1879.] 
A ilantis not a Myth „ 
749 
fadt ; and it is impossible to believe otherwise than that 
Seneca thought of Atlantis when he writes in his tragedy of 
“ Medea ” — “ Late centuries will appear, when the ocean’s 
veil will lift to open a vast country. New worlds will 
Thetsys unveil. Ultima Thule ” (Iceland) “ will not remain 
the earth’s boundary.” He evidently believed in the un- 
known island and continent, and knew it would not remain 
for ever unknown. 
Diodorus Siculus says that “ opposite to Africa lies an 
island which, on account of its magnitude, is worthy to be 
mentioned. It is several days distant from Africa. It has 
a fertile soil, many mountains, and not a few plains, unex- 
celled in their beauty. It is watered by many navigable 
rivers, and there are to be found estates in abundance 
adorned with fine buildings.” Again he says, “ Indeed it 
appears, on account of the abundance of its charms, as 
though it were the abode of gods and not of men.” 
The situation, the description of the country, in fadt every 
particular, agrees precisely with our idea of Atlantis ; and 
what other land now in existence agrees in any way with 
this description — what islands of magnitude that contain 
navigable rivers, large fertile plains, and mountains ? 
Turning from our well-known ancient writers, we find, in 
all the traditions and books of the ancient Central Ameri- 
cans and Mexicans, a continual recurrence to the fa<5t of an 
awful catastrophe, similar to that mentioned by Plato and 
others. 
Now, what are we to believe ? This, that either the tra- 
ditions and narratives of these ancient writers and historians 
of both lands are but a tissue of fabrications, evolved from 
their own brains, with perhaps a small thread of fadt, or 
else that they are truths, and truths proving that the 
Americas, instead of being the youngest habitation of man, 
are among the oldest, if not, as De Bourbourg affirms, the 
oldest. 
Brasseur de Bourbourg, who Baldwin says has studied 
the monuments, writings, and traditions left by this civilisa- 
tion more carefully and thoroughly than any man living, is 
an advocate of this theory, and to him we are indebted for 
most of our translations of the traditions and histories of 
the ancient Americans. 
To the imaginative and lovers of the marvellous this 
theory is peculiarly fascinating, and the fadt that there is 
plausible evidence of its truth adds to the effedt. With their 
mind’s eye they can see the dreadful events, as recorded by 
Plato, as in a panorama. They see the fair and fertile 
3 B2 
