Page:Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx.djvu/45

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PREFACE.
xxiii

The question is often asked, "Of what practical utility can the knowledge that America was possibly the cradle of man's civilization be to mankind?" To some, of but little use truly; but many there are who would be glad to know the origin of man's primitive traditions recorded in sacred books in the shape of myths or legends, and what were the incidents that served as basis on which has been raised the fabric of the various religions that have existed and do exist among men, have been and still are the cause of so many wars, dissensions, and persecutions. This knowledge would also serve to disclose the source whence emanated all those superstitions that have been and are so many obstacles in the way of man's physical, intellectual, and moral progress; and to free his mind from allsuch trammels, and make of him, what he claims to be, the most perfect work of creation on earth; also to make known the fact that Mayach — not India — is the true mother of nations.

Then, perhaps, will be awakened, in the mind of those in whose power it is to do it, a desire to save and preserve what remains of the mural inscriptions carved on the walls of the ruined palaces and temples of the Mayas, that are being torn to pieces by individuals commissioned by certain institutions in the United States and other places to obtain curios to adorn their museums, regardless of the fact that they are destroying the remaining pages of ancient American history with the reckless hand of ignorance, thus making themselves guilty of the crime of leze-history as well as of iconoclasm.

Perhaps also will be felt the necessity of recovering the libraries of the Maya sages (hidden about the beginning of the Christian era to save them from destruction at the hands of the devastating hordes that invaded their country in those