that a People built those cities in America, who had a knowledge of Egyptian architecture. If Egypt itself had sent the "colony,"-(but from the want of the means of Navigation it was impossible, and also a record would have been found in Herodotus or Diodorus, who wrote of that country about 484, and 44 B. C. :—if it had taken place prior to those periods, their accuracy would have compelled them to notice it)-if, we say, Egypt had sent a "colony," the Temples would have been built like her own in every particular.— Pronaos, Sphinx, and other characteristics,-but these do not appear, or the slightest indication of them; -yet, where the pyramidal structure and obelisk (square-column sculptured) and circular columns are to be found, there Egypt may be traced as having given knowledge to the builders. The Pyramid of Caius Cestius at Rome will illustrate this fact. No one will say that that Pyramid is Roman architecture,-yet no one will deny that the builder had a knowledge of Egypt and her works, and no Historian would claim Rome to be Egypt, because a Pyramid was found there; so in Mexican America, the Ruins partake of the Egyptian character sufficiently to give the style of the Architectural foundations to that of the Nile, yet they must have been erected by another Nation ;-yet that Nation must be proved to have a knowledge of, and intercourse with, Egypt. What nation of all the earth enjoyed this equal to the Tyrian? They were in weekly intercourse with each other,—exchanging as men their sentiments, and as merchants their merchandise, till one general conquest overwhelmed both countries,-one

nation remaining subdued and tributary, and the other dispersed and annihilated.

It is proved (we submit) that the Sculpture in many parts, and especially at Uxmal, partakes of the Grecian character, while the Architecture is that of the Egyptian. This is a nice distinction, but it enables us to strengthen our belief that Egypt, as a Nation, could not have been the builders, but they must have been a People (we repeat it, to impress it on the mind of the reader) having a knowledge of the Nile and her edifices; to this may be joined, a People having a knowledge, also, of the Greeks, since the Sculpture at Uxmal is Grecian in design. The Tyrians possessed this intercourse; but, it is possible that some few Greeks may have been of the Colony landing on "the American coast" before the Christian Æra,that they may have gladly embraced the occasion, as the only means of escaping death at the fearful event which caused the Migration. From the same cause a few Egyptians may have escaped, and joined the colony in the same manner. The strangers on the Island of Tyrus, would probably be those who had arrived by water from a distance,-Egypt was one port of commerce, Ægina another, and ambitious of maritime fame. Ægina is selected for more than one reason. It was an Island in direct intercourse with Tyrus, and the Ægineans were renowned for their general knowledge of the art of ornamental Sculpture, but not on so grand a scale as that of Athens. The Ægineans were called myrmidons, or emmets, from their patient perseverance in the art of Agriculture and other employments,-and

thence the Tortoise became their National emblem, the slow but sure progress of that shellfish being a symbol of their industry; it formed a double emblem; viz, of their industry and marine character. Now it will be remembered that the Ruins of Uxmal display four Tortoises in stone Sculpture,—and one was found detached, and buried in the Ruins of Copan.

Ægina was the first nation that coined Money, and issued Medals,-Athens often applied to Ægina for the execution of both. The Chief Symbol on the Coin of Ægina was the Tortoise, for the reasons stated above : -now, in Mexican America, an ancient coin, or medal, has been found with the Symbol of the Tortoise on it! It may have been buried by a citizen of Ægina (one of the Colony), or by a Tyrian who possessed a coin of the Island-rival,-but most probably the first proposition is correct-viz., that it was possessed by a native of Ægina, for at Uxmal the Tortoise is there in Sculpture, and the entire façades, interior and exterior, are filled with ornaments à la Grecque antique,-and especially that of the running square, or meander border, while the buildings themselves bear no analogy to those of Attica;—thus proving almost to demonstration, that Grecian Artists were authors of the Sculpture, Tyrians the Architects of the entire edifices,while those of Egypt were authors of the Architectural bases. The reader may think that this is the refinement of investigation, but, it is such as truth and perseverance have authorized, and the historic importance of the subject demands.

The Tortoise is, also, the designation of the coins of Thebes in Greece, and from this fact, it is brought home at once to the Tyrians, as a Symbol of their country, as well as of Ægina,—and in all probability (consulting data) Ægina copied it from the Theban coin. The Phoenician Chief, Cadmus (all ancient Tyrian Chiefs were so called) founded Thebes, and is well known to have introduced into Greece, the letters, or Alphabet of his own country; and without doubt, at the same time, he selected the Symbols of his Native land, to represent the Coin of his new City. The Tortoise is, therefore, a Tyrian emblem, and is found upon the Ruins in Ancient America.

Cadmus founded Thebes 1493 B. C., and was consequently contemporary with the first Lawgiver. Euripides in his Drama of the "Phoenician Virgins" thus alludes to his arrival, as uttered by Jocasta :

"Resplendent Sun

How inauspicious didst thou dart thy beams

That day on Thebes, when from the sea-wash'd coast
Of fair Phoenicia Cadmus on this land

Set his ill-omen'd foot !"

We have suggested that Grecians [i. e. of Egina] may have been the authors of the Sculpture, and Egyptians of the Architectural bases of the edifices, because their respective styles are traceable in the Ruins of Palenque, Uxmal, and Copan. This suggestion is founded upon the possibility (and even probability) of natives of those nations being at Tyrus, at the

time of the departure of the Tyrians :-yet, it does not follow, as a necessity, that all the Architects, Builders, and Sculptors must have been of those nations ;-for although there does not exist in Asia or Africa any Phoenician Architecture, whereby a comparison can be made, yet there does exist the undying record that the Tyrians were builders and Sculptors from their own practice, and that fact is founded upon the authority of Scripture:

"And Hiram, King of Tyre sent messengers to David,—and cedar trees,—and carpenters and masons,and they built David a house"-i. e. Palace. [2 Samuel v. 2.]

Here then is a distinct and undeniable record of the Tyrians being, not only carpenters (their Shipbuilding proves that) but Masons,—and which in the original Hebrew text is defined to be "hewers of the stone of the wall;" and consequently they were Sculptors, as well as Architects. Their building and adorning of Solomon's Temple (as will be shewn in the History of Tyrus) are additional facts, with the building of the Palace of David, to put at rest any suspicion, or question, whether the Tyrians themselves, unassisted by others, could have built and Sculptured those edifices in America. The Israelites had no practical knowledge of Architecture until ages after the building (by the Tyrians) of Solomon's Temple. 1015 B. c.

The above quotation from Sacred History refers to the year 1043 B. C., and consequently centuries before the time contemplated by this Epoch,-viz., B. c. 332.