose arms were found miniature hatchets of green jade, similar in form, color and character to those found in many Indian remains in Canada. And a celebrted French savant has three such stones in his possession, one found III hcAlCO, OilS III lNuPiSP ciih oAiS iAA Calcutta Identical stones in the same shapes are worn by the numerous pill grims who come annually from Cabul and Peshawer the ancient home of the Hungarians) to visit the sacred tomb of Gul-Baba (the Father of Roses), near Budapest, in Hungary. In Hayti, | another locality where we find them, they are known as "Zemis" or "Gaku- rals,'' nd are worn to ward off evil. China, too, knows the green jade stone, where it goes by the name of "Yu,' nd we have the learned Blondel telling ing us that amulets were made there under the Emperor Koangti so far back as 2637 B. c. Of such venerable anti quity is green jade and it's talismanic virtue!
 In China, it is related in the story of the City of Khotan, taken from the Chinese annals, written during the dy- nasty of Thiang, A. D. 632, that the jade is collected from the river at full moon. Twenty or more soldiers, close ly guarded by officers, plunge into the river at given signal, and the one who first finds a specimen of jade jumps out and has to make red mark on piece of paper. When the gather- ing or fishing" as it is called, is over, the pieces are collected, separated and marked and sent to Picking under es- cort. Specimens rarely exceed forty centimetres in length. It is said that this same ceremony is still observed to- day.
 Now observe the similarity of these facts concerning the finding of jade in China and the Amazon legends con- cerning the origin of the muyraktan. Among the Uape or Labor Indians, all ready referred to, there exists the le- gend that at certain seasons of the year the Amazons collected on the shores of the lake "Yacyuarua" and, after days of penance, held feast at full moon | When the feast was over and the moon was reflected in the clear waters of the lake, they dived from the bottom and received from "the mother of the muy- rakytan'' the stones shaped as they de- | sired and still soft, but hardening on | contract with the outer air. (The | Mother of Muyrakytans" is precisely the same as the "Yacumama" legend of l the Peruvian Incas)
 Central America has yet another cu- rious legend contributing it's mite of ev- l idence for the connection of Asiatics with Americans. This is an Aztec le- gend to the effect that in the sixth or | seventh century of the Christian era | (probably 64S A. D) there appeared in 1 Central America the genius of good, known as "uetzulcohuatl," who brought with him the green stone and new 1 civilization. He taught the people to work in stone, gold and silver, and be- came the founder of the empire of the 1 Nahuas. Tradition says that some of the green stones he brought with him were preserved in Cholula. This is l confirmed by Humboldt. the great trav- eler, places the date about eighty or l one hundred years after the seven tribes of the Aztecs who came from the seven grottoes, according to the Aztec 1 legend. It is extremely significant, in | this connection, and in view of the kin | ship claimed for AZtecs and Huns, to observe that the Huns, who, uniting with the Mongolians and Alanos, swept over southern Europe under Attila, ''the Scourge of God" also descended | from seven families, while their kings were known as the kings of the seven | peoples;" that Huns were expelled from China 93 B. C., and only appeared in Europe 376 A. D., and that there is a