abited city; it has
been several times reconstructed, but never deserted. When it was built,
Tartessus, then a very old city, still existed, although it was in ruins
long before Christ appeared. How long had Palenque been in existence
when that Tyrian ship was driven across the Atlantic? And how long had
that region been a region of cities and civilization? There is no
history which can answer these questions.

FOOTNOTES:

[163-*] See Appendix A.

VII.

WHENCE CAME THAT OLD CIVILIZATION?

Various theories, some of them very wild and irrational, have been
advanced to explain the origin of what is seen in these relics of
Ancient America. If it had been the fashion to explore and study them as
their importance deserves, as Egypt and Nineveh have been explored and
studied, our knowledge of them would now be much more extensive and
valuable, and it might be possible to go farther toward a solution of
the problem they present. But not many persons have sought to explore
and understand these remains, and not more than two or three have really
sought in earnest to examine the old traditions and books of the
country. The abundant inscriptions at Palenque fade in their forest
solitude while waiting for the Champollion who shall interpret their
mysteries. Something is known, but we have no history of these old
cities, no authentic historical record of the people who built them.
Therefore theorizing has very naturally been stimulated to great
activity, and most of this theorizing has been regulated by the old,
unreasoning assumption that civilization found in any place, especially
in the olden times, must have been brought and established there as a
foreign production. Generally the hypotheses used in this case have
presumed as a matter of course that the original civilizers came to
this continent from Europe or Asia.

THE "LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL."

One of these theories is (or was), that the original civilizers of
Mexico and Central America were the "lost ten tribes of Israel." This
extremely remarkable explanation of the mystery was devised very early,
and it has been persistently defended by some persons, although nothing
can be more unwarranted or more absurd. It was put forward by the
Spanish monks who first established missions in the country, a class of
men to whom the world is indebted for a great variety of amazing
contributions to the literature of hagiology; and the same men, in a way
equally conclus