1 66 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



But when he emerged from the savage state and became a terra-cnllurist, 

 trees liad to give place to the cereals, grasses, etc. From that day the 

 forests receded and disappeared before the advance of man, and the 

 degradation of climate commenced. Why.'' Because, not knowing the 

 great law of compensation, that forests hold climate in a mecHum cqui- 

 pose between opposite extremes, he tlestroyetl them and brought on 

 aritlity and sterility. Practically his advance was like that of lire 

 through a forest, exuberant fertility in front, and desolation in tlie rear. 



If we examine the legends of ancient migrations, or the facts that 

 authentic history furnishes of such, this is the only explanation that 

 accounts for both, presenting them logically in the category of cause and 

 effect. Let us see. Erosioiis on the cliff's, high above the waters of Salt 

 Lake as at present, show that the lake formerly, must have been deeper, 

 covered a larger area, nnd consequently must have received more water 

 than now. Fossilized wood found all over the now treeless and almost herb- 

 less plains of the Great Basin, show that formerly it must have been a 

 well timbered country. Indications are also abundant that it was once 

 densely populated by a primitive race. South, on the San Juan River, 

 immense ruins of ancient cities have recently been discovered ; and further 

 south, on the Rio Colorado Chiquito west of Zuni, are the well-known 

 ruins of the seven cities of Cibola. All the region drained by the Colo- 

 rado is covered bv the ruins of ancient cities, and must have been densely 

 populated, and therefore must not have been, as now, a treeless, arid 

 desert. Great climatic changes must, therefore, have taken place to 

 have converted this once populous region into an inhospitable desert. 

 What causes were in operation to produce this effect.? The legends, 

 both of the Toltecs and the Aztecs of the valley of Mexico, point to the 

 Great basin, and the plains of the Colorado, as the ancient abode of their 

 ancestors, whence they emigrated to Mexico. We are justified in the 

 inference that necessity compelled their migration, and that they fled from 

 the desert, a curse they had brought upon the land and themselves. This 

 inference gains strength when we look into the civil polity of those 

 nations relating to forests, whence we infer that they had learned a severe 

 lesson by experience, namely, the cause that necessitated their migration. 

 Prescott, in his History of the Conquest of Mexico, informs us that both 

 tlie Tezcucans and the Aztecs had severe laws against the wasting of 

 forests. No one Avas permitted to gather wood except what was fallen 

 down, nor to cut timber without leave from foresters appointed by the 

 king. 



Historically, we know that Egyptian migration was dow n the xallev 

 of the Nile, that is from south to north. Egpyt's first capital was Meroe, 

 in Nubia. Herodotus informs us that all the ancient traditions agreed 

 that at that time the valley of the Nile was covered with dense forests 

 and extensive marshes. Within the present century the truth of these 

 traditions has been verified by French savans, who exhumed at all points 

 petrified trees and stumps. No other explanation is possible, except by 

 the hypothesis that they grew where they are found buried, and that the 

 entire valley was once covered with dense forests. Belzoni, in 1817, 



