Show UNWITTING WITNESSES v in speaking of the Jared ites the book of mormon states that while the land south of the isthmus of panama called a wilderness was preserved for hunting game the whole face of the land northward was covered with inhabitants and they were exceedingly indu industrious Arious and they did buy and sell and traffic with one another and they did work in all manner of ores and they did work gold and silver and iron and brass and all manner of metals and they did dig it out of the earth and cast up mighty heaps of earth to get ore of gold and of silver an ani i of copper and they did work all manner of fine work and thus did they have silks andrine and fine twined linen and they did work all manner of cloth that they might clothe themselves from their nakedness and they did work all manner of tools to till the earth both to plow and to sow to reap and to hoe and also to thrash and they did make all manner of tools with which to work their beasts and they did make all manner of weapons of war and they did work all manner of work of exceeding curious workmanship w 11 II I page here we discover in a peculiarly succinct suc cinet and comprehensive form all the concomitants and possibilities of a mighty brilliant and permanent civilization including hunting hence furs leather and bone ornaments and utensils commerce with all its active enterprises improvements prove ments discoveries and exchange of wealth mining with all its glittering hoards of splendor and magnificence the forge with all its output of iron sinews and mechanical energies agriculture that life and soul of national greatness rich apparel and jewelry with all otter other needful products of industry and the result and fruits of prosperity and elegant affluence the plain and simple statement concerning the Jar jaredine edite miners casting up mighty heaps of earth in their extensive mining operations will serve to explain a deep mystery which has sorely perplexed the antiquarian delver namely the origin and purpose of at least a portion of the numerous earth wounds mounds scattered so exten extensively fAvely throughout vast areas of boythe oythe the american continent many of these plain and inartistic elevations are adjuncts to and mementoes of their incessant wars earthly mausoleums in which were inhumed the remains of the mighty hosts that fell in battle the ghastly remnants of strife and carnage were collected from the blead waked soaked plain piled in heaps and the adjacent soil thrown over them there is reference made in the book of mormon to a certain prophecy that their bones should become as heaps of earth upon the face of the land ap f page some of these mounds have been opened and masses of bones and other debris of war have been discovered in them and even the black mould has been analyzed and found to contain elements of carnage and when placed upon heated iron it has emitted a foetid odor arrowheads arrow heads both of tone atone and metal lance points hatchets broken sword blades belts and fragments of other weapons have hav been taken out from these heaps pointing unmistakably to their purpose and origin mr H gillman mentions a mound at port fort wayne where the confusion in which the bones lay showed secondary burials bu rials the excavations made at madisonville Madi sonville ohio by metz and putnam have y yielded fielded more than six hundred skeletons of every age and both sexes showing as the book of mormon states that women and children were slain together with men in a mound in union county kentucky the bodies lay one upon another without apparent method see lyons smithsonian contributions 1870 another writer speaks of a mound in ohio in which a confused mass of human remains were found in one of the skulls was stuck a 9 spearhead spear head about six inches long the wood of course had decayed burial mounds in ohio american antiquities 1870 1 it is probable that in some cases the whole pile of corpses was cremated in some mounds the gound to the depth of several inches was covered with fragments of human bones mixed with cinders and charcoal excavations made into mounds on the mississippi river yielded immense deposits of bone debris above which were charcoal and burnt earth a particular proof that a large fire had operated upon the entire mass american antiquities 1879 p 99 3rd ard quarter all these theme data are signs not of peace and customary sepulcher but of turmoil and of extraordinary expedients to meet visitations of calamity moreover right in the immediate vicinity of these disorderly inhumations and holocausts there have been found numerous monuments and vast mausoleums containing mummies and carefully sepulchered skeletons bearing all the evidences of peaceful and respectful ful interment of the dead this incidental and eccentric burning of the dead so unusual to the general custom of the time and the race presents another perplexing incongruity to the inquiring archaeologist but all is made clew clear by the simple narrative of ether these cheral are am thickly scattered throughout the country especially along the valleys of the mississippi the missouri and the ohio and have attracted intense Inte interest test and diligent investigation from lovers of antiquity breckenridge wrote of them in his views of louisiana and declares that he waft waa astonished them to so resemble the famed edifices and monuments ente of egypt in the americans americana 1847 squire and divis davis testify to making excavations into over two hundred of ef those tombs all these tumua are declared by them to bear striking analogies to each other and to the burial structures of the most ancient peoples of the orient and those writers say that these are works of the same period and of a race having impulses and a common trend of thought and motives with coptic speaking races america is becoming famed for discoveries of mummies ades and sarcophagi cop hagi and has already outrivaled out rivaled egypt in its gruesome and startling reveal ments if human remains of a similar kind and date were produced from the cate combs of the nile and the burial chambers of the mississippi the most experienced and astute archaeologist living could not identify the mummies by their appearance and the relics of the old and new worlds and separate them into american and egyptian we have adduced from the history of the Jared ites a few analogies between their annals and the testimonies and averments aver ments of the most respectable authorities these are mere hints and suggestions of what might be produced in this vast field joseph sn dahs production of the history of the most ancient inhabitants of america is sustained by a cloud of ef reliable witnesses he and these confirm his hie words he declared that a certain race of people came to America americast at a certain period half a score of learned scientists declare that this is true for that race have left their footprints foot prints and mementoes upon the land joseph received this information first and by divine and supernatural agency the confirmations follow and are produced by human and natural means the prophets divinity might be denied but what about the declarations of the learned ones the scientists should divest themselves of their unreasonable bias and unworthy prejudice and before contemptuously repudiating the book of mormon investigate its claims to archeological archaeological arche importance and publish to the world their enlightened decision if J f the record contains the valuable historical data claimed science should have the benefit of it but if the claim is worthless and the book a fraud let the world know it and also the process by which the conclusion Is reached J H KELSON to be continued |