=27.= A native Mexican author, Ixtilxochitl, "fixes the date of the first peopling of America about the year 2000 B. C.; this closely accords with that given by the Book of Mormon, which positively declares that it occurred at the time of the dispersion, when God in His anger scattered the people upon the face of the whole earth."[816] "Referring to the quotations from Ixtilxochitl, seventeen hundred and sixteen years are said to have elapsed from the creation to the flood. Moses places it sixteen hundred and fifty-six, a difference of only sixty years.[817] They agree exactly as to the number of cubits, fifteen, which the waters prevailed over the highest mountains. Such a coincidence can lead to but one conclusion, the identity of origin of the two accounts."[818] [816] Moses Thatcher, _Contributor_, vol. ii, p. 227, Salt Lake City, 1881. [817] See Note 2. [818] Moses Thatcher, _Contributor_, vol. ii, p. 228. =28.= Prof. Short, quoting from Clavigero, says: "The Chiapanese have been the first peoplers of the New World, if we give credit to their traditions. They say that Votan, the grandson of that respectable old man who built the great ark to save himself and family from the deluge, and one of those who undertook the building of that lofty edifice, which was to reach up to heaven, went by express command of the Lord to people that land. They say also that the first people came from the quarter of the north, and that when they arrived at Soconusco, they separated, some going to inhabit the country of Nicaragua, and others remaining at Chiapas."[819] [819] John T. Short, _North Americans of Antiquity_, p. 204 (Harper Bros., New York; 2nd ed., 1888). See also _Contributor_ (Salt Lake City, vol. ii, p 259). =29. II. Concerning the Successive Occupation of America by Different Peoples in Ancient Times.=--It has been declared by eminent students of American archeology that two distinct classes, by some designated as separate races, of mankind inhabited this continent in early times: Prof. F. W. Putnam[820] is even more definite in his assertion that one of these ancient races spread from the north, the other from the south. This is in agreement with the Book of Mormon record, which describes the occupation of the continent by the Jaredites and the Nephites in turn, the former having established themselves first in North America, the latter in South America. H. C. Walsh, in an article entitled "Copan, a City of the Dead,"[821] gives many interesting details of excavation and other work prosecuted by Gordon under the auspices of the Peabody expedition; and adds, "All this points to successive periods of occupation, of which there are other evidences."[822] [820] Putnam, _Prehistoric Remains in the Ohio Valley_, Century Magazine, March 1890. [821] See _Harper's Weekly_ (New York), October, 1897; article by Henry C. Walsh. [822] See Note 3.