Prescott and Bancroft could
be better met by locating the origin at Shinar than at any other point,
as it takes us back to a date where we may consistently locate the
Shepherd Kings and the overrunning of Mizraim by them, a part of Egypt's
early history which is outlined (more or less briefly) by nearly all
early historians.

As to the initial period of Sun Worship and its origin, I could of
necessity have but little aid, and if I have seemed a little too
speculative, I have only this apology: The prodigy of Egypt's
prehistoric development, and the manufacture of glass, antedating
historic research. It needs no great imaginative tension to crown some
incipient philosopher not only with the discovery of glass, but, that in
its proper shape, it could be made to concentrate the solar rays, and
produce fire; and at that day and age, what possible superstitions might
result from these discoveries!

After the re-establishment of the Mizraim descent, and the consequent
expulsion of the "Sons of Lud," the line of their journey is the natural
outgrowth of their religious fanaticism. They know that India and the
far East are inhabited, and they seek the uninhabited track for their
exit.

The Mound Builders seem to be historic cousins of the Aztecs, certainly
the superiors of the aborigines of the North and Middle Atlantic.

The expulsion of the Mound Builders will admit of many theories, and I
have simply adopted the one that occurred to me as consistent with the
Christian inspiration of all great events.

The settlement of Mexico by the Aztecs, (as a branch of the Mound
Builders) follows naturally in the wake of previous events, and the
chain is thus made complete, with no serious hazard to its consistency
as merely speculative drama, leading up to what is plainly historical.

I have striven to be historically consistent, following the letter of
events closely, taking conjectural ground in but few instances.

If I have seemed to be censorious, even to rancor at times, I have only
given vent to the repressed indignation of Prescott and other authors on
the subject of the Spanish Conquest.

The only possible justification for the excesses of Cortez and his
adherents, is the age in which the Conquest took place; and those who
seek to justify it in this way, point to the opening of the present
century, and to Napoleon, decoying the imbecile king and the weak
Asturias into abdication and banishment to make room for his brot