arrived. Cotton napkins and ewers of water were placed before them as they took their seats at the board. Tobacco was them offered, in pipes, mixed with aromatic substances, or in the form of cigars inserted in tubes of tortoise- shell or silver. It is a curious fact that the Aztecs also took the dried tobacco leaf in the pulverized form of snuff.
“The table was well supplied with substantial meats, especially game, among which the most conspicuous was the turkey. Also, there were found very delicious vegetables and fruits of every variety native to the continent. Their palate was still further regaled by confections and pastry, for which their maize-flower and sugar furnished them ample materials. The meats were kept warm with chafing-dishes. The table was ornamented with vases of silver and sometimes gold of delicate workmanship. The favorite beverage was chocolatl, flavored with vanilla and different spices. The fermented juice of the maguey, with a mixture of sweets and acids, supplied various agreeable drinks of different degrees of strength.”
It is not necessary to describe their great public works, their floating gardens, their aqueducts, bridges, forts, temples, COMMON FORM OF ARCH, CENTRAL AMERICA.
palaces, and gigantic pyramids, all ornamented with wonderful statuary.
SECTION
OF
THE
TREASURE-HOUSE
OF
ATREUS
AT
MYCENAE
We find a strong resemblance between the form of arch used in the architecture of Central America and that of the oldest buildings of Greece. The Palenque arch is made by the gradual overlapping of the strata of the building, as shown in the accompanying cut from Baldwin’s “Ancient America,” page 100. It was the custom of these ancient architects to fill in the arch itself with masonry, as shown in the picture
ARCH
OF
LAS
MONJAS
,
PALENQUE
,
CENTRAL
AMERICA
on page 355 of the Arch of Las Monjas, Palenque. If now we took at the representation of the “Treasure-house of Atreus” at Mycenae, on page 354-one of the oldest structures in Greece—we find precisely the same form of arch, filled in in the same way.
Rosengarten (“Architectural Styles,” p. 59) says: “The base of these treasure-houses is circular, and the covering of a dome shape; it does not, however, form an arch, but courses of stone are laid horizontally over one another in such a way that each course projects beyond the one below it, till the space at the highest course becomes so narrow that a single stone covers it. Of all those that have survived to the present day the treasure- house at Atreus is the most venerable.”
The same form of arch is found among the ruins of that interesting people, the Etruscans.
“Etruscan vaults are of two kinds. The more curious and probably the most ancient are false arches, formed of horizontal courses of stone, each a little overlapping the other, and carried on until the aperture at the top could be closed by a single superincumbent slab. Such is the construction of the Regulini-Galassi vault, at Cervetere, the ancient Caere.” (Rawlinson’s “Origin of Nations,” p. 117.) It is sufficient to say, in conclusion, that Mexico, under European rule, or under her own leaders, has never again risen to her former standard of refinement, wealth, prosperity, or civilization.
CHAPTER II.
THE EGYPTIAN COLONY.
What proofs have we that the Egyptians were a colony from Atlantis?
1. They claimed descent from “the twelve great gods,” which must have meant the twelve gods of Atlantis, to wit, Poseidon and Cleito and their ten sons.
2. According to the traditions of the Phoenicians, the Egyptians derived their civilization from them; and as the Egyptians far antedated the rise of the Phoenician nations proper, this must have meant that Egypt derived its civilization from the same country to which the Phoenicians owed their own origin. The Phoenician legends show that Misor, from whom, the Egyptians were descended, was the child of the Phoenician gods Amynus and Magus. Misor gave birth to Taaut, the god of letters, the inventor of the alphabet, and Taaut became Thoth, the god of history of the Egyptians. Sanchoniathon tells us that “Chronos (king of Atlantis) visited the South, and gave all Egypt to the god Taaut, that it might be his kingdom.” “Misor” is probably the king “Mestor” named by Plato.
3. According to the Bible, the Egyptians were descendants of Ham, who was one of the three sons of Noah who escaped from the Deluge, to wit, the destruction of Atlantis.
4. The great similarity between the Egyptian civilization and that of the American nations.
5. The fact that the Egyptians claimed to be red men.
