The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-02
THE SACRED GREEN STONE,

A Wonderful Amulet Preserved On the
 Upper Amazon--Its Aslatic Origin
 Points To a Close Relationship Be
 tween the Ancient People of Two
 eCnturies-A Brazilian Archeologist's
 Interesting Speculation.
 Practically the whole surface of the
 globe Is strewn with relics of the rude
 inhabitants of the Palaeolithic or an-
 cient stone age. Whether we find them
 in the valley of the Nile or In the grav-
 els of California, in the drift deposits
 of England or in the laterite clay of h.
 dia, these rough stone tools and Weap-
 ons are, generally speaking, of the
 same type. From Canada to Patago- ian we happen upon these indisputabl ble
 traces of palaeolithic man, traces iden-
 tical with those discovered in the east
 ern hemisphere. Brasseur de Bor-
 bourg, Tyler and others have pointed
 out analogies connecting the arts, the
 ritual and the customs of the ancient
 Incas and Aztecs the two fiourishing
 races whom the Spaniards found domi-
 nant on landing in Amerioa) with those
 of Egypt, the Canary Islands, Japan
 and the eastern archipelago, some of which are so remarkable that they
 cannot be fortuitous. And among the various tribes of North and South America are to be found traditions, le-
 gends, scraps of Scripture. stray anu
 lets, symbols and sounds of speech fur
 nishing farint traces of lost languages,
 all pregnant with meaning for the see- ing eye, all eloquent of origin on other
 shores and, consequently, kinship with
 the common ancestors of the race.
 One of the latest, least known and most interesting of such humble links in the great chain of confirmatory evil dence is the muyrakytan or sacred green jade stone of the Amazons. Among the numerous legends piously preserved by the various Indians of the Upper Amazon, that of the wonderful stone amulet, the rnuyrakytan, almost invariably figures in one form or an- other, and specimens of the stone are to be found in several of the regions hereabout. There is nothing, perhaps, at first sight, particularly startling in the plain fact of stone amulet being worn and treasured by several Indian tribes But the interest attaching to lhlS pel biSuieil ol SlCoii JuuC 10 three-fold in significance. First, there is no deposit of jade in America, the only known deposits being in Asia; sec ond, the American specimens are cut and figured in precisely the same way
 as the specimens found in various parts of Europe and Asia: third, the American legends about the origin and use of the amulet find almost exact counterparts in Asiatic legends. Inevi- table conclusions: The Asiatic origin of the amulet, and, by consequence, the
 early connection of the American Indi- ans with Asiatics, if not the actual Asiatic origin of those Indians. Let us.
 therefore, endeavor to elaborate these
 three points of interest, and in doing so give all credit that is due to that en-
 terprising Brazilian archaeologist, pr. Barbosa Rodrigues, who has devoted
 so much time and energy and learning
 to unraVelling this expressing mystery.
 Dr. Rodrigues first discovered the ex- istence of these green jade amulets among the Labor and Kunury Indians
 of the Upper Amazon and its tributa- ries, the Yamunda, or Nhumunda, the Trombetas and the Yatapu, which in- close the romantic region where Orella- na located the famous tribe of female warriors known as the Amazons. The