Atlantis: The Antedeluvian WorldDonnelly, Ignatius
History
Atlantis: The Antedeluvian World
Donnelly, Ignatius
Atlantis (Legendary place); Deluge; Ethnology
That the population of Central America (and in this term I include
Mexico) was at one time very dense, and had attained to a high degree of
civilization, higher even than that of Europe in the time of Columbus,
there can be no question; and it is also probable, as I have shown, that
they originally belonged to the white race. Dêsirè Charnay, who is now
exploring the ruins of Central America, says (North American Review,
January, 1881, p. 48), "The Toltecs were fair, robust, and bearded. I
have often seen Indians of pure blood with blue eyes." Quetzalcoatl was
represented as large, "with a big head and a heavy beard." The same
author speaks (page 44) of "the ocean of ruins all around, not inferior
in size to those of Egypt." At Teotihuacan he measured one building two
thousand feet wide on each side, and fifteen pyramids, each nearly as
large in the base as Cheops. "The city is indeed of vast extent ...
the whole ground, over a space of five or six miles in diameter, is
covered with heaps of ruins--ruins which at first make no impression, so
complete is their dilapidation." He asserts the great antiquity of these
ruins, because he found the very highways of the ancient city to be
composed of broken bricks and pottery, the débris left by earlier
populations. "This continent," he says (page 43), "is the land of
mysteries; we here enter an infinity whose limits we cannot estimate....
I shall soon have to quit work in this place. The long avenue on
which it stands is lined with ruins of public buildings and palaces,
forming continuous lines, as in the streets of modern cities. Still, all
these edifices and halls were as nothing compared with the vast
substructures which strengthened their foundations."
We find the strongest resemblances to the works of the ancient European
races: the masonry is similar; the cement is the same; the sculptures
are alike; both peoples used the arch; in both continents we find
bricks, glassware, and even porcelain (North American Review, December,
1880, pp. 524, 525), "with blue figures on a white ground;" also bronze
composed of the same elements of copper and tin in like proportions;
coins made of copper, round and T-shaped, and even metallic candlesticks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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