These are the descendants of the Moors who built the Round Towers in Ireland, when they became masters of Spain! CHAPTER X. DEATH OF MOSES. The Law-giver, when he had firmly established the two extensive empires of Mexico and Peru, had it in his mind to found another kingdom in the north of Mexico, which should include King George’s Sound, in the Pacific Ocean, and stretch across the continent of North America till it reached the Atlantic Ocean. This immense tract of country was inhabited by savages, living like the wild animals by whom they were surrounded. They knew not God, nor had they any idea of religion, having no greater intelligence than that possessed by the brute creation. It was, however, the intention of Moses to visit these people, to teach them the knowledge of civilised life, and to impart to them the blessings of religion and industry. This, indeed, was the mission on which Moses was sent over the different quarters of the habitable globe by his God, who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and who took him away from the camp of the children of Israel at the ford of the river Jordan, viz. that he (Moses) might carry the glorious tidings of salvation to nations that were living in ignorance and superstition. He obeyed the sacred behest, and there are ample proofs which attest the success of his mission and labour of love. The route he took is marked by signs of flourishing empires, with religion, learning, and laws, as far as the spot where the servant of God was killed by savages—the very people whom he came to reclaim. He visited the coast of North America in a boat made of copper, everything on board of which was made of that metal. Of this the Indians are passionately fond, and for the sake of it they killed the inspired missionary. But the sequel proves that they repented of their wicked deed—when it was too late. In the hope of obtaining forgiveness from the murdered old man, they paid him divine worship, and carved an image to represent the visitant whom they so cruelly deprived of life. The memory of this remarkable event was handed down to posterity from generation to generation, even to the time when Captain Meares visited that coast in his ship; and the story was related to him by one of the descendants of those who committed the horrid crime. Captain Meares gives the following narrative of what he heard:—[76] “For a long time the English thought the inhabitants had no religious belief whatever. To the huge mis-shapen images seen in their houses they addressed no homage; they had neither priests nor temples, nor did they offer any sacrifices; but an accidental circumstance led to the discovery that, though devoid of all superstitious observances, and wholly ignorant of the true God, they were not without a certain species of mythology, including a belief of an existence after death. This discovery arose from our inquiries on a very different subject.