Cumorah

“ For many decades the Nephites retreated before their aggressive foes, making their way north-eastward through what is now the United States. About 400 A.D. the last great battle was fought near the hill Cumorah; [1505] and the Nephite nation became extinct. [1506] The degenerate remnant of Lehi's posterity, the Lamanites or American Indians, have continued until this day. Moroni, the last of the Nephite prophets, hid away the record of his people in the hill Cumorah, whence it has been brought forth by divine direction in the current dispensation. ”

“ I hid all the other plates in Cumorah Hill. The only plates I have not hidden are these ones, which I have given to my son Moroni.
My people, along with their wives and children, watched the great Lamanite army marching toward them, and waited to receive them with that awful fear of death that fills the hearts of the wicked.
As the Lamanites came, every one of us was terrified because of their great numbers. They attacked my people with their swords, bows and arrows, axes and all other types of weapons. ”

“ Here the history leaves this, the only survivor of those two mighty armies, around this historic Hill Cumorah, thus bringing to pass the words of the prophet Ether, who prophecied to King [p.19] Coriantumr that unless he and his people should repent, every one of them should be slain except himself and he should live to see a strange people possess the land and be buried by them. ”

“ These plates were very ingeniously concealed in a stone box and, bearing a record and being now translated, supply us with all the earlier information contained on them.
There is a vast amount of valuable history pertaining to this hill, which is far more picturesque than the hills which surround it. There is an extensive valley on the east, as well as one on the west side of the hill, where the turnpike runs south, passing through the town of Manchester in the rear of the hill about two miles. Manchester, as well as the Hill Cumorah, is situated in the township of Manchester. ”

“ We all surrounded one house, In Munster of the red towers; But such was the strength of the man, ’Twas easier to find than to kill. They slew on the opposite hill All that lived of Cumhal’s race. We made a joint and rapid rush To the house where Cumhal still was; Each man of us gave a wound With his spear to the body of Cumhal. Though it was my lot to be there At the time that Cumhal was slain, For the deed which then was done, Take vengeance now if you will.” Once on a day. [93]
The author of this is Duncan Mor from Lennox. ”

“ Before he went to the battle, Cumhal told his mother everything,—told her of his relations with the king's daughter.
He said, "I shall be killed in battle to-day, according to the prophecy of the Druid, and I'm afraid if his daughter has a son the king will kill the child, for the prophecy is that he will lose the kingdom by the son of his own daughter. Now, if the king's daughter has a son do you hide and rear him, if you can; you will be his only hope and stay." ”

“ It went abroad through the city that Pango Dooni and Cumner paid great homage to the dead Dakoon, and the dread of the hillsmen grew less.
But in one house there had been no fear, for there, by the Aqueduct of the Failing Fountain, lived Cushnan Di, a fallen chief, and his daughter with the body like a trailing vine; for one knew the sorrow of dispossession and defeat and the arm of a leader of men, and the other knew Tang-a-Dahit and the soul that was in him. ”

“ Moreover, whom the head of their clan honoured they also willed to honour. They were tall, barbaric-looking men, and some had a truculent look, but most were of a daring open manner, and careless in speech and gay at heart.
Cumner's Son told them of his ride and of Tang-a-Dahit, and, at last, of the men of their tribe who died by the Palace wall. With one accord they rose in their places and swore over bread and a drop of blood of their chief that they would not sheathe their swords again till a thousand of Boonda Broke's and the Dakoon's men lay where their own kinsmen had fallen. ”

“ Stand in the road and oppose the hillsmen. If Cumner's Son be with them, thou shalt tell him all. If he speak for the hillsmen and say that all shall be well with thee, and thy city be restored when Pango Dooni sits in the Palace of the Dakoon, then shalt thou join with them, that there may be peace in the land, for Pango Dooni and the son of Pango Dooni be brave strong men. ”

“ Goll, son of Morna, slew Cumhal, and they spoiled him of the Treasure Bag of the Fianna, which was a bag made of a crane's skin and having in it jewels of great price, and magic weapons, and strange things that had come down from far-off days when the Fairy Folk and mortal men battled for the lordship of Ireland. The Bag with its treasures was given to Lia, the chief of Luachar in Connacht, who had the keeping of it before, for he was the treasurer of Cumhal, and he was the first man who had wounded Cumhal in the battle when he fell. ”

“ The inhabitants of Turkistán and Turcomania get all their salt from Kumákh. A linen which is no where else to be found in such perfection, is made here for tents. There is a proverb in praise of the linen of Kúmákh, the sheep of Erzenján and the girls of Baiburd. The river Komúr, which passes through the gardens of the village that bears its name, comes from the mountains of Jerjánish and joins the Euphrates near the convent of Melek Ghází Effendí. Near, and opposite to it, is Mobarek, an armenian village, the khass of the garrison of Erzerúm. ”

“ If I drive the kine of thieves from the plains to my hills, the cattle were mine ere I drove them. If I harry the rich in the midst of the Dakoon's men, it is gaining my own over naked swords. If I save your tribe and Cumner's men from the half-bred jackal Boonda Broke, and hoist your flag on the Palace wall, it is only I who should do it. ”

“ The mare is done, but the sorrel can make the Bar of Balmud.”
Cumner’s Son opened his mouth to question, but stopped, for the eyes of the hillsman flared up, and Tang-a-Dahit said:
“My arm in blood has touched thy arm, and thou art in my hills and not in thine own country. Thy life is my life, and thy good is my good. Speak not, but act. By the high wall of the valley where no man bides there is a path which leads to the Bar of Balmud ”

“ To vindicate his authority as sovereign Conn summoned to his aid Conall, king of Connaught, and Aedh Mac Morna, captain of the fianna of Connaught. On the other hand, Cumhal formed an alliance with Mogh Neid, king of Munster, Mac Niadh, son of Lughaidh, his nephew, and Conaire II, both then princes and tanists of that province. The Munster chieftains, accompanied by Eogan Mor, son and heir of Mogh Neid, having marched to his aid, Cumhal gave battle to Conn at Cnucha (Castleknock, near Dublin) , where the Leinster men and their allies were defeated by Conn, and Cumhal was killed ”

“ Cutha is a district as yet unknown, but it may be noticed that the Biblical account represents the men of Cutha as serving Nergal, who is known from Cuneiform inscriptions to have been a “lion-god,” worshipped by inhabitants of Cutha, and therefore an appropriate deity to appease when a plague of lions was devastating the land. It is not impossible that the Jews seized upon the close similarity of the name Cuthim with the title Kûsânîya, or “true people,” by which one Samaritan sect distinguished themselves from a second, the Lifânîyeh. ”

“ He burned their feet and made them red; then he said: “You will no longer be people; you will be birds and will scatter over the world. People will kill you, for you will be good to eat.” They turned into ducks and water birds and flew away. Then Isis threw Kumush into the fire and covered [16] him with burning wood. He burned him to ashes, but in the ashes was the disk.
The next morning the morning star, Kumush’s medicine, called out to the disk: “Why do you sleep so long? Get up, old man!” That minute Kumush was alive—he will last as long as the disk and the morning star. ”

“ The old men thought when they saw him of a saying there was about the mighty Lugh, who was brother to the wife of Cumhal, that when he came among his army as they mustered for battle, men felt as though they beheld the rising of the sun. ”

“ But march fast, thou who art a God146 and a Sun in my sight, and restore the strongholds [pg 195] holds to the King my Lord from the men of blood. For they have cast him out; and the men of blood have rebelled, and are invaders of the King my Lord. We were obedient to thy yoke, and they have cast out the King my Lord, and all my brethren.”
It appears, from other letters, that the city of this chief was the important town Cumidi, now Kamid, in the southern Lebanon, at the south end of the Baalbek plain, west of Baal Gad. ”

“ One there was among the young mountaineers, Aphiz Adegah, whose whole life and soul seemed bound up in the lovely Komel, as she was called. Neither was more than eighteen; indeed Komel was not so old, for but sixteen full summers had passed over her head. They had grown up together from very childhood, played together, worked together, sharing each other's burthens, and mutually aiding each other; now quietly watching the sheep and goats upon the hillsides, and now working side by side in the fields, content and happy, so they were always together. ”

“ While Isis was gone, Kumush made a sweat-house, and when Isis returned, he said: “Take off your bark clothes and sweat, then paint your face and body red and put on buckskin clothes and nice beads. You have been to all the swimming places, and you might be a big chief, but I don’t want that. Other people will come and it will be bad here. We will go away where you can keep all the strength the mountains and swimming places have given you, where you won’t get bad and dirty from the earth and people.”
They went to the top of a high mountain and built a house among the rocks. ”

“ I am Cumner's Son. I rode into the hills at the Governor's word to bring a strong man to rule you. Why do ye stand here idle? My father, your friend, fights with a hundred men at the Residency. Choose ye between Boonda Broke, the mongrel, and Pango Dooni, the great hillsman. If ye choose Boonda Broke, then shall your city be levelled to the sea, and ye shall lose your name as a people. ”

“ But being inform'd that Cumberland's army was within half a mile, he resolved to fight that day. Lord George Murray and the chiefs of the clans, especially Lochiel, were against it. However they complied, though it was their opinion to keep the ground they were on and receive Cumberland, if he attack'd them, which they were still in doubt of. Our army came to the height of the muir before Cumberland came in view. The Prince ordered the men to be immediately formed in order of battle, but Lord George Murray begged to have a little time to view the ground and observe the motions of the enemy. ”

“ Cummings had hardly ceased speaking before the Indian appeared in their midst, having come so softly that no one heard him until he stood before them.
"It is not a good watch you keep," he said to Cummings, speaking in English.
"We cannot guard against such an approach as yours. Where are the enemy?"
"I left them at the edge of the forest. Knowing how we are armed they do not dare to follow very close; but when the sun rises a hundred will be at our heels." ”

“ Thence it is seven days' journey to Khulam which is the beginning of the country of the Sun-worshippers [172] . These are the sons of Cush, who read the stars, and are all black in colour. They are honest in commerce. When merchants come to them from distant lands and enter the harbour, three of the King's secretaries go down to them and record their names, and then bring them before the King, whereupon the King makes himself responsible even for their property which they leave in the open, unprotected. ”

“ After Kumush had eaten enough, he and all the women, except Wálwilegas, Kols and Tcíkas, started for Pitcowa, the place where Isis always went to gamble. (A broad flat northeast of Tula Lake.)
As Kumush traveled, he set fire to the grass; the smoke went crooked. People saw it, and said: “That is not Isis. Isis’ smoke always goes straight up to the sky.” ”

“ Aphiz Adegah's life had been a bold one, he knew no fear. The air of his native hills was not freer than his own spirit and as he looked off once more at the tiny white speck in the distance that marked the spot where Komel was, his resolution was instantly made, and he swore to follow and rescue her.
It was but natural that the young mountaineer should desire to find out the agency by which that evil business had been consummated. ”

“ It may be imagined how great was the astonishment of the peasant, when, in a few minutes, Kummas returned with the infant in his arms. When her surprise at the unexpected appearance had somewhat abated, she said to Kummas, at the same time laying her hand on his shoulder, "Neighbour, you are really better than I gave you credit for, and are an honest man. That is a splendid child. God bless it! Stout and strong as a young lion. ”

“ When the king heard that the old woman had escaped with his daughter's son, he fell into a terrible rage, and ordered all the male children born that day in the kingdom to be put to death, hoping in this way to kill his own grandson, and save the crown for himself.
After she had disappeared from the bank of the loch, the old woman, Cumhal's mother, made her way to a thick forest, where she spent that night as best she could. Next day she came to a great oak tree. Then she hired a man to cut out a chamber in the tree. ”