EGYPTIANS IN AMERICA.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 29, Issue 33, 1 May 1917, Page 8

EGYPTIANS IN AMERICA.

The evidences of an ancient population fa America, anterior to the American Indian*, are afforded by the discovery of tumuli moundfi, catacombs, fortifications, <feo., and ’tots of ground struck out, into eirclea, ovals, and squares have been ff S-i which bear evidence of having bean the work' «f an unknown race, it may be taken for granted that they refer to an era when I nation existed given to architectural anl agricultural pursuits. It is recorded that in Kentucky, on the site of the city of Lexington, was found, amid the ruins of an ancient town, a catacomb formed in the bowels of the limestone rock, about fifteen feet below the surface of the earth. This discovery was made in 1775, by some of the first settlers, whose curiosity was txcited by something remarkable in the character of thp stones which covered the entrance to the cavern. They removed these stones and came to others of singular appaarfor stones in a natural state, tha removal of which laid open the mouth of a cave, deep, gloomy, and terrific as they supposed. With augmented numbers and provided with lights, they descended and entered e spacious hall, the sides and extrema ends of which were formed into niches occupied by figures representing men. When the sentiment of dismay and surprise permitted furthei research the figures were found to be mummies, preserved by the art of embalming known among the ancient Egyptians 2000 years before the Christian era. Unfortunately for science, this discovery was made when war was being carried on between the Indians and the whites, and the power of the natives was displayed in so savage a manner that the whites were filled with revenge. Animated by the vindictive spirit, the discoverers of the catacomb hesitated not to wreak their vengeance even on the mummies, supposing them to be of the same Indian race with whom they were at war. They dragged them out to the open air, tore the bandages open kicked the bodies into dust, and made a bonfire of the remains. The North American Indians did not form catacombs of their dead, nor were they familiar with the art of embalming, but they Egyptians, according to Herodotus, who lived 450 b.c., had three methods of embalming. Diodorus, who flourished in the time of Julius Oassar, observes that the ancient Egyptians had a fourth method of greater mperiority, and it is quite possible that these American mummies were’ preserved after that very manner.

If the Egyptians were renowned as the first of nations, and if from them was derived ft knowledge of navigation, architecture, <tc., why may not the authors of this tomb have seen an Egyptian colony? By consulting ancient history we find that the Egyptians as early as 1485 b. c. had ship* ping, and mention is made of Danus, who, with his fifty d aughters, sailed into Greece. Nine centuries later we find the Egyptians, under the direction of Necho, their king, fitting out a fleet, with orders to sail from the Rod Sea around the continent of Africa and to return by the Mediterranean. The vestela probably sailed from Suez, passed through the Bed Sea and the Gulf of Aden into the Indian Ocean, thence around the Cape of Good Hope into the South Atlantia, thence along the African coast on the wait side until they arrived at Cape Verd, where they would be opposite Cape St Roque. Such is the operation of the watere, that from the west coast of Africa there is a con* slant current of sea flowing toward Soflth America, so that if an eastern storm had driven a ship far into the Atlantic ocean, it would certainly reach the shore* of the American Continent if it did not go to the bottom of the sea.

Professor Guyot states that the south branch of the equatorial current proceeding westward from the African coast crosses th« basin of the Atlantic, to the opposite shore of South America, where at Cape St. Boque It divides, one branch flowing southward, form* ing the Brazil current, and the other moving to the north-west, called the Guiana current, which runs from Cape St. Boque northward across the mouth of the Amazon, along the coast of Guiana, and uniting with the waters of the north equatorial In the Caribbean Sea, enters the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Stream, which originates in the Gulf of Mexico, is the outlet of the accumulation of the waters of the equatorial current in the Gulf of Mexico, and at the island of Cuba its course is changed to the north by striking against the Bahama banks. It then rapidlf flows along the coast of the United States gradually expanding in volume and diminishing in velocity as it proceeds northward. Beaching the latitude of Hew York, it turns ! eastward and crosses the Atlantic basin to the island of Azores. Here it divides, the main branch, bending its course southward, enters the tropical regions on the coast of Africa, and is swept back by the force of the north equatorial current to the Gulf of Mexico. Thus a great whirlpool le formed far out in the ocean, in the midst of which is accumulated vast quantities of sea-weed. The northern branch continues its course to the British Isles and Norway. If the Egyptians who sailed in King Neoho’s fleet were indeed the first of that race to land upon American shores, which 1 may or may not have been the case, their i voyage from Cape Yerd, Senegambia, to Cape St. Boque, Brazil, if made in a direct line, would have been 14,225 miles shorter than the one embraced in the orders under which they sailed. Although the compass as an aid to navigation was then unknown, yet the Egyptians were skilled in a know-, ledge of the heavenly bodies, and made use of it in their journeys by sea. Professor Shaler, referring to pre-historio remains of man in Kentucky, says: “ There is no reason for supposing that an antiquity of 3000 or 4000 years would not embrace all the human events in this locality.” Not so long a time is required upon which to base an opinion that Kentucky was *'ome of Egyptians many centuries beChristian era. —General Charier ft in N. Y. Journal.