262 rax WYSTERIOU8 cnr. 



dencn of identity with eifJier race. Where, theii, shall we place them ?— 

 from whence is there origin ? 



We are forced to admit the weight of circumstantial testimony as ♦o 

 their having settled upon this continent prior to its discovery by Columbus. 

 Here we are led to inquire, are they not tlie remote descendants of some 

 colony of ancient Romans ? 



That such colonies did here exist in former ages, there is good reason 

 for believing. The great lapse of time and other operative causes combined, 

 may have transformed the Munchies from the habits, customs, character, 

 tehgion, arts, civilization, and language of the Romans, to the condition io 

 which they are at present found. 



Among the visitors at the Fort were several old trappers who had passed 

 ifteenor twenty years in tlie Rocky Mountains and neighboring countries 

 They were what might, with propriety, be termed " hara cases," 



The inter\'al of their stay was occupied in gambling, horse-racing, ani 

 other Uke amusements. 



Bets were freely made upon everything involving the least doubt,- -some 

 tmes to the amount of five hundred or a thousand dollars — the stakes con 

 lialing of beaver, horses, traps, &c. 



Not uiifreqnently the proceeds of months of toil, suffering, deprivation 

 tad danger, were dissipated in a few hours, and the unfortunate gamester 

 left without beaver, horse, trap, or even a gun. In such cases they bort 

 It sir reverses without grumbling, and relinquished all to the winner, as un 

 i ncemedly as though these were affairs of every-day occurrence. 



These veterans of the mountains were very communicative, and fond of 

 i !ating thrir adventures, many of which were so vested with the marvel* 

 1:8 as to involve in doubt their credibility. 



Were it not for extending tlie limits of this work too far, I should be 

 t aipted to transcribe the choicest of them for the reader's amusement; but, 

 £ ' it is, I cannot refuse place to one (here for the first time related in my 

 i tiring, wWch hag subsequently reached me from other sources) relative 

 i,, a subject deeply interesting to tlie curious. 



Stevens, in las " Incidents of Travel in Yucatan," admits it to be quita 

 possible that cities like those in ruins at Uxmal and Palenque, may yet 

 Oxist m the unexplored parts of the Mexican Republic, and be inhabited by 

 t people in all respects similar to that once occupying the before named. 



Those acquainted witii the nature of the country embraced in the moun- 

 tainous portions of Mexico, must admit tlie possibility of such a thing. 

 Witli this premise I give, the storj' as I heard it. 



Five or six years since, a party of trappers, in search for beaver, penetrated 

 mto an unfrequented part of the mountains forming the eastern boundary 

 ^ Sonera. 



During their excursion tliey ascended a lofty peak that overlooked an ei« 

 tensive valley, apparently enclosed upon all sides by impassable mountains. 

 A( a long distance down the valley, by aid of a spy-glass, they could 

 plainly ^stinguish houses and people, with every indication of a populous 

 eity 

 ^ Ai (ti« poiit ^Ttaa wh«QC« this discover; «7a£ miidd, the mountiiiiHB*^ 



