IV. That the existing native races of America have sprung from a common stock.
22. From the outline already given of the historical part of the Book of Mormon, it is seen that each of these discoveries is fully attested by that record. Thus it is stated therein:—
I. That America was settled by the Jaredites, who came direct from the scenes of Babel.
II. That the Jaredites occupied the land for about eighteen hundred and fifty years, during which time they spread over a great part of North and South America; and that at about the time of their extinction (near 590 B. C.), Lehi and his company came to this continent, where they developed into the segregated nations Nephites and Lamanites, the former becoming extinct near 385 A. D., about a thousand years after Lehi's arrival on these shores; the latter continuing in a degenerate condition until the present, being represented by the Indian tribes of to-day.
III. That Lehi, Ishmael, and Zoram, the progenitors of both Nephites and Lamanites, were undoubtedly Israelites, Lehi being of the tribe of Manasseh while Ishmael was an Ephraimite, and that the colony came direct from Jerusalem, in Asia.
IV. That the existing Indian tribes are all direct descendants of Lehi and his company, and that therefore they have sprung from men all of whom were of the house of Israel.
Now let us examine some of the evidence bearing on these points presented by individual investigators, most of whom knew nothing of the Book of Mormon, and none of whom accept the book as authentic.[810]
23. I. Concerning the very Ancient Period at which America was Inhabited.—A recognized authority on American antiquities gives the following evidence and inference:—"One of the arts known to the builders of Babel was that of brick making. This art was also known to the people who built the works in the west. The knowledge of copper was known to the people of the plains of Shinar; for Noah must have communicated it, as he lived a hundred and fifty [350] years among them after the flood. Also copper was known to the ante-diluvians. Copper was also known to the authors of the western monuments. Iron was known to the ante-diluvians. It was also known to the ancients of the west. However, it is evident that very little iron was among them, as very few instances of its discovery in their works have occurred; and for this very reason we draw a conclusion that they came to this country soon after the dispersion."[811]
24. Lowry, in his "Reply to official inquiries respecting the Aborigines of America," concludes concerning the peopling of the western continent, "that the first settlement was made shortly after the confusion of tongues at the building of the Tower of Babel."[812]
25. Prof. Waterman of Boston says of the progenitors of the American Indians:—"When and whence did they come? Albert Galatin, one of the profoundest philologists of the age, concluded that, so far as language afforded any clue, the time of their arrival could not have been long after the dispersion of the human family."[813]