14 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE INDIANS. [Book I. these people the builders of the mounds scattered all over the western country. After all, we apprehend the doctor would have short time for his emigrants to do all that nature and art have done touching these matters. In the first place, it is evident that many ages passed away from the time these tumuli were begun until they were finished: 2d, a multitude of ages must have passed since the use for which they were reared has been known; for trees of the age of 200 years grow from the ruins of others which must have had as great age: and, 3d, no Indian nation or tribe has the least tradition concerning them.* This could not have happened had the ancestors of the present Indians been the erectors of them, in the nature of things. † The observation of an author in Dr. Rees's Encyclopedia, although saying no more than has been already said in our synopsis, is, nevertheless, so happy, that we should not feel clear to omit it:-"As to those who pretend that the human race has only of late found its way into America, by crossing the sea at Kamschatka, or the Straits of Tschutski, either upon the fields of ice or in canoes, they do not consider that this opinion, besides that it is extremely difficult of comprehension, has not the least tendency to diminish the prodigy; for it would be surprising indeed that one half of our planet should have remained without inhabitants during thousands of years, while the other half was peopled. What renders this opinion less probable is, that America is supposed in it to have had animals, since we cannot bring those species of animals from the old world which do not exist in it, as those of the tapir, the glama, and the tajactu. Neither can we admit of the recent organization of matter for the western hemisphere; because, independently of the accumulated difficulties in this hypothesis, and which can by no means be solved, we shall observe, that the fossil bones discovered in so many parts of America, and at such small depths, prove that certain species of animals, so far from having been recently organized, have been annihilated a long while ago." Before we had known, that, if we were in error, it was in the company of philosophers, such as we have in this chapter introduced to our readers, we felt a hesitancy in avowing our opinions upon a matter of so great moment. But, after all, as it is only matter of honest opinion, no one should be intolerant, although he may be allowed to make himself and even his friends merry at our expense. When, in the days of Chrysostom, some ventured to assert their opinions of the rotundity of the earth, that learned father "did laugh at them." § And, when science shall have progressed sufficiently, (if it be possible,) to settle this question, there is a possibility that the Chrysostoms of these days will not have the same excuse for their infidelity. But as it is a day of prodigies, there is some danger of treating lightly even the most seemingly absurd conjectures. We therefore feel very safe, and more especially as it required considerable hardihood to laugh even at the theory of the late Mr. Symmes. When we lately took up a book entitled “Researches, Philosophical and Antiquarian, concerning the Aboriginal History of America, by J. H. M'CULLOH, Jr. M. D." we did think, from the imposing appearance of it, that some new matters on the subject had been discovered; and more especially when we read in the preface, that "his first object was to explain the origin of the men and animals of America, so far as that question is involved with the apparent physical impediments that have so long kept the subject in total obscurity." Now, with what success this has been done, to do the author justice, he shall speak for himself, and the reader then may judge for himself. "Before we attempt to explain in what manner the men and animals of America reached this continent, it is necessary to ascertain, if possible, the circumstances of their original creation; for upon this essential particular depends the great interest of our present investigation. [We are not able to discover that he has said any thing further upon it.] It must be evident that we can arrive at no satisfactory conclusion, if it be doubtful whether the Creator of the universe made man and the animals but in one locality, from * Or none but such as are at variance with all history and rationality. See Acosta's Hist. E. and W. Indies, p. 1. ed. London, 1604. Art. AMERICA. CHAP. II.] ON THE ORIGIN OF THE INDIANS. 15 whence they were dispersed over the earth; or whether he created them in each of those various situations where we now find them living. So far as this inquiry respects mankind, there can be no reasonable ground to doubt the one origin of the species. This fact may be proved both physically and morally. [If the reader can discover any thing that amounts to proof in what follows, he will have made a discovery that we could not.] That man, notwithstanding all the diversities of their appearance, are but of one species, is a truth now universally admitted by every physiological naturalist. [That is, notwithstanding a negro be black, an Indian brown, a European white, still, they are all men. And then follows a quotation from Doctor Lawrence to corroborate the fact that men are all of one species.] It is true, this physiologist does not admit that the human species had their origin but from one pair; for he observes, the same species might have been created at the same time in very different parts of the earth. But when we have analyzed the moral history of mankind, to which Mr. Lawrence seems to have paid little attention, [and if our author has done it, we would thank him to show us where we can find it,] we find such strongly-marked analogies in abstract matters existing among nations the most widely separated from each other, that we cannot doubt there has been a time, when the whole human family have intimately participated in one common system of things, whether it be of truth or of error, of science or of prejudice. [This does not at all agree with what he says afterwards, 'We have been unable to discern any traces of Asiatic or of European civilization in America prior to the discovery of Columbus.' And again: 'In comparing the barbarian nations of America with those of the eastern continent, we perceive no points of resemblance between them, in their moral institutions or in their habits, that are not apparently founded in the necessities of human life.' If, then, there is no affinity, other than what would accidentally happen from similar circumstances, wherefore this prating about 'strongly-marked analogies,' &c. just copied?] As respects the origin of animals, [we have given his best proofs of the origin of man and their transportation to America,] the subject is much more refractory. We find them living all over the surface of the earth, and suited by their physical conformity to a great variety of climates and peculiar localities. Every one will admit the impossibility of ascertaining the history of their original creation from the mere natural history of the animals themselves." Now, as "refractory" as this subject is, we did not expect to see it fathered off upon a miracle, because this was the easy and convenient manner in which the superstitious of every age accounted for every thing which they at once could not comprehend. And we do not expect, when it is gravely announced, that a discovery in any science is to be shown, that the undertaker is going to tell us it is accomplished by a miracle, and that, therefore, "he knows not why he should be called upon to answer objections," &c. As it would be tedious to the reader, as well as incompatible with our plan, to quote larger from Mr. M'Culloh's book, we shall finish with him after a few remarks. We do not object to the capacity of the ark for all animals, but we do object to its introduction in the question undertaken by Mr. M'Culloh; for every child knows that affair to have been miraculous; and if any part of the question depended upon the truth or falsity of a miracle, why plague the world with a book of some 500 pages, merely to promulgate such a belief, when a sentence would be all that is required? No one, that admits an overruling power, or the existence of God, will doubt of his ability to create a myriad of men, animals, and all matter, by a breath; or that an ark ten feet square could contain, comfortably, ten thousand men, as well as one of the dimensions given in Scripture to contain what that did. Therefore, if one in these days should make a book expressly to explain the cause of the different lengths of days, or the changes of the seasons, and find, after he had written a vast deal, that he could in no wise unravel the mystery, and, to close his account, declares it was all a miracle, such an author would be precisely in the predicament of Mr. M'Culloh. The celebrated author of Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, and the Natural History of Man. 16 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE INDIANS. [BOOK I. We do not pretend that the subject can be pursued with the certainty of mathematical calculations; and so long as it is contended that the whole species of man spring from one pair, so long will the subject admit of controversy: therefore it makes but little or no difference whether the inhabitants are got into America by the north or the south, the east or the west, as it regards the main question. For it is very certain that, if there were but one pair originally, and these placed upon a certain spot, all other places where people are now found must have been settled by people from the primitive spot, who found their way thither, some how or other, and it is very unimportant how, as we have just observed. Lord Kaimes, a writer of great good sense, has not omitted to say something upon this subject. He very judiciously asks those who maintain that America was peopled from Kamskatka, whether the inhabitants of that region speak the same language with their American neighbors on the opposite shores. That they do not, he observes, is fully confirmed by recent accounts from thence; and "whence we may conclude, with great certainty, that the latter are not a colony of the former." We have confirmation upon confirmation, that these nations speak languages entirely different; and for the satisfaction of the curious, we will give a short vocabulary of words in both, with the English against them. After observing that "there are several cogent arguments to evince that the Americans are not descended from any people in the north of Asia, or in the north of Europe,” Lord Kaimes continues,-"I venture still further; which is, to conjecture, that America has not been peopled from any part of the old world." But although this last conjecture is in unison with those of many others, yet his lordship is greatly out in some of the proofs which he adduces in its support. As we have no ground on which to controvert this opinion, we may be excused from examining its proofs; but this we will observe, that Lord Kaimes is in the same error about the beardlessness of the Americans as some other learned Europeans. The learned Doctor Swinton,§ in a dissertation upon the peopling of AmeriSee his "Sketches of the History of Man," a work which he published in 1774, at Edinburgh, in 2 vols. 4to. † Vol. ii. 71. The Aléouteans inhabit the chain of islands which stretch from the north-west point of America into the neighborhood of Kamskatka. It must be remembered that these names are in the French orthography, being taken from a French translation of Billings's voyage into those regions, from 1785 to 1794. Doctor John Swinton, the eminent author of many parts of the Ancient Universal History. He died in 1777, aged 74. CHAP. II.] ON THE ORIGIN OF THE INDIANS. 17 ca, after stating the different opinions of various authors who have advocated in favor of the "dispersed people," the Phoenicians, and other eastern nations, observes, "that, therefore, the Americans in general were descended from some people who inhabited a country not so far distant from them as Egypt and Phoenicia, our readers will, as we apprehend, readily admit. Now, no country can be pitched upon so proper and convenient for this purpose as the north-eastern part of Asia, particularly Great Tartary, Siberia, and more especially the peninsula of Kamtschatka. That probably was the tract through which many Tartarian colonies passed into America, and peopled the most considerable part of the new world." This, it is not to be denied, is the most rational way of getting inhabitants into America, if it must be allowed that it was peopled from the "old world." But it is not quite so easy to account for the existence of equatorial animals in America, when all authors agree that they never could have passed that way, as they could not have survived the coldness of the climate, at any season of the year. Moreover, the vocabulary we have given, if it prove any thing, proves that either the inhabitants of North America did not come in from the north-west, or that, if they did, some unknown cause must have, for ages, suspended all communication between the emigrants and their ancestors upon the neighboring shores of Asia. In 1822, there appeared in London a work which attracted some attention, as most works have upon similar subjects. It was entitled, "Description of the ruins of an ancient city, discovered near Palenque, in the kingdom of Guatemala, in Spanish America: translated from the original manuscript report of Capt. Don Antonio Del Rio: followed by a critical investigation and research into the History of the Americans, by Dr. Paul Felix Cabrera, of the city of New Guatemala." Captain Del Rio was ordered by the Spanish king, in the year 1786, to make an examination of whatever ruins he might find, which he accordingly did. From the manuscript he left, which afterwards fell into the hands of Doctor Cabrera, his work was composed, and is that part of the work which concerns us in our view of systems or conjectures concerning the peopling of America. We shall be short with this author, as his system differs very little from some which we have already sketched. He is very confident that he has settled the question how South America received its inhabitants, namely, from the Phoenicians, who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, and that the ruined city described by Captain Del Rio was built by the first adventurers. Doctor Cabrera calls any system, which, in his view, does not harmonize with the Scriptures, an innovation upon the "holy Catholic religion;" and rather than resort to any such, he says, "It is better to believe his [God's] works miraculous, than endeavor to make an ostentatious display of our talents by the cunning invention of new systems, in attributing them to natural causes." The same reasoning will apply in this case as in a former. If we are to attribute every thing to miracles, wherefore the necessity of investigation? These authors are fond of investigating matters in their way, but are displeased if others take the same liberty. And should we follow an author in his theories, who cuts the whole business short by declaring all to be a miracle, when he can no longer grope in the labyrinth of his own forming, our reader would be just in condemning such waste of time. When every thing which we cannot at first sight understand or comprehend must not be inquired into, from superstitious doubts, then and there will be fixed the bounds of all science; but, as Lord Byron said upon another occasion, not till then. "If it be allowed (says Dr. LAWRENCE) that all men are of the same species, it does not follow that they are all descended from the same family. We have no data for determining this point: it could indeed only be settled by a knowledge of facts, which have long ago been involved in the impenetrable darkness of antiquity." That climate has nothing to do with the complexion, he offers the following in proof: Universal History, xx. 162, 163.-See Malone's edition of Boswell's Life Dr. Johnson, v. 271. ed. in 5 v. 12mo. London, 1821. + Page 30. Lectures on Zoology, &c. 442. ed. 8vo. Salem, 1828. 13 INDIAN ANECDOTES AND NARRATIVES. [Book I. "The establishments of the Europeans in Asia and America have now subsisted about three centuries. Vasquez de Gama landed at Calicut in 1498; and the Portuguese empire in India was founded in the beginning of the following century. Brazil was discovered and taken possession of by the same nation in the very first year of the 16th century. Towards the end of the 15th, and the beginning of the 16th century, Columbus, Cortez, and Pizarro, subjugated for the Spaniards the West Indian islands, with the empires of Mexico and Peru. Sir Walter Ralegh planted an English colony in Virginia in 1584; and the French settlement of Canada has rather a later date. The colonists have, in no instance, approached to the natives of these countries: and their descendants, where the blood has been kept pure, have, at this time, the same characters as native Europeans." * The eminent antiquary De Witt Clinton supposed that the ancient works found in this country were similar to those supposed to be Roman by Pennant in Wales. He adds, "The Danes, as well as the nations which erected our fortifications, were in all probability of Scythian origin. According to Pliny, the name of Scythian was common to all the nations living in the north of Asia and Europe."† 1000⇒ CHAPTER III. Anecdotes, Narratives, &c. illustrative of the Manners and Customs, Antiquities and Traditions, of the Indians. Wit.-AN Ottaway chief, known to the French by the name of Whitejohn, was a great drunkard. Count Frontenac asked him what he thought brandy to be made of; he replied, that it must be made of hearts and tongues"For," said he, "when I have drunken plentifully of it, my heart is a thousand strong, and I can talk, too, with astonishing freedom and rapidity."‡ Honor. A chief of the Five Nations, who fought on the side of the English in the French wars, chanced to meet in battle his own father, who was fighting on the side of the French. Just as he was about to deal a deadly blow upon his head, he discovered who he was, and said to him, "You have once given me life, and now I give it to you. Let me meet you no more; for I have paid the debt I owed you." § Recklessness.-In Connecticut River, about "200 miles from Long Island Sound, is a narrow of 5 yards only, formed by two shelving mountains of solid rock. Through this chasm are compelled to pass all the waters which in the time of the floods bury the northern country." It is a frightful passage of about 400 yards in length. No boat, or, as my author expresses it, "no living creature, was ever known to pass through this narrow, except an Indian woman." This woman had undertaken to cross the river just above, and although she had the god Bacchus by her side, yet Neptune prevailed in spite of their united efforts, and the canoe was hurried down the frightful gulf. While this Indian woman was thus hurrying to certain destruction, as she had every reason to expect, she seized upon her bottle of rum, and did not take it from her mouth until the last drop was quaffed. She was marvellously preserved, and was actually picked up several miles below, floating in the canoe, still quite drunk. When it was known what she had done, and being asked how she dared to drink so much rum with the prospect of certain death before her, she answered that she knew it was too much for one time, but she was unwilling that any of it should be lost. * Lectures on Zoology, &c. 464, 465. ed. 8vo. Salem, 1828. † A Memoir on the Antiquities of the Western Parts of the State of N. York, pages 9, 10. 8vo. Albany, 1818. Universal Museum for 1763. Ibid. Peters's Hist. Connecticut. |