The Last American / A Fragment from The Journal of Khan-li, Prince of Dimph-Yoo-Chur and Admiral in the Persian Navy

by John Ames Mitchell

THE LAST AMERICAN

Amos Judd The Pines of Lory The Last American That First Affair Gloria Victis Life's Fairy Tales

"--In the soft earth was the imprint of human feet!"

1902, by Frederick A. Stokes Company. Printed in America.

The Last American

A Fragment from The Journal of
KHAN-LI, Prince of Dimph-Yoo-Chur
and Admiral in the Persian Navy
Presented by J. A. MITCHELL
EDITION DE LUXE
Illustrated in Color by F. W. Read
With Decorative Designs by
Albert D. Blashfield
and Illustrations by
the Author
NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

1889 By Frederick A. Stokes and Brother
1902 By Frederick A. Stokes Company

TO
THOSE THOUGHTFUL PERSIANS
WHO CAN READ A WARNING IN THE
SUDDEN RISE
AND SWIFT EXTINCTION
OF
A FOOLISH PEOPLE
THIS VOLUME IS
DEDICATED

A FEW WORDS BY HEDFUL SURNAMED "THE AXIS OF WISDOM" Curator of the Imperial Museum at Shiraz. Author of "The Celestial Conquest of Kaly-phorn-ya," and of "Northern Mehrika under the Hy-Bernyan Rulers" he astounding discoveries of Khan-li of Dimph-yoo-chur have thrown floods of light upon the domestic life of the Mehrikan people. He little realized when he landed upon that sleeping continent what a service he was about to render history, or what enthusiasm his discoveries would arouse among Persian archæologists. Every student of antiquity is familiar with these facts. But for the benefit of those who have yet to acquire a knowledge of this extraordinary people, I advise, first, a visit to the Museum at Teheran in order to excite their interest in the subject, and second, the reading of such books as Nōfūhl's "What we Found in the West," and Nōz-yt-ahl's "History of the Mehrikans." The last-named is a complete and reliable history of these people from the birth of the Republic under George-wash-yn-tun to the year 1990, when they ceased to exist as a nation. I must say, however, that Nōz-yt-ahl leaves the reader much confused concerning the period between the massacre of the Protestants in 1927, and the overflow of the Murfey dynasty in 1940. He holds the opinion with many other historians that the Mehrikans were a mongrel race, with little or no patriotism, and were purely imitative; simply an enlarged copy of other nationalities extant at the time. He pronounces them a shallow, nervous, extravagant people, and accords them but few redeeming virtues. This, of course, is just; but nevertheless they will always be an interesting study by reason of their rapid growth, their vast numbers, their marvellous mechanical ingenuity and their sudden and almost unaccountable disappearance. The wealth, luxury, and gradual decline of the native population; the frightful climatic changes which swept the country like a mower's scythe; the rapid conversion of a vast continent, alive with millions of pleasure-loving people, into a silent wilderness, where the sun and moon look down in turn upon hundreds of weed-grown cities,—all this is told by Nōz-yt-ahl with force and accuracy.