This is to give notice that the "Original History of Ancient America" (of which this is the first volume) is copyright, and legally secured by the proprietor, both in England and America. The Penalties, therefore, for any infringement will be enforced by the Publishers, according to the New Act of Parliament and the Acts of Congress of the United States. By the former, especially as applied to England and her colonies, any person having in his possession, for sale or hire, any _foreign edition_ of an English copyright, is liable to a heavy penalty; and any copy found in the possession of a traveller from abroad will be forfeited. _London, June, 1843._ =THE TYRIAN ÆRA.= ORIGINAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT AMERICA. B O O K T H E F I R S T. CHAPTER I. Introduction from the Preface to the Author's Historical Work upon the Life of TECUMSEH--Name to be used for South or Central America--The Fundamental Error of the Historians of America--Essential Opposites in Character--Rules of Argument for illustrating the Theory--A sufficient Identity of the North to prove two Distinct People--The Aborigines wrongfully named "_Indians_" by COLUMBUS--The Cause of his Error and its Effects. In the prefatory remarks to the forthcoming work upon the chieftain, Tecumseh, the following language is used; and we avail ourselves of the privilege of extracting from our own storehouse, materials for the commencement of this new historical campaign. "The courteous reader in tracing the fate of Tecumseh, as depicted in the pages of his life, will not fail to observe the strong analogy between the religious sentiments of the chief of the forest, and those of the ancient Hebrews. The language as uttered by Tecumseh is not written by the pen of fiction, merely to uphold a theory of the brain, but gathered from the archives of a people's history, to support a theory of apparent truth. The present writer will not yield to any man in the firm belief, that the Aborigines of North America (_but North America only_), and the ancient Israelites are identical, unless controverted by the stern authority of superior historical deductions. We, therefore, have formed an original theory in reference to the natives of the North, and those of South and Central America, together with the newly-discovered ruined Cities in and around Guatamala; and by that theory, have separated _into_ TWO _distinct races_, or people, the Aborigines of the Western Hemisphere. "The lately recovered Ruins, Cities, and Temples in Central America, and of which no ancient record is to be found, have shattered the chain of acknowledged History to atoms; and until that chain is again united by a firmly established theory,--Education herself must pause, ere she can with the wand of truth, point to her rising children the History of the World, or its inhabitants.