Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-06-09

| lngs have been oyertaken by sudden
death, on recount Of volcanic eruptions'
II Is another item on the long list Of
calamities the present year has Wit
messed. This time It Is the town OF
netalbulon, In Guatemala, that has
been buried under mass OF lava,
stones, and ashes thrown from the
crater OF Mount Tacoma. The destruc.
tive forces Of Vulcan are stlll active In
the Central American region,
The seismic disturbances IN these re-
glons have once more reminded people
Of the story Of Plato. and certain Egyp
ten priests. regarding the destruction
Of Atlantis. According to the frag'
meninrv accounts sim extant, the name
Atlantis WIS given TO n vast and
Eighty umpire, comprising a Continent
in the Atlantic ocean, over which the
ancients travelled 10 other Islands, and
TO another continent; also the Medlter-
ranean coasts as far as Egypt
According to the story told TO
Scion, the warriors Of Atlantis
oyerran the Mediterranean coasts
until they We're repuIsed by the
A,henians, who pursued the invaders,
to their own country and liberated "all
the nations within the pillars" "a little
while afterwards" the account says
there was a great earthquake, and
your warrior race all sank into the
earth. And the great island Of Atlantis
also sank into the sea-"
Considerable doubt has been enter
tanned as to the authenticity Of this
tradition. But 1t appears that the an
cient American records furnish strong
evidence for the historical truth Of the
Egyptian legend. NJ. lie Plongeon as
serts that the records OF the catas-
trophe are 10 be found, full OF detail, In
the writings OF no less than four diff
ferent authors who lived In the Maya
empire, In Central America. One OF
these records, he says, is a stone slab
which Is as intact today as when It
came from the hands OF the sculptor.
The second account is preserved In the
so-caled Troano manuscript, whose
author says In part
THE year six Kan, on the eleventh
Muluc, In the month hac, there oc-
CURED terrible earthquakes, which con-
tinued without intelinission until the
thirteenth Chuen. The country OF the
hills OF mud, the land OF Mu, was sacri-
feed Being twice upheayed u sud
denly disappeared during the night the
busis being continually shaken by vol
canic forces. Beng confined, these |
caused the land to sink anu rise several
times and In various places. Al last |
the surface gave way, and the ten |
countries were torn asunder and lcat- |
tered In fragments; unable TO With |
stand the forces Of seismic convul sions, |
thev sank with their sixty-four millions |
OF inhabitants, 5000 years before the |
writing OF this book.
The evidence furnished by ancient
American records for the existence at
one time, OF a continent, Of which the
Little Antilles are, perhaps, the high
est mountain tops. still visible over the
surface OF the ocean, goes far to dlspel
the doubts entertained as to the truth
of the story Of the classics. A
cataclysm which made such an im-
preston on both sides OF the Atlantic.
must have been Of tremendous extent
The present volcanic activity
throughout the earth is reminder Of
the fact. that the earth by no meansfs
finished. 1t is stlll In stage OF forma-
ton, being subject to notifications and
changes. What cataclysms may yet
happen Who can tell? What pow
erful sermon the forces of nature are
to the children Of men, II
they would bat give attention thereto!