“The Aurancanians were always friendly, for our people never exacted more for their labors than their employers were pleased to give in exchange; and until the event occurred that caused us to become outcasts from our dearly loved homes, they were ever more ready to bestow than we were to accept. But the same cause, from the same source, has reduced them to a condition worse than our own, for they can no longer command themselves in their own country, being constantly at variance in their own households. We are so unlike our neighbors, and their visitors from other nations, in personal appearance, habits, and customs, our curiosity has labored long and patiently with the transmitted emblems, but they refuse to unravel the secrets of the past. “My father gave our people much information, which they supposed to be reliable. First, he said that Kyron, from which our name was derived, was an ancient Assyrian department, which gave birth to the city of Sidon, famed in its day for the boldness and enterprise of its navigators; and that the vessels portrayed by our ancestors were similar to theirs. But he said that our short bows, and spears, as well as our defensive armor, afforded the strongest confirmation of Assyrian origin. In addition, he found utensils designed for household use which corresponded exactly with pictures in the books he obtained from Europe; and furthermore, he made a journey to Peru and brought back vessels of pottery exactly similar. From these evidences he naturally concluded that our ancestry, and those that inter-married with the aboriginal inhabitants of Peru, were derived from the same source. However, you will understand all these things better than ourselves; for he said your learned men devoted their lives to the study of the past, and were skilled in tracing vestiges, and conjectural probabilities.