indirect external evidences—american traditions. continued.
always closely allied with the native american traditions of a deluge are those which bear close analogy to the bible account of the existence of giants in the earth,[1] of the tower of babel,[2] the confusion of languages,[3] the dispersion of mankind throughout the earth,[4] including migrations to this western hemisphere. the first four items above enumerated will be recognized as bible events; while the last will be remembered as a very important book of mormon event fulfilled in the migration of the jaredite colony from the tower of babel to the western hemisphere.[5] but as the nephite migration, as also that of mulek's colony, is committed to the traditions of the native americans, one must not be surprised if these several migrations are sometimes confounded, resulting in confusion that is quite perplexing.
iii.
tradition of the tower of babel
on the way between vera cruz and the capital not far from the modern city of puebla, stands the venerable relic, with which the reader has become familiar in the course of this narrative—called the temple of cholulua. it is, as he will remember, a pyramidal mound, built, or rather cased, with unburnt brick, rising to the height of nearly one hundred and eighty feet. the popular tradition of the natives is that it was erected by a family of giants, who had escaped the great inundation, and designed to raise the building to the clouds; but the gods, offended with their presumption, sent fires from heaven on the pyramid, and compelled them to abandon the attempt. the partial coincidence of this legend with the hebrew account of the tower of babel, received also by other nations of the east, cannot be denied.[6]
prescott also has a footnote on this passage, from which i make the following quotation:
a tradition, very similar to the hebrew one, existed among the chaldeans and the hindoos. (asiatic researches, vol. iii, mem. 16.) the natives of chiapa, also, according to the bishop nuez de la vega, had a story, cited as genuine by humboldt (vues des cordilleres, p. 148), which not only agrees with the scripture account of the manner in which babel was built, but with that of the subsequent dispersion, and the confusion of tongues.[7]
ixtlilxochitl the christian descendant of the ancient rulers of anahuac, relates that after the dispersion of the human race which succeeded the attempt at building the tower of babel (which he had learned from his catholic instructors)[8] seven toltecs reached america and became the parents of a numerous race. the quiches speak of white men who came from the land of the sun. the people of yucatan believe that their ancestors had come from the east, across a great body of water that god had dried up to let them pass over. [9]
the mexicans round cholula had a special legend, connecting the escape of a remnant from the great deluge with the often mentioned story of the origin of the people of anahuac from chicomoztoc, or the seven caves. at the time of the cataclysm, [i. e. the flood] the country, according to pedro de los rios, was inhabited by giants. some of these perished utterly; others were changed into fishes; while seven brothers of them found safety by closing themselves into certain caves in a mountain called tlaloc. when the waters were assuaged, one of the giants, xelhua, surnamed the architect, went to cholula and began to build an artificial mountain, as a monument and a memorial of the tlaloc that had sheltered him and his when the angry waters swept through all the land. the bricks were made in tlamanalco, at the foot of the sierra de cocotl, and passed to chulua from hand to hand along a file of men—whence these came is not said—stretching between the two places. then were the jealousy and the anger of the gods aroused, as the huge pyramid arose slowly up, threatening to reach the clouds and the great heaven itself; and the gods launched their fire upon the builders and slew many, so that the work was stopped. but the half-finished structure, afterwards dedicated by the cholultecs to quetzalcoatl, still remains to show how well xelhua, the giant, deserved his surname of the architect.[10]
"the tower of babel is," indeed, clearly remembered by several aboriginal nations of our continent," says p. deroo, "especially of central america," and then he adds:
ixtlilxochitl relates the tradition of the toltecs, according to which the few men who escaped the deluge, after multiplying again, built a "zacuali" or tower of great height, in which to take refuge when the world should be destroyed a second time. after this their tongues became confused and, not understanding one another any longer, they went to different parts of the world. the toltecs, seven in number, and their wives, who understood one another's speech, after crossing great lands and seas and undergoing many hardships, finally arrived in america, which they found to be a good land and fit for habitation. when coxcox and his wife xochiquetzal had landed on the peak of calhuacan they increased and multiplied, and children began to gather about them; but these were all born dumb. a dove came, however, and gave them tongues, innumerable languages. on an ancient hieroglyphical map, first published by carreri, who was vindicated from suspicion as to his integrity by boturini, clavigero, and von humboldt, there is also depicted a dove with the hieroglyphic emblem of languages, which it is distributing to the children of coxcox. only fifteen of the descendants of coxcox could not all understand one another, and these were the ancestors of the nahua nations. thus runs the mexican tradition, which the learned von humboldt further relates when he says, "wodan, one of the fifteen ancestors of the american nations, was a grandson of the venerable old man, who with his family escaped the fury of the flood, and was one of those who, according to the chiapan legend, had helped in building the monument that was to reach heaven but remained unfinished through the anger of the gods. after each family had received a different language, teotl ordered wodan to go and settle anahuac"[11]—(the mexican table land).
the cholulan tradition, as told by duran, differs somewhat from the foregoing version. "i inquired," he says, "about the ancient mexican legends, from a native of cholula who was a hundred years old, and well versed in the antiquities of his tribe. 'take pen and paper,' he answered me, 'because you could not remember all that i am to tell you: at first, there was nothing but a dark world, without any creature in it; but as soon as light was made with the sun rising in the east, gigantic men with ugly features made their appearance and took possession of this earth. desirous of knowing the rising and the setting of the sun, they divided themselves into two groups, those of one group traveling east on their search, and the others west, until the ocean prevented them from going any further. they returned, therefore, and, unable to get at the sun by his rising or sinking, whilst, however, they were enamoured with his light and beauty, they decided to build a tower tall enough to reach him in his course. they set out gathering materials, found clay and a very sticky bitumen, and they hurried on to erect the tower, and raised it so high that, they say, it seemed to attain to the sky. and the lord above, annoyed at their work, spoke to the inhabitants of heaven: 'you have noticed how those of the world have built a high and superb tower to climb up higher, after the beauty and light of the sun; come and let us confound them, for it is not right that those of the world living in the flesh, should mix up with us.' the inhabitants of heaven sallied forth at once, like thunderbolts, by the four corners of the earth and demolished the monument. terrified and trembling, the giants fled in every direction.'"[12]
passages of like description to these might be multiplied, but the foregoing are sufficient for our purpose here.[13]
i have already called attention to the fact that authorities upon the subject of traditions and legends of the new world are as much divided and as irreconcilable as they are upon the origin and antiquity of american ruins. a number of writers, especially those of recent date, seek to discount the value of the analogy which is plainly evident between these native american accounts of the creation, the flood, the building of the tower of babel, the confusion of tongues, the dispersion of mankind, and the bible accounts of the same events; but i fail to find any reason advanced sufficiently strong to discredit the obvious analogy, and the significance there is in such analogy, viz., that the native americans in ancient times were acquainted with the bible facts concerning these several things. those who accept the book of mormon know by what means and how the ancient americans became acquainted with these scriptural truths. those writers who seek to discredit the native traditions resort in the main to the theory that these so-called creation, flood, and tower legends have not escaped the "renovating touch of the spanish priests and chroniclers, who, throughout their writings, seem to think it their bounden duty to make the ideas of the history of the new world correspond to those of the old;"[14] while others see in them an adaptation by pious fraud of indian mythologies to bible statements.[15] such nadaillac represents the theories of some other writers to be; but he himself, in speaking of a number of traditions which resemble bible historical incidents, disclaims the necessity of accrediting them to christian origin:
a general belief * * * * in a deluge or flood is widely spread among the american races, and can hardly be attributed to christian teachings. * * * * * * it is probable that all these traditions have some foundations in truth. * * * * no dissemination of merely christian ideas since the conquest is sufficient to account for these myths.[16]
with the book of mormon in hand, however, one does not need to accept these strained explanations nor this wholesale repudiation of the writings of respectable authorities on the validity of these legends among native americans, derived—not as some would have us believe, from picture-paintings of the natives alone, but from these, supplemented by the oral traditions of the natives. the source of traditions here referred to is made clear by the book of mormon.
iv.
migrations.
as already stated, some confusion exists in native american traditions relative to migrations. this doubtless arises from the fact that the native traditions confound the three great migrations of which the book of mormon speaks, viz., the jaredite, nephite and mulek migrations, and also the subsequent intercontinental movements among both nephites and lamanites, especially those following the disaster at cumorah, with the general migrations from the old world. this confusion in the native traditions results in dividing the writers on american antiquities, both in respect of the number of migrations and the direction whence they came, as also the time of them. it should be stated that there are some respectable authorities who doubt ancient migrations at all, holding the native population of america, and also its civilization, to be indigenous.
migration passages already quoted in connection with the tower of babel matter, are as follows: "the toltecs reached america [from the tower] and became the founders of a numerous race." "the quiches speak of white men who came from the land of the sun. the people of yucatan believe that their ancestors had come from the east across a great body of water that god had dried up to let them pass over."[17] here it will be observed that with these traditions of the migration from the east has been coupled the bible story of the israelites crossing the red sea, through which god opened a way to let them pass.[18]
it is also to be observed that in some instances the american traditions fix the building of the notable tower to escape floods in the western world.[19] not a surprising variation when one considers how oral tradition, unchecked by written annals, distorts facts. from another passage already given,[20] after referring to the facts of the confusion of languages, it is stated that the people went to different parts of the world; then, "the toltecs, seven in number, and their wives, who understood one another's speech, after crossing great lands and seas and undergoing great hardships, finally arrived in america, which they found to be good land and fit for habitation. * * * only fifteen of the descendants of coxcox could at all understand one another, and these were the ancestors of the nahuac nations."[21] in this last quotation one perceives very clearly in outline the story of the jaredite migration as follows: first, the number of the colony is small. the book of ether represents that the jaredite colony crossed the great waters between their native land and america in eight barges;[22] and they were small.[23] the two principal families of this colony, that of moriancumr and jared, some time after reaching america, are set down as follows: the former had of sons and daughters twenty-two; while the number of sons and daughters of the latter were twelve, he having four sons. some of these sons and daughters may, of course, have been born en route to, and after the arrival in, america—that, at least, is a very great probability—and hence the original colony would be cut down by as many as were so born.[24] the number of "friends" of jared and his brother who accompanied them from babel to america are set down at "about twenty and two souls, and they also begat sons and daughters before they came to the promised land.[25] this may mean that the twenty-two friends were all adults, while the number of children is not given; or it may mean that they numbered twenty-two including children. in any event the jaredite colony was not large, and it is quite possible that the families were not more than seven in number as held in the native tradition before us.
second, the american traditions represent that the colony which came from the tower and peopled america all understood each other's language, and the number of them was fifteen; which, if this number represents the adult members of the colony, we have again about the seven families indicated in the foregoing passage; and it will be remembered that when the lord made known to the prophet moriancumr that he was about to confound the languages of the people, his brother jared suggested to him that he ask the lord not to confound their language; "and it came to pass that the brother of jared did cry unto the lord, and the lord had compassion upon jared, therefore he did not confound the language of jared."[26] a second appeal was made in behalf of their friends (who we have already learned numbered twenty-two) that their language might not be confounded; "and the lord had compassion upon their friends, and upon their families also, that they were not confounded."[27]
third, this colony, of the american traditions, crossed great lands and seas and underwent many hardships before finally arriving in america. now ether's account of the jaredite journey: "and it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the lord. and the lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise"—america.[28] arriving on the shores of the great ocean which separated them from the land of their destination they received a commandment to build barges for crossing this ocean. "and it came to pass that when they had done all these things they got aboard of their vessels or barges and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the lord their god. and it came to pass that the lord god caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind."[29] this journey continued three hundred and forty-four days upon the water. this surely was "crossing great lands and seas and undergoing many hardships."
fourth, the american tradition says that the toltec colony finally arrived in america, which they found to be a good land, "and fit for habitation." concerning the land to which the jaredite colony came ether says that it is "a land of promise, which is choice above all other lands which the lord had preserved for a righteous people."[30] in other words, to use the language of the native american tradition, it was "a land fit for habitation."
other passages on the fact of ancient migrations to america follow; but i caution the reader again concerning the confusion existing in the traditions on this subject, which arises, as i believe, from the traditions mingling indiscriminately together the three migrations of the book of mormon, and later movements of native tribes since the overthrow of the nephites at cumorah.
one fact appears probable, and that is that there was a tendency of population extending over a long period from the north toward the south, one driving another before it as one wave of the sea follows that in advance of it. we cannot do better than compare these successive invasions, with those of the barbarous races that quarreled over the parts of the dismembered roman empire, or with that of the aryans, who from the farther end of asia fell in hordes first upon india and persia and then upon the different countries of europe, giving to the vanquished as the price of their defeat a culture undoubtedly superior to that they had formerly possessed. [31]
that successive waves of migration occurred there is no reason to doubt, and that these successive bodies of immigrants differed to some extent in culture and in race is highly probable.[32] * * * the ancient american races preserved the tradition of distinct migrations, in their hieroglyphics and pictographs.[33]
that america was peopled from asia, the cradle of the human race, can no longer be doubted, but how and when they came is a problem that cannot be solved.[34]
the testimony "of migration to the western coast of america from the eastern coast of asia," rivero and tschudi hold to be strong and conclusive; and further "that it explains many facts in america, which long perplexed our archaeologists;" but "it by no means aids us in determining the origin of our earliest population."[35] on the same subject gallatin remarks:
after making every proper allowance, i can see no possible reason that should have prevented those who, after the dispersion of mankind, moved towards the east and northeast from having reached the extremities of asia and passed over to america within five hundred years after the flood. however small may have been the number of those first emigrants, an equal number of years would have been more than sufficient to occupy in their own way every part of america.[36]
bancroft, quoting the substance of a passage from sahagun, whom he pronounces one of the best of authorities, says:
countless years ago the first settlers arrived in new spain. coming in ships by sea, they approached a northern port and because they disembarked there it was called panutla, or panoaia, "place where they arrived who came by sea," now corruptly called pantlan (panuco); and from this port they began to follow the coast, beholding the snowy sierras and the volcanoes, until they reached the province of guatemala; being guided by a priest carrying their god, with whom he continually took counsel respecting what they ought to do. they came to settle in tamoanchan[37] where they remained a long time, and never ceased to have their wise men, or prophets, called amoxoaque, which means "men learned in the ancient paintings," [books], who, although they came at the same time, did not remain with the rest in tamoanchan; since leaving them there, they re-embarked and carried away with them all the paintings [books] which they had brought relating to religious rites and mechanical arts.[38]
speaking of the traditions of the migration of the nahuatl nations bancroft says:
in its ancient center—not in anahuac, whether it was in the north or south—the primitive nahua power was overthrown, or from that center it was transferred to be re-established by exiled princes and their descendants on the mexican plateaux. this transfer, whose nature we may vaguely comprehend, but of whose details we know nothing, is the event or series of events referred to by various migration-traditions. the recollections of these events assumed different forms in the traditions of different tribes until each nation claimed, or were deemed by the spaniards to claim, a distinct migration from its former home.[39]
after the creation of the first men balam-quitze, balam-agab, machucutah and iqui-balam, wives were given to them, and these were the parents of the quiche nation. * * * * all seem to have spoken one language and to have lived in great peace, black men and white men together. here they awaited the rising of the sun and prayed to the heart of heaven. the tribes were already very numerous including that of the yaqui (nahuas). at the advice of balam-quitze and his companions they departed in search of gods to worship, and came to tulan-zuiva and seven caves where gods were given. * * * * * * tohil was also the god of tamub and ilocab and the three tribes or families kept together, for their god was the same. here arrived all the tribes; * * * * * and here their language was confounded. they could no longer understand each other and they separated, going to the east, and many coming hither (to guatemala). they dressed in skins and were poor, but they were wonderful men, and when they reached tulan-zuiva long had been their journey, as the ancient histories tell us.[40]
bancroft condenses the foregoing from popol vuh, of which work i have already given a description,[41] and in it may be observed the essential facts of the jaredite migrations to the new world. that is, some time after the creation men are represented as living together and speaking one language. later comes the confusion of tongues. certain families adhere together because they speak the same language. there is a general dispersion and after a very long journey one of the groups reaches gautemala; i. e., central america.
concluding the primitive period of gautemala history, bancroft quotes a striking passage from the spanish writer juarros; who, he says, follows the manuscript writings of fuentes y guzman, founded, as is claimed, on native documents, "but full of inconsistencies," he adds, "and doubtless also of errors." there is, it is true, some confusion in the story told in this quotation; yet, making allowance for the imperfections of oral traditions, and confusion likely to occur in them, one may see in it something akin to the nephite migration recounted in the book of mormon. and now the story:
the toltecs referred to were of the house of israel, and the great prophet moses freed them from the captivity in which they were held by pharaoh; but, having passed the red sea, they gave themselves up to idolatry, and persisting in it notwithstanding the warnings of moses, either to escape the chidings of his law-giver, or for fear of punishment, they left him and their kindred and crossed the sea to a place called the seven caves on the shores of the mar bermejo (gulf of california) now a part of the mexican kingdom, where they founded the celebrated city of tula. the first chief who ruled and conducted this great band from one continent to the other, was tamub, ancestor of the royal families of tula and of quiche, and first king of the toltecs. the second was capichoch; the third calel ahus; the fourth ahpop; the fifth nimaquiche, who, being the best beloved and most distinguished of all, at the order of his oracle, led those people away from tulan, where they had greatly increased in numbers, guided them from the mexican kingdom to this of guatemala. in this migration they spent many years, suffered unspeakable hardships, and journeyed in their wanderings for many leagues over an immense tract of country, until, beholding a lake (that of atitan), they determined to fix their habitation at a certain place not far from the lake, which they named quiche, in memory of the king nimaquiche (or, the "great" quiche), who had died during their long wanderings. there came with nimaquiche three of his brothers, and by an agreement between the four they divided the region.[42]
in some respects—in the matter of the seven caves and the name of the leader of the colony, tamub—the story touches the tradition which doubtless refers to the advent of the jaredites; and also, perhaps, some of the later migrations of native tribes in central america. but one has, in the foregoing tradition, the hebrew origin of the colony plainly declared; their departure from their kindred and the journey across the sea; their leader becomes the first king, as did nephi;[43] he founds a royal line—becomes, in fact, the ancestor of the royal families of tula and quiche, as nephi founded the royal line among his people;[44] the fifth king, greatly beloved, instructed by his oracle—god—led part of the people away from an old place of settlement, where they had greatly increased, and led them to another land. both character and achievement corresponds admirably with the first mosiah of the book of mormon, and his leading the more righteous part of the nephites from the land of lehi-nephi to zarahemla;[45] and there is also the nephite custom of naming lands after distinguished leaders who first settled them;[46] while one may see in the fact that with nimaquiche there came three brothers in his migration, a close resemblance to the fact of three brothers being associated with nephi in the nephite colony led from jerusalem.[47]
let it be remembered also that this is a tradition concerning the "nahuatl" tribes. is this very name "nahuatl" but a variation of the hebrew root whence the word nephi is derived, as undoubtedly the following words are: nepheg,[48] nephish,[49] nephishesim,[50] nephusim,[51] naphtali;[52] and nephtoah?[53]
this nahuatl tradition very much resembles one among the peruvians concerning their migration to peru; but which still more closely resembles some of the facts of the nephite migration, except as to the matter of the time of it, which is placed at five hundred years after the deluge. the tradition is thus related by rivero and tschudi, following montesinos:
peru, says montesinos, was populated five hundred years after the deluge. its first inhabitants flowed in abundantly towards the valley of cuzco, conducted by four brothers. * * * the eldest of the brothers mounted to the summit of a ridge, and threw with his sling a stone to each of the four quarters of the world, thus taking possession of the soil for himself and his family. he afterward gave a name to each one of the quarters which he reached with his sling, calling that beyond the south, colla; beyond the north, tahua; beyond the east, antisuyu; beyond the west, contisuyu, and for that reason the indians called their kings tahuantin-suyu-capac, i. e., lords of the four quarters of the globe. the younger of the brothers, who, according to tradition, was at the same time the most skilful and hardy, wishing to enjoy alone the plenitude of power, rid himself of two of his brothers, by enclosing one of them in a cave, and throwing the other into a deep hole and thus caused the third to fly to a distant province. the fratricide consoled his sisters, and told them that they must consider him as the only child, or son of the sun, and obey him as such. he commanded his kinsmen to level the ground and make houses of stone; such was the origin of the city of cuzco. * * * for sixty years did this first king govern (whom indian tradition also called puhua-manco), leaving the throne to his eldest son.[54]
here we have undoubted reference to historical events, but the tradition in which they are held has assumed a form somewhat childish. that, however, does not prevent one from seeing in the tradition some of the main facts of the nephite migration. the migration is conducted by four brothers, as was the nephite migration—for lehi, the patriarchal head of the nephite colony, seems to have influenced the migration after its departure into the wilderness of arabia but very little; the eldest of the brothers seeks for the leadership on arrival in the new world, by asserting his dominion over the four quarters of the land, in which one may see reflected the claims which the unworthy laman, the eldest of the four nephite brothers, made to leadership over the nephite colony. in the younger brother of the peruvian tradition being the more worthy of leadership, and finally attaining it, one may see the book of mormon historical fact of the youngest of the four sons of lehi, taking his leadership of the colony, though arriving at undisputed leadership of his people not by the means described in the peruvian tradition, but by the blessing and favor of god, and by separating from his brothers and their following, and removing his people a long distance from the place of the first landing of the colony in america.
in that part of the tradition where the youngest brother is represented as commanding his kinsmen "to level the ground and make houses of stone," we have the evidence that he taught them the arts of civilization; a circumstance which corroborates the book of mormon fact that the first nephi did the same thing. it is thus recorded by him:
and i did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance. * * * * and it came to pass that i, nephi, did cause my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands. [55]
this youngest brother of the tradition—after reigning sixty years, (the first nephi's reign was also long, but the exact number of years may not be ascertained,[56]) bequeathed his throne to his eldest son; so also did nephi. at least that he did so is a most reasonable conclusion from the book of mormon data. in his old age, seeing death approaching, nephi "anointed a man to be a king * * * over his people, according to the reign of kings."[57] being anxious to revere the name of this first ruler, the people provided that those who came to the throne should be called first nephi, second nephi, third nephi,[58] etc. of course this does not prove that nephi chose his eldest son to succeed him; but a later writer than jacob, speaking of the nephite kingdom, makes the statement that "the kingdom had been conferred upon none but those who were descendants of nephi."[59] hence it must have been that the man whom nephi anointed king when his own career was closing, was his own son, and most likely his eldest son.
thus every item of the native peruvian tradition under consideration, is met by the facts of the book of mormon; and the tradition gives strong presumptive evidence of the truth of the book of mormon statement, and hence also to the book itself.
nadaillac has a passage which wonderfully confirms the possibility of the nephites being able to make the journey from the coast of arabia to south america. after discussing the probability of migrations from asia via behring strait, he says:
on the other hand, a knowledge of navigation no better than that possessed at present by the lowest people of melanesia would have enabled a migration on the line of the thirtieth parallel, south, to reach the coast of south america, and, in time, to give it a considerable population. a different distribution of land and water from that at present existing, is a possible factor in the problem, but of which it is too early in ocean exploration to avail ourselves. squier, gibbs, and numerous other american ethnologists believed in a migration from the west to south america.[60]
an item of interest connected with the nephite migration, and one very likely to fasten itself in the traditions of the natives, would be the nephite "director" or "liahona" as the nephites called it. this "director" was found by lehi, early in the nephite migrations, at his tent door, and is described as "a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. and within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness. * * * and we did follow the directions of the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness."[61] later, when the prophet alma refers to it, after informing his son helaman that it was called, by their fathers, "liahona," he adds:
and behold, it was prepared to show unto our fathers the course which they should travel in the wilderness. and it did work for them according to their faith in god; therefore, if they had faith to believe that god could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done.[62]
in the traditional account of how the first inca and his sister-wife were directed to peru, one may see the distorted account of this book of mormon fact. the tradition is thus related by prescott:
the celestial pair, brother and sister, husband and wife, advanced along the high plains in the neighborhood of lake titicaca to about the sixteenth degree south. they bore with them a golden wedge, and were directed to take up their residence on the spot where the sacred emblem should without effort sink into the ground. they proceeded accordingly but a short distance, as far as the valley of cuzco, the spot indicated by the performance of the miracle, since there the wedge speedily sank into the earth and disappeared forever. here the children of the sun established their residence, and soon entered upon their beneficent mission among the rude inhabitants of the country; manco capac teaching the men the arts of agriculture, and mama oello initiating her own sex in the mysteries of weaving and spinning."[63]
squiers relates the tradition substantially in the same manner, except that in place of a "golden wedge," he represents the celestial pair as being divinely guided by "a golden rod," which sinks into the earth on reaching the divinely appointed place of their destination.[64]
the student of the book of mormon will at once recognize how well the nephite and lamanite religious wars, at some periods of their history, are described in the following passage:
there appear to have been very hotly contested religious disputes; constant wars broke out between the sectarians following the god votan and those who worshiped quetzalcohuatl, and the vanquished on either side perished under horrible tortures, or were compelled to fly their country[65]
much confusion exists among authorities concerning the toltecs. because of their clear knowledge of the creation, flood, tower of babel, confusion of languages and dispersion of mankind,[66] they are thought to have commenced their wanderings at the dispersion of mankind from babel. but if a people had in their possession a version of the hebrew scriptures, as the nephites had, for instance, it is not difficult to understand how these bible facts could be incorporated in their traditions, without insisting that they were immediately connected with those very ancient bible events. in whatever way the controversies about the toltecs may terminate, the following description of them could well stand for a description of the nephites, barring the items of cruelty, revengefulness, and sanguinary nature of their religion, and their ignorance of iron.[67]
in spite of wars and discord the time of the toltec domination is enshrined in the memory of the nahuas as their golden age. the toltecs, they tell us, were tall, well proportioned, with clear, yellow complexions; their eyes were black, their teeth very white; their hair was black and glossy; their lips were thick; their noses were aquiline, and their foreheads were receding. their beards, were thin, and they had very little hair on their bodies; the expression of their mouths was sweet, but that of the upper part of their faces severe. they were brave, but cruel, eager for revenge, and the religious rites practiced by them were sanguinary. intelligent and ready to learn, they were the first to make roads and aqueducts; they knew how to utilize certain metals; they could spin, weave and dye cloth, cut precious stones, build solid houses of stone cemented with lime mortar, found regular towns; and, lastly, build mounds which may justly be compared with those of the mississippi valley. to them popular gratitude attributes the invention of medicine, and the vapor bath (temazcalli). certain plants to which curative properties were attributed were the remedies mostly used.[68] in the towns we are told, were hospitals where the poor were received and cared for gratuitously. our information respecting the commerce of the toltecs is very vague. we know, however, that it was important. at certain periods of the year regular fairs were held at toltan and cholula; the products of the regions washed by both oceans were seen side by side with numerous objects made by the toltecs themselves. these objects were of great variety, for though iron was unknown to them, the toltecs worked in gold, silver, copper, tin and lead. their jewelry is celebrated, and the few valuable ornaments which escaped the rapacity of the conquistadores are still justly admired. the toltecs cut down trees with copper hatchets, and sculptured bas-reliefs and hieroglyphics with stone implements. for this purpose flint, porphyry, basalt, and above all obsidian, the istlie of the mexicans, were used. emeralds, turquoises, amethysts, of which large deposits were found in various places, were sought after for making jewelry for both men and women. at cholula a famous kind of pottery was made, including vases and the utensils in daily use, censers, and idols for the temples of the gods and common ornaments for the people.[69]
let this description be compared with that which helaman[70] gives of the nephites in the sixty-fourth year of the nephite republic—a date corresponding with the year 27 b. c.—and it will be seen that either one might stand for the other.
these traditions concerning the toltecs, reflecting as they do the state of their civilization, which so nearly resembles that of the nephites in so many particulars; as also all the traditions and mythologies dealt with in this and the preceding chapter respecting the creation, the flood, the great tower, the confusion of language, the dispersion of the people, the migrations to a new home, the strife for power among the leaders of these colonies—usually brothers, and most strikingly "four brothers," as also the status and nature of their civilization—all these things constitute strong testimony to the truth of the book of mormon.