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A VIEW

OF THE

AMERICAN INDIANS,

-^ n

POINTING OUT

THEIR ORIGIN.

^.M

THEIR (

THE

^' The.

Printed

ST. p

/ y y /^ '^
A VIE W

//y /

OP THE

AMERICAN INDIANS

THEIR GENERAL CHARACTER, CUSTOMS, LANGUAGE,

PUBLIC FESTIVALS, RELIGIOUS RITES,

AND TRADITIONS:

SHEWING THBM TO BE THE DESCENDANTS OF

[THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL,

Th^ Language ofPr&phecy concerning them, and

the course by which they travelled from

Media into America.

BY ISRAEL WORSLEY.

JUNE, MDCCCXXVIII.

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, AND SOLD BY R. HUNTER^

ST. PAUL's'cHURCH-YARD, AND THE AUTHOR,

AT PLYMOUTH.

■^' 51 -.1
♦. .11

5 i i

■ 4

i;iii,

PREFAC

On the <

On the I

The

gem

The Relij

Their Pu

PRINTED BY W. \V. ARIJSS, PLYMOITH.

The Lan^

The India

I'lllil

CONTENTS OF THE VOLUME,

Preface I'age

CHAPTER I.

On the Origin of Mankind; plan of the work j

CHAPTER IL

On the Prophecies

' 15

CHAPTER III.

The general character of the American Indians 25

CHAPTER IV.

The Religion and Religious Rites of the Indians es

CHAPTER V.

Their Public Festivals

CHAPTER VI.

The Language of the Indians....

105

CHAPTER VII.

Tbe Indian Traditions..

"": • 115

<■ . 8 ..

■4

■ ■ ^'1

yll

11
CHAPTER VIIL

On tlio Passage from one Continent to the other 1 23

CHAPTER IX.
On the Aril and the Science of the Indians 135

CHAPTER X.
The Hohiew Testimony 14.5

CHAPTER XI.
On the Invasion of America by Cortes 1 55

CHAPTER XII.
Retrospective View and closing Remarks,.,.. 179

PREFACE.

1 HE subject that is treated of in these pages engaged
he attention of the Inhabitants of the Unite.1 States but too
iate, to obtain that clea,- investigation which is necessary
for a full understanding of any subject. References to it
and statements of facts which afford us an eaily light,
ai^ found in some of tlie public priuts, and in Letters and
imvels previous to the year 1816, when a volume was
published at Trenton, New Jersey, by the Rev. Dr. Elias
i^oudmot, which bears for its title, ^ Star in the West, or
a humble attempt to discover tJi^ long lost Ten Tribe, of
Israel He gives the following account of himself and of
nis work.

' This subject has occupied the attention of the writer
at tmies, for more than forty years. He was led to thJ
consideration of it, in the first instance, by a conversation
with a very worthy and reverend clergyman of his ac
quamtance, who, having an independent fortune, under-
took a journey, in company with a brother clergyman,
who was desirous of attending him, into the wilderness
between the Alleghany and Mississippi rivers, sometime
m or about the yeaxs 1765 or 6, before the white people

Ui':

had settled be} oud the Laurel Mountain. His desire vfos
to meet with native Indians, who had never seen a white
man, tliat he might satisfy his curiosity by knowing from
the best source, what traditions the Indians yet preserved
relative to theii- own history and origin. This, these gen-
tlemen accomplished with gi'cat danger, risque and fatigue.
On their return one of them related to the \vTiter the informa •
tion they had obtained, what tliey saw and r/hat they heai'd.'

' This raised in the writer's mind such an idea of some
former coimection between tliese aborigines of our land
and the Jewish nation, as greatly to 1. crease a desire for
further information on so interesting ana curious a subject.'

'Soon after, reading (quite accidentally) the 13th chap-
ter of the 2nd apochryphal book of Esdras, supposed to
have been written about the year 100 of tlie Christian
era, his ardour to know more of, and to seek further into
the circumstances of these lost tribes, was in no wise di-
minished. He has not ceased since to improve every
opportunity afforded him, by personal interviews with
Indians, reading the best histories relating to them, and
carefully examining our public agents resident among
them, as to facts reported in the several histories, without
letting them know his object; so as not only to gratify his
curiosity, by obtaining all the knowledge relating to them
in his power, but also to guard against misrepresentation
as to any account he might thereafter be tempted to give
of them. His design at present is, if by the blessing of
Almighty God his life, now far advanced, should be spared
a little longer, to give some brief sketches of what he has
learned in this important inquu-y, lest the facts he has

tr^

collected should be entirely lost ; as he feds hiraseir cul-
pable for puttin- off this business to so advanced a period
of life, as to leave him but small hopes of acconiplishinfr
his intentions.'

In the year 1825 ni^peared another volume, written by
Ethan Smith, Pastor of a Church in Poultney, 2nd Edn.
eniiilcd. View of the Hebrews or the Tribes of Israel in
America. The great objection to these works, andeopecial 'y
the last, is their lengthyness, the profusion of matter which
they contain, frequei t repetitions, much cf it foreign to
Jie subject, and *hc disposition she-.vn to intermix re-
ligious views and party zeal, which cannot but be offensive
to many readers.

The object of the present work is to extract irom these
and from other sources, as well as from the incidental re-
'uarks of our historians, Josephus, Prideaux, Gibbon,'
Robertson and others, such materials as bear directly rpon
the point In question, and to arrange them in a clear and
concise manner, so as to give a short but conspicuous
view of the subject. This has been found by no means
an easy task, and may no doubt be improved if another
edition should be called for; the materials of a work not
being seen in a clear light until they have appeared in a
connected fonn. The Author esteems himself particularly
hanpy in having obtained a sight of a little Hebrew vol-
ume, u. -ontents of which are given in the tenth Chap-
ter. They furnish a most satisfactory support and form a
valuable conclusion to the materials offered before them.
One of the most respectable authorities, for the manners
and customs of this people since the time that the- have

? I

V '1

'5 P-

1 ' r i
I I I

hecome the object of attention to the moderns, is jMr.
Adair's, who wrote a History of the Indians about the year
1 775. He appears to liave paid much attention to them,
lived forty years domesticated with the Soutliern Indians,
was a man of great respectability and leainhig, and left the
States soon after he had prepai'ed his maniLScript, and
escaped to England, on account of the troubles then com-
ing on. lliis work was afterwards examined by a mem-
ber of ihe CongTCss, who had acted as Indian Agent to the
Southward, without his knowing the design of enquir-
ing his opmion of it, and by him found to be con'ect in
all its leading facts. Of this Mr. Boudinot made much
use.

Charlevoix wis a Clergyman of high respectabihty, who
spent many years with them and tiuvelled from Canada
to the Mii^sisslppi at an early day. The Rev. Mr. Brain-
erd was a man of remarkable piety, and a Missionary to
the Crosweek Indians to his death. Dr. Edwards was
eminent for piety and learning and was intimately ac-
quainted with i-iem from his youth. Dr. Beatty, a Cler-
gyman of note and established character. Barti'am a man
well known and respected, wdio travelled the country of
the Southern Indians as a Botanist, a man of discernment
and great means of knowledge : and JNPKenzie in the em-
ployment of the North- West company, an old trader, the
first adventurous explorer of the country from the lake of
the woods to the Southern Ocean.

It has been thought desirable to give in the first place
a general outline of the character of the aborigines of
Amciica; which, to form a just opinion of them, should

be taken

tliose per

oi-iginal a

ans indu(

tlie free u

sive Savai

and hunte

ders, orsii

laws, yiali.

unknown i

liLst and

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different f

tbeir frien(

friendly al

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religion ai

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which they

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God in j)ea

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scattered, as

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be taken from what was said or writen about them bv
those persons »-ho were acquainted with U,em in their
original and pure state, before their alliance witl. Europe-
ans induced new desires and new habits; and, f™. bcL
the free unlicensed rangers in tlie vast woods and e^te-i!
s.ve Savannalis of the new world, they became ,H^secutld
and hunted hordes scattc- 1 by the pursnil., of tlieir inva-
ders, or submitting with an abject and servile spirit to tiieir
laws, yreHing to the bribery of intoxicating liquors, before
unlnown ainong them, and sacrificir.g aid, otiier to the
im and t« vengeance of Europeaiis. The modem
char-acterof Uiese wTetched jieople has be«riudeed widely
different from what it was when Columbus fim sought
be,r nen ship, when Penn form«] witi.tla™ ajust a°nd
nendly alhance, and when the i,ersec.„tc^ and distressed
Indei«ndent, flod from the tynumy of a British Mon-
»rch, to seek liberty of conscience and t!>e consolatioiis of
rehgion ainong a people, who, it will be my business to
sluHv, had t^iemselves fled from a tyrant's grasp, and, in a
».cie uncultivated, bat rich and abundant countr;, of
.*>ch they had gained intelligeac, hoped to escape^he
po u,,™. or an idolatrous people, and worslnp' their
God in peace. Tlie first in ,«intof time of these Ejects
w.. ally obtatned. No tyrant's law could restni ;:
wandenng tnbcs in a country without inhabitants, capa!
be of supporting hundreds of millions of people. But
bis vo-y arcumstance, of the wide range U,ey were at li-
berty to take, was the cause of their being soon veiy widely
scattered, as tlie U-ibcs giew large and tlieir families thick-
-ed. and of their losing Uiat chamcter of one people

N '.

»■ i

^ J' If

VIU

which marked them in the land of their captivity. Sub-
ject in their new abode to none but a patriarchal law,
numerous circumstances would arise, many coincidences
would take place, to give different characteristic features
to the tribes and kingdoms which were fonned among
them ; religious views and feelings would vary according
as leaders of different minds rose up among them ; and
it may well be imagined, that while many customs of
former times would remam to shew the relationship be-
tween them, some practices and some opinions would par-
ticularize their societies; so that after a lapse of some hun-
dred years, they may be thought to have arisen from
different heads. If I am correct in the point I h ave to estab-
lish, wha* more probable, than that the larger proportion of
these rambling tribes would hold the belief in One God,
whom they might with a striking truth and beauty call.
The Great Spirit: while one body of tliem, retaining the
Idolatrous impressions of their Assyrian master, would in
tlie spirit of fear offer sacrifice to aMolock, the evil being,
whom tliey had learned to regard as the Author of Evil
and the power that had contaminated the beautiful creation
and scattered curses over it : whom they must propitiate
— and such were the Mexicans — and another body of
them, entertaining more delightful views of the world and
the author of it, would adopt the system of tlie ancient
Magians; and, regarding light and fire as the image of
God, and the symbols both of his purity and his beneficence,
would adopt the bright luminary of day as their Emblem of
the Almighty ; believing with those ancient Sages, that
the Sun was the place of his abode, the body which his

soul animated, and the great centre from which he scvt-
tered the rays of his love upon all the creatures of his for-
mation— and such were the Peruvians : whose Incas were
the Children of the Sun : the first of them, they had been
taught to beUeve, had descended ui)on earth, a special gift
of their God, whose person and all wh. e race were sacred,
and received from them a subordinate worship. The three
gi-eat classes of the aboriginal Americans, first and best
knovvn amongthem, bore these great and substantial marks
of a Hebrew and an Assyrian origin. By these marks
their forefathers in the land of Canaan had been distinctly
known : for their leanings tow£u-ds Idolatry and some es-
l>ecial features of it, which I shall have occasion to point
out, ai-e too plainly described in the scripture history to
leave us in any doubt; while they still professed, in a
defective manner, their belief in the One True God: and
probably tlieir residence in Media of some continuance,
and how long we ai-e not able with certainty to say]
little tended to lessen the disposition they had always
manifested to Idolatry, with its hateful and iniquitous cus-
toms. The Jews had never sunk so deep in that iniquity
which the holy soul of Jehovah abhorred, that they could
not be recovered: they were so to a great degree by their
captivity in Babylon. But of the tribes of Israel we have
never heard so good a character. Although the hands of
their forefathei-s were not stained with the blood of h im nhom
we. Christians, receive as the Messiali of God,— tbr they
were removed to a great distance from the scene of his
ministry, and did not fall under the temptation of thus
striving against God,— their habits were so deeply rooted.

/';

! '

tlieir minds were so fast riveted to Idolatiy, even of the vilest
kind, that it must be believed many would retain those
praoticevS, and gome would break out again in their new
habitation and shew the indications of the disease deeply fix-
ed in tlieir ra^e. There was not one King over the Isr ael-
itcs, after their separation from the house of David, who
ruled the people axxording to the law of Moses : although
therefore Uiey had not altogether forsaken that law, yet
they were well prepared to treat its injunctions lightly.

That their language should soon change and different
dialects of it be fonned, is no more than has occurred in all
l)arts of tjie woild upon die division of families. The
three great heads of our race, the sons of Noah, separating
from the place of their birth, in a Northern, an Eastern,
and a Western direction, became the roots from which
many nations sprang; and from tliera the numberless lan-
guages of the world have arisen. Many tongues are
spoken by the inhabitants of Africa, many by the people
of the East, and Sir William Jones, speaking of Tartars,
says, tliat their languages, like tliose of America, are in
perjictual fluctuation, and that more than fifty dialects are
spoken between Moscow and China by the many hundred
tribes and their several branches. Yet he has no doubt
that they sprang from one common source. And it will
further be shewn, that although the Indians have great
and striking varieties in their language, yet all of them bear
strong marks of being derived from one root. Of tlie first
family he also observes, in his discourse on tlie origin of
the Hindoos, Arabs and Tartars— " Hence it follows, that
the only family after the flood established itself in the part

now Persia, that as the family multipUed they were di-
vided into three distinct branches, each retaining little at
first, and losing the whole by degrees of their common
pnmary language, but agree.ing severally on new expres-
sions for new ideas."

Manners soon degenerate amongst wandering tribes, liv-
ing mthout principle, laws, education or civil government
especially where absolute want of the necessaries of life is
sometimes takingplace. and the necessity of doing without
causes the names and the uses to i>erish togetW. The'
Indian languages, not having been reduced to any certainty
by letters, must have been exposed to great changes and
to misconceptions. Our organs of speech do not act with
an absolute certainty, and from a defect or a redundancy
in any one of them, an object may obtain a new name or
an idea may be conveyed by a different combination of

^r^'' J^^ ^^^^ ^^^"^ «f «^^«g«> as well as of social
iife, will have given rise to as varied a manner of speaking
and the mere caprice or authority of an individual wiU iii
many places have originated both words and phrases
unknown to any others.

It will be seen in the perusal of the following pages
that when the American Indians spoke of those placesTnd
persons that were selected for important national purposes
and for those of religion, they invariably used a term
expressive of high regard: their priests and old wairiors
were beloved men, their great square in which they met
to celebme public festivals was the beloved place the
hut or tent which contained the holy things was the
beloved house. We cannot but feel pleasure at this

I'l

1 ' ", ;

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( '

■ * 1

'■I ■

I' '5i

Xll

thought : for altlioiigh the usages of social life would occa-
sion such tenns to appear afTected on our lips, in a sim-
ple and unassuming state of society like theirs, the terms
convey a devotedness of mind to men experienced in hfe
and proved to be faithful, and to all that relates to the
Divine Being. I cannot but regard this simple circum-
stance as a beautiful trait of character, in those who have
been vilified in a thousand forms and shewn in the most
detestable points of light.

ON THE (

>■

CHAPTER I.

« i

ON THE ORIGIN OF MANKIND. PLAN OF THE

WORK.

-LIlD we not know the rapacious disposition of mercan-
tile men when they le^ve their home in order to enlarge
their fortune and raise their families to wealth, it might
be thought a most extraordinary thing, that the settlers
on the western continent should have passed through a
long succession of yeara without giving themselves any
concern about the origin of the people among whom they
had settled and whose land they had seized upon; that a
race altogether different from any already found in any
part of the world should be within their knowledge and
under their eye, and yet no enquiry be made from what
stock they had descended, and in wliat branch they were
alHed to the inhabitants of the old Continent

ITie opinion generally prevailing among us is, that the
whole human r^ is descended from one pair. This
opmion is derived from what we regard as divine authority:
but lest any of my readers should question that authority
and conceive that the early part of the history of the world

.» ^Wi ft

■i- (t

>tf'

was gathered by Moses or some other learned Israelite
from traditions which had been handed down from gene-
ration to generation, and therefore do not bear a divine
stamp; it shall be added, that this opinion is corroborated
and strengthened, by the observations which have been
made by philosophical observers on the different nations
of the earth, by the light shades of difference which are
perceptible in the gradations from the purest fair to the
darkest black complexion, and the evident and palpable
effects of climate, food, manners, customs, habit and edu-
cation, the influence of superstition which has produced
its effects on the body as well as on the mind of man, and
a variety of political and moral regulations. If the mind
be the standard of the man; it is not less true, that pecu-
liar notions taken up and acted upon, have had a sensible
influence on the features of the countenance, tlie motions
of the body, the shade of complexion and other traits of
the human character. So that although there are great
diversities in the general appearance of mankind, and we
may divide them into classes, each possessing peculiarities
different from the others; yet are there none of these
peculiarities, whether of form or feature, or colour, but
may readily be accounted for by the influence of climate,
food, &c. and this is yet more confirmed by the utter impos-
sibility of drawing the line which shall separate one race
ii'om another, and decide tha^ this is descended from the
tawny race and tliat from the fair : because the difference
is so small, while the similarity is so striking, that more
easy would it be to divide the approximating colours of the
rainbow. There are great dissimilarities observable in

the Inhabitants ofEurope; the nations of it are harac-
terised in 8u6h a way as to |)e easily distinguished; tlie
Gennan, the l^renchman, the Dutchman, the Spaniard,
although they haven general resemblance, are marked by
traits wide enough to be known, as well in general ap-
pearance as in colour; nor can we readily suy, why these
nations hjive assumed peculiarities by which they are
known among their fellows. But they have assumed those
peculiarities. And if we pass over a few more leagues
of the land or of tiie sea either to the north, the east, or
the south, We eonie 'to nations whose complexions, whose
form of countenance, whose figure, and Whose manner of
life, are Vety materially Jifferent from those of the Eu-
ropean; yet, while they exhibit as mariy shades of differ-
ence as does the Iris on the cloud, they pass as gradually
as do the colours of that beautiful bow from one to the
other, which are known by differences so small, that we
cannot perceive where one of tliese colours ends and ano-
ther l>egins: so neither can we distinguish the termination
of one set of characteristics of the human race and the
beginning of another, so as to say, these are from one
original stock and those from another.

The American tribes, of whom I am about to treat,
have a general character peculiar to themselves, yet they
differ in some striking particulars from one another.
Their general resemblance has been observed by many
persons who, independenuy of each other, have visited
distant pai'ts of that vast continent. There has been
found a great likeness throughout, together with lines of
difference, similar to those which are seen in the societies

B 2

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fi
I!

that possess the lands of the old hemisphere : but there
are none of those great dissimilarities amongst them
which mark the natives of Europe, Asia and Africa. Al-
though they axe spread over a country which bears a near
pioportion to the Eastern Continent, and stretches as wide
from North to South, into the frigid and over the torrid
zone, still a great resemblance is discovered among them,
they have all the appearance of being descended from one
stock.

When this extensive country became first known to
the Europeans, it bore evident marks of having been but
recently the abode of men. The greater part of it was
wild, oveiTun with woods, interspersed with bogs and
marshes, whose pestilential vapours the industry of man
had not attempted to remove j t^xtenslve suviimialis, in
which wild herds of cattle fed undisturbed; and rivers to
which those of Europe axe streamlets, yet over which no
vessels had ever sailed larger than the light canoe, made
of the bark taken off sound and whole from their majestic
trees, or cut out with uncouth instruments from the solid
timber. It is a circumstance deeply to be regretted, that
the first visiters oi the new contment, and the first settlers
upon it, do not appeax to have entertained the thought of
enquiring into the origin of this new people. At that
period, before they were defiled by the impurities and the
impieties of European civilization, and driven from their
pacific settlements by European rapacities and cruelty,
before they were scattered like sheep by ravenous wolves,
and, being so scattered, lost gradually the marks by which
they were then distinguished j and before they fell a sac-

nficc by Im„,lre,h„„,I I,y .touxu.uls to the cruel bondaRe by
•vluch they wei-e visited, to obtain fur their unfeeling task-
masters that eursed gold «hich has enflamed the evil pas-
sions in aU ages, but never before with that unfeeliuK
rapacty that filled the Spaniarf's breast with every „„ju,t
«nd .mpious tho„ght-nt that period much might have
been discovered from the customs prevalent among them,
an, from the traditions which were fresh in their memories,
and had not been disturbed by change of manners or by
persecufon, of their early history, andmo,^ certain means
might have been obtained for tracing their origin. The
Spamards cared little for the history of these hamless
people They found them a set of beings differem from
^e mhabttants of the old world, meek, peaceful, hospita-
ble, benevolent, possessing few marks of what they regard-
ed as cm'u=ation, and, compared with themselves in a
state of Ignorance and of barbarism. They found their
mterestm reading and in describing them as an inferior
roee, and m the pride or the hypocrisy of their heart, they
id not hesitate to declare, in the reports they sem home
to their govenmient, that they were of an inferior order
of men, fitted only for beasts of burden. They forced
tliem to toil in the ricu streams thatpoured down LZZ
mountems golden sand, they devoted them to iZrt
the mines which they soon discovered rising .„ the IZ
urface of the mountdns. Ueir only earelas to iZ
the eyes of the ruleB at home, to whom they were T
oountabk for their conduct abroad; and so eiy L »
efl-ectually did they complete this w^iked purpLftr
by the nusrepresentation of their wretched IveV^d

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WuK

tlie powerful iudiicnce of the silver and gold which they
icinittwl to their king, they concealed the real condition,
character, and powers of the natives from the Spanish
Court, and went on for a long time iu the exercise of ra-
piK'ity, cruelty, and murder, until hy far the greater jmrt
of the population of tliosc tenitories which they had in-
vaded were exhausted hy rigorous treatment, by severe
1'isks which their delicate frame could not endure, and by
a generally licencious conduct unchecked by any principle
of humanity — but — alas — all iu tlie name of religion ! !
These evilfe 'ell chiefly on those Americans who lived a
comparatively civilized life — who had a quiet and a happy
home, and, with few wants and tliose easily suppUed, had
no occasion for the bodily laboms which stiffen the mus-
cles and sticngthen the nerves, and form the robust and
vigorous man, and on tliat account were totally unfit for
the hard duties imposed upon them by their merciless
invaders. Happy were the wild and wandering tribes
among them iu those days of tenor, who could strike t\mr
tents and retire into the woods at the i^ound of an enemy's
footsteps. The savage as he wa? called was hapi)y while
the civilized Indian fell a prey to the avaince and the reck-
less cruelty of tlie Si)amard. Long was it after these
Christians had landed in America before, great as wus
their zeal for the catholic faith, lliey oilered the cv. 'isola-
tions of religion to these wretched sufferers: and when at
lenifth thev did ofl'er them, it was with a view to enveiijlc,
to deceive, and to pilfer them with greater ease. Yet
the remarks which were made incidcntarv by some of the
first settler:; farui.sh valuable hints to ,sup-port the object

of the present work. Although they apiK'or to haw; en-
tertaiued uo thought of these people being dcscoaderl from
on European or an Asiatic race, yet their observaUons t«nd
in some iustoncos to illustrate the subject which is now
before ua. I'hosc remarks are the more valuable, Ixjcauae
they came from obscn-ation, and without any thought of
the use that would afterward be made of them; and be-
cause they were ma^lo at the early period when the Ameri-
cans retained more of their original character. In an
enquiry like the pre^ont, some notion of the origin of the
I»eoplew of great importance, because the enquirer will
tlien have his mind directed to those tniits of chanicter
wiiich support his position; whereas, without it he may
I«i.ss many of them by unobserved, for the want of per-
ceiving their bearing on the point in view: and this was
no doubt the case with the first setUers in Amenca.
They did not see the points of resemblance which we are
iH>w seeking for, becaase they hiul no concc^ption of their
existence, and their minds and their whole attention were
turned to very different objects.

T may be lead astray in a contrary coarse. The man
n'lio thinks he is in posses-sion of some new and valuable
thou£rht, and is desirous of estal>lishin<,' the proof of it,
may exun:i>e the energies of his mind to make all that
occurs b(>nd to supp)rt his opinion ; in thi., way facts may
be mi::;repi-esented or distorted for the express puipose
of supixntiTig an hypotJiesis. It may happen that circum-
stimces will be detailed in tliis volume which have this
cluiracter; for I shall not withhold even slight symptom.^
(>{■ resemblance wlii.-h bear upon the point in question:

.;i»

"♦I

but, as I trust I shall produce much more tlian mere
conjecture many circumstances which amount to a strong
presumpt /e proof, and an abundance of corroboratinir

o
facts, those minor points of simiUtude will be regard-
ed in their proper light, and be allowed to throw in
their mite of evidence in support of the interesting fact,
that — The immense populatiomvith which the contijient of
vimerica was f mind to be inhabited on itsjirst discovery,
were the direct lineal descendants of the nine tribes and
a half, or a large part of them., that were carried captive
by tite Assyrian King, and since their banishment from
their own country have been lost to their brethren the
Jews and to all the historians of latter times.

But can they be altogether lost, or can they be inter-
mingled among the new tiibes that have been fonned
and the new kingdoms that have sprung up? Tliei'
constituted a large proportion, more than three
fourths, of the chosen people of God; concerning whom
so many prophecies stand recorded in the holy books, for
whom so many stiiking interferences took place under the
direct agency of the Almighty ; for the express purpose
of separating them from the idolatrous nations, of keeping
them a distinct and peculiar people, of making them bear
his name to the ends of the earth and spread his glory
among the nations. Can they then be lost, destroyed,
rooted out from the habitations of men ? Or can they be
so amalgamated with those Idolaters who conquered them,
or with those people with whom they have since dwelt,
as to be no more known a separate people, as to have lost
their identity, and be no where to be found in the day to

th„=» ^v. "'"^^'^<^° dt.,pemd amcig tke nations, ami
t°^ »•'» i-e been cast oot, shall alike be call dZ
the sp«=:al vo.ce of G<xi to re.un> to their conn" i J ^

-...e.i':::-r--:;---

name is one, and whose praise one >

to!^!^^^"t*"f **"' tot«x.ncae himself coranletelv
^ 4e though, th« there has long been an end to' tlfo e
tnbes He says "thus the ten tribes which had sepam^

d"L : "'"'"^ ^ '""^'^ «" " f»" ^^"-

"Some nfT """ "^"^ '"="™-^ themselves." Again

came wHoUy absorbed and swaUowed un in th

^ese are bold ^X ^I ^f ^^^ ''':'^" °"'
other p.^,; than tl.at he, wi4 l^L^"" P'"?""" "''
<iiscoveredanvsn.,„fi., *'"""''^' ''"«»nans, have not
ered any satisfactory traces of them after that period

^^^ZIZ'T"^'":' -'^i^'ino.fromalll:;

ever. fo^™2' ^' T^'Po^^^ "-e distinct than
Auiermixed mth all the nations of thp A«rtk

"^S to the language of pronh . "T n ' ^^'^'

yet the, connL^thel^Z -'l """^ ""^"^ *^^^"^'

iii

no religious or political

A. :

ry ,

ill'

f ■

te'

i
1 .

I.,

alliance, with any of them. Favored by few, oppressed
by many, still persecuted by some, Uke tlieir forefathers
in Egypt, they increase and maltii)ly. Satisfied if they
are allowed to remain quiet, they follow their own cus-
toms, while they submit to tlie laws of the state under
which they live. But no privations—and they have suf-
fered all that social man can suffer; no persecutions — and
the cruelty of man has been taxed, in many countries to
discover and to invent engines of persecution to employ
against them, have been able to turn them from their
fideUty to that One Glorious Being whom they acknow-
ledge as tlieir God and King, and make them deny the
faith which alone they believe to be of divine origin.
Faithful people ! Faithful to the -light which has shone
upon them, tp tlie God who revealed himself to their pa-
rents of old! If they still are blind -to the light whicii
shone in our Messiah; I^they deny him to be the mes-
senger from their God, who was to call them from their
backsliding and reveal to them his whole will, their fore-
fathers in the time of the Saviour were blind to it before
them, even when it was accompanied by signs, and
wonders, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. This blindness
was suffered to fall on them; it is still permitted to suffuse
their minds, and to withhold their faith in Christ Jesus;
and by the authority of an inspired pen we learn, it shall
be so, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
Why it is thus, and how long it shall be so, rests with
that Eternal Wisdom, to whom time has no divisions,
with whom a thousand years are as one day. Under
some impressions of cliristian credence they will be pitied.

' i

perhaps blamed: under others they will be respected-
mder no|>e should they be ill „a«,; and if u-e d b lei
aco„™t,«n that they act on a conscientioua prinlip'
and do no, become christia.«, beca„«, they think fev
ought not, they do not deserve iU usage of rep ^ "I
our par, morathan we do on theirs,Za„se Tl „„"
abandon our christian faith and submi, to the hIZ

Their foreHrthers oever sunk so deen in th^ ,.• •.•
or Idolatry a, did their b.U>re„ ofTU X'"" :

for «h.ch abandonment of , heir integrity thev incun-ed

l^fW"''^'^'' P'^'-*' denounced by"
propheta In the very peculiar state in which they con!

~i.e.e see .he pledge and the certainey of Z

Not less frequent nor less plain are the prophecies which
-reredehver^ to the Israeh,es while they dwe^nt '

pon 7LT I """'^'' "' "^"^ "^ •« loose
.ITr? ; Av^ngorwas bmught up against ,hem by
tha Bemg by whom kings «ig„, and thTy we™ carried
capfve to a strange land, there «, expiate their sin bvl!
^ffenng of dist^ss and affliction, wlL were d^'fa t
he d,spensatK.„s of Heaven to operate as a medfcine o
'h« Aseased mind, and make them .^tum ^wT ,
-1 »«ul .0 him from whom they had dee^^ i'""
n h.s s.pent „f the divine pur^^e'be:^;,;'
""' •"= '^"''"'y^' 'h^y cannot he mixed wilh Z

I'' ft-*.

■**

heatliciij I ke the waters of a river in the great bed of the
Ocean ; they must still have an existence, as distinct as
that of their brethren, the Jews, and will be found of him
that seeks after them, when he shall display his great
jMJwer and the banner of his salvation.

It is quite certain that in the captivity, both of tlie Jews
and the jjeople of Israel, the whole body of them was not
included. Some were left behind, not worthy the captor's
attention^ otliers escaped before they were mustered to
submit to their fate. Many, of those perhaps who had
money at command, fled into Eg)rj>t. When Ptolemy,
long after, obtained from the High Priest the copy of the
holy writings, in order to have them translated into Greek,
they were accompanied by a letter from Eleazar in which
he wrote, "I have sent you six elders out of every tribe,
with the law to attend your pleasure'*. Some of all the
ten tribes must therefore have been at Jerusalem at that
time : perhaps the holy city was never entirely without a
few of every tribe.

The plan to be pursued in the present work is the fol-
lowing. We shall first take a view of the prophecies
relative to the Tribes of Israel, both as to their dissolution
and their recovery — ^then show the general character of
the Inhabitants of the American Continent, the degene-
rate state to which they have been reduced, and the
immense sacrifice of life they have sustained through the
cupidity and licentiousness of the Europeans ; their man-
ners, customs and religious ceremonies; the traditions
still found among them of their original settlement in that
country, .the people from whom they descended and the

quarter at which their ancestors entered -th.!,™ ,
e.«ons which have been tep. .^^^:XT I
te%, we shall attempt to trace the course 4 cluhT"

marks of an incidental nature laid before the reader i
^JI consider whether there be not reason to bd^e 'tl^
the God of the Jews ha, still taken care of his ch L; t

.^peai, of ui: „::;rrt^^ '"-' '-

future time, it is the natio.: th Ca" "',

' "'""f °^'''<' I*"!"'^ remains, so long as they retain

-setti.a.non,th:„no:rtLtt:T;ri

tne lulseliood of tlin«P n,„* t i ' ^"^

. "" "I "io&e that did attempt it, the rUfflpnU

0^0. nnng proper

ana fear th.-y have entertained of the white people, from

r t

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trl

■•in

whom they have received little other than injury, extreme
suffering and wanton destruction — It must be obvious
that under such circumstances as these many difficulties
will arise in this investigation. We have a comparison
to make between a people originally possessing and
observing a peculiar economy, but degenerating under
that economy in an extreme degree, and intermixing in
its aws and customs others to which they were originally
and systematically hostile ; calling themselves the wor-
shippers of One God and yet indulging in the worship of
many; acknowledging themselves bound to the Mosaic law
yet uniting with it what was the most alien from it — and
an immense population divided into separate communities,
forming new kingdoms, instituting new laws; or remain-
ing under the authority of no established code, but sub-
mitting to tlie rule of a chief who professed no authority
but the tradition of which himself was the depository.
When the very different states of two such people arc
considered, and the long lapse of time between the disap-
pearance of the former and the discovery of the latter,
together with tlie distance of the countries in which they
severally resided, and that one was in the highest state of
cultivation while the other was a wild waste : must it not be
thought that, tliough these histories relate to the same
people yet great and incalculable changes must have taken
place among them, and that we are not to expect to find
many clear and distinctive marks by which it may be made
to appear, that the American Tribes are the offspring of the
captivated and cast-out tribes of Israel.

CHAPTER IT.

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OF THE PROPHECIES.

From ,ho history of the Hebrews and fro,,, .!,„,
saored wr,t,„gs i, appears, that the great Governor o I!
um^rse did select that people fro.^„ „. ZZ^^Z
earth, not only to receive and to preserve the great do,-
«.ne of the d.vino Unity, together with that pu.i.y .„,d

^■enessof worship whichhe requires; b„t also todo,:^^
ove the same to the other nations. They have bee,,
made the depositories of Prophecies, instr,fctive .0
themselves alone but to all the earth Th
informed in a language the most plain, what^w^d W d

ments of God or were disobedient to them and in th.-
r^n^ fully e^Henced the truth X;; ^

-v th the uT "7T '"' '"" P^*'"^ -I"-'"'
w,th the untoward disposition of the people Jhen h,.

he,r tendency would be to revolt .0 I absurdities^ d

.•.bom,„at,onsofthe„ations around .hem;.ndbei„gin.pi,.«!

V ; ' -1,1

J --I

• y
i 'i

III

: 1 II

*?•

with a spirit of prophecy, he warned them of their danger
in suhUme language. Deut. 4. 23. "Take heed to your-
selves lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God
which he made with you, to make you a graven image
or the likeness of any thmg which the Lord thy God hath
forhidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire.
—When yon corrupt yourselves and make a graven Image
I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you this day,
that ye shall soon utterly perish from off tlie knd wliither
ye go over Jordan to possess it. And the Lord God shall
scatter you among the nations, and ye shall he left few in
number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead
you. And ye shall sei-ve other Gods, tlie work of men's
hands, wood and stone, which neither see, or hear, nor eat,
nor smell. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord
thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all
thy heart and with all thy soul."

After this Moses gave them the law, and enumerated
many blessings which should he conferred on them in case
of their hearkening diUgently to the voice of the Lord, to
observe and do his commandments, and then passed on
to the extraordinary and dreadful curses which would rest
upon them if tliey were disobedient to the heavenly vision.
See 29. 10. and following.

For the fulfilment of the divine commands it was neces-
sary to separate them from the rest of the people of the
earth; so that their political and religious institutions
might be known to the world, and the exclusive nature of
their principles. They were thus separated, and enjoyed
the privileges of their land through many genera-lens : but

i'l

...ey soon fo,g„t ,he covenant of their God and fell into

1. Ido atry of other nation. About seven hundred yZ

Wore tl.e ehnsuan era, near the Ume of Salmanaeax, Kin.

f As.,,™. Isaiah the prophet rose among them and

delivered from Gel 4is solemn message. ^'The Urd

sent a word unto Jacob and it lighted „po„ Is J Jj ,^

f' rir'i' '"""'-T ^''-'- -' "^^

heart r; t" ""' T *" P"""" ""^ ^'<»"'><=- "f 'heir
■cart, the bneks are fallen down but we will build with

.o«„ stone &c-therefore the Lorf will cu, off from W

oad^d^l, branch and root, together." Isaiah 9 ^To

IJ. -0 Assyrian! U.e rod of mine anger: and tl,e Jl

^thetr hand is mine indignation. I wSl in^^^ Je

A Syrian), agamst an hyp<«ritical nation, and lil,

* P»f of my -ath will I give him a charge, T2

themrre of the streets." ch. 10.3. 6. In eh Tin
2 1~ that he will recover his people from tieir bond:
r "'7°'' ^''^'^^ i» -ery place; among othe^Zl
f T"'7 '^^«"« "-"di-g to Wh, imLerry rT
feed m Uiereceived version, theislandsofthe sr "ITd
he shall hft up a signal ,„ tj.e nations, and shall ^al!r

tlie four e.«remities of the earth ^'"^f^"^^ f™™

■%Hway for the remnan^of ir^^thS'^.r "^.^
Irom Assyi-ia." i'^*^ wm.n shall remain

Benjamin that adhered faithfully .0 th?h:.:;'Sard.

c3 *

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and the other ton tribes usually called Israel, and also
Ephraim, who had served another race of kings. The one
is described as dispersed among tlie nations in the four
comers of the globe, the other as outcasts from the nations.
This restoration is said to be accomplished a second time.
The first was from Egypt, the second from all parts to
which tliey were spread. The places too are designated
from whence they shall return, I'rom Assyria and Egypt,
where many of the Jews still reside, from different parts of
Persia, where are numbers of them, from the provinces of
Assyria, and from the western regions. The two tribes of
Judah and Benjamin, which are well known to be still
dispersed throughout the three quarters of the Globe, are
thus distinctly described, together with tlie places in which
they will be found ; with whom a part of the tribe of Levi
have always been inteiinixed — ^but as for the majority of
these privileged people, the nine tribes and the rest of the
Levites, generally known by the designation of the ten
tribes, although the devout believer in divine revelation
has no doubt of their being preseiTed by the sovereign
power of God in some unknown region, yet, after the
world has been traversed in every possible direction, they
have not yet been discovered. The interpretation given
by Lowth, who when he >n*ote his translation of Isaiah,
had no tiiought of the subject now before us, directs us to
look for them in the western region whither they had
been cast out.

The jms sages in Isaiah which have a reference to God's
people are numerous, I need not repeat them all, but
would refer my reader also to the forty-third chapter at

!l!!l|i|

ihe bcginnins, "But now ,aitl. the Lord who created thee

Jaeob, ,ml he who formed thee, O Wl; fe., „„, f„;

1 have redeemed thee, &c. I„ Is. 49. 12 Uiey are d^
scnbel as r-^ing mom.tain, fi™, far and eomim; from
the north and west and other, from the eastern eountry
In tl,e book of Ezekiel 37. 16. w„ have thk striking
passage, "Moreover, tliou son of man, take thee a stiek
a.Kl write upon it, 'forJudah and for4l>eehiIdren of Israel
Ins companions." And U.en another stick and write upon
"; 7°', ^r^^' *" ''i* of Ephraim and for all the house
of Israel, h>s companions.' And the fact has been as the
prophet intimated : for at the captivity some of the people
ol Israel were intenni.TOd with tl.oso of Judah and taken
away with them, while the greater part were carried cap-
tive at a different time and placed in a countr to the
north of Babylon.

Tlie return of these tribes has also an allusion to them
as a separate people, Zech. 8. 7. -I will save my people
torn the east country, from Babylon and Assyria, and
from tlie west eoar.try". I should also refer the reader to
the 20th. Ezekiel, 35 and following verses, from which it
appears, that they will be gathered out of all comitries
whither they have wandered, and from a wildern^,s in
which God will plead with them, that they will suffer
greatly, and yet with reluctance will leave their settle-
mem, and their retmn shall be in many respects like that
of then: fathers out of Egypt. It is not posdble for Ian-
guage to be more clear than is the lavage found in many
ol the prophet,, of the finaj mum of these tribes to tlieir
former city and country; which language is not confined

to the Jews, who arc known still to exist in great num-
bers; but equally applies to the Israelites. Ezekii'l
writes, "Thus saitli tlie Lord, behold I will take the
children of Israel, (these tenns are applied to tlie wh'jlo
family of Jacob, ) from among the heatlien, whither they
are gone, and will gather them on every sido, and bring
them into their own land, and I will make them one
nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one
king shall be king of them all, and they shall no more hi-.
two kingdoms any more at all." Ez. 37. 21. and the
following verses. They are especially chai'ged with the
sin of drunkenness, of which more will be said hereafter.

Amos was of tlie ten tribes and delivered his prophecies
not long before tlieir banislnnent. There is an extraor-
dinary coiTcspondence between his prophetical words and
tliose of Esdnis which were historical. He describes the
Idolatry of Israel, thus, "Tliey that swear hy the sin3 of
Samaria, and say. Thy God, O Dan, Uvetli; and the
maimer of Beersheba livetli : even they shall fall." Those
two phices were at the extremes of Samaiia, Chap. 8. 1 1
and following. "Behold the days come, saith tlie Lord,,
tliat I will send a famine on the land — on the tribes of
Israel — not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water; but of
hearing tlie word of the Lord. And tliey shall wander
from sea to sea and from the north even to tlie east, they
shall run to and fro to seek the word of tlie Lord, and
shall not find it" Here is a prediction, that in their
exile they shall know, that they were blessed with divine
communication but have lost it ; which correctly corres-
ponds with declarations of ten made by the Indians to the

Kuropeans-that .bey shall rove from sea to sea ami fr„,„
Ih. north even to Ike .„,^tl.e exact course which it will
he shew^ they ,ook-fr.„„tl.e MeUitcmu.eun to the easten,
occai. and again from tl,e Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean-
they shall run to and fro through a large and free space,'
they shall rotah, jome just notions of God, ,md seek his
wonl from their priests, but shall not find it. In the 15th'
U.e,r return is foreU,W. -. J ,,„ bring again the captivity
of my people Isra^d to." The spirit of prophecy ba, thus
funnshed ua w.th a valuable clue to the discovery of those
tnbcs: not m U.eir own land nor soatterc-d amo„. the
natton^but pas.sing liom the north to U.e east amrfrom
■sea to sea, roving about; retaining some traditionary

vewsoffonnertbings, seeking divine communicaU„ns,but
■n vam. When the pages of this volume have been read,
then- tradtfons considere.1 and their usages surveyed, it is
not too much to say, U.at the tribes of Israel will be
ree„gn.sed in A.ue.ica, perishing under tl.e predicted
famme ol the wonl.

The language of prophecy must be acknowledged to be
d,(hcult mterpretotion, and it is only where the terms
of u do appear to apply clearly .„ any particular case
that I should be disposed to attempt its cxpIanaUon. Now
some of tlmse of the prophets seem ,„ deserve notice on
4e suVct that is before us. Let the reader turn also to
tl.e tlnrfeth and thirty-first chapters of Jeremiah, which
were written about a hundral and twenty yea., after the
e..puls.on of the ten tribes, he will find promises which
have notyet been fulfilled, a ..storation in the latter days.
Tlicy are called Ephram. my dear Son "upon whom U,c

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liord will have mercy : he will bring again the captivity of
his people and cause them to retmn to the land of their
fathers, he will save them from afai-, and gather them from
the coasts of the earth, because they called thee an outcast,
saying, this is Zion, whom no man seeketh after." He
speaks Quisles afar off, which signify.lands beyond sea.
See also ch. 16. and Isaiah 18. "Ho, thou land shadow-
ing with wings'*— an illusion perhaps to the safety in
which the people shall rest in that unmolested coun-
try—" which is beyrad the rivers of Ethiopia. Who
sendest Embassadoi-s by the sea, oven in vessels of bul-
nishes upon the face of die watci-s," a nation expert in
navigation. "Go ye swift Messengers to a nation scat-
tered and peeled, whose land the rivers have spoiled."
Rivers is a prophetic term often used for armies which
overflow a country. Verse 7. "At that time shall a pre-
sent be brought of a people scattered and peeled &c."

There are numerous other chaptei-s in the prophets to
which die readier might be refeired, which speak of the
return of the Israelites, as well as of the Jews, to their
own land at a future period, sufficiently plain to convince
us, that diey have been kept by the mighty power of God,
and still are preserved, against that great day of their sal-
vation. But where in all the world can they be found if
it be not on the Continent of America ?

In the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, die prophetic lan-
guage is of a peculiar cast and although I will not say it
distincdy points to a Country and people situated a^
America and its inhabitants are, yet I must not omit
directing the attention of my readers to its contents. It

Wgins with on invocation u, tl,e M.^,vl.ich tenn does

far" n^fl , """ "'"' '""''^" ^' P-P'^' fro™
f • llus ,s the knguage of tl,e people of Wl. "He

" f ,""•" me, thou a« my servant, O Israel, in whom I

he tnbes of Jacob, and restoring the preserved of Israel

. vat.on he deivered .he.n: to the prisoners he wo'uld
say. Go forth, and to them that are in darkness shew

:rxrte:rr™:r-f--'"

g^ en that should a mother fo-get her suckling child yet
L d wUl not forget her, and that the numbers whL

T etl ,t ■""■"" •'y '^'"<'" "''^ "habitants.

Then „,,„ .T.e children which thou shalt have,

* thou hast lost the other."-the race of the Jews

t 7 f ' '"' "'"'^ '''^*^^" "- I'-Mtes shall
.W, . J'T' 'f r ^'^' <■•" - Si- place that I may
l»dl Ihen Shalt thou say in thine heart. Who l>ath
U^oten me these, seeing I ha,^ Ios.u,y children, and

" hath brought up d>ese? Behold I was left alone'
tee. where have they been?" After which we leam

' *e ruhug powers of nations shall be employed to
. re t e p. ,e of God, who h.^ been utteriy L of

La! r f"^*' P«rio<l of their dispersion.
"" ^^ '''^P'^'"-^ '«'™ a description of these people in

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their outcast banished state claiming the Lord for their
God "Doubtless thou art our lather though Abraham be
ignorant of us and Isrfi^l acknowledge us not, thou, O
Lord, art our father, our redeemer, thy name is from ever-
lasting." Here then is a branch unacknowledged by those
who have been always acknowledged as Jews, and yet
claiming their privileges as descendants of Abraham.
When these tribes shall know, from their own traditions or
by other means which the Almighty will employ to bring
them in, that they are the descendants of the ancient peo-
ple of God, this is language befitting their situation : as is
also that which follows. "O Lord why hast thou made us
to err from thy ways and hardened our hearts from thy fear ?
Return for thy servants*sake,the tribes of thine inheritance."

A violent enmity had subsisted between Judah and
Israel ever since the separation of the latter from the
family of David — but this enmity is to cease, "The envy
of Ephraim shall depart: Ephraim shall not envy Judah
and Judah shall not vex Ephraim," This passage assures
us of the restoration of Israel. Is. II. 13.

There is a passage in Hosea 4. 16. which confinns and
illustrates the subject. For although the Lord had deter-
mined to let them alone for a long period when they were
joined with idols; yet it is said "The Lord will feed them
as a lamb in a large place." This is a declaration that can-
not be said of the Jews — who instead of being treated with
the mildness which a lamb requires, have been every where
harassed, worried and afflicted ; but of the other tribes, it
may be said, that he has fed them with a shepherd's care
in a large place.

CHAPTER 111.

GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE ORIGINAL AMERICAN

TRIBES.

-■- O gire a just description of a people so widely spread
<-id divided by thousands of miles from each other, having
of course different habits prevaiHng among them, cannot
be an easy ta^k; and it is become so much more difficult
at the present time, from the great changes which have
taken place among them by their alUance with Europeans
and their having adopted more or less of their manners!
Had these unfortunate outcasts fmm civOized society been
favored at the first discovery of then- country with inquisi-
tive, learned and disinterested historians, who would have
represented their character fairly, we should have seen
them in a very different point of light from that in which
they now are seen. Some of their customs have appeared
barbarous and even brutal to civilized people; yet if
compared with the conduct of the nations of the Eastern
Comment, the balance would on the whole be in their
iaroiir. A great outcry has been made about their thirst

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of blood; but by whom has this outcry been made ? By
the very people who in their contests with each other
upon that continent have used every means to engage the
natives to take part with them, and have encouraged them
to fight in their own way, who have furnished them with
tomahawks, scalping knives, muskets, powder and ball,
and have enflamed their passions to the utmost by spiri-
tuous liquors, feasts and harangues, to increase their thu-st
of blood and drive them to the destruction even of their
own brethren. The Europeans have made them savages
and then have called them so.

"When America was first discovered by Columbus it
was peopled by hundreds, probably by thousands of tribes
or nations. Their numbers have not been known, nor
can they be known at this day. An alphabetical list is
given m Pike's Expedition, of the tribes in the North,
amounting to one hundred and ninety, each having a
Sachem or King over them. The dialects of these na-
tions difiered greatly; a circumstance which has often
happened among people without education and writing of
any kind, separating and Uving at a distance from one
another. The Erigas a tribe on the Ohio, who separated
from the Tuscororas, are known to have formed a distinct
dialect in the course of a few years.

Dr. Williams, in his history of Vermont, writes: "In
whatever manner this part of the earth was peopled, the
Indians appear to have been the most ancient or the
original men of America. They had spread over the
whole continent from the fiftieth degree of north latitude
10 the southern extremity of Cape Horn. And these

men eve.y where appear to be the same race or U„J „r
people. In every part of the eontinent, they are ,„arked

withasmuIarityoffeatorBannlo.., „„j ■

„f.v,<.™.i ^"^™'»'" and every circumstaiife

of external appearance." Pedro de Leon, one of the

conquerors of Pen,, who had tmveUed through n.a.,y
pronnces of America, says of the Indians, "The pcopl
men and women, although there ^ such a multitude of
tnbes or nations, in such diversities of climate, appear
nevertheless Id.e the children of one father and moth.."
The same tesftmony, of the striking likeness of one with

^L7r "^ t""' '" "^ ""y '^ "'«' '>-e visited
djfferent tnbes. Bat this remark does not apply ,o the

Esquimaux, who appear to be a difliaent J;. Those
wh.ch are fomid in Labrador, Greenland and round

S^oyeds and Tamrs, who may have gone over fr„„
he north of Europe to Iceland and thenee u> Greenland
and Labnulor These people do not seem to have
intermixed with the Indians.

DuPratz, in hUhistory of I^uisiana, gives an account
the nation of the Paducas, west of the Missouri, in 1 724
which may furnish a faint idea of the numbers riginully
inhabiting this vast mnrin^n. ti ™ feuwuy

the P.,^L "on'^nt He says "The nation of

the Paducas is very numerous, extending about two
hundred leagues: they have settlements quite close IZ
Spamaris of New Mexico. They have laige viZ
which are permanent abode,, from which a hundTed

tock of arrows. The village in which we were consfsted
of one hundred and forty huts, containing eight hundred

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warriors, fifteen bundi-ed women, and at least two thousand
children ; some men having four wives."

Some writers report the number of the waniors in the
state of Virginia to have been fifteen thousand, and their
population fifty thousand, each village containing foui-teen
thousand souls. From which it is but a moderate
estimate to suppose, that there were six hundred thousand
fighting men or warriors on this continent at its first
discovery. Vaiious estimates of this kind were made by
diflTerent persons long time ago, under the direction of the
government, and by the Missionaries sent among them.

Of the Mexican Indians we learn, that according to
their account the empire ha/1 not h«.,n of long duration.
Their country was rather possessed than peopled by small
independent tribes, whose mode of life and manners
resembled that of the most rude : that, about the period
coiTesponding witli the beginning of the tentli century,
many tribes moved in successive emigrations towards the
north-west, and settled in what is now called New Spain.
These began t» form themselves to the arts of social life.
Long after they were united they were unacquainted with
regal dominion, and were governed in peace and conducted
in war by such as were entitled to pre-eminence by their
wisdom or their valour; whose authority centered at last
in a single person. From the migration of then- parent
tribes they reckoned only about tlu-ee hundred years;
from the establishment of the monarchy a hundred and
thirty, or two hundred by another computation.

The colour of tlie Indians, generally speaking, is red,
brown or copper colom , difiering according to climate and

to high or W ground. They are umversally attached to
their colour, thinkmg it an honourable mark of distinction.
They make use of stains, prepared from plants a,,d trees,
to deepen it '

The powerful operation of heat appears to be the cause
which produces the striking varieties in the complexion of
men. AU Europe, great part of Asia, and the temperata
parts of Afnca. .are inhabited by men of a white cdour.
with vanetie, proportioned to the heat: the tonid zone of
A noa, and some spots of Asia, are filled with blacVs; the
coloui increasing as we advance towards the meridian, and
deepemng till it becomes perfectly black. In Africa the
colour IS the deepest of aU In consequence of the e=rteneive
deserts of sand and the intense burning heat which they
mduce. But in America the same phenomena aie not
seen; a little difference of colour ia percqitibk as we
advaace to the southward, but a striking similarity i,
found m the figu,« and general aspect of the jjfle.
This differenc-e of the influence of climate In thV two
contmentsjs accounted for by Robertson, by "the intense
cold which comes from the pole where reposes m eternal
body of snow and ice. the influence of which on the
.imosphere is not completely overcome eveo when it
reachesdiegulf of MeKico." To which may be added^l!
cause of the difference, the still defective cultivation of the
bH the unmeiise swamps in lie neighbourhood of the
great nvers, end the want of the burning sands whkh
cover a large part of the other continent I Zohnot

*o to add the iact of the recent popuinfth:
extensive counter by one of the great families of mankind.

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The testimony of so great a historian as Robertson on
this point we must not omit: excepting tlie Esquimaux
and Greenlanders, he says, "Among all the other
Americans there is such a striking similitude, in the form
of their bodies and qualities of mind, that notwithstanding
the diversities occasioned by climate and an unequal
progi-essin improvement, we must believe them descended
from one scource. Variety of shades, but all one colour;
each ti-ibe sometliing to distinguish it, but all certain
features common to the race:" after some other remarks
he compares them to the rude Tartars, "from whom I
suppose them to have sprung." " TJie Esquimaux ^nd the
dwellers round Hudson*s Bay, to whom the Greenlanders
may be added, are the only people of America that are
unlike the main body, and beai- a resemblance to the
Europeans. Of the origin of those people we are instructed
by Grotius, that "some of tlie Norwegians passed over
into Ameiica by way of Greenland."

Proud of their red colour, to tlie white people the
natives give names expressive of contempt: often with great
bitterness ihey call them, "the accursed people.'^ It is
asserted by Adair, fiom actual observation, that the hotter
the country in which they dwell, the deeper is the colour
of their bodies. They endeavour every where to cultivate
the copper colour, but some are naturally fairer than
others. They have a tradition among them, that in the
countiy fai- west, from which they came, all the people
are of one colour, but they no longer know what that
colour was. Europeans have been known to become as
deeply coloured as the Indians, by living among them

'(',

and using the means they furnished them with, in a very
few years. The inliabitants of tJie north are not of so deep
a dye as those of the south, a fact which is a^ obsen'able
m Europe and Asia as it is in America.

It is a matter of fact proved by liistorical documents,
tliat the Europeans found these people upon tJieir first
intimacy kind, hospitable and generous ; wanting nothing
themselves, they were ready to communicate of their
plenty t» others : but whentlirough a thirst of gam, they
were over-reached and betrayed, and their friends and
relatives weie stolen away and sold to slavery, an
inveterate enmity and a spirit of revenge succeeded to
their natural kuidness. The evil passions, cruel conduct,
and vicious habits which aftenvards distinguished them,
are to be attributed, not to themselves, but to those who
forced them into birth: their conquerors raised their
jealousy, provoked their free spirit, and funiislied all the
means of propagating and spreading the evil.

Take but the account given by Dr. Robertson of the
hostilities carried on in the colony of Virginia. "So
much were the natives provoked by tlie conduct of the
new settlers who were few and feeble, that they formed
the determination to extirpate them. Their attack was
conducted with secrecy, the colonists were surprised and a
large proportion of them were cut off. In tlieir tnm the
sui-vivors waged a destructive war with tlie Indians, and
regardless, like the Spaniards, of those principles of faith,
honor, and humanity, wluch regulate hostilities among
civilized nations, the EngUsh deemed every thing allowable
which helped to accomplish their designs. They hunted

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the Indians like wild beasts rather than like men ; and
as the approach to them in the woods was difficul't and
dangerous, they allured them from their fastnessses with
offers of peace and promises of oblivion, and with such an
artful appearance of sincerity as deceived the Indian
chief, and induced them to return in the year 1623 to
their former settlements, and resume their peaceful
occupations. The behaviour of the two people seemed
now to be reversed. The Indians, like men acquainted
with the principles of integrity and good faith, confided
in the reconciliation and lived in security, without
suspicion of danger; while tlie English, with perfidious
craft, were preparing to outdo the savages in auelty and
revenge. On the approach of harvest, when a hostile
attaxik would be most fatal, the English fell on the Indian
Plantations, murdered every person of whom they could
lay hold, and drove tlie rest into the woods, where great
numbers perished through want; and some of the tribes
which were nearest the coast were totally extirpated."

Of the wax in New England, in their first attempt
against the Pequod Indians he writes thus : " The Indians
had secured their town, which was on a rising ground on
a swamp, with pallisades; The New England troops
unperceived reached the pallisades ; the barking of a dcj
alanned the Indians. In a moment they started to arms^
raised the war-cry and prepared to repel the assaflants!
But the English forced their way through into the fort,
set fire to the huts which were covered witJi reeds, and
confusion and terror soon became general. Many women
and children perished in the flames, and the warriors who

endeavoured to escape were either slain by the Englisli or
falling into tlie bands of their Indian Allies, were reserved
for a more cruel fate. The English resolved to pursue
their victory, and bunting the fugitives iroin one place to
another, subsequent encounters were scarcely less fatal
tlian the first action : and in less than tliroe months the
tribe of the Pequods was cxtii-pated."

He also states "that the inhabitants of the islands
resembled very mudi tliose of tlie main land in their
appearance and manner of life: but the Carribbees arc
said to have been canabals, which charge has also been
brought against the inhabitants of Rio Plata." This may
be one of the calumnies brought against diem by then-
enemies and invaders, to blacken tliem, and give a kind
of justification to their own cruel tieatment and plan of
extermination, and might arise from the solemn and formal
manner in which tliey execute some that have been taken
in war, to satisfy the ashes of firiends on whose account
the wax had been carried on.

"Thus die Enghsh stained dieii- laurels by die use
they made of victory. Instead of treating the Pequods as
an independent people, who made a gallant efibrt to
defend die property, the rights, and the freedom of their
nation, they retaliated upon them all the barbarities of
American war, to which themselves hod first given birth.
Some diey massacred in cold blood, others they gave up
to be tortured by dieir Indian Allies, a considerable
number were sold as slaves in Bermuda, the rest were
reduced to servitude among themselves.'* It has been in
diis way, it is to be feared, that die larger part of that

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ground on which the Independent States of America arc
now boasting of tlieir freedom, was fir«t (obtained from its
former owners and finally secured totJic present possessors.
If tlie character of the Indians, us originally kind and
hospitable, should be doubted by those who would judge
of tliem by their more recent circmnstances and conduct-
we may go back to the days cf Columbus, and learn whal
he thought of them : no one aunly could be a better judge
of the native character of that unkno^vn people. In
wilting to his master, the King, under whose sanction he
maxle his voyage, he says, «I swear to your Majesties,
that there is not a better people in the world than these,
more affectionate, affable and mild. They love their
neighbours as themselves. Their language is the sweetest,
the softest and moat cheerJ'ul, for they always speak
smiling."

A venerable old man one day apprt)ached Columbus
with great reverence, and presenting him with a basket of
Iruit, said, "You are come into these countries with a
force against which, wei-e we inclined to resist, resistance
would be folly. We are all therefore at your mercy.
But il you are men, subject to mortality like ourselves,
you cannot be unapprised, that after this life there is'
another, wherein a very different portion is allotted to
good and bad men. If therefore you expect to die, and
beheve with us, that every one is to be rewarded in a
future state, according to his conduct in the present, you
wiU do no hurt to those who do none to you."
^ De Las Casas, Bishop of Chapia, who spent much
tunc and labour among the ^ndians of New Spain, writes

^i^'ji'i.

"I was one of the first who went to America, ncithe-
curiosity nor interest prompted me to undertake so long
and so danjerous a voyage. The saving the souls of the
heathen was my sole object It was said, that barbarous
executions were necessary to punish or check the rebellion
of the Americans. But to whom was this owing? Did
not this people receive the Spaniards who first came
among them with gentleness and humanity? Did they
not shew more joy in proportion, in lavishing treasure
upon them, than the Spaniards did greediness in receiving
it? Though they gave up to us their lands and riches, we
would also take from them their wives, their children,
and their liberty. To blacken the character of these
unhappy people, their enemies «8sert that they are scarcely
human beings. But it is we i;'ho ought to blusli, for
having been less men and more barbarous than they.
They are represented as a stupid peopje and addicted to
vice. But they have contracted most of their vices from
the examples of christians. The Indians stili remain
untainted by many vices usual among Europeans, such
as ambition, blasphemy, swearing, treachery, which have
not taken place among them. They have scarcely an
idea of these, &c."~«imilar representations are gjven by
Spaniards rho hrJ the earliest opportunites of knowing
these people, although it has ever been a subject of deep
regret that the public authorities who were sent out by
the Spanish Government, and even many of the priests
who accompanied them, made it a business to vilify these
poor creatures, and represent them as fit only to be
employed as beasts of burden.

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In a sermon which was preached at Plymouth, in the
year 1620, by tlie Rev. Mr. Cushman, tlie following
remarks are found : "The Indians are said to be the most
cruel and treaxjherous people, even like lions, but to us
they hare been like lambs; so kind, so submissive, so
trusty, as a man may truly say, many christians are not
so kind and sincere. Though when we first came into
this country we were few, many of us very sick and many
died by reason of the wet and cold, it being the depth of
winter, and we having no house or shelter, yet when tliere
were not six able persons among us, and the Indians came
daily to us by hundreds with their Sachems or Kings, and
might in one hour have made dispatch of us, yet they
never offered us tlie least injury in word or deed.'*

Many are the authorities which might be quoted to
shew the simplicity, amial jeness, and excellence of tlie
character these people manifested upon the first settlement
of the Europeans on the eastern coast of North America,
and in many parts where they were rot provoked to
desperation for a century afterwards; but, as much has
been written as is necessary for the purpose that is now
before us. One quotation more will carry our views into
the back settlements, where we shall find tribes of people
bearing the same characteristics. Father Charlevoix
travelled at an early period and sjient a long time among
them, traversing the country from Quebac to New Orleans,
and had no object in view but to study and improve the
character of his hosts. He \^ rites of tliem thus;

"With a mien and apj>earance altogether savaj?e, and
with manners and cu?t )ms which savour of the greatest

barl>arity, tliey enjoy the advantages of society. At first
new one would imagine them without form of govern
ment, laws or subordination, and subject to the wildest
caprice. Nevertheless they rarely deviate from certain
maxims and usages fomided on good sense alone, which
holds the place of law and supphes in some sort the want
of legal authority. They manifest much stability in the
engagements they have solemnly entered into ; patience
in afflicfaon, as well as submission to what they apprehend
to be the appointment of providence. In all this they
inamfest a nobleness of soul and constancy of mind at
which we rarely arrive, with all our philosophy and reli-
gion. They axe slaves neither to ambition nor interest, the
two passions which have so much weakened in us the
sentiments of humanity, and kindled those of covetous-
ness, which are as yet generally unknown to them."

"What surprises exceedingly in men whose outward
appearance proclaims nothing but barbarity is, to see them
behave to each other with a kindness that is rarely met
withm civihzed nations, a natural and imaffected gravity
which reigns in all their behaviour and even in their'
diversions; especially the deference tliat is alwaj^s shewn
by young people to tiie aged: and never to see
them quaireUng or using those indecent expressions,
those oaths and curses, so common in most communities."
I^u Prat^ says of them, ^^I have attentively considered
the«. Indians a long time, and never found or heard of
any disputes or boxings with eiAer boys or men " I„
short, says Boudlnct, '<to make a brief portrait of these
people, with a savago appearance, manners and customs.

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which ure entirely barbarous, there is observable among
them a social kindness, free from almost all the imperfec-
tions which so often distm-b the peace of a civil society.
They appear to be without passion, but sometimes do that
in cold blood, and even through principle, which unbridled
jjassion produces in those who give no ear to reason. We
discover in them a mixture of the fiercest and most
gentle manners: the imperfections of wild beasts and the
virtues of the heart and mind which do the greatest honour
to human nature."

"The nearer view we take of our savages, the more we
discover in them some valuable qualities. The chief part
of the principles by which they regulate their conduct, the
general maxims by which they govern themselves, and the
bottom of their characters have nothing appearing bar-
barous. The ideas, though now quite confused, which
they have retained of a first Being ; the traces though
almost effaced of a religious worship, which they appear for-
merly to have rendered to the Supreme Deity, and the faint
marks which we observe even in their most indifferent
actions of the ancient belief and the primitive relioion,
may bring them more easily than we think of into the
way of truth, and make their conversion to Christianity
more easily to be affected than that of more civihzed nations."

Accounts very similar to these, representing the natives
as amiable and highly estimable, are also given by Du
Pratzin his history of Louisiana, and by Mr. Bartram, son
of John Bartram, Esq. Botanist to Queen Caroline, who
visited the Creek nation inhabiting the vast territory of
East and West Florida.

Such are some of the ideas of the Indian chai-acter on
the amval of the Europeans among them, before they
were debauched and demoralised by an acquaintance with
those who pretended to be their benefactors, in communi-
catmg to them the glad tidings of salvation by Christ Jesn«
Such is the testimony of the best writers on different parts
of that continent, acquainted with different nations from
North to South. It is given generally in the authors' own
words, lest their meaning should be misrepresented. It
must be confessed however that this is the fairest part of
their character while at home and among friends: and it
IS a perfectly just one.

The chief and favorite object of their attention was
onginally hunting, in which sport they have been reduced
to narrow limits, by the continual encroachments of the
new settlers, and the building of towns amidst their ongi-
nally wild and spacious woods. Large tracts yet remain
open to them in many parts, but in general the remains
of the old inhabitants have fallen by degrees into a state
of partial cultivation, and have learned to depend more
than formerly on the labour of their hands. In relation to
their ancient sports we must speak of them as in tunes gone
by. They are thus described.

Their haughty tempers will not condescend to labour:
this they leave to the women. Their appearance is there-
fore solemn, except when tiiey divert themselves with their
principle amusements, dancing and gaining. Li war.
and when opposed to an enemy they are cruel and
revengeful. They make war with unrelenting fury on the
least unattoned affront. They kill and destroy their ene-

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mies without regret To be a warrior is the highest object
of their ambition. In their enmities they are bitter, and
to avenge the blood of a kinsman they will travel hun-
dreds of miles and cherish anger in their breasts for many
years. ITiey are anxious to carry home trophies of then-
success in war, but not so savage as that early nation of
which we read in the 1 Samuel 18, 25 and 27, nor
observing their hideous custom ; they have from some source
unknown adopted the less savage one referred to by David,
in his holy anger against his enemies, whom he always
designated, the enemies of God: they scalp the slain, as
some Asiatics have done, contrary to the usage of all
other savage tribes. David speaks of the hoary scalp of
his enemies.

Before going to war, all that are able to walk and the
old men borne by others, assemble in a grove or other place
made sacred, and offer up prayer to the Great Spirit for
success against their enemies. One of the old men
addresses the assembly and recommends valour, and plac-
ing confidence in the giver of life. We are also tcJd by
Hunter, that a day seldom passes with an elderly Indian,
or others esteemed wise and good, in which a blessing is
not asked of Hun and thanks rendered for his mercies.
On occasion of an epidemic malady such meetings are
also held, they are told that it is an infliction from the
Great Spirit for some wilful offences, they are charged to
repent, to ask for pardon and to amend their lives, all
amusements cease and both private vnd public fasting
is enjoined.

They usually attack with a hideous yell, so as to make

tie woods to ring; the horror of which the ablest troops
can scarcely withsUnd »vho have not expectr-' such a
reception. To women and children whom they take pri-
soners they are kind, and remarkable for the tenderness
and delicacy with which they treat the former. To such
prisoners as they, by certain rules, doom to death, they
are insulting, cruel, and ferocious, and their women are
ingenious in the science of tormenting them. But history
will furnish us instances too numerous of cruelties among
civilised Europeans, which neither savages nor even can-
ibals can exceed ; and there are instances on record of the
behaviour of EngUshmen towards those very people, cruel,
revengeful and detestable in the extreme. If 1 do not
attempt to justify the severities of the Indians, I must con-
ceal from the eye of my readers facts which glare upon
my sight in the history of my countrymen with the
appalling look of a hyaena.

How much have men at all times, when they have laid
aside the feeUngs of humanity and engaged in deadly
warfare, how much have they regarded their fellow men
with an eye of envy, of hatred, and of detestation !
How much have they thought no cruelty too great to exer-
cise towards them, let England in the times of persecution
speak, let the history of protestantism and of Catholicism
almost equally declare, let Indians contending with Euro-
peans, let Europeans invading the peaceful shores of the
Atlantic and the burning sands of Africa also testify!
—nay— let the sacred historj; vouch, when it writes of
these very people under the conduo* of a king and tlie
instructions^of the Priests of the Lord, that they did not

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then discover a better spirit than the forlorn wanderers in
the wilds of America. See 2 Chron. 28. 5. and many
other places ! !

When a whole people change from a settled to a wan-
dering state, especially if they remove from aJl connexion
and intercourse with civilized comitries, they must neces-
sarily accommodate their actions to their pressing wants
and necessities. Their usages will change with tlieir cir-
cumstances. If before their emigration they had my
knowledge of the arts and sciences, although this would
enable them to exercise ingenuity and method in provid-
ing for their wants; yet, as they separated and colonized
in different parts, this knowledge might gradually be lost,
and little known of it but by tradition, except so far as
should be kept alive by their actual wants.

It is well known that the people of Israel were never a
scientific nor a mechanical people: the arts of life were
earned on by their ovm households to supply their wants :
they were their own millers, and weavers, and taylors, and
carpenters. The Abbe Fleury, in his account of the
Ancient Israelites, shews them to have been a people
with comparatively little of civilised life known among
them. They could scarcely be more polished by the
event of the captivity; on the contrary their state would
become worse; and during that penod in which the Baby-
lonian and Median Empires were striving for master}^
when the Persians spread their arms through all the east,'
and then too when the Macedonian crushed them all
under his sceptre, very little progress could be made in
the improvement of life, especially by a class of men so

c^cumstanced as the captives were. I„ truth such was
U>e.r condition that they had eveiy thing u> gain and
I-ttle to ,o,e, when the opportunity of escape presented
uself, and a new and promising scene opeued before the.n
through the reports of tmveUers, perhaps son:e en.eT,risim,
men of the.r own nation, and they heari of a Country
la-Se, nch and destitute of population, a still better
Ci^an wh,ch they had only to seet a«d to possess.

rhe Indians are perfect repubfccans and will admit of
no mequaluy except what arises iiom age or wisdom, for

cplme and perfect subordination to their chief and to the
officers who are chosen f.™„ the experience they have
had m «-ar, the management they have shewn in sm^ris-
uig an enemy or their wisdom in council. Thevr are
dmded into tribes, and subject to a chief chosen Iron, the
wst and bravest of them, and march under an ensign
bearmg the figure of the anim^ they have selected to dis-
imgmsh them.

Every nation has its standard and every tribe its own
badge or symbol. When they ««amp, they cut the tepre-
sentat-on of their ensign on ti,e trees, by which U is k„L
who have been ther^ I„ u-eati^ ^ „ ^

^Lance tl^ Sachem m.es the mark of his tribe, the
%ure of the ^imal, upon the tr«.ty. as a co^K-n^ion does
■t^pubhc seal. So among the Jews, tl.e iiTwas the
.ymbolof the tribe of Judah, the serpent of Dan, Z
wo If ot Betyamin &c But to no animals whatever do h
Indians pay any religious respect.
Their leader is assisted by a council of old, wise and

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beloved men. Nothing is resolved upon but in this coun-
cil where every one has an equal voice. The chief is
seated in the middle, and his council on each hand form-
ing a semicircle, the manner in which the Jewish Sanhe-
drim sat before them. The seriousness and extreme
gravit^' which they observe, both old and young, in every
affair of business was observed by Penn in his treaties
with them, and by many others who had the opportunity
of being present in their consultations. They could not
but admire the great reverence in which their aged and
beloved men, as they call them, were held and the perfect
submission with which their advice was received. These
men are generally poorer than the rest of the tribe :
tliey usually give away the presents and the plunder
which they obtain, so as to leave nothing for themselves.
No kind of salary of stipend is annexed to any pubHc
office, to tempt the covetous or the sordid ; and their
authority resting on the esteem of the people, it ceases the
moment that esteem is lost An old Mohawk Sachem,
says one of their historians, in a poor blanket and a dirty
shirt, may be seen issuing his orders, with aji authority
as arbitrary as a Roman Dictator.

Time is reckoned after the manner of the Hebrews.
They distinguish the spring, summer, autumn and winter.
The latter is called Korah by the Cherokees as by the
Hebrews. The years are numbered by one of its divisions
for they have no name for a year. Like the Israelites
they fount the year by months or moons. They divide
the day like them by the sun coming out, midday, and
the sun being dead ; they also speak of the midnight and

the cockcrowing. Their ecclesiastical year begins with
the new moon of the vernal equinox, according to mosaic
instruction. To the first appearance of every new moon
they pay great regard, and name the seasons from the
planting and ripening of the fruit. The green-eared
moon is the most sacred, when the first fruits are sancti-
fied by being oflfered up.

When they travel they count their time according to
the ancient method by sleeps or more properly by nights,
making the evening and the morning the first day, and
so on.

The number and regular period of the Indian religious
feasts, as will be seen hereafter, is a fair historical proof
that they counted time and observed a weekly sabbath,
long after their arrival on the American Continent: for
the remark applies to all the nations. Before the seventy
years' captivity the L-aelites, as stated by Prideaux, had
names for only two of their months, the one, the equiiioc-
tial, Abid, signifying a green ear of com; the other
Ethaniam, robust. By the first of these the Indians call
their passover, as an explicative, which the trading people
call, the Green-Corn Dance.

One of the Missionaries, being in the Creek nation on
a sabbath day, observed a great solemnity in the town and
a remarkable silence andretirednessofthe red inhabitants.
Few of them were to be seen, their doors were shut and
the children kept within. He asked the meaning of it
and was answered, that being the white man's sabbath,
they kept it religiously sacred to the Great Spirit.

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the worship of seven diflerent nations who happened to be
at the seat of government, was pleased to see their orderly
conduct. They were addressed with great energy hy an
old Sachem ; and an Inteqireter being present informed
hhnthat he had given an animated representation to his
audience, of the love the Great Spirit had always mani-
fested towards the Indians, more tlian to any other people,
that tliey were in an especial manner under his govern-
ment and immediate direction : that it was therefore the
least return they could make for so much goodness, grate-
fully to acknowledge his favour, and be obedient to his
laws, to do his \vill, and to avoid every thing that was evil
and of course displeasmg to him.

Just before the service began, he observed an Indian
standing at a window, looking into a small field adjoming
the house, where many white children were playing with
the Indian children and making much noise. The Indian
seemed displeased and expressed himself so, lamenting
the sad state of those white children, whom he called,
destitute orphans. He was asked "why he thought them
orphans when they were not so." The Indian with earnest-
ness replied — "la not this die day on which you told me
the white people worship the Great Spirit? and if so, surely
these children, if they had parents or any persons to take
care of them, would not be suffered to be out there, play-
ing and making such a noise. No ! No ! they have lost their
fathers and their mothers, and have no one to take care of
them." With so much seriousness did he consider the busi-
ness of a day devoted to religious worship.

Much might be said of their perfect subordination and

great skill in coiul acting war, wliicli would throw conside.
rable light upon the character of this people, but as tliis
would leml us into too wide a field and embrace much which
IS not directly subservient to the object in view, it shall be
passed over in silence. One subject however must be touch-
ed upon. When they detennine upon war or hunting
they have preparatory religious ceremonies for purification,
similar to those of the Israelites; evidently regarding the
danger of losing their lives in these encounters, and the
necessity of preparing for such awful event Great how-
ever has been their secrecy in keeping their religious rites
from the knowledge of the white people; and therefore
mistakes have been made in the description given of those
ntes. The following account of them seems to be admitted
by the best evidence that ha« been obtained.

"In case of an expectation of going to war, he who has
the command fasts several days, besmeared with black and
holding no conversation with any one: he invokes the
Great Spirit by day and by night, and is careful to observe
his dreams. The fast being over he assembles his friends
and with a string of wampum in his hand he addresses
them-" Brethren, the Great Spirit authorises my senti-
ments and inspires me with what I am to do. The blood

of is not wiped away, his body is not covered, and I

will acquit myself of this duty towaixls him." Such is
Charlevoix's account, that of M'Kenzie of another tribe,
and at a later time, is this :

"If the tribes are called upon to go to war, the elders
convene the people to obtain their opinion, they publish
their intention to smoke in the sacred stem, a pipe, at a

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certain time. To this polemnitj meditation and tasting are
required as preparatory ceremonials. WLen assembled
and the meeting is sanctified by smoking, in imitation
perliajjs of the incense of the Jews, tlie measures projwaed
are discussed. Tlie chief then invites those who will
follow him to smoke out of the sacred stem, as a sign of
enrolment A feast ensues with much seriousness and
ceremony, after which the chief turning towards the east
explains more fully the design of their meeting, and cun-
cludes wdth an acknowledgment for past mercies, and a
prayer for the continuance of them from the master of
life. He then sits down, and the whole company declare
their approbation by uttering the word Ho -n a lioarse
guttural voice. Tlie chief then goes round with the pij j
from east to west to every one present, and the ceremony
concludes.'*

These practices remind us of the instructions of the
Jewish ritual, the purifications and sanctifying of indivi-
duals about to undertake important offices.

The Israelites humbled th^nselves and fasted in dust
and ashes, the Indian besmears himself in token of
humility.

Similar accounts are given by Adair and others, who
state that, besides the fasting observed on these occasions
tiiey drink freely of a solution of bitter herbs which they
call purifying, bek)ved physic, the effect of which is strong-
ly purgative and offensive to the taste: and so observant
are they of these old established customs, that they will
not suffer any one, although engaged in the war with them,
to enter their camp or have intercou:se of any kind with

them until he had undergone the piuifying rites. This
also savours of Ilchrew manners. Dent. 23. 9. &c.

A friend just returned from Canada, brought with hira
a string of s^ -t pieces of an extremely bitter root which
was given liim as a matter of great favor by a chiel with
whom he was intimate. He described this root to possess
great virtue. It is probably the casava, of which they
make the bitter purifying liquor; the taste of it is extremely
nauseous. Bitter herbs. Num. 9. 11.

The Hebrews carried to the wars with them an Ark
or Chest. "And it came to pass when the Ark set
forward, Moses said. Rise up Lord and let thine enemies
be scattered and let them that hate thee flee '' ?fore thee."
And when it rested he said, "Return O Lord unto the
many thousands of Israel." Num. 10. 35. "They pre-
sumed to go up unto the top of the hill, but the Ark of
the covenant and Moses departed not from the camp." 14,
44. The Israelites were then smitten and d-,comfitted!
See also 1 Chron. 15. 12.

In this Ark the ephod was kept, and by it Dav-'d
enquired of the Lord, 1 Sam 23. 9. The person who
earned it was anointed with holy oil and was called, the
anointed for the war. How the answer was obtained it is
difficult for us to say: but we learn thai, before the temple
wa. built this mode of asking council of Gc 1 was frequent;
liiere is no instance recorded of it during the time of the
first temple. The Jews tell us, that during the tabernacle
Cxod spake by Urim and Tlmmim, under the first temple
by the prophets, and under the second by a voice from
the cloud.

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The Indians have also an ark or chest which is canied
with them to the wars of simple construction, only worthy
of notice on account of the use that is made of it, about
half the dimensions of the Jewish ark, carried by the leader
himself or a beloved waiter who undergo a more severe
purification than the rest, the one being Priest of war, the
other helper to cany the ark while they are engaged in
fighting. Consecrated vessels of antiquatc. forms are
contained in the chest.

In the Percy Anecdotes is an account of an old Indian
who was made prisoner when warring against another
tribe. He assigned as the reason of his misfortune "that
lie had forfeited the protection of the divine power hy some
impurity, when carrying the holy ark of war against his
devoted enemy." Which was a recognition of a God and
his providence, and of the sanctity of the ark and the
required purity of him that bore it.

It is never placed on the ground : where stones are
plenty they heap them up and place it on them ; but
where there are no stones they have short logs of wood or
a kind of tripod or three legged stool on which the ark and
themselves may rest. Such was the pedestal on which the
.fewish ark was placed. In the power and holiness of
tliis-ark they have a strong faith. It is deemed sacred;
and no one, not even their own sanctified warriors, are
pcimitted to touch it. No one may on any account med-
die with it except the war chieftain ajid his waiter, under
tlie penalty of great evil. Nor would the most inveterate
■nipuiy among their own people touch it in the woods,
ilnoiigh the same impression of its sanctity. Here may

a striking comparison be made bet^veen these simple but
saperatitious people and the Hebrews before them— a
comparison which will not hold with any other known
nation of the earth: under this divine banner they carry on
the wars.

This ark or chest appears to have dee:enerated with sonic
of the smaller tribes into a sack. They carry with them
in their war a kind of sack which contains their holy things,
which they believe to have some secret virtue; and which
is held in the same reverence as the ark of the other
nations: this the conquerors would by no means touch if
left on the field of battle.

The women are expected to take upon themselves all the
household work-the me- resemng themselves for war or
for the chase. The wc ...n ^re treated with respect so
long as they conduct themselves with propriety, and the
greatest decorum is observed on all occasions ^- /ards them.
E 'en to female prisoners no violence is ever offered : not
the least indecency : their persons are sacred. But we are
told on the authority of a Spanish Priest, that on the
Oronoko if a woman is caught in the act of adultery, she
IS stoned to death before an assembly of the people, after
the manner of tlie ancient Jews.

Another oustom of the women must not be past over in
sUence. They obHge them in their lunai- visitations to
retire to a small hut at a distance from their dwelling
houses, and there to remain, at the risk of their lives, a
time that is thought sufficient. The general prevalence
of this custom has been well established. See 15 ch. Lev :

A young woman, at the first change of frame, separates

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herself from the rest in a distant hut and remains there for
seven days or longer if necessary. Her food is brought to
her by a person who may not touch her ; nor may she
touch her food with her hands. When tb <i days are ended
she baths herself in water, washes her clothes and cleanses
the vessels she has made use of: the wooden ones she
cleans with hot lye made with wood ashes, those of earth
or iron she passes through the fire. She then returns to
her father's house and is thought fit for marriage ; but not
before. Same chapter.

In some places a v/oman dehvered of a child is separat-
ed in like manner for three moons or eighty-four days.
By the levitical law a woman was to be separated and
unclean forty days for a male child and eighty for a female.
From no known law but this could the Indians have
adopted a custom so strange, and especially since some of
them observe a like distinction between the male and the
female children. Leviticus 12. 2.

The ordinary character of the young women, in their first
intercourses with Europeans, was that they were modest
in their deportment and strictly virtuous: both young and
old were highly oflfended at any indecent actions or even
expressions: they were neat and clean. But there are
two vices before which female modesty prostrates itself
and is abandoned — drinking and gaming, the former of
these has been the bane of the Indian women, as it has been
the deadly plague of the Indian men.

While engaged in war, the Indians will not cohabit
with their women ; they rehgiously abstain from every
kind of intercourse, even with their own wives, for the

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space of three days before they go to war, and also after
their return home ; because they are to sanctify themselves
from all that has been wrong during the war. So Joshua
commanded the Israelites, the night before they marched,
to sanctify themselves by washing their clothes, avoiding
all impurities and abstaining from all matrimonial inter-
course: and so, Uriah, when called home by his licentious
master, in order that he might, by intercourse with Bath-
sheba, hide the crime to which he had invited her, declined
going into his house, and partaking of family delights
while the ark of the Lord was in the camp and the war
unfinished. And when the Indians return home victo-
rious, they sing the triumphant song of Y. O. He. wah.
ascribing the victory, as the Israelites did, not to their
swords or arrows or to themselves, but to the Great
Being.

When about to make peace, an embassy approaches the
town, and a messenger is sent ahead to inform the enemy
of their pacific intentions. He carries in his hajid 5
swan's wing painted with streaks of white clay, the emblem
of a peaceful embassy. The next day they enter the
beloved square, when their chief taking the lead is met by
one of the old beloved men of the place. They approach
in a bowing posture. The one asks. Are you come as a
friend in the fiame of the Great Spirit P To which the
other replies. The Great Spirit is with me, I am come a
ft^nd in his name. The beloved man then grasps the
stranger with both his hands, around the wrist of his right
hand whf^h holds some green branches, then again about
the elbow, then about the arm close to the shoulder as a

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near approach to the heart. He then waves an eagle's tail
over the stranger's head, the pledge of good faith. This
ceremony was observed between General "Washington, and
an embassy from the Creek nation in the year 1789. The
common metliod of greeting each otlier is similar to the
above. The host asks, ^re you a friend P The guest
replies. I am come in the name of O. E. A. or Ye ho wah.

These people are said to be extremely kind and affec-
tionate to one another, always sharing among tliem what-
ever is given, and hospitable to strangers who visit them,
giving them always the first piece of their victuals.

They are not only religiously attached to their tribe
while living, but the bodies of the dead, especially their
bones, are the objects of their solicitous cai-e. The fune-
ral rites which they observe shew that tliey have some
notion of a future state of existence, and even of the rising
of the body. They make a large round hole in which the
body can be placed upright or upon its haunches, and
placing the body in it, witli the face towards the east,
cover it over with what will support the earth above it and
raise over it a little tumulus : the corpse is dressed in its best
apparel, and near it ai-e laid what was thought valuable
and esteemed by the dead; if a warrior, his bows, arrows,
hatchet or the like.

So free are these peoi)le from the spirit of covetousness,
that to repress it in case of death, they burn all the Uttle
property an Indian has at the time of his death, or bury
it with him in his gi'ave.

Among the Indians of Canada when a person expires,
tlie house is filled with mournful cries, friends are invited

to lament with them, and these manifestations of giief are
kept up as long as the expence can be borne. In some
nations tlie relatives fast to the end of the faueral with
tears and cries, and in others there are women whose busi-
ness it is to undertake tlie office of weeping and waihng,
and who go ^ from house to house to relieve the family of
tlie painful task— they sing, dance, and shed tears, always
keeping time to their vocal strains. See Jeremiah 9. 17.
" Consider ye and call for the mourning women, and send
for cunning women that they may come, for a voice of
wailing is heard." Some of tlicse women liave acquired the
art of shedding tears at will, and tJiey are much esteem-
ed on tliese melancholy occasions. Those who have
sought a resemblance between these Americans and the
Hebrews, have not failed to notice in many different parts
these cases of resemblance wliich support their opinion,
finding tliem much resembling theirs. The Jews buried
tlieir dead in tombs hewn out of the rock, in which they
were placed in an upright position, and often property
valued by them was buried in tlisir tombs.

llie Southerns wash and anoint the corjise and take it
out placing it opposite to tlie door, in a sitting posture:
They tlien carry it several tunes round the house in which
It is to be interred ; for sometimes they bury it in the house
and under the bed. In this procession the religious man,
the Patriarcli of the family goes before the corjjse, saying
in eadi round Yah then Ho which is sung out by all the
company, he then shouts out He which is also sung by
the rest, and all conclude by striking off witli Wah in
solemn chorus : which united sounds form the Tetragram-

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maton, or four lettered name of God, sacred among the
Jews. Of which we must here observe, diat the Hebrews
are not permitted on any solemn occasion to utter this
word ; and that these Indians who certainly do use it, and in
many parts are well known to use it, do so, not as an entire
word, but by the sound of the letters apart and in the regu-
lar order which composed the sacred word. In the Chok-
taw nation and in several others they also distinctly sing
Hal-le4u-yah, intermixed with their lamentations. The
account given of their funeral rites are much the same as
those before mentioned.

The graves of the dea<l are :,.i sacred among them that
to profane them is tlie greatest act of hostility that can
be committed against a nation ; and they will not suffer a
white man to be buried m the same ground with their own
people; deeming it criminal, and believing that the spirits
of the dead would haunt their houses and bring misfor-
tunes on their families.

If any die at a distance from home and they are not
pursued by an enemy, they place the corpse on a scaffold^
secured from beasts and fowls of prey, and when the flesh
is consumed and the bones dry they take them home and
solemnly inter them.

The Indians on the Juniata and Susquehannah rivers,
placed their dead on covered cribs made for the purpose,
till the flesh consumed away. At the proper time they
gathered the bones, scraped and washed them and then
buried them with great solemnity. And there is a tribe
called Nanticotes, who on their removal from an old to a
new town, cany the bones of their ancestors with them.

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which was also kno^vn to prevail in some cases among the
Canada Indians. Joshua 24. 32. 2. Sam. 21. 13.

Thus the Hebrews often gathered together the bones
and deposited them in the tombs of their fathers. So
Jacob charged his son to do after his death, and he buried
him with his fathers in the cave in which his parents lay:
and so Moses when he departed from Egypt took the bones
of Joseph with hun. The Jews buried neai- their cities and
sometimes opposite their houses, implying a silent lesson
of friendship and a lesson to live well. Tliey buried
families together, but strangers apart by themselves.

A respectable Clergyman, who preached to the Indians,
was once present when news was brought to an aged
woman of her sou's sudden death by an accident. She
retired to a distance and sat down on the ground, her female
friends followed her and sat around her in a circle.
They continued long in a melancholy silence, uttering
only now and then a deep groan. All at once the mother
put her hand to her mouth, and fell with her face to the
ground, tlie others did the same, making melancholy and
dismal yells and groanings. Thus they continuetl for
some time with their hands on their mouths and their
mouths in the dust. The men retired to a distance and
went through the same ceremony. Need the reader be
reminded of the relation which we have of Job and his
friends. 21, 5; 29, 9; 40, 4. Micah 7, 16. Lara. 3, 29.
Prov. 30. 32. and other places.

By the Mosaic law a surviving brother was commanded
to take the widow to wife if she had no child, and raise up
seed unto his brother. The design of which law was

<fein

1 "•

.'S-'

I'"

r -

•1

doubtless, to preserve the families entire, and that the
mhentance of each might descend to the family. The
children of the la^vful wife had a right to the inheritance,
and If the husband died before she had children, the
brother, bemgthe nearest relative was appointed to be the
father of the heir at law. Ruth. 4, 10. Deut, 25, 5.

The Indian customs resemble this. A widow is bound by
a strict law or custom to mourn the death of her husband
for the space of three or fouryears. But if it be known that
the elder brother of her deceased husband has lain with her
she ,s exempt from the law of mourning, has liberty to
tie up her hair and anoint and paint herself; which she
could not otherwise do without being treated as an
adulteress.

Women have in no comitry nor at any period of time
been treated with the regard and kmdness they have
expenenced in Europe of late years. In eastern countries
they were formerly bought, and wherever this mode of
obtaming wives has prevailed then- condition has been
depressed ; they have become the property and the slaves
of the husbands. In this way were Rachel and Leaii
obtamed: and in many paits of America the marriage
contract IS a purchase, if not of money, of an equivalent.
The smtor devotes his serice for a certain time to the
parent of the maiden he courts, by hnnting with him, culti-
vating his ground, forming his canoes or by other presents
which are useful or rare. Their women are seldom pro-
liiic: excessive fatigue, together with the want and distress
often incident upon savage life, the custom of suckling
then- childi-en for many years, and it has been said the

destroyi

number

This;

generally

manners

separatic

is given

ceremon

takes pla

is an evf

In ma

are founc

nal and

avenger <

writes.

the Cree

sacred to

blood spi!

are excei

refuge so

privilege

allow bin:

The to

stream of

tected SO]

wamor in

after some

to his hoi

chiefs toll

obliged t

aestroying of children when ,hey exceed a convement

number, make the famUics small.

This mode of obtaiiiing a wife which is found to pievail
generally m the North, savours much of Israehtish
manners; as does also their plan of divorce : for where a
sepamtion is desired, there is no wrangling about it, notice
IS given to the relations and the reasons assigned, httlc
ceremony follows, no ill wiU ja expressed and the divorce
takes place. L.t hUn give her a bill «/ Ji^^, Th;,
13 an event by no means common. Deut 24 3

In maay places in which these Indians aie s^ttl«J, there
are fomid among them places of refuge to which a crimi-
nal and even a captive may fly, and be safe from the

ZZ 1.U '" "" "" '"' ^'"^' "• *^'- B-tl-m,

he Creek nation. This is esteemed the mother town

*^cred to peace: no captives are put to death or human

ood spilthere." Adair states that altho- th. Chereke"
«e exceedingly corrupted, still they observe the law of
refuge so inviolably, that chey allow their beloved IZt^l
pnnl^ of protecting even a murderer, but they sddl
allow him to return from it in safety.

The town of refuge called Choate, is situated on a kme
::::7 -^"-^ ^-^W*- ^ere an Englishman wL^

wamoi m defence of his property. He told Adair that
afte.. some months stay in that town he proposed reltg

li Jd'h t "":r *^ -8'"'o»hood: but th!
cnefs told him it would prove fatal to him. He was
"Wiged to remain there until he had found means to

«-

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■■•■I

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' -^

satisfy the friends of the deceased by presents. In the
upper country, there is also an old toM-n, now reduced to
a village, which is still a place of safety for these w ho kill
others undesignedly, and in most other parts such spots
still remain, in which no one was ever known to be put
to death, though in their modem degeneracy they have
sometimes driven persons out of them that they might be
put to death elsewhere. Deut 19, 2.

The Jewish law, Num. 35. 18. commanded that the
murderer shall be put to death. The Avenger of blood
shall slay the murderer; when he meeteth him, he shall
slay him — but the same severe law provided a chance of
escape. Cities of refuge were chosen in dillerent and dis-
tant parts to which the murderer could fly and be secure.
Numbers 35. 9. and following. So with the Indians, the
nearest relative of a murdered man is bound to seek
revenge and in general nothing but blood can atone for
blood that was shed : nor is there any chance of a mur-
derer shunning the fatal blow but by securing a retreat in
one of their peaceful towns — where he is condemned to
pass the remainder of his miserable life, to meditate on the
evil he has committed and by repentance obtain the
Almighty's pardon, while that of man is never vouch-
safed to him.

" At the present day we can scarcely form an opinion
of what these American Indians were when first discover-
ed by the Europeans, They who see those i^eople now, '
especially those who are near the new settlements and
hold intercourse with the inhabitants, find them abandoned
to all sorts of crime, mean, debased and gTovelling, full of

deceit ;

diseases

and es]

unknow

unniodc

moral c

importai

Cliuviblj

people.

yours.

us that

owing to

frequent

this, wh

up to tl

more of

any toler

although

mands of

"The

glory and

from the

their beio

ditions ai

genei-atioi

their wan

society, w

condition

without re

»nd uiiivt

<l<Jceit and looking out for vengeance. Rv oppression
(hscases and wars brought on them by thJ new comers'
and especially by the free use of si.irituous liquors,'
unknown to them m their pure state, of which tliey are'
immoderately fond, they have sadly degenerated in'their
moral character, and lost that sense of dignity and self
importance which they formerly possessed. An old
Cliavibbee, at an. early day, thus addressed one of our
people. "Our people arc become almost as bad as
yours. We are so much altered since you came among
us that we hardly know ourselves; and we think it is
owing to so melancholy a change that hurricanes are more
frequent than formerly. It is an evil spirit that has done
this, who has taken our best lands from us, and given us
up to the dominion of Christians." Losing more and
more of their old manners, they cannot at this time give
any tolerable account of their religious rites and customs;
although strongly attached to them as the express com-
mands of the Great Spirit to their forefathers."

"The very ancient men who have witnessed the fonner
glory and prosperity of their nation, or who have heard
<rom the mouths of their ancestors, and -especially from
their beloved men, whose office it is to keep alive their tra-
ditions and laws and. make them known to the rising
generation, the fonner state of the country, the prowess of
their vvaniors in old time and the peace and happiness of
society, weep like infants when they speak of the fallen
condition of the people. But this giief is not alio^^ether
wuhout rel-.ef ; for they have a prophecy, of ancient origin
»nd umversal cuiTency among them, that the man of

' -1

America, will, at a future c'ly, regain his ancient ascen-
dency, and expel tii? mu a of Europe from this western
hemisphere. This ' iHevii ♦persuasion has enabled their
prophets to arrest in so. .v tribes the use of intoxicating
liquors, ard has givo.i outii to attempts for a general con-
federacy of the Indians of North America."

Boudinot infonns us he was present at a dinner given
to some Indians in 1789 at New York, who had corae
there on a mission. Before dinner some of the Sachems
with the Chief man were standing in the balcony looking
at the city and harbour. They seemed dejected, especi-
ally the Cliief. General Knox took notice of it and said,
"Brother, what has happened to you, you look sad. Is
there any thing to distress you.?" He made answer. "I'll
tell you, brother. 1 have been looking at your beautiful
city, the great water, your fine country, and see how happy
you all are. But then I could not help thinking, that
this fine Country and this great water was on 2 ours.
Our Ancestors lived here — they enjoyed it as their own
in peace ; it was the gift of the Great Spirit to them and
to their children. At last the white people came here
in a great canoe. They asked only- to leV them tie it to a
tree, lest the waters should carry it away. We consented.
They then said some of the people were sick, and they
jisked permission to land them and put them under the
shade of the trees. The ice then came and they could
not go away. Then they begged a piece of land to build
wigwams for the winter ; we granted it to them. They
asked for some corn to keep them from starving; we
iririrllv furnished it to them; they promising 1 7 go away

when the
them the

pointed t}
would sta

•

Afternard

intoxicath

became ve

land. Fii

the wilder

oysters: tl

wasted awi

while you

This make!

They hi

of spirituoi

doubt they

them ; and

late treaties

brought int

traders are i

what they d(

Two young t

ca spirits int

who imraedi

and let the 1;

This was a

their fondnes

tasting it, no

"ig the whole

In the thii

'.y^

when the ice was gone. When this happened we told
them they must now go with their big canoes; but rhev
pointed theirbigguns round their wigwams, and said they
would stay there and we could not make them go away
Aftern-ai^s others came. They brought spirituo.u. and
mtoxicatmg liquors with them, of which the Indian,
became very fond„ They persuaded us ta s.11 them .ome
land. Finally A,ey drove us back from ^me to time i«to
the wilderness far from the water, aM th^ fish, and the
oysters: they have destroyed our game; our people have
wasted away, and now wo Kve miserable and wretched
while you are enjoying our fine and beautiful country.
Th^makes me sorry. Brother, and I cannot help it.-

They have above all things regretted the introduction
of spirituous liquors among them, which with reason no
aoubt they regard as the greatest evil that has befallen
them ; and the first and most decisive article in all their
ate treaties has been, that there shall not be any of it
brought into their towns or sold to their people. The
traders are allowed to carry enough for their ovm use, and
what they do not consume must be thrown on the ground,
wo young traders were met carrying forty kegs of Jamai-
oaspmts into the Creek country by some of the natives,
who immediately struck their tomahawks into every keg
^id let the liquor run out, without drinking a drop of it.
ihjswas a great instance of self denial; for it is said,
heir fondness for it is so great, that, had they indulged in
tasting ,t, nothing could have prevented them from drini-
»'g the whole of it.
In the third report of the United Missionary Society it

ti2

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YStfWL'.'J^ i^

tii^v--#^^^

'.V

''S

''*»»J

is stated, "that the aged men, on hearing the children
repeat, the instructions given iheui in the school, were
much pleased and said; "Now this is good talk. It
resemblet.' the talk which the old people used to make to
us when V7e were little children ; but alas ! the wicked
white men have rooted it out of our nation. We are glad
the Great Spirit has sent these good Missionaries to h.ing
it back to us again."

After some Missionaries had made known the object
of their visit, tlie aged wife of one of their chiefs who was
present made the following remark. " We have always
understood, that at some time good people are to come,
and teach us the right way; how do we know but these
are those good people come to teach us ?"

HE]

shores and

of it, he Wi

manners.

he had me

any nation

of native

nated with

friends in

countenanc

children ha

would thin]

London, wl

"They ^

their arms a

of highly p(

coasts. Tl

bauds rouni

CHAPTER IV.

OF RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS RITES.

HEN Mr. Penn had landed on the Americim
shores and hi^d held his first intercourse with the Natives
of it, he was exceedingly struck with their appearance and
manners. He found them very different from any people
he had met with any where else, and thought them \uilike
any nation he had read of. He saw them in their state
of native purity, undehased hy slavery and uncontami-
nated with the vices of Europeans. In a letter to his
friends in England he wrote, "I fburid them with
countenances much hke the Jewish race; and their
children have so lively a resemhlance of them, that a man
would think himself in Duke's Place or Berry Street, in
London, when he seeth them."

"They wore ear-rings and nose jewels; bracelets on
their arms and legs, rings on their fingers, necklaces made
of highly polished shells found in their rivers and on their
coasts. The females tied u^> their hair behind, worked
bands round their heads, and ornamented them with shells

!?■;:

■►•.J

■'*«»j

and feathers, and wore strings of beads round several parts
of their bodies. Round their mocasins they had shells
and turkey spurs, to tinkle like little bells as they walked."
Of these things we read among the fantastic peculiarities
of the Hebrew women in the days of their degeneracy, Isa.
3, 18. "In that day the Lord will take away the bravery
of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their caul«
and their round tires Hke the moon : the chains and the
bracelets and the muflers: the bonnets and the ornaments
of tlie legs, and the hand-bands, and the tablets, and the
ear-rings : the rings and the nose j ewels." " The common
dress was a flannel garment or mantle ornamented on the
upper edge by a nanwv strip of fur, and at the lower edge
by fringes or tassels. Over this, which reached below the
knee, was worn a small cloak of the same materials, like-
\Nise fringed at the lower part;" which reminds us of the
fringes and tassels worn by the Jews on their garments.
They were then in the careful observance of certain reli-
gious feasts, which bore a remarkable likeness to those of
the ancient Hebrews. Indeed many of the early visitors
of this hitherto unknown country and most of the serious
and intelligent part of the settlers, who paid attention to the
people and to their customs, both S})uniards and English-
men, made tlieir re aarks upon the general likeness they
bore to the Jews, vithnri unfortunately entering farther
into the que; uon, of lue 4aarter fiom whence they sprang.
Speaking ■■ i" religion. Father Charlevoix observes.
"Nothing hv.4 vindergoue more sudden, frequent and sur-
jM-ising revc'ctions, iuan religion. When once men have
abandoned the '>ii\y triye one, they soon loose sight of it,

and find themselves entangled in such a labyrinth of inco-
herent errors, inconsistencies and contradictions, that there
often remains not the smallest clue to lead us back to the
truth. The Buccaniers of St. Domingo, who professed to
be christians, but who had no intercourse except with one
another, in less than thirty years, through the want of
religious worship, instruction and an authority that might
keep them to their duty, had lost all marks of Christianity
except baptism alone Had those people continued only
to the third generation, their grard- cliildren would have
been as vo^I of Christianity as the inhabitants of Temi-
Austrahs, or New Guinea. They might, possibly, have
preserved some ceremonies, the meaning and origin ol"
which they could not explain.'*

The Israelites were carried captive about seven hundred
years before the Christian era, and may have remained
under the controul of their conquerors for two or uiiee
liundred years. We shall in a future chapter encpiire
about what period their escape from Media may have been
n-compHshed; out, making every allowance that time and
circumstances seem to require, it must luive been nearly
two thousand years after that escape, that these numerous
and singrj.T tribes were discovered on the American
Continent What surprising changes may not have taken
plaf -nong them, or many parts of them, during that
lo'i^term of years! Without government, without laws,
^vi.hout any head but the head of the family, or of a small
ass„v:..ied tribe, or any will but that of the patriarchal
IneC; with an unlimited range over an immense continent,
nch in natural Produce, and abounding in Game and

, I

i I

'4 [

'•0
■ ..I

-lit.

in wild Animals of various kinds; with more food at
their command than many years could consume, and the
I)rospect of their provision multiplying rather than dimi-
nishing ; numberless will have been the modifications of
character which they assumed, and incalculable the dis-
tance — I mean in manners and in thoughts — from which
families and tribes will have receeded from one another.
And yet these wandering tribes of Indians, spreading
during the space of two thousand years, over an extent of
country ninety degrees in length with a proportionate
spread, have preserved so many essential parts of an
original plan of divine worship, and so many primitive
doctrines, as to satisfy enquirers, that they have descend-
ed from one family, and to point us with a sufficient
clearness to that family ; while yet they have almost, and
in some parts wholly, forgotten their meaning and tiieir
end.

It has been no uncommon thing for ignorant people to
charge them with being idolaters ; the occasion of which
charge is well explained. Good men, from a want of the
knowledge of their language, and from an intimacy with
the most worthless of them, residing near the European
settlements, without making any allowance for situation
and circumstances, have given terrific accounts of these
children of nature. Some zealous and pious men, deeply
aflfected with a sense of what they considered their unhap-
py state, have i -ne ii'to the woods to them, to preach the
Gospel, without a preparatory education for so important
an undertaking; without understanding their language
well, and knowing their customs, habits and prejudices.

• Among some of these peoi)le it has hecn said there was
a talk of many Gods; yet to this was added the declara-
tion, that there is one gi-eat and good God, who is over all
the rest: by the many gods may he meant the lesser spi-
rits or angels, in which they all l)elieve.

To persons so ignorant of what they ought first to have
known, and trusting to a heathen interpreter who was
unable to feel or express the nature of spiritual things, and
(laving to deal with a jealous and artful people, rendered
so by a suficring experience of more than a centurv, hv
imposition and oppression, what may we inuigine would
hajipen, but that they should be despised by the Indians,
and then made a butt of to laugh at and to frighten. They
have dressed themselves, for the sake of a ftolie, in a ter-
rific manner, and made frightful images, with extravagant
emblems about them, to alarm the weak minds of the
white people of whom they thought but lightlj'.

It is a well known fact that a jn-eacher of this insignifi-
cant class went among them before the revolutionary war,
and in his discourse began to tell them; "that there is a
God who created all things; that it is exceedingly sinful
and offensive to him, to get drunk, or lie or steal : which
they should carefully avoid." They answered him. " Go
about your business, you fool ! Do not we know there is
a God as well as you ! Go to your own peojile and preach
to them; for who gets drunk, and lies and steals more
than you, white people ?" Indeed, if the Indians form
their ideas of us from the common traders and land s])ecu-
lators, and common people, with whom alone they associ-
ate, they will not run into a greater error than the

, ^3|ij

IT: ■

•14, J

Europeans do, when they fonn their ideas of the character
of Indians, from those that keep about the settlements
and tralfic with the frontier inhabitants.

Respectable as the character of Robertson is generally
as a historian, he appears to have been deceived by the
Spanish Writers to whom he trusted, though not impli-
citly. In his account of the Mexican religion there is
much truth, mixed, as it appears from more recent investi-
gation, with much en-or.

"Among the Mexicans religion was formed into a
regular system, with a complete train of priests, temples
victims and festivals. From the genius of their religion
we may form a just conclusion with respect to its influence
on the character of the people. The aspect of supersti-
tion was with them gloomy and attrocious ; its divinities
clothed with terror and delighting in vengeance : they
were exhibited under detestable fonns which created hor-
ror. The figures of serpents, vipers, and other destructive
anunals decorated their temples : fear was the only prin-
ciple which inspired their votaries ; fasts, mortifications
and penance were employed to appease the wrath of their
Gods, and the Mexicans never approached their altars but
with blood sprinkled upon them from their own bodies.
Human sacrifices were deemed most acceptable; every
captive in war was devoted as a victim, and sacrificed with
rites no less solemn than cruel. The head and the heart
were the portions consecrated to the Gods : the warriors
who had made the prisoners, carried off the bodies to feast
upon them with theh- friends. The Spirit of the Mexi-
cans was therefore unfeeUng, and the genius of their reli-

gion so far counteracted the influence of policy and the
arts, that, notwithstanding their progress in both, their
manners, instead of softening, became more fierce."

"In Peru, the whole system of civil policy is founded
on religion. The Inca is not only a legislator but the
messenger of heaven : his precepts are not received as the
mjunctions of a superior but as the mandates of a God :
his race is held sacred and not inteimixed with mean
blood : he is the child of the Sun, and is deemed under
the protection of the deity from whom he descended : his
power is absolute, and all crimes committed against him
are violations of heaven's decrees. The genius of religion
was with the Peruvians quite opposite to that of the Mex-
icans. The Sun, the great source of light and joy and fer-
tilityin the creation, attracted their principal homage ; the
noon and stars, co-operating, were entitled to secondaiy
lonours." So the commands of Moses were those of God.
"There were no imaginary beings in Peru presiding over
lature to occasion gloom ; but real objects, mild and gene-
•ous, made their religion gentle and kind. They offered
to the sun part of those productions which his genial
warmth had called forth from the bosom of the earth and
reared to maturity. These people never stained their
altars with himian blood, but were formed to mildness by
correcting all that is adverse to gentleness of character."
Here is a thread of Persian theology woven into the the-
ocracy of Israel. As their ancestors caught the Egyp-
tian distemper, which burst out in the golden calf; so a
^ribe or family of the Israelites blended the Persian fire
n their worship.

r.
I-

Htl:|

in'

.In

.•••I

I.'. '■

;?i:

'I'he Indians are filled with a spiritual pride, cspcciallv

their chief and best men. They consider themselves under

a theocracy, and that the Great Spirit wlH)m they worship

is in an especial manner their governor and head. They

pay their worship, as Mr. Adair assures ' us, and he lind

the best opportunity of knowing, to the Great, nenoficeut,

Supreme, Holy Spirit of Fire, who resides above the

clouds, and on earth with unpolluted, holy peo])le. Some

Spanish writers on their first amval among them declared,

that i^' .Mexico they paid adoration to images or dead

•S
persons, or to the celestial luminaries or to evil Spirits •

but Adair assures us, that the charge is totally false,

although .it may not have appeared to them alto'^'^ether

gioundless.

Their religious ceremonies api)roa<h much nearer to
the Mosaic than to Pagan institutions, but it is c-sy for
observers to be deceived in these. Mistakes, and they very
great, have arisen from the difficulty of a stranger obtain-
ing correct infomiation from a peoj)le who are jealous of
the object of his encpiiry, and extremely secretin perform-
ing their religious duties; and from the well known
mischievous designs or avaricious views of strangers. A
man wdio becomes a historian, if he be of a narrow mind and
contracted view of things, delights in the marvellous, and
makes up strange stories to answer private, puqioses or
cover base designs: which has been fully exemplified in
the false and base . accounts which have been published
by Spaniards of the inhabitants of Mexico.

Adair assures us,, that from the experience of forty-
year* he can say, tliat none of the many nations frorc

Hudson's Bay to the Missisippi, have ever been kiiown to
attempt the foniiation ol" any image of the Great Spirit.
Yet they ai'e all a very religious people, and devout in
their worship. They never attempt to divine from any
thing but from dreams ; which proceeds from a tradition, that
their ancestors received knowledge of future events from
heaven through this medium. Job 4. 12. 33. 15. and
other places.

"The great temple at Mexico was a solid mass of earth
in a square fonn, fo,ced partly with stone. Its base on
each side extended ninety feet, and decreased gradually as
it advanced in height, terminating in a quadrangle of about
thirty feet, where they placed a shrine of the Deity and
two altars on which victims were sacrificed. All the other
temples in New Spain resembled this." It is to be wished
that Robertson who gives us this account had stated, what
he meant by the shrine of the Deity. It may have been
no other than the holy place, containing the holy thuigs,
which I have hereafter to describe, but which the Spa-
niards would convert into a proof of idolatry. On these
points he seems to have had his thoughts completely per-
verted by the authorities in which he placed too much con-
lidencc. If his information was correct, and we ai'e not
authorised to say it was not, we are to regard this elevated
plot of ground as a copy of the high places on which the
inhabitiuits of Caiiaan worshipped their Gods; those of
Diin and Bethel on which the calves of Rehoboam were
placed ; and others on which Baal — the Sun — was worship-
jted. 13 ut we are also to recollect, that the temple of Jeru-
salem stood on the highest ground, and, like the heathen

;i2)fi

mi I

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f! I

Hi;
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I :

toiui)lcs, was can-icd up as near the sky as could be.
Du Pratz was intimately acquainted with the guar-
dians of the temple of a nation near the Missisippi, and,
rerpiesting to be informed of the natureof their worship, he
was told, that they acknowledged a Sui)reme Being whom
they call the Great Spirit, or the Spirit infinitely Great,
or the Spirit by way of excellence. The guardian said,
"the Great Spirit is so great and powerful, that in compa-
rison of him, all other things are as nothing; he made all
that we see, all that we can see, and all that we cannot see.
lie is so good that he cannot do ill to any one, even if he
had a mind to do it. Tlie Great Spirit made all things by his
will ; nevertheless, the little spirits, who are his servants,
Piay ^y his orders have made many excellent things in the
universe, which we admire; hut God himself fonned man by
Jjis own hands. The little spirits are free servants, always
before him, and ready to execute his pleasure with an ex-
treme diUgence. The air is filled with other spirits, some
;; )od, some wicked; the latter have a chief who is more
wicked than all the rest. The Great Si)irit had found
him so wicked, that he had bound him for ever, so that
the other spirits of the air no longer did so much harm."
On being asked, how man was made? he answered.
"That God kneaded some clay and made it into a little
man ; after examining it and finding it well formed, he
biew on his work, and the little man had life, grew, acted,
and walked." Of the woman he said, "j)robably she wa,^
made in the same manner as the man, but their ancient
speech n^ade no mention of any difll-rence, only that the
nv,m was made first."

Hunter's Namilive was written, in 1.823, under circum-
stances peculiarly striking. He was taken by the Tnilians
when a child and brought up by them. He jloeis not
appear t<) have enterUiined any thought as to their origin
or that of their reUgious opinions ; but states many liuts
which clearly prove the point with us at issue. "It is cer-
tain that they all acknowledge one Supreme, all powerful
and intelhgent Being, the Great Spirit, the giver of life.
They beheve thut he often held council and smoked witli
their red men in ancient times, and gave them laws ; but
that in consequence of their disobedience, he withdrew
from them and abandoned them to the vexations of the
bad spirit, who had been instrumeii* d of all thtir degene-
racy and sufferhigs.'" See page 25 and 26. "'J'hey
believe him always present with them, and still loving tliose
that pray to him and are thankful; they oHer their devo-
tions to him for preserving them and supplying their
wants ; and you then would witness the silent but .leep
impressive connnunication the native of the forest holds
with his Creator."

Accounts very similar to these of the Northern Indians,
are also given of the Araucanians and the inhabitants oi'
Chili, whose history was written by Alonzo de Ericilla.
They have the same traditions which prevail over North
America, or very similar to them, they entertain tlie same
views of God, and have the same religious customs.

In the South there are several instances ol" the theo-
cratic form of government, in which despotism is concealed
under the appearance of a gentle and patriarchal govern-
ment. That of Zac, which comjirised the kingdom of New

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Grenada, was founded by a mysterious personage called
Bochira, who, according to tradition Kved in the temple of
the Sun at Sogamoza two thousand years ago. The
people are called Moscas. Sogamoza has been thought
to be compounded of Sagan, the name of the Deputy high
priest of Israel, which is also a well known Indian name
for the deputy or waiter on their Priest, and Moses. Cal-
met tells us, that Moses was Sagan to Aaron, as he learns
from the Rabbis. Hence this blind tradition of the
Moscas may have confounded the names of the person and
the place, or transferred that of the former to the latter,
alluding in pomt of fact to theur real lawgiver, Moses, two'
thousand years before some noted era.

They profess an opinion exactly similar to that of the
Jews, that the Great Spuit is the head of their state, and
has chosen them from aU the rest of mankind as his elect
and beloved people. This is a circumstance related not
to a few, but to aU who have had an intercourse with
them, which would lead to the knowledge of it; nor can it
well be accounted for, if they were not derived from the
same stock as the Jews. Such is their religious pride,
that they hold the white people in contempt, applying to
them in their set speeches a word which signifies nothing.
But they flatter themselves with the name, the beloved
people, or holy people; and in their addresses they enlarge
in boasting terms on the happiness of their country, and
the special favour shewn it by God.

When any of the beloved people die, they soften the
thoughts of death by saying, he is gone to sleep with kis
beloved fore-fathers, and have a proverbial expression

among them, tJte days appointed him arefnished. They
jiffinn there is a fixed time and place, when and where
every one must die, without the possibility of avoiding it.
They also say, such a one was iveighed on the path, and
made to be light; ascribing life and death to God's uner-
ring and particular providence.

"I'he Jews hold the solemn four-lettered name of God in
great reverence, and mentioned it only once a year when
the high priest went into the holy place ; and it is a strik-
ing fact ascertained by abundance of testimony, that the
Indians utter loud the sound Yah at the beginning of their
religious dances ; they then sing y, y. y; ho, ho, bo; he
he, repeating these sounds often, as if to retain the remem-
brance of the name, but never utter the whole word too-e-
ther, at the somid of Yah, wbich so nearly resembles the
word J ah, the abstract of Jehovah, they fall into a bowing
posture." Whence can have come this veneration for cer-
tain sounds, their frequent and regular repetition on reli<n-
oiis occasions, and their care not to unite them in one
sound so as to utter the whole word ? Such an extraordi-
nary resemblance to a Jewish feeling and a Jewish reverence
can scarcely have been an accidental occurrence in the life
of those tribes.

Charlevoix, speaking of the northerns, observes nhat the
greater ])art of their feasts, their songs, and their dances,
appear to have had rise in religion, and still preserve
some traces of it. There is a great resemblance between
them and the people of God. At some of their meals
they do not use knives, and are careful not to break
any bones of the beast they eat ; and never eat the paxt

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which lies under the lo>*rer joint of the thigh, but always
throw it away." Other persons have said they tlirow it
into the fire. "They have been often heard to utter dis-
tinctly the word Hallelujah in singing ; and at the return
of their hunting party they make a feast of which nothing
must be left, but all consumed, or entirely disposed of
before the next morning; as in the passover of the Israel-
ites; and if any family cannot accomplish the prescribed
command, they call in the assistance of their neighbours ;
as was practised in Canaan when a family was not large'
enough to consume the paschal lamb."

" The American Indians, especially the Cherokees and
Choktaws, have in their places of worship, as they call
them, the beloved squares, a very humble resemblance
of ^he Cherubim which overshadowed the mercy-seat.
Adair saw in one of these squares, two white painted
eagles, carved out of poplar wood, with the wings stretched
out, standing in a comer five feet from the gi-ound, close
to the red and white imperial seats, and within were
painted with a white clay the figure of a man, with
bufialo's horns, expressive of power, and that of a pan-
ther, which is the nearest of the animals of America to a
lion. Compare Ex. 37. 9. Ezekiel chap. 10. Each of
the Cherubims, according to the prophet, had theheadand
face of a man, the likeness of un eagle about the shoul-
ders, with expanded wings, tlie neck, mane and breast of
a lion, and the feet of lui ox: See Ezekiel, 1. 5.
In these squares they dance on the winter nights, singing
Hallelujah ; also yo, he, wah : but never discover any
signs of adoration of these figures.'' When the Israelites

79;

encamped we learn of them, that they were usually ar-
ranged into four divisions, under four different standards,
namely, a man, an eagle, a lion and an ox, which four
emVlematic figures, whatever they may mean, were found
roughly drawn in this and other similar temples.

The terms of their language direct to the character of
their religious feelings. The southerns call God by a
name which signifies greatness, purity and goodness ; the
great, beloved, holy cause: persons and places set apart,
are called sanctified; which epithet is also applied to their
priest or holy man, calling him, the great, holy, beloved,
sanctified man of the holy one. The most sacred appella-
tive they have for God is that already mentioned, yo, he,
wah, which they do not uttc xU common speech. Ol" the
time and place of uttering it they are very particular,
;'nd it is always spoken in distinct syllables, and with a
solemn air.

They have among them an order of men answering to
both prophet and priest. With some their language calls
them cunning men, and prescient of futurity, but gene-
rally men resembling the holy fire. Their tradition re-
ports of them, that in former times they were possessed of
an extraordinary divine spirit, by wliich they foretold
things future, and controuled the common course of na-
ture ; and they believe that, by the aid of the same divine
spirit or fiie, they can still effect the same. These perhaps,
were the lineal descendants of the tribe of Levi.

A similar account of the prophets of the Delaware
nation, was given by Mr. Beatty about sixty years ago.
" They consulted them upon occasion of great sickness.

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mortality, or other oxtraordinaiy occurrences; as tlie Jews
of old enquired of the prophets. These people are called,
beloved men, and their pontifical office descends by inhe-
ritance to the eldest."

I scarcely think it necessary to enter here into a minute
description of the dress of the priests, which it will be sup-
posed, in their rude and distressed condition, cannot liave
retained the richness of the ancient priesthood : it is how-
ever astonishing to .see how much, in their humble style,
it corresi)onds with that of the Jewish priesthood. There
is with tliem a long and a solemn ceremony once a year
for making the supposed holy fire,and offering a yearly atone-
ment for sin, when the priest is clothed in a white garment,
resembling the Ephod, made of a fine ly dressed deer-skin :
it is a waistcoat without sleeves : his shoes and other gar-
ments are white and new, and worn only on that occasion:
—he puts on a breast-plate, made of a white conch- shell,
with white buttons on the outside, in hnitation, we will
venture to say, of the precious stones of urim and thum-
mim. Kound his temples is a wi-eath of swan's featliers,
or a piece of swan-skin doubled, so as that only the snowy
down may appear; corre.'ponr'-ng in a humble degree
with the plate of gold of the Je,.ish High priest; and on
his head a tuft of white feathei-s : on his mocasins are fas-
tened a number of blunted turkey-cock spurs, as the Jew-
ish High priest wore bells on his coat of blue.

In every town or tribe u^ a High priest, and others of
inferior rtmk. The oldest presides in spiritual things : he
maintains great influence among his people, and the great
council never determine on any point of importance with-

out his advice. The people firmly believe, that they
have comtnunion with invisible spirits, who have some
share in the government of human affairs, and also of tho
elements. Their incense is the smoke of tobacco, which
they puff about on some occasions, and blow towards the
sun ; and they reckon their time by the new moon, of
which they are great observers, and rejoice at its coming
as the Hebrews did before them.

There is an odd story among them, which may be con-
ceived to have had its birth from their knowledge of the
blazing stones of the urim and thummim. It is of a trans-
parent stone of supposed great power to bring down rain,
when put into a basin of water, agreeably to a divine vir-
tue impressed on one of them in times of old. This stone
would suffer injury if it were seen by any common person,
and if seen by foreigners would lose all its divine power.

'* They have also a most holy place, into which none
but the priest can enter. It is partitioned off by a mud wall,
and in it are deposited their consecrated vessels. To ap-
proach this sacred spot would occasion danger to them-
selves, and general injury to the tribe. The great public
square, or beloved place, stands alone in the centre and
highest part of the town. It has four square or cubical
buildmgs, enclosing a spot large in proportion to the size
of the town : one of these is the council-house — another
a dark building, a secluded place, designed for a sanc-
tuary or temple, into which it is death for any but the
High priest to enter ; in which are deposited, the sacred
things, the physic pot, rattles, chaplets, eagle's tail, calu-
met, or sacred stem, a sort of pipe, the pipe of peace, &c.'*

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Mr. Bartrain was once present in a town when the peo-
ple were fasting, talcing medicine to purge thoroughly the
system, and praying the Great Spirit to avert from them
a sickness which Iiad long afflicted them. They fasted
seven or eight days, taking no food hut a meagre gruel,
made of com, flour and water, and drinking ahlack drink
whicli acted as an emetic. Deut. 16. a fast of seven days.
In short, their ceremonies of religion are much after the
mosaic plan, and have scarcely any resemhlance to Pagan
institutions, while they are utter strangers to all the gestures
])ractised by the pagans in their religious rites.

To the above remarks, which ai)ply chiefly to the
North American Indians, it is desirable to add the remarks
of early writers on the state and customs of those of Mexico
and of South America. These miters have been chiefly
Spaniards, who cared little about the religious feelings of
the natives, and appear to have done all in their power to
have them regarded as idolaters, cannibals, oflering human
sacrifices, barbarous and premeditated murderers. There
were 'Jideed some happy exceptions among those writers.
From these persons we learn, that they ottered to the sun
and earth asmall quantity of every kind of meat and drink be-
fore they tasted it themselves. This was the evening sacrifice
already explained. Montezuma shut himself up and con-
tinued for the space of eight days in fasting and prayer
when the Spaniards arrived ; and to blacken his character
they have added without sufficient authority, that he of-
fered up human victims in sacrifice to Ins God. These
prayers and fastings were doubtless the same as those of
the Northern Indians, to sanctify himself and gain favour

and coum
with a pri
with the ]

Bertrai
pie, comp
held their
holy, intc
sacred th
the males
ripe fruits
cicnt pent
time of ri]
Hebrews,

Oftlie
extraordin
two days,
salt meat >
They ass(
any beasts
and feastei
ment for S

"The
women an^
a house,
repeating
the beIov(
^'hey have
tlia alread
when the (
to the tem

'n the peo-
oughly the
Tom them
'ley fttsted
gre gruel,
lack drink
ven days.
1 after the
to Pagan
e gestures

ly to the
3 remarks
»f Mexico
n chiefly
3eHngs of
power to
g human
There
! writers,
o the sun
h'inkbe-
sacrifice
Lud con-
prayer
haracter
it he oi-
These
those of
I favour

ana council from tlic Deity. At Mexico was found atem])lc,
with a priest, called the minister of holy things, together
with the hearth or altar, the continual fire, the holy ark,&c.

Bertram gives a description of a Southern Indian tem-
ple, composed of a square of small buildings; " here they
held their councils; a part was shut up, being esteemed
holy, into which the priest alone entered, and where the
sacred things were deposited. At this temple, he says,
the males assemble three times in a year, at the feast of
ripe fruits, at the hunting feast, about the time of the an-
cient pentecost, and at the gi-eat feast of expiation, at the
time of ripe com. When one dies, the Indians, like the
Hebrews, wash and anoint the body."

Of tlie Peruvians, Acosta relates, ''that they held an
extraordinary feast, for which they prepared by fksting
two days, not accompanying with their wives, or eating
salt meat or gariic or drinking chicca daring that time.
They assembled in a place, which neither strangers nor
any beasts were allowed to enter, afterwards they danced
and feasted." Here is the Northern's festival of Atone-
ment for Sin. He adds.

"The Charibbeans at a triennial feast divided the
women and children from the men; the latter, shut up m
a house, sang, he, he, he, while the others answered by
repeating the same : they danced to the sound of rattles,
the beloved man bein g dressed in pontifical garments."
They have also a kind of feast of love or friendship similar to
Ilia already described. The Mexicans have also the feast
when the corn is ripe, on which occasion every one brings
fo the temple a handful with a drink made of the same."

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Lact, in his description of South America, assures us,
"that he often heard the Indians repeat the word hallelu-
jah." and Malvenda states " that the natives of St. Michael
had tomh-stones with ancient hehrew characters upon
them, as these. Why is God gone away ; and, he is dead.
God knows.'*

The Mexicans have also the tradition of a deluge, in
which one man was saved with his family and different
animals ; and a Portuguese historian in his history of Bra-
zil, says, " America has been wholly peopled by the Car-
thagenians and IsraeHtes. As to the last, nothing but cir-
cumcision is wanting to constitute a perfect resemblance
between them and the Brazilians.'*

Other authorities similar to these might be quoted from
the eai-ly Spanish and Portuguese writers. What has
been given is sufficient to answer the end designed in
selecting them.

There has recently appeared in this country, The Se-
cret Report on America, by Ulloa and Juan, written ac-
cording to the instructions of the Secretary of State, and
presented to Ferdinand the 6th. One of the most impui-
tant points to which the authors of this report directed
their attention, was to redeem from calumny the character
of the native Indians, whose supposed incapacity had been
made the pretext of so much injustice and cruelty. The
country is stated by tliem " to be covered with the ruins of
magnificent works of public[utility, erected by them, which
the Spaniards thought them incapable of executing. Solid
paved roads four hundred leagues in length, aqueducts
which brought water a hundred and twenty leagues,

temples

nionumei

Pizarro a

arts whic

and yet

bigotry )

libelled w

truth is,

and weal

Spaniard;

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Captain I

siderable

remain in

ny league

tains. T

works of

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places, to

tions, and

of perfect

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which the

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dies, tLe I

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might be

some of a

ssures us,
(I hallelu'
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ers upon
e is dead.

lelugc, in
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ry of Bra-
the Car-
ig but cir-
iemblaiico

loted from
Vhat has
signed in

The Se-
Titteii ac-
etate, and
)st impui-
t directed
character
had been
itj. The
e ruins of
nn, which
g. SoUd
aqueducts
' leagues,

temples and palaces of a most splendid character, wTrc the
monuments of an empire only four hundred years old when
Pizarro visited Peru, and found a people eminent in the
arts which adorn a highly advanced state of civilization :
and yet this people, because they have sunk under ihe
bigotry and oi)pression of their plunderers, are farther
libelled with the charge of imbecility and incapacity. Tlie
truth is, that nothing has tended to depress the people
and weaken them more than the measures which the
Spaniards adopted to make them christians."

A young Clergyman of Plymouth who went out with
Captain Mends in 1825, in the Ship Blanche, took con-
siderable pains to examine the antiquities which still
remain in abundance all afong the Peruvian coast for ma-
ny leagues, running parellel with the sea and the moun-
tains. There are still, not only the remains of stupendous
works of great antiquity: but there are also extensive
ruins of temples and fortifications made of burnt brick.
He dug into the cemetaries, an immense line of burial
places, to all appearance the receptacles of many genera-
tions, and disinterred some bodies, which were in a state
of perfect preservation, and are now lying in the British
Museum. The bodies were dry, consisting of bone and skin
carefully wrapped up in cotton cloth. In the tombs in
which these bodies were laid, small earthen vessels were
found in the n ugh fonn of a bottle with a handle or han-
dles, the bottom round, and having a mourh-piece, gene-
i-ally in the handle, out of which the contents of the vessel
might be taken. Some of these have the form of a fish,
some of a bird, and some are plain : a few are double,

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made in two dist'nct parts, united at the side by a brace
three or four inches long, with two orifices terminating in
one, intended perhaps for the tomb in which two persona
united in life were interred. Tliese vessels wer stopped
at thomoutJb, and contained a small quantity of fine dust,
the remains of a food which the suivivors deposited in the
grave o[ their friends, to supply their immediate want in
the event of a revival.

The tomb of a Casique^ which is distinguishable by its
being situated in the centre of the burial place of his tribe,
was opened by some of tlie crew of the Ca..,bridge in the
same ypar ; and, besides the body of the chief, the skele-
t/jns of twelve men were found, and on their skulls were
«lcarly distinguishable fracturoj, as from an axe or toma-
hawk ; who are said to have been sacrificed at his death
in order to be buried with him, that on his rising again he
might nr-t be unaccompanied by a proper retinue. In the
graves ave also found such instruments or articles as cor-
res])ond with the character of the deceased, and would be
proper for them to resume on their rising again. Thus,
in that oi" tlie warrior were instruments of war, the spear,
the axe and the arrow ; in another's and he probably addict-
ed to the sea, a very small canoe, or a fishing rod in minia-
1 urc ; in the woman's grave was discovered a rough kind
ol' distaff, with thread still on it in a perfect state of preser-
vation, also wooden needles, and the like. The earthen
vosseb, or bottles, as they may be called, are of different
sizes, and may contain a quarter of a pint or a half pint,
— there are two large enough to hold about two quarts,
which we will suppose were designed for the Casique

■

and his attendants. On some of them is the serpent, dij«-
tinctly formed with the tail hi its raoutli, the Egyptian and
Babylonian emblem of Eternity; on others tl>e rough
figure of a bird, perhaps the Apis of Egypt, not unknown
ill Chaldea. There are other characters also, which ni.iy
be emllematicali or merely fanciful according to the whiiu
of thep3tt<^r.

These kinds oi things have been shewn in Europe as
proofs of the idolatrous disposition of the natives of Aineri-
ca; — but, as well might th'^ uncouth images which dig.
adorn our old cathedrals, a^.d were the sports of monJ nIi
days, in which the cleverest kilow was he wiio could frame
the oddest image, — as for instance; tlie Devil on the
Witch's back who is looking over Lincoln — as well might
these be axlduced as indications of the idol worship of the
dark ages, as many of those articles which are lianded
about by our Missionaries, and other credulous person.",
to awaken tht* zeal of public meetings and obtain money
for the conversion of the Heathen.

The natives have for the most part forsaken the spot where
these venerable remains and the ashes ol their fore-fathers
still aie seen, and retired backwards towards and amongst
the long range of the Cordilleras ; leaving th«; Coast in
the h«nds of their conquerors, and now ir.habited ^y i mot-
ley race made up of Europeans, Indians and Africans,
mixed and mixed again in an indiscriminate succession.
They are however very numerous in their back settlements,
and remain pure and uncontaminated by what they may
well regard as base and defiled blood.

lliere is a striking similarity in the opinions which

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have been discovered amongst the scattered nations and
tribes of that Contine it, in reference to the object of their
worship. Speaking of the Deity, they call him, the Spirit,
ihe Great Spirit, and the Spirit of fire ; some indiscrimi-
nately : but the Peruvians carry their symbol worship still
farther. Their Incas are Children of the Sun : the first
of them descended from the Sun to give them Laws: their
temples are temples of the Sun. Yet we are not to sup-
pose that the Sun itself was their God. They directed
theii* attention to that bright luminary, as the ancient
Persians and Chaldeans did, because it is the direct
dwelling Place of the Great Spirit — as we say. Heaven
is God's throne. But they .certainly have formed no
images of their God, nor did they plant Groves around
their temples, as the Canaanites and the Druids were
used to do: so often referred to in Scripture.

In almost all other parts of America the dead were
placed on their haunches, the face towards the East, that
on revival they may hail the rising Sun : but it is remark-
able that in Peru, which is bounded on the East by an
uninteiTupted range of lofty mountains, and where the Sun
is not seen till it has risen high in the heavens, the dead
are always found in the same position with tlieir faces to-
wards the West—that they may behold his setting, since
his rising is not within their view.

Of the Antiquities of Mexico and the Missisippi, I
shall speak in a future chapter.

wh^!i

fruits.

CHAPTER V.

OF PUBLIC FESTIVALS.

XT will be proper to give a particular account of the
festivals of the American Indians ; for in all ages and in
all generations religion has been connected with festivals,
and the indulgence of the appetite has formed a part of the
gratitude to be paid to the giver of all blessing. Those
wh ? 'lave \vritten on the feasts of the Indians, specify five
that bear strong characteristic marks, by which the philo-
sophical enquirer may be assisted in forming his opinion
of the ancient stock from whence they sprang. These are.
The feast of first fruits, the hunters* feast, the feast of har-
vest, a daily sacrifice, and a feast of love. Of all habits
those of religion are the most powerful, and keep the
fastest hold.

Mr. Penn, who acquired his knowledge of tins people
from his own observation, informed his friends in England
in the year 1683, that "their woi-ship consisted of two
parts — sacrifice and cantico: the first is for their first
fruits. The first fat buck they kill goes to the fire, where

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it is all burned with a doleful chaunt of the priest, anti
with such fervency and labour of body that he sweats to a
foam. The other is the cantico, performed by round
dances, words, songs and shouts, and drumming on a
board." At one of the feasts Mr. Penn was present: it
consisted of twenty bucks with hot cakes made of new
corn, of both wheat and beans, in a square form, wrapped
in leaves and baked in the ashes: when these were eaten
they fell to dancing. Every visitor takes with him a present
in their money, which is made of the bone of a fish, the
black is as gold, the white as silver ; they call it wampum.
He also remarks "that they reckon by moons, they offer
their first fruits, they have a kind of feast of tabernacles,
they are said to lay their altars upon twelve stones, they
mourn a year, they have a separation of women"; and
other things which do not occur in the present day.

From Mr. Adair we have the follow^ing abstract of a
feast which may be called, the feast of first fruits.

"On tlie day appointed, as soon as the spring produce
comes in, while the sanctified new fruits are dressing, sLx
old ])eloved women come to the temple or sacred wigwam
of worship, and dance the beloved dance with joyful
hearts. They obsei-vc a solemn procession as they enter
the holy ground, carrying in one hand a bundle of small
branches of green trees ; where they are joined by six
old men, adorned with white feathers, having gr^en boughs
in the other hand. They are dressed in shewy ornaments.
The oldest man begins the dancd, going round the holy
fire in solemn silence : in the next circle he invokes yak,
after the usual manaer, on a bass key and with a strong

Wig*

accent : in another circle he sings Ao, ho, which is repeated
by all the religious procession, tUl they finish the circle.
Then in another round, iJiey repeat, he, he, in regular
notes, keeping time in the dance ; another circle is made
in Uke manner, repeating ivah, vmh. A little while after
this is finished they begin again, going fse&h rounds sing-
ing, hal-hal-le'le'lu^lu-yak^yah, in like maunei-, and fre-
quently tlie whole train strike up, halelu, haUelu, halle^
ImfoJi, hallelnyak, with earnestness, fervour and joy, each
striking the ground witli right and left foot ahemately,
strongly and well timed. Then a kmd of hollow sounding
drum joms tlic sacred choir, on which the old women chaunt
forth their grateful praises to the Great Spirit, redoubling
their steps in imitation of the beloved men at their
tiead." ITiIs is similar to the dances of the Hebrews,
some of whose dance-songs had no doubt the word hallelii^
yah at tJie beginning or ending. These degenerate people,
losing their ancient language, and with it the wonls of
these festive songs, have stfll retained the chorus sound, as
that whidi made the deejwst impression and was known
by all; and it va well attested, that all the inhabitants of
the extensive regions of North and South America, have
and retain these very expressive sounds, and repeat them
distinctly in their religious acclamations. Deut. oil, 26.
especially verse U.

On other religious occa«ions they have he^ distinctly
heard to sii^ ak-yo, ale-yo, the divine name expressive
of omnipotence : also, he-wah, 1ie-y;ah, intimating the soul,
or eternity, derived from yo-Jie-wak. These words of tlieir
leligious dances are never rMvaterl at n«o nrht^-n ♦.•rno.

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: ^

which has contributed to the loss of their meaning, for it
is thought they do not now understand either the Uteral
or the spiritual meanmg of wliat they sing, any furtlier
than by allusion to the name and the praise of the Great
Spirit.

** In these circuitous dances they frequently sing on a
bass key, aluhe, aluhe, aluwah, aluwah; also shilu-yo,
shilu-he, shilvr-wah and shilvr-hah. These they transpose
in several ways, with tlie same notes, lliey continue
their hyr 'is of joy for the space of about fifteen njinutes
and tlien they break up. As tliey degenerate they are said
to lengthen Uie dance and shorten the fast and purifica-
cation, and so exceedingly are they known to have
changed witliin the last seventy or eighty years, that if
tliey continue to decline from the manners of their ances-
tui's, there will not ere long be a possibility of recognising
tliem, but by their dialects and war customs: which also
will alter. After the dance is over tliey drink plentifully
of bitter liquids to cleanse their sinful bodies; and then go
to some convenient water, and there, according to tlie cere-
monial law of the Hebrews, they wash away their sins.
They then return witli joy in solemn procession, singing
songs of praise, till they enter the sacred square, to eat
the new fruits which are brought to the outside of it by
the beloved women. They observe the greatest decorum in
these solemnities, and give the name karuUia to any who
violate them. There is a subdivided tribe on the North
part of Pensylvania called Kanoa or Kanai, a sound
much like Canaan."

Accounts very similar to this are given by other writers.

Dr. Beatty states thus what he saw: "Before they make
use of any of their first fruits, twelve old men meet and
l)rovide a deer and some new fruits. They are divided
into twelve parts, the old men hold up the venison and
pray with their faces to the east, aclcnowledging tlie
bounty of heaven towards them. It is then eaten, after
which they freely enjoy the fruits of the earth. On the
evening of the same day they have another feast which
looks something like the passover ; when a large quantity
of venison is provided with otlier things, and distributed
to all the guests, of which they eat freely; and if any is
left it is thrown into tlie fire and burned, for none of it
must remain till sun-rise on the next day, nor must a
bone of the venison be broken." Num. 9. 12. Deut. 16. 4.

The feast of PaSvSover was observed by the Hebrews
not in their own houses, but in a sacred spot, which the
Lord should choose to place his name in, Deut. 16. 6;
and in America we find these people obsemng their feast
in the sacred place of worship, or in the beloved Square.

I shall now proceed to describe the Hunter's Feast.
This is thought to resemble the feast of Pentecost.
The reader may judge. After their return from a hunt-
ing expedition, during which they leave their families for
a certain space of time, longer or shorter as may be requir-
ed, they have a feast of gratitude.

Dr. Beatty says " that once in a year, some of the
tribes beyond the Ohio choose twelve men, who go out
and provide twelve deer ; others have ten men and ten
deer, — these numbers of twelve and ten deserve attention
—each of them cuts a sapling, and stripping off the bark

4iq

III

they make a tent by striking tlie ends in the ground and
bending them close at the top, covering them with blank-
ets. Each man chuses a stone, which they make hot and
place together in the form of an altar within the tent, on
which they bum the inside fat of the deer. See Num. 18. 1 7.
Lev. 8. 25. While making this offering, the men within
cry out, we pray or praise, they without answer, we hear:
then from the tent the sound proceeds, ho-hah, loud and
long. When the fat is consumed, they bum tobacco cut
fine on the same stones, by way of incense. Of this altar,
so like to the Jewish altar, it is to be remarked, that no tool
may be used in shaping the stones of which it is built,
they are 'taken rough, and no instrument of any kind
employed in building them up. Deut 27. 5 and 6.

The Southern Indians have a similar custom ; if they
have been successful on any occasion and returned safe,
tliey offer a sacrifice of gratitude : but if they have lost their
men, they imagine they have been impure and moum for
the sin which occasioned their loss.

Like other ill-informed and superstitious people, the
poor Indians imagine that their sins are the procuring cause
of all their evils : thus did the friends of Job ; and that
the Divinity in the ark will always bless the more religious
party with success. This is with them a governing sen-
timent, and the reason of mortifying themselves in the
severest manner while they are at war, living scantily, lest
by luxury their hearts should grow evil and give them
occasion to moum. Tfum shall affikt thyself.

Beatty, who went at an early period -^to the Delaware
nation, was present at a great meeting on a consultation

for going to war with a neighbouring nation. " They kill-
ed a buck and roasted it, as a kind of sacrifice, on an
altar formed of twelve stones, upon which stones they
would not suffer any tool or instrument to be used. The
whole of this animal was afterwards eaten by them except-
ing the middle joint of the thigh." Genesis 32. 25
and 32.

"The Muskohgee Indians sacrifice apiece of every
deer thoy kill at their hunting camps or near home. If
the latter, they dip their middle finger in the broth and
sprinkle it over their domestic tombs, to preserve them
from the power of evil spirits; according to their mytho-
logy of those beings. This custom seems to have a view
to the sprinkling with blood : no other semblance offers
itself in the history of antiquity." Lev. 8. 15 and 19.

The Feast of Harvest and Day of Expiation for Sin.

The Indians formerly observed this solemn feast and
fast, and the offerhig of the first fruits of harvest, at the
beginning of the first new moon in which their com be-
came full-eared: but for many years past, they have
regulated it by the forwardness or backwardness of their
haiTest.

Accordmg to Charlevoix, "the harvest is in common
with the Natchez, on the Missisippi. The Chief fixes the
day for beginning the festival, which lasts three days,
spent in sports and feasting. Every family brings some-
thing obtained by hunting, fishing or other means, as
maize, beans and melons. The Chief presides and on the
last day addresses the company in a set speech, exhorting
them to the punctual perfonnance of their respective du-

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ties, to a high veneration for the Spirit which resides in
the temi)le, and to a careful instruction of their children.
Of the first produce a part is brought to the temple ; and
also of all presents made to their nation, which are distri-
buted according to the pleasure of the Chief. But the
offerings every new moon are for the use of the keepers of
the temple. This feast is preceded by a fast of two
nights and a day. This feast was kept by the Hebrews in
the month Tizri, the first month of the civil year, answer-
ing to September and October : it took place previous to
the great day of expiation, the tenth of the month. About
this time the Indian com is full-eared and fit to eat, and
nearly abWt the same time their feast of harvest is observ-
ed." Lev. 1 and 2 ch. Priest's Portion. Num. 18.

To meet the letter of the divine precept, the Jews on
the eve of the Passover festival, which was to be eaten
with bitter herbs, instituted a rigorous search through
every part of theu" houses, not only removing all leavened
bread, but sweeping every part clean that no crumb should
be left. Leaven may be regarded as the emblem of sin,
because it proceeds from corruption. On the next day
they offered to God a handful of bariey which, the high
priest, seasoning with oil and frankincense, presented to
the Lord : then was offered the lamb, a whole burnt-
offering, together with fine flour mingled with oil ; also a
drink offering of wine : and they were forbidden to eat ei-
ther bread, or parched com, or gi'een ears, until the offer-
ing was made to God. Lev. 23, 14.

" When the feast is over, the holy place is carefully
cleaned out, the old hearth or altar is dug up, the temple

i h

« sv^ept, so that not the .smallest crumbs should remain
to defile It, and a preparation is made for obtaining the
holy fire. In the mean time the women are busy at home
m cleanmg iheir houses and putting out their fires, AH
bemg ready for the sacred solemnity, the remains of the
foast are carried to the outside of the square, every thing
IS removed, even the vessels and utensils of every sort
which have been used during the past year. The war-
nors and old men are then called by proclamation to come
imo the beloved square, and keep the fast: the women and
Children are kept apart, according to their law: dl living
creatures are forbidden to enter except those who have
been called, and the fast is then kept until the rising of
the second Sun; no temptation whatever prevaUlng tith
men in health to take food during that time-whUe thev
are drinking plentifully of a decoction of the button-snaie
root, to make them vomit and cleanse their sinfulbodies
-but children and weak persons are allowed to eat after
the Sun has gone down. May not the snake-root used
by those in the temple, and the bitter green tobacco
which 18 taken by the women and those who by reason of
defilement have not been admitted to the square, point
to the bitter hei'bs of the family of Isi^]:? Proclamation
IS then made to enquire, whether the old Gre is every
vrhere put out; for that the hoTj^ fire v^ill'b^ brought from
the temple. The beloved man and his attendant go to
the holy place, and taking a piece c/f dry wood, cut a hole
m It but not so deep as to go through ; he then sharpens
anothet piece, and placing it in' the hole, he drills it briskly
between his knees till it begins to smoke; or by rubbing

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two pieces together for about a quarter of an hour, he ob •
tu US by friction the hidden fire ; which they believe pro-
ceeds from tlie holy spirit of fire. Tliis they cherish witli
fine chips, till it bursts into a flame. Tlie fire is then
brought out from the holy place and put upon tlve alt«ar ;
at which they exceedingly rejoice, supposing all tlieir past
crimes except murder to be atoned for. An offering is
then made of some new fruits rubbed witli bear*s oil on the
altar, Lev. 8, 10, to the bountiful spirit of fire, all siiners
are called on to apjjear, the high priest gives injunctions
to the people, presses upon them the necessity of a careful,
observance of the ancient law, and directs tliat the holy
fire should be laid outside the consecrated ground for the
use of the houses, which are often some miles apart." This
custom very much resembles one which was observed by
the ancient Persians as well as by tlie Jews.

" After the ceremony is ended the priest orders them to
paint themselves and follow him. They appear rubbed over
with white clay, and form a slow procession to a running
stream, singing halleluyah or yo-he-wah, into which they all
plunge, men, women and children. Thus being purified
and their sins washed away, they think themselves out of
the reach of temporal evil on the ground of past conduct."

Similar statements have been made by other persons, of
the same feast held by the SoutJiem Indians ; and that
they collect together all old and filthy and unclean things,
and cast them into a large fire, take medicine, fast for
three days, extinguish all their fires, abstain from the
gratification of every appetite, proclaim a general amnesty,
and recal malefactors to their houses ; then by friction

they obtain new fire, with the pure flame of wliicli overy
habitation is supplied. They then sing, dance and itjoir.e,
keeping feast for three days. They also bum th(- fat of
the inwards in the fire.

The Feast of the Daily Sacrifice was offered by the
Hebrews every morning and evening. It consisted of u
lamb, and was all burnt to ashes excepting the skin and
tlie entrails. The Indians seem to observe a humble
imitation of it. Some persons who have been adopted
by them and lived in their families, tell us, "that they
observe a daily sacrifice, both at home and in the woods,
with new killed venison. They draw it before it is dressed
several times through the fire and smoke by way of sacri-
fice, and to consume the blood, which to eat would be an
abomination to them : the melt or a large piece of the fat
of the first they kill is consigned to the fire ; and within their
houses a small piece of the fattest of the meat is thrown
into the fire before they begin co eat." Lev. 8. 25.

A feast of Love, to renew old firiendships, has been also
observed among them, in which the people eat, drink, and
walk together with arms entwined: the young men and
women dance in circles from evening till morning, to glad-
den their hearts and unite them before y, o, he, toah. ^c.

Mr. Boudinot informs us, that he was present at a dance
given by the Seneca Indians, six or seven nations united, in
return for a hospitable entertainment given them by the En -
glish Governor, of which we have the following description.
"After the company had assembled in a large room, the
oldest Sachem and a beloved man entered with a kind of
drum, on which the former beat time ; upon which

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100

between twenty and tliirty Indians caine in, wrappetl ia
iheir blankets. These n^ade a solemn and slow procession
round the room, keeping a profound silence, the Sachem's
drum directing their movement. At the second round
they began to sing on a bass key, v, y, y, till they completed
the circle, dancing to the sound of the drum in a serious
manner. On the third round, their ardour increased, tl ey
danced to a quicker step, and sang he, he, he, so a.s to be-
come warm, to perspire and to loosen the blankets. On the
fomth round they sang ho, ho, ho, with greater earnestness,
and, dancing with more violence, their heat increased, and
they oast away the blankets; which caused some con-
fusion. The last round put them into a mere frenzy;
they twisted themselves about, wi-eathed like snakes, made
the antic gestures of a parcel ol'monkies, singing aH the
while with great nolence wah, wah, wah. They kept
perfect time to the music, each round occupying ten to fif-
teen minutes. They then withdrew in Indian file. In a short
time a gi-at bustle was heard, \<iien tliey re-entered and
danced one round— then a second, singing in a lively man-
ner, hal, hal, hal, till the round was finished, then another
to the word le, le, le, and a third to lu, lu, /w, dancing naked
with all their might, having thrown the blankets oflf agam :
during the fifdi round was srng *l.e syllable, yah, yah,
yah. Then, all joining in a Hv( ^; .horns, they ^uiig haU
le-lu-yah, dwelhng on each syllable with a long breatliing
and in the most pleasing manner.' '

Here could be no deception nor mistake. Mr. B. was
near them : their pronunciation was guttural and sonorous,
but distinct and clear.

101

Tlie Indian Pncsts dr Prophets or beloved men are
always initiated by anointing. Some time ago the Chick-
csaws set apart for holy purposes some of their old men.
They first obliged them to sweat themselves for the space
of three days and nights in a small hut, made for th? pur-
pose at a distance from the town : they ate nothing but
green tobacco leaves and drank the button-snake-wood
tea, to cleanse their bodies and prepare them to serve iti
the holy office. After which their priestly garments were
put on them with the other ornaments, and then bear's
oil was poured upon their heads. Like the Jews, even in
the coldest weather, they observe religious ablutions, and
frequently anoint themselves with oil. See I^ev. .8. 6.
for the consecration of Aaron and his sons.

They never prostrate themselves nor bow their bodies
to each other, by way of salute or homage, except when
they make peace with strangers, who come in the name of
yah: they then bow with religious solemnity : and in the
dances when they sing hymns addressed to y, o, he, wah.
It is also said that they will not eat of the Mexican hog
nor the sea-cow nor the turtle, but hold them in abhor-
rence; neither will they cat the eel, nor many animals
and birds which tliey deem impure, as fiagles, ravens,
crows, bats, buzzards, owls, and others.

It has been remarked of the Indies throughout Ame-
rica from North to South, and from East to West, that
they are dll, men, women and children, addicted in an ex-
traoi'dinary degree to the use of strong liquors. I fear it
nmy be said to be a propensity equally strong in ail
uncivilized nations, when it can be obtained. Many

'liJ

102

persons have thought, that it is still stronger in the Ame-
rican Indians than in any other people, and m this strik-
ing fact they have seen the fulfilment of prophecy. Moses
foretold that the people should walk in the stubbornness of
their own hearts, to add drunkenness to thirst: and in
the 28th of Isaiah we read of the drunkards o/Ephraim
from the first to the eighth verse; in which their devoted-
ness to strong drink is expressed, and the base effects of
It. Now the Jews have never been observed to be given
to drunkenness, but rather the contrary. -..Amidst tempta-
tion they have been generally sober and regular: but
these descendants of Israel, if such they are, have been
inveigled and destroyed through their devotedness to strong
drink more than through any other causes. Their ene"^
mies have employed this seducing foe, first to weaken
and entrap, and then to pilfer and mm-der them. Among
the vices which European society ha^ brought on thenf
this has been the most predominant, enfeebling and
destroying both mind and body. Long have they seen
the evil, and many of the best of them have struggled
hard against it; but to little pui-pose; for it seems not
possible for them to withstand this all-conquering enemy.
They make laws against the use and even the introduction
of spirituous liquors among them, and with great fimmess
often destroy large quantities which are brought in by the
traders by stealth. But if once the lip touches the for-
bidden drink, all tlie reasoning and authority of their
beloved men will not prevent their drinking as long as a
drop remains; and they generally are so overcome by it
asjo be like mad foaming bears. Of this vice ihey were

he Aihe-
iiis strik-
. Moses
wnness of
t : and in
Ephraim
' devoted-
effects of
be given
t; tempta-
lar: but
ave been
to strong
heir ene-
• weaken
Among
)n them,
ing and
ley seen
truggled
?ems not
enemy,
oduction
fimmess
a bv the
the for-
of their
mg as a
ne by it
ey were

103

free, and did not even know it, before the landing of chris-
tians on their shores; but it is strange now to tell, how
all their nations, and almost every individual of them, are
infatuated with the love of strong drink. By its means
they have been made to quarrel Avith and kill one ano-
tlier; and it has brought them to the practice of vices,
which, in the eyes of their belovetl men, are a disgrace
and a degradation to them.

In the Monthly Magazine for April 1828, is the follow-
ing paragraph.

"An opinion has long prevailed, that Columbus inti'o-
duced into Europe from America the disee-'a at present
known under the appellation of syi>hilis. This question,
which has been agitated during tliree Centuries, has been
at lengtli set at rest by the researches of Dr. Thienne, a
Physician of Vicenza, who has satisfactorily proved the
ravages of this disease long before the biith of Columbus.
His investigations have led to some curious remarks;
inasmuch as he has established a sort of analogy and iden-
tity between the elephantiasis, the leprosy, the venereal
infection of Canada, the sibbeus of Scotland, the rarlzyge
of Norway, the saws of Afiica, tlie pan of America, the
malady of schertieno in tlie Tyrol, &c.*'

Now if there be a real correspondence between these
virulent diseases, which are found on different spots
and in varied climates, the Doctor may have erred in
imagining he has discovered that species of the disease in

• i

i i

!l i

104

question in the annals of a period prior to Columbus.
And the generally prevailing opinion may be true — that
it was brought into Europe from America, corroborated
by his own remarks of its similarity with other prevailing
complaints. It is well known that the Israelitish nation
were in old times much subject to the leprosy ; which
disorder may have assumed a new character upon a new
soil, under the influence of a new and very different man-
ner of living, and with habits so very unlike those which
prevailed among them when inhabiting the well cultivated
regions of Asia. If so awful a visitation had been experi-
enced under similar circumstances in Greece and in Rome,
it must be regarded as a most extraordinary fact, that it is
not described, nor distinctly alluded to, by the numerous
\vriters of tliose nations : and had it been known in Europe
previous to the voyage of Columbus, it would surely have
been clearly defined and the mode of cure pointed out by
our own Sui^eons.

The disease called Brenning or Burning, which prevailed
in England in the fourteenth and fifteenth Centuries,
appefljs to have had a great resemblance to the Syphilis;
but as that was a period when the leprosy was common
throughout Europe, this complaint was probably a pecu-
liar, being a local, branch of it. For Leprosy see Lev.
chap. 13 and 14.

*oIumbus.
rue — that
roborated
prevailing
sh nation

; which
on a new
2nt man-
>se which
cultivated
n experi-
in Rome,

that it is
luinerous
I Europe
ely have
d out by

prevailed
enturies,
Syphilis;
common
a pecu-
jee Lev.

f I

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE INDIANS.

HIS is the most difficult part of the subject before us;
for, were we inclined to yield to the evidence already pro-
duced, to shew the many points of resemblance between
the ancient Hebrews and the Indian tiibes, we can
scarcely expect to find enough of the old language lemain-
ing to furnish a fresh evidence of their kin. The Indian
languages have never been reduced to any certainty by
written characters: it has never even been thought to
form a grammar by which it shall be taught to their child-
ren. Masters and Professors they have none of any
kind. Traditions only have been conveyed down from
father to son ; and these, during a long course of years, and
in the mouths of hundreds and thousands of instructors,
have so changed, that they assume different faces on dif-
ferent spo* , by some are altogether lost, and by many
are upheld in a rough and careless manner, without any
knowledge of their origin and of their rational or spiritual
design. Of art and science taey are compai'atively igno-

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,■-1

■;;i'

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106

rant : no monuments of antiquity are standing memorials
with the present race : oppressed on every side, driven
from home to home, as circumstances have varied, and
homes been abandoned, language has undergone many
changes ; and not a little variety will liave arisen as new
families sprang up and new tribes were formed, from the
simple circumstance of the construction of the organs of
speech ; which even among ourselves occasions the same
words to be so differently pronounced, that a foreigner,
understanding them when proceeding from one mouth, is
often at a loss when they are uttered by another. Putting
idioms out of the question, and new words coined to
express new things, the very names of things in common
use will be expressed by many inflexions of the voice, so
as to become in the ears of a stranger different words.
Take for example the sound of many of our vocables uttered
in the streets of London, in the villages of Yorkshire and
among the mines of Cornwall, and many of our familiar ex-
pressions. We do not ourselves often know what our own
countrvmien say, on a spot where eveiy thing is done
that can be done to preserve the purity of our language ;
of purity indeed we must be silent when we speak of the
use of words in the mouths of the unlettered of our Island.
Of the Indian languages, which are numerous, and to
aji European ear very unlike, it has been observed, tliat
they are copious and expressive, more so than might be
expected with a people whose ideas must be few in compa-
rison with those of civilized nations. They have neither
cases nor declensions; few or no prepositions; but like
some of the ancient languages abounding in affixes

memorials
ie, driven
aried, and
me many
n as new

from the
organs of

the same
foreigner,
mouth, is

Putting
Joined to

common

voice, so
It words.
's uttered
shire and
liUar ex-

our own

is done
nguage ;
akofthe
r Island.
3, and to
red, tliat
light be

compa-

neither
but like

affixes

107

and prefixes: the words are the sam€ in both numbers.

It has been said that no language known in Europe,
except the Hebrew, is destitute of prepositions, as separate
and specific words. They have no comparative or super-
lative degree, but express them as the Hebrews do by terms
dignified and honourable. Thua the Cedars of Lebanon,
famed for their loftiness and grandeur, are in the Hebrew
the Cedars of God, and a mighty wind is a wind of God.
So with the Indians, the superlative is formed by one of
the lettera of the divine name being added to the word.
Their public speeches are adorned with strong metaphors
in correct language and often with allegory. An example
or two may be acceptable to the reader.

About the year 1684 the Governor of New York sent an
^ent, on a dispute likely to arise vdth the French, who
behaved in a haughty manner before the Indians. One
of tlie chiefs answered him in a strain o^ simple eloquence,
in which he said among other things, " I have two arms :
I extend the one to Montreal, there to support the tree
of peace, and the other towards Corlaer (the Governor
of New York) who has long been my brotlier. Ononthis
(of Canada) has been these ten years my father. But
neither the one nor the other is my master. He who
made the world gave me this land I possess. I am free,
I resi^ect them both, but no man has a right to command
me, and none ought to take amiss my endeavouring all I
can, tliat this land should not be troubled. I can no long-
er delay repairing to my father, who lias taken the pains
to come to my very gate, and has no terms to propose
but what are honourable."

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. 108

At a meeting held with General Wasliington in 1790,
a chief called Cornplant, who had ulways sliewn ^eat
friendship for the white i)eople delivered an impressive
speech, of whioh this is an extract.

"Father, when your army enteFed tlie territoiy of the
six nations, we called you the town-destroyer ; and to
this day when your name is heard, our women look he-
hind them and turn pale ; our children cling close to fh.
necks of their mothers : hut our councellors and warriors
being men, cannot be afraid : their hearts are giieved by
the fear of the women and children, and desire that it
may be buried so deep as to be heard of no more. Fa-
ther, mi will not conceal from you, that the Great Spnit
has preserved Complant from the hands of his own nation.
You told us, say the>', that a line drawn from Pennsylva-
nia to Lake Ontario would mark our land forever on the
ejist ; and a line running from Beaver Creek to Pennsyl-
vania would mark it on the west. But we see that it is
not so. For first one and then another comes and takes it
away by order of that people, who you told us would
secure it to us for ever. Cornplant is silent, for he h.'is
nothing to answer. When the sun goes down Complant
opens his heart before the (Great Spirit, and earner than
the sun appears aoam upon the hills ; he gives thanks for
his protection during tlie night, for he feeh, that rm.oiig
men become desi>eiate by the injuries they sustain, it is
God only tiiat can preserve him. Cornplant loves peace :
all he bad in store he has given to those who have been
robl-ed by your people, lest they should plunder the inno-
cent to repay themselves."

I in 1790,

iwn ^eat
mpressive

)ry of the
; and to

look be-
►se to tht
. warriors
lieved by
e that it
re. Fa-
5at Spirit
n nation,
nnsyh'a-
'T on the
!*ennsy]-
that it is

takes it
s would
' he lias
ornplant
^'er than
anksfor

t OUiOJlg

tin, it is
J peace :
re been

i€ inno-

109

What follows is a sentence of a speech of an Indian
Chief to his companions, in a war oration. He told them,
"he feehngly knew that their guns were burning in their
hands; their tomahawks were thirsty to drink the blood of
their enemies, and their trusty arrows were impatient to
be on the wing; and lest delay should burn their hearts
any longer, he gave them the cool refreshing word, 'Joiu
the holy ark,' and away to cut olftlie devoted enemy."

A speech made by Logan, a famous chief, about the
year 1 775, cannot perhaps be excelled by any of the highly
celebrated examples of Grecian, Roman or British elo-
quence. In revenge for a murder committed by some
unknown Indians, a party of the Americans fired on a canoe
loaded with women and chddren, all of whom happened
to belong to the family of Logan, who had been long a
staunch friend of tlie white people and then at perfect peace
with them. A war immediately ensued, and after much
blood-shed peace was restored. A treaty was proposed,
but Logan disdainfully refused to be reckoned among the
suppliants for peace.

"I appeal," said he, "to any white man to say, if he ever
entered Logan's cabin hungiy, and he gave him not meat
—if he ever came cold and naked, and Logan clothed him
«ot. During the last long and bloody war, Logan remained
idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was his love
for the white men, that my countrymen pointed as they
passed and said, Logan is the friend of white men. I had
tliought to have lived with you, but for the injmesof one

man. Colonel the last spring, in cold blood and

unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not

sparing even my women and children. There runs not a
drop of his blood in the veins of any hving creature. This
called on me for revenge. I have sought it I have kill-
ed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my
country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not
harbour a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan
never felt feai\ He will not turn on his heel to save his
life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? No, not one."

Energetic and eloquent as is this address, under the
painful impressions in which it was given, let the reader re-
member how extremely difficult it is to obtain a translation
of such an example of oratory that conveys the spirit of
the original: few languages will admit of it, and, the sim-
pler and less redundant the language in which it was
delivered, the more difficult it must be to retain the genuine
character in the diffuse terms of modem tongues.

Mr. Adair, who had the best opportunities of becoming
acquainted with the idioms of their language by a residence
of forty years among them, has taken great pains to shew
the similarity of the Hebrew to the Indian languages,
both in their roots and general construction ; and gives
reason to believe that many of their words are even to this
day pure Hebrew, notwithstanding the danger it has run
of perpetual change, so as to render the preservation of
even a part of it little less than miraculous.

It is well known that the original Hebrew, which was
spoken by the Jews before the i vptivity in Babylon, was
a language very different from that which was afterwards
known to the people of Jerusalem, and is now known to
the descendants of that people. Our learned men even

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111

now declare that the old language of the Jews is lost; tlmt
it was more properly a Phenician or Chaldaic idiou) jirid
that it was during the captivity of no more than seventy
years that they adopted an idiom essentially diflerent, that
of Babylon, together with its character. What shall m-.
then say, if only a similarity can be shown, and a fair
comparison can be established, between the terms of the
natives of this wilderness, and those of the stock from
whence W3 maintain that they are sprung?

Father Charlevoix was a man of learning and of respect-
able abiUties: he paid more attention to the Indian lan-
guages than perhaps any one before him or since, and he
had gi-eater opportunities. These are his remarks.

"The Algonquin and Huron languages have between
them that of almost all the savage nations of Canada:
whoever should well understand both, might travel without
an interpreter more than fifteen hundred leagues of country,
and make himself understood by a hundred diiierent na-
tions, who have each its peculiar tongue. The Algonquin
has an extent of twelve hundred leagues, and they s<iy
that it prevails to a much wider extent."

"The Huron language has a copiousness, an vi/ergy and
a sublimity perhaps not to be found in any of the finest lan-
guages we know of; and they, whose native tongue it is,
though now but a handful of men, have such an elevation
of soul, as agrees much better with the majesty of their
language, than with the state to which they are reduced.
Some have fancied they found in it a similarity with the
Hebrew; others have thought it had the same origin as
the Greek." " The Algonquin language has not so much

L O

112

force as the Huron, but has more sweetness and elegance.
Both have a richness of expression, a variety of turns,
a propriety of terms, a regularity which astonishes : but
what is more surjirising is, that among these barbarians,
who never study to speak well, and who never had the use
of writing, there is never introduced a bad word, an im-
proper term or a vicious constnictioii. Their children pre-
serve the purity of their language in tlieir common
conversation. The manner ia which they animate aU
they say, leaves no room to doubt of their comprehending
all the worth of their expressions and all the beauty of
their language."

We must not detract in any respect from the virtue
and the discernment of this excellent man, in his attempts
to serve a nation of human beings whom he regarded as
infinitely beneath himself in spiritual knowledge. They
were his children, he had adopted tliem in Christ Jesus,
and he loved them as such; and perhaps gave them more
credit for their regular advantages than others would have
done. Yet he could not be altogether deceived, and his
judicious remarks are of the utmost importance in giving
us a just view of the inhabitants of the back settlements,
from the boreal regions of Canada to the mild shores of
the Mexican Gulf.

Dr. Edwards, Son of President Edwards, a man of
great learaing, who was intimately associated with the In-
dians from the age of six years, and understood their
language as well as his mother tongue, and a Mr. Elliot
who was called, tlie Indian Apostle, and translated the Bible
into the Mohegan language, have given us much inform

113

mation respecting it. "For the pronouns, which are com-
mon in otlier languages, they use letters or syllables placed
at the beginning and the end of words. In this particular
the structure of their language coincides with that of the
Hebrew in an instance in which the Hebrew is said to
Ji/Ter from all the languages of Europe, ancient and modem;
with this diflerence, that the latter place affixes at the end
of words, whereas the former to express the singular num-
ber i)refix the letter or syllable, but in the plural, place it
at the end : They also change and transpose the vowel to
express the possessive pronouns." Dr. Edwards has pointed
out a number of instances in which the analogy between
these two languages is striking: and he tells us, that the
Mohegan dialect, which is that of which he writes, is spoken
over a very large extent of country, and is to others a ^
sort of mother tongue : it seems to be the same as others
call the Algonquin, from another tribe using the same
dialect.

A tribe has been thought to be discovered among them
coiTesponding with the tribe of Levi. The Mohawks,
once very numerous, were held by all the other tribes in
great reverence, and even in fear ; so that they fled before
them, made neither war nor peace without their advice,
and paid them an annual tribute. The Mohawks were
the correctors of what was done amiss by the other tribes.
Now it is worthy of an incidental remark, that the name
of this nation greatly resembles the Hebrew word which
signifies a law-giver, or interpreter of the law, Meichokek.
Gen. 49. 10. Law-giver between his feet.
To enlarge upon the subject of language would not

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114

accord Willi the limits T have prescribed to myself in the
size and price of this volmne. I can only subjoin the
remark — that there are a number of verbs and of nouns
which are nearly or altogether alike in the two languages,
notwithstanding the change which time, and the difl'erence
in the organs of speech, and the fancies of an untaught
people must of necessity have occasioned. The pronuncia-
tion of this people is so guttural as to make even the Hebrew
words appear different to those who are looking for them :
their language consists of a multitude of monosyllables
added together; every ])r()perty or circumstance of a thing
being noted by an additional syllable. A very natural
way for an untaught pco])le to express their meaning.
Making reasonable allowances for these and other causes
of change in names and in pronunciation, it is next to
marvellous that so great an affinity between them should
still subsist; and most of all, that in their religious associ-
ations, these nations, who have changed their manner of ex-
pression in the common intercourses of life, have preserved
those sacred words and use them with ib.o same precaution,
which have distinguished the people of God from the days
of Moses to the present time.

Souard, in his Melanges de Litterature, speaking of
the Indians of Guiana observes, on the authority of a
learned Jew, Isaac Nasic, residing at Surinam, "that their
language is soft and agreeable to the ear, abounding in vow-
els and synonimes : that all the substantives arc Hebrew ;
that the word expressive of the soul means breath, that
they have the same word as in Hebrew to denominate
God, which means master or lord.*'

CHAPTER Vir.

O.N THE INDIAN TRADITIONS.

The Indians do not possess the ^vantage of conveying
the knowledge of old times down to posterity by means oi
wntmg : this can be preserved only by tradition : tliere-
/ore young men have been seated by the judgment
of the old one^, of merit and goo<l character, to be the
channels through which the manners and customs of their
ancestors sh.lll be made known to distant generations
Without specifying the sources whence these tradi-
tions were received, because that would make it necessary
to write more than is necessary for information, and many
ot them have come from different and distant ti-ibes, T
shall state the chief and most important of these traditions.

They hold it as a general and a certain fact, that all the
tribes came into that country from the same quarter, in
ages very remote, from a far distant country by the way
of the North-west, that all the people were of one colour
aj^x- m process of time moved eastward .nd southward to
^heir present settlements. Those of Mexico state, that

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116

their fathers were settled in another place before they came
to their present abode, tJiat they wandered eighty years
in obedience to the command of the Great Spirit in quest
of new lands under particular directions given to them,
and having obeyed the divine directions they wer<- guided

to Mexico.

The Southerns say, that their ancestors lived beyond a
great river. That nine parts of their nation passed over
the river, but the others refused and staid behind : that
when they lived far west they had a king who left two
sons: that one of them, mth a number of the people
travelled a great way for many years till they came to the
Delaware river, and settled there. They have it handed
down from their ancestors, that the book which the white
people have was once theirs : while they had it they pros-
pered : but the whit<* people bought it of them and learned
many things from it; whilst the Indians offended the
Great Spirit, lost their credit and suffered exceedingly from
the neighbouring nations : that the Great Spirit took pity
upon them and directed them to this country : on their
way they came to a great river, which they could not pass,
but God dried up the waters and they passed over dry
shod: that their fathers were possessed of an extraordinary
divine Spirit by which they foretold future things and con-
trouled the course of nature, whilst they obeyed the sacred
laws : but that this power had left them.

M^Kensie writes— they have a tradition, that they came
from another country inhabited by wicked people, and
had U-aveised a great lake which was narrow, shallow and
full of islands, where they had suffered great hardships

117

and much misery, it being always winter, witli ice and
deep snows : at a place they ealle.1 the Copper-mine
River, where they made the first land, the ground was
covered with copper, over which a body of earth had since
been collected to tlie depth of a man : their ancestors ha.1
gone on till their feet were worn out with walking and
their throats with eating: they spake of a deluge, when tlie
waters spread over the earth, except the liighest mountain
on the top of which they were preserved : they also believe
m a future judgment. He remarks, « whether circumci-
sion be practised among them I cannot pretend to say,
but the appearance of it was general among those I saw."
On this subject we have still more explicit information
ii-om several quarters ; that it was generally practised long
ago, but that the young men, not knowing the use of itor
why it was practised, made a mock of it, brought it into
disrepute and so it feU generally out of use : that the peo-
ple went formerly to build a high plax)e, and while tliey
were building it they lost their language and could not
understand one another, while one called for a stick a
stone was brought to him; and from that time they began
to talk different languages: that the first woman came from
Heaven and had twins, and that the elder killed the younger.
The Southern Indians mention, that when they left their
native land, tliey brought with them a sanctified rod, by
order of the oracle, which they fixed every night in the
ground, and were to remove from i)lace to place on this
continent, towards the rising sun, till it budded in one
night^s time, that they obeyed the sacred oracle and the mi-
racle at last took place when they arrived at the Missisippi.

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?.!<

That in the beginning the heavenly inhabitants, as they
called them, frequently visited the people and talked with
them, and gave directions how to pray and how to appease
the Great Being when he was offended; to offer sacrifice
bum tobacco, &c.

That there are two gieat beings that rule and govern the
universe, who are at war with each other. The one,
Maneto, is all kindness and love ; and the other Matche-
maneto delights in doing mischief: some say they are
equal in power; others that Maneto is the first great cause,
and therefore must be all powerful and supreme and ought
to be adored, whereas tl i other should be rejected and
despised.

When Cortes advanced to attack the capital of Mexico,
its King Montezuma told him, "that it was an established
tradition among them, that their ancestors came originally
from a remote region and conquered the provinces now
subject to his dominion, that after they were settled their
great captain who conducted the colony returned to his
o^vn country, promising that at some future period his
descendants should visit them, assume the government
and reform their constitution and laws : that, from what he
had seen of Cortes and his companions, he was convinced
that they were the persons whose appearance the Mexi-
cans' traditions and prophecy taught them to expect, that
accordingly he received them not as strangers but as rela-
tions of the same blood, and desired them to consider
themselves as masters of his dominions, and that he and
his subjects should comply with their will.** There is
not any way of accounting for the strange fatuity which

1, as they

ked with

) appease

sacrifice

)veni the
'he one,
Matche-
they are
!at cause,
tid ought
cted and

Mexico,
tablished
triginally
ices now
led their
ed to his
eriod his
i^emment
I what he
anvinced
le Mexi-
)ect, that
t as rela-
consider
It he and
rhere is
ty which

119

seized upon this unhappy monarch, but by a^ribin^ it to
the confused recollection of the authority of Moses and
the prom,.se he gave of one risL'ig up aft«r him, like unto
himseli, ^hom the people should obey. In one thing how-
ever he was inflexible. They could not by all their tan-
talizing promises and cruel tortures draw him from the
worship of the Great Spirit to adopt the rites which they
prescribed. ^

^ Many of Robertson's remarks on the manners and prac
tices of the Mexicans and the Peruvians are evidently
taken from Spanish historians, and are pointedly denied
by the Colonists, who have taken great pains of late years
to make themselves acquainted with those people

The Rev. Jabez Hyde, New York County, rem'arks in a
letter to the Author of The View of the Hebrews, dat^d
1825. «l have long been of opmion that the natives of
this country are the Outcasts of Israel. Most of the par-
ticalars you mention I know to be facts. After readin-
the Star in Uie West I paid more attention to the subject''
In the year 18 a general religious excitement commenced
among the Senecas. They attempted to understand and
reform their old religion. The wise men assembled who
were best acquainted with their mysteries; they had no
idea of tbe meaning of their feasts and dances, nor the
words they made use of in them. They consented to
take the book which the white men call, the Word of
God, to Arow light on their patli. This was the com-
mencement of Christianity among them, which brou-ht
m two who had officiated as high priests : they have given
me an unreserved account of aU they know of their ancient

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120

teligion, and were desirous of learning whetlier any thing!?
in our scriptures were similar to tlicrr customs. They
are firmly persuaded that they are the people of God, hut
have lost their way and are lewildered in darkness."
Mr. Hyde then gives a statement of their customs and
religious ohservances, similar to what has been stated

already.

The entire discontinuance of the Sahbath among these
tribes may be regarded as an argument against the hypo-
thesis which the forementioned facts go to establish. It
may be said; "If they have presened the sacred words
and continued the ancient festivals of the i)eople of Israel,
how is it they have lost their Sabbath day, the most pe-
culiar of all the characteristics of God's people. Habit
would surely confirm them so strongly in the observance of
that day, that they could not possibly forget it ; and if some
extraordinary revolution, hke that of the days of terror in
France, should obliterate the day cl rest from the alma-
nack, because it had been a religious festival, we should
see it revived in some other form ; like the decade of the
French Revolution."

There does seem much force in this remark : for we are
so completely the creatures of habit, that even a slight
deviation from our ordinary routine cannot be effected,
without disturbing our peace and producing unpleasant
sensations: much less cau our religious associations be
inten-upted without offering a severe violence to our feel-
ings. But I am led to remark on this ai)parently strong
objection, that it i3 evident, from the denunciations of the
prophet, that this custom of keeping a Sabbath day, which

ly things
3. They
God, but
arkness."
;oms and
en stated

ong these
;he hypo-
blish. It
ed words
of Israel,
most |)e-
e. Habit
ervance of
id if some
f terror in
the alma-
vve should
ide of the

for we are
m a shght
3 effected,
mpleasant
nations be
our feel-
itly strong
ions of the
lay, which

121

was a practice entirely unknown to the Heathen nation?,
had lost its force with the Hebrews long before these peo-
ple arrived on the Western continent, supposuig that they
ever did arrive there. From the 17th ch. of Jeremiah,
we learn, that the inhabitants of Judah had broken the
fourth commandment in so notorious a manner as to call
down the indignation of the Almighty against them, verse
21. "Thus saith the Lord: Take heed to yourselves
and bear no burden of the Sabbath day, neither do ye
any work; but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I com-
manded your fathers. But they obeyed not, neither mclin-
ed their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might
not hear nor receive instruction."

Now if this was the character of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, who did retain a respect for the ordinances of
Moses, and never plunged into Idolatry as the Israelites
did ; it is no great demand made upon our faitli to beheve,
that these latter had been prevailed on, long before they
were driven out from their happy land, to give up the
observance of a Sabbath day. The idolatrous women with
whom they had so generally associated, the people of the
land whose abominations they had adopted, the example
of their Kings and Queens who forsook God, would above
all tilings separate them from a custom which belonged
to them OS a distinct race ; and in the attachment they
fomied to the pagan worship, to tlie Calves of Rehoboam,
and the Baals and Ashtarotlis of tlie land, they would,
as a matter of course, follow the observ'ance of days and
times to which those people were devoted. In foiincr
times public festivals were connected with religion; and

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122

when wiiolo societies of people were converted to Christi-
anity, the ancient festivals were generally preserved, and,
with a slight alteration, were made to answer for the
Christian worship. The Israelites would probably retain
their festivals, being that part of their original institutions
which well vitiA llie carnal appetite, and they would
still have a re^^a i to these in their new places of abode.
With annual festivities no system of religion, not even the
Christian, is offended; while therefore they retained
theirs, there would be no peculiar inducement for them
to resume the interruption of a day of rest From tra-
ditions still preserved, however, there is good reason to
believe, tliat a Sabbath was observed by some of the tribes-
after their arrival in America: but, when it ceased, and
why, we have no means of ascertaining. It is well
Known, that the rite of circumcision was in use among
some of the tribes even at a compai'atively late period o*
time, but was given up, according to ihaii traditions,
by the young men, because they thought it an unne-
cessary and even a cruel custom, and did not know for
what reason their ancestors had appointed it. The Sab-
hath may have been abandoned under a similar persua-
f^ion, that there was no necessity for its observance.

Thus those ancient customs which afforded a pecuhar
gratification retained a feeble and half expiring life, while
others from which no pleasure was acquired were by de-
grees suflered to sink into oblivion.

Christi-
rved, and,
: for the
bly retain
istitutions
ley would

of abode.

t even the

retained

for them
horn tra-
reason to
the tribes-
!ised, and
[t is well
se among

period o*
traditions,
in unne-

know for
The Sab-
ir persua-
ce.

a peculiar
life, while
ire by de-

t: 'I

CHAPTER VIII.

ON THE PASSAGE FROM CONTINENT TO CONTINENT.

HESE traditions of the aboriginal nations of Anu-
rica which have been found in different parts of it, and
some, indeed most of them in many parts, with such
shades of difference as may be expected to exist, may
now be connected with the discoveries which liave been
made at a later period of that part of the Northern c can
which lies between the Western shore of America and
the opposite coast of Kampschatka j and a farther corro-
boration will present itself of the important fact it is the
object of these pages to establish.

Kampschatka is a large peninsula on the North-easterii
part of Asia, a mountainous country, with a cold and frozen
climate. The Islands, in this narrow sea nhich divides
it from America, are now numerous; they are subject to
continual earthquakes, discover evident marks of repeated
volcanos, and abound in sulphur : so that it may well be
imagined, that in the course of many Centuries gi'eat
changes have taken place in that part of the sea, and that

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124

a chain of islands may bave run across/ fonning an
easy communication from continent to continent at all
times, and especially in the winter season, when the land
aid sea would fonn one continued track of solid ice.
The strait is often filled with ice at the present time, so
as to afford a free passage ; and when tlie water is free, it
18 very shallow: so that it is no gi'eat stretch of probability
to suppose, tliat two tliousand years ago the two continents
were joined, though UtUe known to each other by reason
of the severity of the climate ttiat must have been endured
m pas.sing from tlie one to the other, and the inliospitality
of the soil in the North-eastern part of Asia: an abundance
of unoccupied ground still lying open to the tribes and
families that were wanderingabout what we now call Siberia.
The Northern parts of the two continents where they
approach have been found to abound with the same
kmds of animals, bears, wolves, foxes, hares, deer, roe-
buck, elk and the like, nor was it until the number of
these had been greatly diminished in the European
continent, that the hunters crossed the narrow strait to
sport on the American land, in which their numbers
were immensely great and they were so tame that they
were easily taken .

We are also informed by Robertson, that "when
Peter the Great determined on exploring the North-east
pait of his empire and the seas lying thereabout, a tradition
was found to exist, that a communication had been held
with the opposite coast: in those provinces an opinion
prevailed, that there are countries of great extent and
fertility at no great distance from them."

Du Pratz, who

125

In the

wrote in the year 1720, informs ..„,
that he met with a very intelligent Indian who had
travelled to the North-west, through a pressing curiosity
to see the land from whence his forefathers came, but
found it cut off therefrom by the sea to his great disap-
pointment. He there heard of a very old man, who
had seen the distant land before it was cut away by the
great water, and that when the water was low, many rocks
were seen across it."

There are some striking points of resemblance between
the Kampskadales and the Indians, but it is scarcely
worth while to describe them here, alluding only to the
habit of puncturing the flesh, and making figures upon
it which they rub over with a blue liquid, and the
marks become indelible. Bishop Lowth imagines this
practice to be alluded to in Isaiah 49, 16. "Behold I have
graven thee on the palms of my hand." The Jews at
this time making representations of the City and Tem-
ple in their skins, to shew their affection for it, and retain
its image in their minds.

Steller in his journal states that, "the main land of
America lies parallel with the coast of Kampschatka, and
they have the appearance of having been onco joined,
especially at the Cape- He assigns four reasons which
induced him to think they were once united; the appear-
ance of both coasts, which seem to have beenV>m
asunder, many Capes which project into the sea, many
small Islands which lie between them, the relative situ-
ation of those Islands, and the present breadth of the
sea. From Bhering's Island, which Hes in tlic middle.

126

both continents can be clearly seen even now : from all
which it appears clearly, that there was once a passage,
l)robably an easy one, from the one to tlie other land,
either on the main before the; separation took place, or
from Island to Island at short distances or on the ice ;
and that the tribe:4 of Israel wandering North-east and
directed by the unseen hand of providence, or by some
express tidings they had received, thus entered into a
country wherein mankind net^r before dwelt.

Dr. Robertson's remarks on these Stiaits, which had
not the least reference to the subject of this volume, are
however illustrative of the position here laid down. '• The
number of Volcanos in this part of the world is remark-
able : there arc several in Kampschatka, and not one of
the Islands, great or small as far as the Russian naviga-
tion extends, is without them. Many are actually buni-
ing, and all the mountains bear mai'ks of having been
once in a state of irruption. Were I disposed to admit
such conjectures as have found a place in oilier enquiries
concerning the peopling of America, I might suppose,
that this part of the earth, having manifestly suffered vio-
lent convulsions from earthquakes and volcanos, an isth-
mus, which formerly united Asia to America, has been
broken and fonned into an island by the shock.'* From
the discoveries of Capt. Cook it appears, that within less
than a degree of the polar circle these two continents
present two opposite capes which are only thirteen leagues
apart, in nearly the middle of which space lies Bhering's
Island. Passing through this strait he saw distinctly the
two continents lying on the right and left.

127

These tribes may not have gone diitlicr alunc. The
alliances they liad fonned in Media might induce some
other Easterns to accompany them; particularly their
brethren who had been carried captive before them, and
were in tlie same neighbourhood, and as much dissaiisHed
with the place of their banishment and witli their oppi-es«or'^
rod, as themselves. Others, natives of tlie Eastern cxmst,
may have been driven by storms and cost upon tho oppo-
site Western land ; and tliese considerations will furnish
us with tlie means of accounting for a mixture of Asiatic-
language, manners and peculiarities.

How often do we read in ancient history, of very lar^e
bodies of people moving away from their ancien* resic'enc^,
dther through choice or driven by a tyrant's command,
to seek a new abode! When the warriors of the Northern
nations invaded the South, they came accompani'-^l by
their wives and children, with the only liabitations they
could boast of, their tents, confident of obtaining belter
])Ossessions in a more feidle and less encmnbert^l country.
The Israelites, with tlieir floclcs and families, were forty
years finding their way into Canaan. When driven out
by their Assyrian conquerors tliey were probably allowetl
but a small portion of their projjcrty to cany wiUi thean,
but tliey went en masse, a distance of about 900 miles.
Beyond them, in the vast regions of the Nortli, was at
that peiiod but a very thin population, and we hav« reason
to believe few or perhaps no settlal habitations, towns or
villages. The Scythians, whom Alexander could not
conquer even on a more southern ground, must have
been less and less thinly scattered as the country became

i-<

I 1

I I i

, 1.

! r

128

more cold and less inviting. Tlic Hebrew tribes were
sent into their borders by the command of a Monarch,
who at that time held a sovereign sway over an inmiense
range of country as far North as what we now call
Great Tartury, bordering upon a wild uncultivated track.
Tlie geographical situation of this country is wortliy of
attention. Media lay on the South-west side of tlie
Caspian Sea stretching Northward beyond Armenia and
Georgia; and, to the Northern-most quarter of this vast
Empire, to Halah, Habor and Hara, on the river Gozan,
tliese cai)tives were sent. After tlie Assyrians, tlie Metles
made themselves masters of tliat country, tlirowing off
tlie Ass^Tian yoke. About one hundred years after which
time the Scythiai a conquered iho Median Empire in up-
[>er Asia, and retained the government about thirty years,
'riius a tmie long enough elapsed to promote an acquaint-
ance between the Northern parts of Media and the still
more Northern country of Scythia or Tai'taiy. It should
be remarked, thai the Russians did not get Siberia under
their government until long after tlie period to which
our attention is now directed.

While his power remained his captives would be com-
pelled to keep their appointed station, but in after times
when terror and confusion was spread through that country
by die success ^ the Macedonian arms, and still more
when the mighty conqueror had paid the debt of nature,
leaving no heir to his crown, and his Generals became
Kings and rivals among the Asiatic States, while they
were waging war with one another and had more than
enough to do to defend their own kingdoms from the aspir-

I •

ribes were
Monarch,
immense
now call
ited track,
kvortliy of
e of tlie
aenia and
this vast
r Gozan,
(le Metles
3wing off
tcr which
!re in up-
rty years,
acqnaint-
l the still
L't should
ia under
o which

be corn-
ier times
country
ill more
r nature,
became
lie they
re than
►easpir-

129

ing chiefs; it does not apjiear tliat any obstacle would lie
in the way of these Isi-aelitish captives to move ofl-in a di-
rection contrary to that in which the civilized powers
were keenly contesting for a mastery, through what might
be called no man's land, to escape ejitirely from the
hands of tlieir enemies.

Possessed of die spirit of animosity which enflamed tlie
breast of the Assyrian; prince p^ainst these revolting triW,
after removing them t ) so great a distance from their own
country, it is not probable that he would appoint them a
place in the most fertile pmt of his dominions, but rather
on its Northern frontier, yet tliinly peoplcxl, where their
restless disi^ositions would place tlie peace of Media at no
risk. And so it appears from history thut he did.

Robertson, in his history of America, says of Uiis
country " that, if it was populated at all, it became so by
the Sannathians or Scythians. The land may be said to
have belonged to none.'*

Some communication had always been kept up acrass
the Nortliem parts of Asia in the way of trade, if it were
only for the skins and he rich furs always in request in
Babylon, and Assyria, and Persia. Through tlie means of
merchants in these articles of commerce, some knowledge
would be gained of cotmtries lying at a distance, and the
inhabitants of Media would not improbably learn that
there was a country lying to the North-east which was
visited for no other purpose than to obtain furs, in which
were no human inhabitants. To the natives of Media
and Persia this might be news of no interest, but in the
proscribed race ,f Israel, robbed of a valuable and beloved

!! a

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130

home, to which they could not look with the expectation
of a return, it might well awaken expiring hope : they
would listen with eagerness to all the reports which were
brought by travellers conceming it, they might even re-
peat the cautionary measure of the great leader of their
ancestors, and send some men in the character of traders
to spy out the land, and might eventually take advantage
of the confused state of Median and Macedonian politics
to slip away, with such means of suhsistance us they could
procure : their immediate neighbours, happy to be released
from a large society of people whose manners were unlike
their ovni and whom they could regard in no other light
than conquered enemies. Than these none could be less
acceptable as neighbours. The inhabitants of Media and
Armenia might gladly act over again the part of the
E gyptians, and offer facilities to the escajje of a people
whom they could not look upon with pleasure. Let us
pursue the object before us. In their progress there
would be litile or nothing to impede them but the care
about provision, and one of the American ti*aditions says
that they suffered great hardships : perhaps, as in their fonn-
er pilgrimage so in this, all the soulr died who went out of
Media, or perhaps some may have reached the land they
had promised themselves. But liberty was in their eye.
To be free from the state of anarchy in which they had
long been in Canaan through the attacks of their enemies,
and out of the hands of the tyrant who had robbed them
of their all, to enjoy independance in a wide range of land
where no one could oppress them, and in which provision cf
various kinds was ready prepared to their hands — would be to

:pectation
tpe : they
hich were
t even re-
er of their
• of traders
advantage
an politics
they could
be released
v^ere unlike
other light
uld be less
Media and
lart of the
f a people
3. Let us
press there
It the care
itions says
their fonn-
went out of
e land they
1 their eye.
1 they had
ir enemies,
hbed them
Dge of land
provision cf
would be to

131

obtain a land flowing indeed with milk and honey-literally
-and all their own, without even the danger of conquest.
The idea of subjection to a foreign prince was always a
galling load for a Hebrew to bear; the tributes they paid
^vere the sorest of all tlieir grievances. They are so to
any nation, but were more especially so to these people
who boasted of being immediately in God's keeping, and
subject to no law but his, who held all idolaters in con-
tempt and thought tliem the enemies of Jehovah. On
their way to the Eastern shore they w .uld meet now and
then with travellers whose reports would revive their sink-
ing spirits, and enable them to submit to privations and
to suffer want, in the assurance that every day canied them
nearer to the end of their march and that then their toils
would be over. Vegetation of some sort would abound,
wild animals ^ -ght also range the forests and the wastes,
and in whatever way the wandering Scythians lived, they
might live in the same way. We who have been accus-
tomed to a peaceful residence with civiHzed manners and
plenty around, can form but a slight conception, scarcely
any at all, of the manner in which the huge armies of
Darius, of Alexander, of Xerxes, or of the Goths, were
supported widi their ten thousands of attendants. It has
been often said that where an Enj^lish Array would starve
a French one woulc' Hve well: if there be so much differ-
ence between those who in most points resemble each other,
what may not be the difference between the means of
maintaining at the present time a British population and
those which were required for an Eat^tem mass of people
two thousand years ago.

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5; •

t'li ;

i!;.

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13-2

Aliiong othef traditions which have been met with is
one upon the North-east coast of Asia, that very long ago,
a large body of jjeople coming out of tlie interior of the
country did pass over into America, men, women and
children.

And now let me direct the attention of my reader, not to
the prophetical but the historical aid we receive from
Scripture. The books of Esdras are not received into the
Canon of Scripture ; therex^ore I do not lay claim to
divine authority, nor do I need it in reporting a plain fact
known at the time of its being written, which was in the
second century of the Christian asra ; and evidently re-
lated by the writer with no design to impose a falsehood
upon any one : for he could have no possible motive for
venturing such a falsehood. In his second book 13. 50.
we read. '*And whereas thou sawest, that he, Jesus
Christ, gathered another peaceable multitude unto him :
those are the ten tribes, who were carried away prisoners
out of their own land in tlie time of Osea, the King,
whom Salmanazar, the King of Assyria, led away captive.
And he carried them over the waters, and so they came
into another land. But they took this council among
themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the
heathen, and go forth into a fartlier country where never
mankind dwelt, that they might there keep their statutef^,
which they never kept in tlieir own land. And they en-
tered into Euphrates by the narrow passes of the river;
for the Most High then shewed signs for them and held
still the flood till they were passed over : for through that
country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year

fl'

it with is
long ago,
ior of the
men and

ler, not to
dve from
[J into the

claim to
plain fact
?as in the
lently re-
falsehood
aotive for
5 13. 50.
le, Jesus
mto him:

prisoners
he King,
Lj captive,
•hev came
;il among
de of the
lere never
ir statatef^,
I they en-
tile river;

and held
'ough that

of a year

133

cmd a half. And the same region is called Arsareth."

Euphrates was a term common with the Jews to signify a

gi-eat river or hody of water— this was in a country heyond

that to which they were canied captive— God stopped the

waters, froze them up, to let them pass— they went into

a farther country where never man dwelt— and it was a

great way off. All this account well corresponds with

what has heen said before, of the facilities which would

offer themselves for their journey, and I think I may add,

in the language of the mechanic, that it serves to dove-tail

the statements abeady given, and to bring down my history

in a clear and connected manner to that fatal war, which

put an end to the Kingdom of Israel and gave a large and

active population to the wilds, the woods, the mountains,

and the Savannahs of a new world.

In reference to what has been stated at page 117, rela-
tive to the Copper-mine river, the place of landing in
America, according to an ancient tradition, it may be°ob.
served, that near Bhering's Straits there is a place called
Co]5per Island, from the vast quantities of that metal
which are there found. In Grieve's history we are informed,
that copper covers the shore in great abundance, so that
r hips might be loaded with the ore. In consequence of
which report, the Gazetteer informs us, that an attempt
was made in 1770 to obtain a load of it, but that the ice,
even in July, was so abundant, and other difficulties so
great, that the object was relinquished. There are other
authorities to support this tradition, that in former times
gi-eat quantities of copper were seen in those parts. And
I will add, that the probability seems to be, that soon after

\ I

i I

134

the banishment of these trihes from their own land, into
one of the very outskirts of the territory of their conqueror,
they proceeded onward and reached this continent through
the North-east passage : perhaps even before the captivity
of the Jews. We have no reason given us to suppose,
that they were carried captive for any use that the King
of Assyria could make of them. They were not made
slaves in his capital, nor employed in raising pyramids or
other public works; but were placed where they would be
out of the way of mischief. The captor appears to have
wanted, not them, but their land, to complete his conquests :
into which he sent a colony of his ancient subjects, to
inhabit it, in whom he could place a greater confidence
than he could place in a newly conquered nation, proud
of supposed privileges and indignant of slavery.

and, into
)nqueror,
t through
captivity
suppose,
the King
lot made
ramids or
would be
i to have
)nqu€Sts :
jjeets, to
onfidence
>n, proud

CHAPTER IX.

ON THE ARTS AND THE SCIENCE OF THE INDIANS.

XT has been chiefly through the means of pious men of
the United States, that we have been brought acquainted
with the American Indiana, and their acquaintance has
been most intimately with those tribes which inhabited
the back settlements, and the land lying towards the
Pacific Ocean. These aie the tribes which have discovered
the least of civilization, they have dwelt in a country
abounding in immense forests, which have been stored
with a profusion of game and wild cattle of various kinds;
and, being of a warlike character, have been at perpetual
war with ea^h other, and lived in a half savage, half
civihzed state, in the ordinaiy enjoyment of abundance;
but, having no written means of instruction, have remained
stationary, and have had no inclination to form themselves
into better constructed and more enlightened society. B ut
we. are not therefore to conclude, that civilization has not
taken place among any of these people; for on tlie
contrary, it is well known, that there has been a great

!■!

S !

i i

■1; i

!i I

i:- :«

136

progress towards refinement, arts have been carried to a
great extent, and there was a period, the date of which we
ca.nnot now ascertain, when Egypt herself could not
furnish greater marks of industry, ingenuity and per-
severance in the mechanic arts, than these people have
exhibited.

These have been inquired into with gi-eat industry by
Baron Humboldt, a native of Gemiany, whose Essays on
the Kingdom of New Spain were published in New
York in 1811. He ventures not any opinion on the origin
of the people, but says that in New Spain, Peru, Canada,
Florida and Brazil, there is a marked resemblance
prevailing among them; and he adds, "In the faithful
portrait which an excellent observer, Mr. Volnt-y, has
drawn of the Canada Indians, we recognize the tribes
scattered in the meadows of Rio Apure and the Corona."

"ITiey — the Mexicans before the Spanish conquest
— had an almost exact knowledge of the duration of the
year, and mtercalated at the end of their gi-eat period of a
hundred and four years with more accuracy than did the
Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. The Taultees in the
seventh and the Aztees in the twelfth centuries, as he
learned from the hieroglyphical tables of the latter, which
tables ti'ansmit to us the memory of the principal epochs
of migration among the tribes, drew up the geographical
map of the Country traversed by them ; constructed cities,
highways, dikes, canals, and immense pyramids very
accurately designed, of 1416 feet in length. That of
Cholula is 177 feet in height, it has four stories, lies
exactly with the meridian, north and south, the width

the

ihi

Tied to a
vhich we
)uld not
and per-
ple have

iustry by
Issays on
in New
;he origin
Canada,
smblance
3 faithful
Iney, has
he tribes

I^orona."

conquest
)n of the
2riod of a
n did the
2S in the
es, as he
er, which
al epochs
graphical
ted cities,
lids very
That of
>ries, lies
he width

137

nearly equal to the length, and is composed of alternate
strata of brick and clay. Many other pyramids are of the
same construction but not so large, and bear a great
resemblance to the temple of Belus at Babylon, and to
the pyramids near Sackhara in Egypt. On that of
Cholula is a Church surrounded by cypress : the length
of the base is greater by ahnost half than that of the great
pyramid Cheops, and exceeds all that are known on the
old continent, and is constructed on a similar plan with
them.'*

Humboldt adds. " How is it possible to doubt, that the
Mexican nation had arrii^ed at a certain degree of civili-
zation, when we reflect on the care wth which their
hieroglypliical books were composed and kept; and
recollect that a citizen of Thascala in the midst of the
tumults of war took advantage of the facility offered him
by the Roman alphabet, to write in his own language five
large volumes on the history of a country, of which he
deplored the subjection. Their hieroglyphical paintin<^s,
buildings of hewn stone, curious carvings in wood and
works of sculpture still in preservation, though they do
not discover any great excellence, yet bear a striking ana-
logy to the monuments of more civiUzed people."

In the Archaeologia Americana, containmg Transactions
and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society, pub -
lished at Worcester in 1820, are described antiquities of
the people who formerly inhabited the western parts of the
United States : from these are taken the following extracts.

"The military works, the walls and ditches which cost
so much labour in their structure, the numerous and tasty

.1 :

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I I

-K,

< ?

•> ■

a,'

IS*

' i! •

> -;t^:

138

mounds, which owe theu* origin to a people far more civil-
ized than our Indians but far less so than Europeans, are
interesting on many accounts to the antiquarian, the i)hilo-
sopher and the divine : especially when we consider
the immense extent of country which they cover, the great
labour which they cost their authors, the acquaintance with
the useful arts which they display, the grandeur of many
of the works themselves, and the traditionary accounts re-
specting them. They were once forts, cemeteries, temples,
altars, camps, towns, villages, race grounds, and other places
of amusement, habitations for chieftains, Avatch-towers
and monuments. From what we see of these works, th<'
people inust have had some acquaintance with the arts and
sciences. They have left us perfect specimens of circles,
squares, octagons and parallel lines, on a gi'eat and noble
scale ; and we also know, that they possessed the art of
working metals. Theii- wells, with stones at their mo hs
remind us of those described in the patriarchal age."

"Near Newark, in Licking County, Ohio, between
two branches of the Licking river, at their junction, is one
of the most notable remains of the ancient works. It is
a fort inclosing forty acres, whose walls are ten feet high,
with eight gateways, eacrh fifteen feet. Each gate guarded
by a wall placed before it. Near this fort was another
containing twenty two acres and connected with it by two
parallel walls of earth. Just without a gateway there is
an observatory so high as to command a view of the region
to a great distance ; from which is a secret passage to an
ancient watercourse — other forts join to them, with watch-
towers sun'oundcd by circular walls. These forts were

)ro civil -
euns, are
lie pliilo-
consider
he great
nice with
of many
Qunts re-
teinples,
ler places
.'h-tovvers
orks, the
! arts and
»t' circleti,
nd noble
the art ol'
ir mo hs
ge."

between
Ml, is ont-
ks. It is
feet high,
B guardetl
s another
it l)y two
i there is
he region
sage to an
ith watch-
forts were

139

so placed as to enclose a number of large fields Ibr cultnre,
and appear to have had a communication with other fort«
by long parallel walls to the distance of many miles; tho
planning of which works of defence speaks volumes in la-
vour of the sagacity of their authors. I'umuli, and Si.uie
of them built of stone, are found about them. Pieces of
eurthenwaie, ornamented and glazed, pieces of copper and
tools of iron are found in these works."

An account is given of several of this kind of military
works, with various tools and instruments dug up iVom
them, as spears, swords, knives, bricks well burned, mir-
rors of isinglass, stone axes and knives, oniaments ol" cop-
per and of silver, a crucible that will still bear the usual
heat, a stone pipe curiously wrought in high relief; on the
front side a handsome female face. In the Tumuli have
been found immense numbers of human bones, indicating
a great population, or a vast destruction of life in war.

A writer in the Archaeolcgia mentions one place, near the
junction of the Ohio with the Missisippi, whqre are more
than three thousand Tumuli, the largest of huge dmiensions.
" I have been sometimes induced," he says, "to think that at
the ])eriod when these were constructed, there was a popu-
lation 83 numerous as that which once animated the bor-
ders of the Nile or tli« Euphrates. I am jierfectly satisfied
that cities similar to those of ancient IVIexico, of several
hundred thousand souls, have existed in this countrv.
Nearly opposite St. Louis, there are traces of two sudi
rities in the distance of five miles."

Near Mexico are many pyramids whicli of themselves
<liscovta- in the difficulty of their constniction a vast

lis

140

population. There is a group of them in an adjoining valley,
called the Path of the Dead, two large ones, surrounded by
hundreds of smaller ones, which form square streets with
tlie cardinal points of the compass. They are much in
the style of the Egyptian pyramids. The two gieat ones
had on their summit huge statutes of the sun and moon,
formed of stone and covered with plates of gold, which
the soldiers of Cortes plundered : these were not idols
which they worshipped, as stated by the Spaniards, but
emblems of tlie Great Spirit.

" About thirty years ago one of these pyramids was
discovered by some hunters in a thick forest, built of
hewn stone of a vast size and very beautiful ; it has six
or seven stories ; three staircases lead to the top. The
covering of its steps is decorated with hieroglyphical
sculpture and small niches arranged with perfect sym-
metry."

In removing a large mound in Marietta bones of a per-
son were found. "Lying immediately over, or on the
forehead of the body, were found three large circular
bosses, or ornaments for a sword belt, or a buckler ; they
are composed of copper, overlaid with a thick plate of silver.
The fronts of them are slightly convex, with a depression,
like a cup, in the centre, and measure two inches and a
(piarter across the face of each. On the back side, opposite
the depressed portion, is a copper rivet or nail, around
which are two separate plates, by which they were fastened
to the leather. Two small pieces of the leather were found
between the plates of one of the bosses." "Near the side
of the'D^o^y was found a plate of silver, which appears to

141

liave been the upper part of a sword scabbard ; it is six
inches in length and f.vo in breadth, and weighs one ounce ;
it has no ornaments or figures, but has three longitudinal
ridges, which probably coiTesi)ond with the edges or ridges
of the sword; it seems to have been fastened to the scab-
bard by three or four rivets, the holes of which yet remain
in tlie silver.

" Near the feet was found a piece of copper weighing
three ounces. From its shape it appears to have been used
as a plumb, or for an ornament, as near one of the ends is
a circular crease, or groove, for tying a thread ; it is oblong,
two inches and a half in length, one inch in diameter at
the centre and half an inch at each end. It is com])osed
of small pieces of native cop^XT, pounded together; and in
the cracks between the pieces are stuck several pieces of
silver; one nearly the size o* t^ four-penny piece, or half a
dime. This copper oniaracnt was covered with a coat of
green rust, and is considerably corroded. A piece of red
ochre, or paint, and a piece of iron ore, which has the appear-
ance of having been partially vitrified, or melted, were also
found. The ore is about the specific gravity of pure iron."
From the preceding facts it appears, that at some
period previous to the anival of the Spaniards in Ame-
rica, there had existed great and powerful nations in
difTerent parts of that continent, who wcie much advanced
in the knowledge of Arts, possessed considerable mecha-
nical genius, and understood Astronomy and Geography,
to a mucli greater degree than any of the Inhabitants ap-
peared to possess on their arrival ; and had been highly
civilized and polished nations, compared with all those

143

of the Northern or Southern division of it : and that
they had been destroyed by an irruption of the wild and
wandering tribes ; in a manner somewhat similar to what
happened on the irruption of the Goths and Vandals
in the Southern Kingdoms of Europe. With perhaps
this difference that, like them, they neither received the
polish of the eonquerea nor submitted to the laws of their
religion. There always must be a general similarity of
conduct in unciviHzed people who are seeking conquest ;
but characteristic propensities may occasion some differ-
ences. And it has been remaiked, that among the Indian
iniyea a strong and inconquerablc hatred subsisted in time
of war between some and others of them. So great was
the disgrace attached to capture, that the warriors seldom
suffered tliemselves to be taken prisoners. They either
conquered or died : and many instances are known, of some
of them which once were numerous being almost or en-
tirely extirpated. Women and children were always
spared and treated kindly by them; and, being adopted
into their own tribes, were in future regarded as a part of
them. And in this way we may well account for the
destruction of the more enlightened nations; these ruins of
whose towns, and forts, and pyramids &c., alone remain
to give us a notion of what thoy were. The Indians of
America have the character of being hostile to the neigh-
bouring tribes : especially those that are the most rude.
Having little to defend, they are the more jealous of any
who might rob them of that little, and have ever discovered
much of that fraternal animosity by which the children of
Israel were distinguished; who fought, not only Judah

143

against Israel and Israel against Judah, with a deadly
hatred, but also one family oflsrael against another Ciinilv.
The tawny tribes of Africa are carrying on i)eri)etual
skirmishings against each other; and it is, in order to
obtain prisoners to be converted into slaves of christian
men; but the Indiana, like the Jews of oW, wage wais of
extermination, and in this peculiar jjoint, in which they
do not iwiemble any nation we are acquainted with, they
have the appearance of being of one kindred, and possess-
ing one cruel and murderous mind. The King of Israel
could wage war against his brethren, and "slay in Judaii
one hundred and twenty thousand in one day" who were all
valiant men, 2 Chro. 28. 5, "and carry captive two hundred
thousand women, sons and daughters, and hring them to
Samaria." And whit could poor Indians do more ?

The above remarks may apply with the gi-eatest truth
to the Mexic ms. It does not appear that the enlightened
inhabitants of Peru have been thus invaded by the hostile
tribes; for when Pizarro made the conquest of tliat coun-
tiy, they were in the enjoyment of a perfect peace, with
the monuments of their art and industry fresh around
them. The great labour of these vile invaders was, to
destroy all the marks of intellect which they found among
them, and reduce the people to a state of the most savage
ignorance. Accordingly we are told by Humboldt;

"That in order to reduce the intellectual charaetei c '
the natives as much as possible, and to make them so
much the more fit for the slavery to which tliey were de-
voted, all the better informed of the inhabitants, among
whom was a certain degree of intellectual culture, were

i ;

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144

in one way or another destroyed by the invaders at the
commencement of the conquest. Fanaticism— if that
can be called by the name which in point of fact had, as
we believe, little or no religion in it— was directed espe-
cially against the Priests, the Ministers of religion, and
those who were connected with the houses of worship,
who were the depositories of the historical, mythological
and astronomical knowledge of the country. These people
were completely annihilated, the more effectually to secure
the cruel object of ^' ' ferocity; while the hieroglyphical
paintings and other remains of learning, which transmitted
from generation to generation the knowleuge of their
antiquities and of their religion, were carefully destroyed
by the Monks. So that the people might be deprived of
all their former means of religious instruction and of religi-
ous zeal, and an ignorance the most complete might
ovei-spread all that remained of the ancient race : which
the christian Priests took effectual care to maintain."

"Long before th' arrival of the Spaniards the natives
of Mexico, as well aS of Peru, were acquainted with the
use of many of the metals. They did not content them-
selves with those which were found in their native state
on the surface of the earth, in the beds of rivers or in the
mvines fomed by the torrents from, the mountains : they
had applied themselves to subteiTaneous operations in the
working of veins, they had cut galleries and dug pits of
communication and ventilation, and they had iiistruments
adapted for cutting the rocks. Gold, silver, copper, lead
and tin were publicly sold in some of their markets."

l!;:

CHAPTER X.

THE HEBREW TESTIMONY.

iDight
which

Un the 18th of August, in the year 1644, a very smaU
Book was puhhshed in Amsterdam, with the title. The
Gathering of Israel, first ^vritten in Dutch by Manasseh
Israel, and afterwards in Hebrew by Jacob, leader of the
Synagogue of that City, for the benefit of the Jews gene-
rally. The Hebrew copy fell by mere accident lately into
my hand; the contents of which I acquired by the assist-
ance of a learned Jew of Plymouth. The writer was a
man held in high esteem by the Hebrew people, and he
gives a very good account of the person from whom he
received the intelligence which occasioned his publishing
the book, as a man worthy of credit, who did not appear
to have any motive for giving a false account of his travels
This man's name was Aaron Levi, a Portuguese Jew.
He was travelling on business, and came to the capital of
Holland a short time before the pubhcation made its
appearance. His account is as follows. He had been at
Honduras from whence he proceeded to Papuan, perhaps

i II

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; * i

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1 M

f . 7^

■"■ ,

146

Popayan, that is, he says, to Quito, where he hired mules
of a Spaniard to go into the Country, and took with him
a guide who was called Francisco. With him he proceed-
ed towards the Cordilleras. Falling into conversation
with his guide, he found him to be one of the original
natives of America, who had much violence and injustice
to charge the Spaniards with. He complained bitterly of
their cruelties, and expressed not only a hope, but even
a persuasion, that his countrymen would one day have the
satisfaction of a revenge through the means of a people
that were then concealed. Aaron's curiosity was much
excited to know mo:, of these people ; and learning from
his guide that some of them wore very long beards, others
short ones, and that they observed the rite of circumcision,
his anxiety greatly increased to see them, and he begged
his guide to accompany him to the place where they re-
sided. His guide consented, and he gave him three dol-
lars to buy provisions, with a part of which money he
purchased canvas shoes, and they began their journey.
As they proceeded Francisco *nade many enquiries
about Aaron's friends and origin. He asked liim if he
knew who was his original ancestor; to which Aaron
replied yes, his name was Abraham, and added that he
believed in one God that is in Heaven, and that all else
that is said about God is false. Francisco then bound the
stranger by an oath, that he would not betray him, either
as to any thing he saw or any thing he heard, and that he
would do as he directed him. Having travelled two days,
the Indian made him put on the canvas shoes, take a
staff and follow him.—He does not assign his reasons for

5J mules
vith him
proceed-
rersation
original
injustice
itterly of
3ut even
have the
a people
IS much
ng from
s, others
meision,
B begged
they re-
tiree dol-
loney he
journey,
bnquiries
im if he
ti Aaron
I that h(!
,t all else
ound the
til, either
I that he
;vvo days,
s, take a
a?ons for

147

this change; probably they were climbing the mountains,
and the staff and the shoes were useful in their progress.-
Iho Indian carried widi him three measures of wheat
aud two ropes, in oneofwlich were many knous and .t
the ends ol them were short iron spikes, to throw (l,e says)
among the rocks as they climbed up. On the Sabbath
day they rested, and after two days journey more tJiev
arrived at the bank of a large river, much larger than the
J^ouro. His guidethen said to him, "here you will see
your brethren." Having made a kind of flag with two
pieces of cotton cloth, he waved it backward and forward
>vheu a great smoke arose on the other side the river!
That smoke," said thelndian, "is a sign that they know w.
are here - he then gave another sign, ai.d three men and
a woman came over in a little boat. Aaron did not under-
stand the language in which these persons spoke, but his
guide understood them: they looked hard in his face ex
pressed g,.eat pleasure at seeing .Jm, and jumped about
and embraced, and kissed him. They said to him and
It was explained by Francisco, m Lord is our God
the Lard i. One. see Deut. 6. 4. They used signs which
Uie guide explained; tiiey evidently knew that he was a
Jew. They said Joseph dwells in the midst of the Sea
and held up two fingers, 5m joined together and then'
lield apart, to intimate that they were two families de-
scended from one head-Manasseh and Ephraim-and
added, there wiU be a day on which we shall all meet: and
you will tell oar bretliren, that you were die first tliat
<^ame here to us : no one of tJiem has been here befbre you.
IJpon this Aaron made a motion to get into the boat.

i
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148

but they checked him, and, stniggling with them, he fell
into the water; they took him out, but refused to let him
go over with them. For three successive days the boat
continued to move to and fro across the water, bringing
always four persons at a tune; so that he supposed he saw
about three hundred of them.

His account of the people is, that their countenances
were much burned by the sun, that they were of a fine
tall strait figure, many with beards, and that they wore on
their heads a kind of turban. They gave directions to
the Indian to tell him more about them, and then took
their leave : on which the Jew and his guide returned to

Quito.

On their way Aaron said to his guide, "now smce you
know a good deal about these people, you must tell me all
you know, for they ordered you to tell me." The guldens
answer was, "I will tell you the truth, and if you are not
satisfied with what I tell you, and waut to know more, I
shall tell you false : what I know I learned from my ances-
tors, and it was handed down to them by tradition. The
Almighty brought the children of Israel mto this country
by great miracles and wonderful works; if I told you all,
you would thmk them contrary to nature. When we
came into this coimtry we had great battles with the people
that lived here before us, and the wizards, of whom there
were many among us, advised us to go to the place where
those people whom you have just seen are, and make war
against them; which we did, and all our army was de-
stroyed. Then we gathered a larger army and fought with
them ; and that army was also cut oflT. A third time we

I, he fell
olet him
the boat
bringing
)d he saw

itenances
of a fine
1 wore on
jctions to
then took
itumed to

since you
tell me all
lie guide*s
3a are not
w more, I
my ances-
ion. The
is country
,d you all.
When we
the people
horn there
lace where
make war
ly was de-
bughtwith
rd time we

149

collected all our men of war together, and none of thein
returned alive. We then tliought that the wizards had
given this advice through spite; and they that remained
rose against them and killed a great many of them • the
otiiers begged for their life, which was grunted, on condi-
tion of their telling them die truth. Then the old mt-n
taught us, that the God of the chUdren of Israel is tlie
true God, and that his commandments are true; and that
a time wiU come when these people will have rule over the
whole earth. Peace was then made between us all, on
condition tiiat we should never pass over the river to them,
but that every seventeen moons one of their people should
come amongst us, to make us a visit and enquire about
our prosperity, and that the secret of their concealment'
should not be revealed to any one who was not three
hundred moons old; that it should never be revealed in
any house, but in the field in the open air, that none
might overhear. There has been communication between
them and us only three times; the first when the Spaniards
came over into the country, the second when ships caine
into the sea of Zur, and the third time is the present of
your coming."

The above historical circumstances are related in the
preface to the little book, which forms a comparatively
large portion of it: after which the Author proceeds to
make remai-ks on the Narrative of Aaron Levi. He says
that before this time it was quite out of his power to obtain
any satisfactory information of the ten tiibes. He had
read several accounts of them, but could rely upon none.
He quotes some of these accounts, giving the particular]

tll

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150

and his reasons for discrediting them. One of them.
Arias Montana, says, "The language of the Peruvians is
the same as our language/'

The Jews receive and acknowledge four hooks of Ezra,

written in the time of Hosea; the first is that which is in

oiur Bible; in the fourth Ezra writes — "that the ten

tribes were solicitous to find a place in which they might

remain quiet and at peace. So they passed over the

Euphrates, God performing a miracle and stopping the

water, that they might pass safely over. They then came

to a country called Arsaret, which is Great Tartary, and

passing through it they arrived at an Island called Grona,

from whence they crossed a narrow passage to a land called

Labrador, which is India." The passage already quoted

fifom Esdras has much the appeai'ance of having been

taken from it.

Another writer says, "Arsaret is the outer part of the
continent, which is Tartary on the Sea, and that Plyneas
writes, that from thence there is a narrow passage over to
another land."

Another writer mentions the fact, "that the Spaniards
found a tombstone in Mexico which was engraven in the
Hebrew language, that the customs of the American
Indians where just like those of the Jews, and that some
of them were known to use the rite of circumcision."
Upon the whole this writer appear.^ fully satisfied, that by
some means or other a considerable portion of the ten
tribes went over into America ; and thinks it probable, that
Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, which were taken away in
the first captivity, anrl placed among the Mountains of

of them,
rnvians is

i of Ezra,
hich is in
t the ten
ley might
over the
pping the
then came
rtary, and
3d Grona,
[and called
iy quoted
ving been

part of the
at Plyneas
Lge over to

Spaniards
Lven in the
American
that some
umcision."
dd, that by
of the ten
(bable, that
in away in
)untains of

151

Media, by the King of Ashur, were the earliest to go
there. And that the / wcie afterwards followed by the
men of the second captivity.

Here is an evidence, coming in an oblique direction,
which carries with it, as 1 conceive, gi-eat conviction, tliat
It was known to the learned among the Jewish people two
hundrc'l years ago, scarcely half a century after the con^
quest of Peru, that some of their brethren, of whom they
had long lo ,t sight, were safely settled in the continent of
America: that the fate of these people had engaged the
attention of many of their writers, who had solicitously
enquired after th. ir destination ; and that at last, one who
held a high rank among them, published in his own lan-
guage a httle book, for the express puipose of declaiing,
that, although he had hitherto been ignorant of their fate,
he wa3 then satisfied, by evidence which he saw no reason
to discredit, that at least a pait of them were safely esta-
blished as a separate people among the vast range of the
Cordilleras.

There is considerable difBculty in deciphering some
of the proper names which are found in this little book :
the Hebrew characters not con'esponding exactly with the
English, and the manner of writing the words depending
on the reporter's pronunciation, and tlie names of places
and of countries not being the same two hundred years
ago, in the languages in which the books were written,
that they are now in our Atlas.

Another remark may be of some interest to the reader :
whether when these people made use of the passage that ig
found in Deuteronomy, The Lord is our God, the Lord is

152

) (

t-V

I i

i-tli

One, they would, had they been permitted, have used the
word Jehovah. But the reporter could not inform us of
this very important fact, which would so clearly illustrate
the subject; for no Jew is allowed to write that word on
any occasion whatever, except in copying the books of
Moses, nor to utter it on any such an occasion : and, when
the word occurs in i-eading any part of those books in the
Synagogue on the Sabbath day, they always substitute
for it the term adonai. Admitting even that ^hey were of
the Hebrew nation, they must have said, and Jacob must
have written, adonai.

The Indian, who acted as interpreter on tliis occasion,
spoke of people who were in the country when his ances-
tors arrived in it; which may lead some to suppose, that
these Hebrew tribes were not the first to colonize the
American continent, or at least that part of it which lies
below the Cordilleras towards the sea. It is not clear
however from this man'o relation, that they carried on war
against any but those on the other side the river, nor is
any motive assigned for their attempting to disturb them
in tlieir settlement If the supposition of this learned Jew
be correct, it will appear, that the first persons who came
there were the descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim
who stationed chemselves beyond the river, and that some
other wanderers of the same migration aftenvards settled
in Peru, and having skirmished awhile with their neigh-
bours, ultimately formed the kingdom which sprang up
and was consolidated under the Incas; a peaceful and
happy nation.

The term Wizard used by the Indian is, in this little

153

used the
rm us of
illustrate
: word on
books of
nd, when
ks in the
ubstitute
y were of
cob must

occasion,
is ajices-
lose, that
nize the
'^hich lies
not clear
i on war
r, nor is
irb them
med Jew
ho came
Ephraim
bat some
Is settled
ir neigh-
)rang up
eful and

his little

book, the same word as is found in the Hebrew Bible and
translated Wizard in ours : an order of men for whom tlie
degenerate Israelites had a high regard, and to whom tlicy
applied habitually for advice in all difficult cases; as ap-
pears from many demmciations of the Prophets. And,
as Moses in his law guarded them against their imposi-,
tions, and forbade the people to apply to them, it would
appear; tliat they brought with them some of this order
into the land of promise, who had learnetl their magic arts
in Egypt; that they retained them in the land of Canaan,
where tliey recovered their plenary power under the
Idolatrous Kings of Israel; and that they still preserved
that power after they had emigi-ated to the new world.
Their ancient priests had been long neglected ; but wiz-
ards and necromancers were still in esteem. That the
people finding themselves deceived by the wizards, who
we are to suppose were numerous and fonning an order
in the state, should rise against them and kill a great many
of them, is exactly what their ancestors had been every
now and then in the habit of doing with their ghostly
advisers. One time it was the Priests of the Lord who
were slain by scores and by hundreds : another it was tlie-
Priests of Baal who fell in crowds : and again we read, of
all the witches and wizards of the land being put to deatli.
Such was the spirit of this people : they were always a
murderous set

When we find that the Jewish nation had entirely lost
sight of their brethren, the Children of Israel, and had
not been able before the period in which this httle book
was written to obtain any information as to what had be-

^Il

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154

coiuo of them, we need not wonder that CInistian writers
were a( an utter loss to account for their entire disajjpear-
ance ; tliat Prideaiix should unhesitatingly declare, that
they were merged and lost in the Asiatic tribes; and that
Gibbon should give himself no trouble to account for the
tofcjil destruction of a nation once so peculiar in their habits,
so deeply i ooted in national prejudice, and so distinguished
as these descendants of the Hebrew i)eople were. His
l)roud and unbelieving spirit would perhaps grudge the
labour of research after thcni. The ruler of the Syna-
gogue at Amsterdam had been interested in the question
of their final destiny; he could not be satisfied that they
had be6n abandoned by their Almighty Friend, and had
taken pains to search into every thing that had been writ-
ten concerning them : but without success.

It is only by uniting facts which time brings to light,
that circumstances of so mysterious a nature, as the disaj>
pearance of tliis great body of people, can find an explana-
tion ; and then it is the bearing of one discovery upon
anotlier, and their leading to the developement, rather
than a direct and clear evidence, that unfolds the liidden
secret and brings satisfaction to the mind.

r •»

K^\

His

CHAPTER XL

THE INVASION OF CORTES.

In the year 1578, a book was published in London with
Uie tule "The Pleasant Historie of the Conquest of the
V Veast IiKlia, now called new Spayne, Atchieued by the
vvorthy Prince Hernando Cortes, Marques of the vall.v of
Huaxacat, most delectable to Reade."

This is a translation from the Spanish, and is printed
m the old Enghsh Black Letter. I have it in my posses-
sion and esteem it a curiosity. It betrays too surel.
both the mdisposition of the Spaniards to think, or at
ieast, to speak justly of those truly interesting people
the pams they took to misrepresent them, either tlirou^h
ignorance or base design, and the steady and perseverir-^
use Cortes made of the name of Religion, as a plea for his
usurpation and apology for all his cruelties. Throughout
this book they are represented as idolaters of the basest
land; they are charged with sacrificing thousands of their
enemies and also of their own peo])le to their deity; thev
are spoken of as constantly and ordinarily feeding on

i I

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lis

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«.

15G

human carcases; and, to crown all, it is the Devil who is
their favorite deity and chief adviser, in all the stej)s they
were induced to take to resist these worthy christians ;
who came to visit them with no other design than to make
them cease from human sacrifice, give up the worship of
the Devil, and receive the glad tidings of Salvation through
Christ Jesus. It is a heart-rending history indeed that
even this Spaniard writes, whose object it was to show his
companions* behaviour in the fairest colours. No one can
read it, who has obtained information respecting that de-
generate race of men from other quarters, without perceiv-
ing an entire ])lan of deception carried on, from the time
that Cortes first landed at Ulhua to the complete conquest
of the rich town of Mexico. A few extracts from this
work may amuse the reader.

The Oration that Cortes made to his Soldiers. — "My
louing fellowes and deere friendes, it is certayne that euery
valiant manne of stoute courage, doth procure by deedes
to make him selfe equall with the excellente men of his
time, yea and with those that were before his time. So
it is, that I do now take in hand such an enterprise, as god-
willing shall be heereafter of greate fame, for myne heart
doth pronosticate vnto mee, that we shall winne greate and
rich Countreys, and manye people, as yet neuer scene to
anye of oure nation, yea and (Ibeeliue) greater kingrlomes
than those of oure kinges. And I assure you, that the de-
sire of glory dotlie further extend, than treasure, the
whiche in sorte, mortall life doth obtayne. I haue now
prepared Shippes, Armor, Horses, and other furniture for
the warres, with victuall suflicient, and all things that are

157

evil who is
stei)s ihey
[•}\ristians ;
.11 to make
worsliip of
m through
lulccd that
show his
'^0 one can
ig that de-
nt perceiv-
n the time
e conquest
from this

1-s.— "My
that euery
by deedes
men of liis
time. So
se, as god-
lyne heart
greatc and
;r scene to
kingrlomes
lat the de-
asure, the
haue now
miture for
^s tliat are

N-sed as nree'^.u , in Co.uiuestes. I haue bin at -n'eate
costesuul ci .rges, wi.erein I banc not oneiv employed
myneon-nf g. .d^s,biit also the goodes of my friendes, Vet
"le tL.nkei'^ • ^u the employmente thereof dothe encrease
my tr.a.n-. . „,i ],onor. We ought (loiiing followes) to
leaue on siiiall things, vhen great matters doe oiler them-
selues. And cuen as my trust is in God, cuen so gi-eater
profile shall come to our kings, and a nation of this ouro
enterprise, than hath heertofore of any other. I doe not
speake how acceptable it will be to God our sauiour for
whose loue I do chielly and willingly hazard my goods and
trauel. I will not nowe treat of the perils and danger of
life that I haue passed since I began this voyage. "^This
I say, that good men doe rather expect renoune, than trea-
sure. We doe now attempt and begin wan-e that is both
good and iust, and the almiglity God in whose name and
holy faith this voyage is begoni^e, will assuredly giaunte
vntovs victory, and the lime will she. the end of thin-s
well begonne." ^

On an island called Acusamil they met with a S])aniard
who gave the following account of himself—" Sh-, my
name is Geronimo de Aguilar, I was borne in the Cittie
of Esya in the Andohzia, and by misfortune I was
loste after this sorte. In the warres of Darien and in the
time of the contentions and passions oilame^ de Nicimsa
and Vasco Nonez Balboa, I came with Captaine Valdinia
in a little Carnell, toward Santo Domingo, to giue aduice
to the Admirall and gouernour, of the troubles which had
happened, and my comming was for men and victuals •
and likewise we brought twentye thousand Duckettes of

'■'ts?*"- 53Bt/'i&Jt»

mz.j^.'^Td'

158

lilt kings in .^nno 1511. Avd when we apported at/a-
nmyca, our Curuel was lost on the shallowes whiche were
callod the Uipars, and with greate pain we entred (about
twenty persons) into the boate, with out sayle, water or
bread, and weake prouission of oares : we thus wander
tliirtecnc or fourteene dayes, and then the currant, whiche
is there very great & runneth alway weastward, cast vs a
shoiire in a prouince called Maya, & trauelling on our
way, seauen of our fellowes died wyth hunger & famin.
\nd caj)lain Valdinia & other 4. were sacrifised to the
ydols by a cruel and cursed Cacike, th^t is to say, a Lord
in whose jwwer we fell, &c.

"And after the sacrifice, they were eaten among the In-
diam for a solemne ^anket : and I, and other sixe wer put
into a Cage or coupe, to be fatued for an other sacrifice.
And for to escape suche abhominable death, we brake the
prison and flcdde through certaine mountaines : So that
it pleased God 'hat wee niette with another Cazike who
wa? enimy to him that first toke vs, his name was Quin-
qus, a man of more reason and better condition, hee was
Lord of Xamamana : he accepted vs for his captiues, but
shortly after he dyed, and then I aboad with Taxmar his
heire. Tlien deceased other fine of oar fellowes, so that
there remayned but only I and one Gonsalo Guerrer, a
1 ..aryner, who now abydeth with Nachancan the Lorde
of CheLnal, and he man-led with a rich gentlewoman of
that countrey, by whom he hath children, and is made a
Captaine, and wel esteemed with the Cazike for the victo-
ries that he Iiath bad in the wars against the other Lords. I
*ti]t vnto him your worships letter, desiiing him that he

159

In-

"would come with me hauing so fit a passage, bat he re-
fused my request, I belieue for verye shame, because liee
had his nose ful boared of holes, & his eares iugged, liys
face & handes painted according to the vse of the countrey,
or else he abode there for the lone he bare to his wife and
children/* *A 11 those whichestoode by & hard this Histovie,
were amased, to heare Geronimo de Aguilar re})ort lyivvr
those Indians did sacrifise & eate mans flesh. They also la-
mented the miserie & death of his fellowes, and highly
praysed God, to see him free from his bondage & fk)ni such
ci-uel & barbarous people, & to haue likewise so good aii
enterpreter with them, for vndoubtedly it semed a miracle
the jlluarados ship fel into a leak, for with the extremity
they returned back again to that Hand, wheras with contia-
rie winde tiiey were constrayned to abide the coming of
Aguilar, and certainly he was the mean & speech oial their
proceedings. And therfore haue I bin so prolixiors in tht
rehearsal of this matter, as a notabk point of this historie.
Also I wil not let to tell how the mother of Ger»nimo de
Aguilar, became mad. &c.*

* When she hard that hir son was captiue among people
who vsed . o eate mans flesh, & euer after when she saw
any flesh spitted or roasted, she would make an open out-
crie, saying, oh I miserable woman, behold this is the flesh
of my deai'ebeloued sonne who was all my comiort.'

The account given of this island is that * It contayneth
ten leagues in length & thrive leagues in breadth, although
some say more, some lesse : it standeth twentye degrees on
this side the eKjuator, and flue leagues from iiie womtns
cape : it hath three villages, in the which liueth nere 3 thou-

'rJ

« \

■ : V

r *■ '

l,|

160

sand men. The houses are of stone and hrick, and couered
with straw & bowes, & some with tile. Their temples and
towers are made of hme & stone very wel built : thei haue
no other fresh water but out of welles and raine water.
Calachuni is their chiefe Lord : they are browne people &
goe naked : & if any weare cloth, it is made of cotten wool
only to couer their private members: they vse long hear
platted & bound about their foreheads : they are great fisher-
men, so the fish is their chiefest foode & sustenance, they
haue also Maiz which is for bread : also good fruites : &
hony, but somewhat som-e : and plots for bees, which
contayn. 1000 hiues. They knew not to what use wax
serued, but when they saw our men make candels thereof,
they wondred thereat. Their dogges haue Foxe faces and
barke not, these they gelde and fatten to eate. This
Hand is fulof high mountames, & at thefeete of them,
good pastures many Deare and wilde Boares, Connyes
and Hares, but they are not great The Spaniardes
with their handguns and crossebov es prouide them of
that \dctual, fresh salt and dried. The people of this
Hand are Idolaters, they doe sacrifice children, but not
manye. And many times in stead of children they sacri-
fice dogges. They are poore people, but very charitable
and louing in their false religion and beliefe.*

'Tlie rehgion of the people oi Acusamil.-^The tem-
ple is like vnto a square Toure broad at the foote, &
steps round about it, & from the middest upward very
straight: the top is hollow and couered witli straw: it
hith foure windowes with frontais and galleries. In the
holow place is their chappel, wheras their Idols do stand.

mummtF

161

The temple that stoode by the sea side was such a one
in the which was a maruellous straunge Idol, and difler^
ed muche from all the rest, although they haue manye
and of dmerse fashions. The body of this Itlol was great
and hollow, and was fastened in that wall with lime •
- hee was of earth. And behinde this Idols backe was
the Uesterie, where was kept ornaments & other things
ot seruicefor the temple. The priests had a little secret
dore hard adjoining to the Idol, by which dore they
crept into the hollow Idol, and answered the people
who came with prayers & peticions. And with this
deceit the simple soules beleued al the Idol spake, and
honored the god more then al the rest with many perfumes
and sweete smelles, and offered bread and fruite, with sa-
cnfice of Quayles bloud, and other bu-ds, and Ao^es
and sometime mans bloud. And through the fameof L'
IdoUand Oracle, many Pilgrimes came to Jlcusamil &om
many places At the foote of this Temple was a plotte
hkea Churchyard, well walled and garnished with 4ner
pmnacles, in the middest whereof stoode a Crosse V ten
fuote long, the which they adored for God of the rayn. for
at all times when they wanted rayne, they would goe'thi
ther on Procession ('euoutely, and offered to the Cross'--
Quayles r^erificed, for to appease the witith ^hat the God
seen .3d to hane agaynste them : and none was so accept.-
bk ^i '^cnfi,e, as the bloud of that little birde. -hey vse *
to bum. certaine sweete gume, to perfume that Gc J wi^h-
4ll, and to besprinkle it with water, and this done thevr
cel^ued assuredly to haue rayne. Such, h the Keligion
of tho.e Indians of Acusamil. They could ueure W

M #.

1 1

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li-

l"*

1 '*

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162

the original how that God of Crosse came amongst tliem,
for in all those parties of India, there is no memorie of
anye Preaching of the Gospell that had bin at any time,
as shall be shewed in another place.*

Similar descriptions are given of other towns. Xext
follows a descripticn of a temple found on the Continent.

'There was in that Village a temple, whiche hadde
a little I'ower with a Chappell on the toppe, and twentie
ste})pes to come unto the Chappell, where they found
some Idolles, and many bloudy papers, and much mans
bloud of those which hadde bin sacrificed, as Marina
did certifie. They found also the blocke wheieupon
they used to cutte open the menne sacrificed, and the
razors made oi Flint; wherewyth they opened their
breasts and plucked out their heartes beeyncr aliue
throwing them uppe toward Heaven as an oflfering, and
after t'as done they anoynted their idolles and .the
papers they offered, and then burned them.'
* From the passage of the river they had a faire way to
another river, which being likewise waded ouer, they
discried Zempoallan, whiche stoode a myle distant from
them, all beset with fayre Orchardes and Gardens, verye
plcasaunte to beholde, they used always to water them
with sluses when they pleased. There proceeded out of the
towne many persons, to behold an receyue so strange a
people unto them. They came with smihug countenance
and presented unto tliem diuers kinde of floures and sun-
dry fruites, which none of our men had heeretofore seene.
These people came without feare among the ordinance ;
with this pompe, tiiumph, and ioy they were receiued into

163

tlie Citic, Hhich seemed a bea.tifuU Garden, for the tree,
weresogreene andhighthat scarcely the houses appeared.'

From Vera Crux, the first town the Spaniards built
rich presents were sent to the Court of Spain, many arti^
cles m gold. Sliver, feathers and wood, curiously wrou^^ht
with carpets and cloth of cotton.

'AU these tilings wer more beautiful than rich : the
workmanship of al was more worth than the tiling it selfe
The colours of the cloth of cotton wool was exceeding- '' e
and the fethers natural.'

jThe pounced worke in gold and sUuer excee .r
gddsmithes. They joyned to tliispresent certaine Indian
bookes of figures which serve to their use for letters : these

bookes arefcldenlikeuntoclothes,and written onboth sides.
Some of tliese books were made of cotton and glewe, and
others were made of leaves of a certain t^ee calledMelt,
whyche serue for theyr paper, a thing straunge to behold.'
The Country of TIaxcallaa was separated from that of
Mexico ' by a greate circuite of stone made without lyme
or mortar, ])eing a fathom and a half high and twentie
^oote brode, with loupe holes, to shoot at: Uiatwall cross-
e<louer all the valley from one mountayne to aaiother
and but one only entrance or gate, in the which Uie one'
wall doubled against the other, and the way there waa
fourue paces brode, m such sort, that it wa. an euil and
penlous passage, if any had bene there to defend it>
'They have aU kinde of good poUcie in the citie ; there

are ^oHsmithes, Fethenlressers, Barbors, Hotehouses
and T'.rf^ ^1,0 „^^^ ^ g^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ .^^^^^

Spayne.

164

Chololla, a place they passed through in their way to
Mexico 'is called the Sanctuary or holy place among tlie
Indians, and thither they trauelled from many places
farre distante on pilgrimage, and for this cause were many
temples. It sheweth outwards verye beautifull and full
of tx)wers, for there are as manye temples as dayes in the
veare, and every temple hath his towers. Our men count-
ed foure hundred towers. The men and women are of good
dispositions, well fauoured and veiy wittie.* We learn
that when Mutezuma heard of the taking of Chololla,
he feared and said, "These are the people that our
Gods said should come and inherite this land." 'He
went incontinent to his oratore and shut himself alone,
where he abode in fasting and prayer eyght dayes, with sa-
crifice of many menne to asslake the fury of his idolles,
who seemed to be offended. The voyce of the Diuell
spake unto him, bidding him not to feare the Christians &c.'

I shall here subjoin the speech of Mutezuma to Cortes
and his company.

"Lorde and Gentlemen. — I doe much rejoyce to haue
in my house such valiant men as ye are, for to vse with
curtesie, and entreate you with honour, according to your
desert and my estate. And where heretofore i desired
that you shoulde not come hither, the onely cause was my
people had a greate feare to see you, for your gesture and
grimme beards did terrific them, yea, they reported that
yee had such beastes as swallowed men, and that your
coming was from heaven, bringing with you lightning,
thunder and thunderbolts, wherwith you made the earth
to tremble and to shake, and that yee slew therewith whom

r way to
nong tlie
y places
jre many
I and full
^es in the
m count-
re of good
Ne learn
Chololla,
that our
1." 'He
;lf alone,
, with sa-
ls idolles,
16 Diuell
itians &c.*
, to Cortes

;e to haue
» vse with
ig to your

i desired
se was my
ssture and
►orted that
that your
lightning,

the earth
fvith whom

165

ye pleased. But now I do see and know that ye are mor-
toll men, and that ye are quiet and hurt no man : also I
haue seene your horses, which are but your seruauntes,
and youre Gunnes lyke vnto shootyng Trunkes. I do
now holcl all for fables and lyes which hatl, bin reported of
you, and Idoalso accept you formy meere kmsmen. My
father tolde me that hee had heard his forefathers say, of
whome I doe descende, tiiat they helde ophnon howe Uiey
were not naturals of thys lande, but come hither by chance
m company e of a mighty Lorde, who after awhile tliat tl J
baclde abode heere they retui^ed to tlieir natiue soyle :
After manye yeares expired, they came agayne for those
who,ne they had left heere behind them, U they would
not goe wyth them, because they had heere inhabited, and
hadde wyues and children, and great gouen.ement in the
^d Nowe these myghtieLordes seeyng that they were

ft;om tbem sore displeased, saying, that he woulde sende
his children that should botli rule and goueme them, in
lustice, peace, and auntient Religion, and for tliis con-
sideration, wee haue alwayes expected and beleeued, that
suche a people should come to rule and goueme us and
consulenng from whence you come, I doe think that you
are Uiey whome we looked for, and the notice which the
greate Emperour Charles had of vs, who hath now sent

sured, that we wyll obey you, if there be no fayned or
^ceytfull matter in your dealings, and will a Jdeuide

tlu. which X haue sayde were not only for voure vertue

: V

166

fame, and deedes of valiant Gentlemen, I would yet do it
for your worthincsse in the battayles of Tauasco, Teocaz-
inco, and Cholhlu, beeying so few, to ouercome so

many.'* , .

" Now agayne, if ye ymagine that I am a God, and Uie
walles and roufes of my houses, and all my vessell of ser-
uicc to be of pure golde, as the men of Zernpoallan, Tlux-
callan, and Uuexozlnco hath enformed you, it is not so, and
I iud-e you to be so wise, that you giue no credit to such
fablel You shall also note, that Uirough your comm>mg
hitlicr, manye of my subiects haue rebelled, and are be-
comt^ my mortall enimies, but yet I purpose to breakc
their wings. Come feele you my body, I am of fleshe and
bone, a mortal man as others are and no God, althougli
as a king I doe esteeme my seUe of a greater digmtie
and preheminence than others. My houses you do also see
which are of tymber and ettrtlie, and the principallest of
Masons worke, therefore nowe you do both knowe and
see what ochous lyai-s those talebearei-s were. But troth
it is, that golde plate, feathers, armour, iewels, and other
riches, I haue in the treaso-y of my forefathers a long
tmie presenied, as the vse of kings is, all the which you&
yours shal enioy at all times. And now it may please you
to take your rest, for I know that you are weery of your
iouniey." Cortex with ioyfull countenance humbled him-
selfe, seeyng some teai'es fall from Mutezuma his eyes,
saying vnto him, " Vppon the trust I hauehaxide in youre
clemencye, I insisted to come boUi to see and talke wyth
your highnesse, and now I know that all are lyes which
hath bin tolde me. Tlie like youre highnesse hath hearde

yet do it
, Teocaz-
jrconie so

(1, and tlie
sell of ser-
'an, Tlax-
not so, and
(lit to such
commyng
ind are be-
j to breakc
f fleshe and
i, althougli
ter dignitie
do also see
icipallest of
knovve and
But troth
3, and other
hers a long
ivhichyou&
J please you
eery of your
imbled him-
na his eyes,
dde in youre
i talke wyth
; lyes which
! hath hearde

167

Imported of vs, assure youre selfe, that the Emperoure
J^yng oiSpayne is your natural] Lorde, whome yee haue
expected for, he is the onely heyre from whence youre Iv-
nage dothe proceede, and as touching the offer of yo^re
highnesse treasure, I do most hartyly tbanke you."

'TheMaiestieand order, wherewith Mutezuma was
serued.—Mutezumawas a man of small statm-e and leune
his couloure tawnie as all the Indians, are. He haddJ
long heare on hys heade, six little heares vppon him
as though they hadde bin put in with a bodkin. HiJ
thnine bearde was blacke. Hee was a man of a fayre
condition, and a doer of Justice, well spoken, graue and
wise, beloued and feared among his subjectes. Mule
^uma doth signifie sadensse.*

'To the proper names of Kings and Lords, they do
adde this sillable C. which is for *.rtesie and dignitie as
we vse Lord. The Turke vseth Zultan. The Moore' or
Barbanan calleth his Lorde.^.%, and so the Indians
say Mute Zuma Zin. His people haddc him in such
reuerence. that he permitted none to sit in his sight, nor
yet 111 his presence to weure shoes, nor looke him in the
iace, except very few Princes. He was glad of the con-
uersation of the Spanyardes and would not suffer tliem to
stande on foote, for the great estimation he had (.f them
and If he lyked any of the Spanyardes garments, he
woulde exchange his apparrell for theirs.*

'He changed his owue apparrell four times euery day
and he neuer clothed himselfe agayne with the garments
which he hadde once worne, but all suche were keptein
his Guardrobe, for to gine in presents to his seruantes

1G8

'f.

and Ambassadors, and vnto valiante souldycrs wliich
had taken any cnimic prisoner, and that wi»,s esteemed
a great reward, and a title of priuiledge.

* Then follow an account of suitors who applied to the
King, who having their answers returned backward not
turning thoir tayles to the Prince, after Nvhich followed
players, who play with their feete as we doe with oure
handes: also other plays, throwing cudgels into the air:
they have a kind of bean squared like dice and marked, at
which game they play all that they haue and many tyraes
they valew the}T owne bodyes and play that into captivi-
tie. To which succeeds an account of a tennis court, in
which the Khig anmsed himself with a ball made of gum,
hard, black, but excellent to rebound. He is represented
as having a thousand women, gentlewomen, servants and
slaves, the most noblemen's daughters. ISIutezuma took
for himself those he liked best antl gave the rest in mar-
riaf^e to Gentlemen, his servants. His palace was of an
immense extent with courts, a hundred bathes and hot-
houses, worked with great art and beauty, a house of foule
for hawking, others kept only for their feathers, together
with animals of all kinds in abundance, snakes and lizards
and adders and lions— though th(;re certainly were no lions
in America— and wolves and tigers, howling and Marking
to the great terror of the Spaniards, who saw the floure
couered with bloud like a slaughter house, it stonke

honibly.

' Moste certaine, in the nighte season it seemed a Don-
geon of Hell, and a dwelling place of the Deuill, and even
so it was indeede, for neare at hande was a Hall of a

-r

rs which
.'Steeinfd

iecl to the
ward not

followed
mx\i oure
) the air:
larked, at
Liiy tymes
to captivi-

court, in
leofgum,
:;presented
rvants and
zuma took
St in mar-
was of an
3 and hot-
se of foule
i, together
ind lizards
re no lions
id l)arking
■ the floure

it stonke

led a Don-

I, and even
Hall of a

169

hundred and fiftie foote long, and thirtie foote broad,
where was a ChappcU with the Roofe of siluur and gold in
leafe Wainescotted, and decked with gi-eate store of pearle
and stone, as Agattes, Conierines, Enieraldes, Rubies,
and diuerse other sortes, and thys was the Oratory where
Mutezuma prayed in the nighte season, and in that chap-
pell the Diuell did appeare vnto hyin, and gaue him an-
swere according to his prayers/

The description of his armory, his gardens, his court
and body guard exhibit hini as a most powerful and
splendid n. )narch, to whom the noblemen paye their
tribute in personal service, the husbandmen with body
and goodes.

'The great Temple of Mexico.— The Temple is called
Teucalli, that is to say, Gods house, Teurl signifieth God,
and Calli is a house, a vowell very fitte, if that house had
bene of the true God. The Spaniards that vnderstand
not the language, do pronounce and call those Temples
Cues, and the God Vitzilopuchtli, Vchilobos. There are
in Mexico many parishe churches, with towers, wherein
are Chappells and Altares where the images and idols do
stande, and those chappells do serue for burial places of their
founders, and the Parishioners are buried in the Church-
yarde. All their Temples are of one fashion, therefore
it shalbe nowe sufficient to speake of the cathedral church.
And euen as those temples are al in generall of one mak-
ing in that citie. I doe beleue that the lyke was iicur
scene nor harde off'. This temple is square, and dotli con .
♦{line euery way as much ground as a crossebow can reach
leuell : it is made of stone, with foure dorcs that abutteth

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170

vpoii the three calscys, and vpon an other parte of the
Cittie, that hatli no calsey hut a fayre streate/

'In the middest of this Quadern standeth a mount of
earth and stone square lykewise, and fiftie fadom long
euery way, huyUe vpwards hke vnto a pyramide of Egipt,
saujngthe toppe is not sharpe, but playne and flatte, and
tenne fadom squai-e : vpon the weast side, were steppes vp
to the toppe, in number an hundreth and fourtene, whiche
beying so many, high, and made of good stone did seeme
a beautifull thing. It was a straunge sight to beholde the
Priests, some going vp, and some downe with ceremonies,
or with men to be sacrificed. Upon the toppe of this
Temple are two great Alters, a good space distant the one
from the other, and so nigh the edge or brimme of the
wall, that scarcely a man mought go behind them at
pleasure. The one Alter standeth on the right hande,
and the other on the left, they were but of fiue footehighe,
eche oi" them had the backe part made of stone, paynted
with monstrous and foule figures, the Chappell was fayre
and well wrought of Masons worke and timber, euery
Chappell had three loftes one aboue another, susteyned
vpon pillers, and with the height thereof it shewed like vnto
a fayre tower, and beautified the Cittie a farre of: from
thence a man mought see all the t ae and townes rounde
aboute the lake, whiche was undoubtedly a goodly pros-
pect. And because Cortes and his company should see
the beautie thereof, Mutezuma brought liim thither, and
shewed hym all the order of the Teir^.lc, euen from the
foote to the toppe. Tb'^vc wr- . rf-iine plot or space
for the idol Priests to ceit'l.ralo their «crince without di«-

W >i

lllil

parte of the

a mount of
fadom long
le of Egipt,
I flatte, and

steppes vp
me, whiche
! did seeme
jeholde the
ceremonies,
ppe of this
ant the one
nme of the
d them at
ght hande,
bote highe,
le, paynted
1 was fayre
her, euery

susteyned
d like vnto
' of: from
les rounde
odiy pros-
should see
ithcr, and
I from the
•t or space
ithoiit di«-

171

ward the nsmg of the sunne. Upon ech alter standeth a
great kIoII Beside this tower tl,at standeU. vpon the
mam.de, there are fourtie towers great and smaU belong,
mg to otherlmle temples which stand in the san.e cir-

yet theyr prospect was not westwarde, but oth. vvayet
bicause there should be a difference betwixte the gTat'
temple and them. Some of tlrese Temples were b%;
than othe,, and eueiy one of a seuemll God, amongT
wh.he U^ere was one rounde temple dedicated to the G^
of the ayz. called Quecalcouail, for euen as the ayre goeth

zt: b^ ''' 'r^"'' ^"^" '- that con -dero!;

tI "^f.^"^'^^^' ^^""de. The entmnce of that
Temple had a dore made lyke vnto tlie mouth of a JSer-
pent, and was paynt^ with foule and Dieulish gestures
with greae teeth and gummes wrought, whiehc was a thing'
to feare those that should enter in the. at, and especially

lto.MT 'f '" it represented very Hel with
that ougly face and monsterous teeth.*

'There were other Teucalles in the citie tl.at had the
ascending vp by steps in three places : all these temples had
houses by themselues with all seruice and priests and par-
ticular Gods At euery dore of the great temple standeth
a large Hall and goodly lodgings, both high and lowe
round about, which houses were common annories for the
Utie for die force and strength of euery town, is the
temple, and therefore they haue there placed their store-
house of munition. They had other darke houses full of
Idols, greate and small, wrought of sundry mettals, they

Q2 ^

,T.

M\4-.

'\V

172

aie all bathed and wushed with bloud, and do shewe very-
black through theyr dayly sprinklyng and anointing them
with the same, when any man is sacrificed : yea and the
walles are an inch thicke with bloud, and the grounde is a
foote thicke of bloud, so that there is a diueUsh stench.
The Priests or Ministers goe daylye into those Oratories,
and suffer none others but great personages to enter in.
Yea and when any such goeth in, they are bounde to
offer some man to be sacrificed, that those bloudy hangmen
and ministers of the Diuell may washe their handes in
bloud of those so sacrificed, and to sprinkle their house
therewith.*

* For their seruice in the kitchen they haue a ponde of
water that is filled once a yeei«, which is brought by con-
duct iiom the principal fountayne. All the residue of the
foresayde circuite serueth for places to breede foule, with
gardens of hearbes and sweete trees, with Rose and
floures for the Alters. Such, so great and straunge was
this temple of Mexico, for the seruice of the Diuell who
had decieued those simple Indians. There dothe reside
in the same temple continually fiue thousand persons, and
all they are lodged and haue theyr living there, for that
temple is maruelous riche, and hath diuers townes onely
for their maintainaunce and reparation, and are bounde to
sustajTie the same alwayes on foote. They doe sowe
come, and maintayne all those fiue thousande persons
with bread, fruyte, flesh, fish and firewoodde as mud as
they neede, for they spende more fire-woodde than is spent
in the kings courte: these persons doe Hue at their hartes
ease, as seruauntes and vassals vnto the Goddes. Mute'

hewe very

iting them

ea and the

rounde is a

sh stench.

Oratories,

o enter in.

bounde to

hangmen

handes in

heir house

a ponde of
ht by con-
idue of the
foule, with
Rose and
aunge was
)iuell who
3the reside
rsons, and
e, for that
(rnes onely
bounde to
doe sowe
ie persons
i mucl as
ui is spent
leir hartes
5. Mute-

173

zuma brought Cortes to this temple, because his men
shoulde see the same, and to enforme them of his rehgion
and holinessc, wherof I will speake in an other phu^e,
bemg the most straunge and cruellest that euer was
hardo off.*

The Idols of Mexico.— < The Gods of Mexico, were
two thousand in number, as tlie Indians reported, th«
chieftest were Vitcilopuchtli and Tezeatli^puca, whose
images stoode highest in the Temple vppon the Altars-
they were made of stone in ful proportion as bigge as a
Gyant. They were couered with a lawne called ^aear
These images were besette with pearles, precious stones!
and peeces of gold, wrought like birds, beastes, fishes, and
floures adorned with Emeralds, Turquies, Calcedons, and
otlier little fine stones, so that when the lawne Nacar was
teke>i away, the Images seemed very beautiful to beholde.*
'Tlie Image had for a girdle great snakes of gold, an^^
for collors or chaynes about their necks, ten hartes of men^
made of golde. and each of those Idolles hac' a counterfait^
mar with eyes of glass, and in their necks death painted-
eadie of these things hadde their considerations and mean-
ings. These two Goddes were brethren, for Tezcatlisjmea
w«u* the God of Providence, and Vitcilopuchtli God of
tiie warres, who was worshipped and feared more than
all the rest*

'Thei-e was another God, who hadde a greate Image
placed vppon the toppe of the Chappell of Idols, and hee
wa« esteemed for a speciaU and singular God aboue aU
the reste. This God was made of aU kinde of swedes
iii«»t groweth in that Countrey, and being ground, they

174

made a certayne past, tempered with childrens blond, and
Virgins sacrificed, who were opened with the'j razures in
the breastes, and tlieir heartes taken out, to offer as first
fruites vnto the Jdoll. The Priestes and Ministers doe
consecrate this Idoll with great pomp and many Ceremo-
nies. All the Comarcans and Citizens are presente at
the consecration, with great triumph and incredible deuo-
tion. After the consecration, many deuoute persons came
and sticked in the dowy Image precious stones, wedges
of golde, and other Jewels. After all this pomp ended,
no secular man mought touch e that holye Image, no nor
yet come into his Chappell, nay scarcely religious persons,
except they were Tlamacaztli, who are Priestes of order.
They doe renue this Image many times wyth new dough,
taking away the olde, but then blessed is hee that can get
one piece of the olde ragges for relikes and chiefly for
souldyers, who thought themselues sure therewith in the
warres. Also at the consecration of thys Idoll, a certayne
vessell of water was blessed with manye wordes and cere-
monyes, and that water was preserued very religiously at
the foote of the altar, for to consecrate the king when he
should be crowned, and also to blesse any Captayne gene-
rall, when he shoulde be elected for the warres, with only
giuing him a draught of that water.'

How the Diuell appeared to the Indians. — 'The Diuell
did many times talke with the priestes, and with other
rulers and perticular persons, but not with all sortes of men.
And vnto him to whom the Diuell had appeared, was
offered and presented great giftes. The wicked spirit ap-
peared vnto tliem in a thousand shapes, and fashions, and

i i

illi

175

blond, and
razures in
Fer as first
nisters doe
y Ceremo-
presente at
iible deuo-
rsons came
es, wedges
•mp ended,
ige, no nor
us persons,
es of order,
lew dough,
hat can get
chiefly for
with in the
a certayne
!S and cere-
hgiously at
iig when he
tayne gene-
s' with only

TheDiuell
with other
)rtes of men.
peared, was
3d spirit ap-
ishions, and

finally he was conuersant and familiar among them very
often. And the fooles thought it a greate wonder, that
Gods would be so familiar with mortal men. Yea they
not knowing that they were Diuells, and hearing of them
many things before the had hapned, gaue great cre<lite
and beliefe to their illusions and deceits. And because
he commanded them, they sacrifif;ed suche an infinite
number of creatures. Likewise he, vnto whom he had
appeared, carried about him painted, the likenesse where-
in he shewed himself the first time. And they painted
his image vpon their dores, benches, and euery comer of
the house. And as he appeared in sundry figures and
shajies, euen so they painted him, of infinite fashions, yea
and some foule, grieslye, and fearful to beholde, but yet
vnto them, it seemed a thing delectable. So this ignorant
people giuing credite to the condemel spirite, were growen
euen to the hj';!hest hil of crueltie, vnder the coulour of
deuout and religious persons, yea they had suche a cvs-
tome, that before they would eat or dnnk, they wold take
thereof a little quantitie, and offer it vnto the sun and to the
earth. And if they gathered come, fruite, or roses, they
would take a leaf before they would smel it, and offer
the same. And he that did not obserue these and suche
other coremonies, was iudged one that Imd not god in his
hart, yea (as they say) a man out of the godds fauour.'

This book contains also various accounts of the im-
mense wealth of which Mutezuma and his nobles were
possessed, which fell into the hands of the Spaniards ;
gold in planches like brickbats, wedges, balls, collars,
wheels of gold, grains as they were found as large as peas.

1" < 'I,

t ii.

■

! I

176

articles both for ornament and use in war, and for the
table, garnished with gold, silver, diamonds, pearls, riibie«
&c., which when discovered struck these greedy invaders
with astonishment and sharpened their appetite for do-
minion and for blood. These richer were laid op in
heaps in tlie palace of the king, for no other purpose
than to be looked at; and therefore were given up ficely
when demanded, as useless to their possessors but greatly
desired by tlie Spanish Monarch.

A dePcrii)tion is given of Mexico as a place of immense
population, with large wide streets and houses well built,
many of them lofty, of stone, brick and wood, covered
witli tyles made of leaves, well lain on an'd fonning an
effectual security against both rain and heat, a conduit for
bringing water from a great distance into the town, and
causeways extremely well formed, with bridges on them
leading to the town; which was itself placed in tlie cen-
tre of a large lake. Indeed tlie whole of this book serves
to [JTove, that the inhabitants of the Continent, from tlie
place where the Spaniards landed to Mexico, were in a
state of com ^ete civilization, enjoying much of the happi-
ness of a social state holding the distinct occupations from
which t^e enjoyments of life axise, divided among them,
maintaining the different grades of society, a King, a dis-
tinct nobility, a regular priesthood, public officers, owners
of large tracts of land, paying annual taxes, with labourers of
all ranks and jconditions. They appear to hav^ esteemed
gold and silver on no other account, than for the ornaments
of their persona and their tables and temples, which were
made of those metals. Their habits were regular, mod«-

177

nd lor the
xh, rubies
f invaders
e for do-
id ap in
• purpose
up ficely
li greatly

immense
irell built,
, covered
ming an
iKluit for
)wn, and
on them
tlie ceai-
)k serves
from tli8
ere in a
e happi-
ms from
(g them,
g, a dis-
, owners
ourersof
steemed
laments
ch were
', mods-

rate and virtuous : a small degi'ce of exertion furnished
the means of living, and competition could scarcely be
said to be known among them. But once established
under a Kingly government, the love of dominion became
a curse to them : wars were often lighted up, on account
of the tribute which was paid to the metropolis of the em-
pire, and revolts took place. To the westward, a country
thinly peopled, the King of Mexico had an undivided
sway to the shores of the Pacific ; but a large portion of
tlie country which lay between tlie Capital and the Gulf,
which was full of people, >vith large and flourishing towns,
was hostile to the sceptre of Montezuma, and under the
influence and subject to the law of the Governor of Tlax-
callan. This unhappy division of power, and the bitter
jealousy which had long been cheriehed by the two pre-
vailing governments, were the cause of the final subjuga-
tion of the capital of the kingdom. Without them it
would have been impossible for the small army of Spa-
niards which invaded them to have formed an establish-
ment in the country ; still less to have maintained their
authority, after it had been discovered by the Indians, that
the only purpose for which they came was plunder.
These men first obtained an influence among the natives,
through that extreme simplicity and character of mildness
by which they weremarked,and it was afterwards cherished
and confirmed by the jealousies wliich they carefully fer-
mented, the false hopes by which thcjy fed the discontented
party, the promises always unfulfilled which were libe-
rally given, and the cruel severity which they exercised as
soon as tliey had gained a footing firm enough to empow-

:i.

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iJHHii

n^^HH|

<./

'■jH* V

i£E i Jk

<•'

) HI

'i •*<

i'^4l

178

cr tlicm to use decisive mcaaiires. Nor did they finally
succeed without the almost entire anninilation of the higher
ordcjrs of the people, the princes, the priests and leading
men, and tens of thou3ands, perhaps I might say, hundreds
of tliousands of the gentle, harmless, virtuous Indians.
Of these conquerors it might indeed be said, that " they
created a desart and called it Peace ;" aiul tlie terror with
which tliey inspired the feeble natives, like that which
surrounded the dungeons of the Inquisition, sealed every
mouth which still remained unclosed in silence, and
brought every neck to a yoke galling, sore, and insup-
portable, under which millions more sunk into an early
grave, welcome to their broken hearts.

.: W

they finally
)f the higher
and leading
ly, hundreds
us Indians.

that •« they
! terror with

that which
sealed every
ilencc, and

and insup-
nto an early

CHAPrEll XII.

RETllOSrECTIVE VIEW.

.ND now, my Reader, we will take a general view of
the contents of this volume, in order to ascertain the
value of the information that has been afforded from va-
rious, but all, I believe, respectable quarters, and how far it
may be seen to prove the point for which it has been col-
lected; namely, that the original inhabitants of America
are descended in a direct and pure line from tlic Ten
Tribes of Israel.

If we respect the proi»hetic language of the Old Testa-
ment, we are compelled to believe that tlie people of Go«J,
who once enjoyed special tokens of his favour and lost
them, as foretold \>y their great prophet and lawgiver, in
consequence of disobedience, will be restored io his favour
and regain the distinction they once enjoyed. If any
confirmation of this sacred truth were requiretl, it is ob-
tained from the actual state of the Jews, the descendants
of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who are still liv-
ing in a state of separation from all the nations amontr

■' i

' ■ ?•

•

■ ■ N"

i f"'j

■ ii-U^

1 1 i

180

whom tlicy dwell, adhering stricktly to ti.e worship of their
One and Only God, and exhihi ting a faithfulness of wor-
ship that does honour to Him they serve. Here they
are among us stll waiting for their redemption. And it
is a thought, unaccorapained by doubt in the Chnstian's
mind, t^iat their day of salvation draweth near, when they
shall he united with us in the worship of their God

and King.

But why they, two tribes alone, and not the other ten.
who are all included in the general charter, of whom
sc -ipture speaks in the plainest t . ms. anil calls them by
nn,A\e ? Are they not also to 1 o recovered and restored,
together with the Jews ? Yes. they arc to be so. Not
the scattered and dispersed alone, but also the outcast
shall return to the Almighty's embrace and to their own
land. For, as Paul assures us. All Israel shall be saved.
ITiese tribes have therefore ai. existence some where-
far from their brethren; who are ignorant of them and
now acknowledge them not.

One of their own prophets has told us the way in which
they departed from their captivity. In the book of Esdras
iheir journey can be traced into a land ivliere no man
dwelt. And although throughout the space of two thou-
sand five hundred yec^s tJwy have not been enquired after,
they are not less in beinr on this account. In that direc-
tion which the prophetic historian points out, a way of a
year and a halfs journey, is a passage to a wide land,
icherein they might wander undisturbed /rom sea to sea.
In that land an immense population has been discovered.
intJieir usages and customs unlike any of the tribes and

Iiip of their
less ofwor-
Ilere they
m. And it
Christian's
, when they
their God

e other ten,
r, of whom
ills them hy
,nd restored,
be so. Not
the outcast
to their own
ittll be saved.
)me where —
7/ them and

way in which
)ok of Esdras
ftere no man
of two thou-
quired after,
In that direc-
;, a way of a
a wide land,
m sea to sea.
m discovered,
:he tribes and

181

nations existing in Europe or Asia, with peculiar and
striking features, which render them remarkable. Of these
let the Miming be duly considered.

They are Hving 'n tribes, wiUi heads of tribes-they
hav. .11 a family likeness, thou^di covering thousands of
leagues of land i and have a tradition prevaihng univei^-
ally, that they carae into that country at tire North- West
comer-they are a very religious peoi,le, and yet have en-
tirely escaped the idolatry of the old world-tbey acknow-
ledge One God, the Gveat Spirit, who created all things
seen and unseen-the name by which tiiis being is known
to them IS ale, the old Hebrew name of God ; he is dso
called yehowah, sometimes yah. and also abba-for this
Oreat Being they profess a high reverence, calling him
the head of their community, and themselves his favorite
people-they believe that he was more favorable to them
in old times than he is now, that their fathers we e in
covenant with him, that he bilked wiUi them and gave
ihem la^v■s-tlley are distinctly lieard to sing with their
religious dances, halkluyah or praise to jah : other re
inarkable sounds go out of their mouths, as shilu-yo
shilu-he aU.yo, he~wak, yoheivah : but they profess not to
know the meaning of these woms; only that they learned
to use them upon saere ^ casions-they acknowledge the
government of a providence over-ruling all things, and ex
press a willing sulmission to whatever takes place-they
keep annual feasts which resemble those of the Mosaic
mual; a feast of first fruits, which they do not permit
themselves to taste until they have made an o/Terin. of
them to G(d; also an evening festival, in which n. bone

Pi 3

■'I

IMI

■1^:

■

182

of the animal that is eaten may be broken ; and if one
fomily be not large enough to consume the vvimle of it,
a neighbouring family is called in to assist: the whole ot
H is consumed, and the relics are burned before the nsmg
ofthenexi day's sun: there is one part of the animal
which they never eat, the hollow part of the thigh-they
eat bitter vegetables and observe severe fasts, for the
purpose of cleansing themselves from sin-they have also
a feast of harvest, when their fruits are gathered m, a
daily sacrifice and a feast of love-their forefathers prac-
tised the right of circumcision; but not knowmg why so
stran<^e a practice was continued, and not approving of it
they gave it up-there is a sort of jubilee kept by some of
^hem-they have cities of refuge, to which a guilty man
and even a murderer may fly and be. safe ; for these be-
loved or sacred towns are never defiled by the shedding of
blood-in their temples is a holy place into which none
may enter but the priest, and he only on particular occa-
sions-there he makes a yearly atonement for sm, dressed
in a flmta^tic garb, which is a humble imitation of the
Ili-h Priest's robes, with a breast plate and other orna-
ments-he addresses the people in the old divine speech
and calls them the beloved and holy people-they have a
succession of priosts, who are inducted into office by pun-
hcation and anointing-they had once _ a holy book,
,,hich while they kept, things wentwell with them ; thev
lost it, and in consecpence of the loss fel under the dis-
pleasure of the Great Spirit; but they believe they shall
L day regain it-they are looking for and expectm,
some one to come and teach them the right way.-

183

md if one
lole of it,
} whole of

the risint^'
;he animal
igh— they
s, for the
1 have also
lered in, a
thers prac-
ing why so
oving of it,
by some of
guilty man
)r these be -
shedding of
which none
icular occa-
sin, dressed
ation of the

other orna-
livine speech
-they have a
fice by puri-

Iioly boolc,
them ; they
nder the dis-
ve they shall
id expecting;
way. —

Let the reader here peruse Amos 8, 1 1, and Ezekiel 37.
Their forefathers had a power of foretelling future
events and working miracles — they have an ark or chest,
in which they keep their holy things, and which they
cany with them to the wars — a person is aj)pointed u.
cany it, called the Priest for the war, who is especially
purified by fasting and taking a bitter drink — he has a sa-
gan or helper: no other than these two dare to touch
the ark, not even an enemy — it must not be placed on
the ground, through feai- of defilement, but upon a heajt
of stones piled up, or on a wooden stool provided lor the
purpose — all the males appear in their temples three tinu-:.
u year at the appointed feasts: on which occasions the
women and children do not form any part of the devotional
body — their temples are high places : among the nioK
civilized they wei'e huge heaps of earth, used as place s
to bury their dead as well as for temples, altars and leli-
gious worship; to which they last resorted when drivia by
an enemy, and where no quarter was either received (»r
given — ihey tell us, that God made the first man ulclav
and breathed on him, and so gave him life; of a flood in
which all the inhabitants of the earth were drowned rx-
cept one iamily, which was saved in a large vessel wiilj
various animals; that a great bird and a little one were
Hent out from it, that the little one returned with a bv.ii.d!
in his mouth but the great one remained abroa<l— ihcy
speak of a confusion of tongues when new languages wvn-
tirst formed ; and that men once lived till their feet were
woni out with walking and their throats witli eating— ul
one of their feasts twelve beloved men are em))loye(l to fovni

, -!SfWW!»W»»1?,i«'l(¥;

184

) %

■u^

a booth or tent of green branches, in which they perform
certain reUgious rites, raise an altar of twelve stones, on
which no tool is allowed to be used, and on it they offer
twelve sacrifices; a feast much resembling the feast of
tabernacles— some of them have ten men and ten stones—
at death their beloved people sleep, and go to their fathers;
they wash and anoint the bodies, and hire mourners to shed
tears and lament over them— in affliction they lay their
hand on their mouths and their mouths in the dust— they
separate with singular care their women when under
peculiar circumstances, both the young unmarried ones
and the wives ; with the latter of whom they abstain from
communication during war, and for some days before and
after they have kws of uncleanness in other cases, as un-
clean animals which they never eat, and a careful avoidance
of every thing unclean— time is reckoned by them in the
manner of the ancient Hebrews, and their years begin at
the same season— in their language are an abundance of
words similar to the Hebrew ones, and it is generally con-
structed in the manner of that language— their ancient
works, raised at very remote periods, are of immense size
and large extent, and the more interesting, because they
offer the proof, that these people were by no means unac-
quainted with arts and science: they have an evident
affinity to the public works and vast structures of Egy})t
and of Palestine; the same hands may be thought to have
raised the Pyramids of the old and of the new world, the
same superstition to have marked their places of sepulture^
and the same creed to have been the rule of their Uves
both as to time and a hereafter.

sy perform
stones, on
they offer
le feast of
n stones —
;ir fathers;
lers to shed
J lay their
iust^ — they
tien under
xrried ones
bstain from
1 before and
Lses, as un-
1 avoidance
^hem in the
Ts begin at
undance of
lerally con-
eir ancient
imense size
ecause they
leans unac-
an evident
es of Egyjit
ight to have
' world, the
jf sepulture,.
' their lives

18d

It is not pretended that all these remarkable iisagiS
customs and thoughts, are found alike in all tlie j)avf5 of
the vast continent of America. Some of the fragments
of an ancient system have been discovered in one itlace,
and some in another. Many of them, and the most im-
portant to our present purpose, ai-e found to prevail anion^
many or all of the nations that have been best known :
and it will now be judged, whether there be not a groatr r
plausibility in the supposition maintained in the foregoing
pages, than in the attempt which has ucen again and
again made to shew that these nations are of Tartar origin.
Among the Tai'lars none of those pecularities are dis-
covered which bring the American Indians so near to a
Hebrew origin ; and, without entering deeper into the
investigation, I shall take leave of my reader with the
persuasion, that he has not been uninterested and unin-
structed by the perusal of this little volume.

FIMS.

H'-

«.ii

ill

4 m.

, ! *

}

' H

!•'

J'RINTll) BY Vr. W. ARLISS, PLYMOUTH.

JTH.