which resulted in the extermination of the latter people. The numerous tumuli scattered over the face of the country cover the remains of the hundreds of thousands of warriors who fell in their deadly strife. Mormon and his son Morani, the last of the Nephites who escaped by concealment, deposited by divine command the annals of their ancestors, the Book of Mormon written on tablets, in the hill of Cumorah, Ontario County, New York, in the vicinity of which the last battle of these relentless enemies took place.[186] The claim, of course, merits mention only on the ground of its romantic character, and not on the supposition for a moment that it contains a grain of truth. The Phœnician and Carthaginian colonization of this continent has been much discussed and credited by a larger number of Americanists than any other theory, except that which refers the original population to those parts of Asia adjacent to Alaska. This claim is based on the maritime achievements of that nation of navigators. The three-year voyages of Hiram and Solomon’s fleet to Ophir and Tarshish, has often been made to do service for this theory. Ophir has most frequently been placed by its advocates in Hayti or Peru.[187] Such speculations, however, are incapable of proof, and are scarcely deserving of sober consideration. The theory itself is one of the few that command respectful attention, since tradition, history, and many facts in natural science, seem to point to its probability.[188] Mr. Bancroft refers at some length to the voyage of Hanno, a Carthaginian navigator, whose exploits beyond the pillars of Hercules, with a fleet of sixty ships and thirty thousand men, is recorded in his _Periplus_.[189] With true critical insight, Mr. Bancroft rejects the opinion that Hanno reached America, and thinks he only coasted along the shores of Africa.[190] The only tradition preserved by the Americans is that of the mysterious Votan, whom some have sought to assign to a Phœnician nativity.[191] Of late years the theory of the Phœnician colonization has failed to receive its share of support from new writers. This is owing probably to the fact that the labors of Mr. George Jones, embodied in his _Original History of Ancient America Founded on the Ruins of Antiquity; the Identity of the Aborigines with the People of Tyrus and Israel, and the Introduction of Christianity by the Apostle St. Thomas_,[192] may have rendered all such support unnecessary. It is more probable, however, that the assumption and credulity displayed in this extraordinary work have discouraged any critical writer from aspiring to the honor of having his name transmitted to posterity as an advocate of the Phœnician theory, side by side with that of the author of the Original History. We have no space to devote to so positive a writer, except to state that he colonizes America with a remnant of the inhabitants of Tyre who escaped from their island-city when it was besieged by Alexander the Great in 332 B. C.