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U^^'oM-ifi'cip ^ Quarto Family Bible No. l, plain sheep, 4 plates. j-s- -.ft,-! :-»-:).<». ;l..»^''' - - - . _ - - - •• C-A- •' - '^ tf- v: «2i P<..-^;.-..vr,-..'V'..'-.-'.H, Ks^.s ».'^";Hd:-;.'i«.";.=; S^^ *? do. do. ao. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. A. Embossed, gilt back, 4 plates. B do. do. Aph. Con. and Psalms, ^p mnrblcd edge, 2 plates. C. Embossed, gilt back, Aph. Con. and Psalms, ^| marbled edge, 10 plates. D. Embossed, gilt back aud edge, Aph. Con. and ^M P.salms, 10 plates. ^j E. Imitation, gilt back and edge, Aph. Con. and Psalms, 10 plates. <};• F. Imitation, full gilt back, sides and edge, Aph Con. and Psalms, 10 plates. 0. Imitation, full gilt back, sides and edge, Elumi. ^|-^| natcd, 10 plates. II. Turkey morocco, e.Ktra, 10 plates. 1. do. do. illuminated, 10 plates. J. do. do. beveled, 10 plates 0rl)ool Books. j:4y, .... 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Containing an Oratorio <8?i.??^| (VvOv''!!'^:!; !^C* founded on incidents of the American Revolution; also, a great variety of 2f.i!V;i,;i'i; ■;,»;..- t^;. ;;R , r W ■■ „, AfiiLiIrt l».^fl. ljiw>..) vo ■vW- lo 'ft; ■:V t& Music, both sacred and secuiur, adapted to the use of Public Scliools, Sing- *?"••!:'/ ing Schools, and the Social Circle; by L. A, Benjamin, Principal of the New (g;'"?;;''?'*] York Musical Acudoniy, and T. B, Woodbury, author of the Dulcimer, &c. $ i\;';>i;'": The Million's Glee Book, or New York Melodeon. By i. b. Woodbury, '^i'^':.l'f.':. author of the Dulcimer, &c. Tiiis is an entirely new book, and believed to ^jVv.'-Av be the best work of tlio kind yet published. Lt'^.t'S, PI pi m ■ m ■ U tjK.. X.. ;sv,:..v^g, Bales' Instrumental Preceptor. Designed fur the Violin, Bass Viol, Flute, oJC';'i::t'';' :: « j: M 'i ;^ '; sJ^ Clarioneto, Bugle and Trombone. By William L. Bales. ^;-4>>S(;; .;..;::-. >:■;•''"-< lb -.'■. .. A :;.:•;.•• i vif ii- i ■■ J. ■•i-'-i- i--j.f J. ■:•.■■■.■,.■■.■•:.:•:. :t^ 'i-s-ii^i !)'»!!■ a ■':-»: ;■«;!•'« ■iJH-'i-'si ■:]•«; j'^-i ■:'.'--'il'v'xv':' '■• v'- /''■■^••••r'-'v-';-'x'r;'-<'''« .■...'.'.■.v'.i..-. ■.,•.-. ;■•.•■■..■■, ' . \ .. r .. , ,..,*. w I mil . , ^ ■!■ %« f • • T \ < • '■#■■ "a-^v #'■/' :•,'*' ._. '^^^: f 1««- 'M r T'^, Ul :^*v»- ^p mm M. #" (if . ^ * '". I* ORIGIN or THB NORTH INERICAN INDUXS ; WITH A FAITHFUL DESCRIPTION OF THEIK MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, BOTH CIVIL AND MILITARY, THEIR #' RELIGIONS, LANGUAGES, DRESS, , " AND ORNAMENTS : * ' ^ INCLI7DIN0 r. eAUOOS SPECIMENS OF INDIAN ELOQUENCE, AS WELL AS HISTOB ICAL AND BIOGCaPHICAL SKETCHES OF ALMOST ALL THE DISTlfrOUISHLD NATIONS AND CELEBRATED V WARBIORS, STATESMEN AND ORATOB% • • <■ . „• AUONO THK INDIANS OF NORTH AMERICA. . "^ >* ' •^■ NEW EDITION, IMPROVED AliD ENLARGED. >M^lM^>MiM«*4M^ BY JOHN Mcintosh. %* NEW YORK: CORNISH, LAMPORT & CO., PCJL ^ No. 8 Park Plac 1868, r .... #. '^ %■ ..4 ■V ;• t!^- J, --■■».'•'■' • 7Z'3v?/2- >^# • t * f ) . M' I I : ?^ # ■5. ' *^ ^ ^. Jbn.cred according to Act of Congretj, .n the year 1843, B« Kafis & CaRNua, ^- m the Clerk's Office for the Southern District.of New-YoH i- , >i ■' V* ! ! ;-.'. > iP s !!(. V ■ f ^^ \\ I I ii hi ^,<0f{p, * . - i. ' ■ ; '■■: • * , p CONTENTS. iWHIWMMW»^*»^^^^^^* PrefMe, . • • • • ^ «• Intruooetion, . . • • r ]8 Creation of the World, . . . • . l8 Situation of Paradiae, . . . • 20 Antedelnvians, . • . . • . S") Detatte, . . . . . *. . 2? Tlie Foundation or Nations by the Posterity of Noth, . . & Magoir, the Progenitor of the North American Indians, . 31 The" Posterity of Shem, . . . . .34 Discovery of America, . . . • . 39 Origin of the North American Indians, . . • 73 Persons, Features and Colour of the North American Indians, 87 Persons, Features and Complexion of the Tongusi of Siberia in Asia, 91 Particularities of the Indian Language, ... 93 Particularities of the Language of the Tongusi and Coriaks of Siberia, ...... 98 Comparative View of the Indian and Asiatic Languages, . 101 Religion of the North American Indians, . . . 104 Religion of the Tongusi, Coriaks, and Kamschadales, . . 109 Dress and Ornaments of the North American Indians, . 112 Dress and Ornaments of the Tongusi, Coriaks, and Kamschadales, 115 Marriage among the North Amercan Indians, . . 119 Marriage among the Tongusi, Coriaks, and Kamschadales, . 127 War among the North American Indians, . . . 129 War among the Tongusi, Coriaks, Kamschadales, Yakutsi, and Okotsiof Siberia, ..... 148 The Dance of the Calumet among the North American Indians, 155 The Dance of the Potoosi, or Calumet, among the Tongusi, &c. . 159 Sacrifices among the North American Indians, . . 160 Sacrifices among the Tongusi, ..... 161 Funeral Rites among the North American Indians, . . 162 Funeral Rites among the Coriaks, Tongusi, and Kamschadales, . 168 Festival of Dreams among the North American Indians, . 170 festival of Dreams among the Tongusi, Coriaks, and Kamscha- dales, . . . . . . .173 J?.* %.. m vi CONTENTS. I \ $ Game of the Dish, or Little Bones, among the North Americaa Indians, ...... ]75 Game of the Patooni among the Eamschadales, . . 177 The Naming of Chlldres among the North America Indians,. . 178 The Naming of Children among the Kamsehadules, . . 179 , Jugglers among the North American Indians, . . . 180 The Ponomoosi, or Prophets, among theKamschadales, Coriaks,&c. 181 Orators among the North American Indians, . . . 1S2 Orators among several Asiatic Tribes, . . . ]83 The Councils and Government of Villages among the North Ameri- can Indians, ..... 185 Councils and Government among Asiatic Tribes, . . 187 Shapes which the North American Indians give to their Children, 189 What Strengthens and Shapes the Indians so well, . . 190 Their first Exercises, ..... ib. In what consists their Education, .... 191 Works of the Women, . . . • . ib. Works of the Men, . . . . ' . . ib. Their Hatchets, . . «... 192 The Form of their Villages, . . . , . ib. Their Notion of tiie Origin of Man, . , . 195 Their Vestals, . . . , . .196 Their Vows, >...•. ib. Their Fasts, ....... ib. Their Thonshts on the lounortality of the Soul, . . 197 Of the Country of Souitj, . . , . . ib. An Indian Chief's Account of the Origin of the North American Indians, . . . . ' . 199 Indian Eloquence, . . . . . . 215 Indian System of Government — Democratic, . . . 225 Powhattans of Virginia, ..... 227 King Powhattan, .... . 228 Indian Nations of New-England, . . . 229 Massasoit — their Grand Sachem — ^HLs Character, . . 231 Alexander, his son — His Character and Murder, . . 232 King Philip, his brother — His Character and Death, . . 233 Commencement of the War, . . , , 234 The Peqnods — Their Sachems, .... 240 The Pawtuckfts, ...... 242 Six Nations — Their Warriors and Orators, . . . 243 Logiin, ....... 245 Mohawks, ...,.,. 247 Seminoles, ...... 248 Mohegans, , , . , . , , ib, Delaware*, .«..,. 850 ,Ay 1 CONTENTS. ▼ii rtttB Ottawas, . . . ~. fm Pontiac Their Celebrated Chieftkin and Orator, sbft Californians, ..... 254 Creeks, ..... 255 Cherokees, ..... 256 Shawanees, .... « 258 Tecumseb, ..... 259 Red Jncket — His Eloqnence and Charaetert • 262 Indian Speeclies, .... 267 Speech of Logan, .... , 268 Speech of the Five Iroquois Chiefs, 269 Speech of Half Kinif, a 270 , Speech of Petchenanalas^ 271 Speech of Captain Pipe, • 272 The Answer of Little Turtle, . 4 274 Speech of Red Jacket to a Missionary, 275 Speech of Red Jacket about the Witch Doetrioe, 278 Speech of Farmer's Brother, . . ' 279 Speech of Corn Planter, 280 Speech of Tecumseh, • 282 ' Speech of Black Thnuder, 283 Speecli of Metea, . . . • 285 Speech of Kcewatagoushkum, . , 287 Speech of Black Hawk, , 289 Speech of the Onondagas and Cayuga*, 291 Speech of Canassatieeo, • 295 Speech of Gachradodow, £89 Character of the Five Nations, by Colden, • 301 America Peopled by a more Civilized Race than the present Red Indians, .... . • 307 Indian Antiquities, according to Governor Clinton, , - , 314 The Mexicans are the Remains of a more Polished Mation than the North American Indians, , 322 Conclusion, .... • « 340 ' • ' 1 ■^ • \\ \\ » ■at: t* R E F A C E. To trace the descent of nations and travel through the regions of antiquity, is universally admitted to be a difficult task, and consequently not unworthy the attention of the lovers of science. Our present subject, it is true, has fre- quently attracted the curiosity of the learned, both of the old and new world ; and although their researches have been both plausible and ingenious, yet the result of their inquiries is evidently so adverse and inconsistent, thai a wide field is still open to the antiquary and historian. Nay, the obscuri- ty in which the origin of the Aborigines of America has, hitherto, been involved, demands and calls forth all the in- genuity which the most enlightened philosophy can bring to its aid, in order to satisfy the public mind on so intricate a subject. In this arduous undertaking, therefore, it becomes us to solicit the indulgence of our readers, especially of those who may not, perhaps, feel disposed to reason on matters, which, as they might likely imagine, exceed so far the reach and testimony of authentic history, that the origin of the North American Indians musi,^ a matter of course, remain for i X PREFACE. ever hidden from the curiosity of mankind. The Red Men, it is true, iiad not, when first visited by Europeans, any his- tory of themselves, either written or traditional, which could throw any light on their national affairs. With re- gard to oral tradition, which consists of recitals made by the first men to their children, of whatever happened worthy of notice during their lifetime, so that these jjecitals are multi- plied in every generation, and transmitted down to posterity, without the assistance of writing, we must candidly acknow- ledge that the Indians were found to be miserably destitute, even of this errant vehicle of knowledf^e. Hence, amidst the clouds which envelop the history of this ill-fated race, we are furnished by themselves with nothing but uncertain- ty. We shall not then, venture to affirm, on their testimony, either what is true or what is false, or seek for certainty among such uncertain authorities. On the contrary, our witnesses are of the most unimpeachable character, while the testimony of travellers of undoubted veracity, and mis- sionaries no less distinguished for their learning than reli- gious zeal, who dwelt for many years in the north-eastern regions of Asia, and among the Indian tribes of North America, ^all form our principal guides in this inquiry. In the absence, therefore, of writtwi or traditional history, however erroneous the latter may frequently prove, but neither of which the Indians possessed, it seems to us, that there cannot be a more rational way of arriving, with any degree of accuracy and certainty, at the original source, whence, in the remoteness of time, those numerous and powerful tribes first migrated to the Western Continent, than to offer a faithful comparison of the Indians with the Asiatics, in religion, language, manners, habits and customs' PREFACE. XI On the authority of wi iters and travellers, ancient and modern, and of distinguished ability, whose observations, in Asia, and America, written at diflFerent periods, should merit the greatest confidence and attention from the scientific and the curious, we have ventured to prove beyond the possibili- ty of doubt, that the North American Indians are of Asiati origin. As it is generally allowed that the uniformity or agree- ment of the manners and customs of two nations, is the most authentic monument of their original connection, we have offered an extensive catalogue of coincidences, so singular and indicative of the identity of people, that we will, at once, be induced to believe this theory to be the most rational of all the systems that have been formed on the subject. If we meet, therefore, with many customs, religious, military, and civil, practised only by some nations in Asia, and followed up by the earliest inhabitants,of the Western Continent; we may fairly conclude that the Aborigines of this country must have derived their origin from those Asiatic tribes to whom they bear the greatest resemblance in language, reli gion, manners, habits and customs. n . :<■■• ■\ ■■ V w y : ! , \ INTRODUCTION. Nations, like mankind, advice insensibly from in- fancy to youth. The scenes of puerility are forgotten or neglected in the pride of riper years. Few, indeed, feel inclined to look back on antiquity. The regions which we behold are remote. Beyond a certain line every thing disappears in shades, and the distant land in which we travel, seems to be inhabited by phantoms and strange forms. An inquiry after the origin of nations is certainly an obscure, but yet an interesting labyrinth to perambu- late. Weak and unphilosophic minds may, no doubt, deem this a barren subject, which their taste or curiosity leads them not to examine with that degree of interest which its importance evidently deserves. But nothing can prove more beneficial and amusing to the studious and inquisitive mind, than a proper knowledge of the various rapes of men, which constitute the great human family, for it is only in this way that a man can know himself When we take even a superficial view of the surface of the globe which we^ inhabit, we evidently perceive, that, at some unknown remote periods, various revolutions have happened, which not only affected materially the superficial structure of the earth, but the state and condition of its in- habitants. * ,' • ^m^ 1 1 i ■ 1 ' f i 1 ! 1 ;l St i < XIV INTRODUCTION. Although we may fairly boast of the pre-eminence of the human species, over all other animals in arts of inge- nious contrivance, and in mental capacities, which elevate our hopes beyond terrestrial enjoyments, yet we find the earth inhabited by different races of men, who do not only vary In complexion, manners and customs, but their rules of conduct, sentiments and-opinions, are apparently so con- trary and inconsistent, that the minds of the curious are at once struck with a degree of surprise, which naturally ex- cites a desire of consulting those extensive sources of in- formation, which have been laid open to the antiquary, by the travels and researches of moctern travellers. The in- tellectual faculties of man, as well as his bodily frame and complexion, exhibit so various an aspect among different races of mankind, as would seem to authorise an arrange- ment of the human species into different classes, marked by a specific diversity of powers, both mental and cor- poreal. The revival of critical learning, howeVer, has induced the learned and the intelligent to examine with some in- terest, the early state of mankind, as well as the striking diversity in the human species throughout the regions of the earth. The whole human race, when compared with the present generation, were in a state of infancy, for many centuries after the deluge, as well as in the antediluvian world. To observe mankind leaving the first rude stages of society, and advancing gradually in the provinces of civilization and refinement, till they came to cultivate the arts and sciences, and to form wise regulations for the better government of communities, is a contemplation in which every man should indulge, in order to know what man really is, and what he has been. The wonderful re- volutions which every age and every year have produced in the mental regions of man, go to prove that the human race have not yet attained their nftinhood. But ho\^- much soever men may seem to be diversified by manners and customs, opinions and sentiments, shape and size of body, colour complexion, the organization of INTBODU ;TI0N. wr the human frame, throughout the world, proves an unifor- mit)- of species, which makes it appear probable, that the whole human race have been descended from one original pair, as we arc assured by sacred history. On discovering, therefore, such a contrariety in the bodily frame and features of man, as well as in his mental capacities, we are led to attribute this diversity in the human species, to that general revolution which happened at the confusion of Babel. From Holy Writ we are as- sured that, for several centuries after the deluge, mankind continued together and composed only one nation, seated in that country which was watered by the rivers Euphra- tes and Tigris, sometimes called in general Syria, but more particularly distinguished by the several names of Armenia, Assyria, and Chaldea. Being the children of one family, (of Noah and his sons) their language was the same, notwithstanding the early difference which appeared betwixt Ham and his two brothers ; and doubtless their religion, customs and manners, could not be very different so long as they continued together. During their abode in the plains of Shinar, the sons of Noah conceived the project of building "A City and a Tower," in order to make themselves " a name," or rather a sign lest they should " be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." This tower, says Moses, they impious- ly designed should reach to heaven ; and various are the conjectures that have been made as to the motive that could have suggested so vain a thought. But whatever it might be, it was displeasing in the eyes of God, and he ac- cordingly obliged them to abandon their enterprise by con- founding their language, so that, unable to understand each other, they named the city Babel, which signifies confusion, and dispersed. Some writers have imagined that the tower of Babel was undertaken out of fear of a second deluge, and there- fore, the projectors resolved to raise a structure of sufficient height to fly to in case of danger ; among them may be classed Josephus. Others, who, knowjpg beforehand they w^ Xfi INTKODUCTION. should be dispersed through all the countries of the >Torld they built this tower to defeat the design of the Almighty ; because, having a tower of such vast height as they pro- posetl, those who were at a distance, might easily find their way back again — so thinks Usher. But had either of these been their real design, they would rather have chosen some high mountain, such as Ararat, for their mark, than have built any tower whatever ; for it can scarcely be sap- posed, that they were so foolish as to imagine they could really reach heaven w^ith their structure ; and though Moses so expresses himself, his words ought not to convey any other idea than to those of the same historian and his countrymen, which describe cities (Deut. i. 28. ix. 1.) as walled up to heaven, when they speak of very strong places. A third class of writers suppose that the top of this tow- er was not designed to reach to heaven, but to be conse- crated to the heavenly bodies; in other words, that on its top was to be raised a temple for the worship of the sun, moon, stars, fire, air, &c., and that, therefore, the true Deity interposed his presence to prevent a total and irre- coftcileable defection ; such is the opinion of Tenison. But whatever might have been the scheme of these build- ers, it is sufficiently evident that the project was displea- sing to the Almighty, vAiO finally confounded their airy plans by miraculously introducing different languages, or at least different dialects of the former universal language. By this confusion, those who spoke the same dialect, consorted together, and separated themselves from the families or tribes whose language they no longer coidd un- derstand. Thus was mankind reduced to the necessity of forming as many different parties as they had languages among them. As those different tribes dispersed themselves into many countries, and had no intercourse with each other, it was necessary that the essentials of their religion, man- ners and customs, should also undergo a change. This was actually the case, for mankind, immediately after the confusion of tonguqg, was split into many distinct nations, INTRODUCTION. xvn I' I speaking a variety of dialects, while they also adopted modes of living quite different from those which they prac- tised on the plains of Shinar, where they lived together. Thus, therefore, was the tower of Ba*^^.], memorable for the great event of the confusion of languages, consequent upon its projection, as well as by its being the original of the tempie of Belus, deemed among the ancients as one of the seven wonders of the world. But, such is the transitory nature of all that pertains to man, that it is now a heap of ruins, and so utterly defaced, that the people of the country are not certain of its real site. As mankind increased and multiplied in the different countries which they inhabited, several bodies were sent out to seek their fortune in strange lands. Finding that they were fine and delightful countries, which promised them great felicity, they were soon induced to separate and form new settlements. Others, by reason of civil and domestic quarrels, were driven abroad, and passed into distant regions far beyond the encrgachment of an enemy. Thus they spread themselves over almost the greater part of Asia; but their roving and wandering disposition was not yet satisfied, until, by continued migrations, they extended their discoveries throughout Africa, Europe, and finally America. We shall now proceed to view, as briefly as possible, the Creation, the site of Paradise, the Antedijuvians, the , Deluge, and the foundation of Nations by the posterity of > Noah, in order to descend gradually to the dispersion of mankind arul the settlement of countries, so that we may thus discover which of the three sons of Noah, the Amer- ican Indians should claim as the founder of their nation. Although this inquiiy might, at first sight, appear as some- what foreign to the subject which we have undertaken to illustrate, namely the origin of the Indians, still a concise account of these great events in the history of man may not prove useless to many of our readers, who might not have, hitherto, paid any particular attention to these sub- jects. We hope, therefore, that the novelty of our plan, 2* XVllI INTKODUCTION. while it tends, not only to trace the origin of theRhoMEN of America, but that of almost all other nations likewise, will be equally gratifying to the scientific and the curious. CREATION OF THE WORLD. In order to arrive at the particular era, when the mat- ter of this earth was called into existence, philosophers have amused themselves in various ways. The materials of which it was composed, and the means whereby they were disposed in the order in which we behold them, is a subject also, which, though i'ar beyond the reach of human sagacity, has nevertheless originated theories and controversies almost without number, among the learned of ail ages and countries. JMany imagine that the world had no beginning, but existed from all eternity, while others are of opinion that it did exist at some particular time unknown to man and that it was destroyed at different times by some great revolution in nature. With regard to the opinion, that the world existed from eternity, none of the ancient philosophers seem to have had the least idea of its being possible to produce some- thing out of nothing, not even by the power of the Deity itself; hence must have arisen the erroneous opinion that the world had no beginning. Next to this system, came the doctrine, that, though the matter of the world be eter- nal, its form is mutable. The learned have observed, calculated, and commemor- ated the appearances and revolutions of the heavenly bodies, to the system of which this orb belongs ; they have penetrated into the bowels of the earth and the depths ol the ocean, to trace the irregular dispositions of these strata, and the strange confusion in which their materials are often intermingled together; yet their researches hav 1 INTRODUCTION. zix ended only with suggestions, that these spheres have con- tinued to roll through countless ages. While some have asserted, that the idea of creating a world out of nothing, is at once a contradiction to reason, which is sufficient to overthrow the doctrine of revelation, others have boldly stood forth and maintained, in support of the sacred writings, that the fact of creation out of nothing, by an INFINITELY powerful and wise self-existent God, so far from being repugnant to reason, to say nothing of revela- tion, is highly probable, and demonstrably certain. If we refer to sacred writing for the ascertainment of truth or knowledge on this point, we only learn that the world had a beginning, without stating any particular period ; for Moses, in alluding to the commencement of things, goes no farther than to say, that in the beginning Ood created the heavens and the earth. From this general language of the Divine lawgiver, we cannot evi- dently ascertain the particular period at which the world began to exist. Indeed all the philosophical inquiries which have been made in all ages, concerning the beginning of the crea- tion, have not as yet been able to enlarge the testimonies of sacred history, or refute its authority by showing any inconsistency or contradiction in its venerated narratives. With all the ingenuity, therefore, of the scientific, either ancient or modern, no evidence has been produced, by which we can reasonably doubt or improve the Mosaic account INTRODUCTION. SITUATION OF PARADISE. We have thought proper to allude to this &ubiect, in order to controvert the theory, that in America Adam and Eve first drew the breath of life ; for few can be ignorant of the fact, that a treatise has been written, showing how the whole world is indebted to America for its inhabit- ants. This, as well as eveiy other subject of antiquity, has originated a variety of speculative opinions. Those who entertained the most extravagant notions concerning a local paradise, have placed it within the orb of the moon, in the moon itself, in the middle regions of the air, and in many other places which their fancy might point out. Such, however, have wandered without the province of reason and probability. Many have denied that there did exist such a place us the garden of Eden, interpreting that part of scripture which alludes to it, in an allegorical sense, and alleging that the ancients, and especially the Eastern nations, had a peculiar and a mysterious mode of delivering their divinity and philosophy, and that the latter is frequently adopted in scripture, in explaining • natural things, sometimes to accommodate the capacities of the people, and at others, to describe the real, but more hidden truth. But though it is admitted, that some of the ancient philosophers affected such an allegorical way of writing, to conceal their notions from the vulgar ; ve^ it is apparent, that Moses had no such design ; and as ne assumes to relate matters of fact, just as they occured, without disguise or art, it cannot be supposed that the history of the fall is not to be taken in a literal sense, as well as the rest of his writings. Some who conceded its renlity, ha^ e rambled through countries unknown to man; while others discovered it under the north pole, and in thiit phice wliich is now ■>#• h i INTRODUCTION. XXI occupied by the Caspian Sea. It has also been boldly and stubbornly maintained, that the site of paradise was to be discovered in America, that it was here that Adam and Eve first drew the breath of life ; and that it is to America the whole world is indebted for its inhabitants. The opinions, even of the more rational inquirers, are very strangely divided. Tartaiy, China, Persia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Ethiopia, and even Sweden, have been ransacked in search of this wonderful gF.rden. The opinion has likewise prevailed, that the whole earth was originally in a paradisaical state of beauty, although Moses, say they, has put a part for the whole, that man might better conceive the primitive appearance of the earth, which was afterwards destroyed by the violent con- cussions of nature, caused by the general deluge. If we consider the general habit which prevailed in the early ages of allegorizing every obscure passage of scrip- ture, we need not at all be surprised at the diversity of opinions. There is a certain portion of mankind, the Jews, who are more immediately connected with the his- tory of Moses than any other people, and from them we would naturally expect to receive some information on the subject ; yet they are so utterly ignorant of the geography of the sacred history, and of the situation of Paradise, that there is no wonder why this question should not be easily solved. Josephus, their historian, supposes that the Nile and the Ganges were two of its four rivers ; and in this opinion he is supported by some of the Christian fathers. Near Tripoli, there is a place called Eden ; the river Tigris has an island of the name of Eden ; and near Tarsus in Cilicia, there is a city still going under the name of Aiiena or Aden. In Syria, there is Eden ; and in Chaldea, about Ttlassar, there is another. These two are mentioned in the Mosaical account, the latter of which may, very probably, be the famous garden. It may here be observed, that Eden or Aden signifies, 1 XXll INTRODUCTION. in the Hebrew, pleasure ; and hence any delightful situa- tion would sometimes receive this name. But let us now attend, for a moment, to the description of Moses himself. " And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden ; and a river went out of Eden to water that garden ; and from thence it was parted and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison : That is it which compasses che whole land of Havilah, where there is gold ; and the gold of that land is good ; there is bdellium and the onyxstone. And the name of the second river is Gihon; the same is it which compasses the whole land of Ethiopia, or Ciish. And the name of ihe third river is Hiddekel, that is it which goes toward the east of (or eastward to) Assyria. And the fourth river is Eu- phrates." From this particular geographical description of Eden, it is not possible that Moses could be speaking in an al- legorical language. If this be an imaginary paradise which he descfibes so minutely, it follows that his lan- guage was also figurative, when he tells that the ark rested on Mount Ararat, and that the sons of Noah removed to the Plains of Shinar : for the three scenes are described by the sacrtnl historian, as immediately succeeding one another. Eden, then, according to Moses, was bounded by countries and rivers well known in his time, and some of them go to this very day, under the same names which he gives them. It must, evidently, therefore, have been his intention to point out to the post-diluvian world, where Eden and Paradise were situated in the former world. We also see, tliat lie does not make use of antediluvian nam ! in his description of this garden ; but, as we haA'e aires ly said, of names of later date than the flood. The deluge, it is true, has greatly disfigured the face of the earth ; but we are aware, at the same time, that the con- vulsion has been more fatal in some places than others ; and if there had been no indication or marks of it remain- ing, Moses would not surely be so confident in describing its particular situation INTRODUCTION. xxiii V '- 'ff Without examining here all the opinions which have been entertained on this subject we shall pass on to the more rational conjectures of various eminent men. They consist of three schemes; the first is espoused by the learned Heidegger, Le Clere, Pere Abraham, and Pere Hardouin, who place Paradise near Damascus, in Syria, about the springs of Jordan. Notwithstanding, however, the reputation of these men, this opinion appears to have no foundation. We must first discover those marks which are mentioned in the Mosaic description, before we can admit its probability. Sanson, Relanrl, and Calmet, who were no less renowned for learning, come next with their opinions. According to them, Ellen was situated in Armenia, between the sources of the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Araxes, and the Phasis. Although the diligent and learned Strabo, and other ancient geographers, have informed us that the Phasis rises in the mountains of Armenia, near the springs of the Euphrates, the Araxes and the Tigris ; yet from modern discoveries we are led to assign it a different source, by going to Mftunt Caucasus, where it takes its rise. Besides, the Phasis does not flow from south to north, but from north to south. According to this supposition, we want a whole river, w'hich joins the Araxes before it falls into the Caspian Sea. This hypothesis, however, is supported by Mr. Tournefort, an autljority, certainly worthy of some notice. Huet, bishop of Soissojis and Avranches, Stephanus Morinus, Bochart, and several others highly versed in the geography of that country, stand forth in defence of the third scheme, which certainly seems the least objectionable of the three. By them Eden is placed upon the united streams of the Tigris and Euphrates, called by the Arabs, Shat-al-Arab, which signifies the river of the Arabs. It begins two days' journey above Bassora, and divides again into two channels about five leagues below. These channels empty themselves in the Persian Gulf. Thus, the Shat-al-Arab must, consequently, be the river goins^ XXIV INTRODUCTION. out of Eden, which river, considered according to the disposition of its channel, and rot according to the course of its stream, divides into four heads ordiHerent branches, "which make the four rivers mentioned by Moses; twc be- low, viz., the two branches of the Shat, which serve for the Pison and Gihon ; and two above, viz., the Euphrates and Tigris; the latter whereof is called Dijlat by the Arabs, and is now allowed to be the Hiddekel of Moses. By this disposition, the western branch of the Shat will be the Pison, and the adjoining part of Arabia, bordering on the Persian Gulf, will be the Havilah; and the eastern branch will be the Gihon, encompassing the country of Cush or Chuzestan, as it is called by the Persians. We see not, therefore, why this last opinion should not coincide with the account of Moses, who tells us, that a " river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads." — Moses cannot be misundeistood here, for he expressly says, that in Eden there was but one river, and that, having gone out, it was parted and became four streams or openings, two upwards and two downwards. If we suppose the Shat-al-Arab to be the common centre, by looking towards Babylon, we may see the Tigris and Eu- phrates coming into it, and by looking down towards the Persian Gulf, we may see the Pison and Gihon running out of it. Whatever objection may be made against this hypothe- sis, none appears to be more consistent with the descrip- tion of Moses. By this supposition, Eden is reasonably placed in the great channel formed by the united streams of the Tigris and Euphrates ; besides, the fertility of the neighboring country, Mesopotamia and Chaldea, should, in a great measure, tend to confirm this belief. We are as- sured by several modern travellers, that there is not a finer nor a richer country in all the dominions of the Grand Signior, than that which lies between Bagdad and Bas- sora, being the very tract which, according to this scheme, was anciently caller' the Land of Eden. INTEODUCTION. ZXT THE ANTEDILUVIANS. .ly Ind IS- I M t! 1 !| i A single pair were the first progenitors of the whole human race, but their primitive innocence and felicity wore quickly lost in misery and guilt ; and the unfortunate circumstances which produced the fatal change in their own condition as well as in that of their posterity, are al- ready too well known to receive the slightest comment from us. In the progress of their lives, however, their offspring became numerous. Dissension and mutual hatred increased as they multiplied in numbers. Crimes and vices were introduced among men from the very moment that Cain imbued his hands in the blood of his brother Abel. In the mean time the posterity of Cain improved the arts taught them by Jabal and his brothers. They built cities — their various degrees of strength or of industry had produced inequality of condition ; opulence had sub- stituted artificial and extravagant luxuries for the simple and pure pleasures of nature ; and, notwithstanding the interruption of peace, which was caused by the growing depravity of the age, they still pursued a connubial union, which so rapidly multiplied their numbers, that many dif- ferent generations were contemporary upon the earth. Josephus relates, that the children of Seth, by the con- templation of the heavenly bodies, laid the foundation of the science of astronomy ; and, understanding from a pre- diction of Adam, that the earth was to be destroyed, once by water, and once by fire, they engraved their observa- tions on two pillars, called the pillars of Sct/i — the one of stone to preserve them from the effects of the flood ; the other of brick, to resist the violence of fire. There is every reason, however, to believe that the beginning of the general corruption arose from the unhappy marriages of the sons of Seth with the daughters of Cain, so that 3 XXVI INTRODUCTION. their manners W(»re soon depraved, and at length they had degenerated so far, that " the wickedness of man was very great on the earth, am' every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually " The wickedness of the antediluvian world may he ac- counted for in various ways. They had a hereditary pro- pensity to evil, derived from Adam, their common apostate father ; and this degeneracy was soon discovered in the murder of Abel. Vice, like contagion, spread, and so quickly did it contaminate the whole family of mankind, that " it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth." The longevity which the inhabitants of the world attained, contributed, in a great measure, to intro- duce those vicious practices which the present short du- ration of human life can seldom imbibe. In the course of eight or nine hundred years, the usual age of antediluvi- ans, the same person could obtain immense wealth, which should naturally tend to the enjoyment of splendour, ele- gance and luxury, so that a lust after sensual pleasures would wholly occupy the hearts of those uncultivated people. Living together, as they did in the early ages of the Avorld, and speaking the same languages, we may naturally suppost *hat the vice of the one would be rea- dily imparted to the other, until the whole community was tainted with the common malady. ► I INTRODUCTION. 3XTU THE DELUGE. Amid this general perversion of the human heart, when mankind were running headlong into all manner' of vice, Noah, the son of Lamech, was born. Of all the numerous population, by which the earth was inhabited at this time, Noah alone was found perfect in the sight of God ; he, therefore, found grace before the Almighty, who declared to him his determination of bringing a deluge of watei upon the earth, to destroy all who tlwelt thereon. Lament ing this sad state of society, and knowing the impend- ing judgment with which God had threatened to visit a sinful world, Noah stood forth, without fear or dismay, as " a preacher of righteousness," to bring his fellow-men to a recollection of their impiety, and a just sense of their danger; yet his Divine admonitions were of no avail. The haughtiness, the incorrigible obstinacy, and the imi- versal depravity which pervaded all ranks and sexes were not to be easily affected by the preaching, counsel, and authority of this one righteous man. During all that period which expired in the building o: the ark, Noah never ceased to warn and remind a guilty pfeople of the approaching desolation. Carelessly and in- dependently they proceeded in the commission of sin, and often amused themselves with Noah's folly in his vain at- tempt to construct the means of preserving the human race from general ruin. Although God had allotted 120 years for men to repent and escape, yet all was in vain ! The heart of man, depraved and ruined by the fall was deaf to the awful warning, and the whole was treated with derision. The vengeance of Heaven was not, how- ever, to be much longer restrained. The great fabric or salvation was at last finished. The awi'ul period was at hand; yet Noah and his family were ak.ne to be saved XXVlll INTRODUCTION. The other particulars appertaining to this catastrophe are already too well known to require any notice here. In departing from the antediluvian world, it might be inquired, how it came to pass, that, in those days, people attained to so extraordinary a longevity. In order to reply to this question of curiosity, we must form various conjectures. Some writers, to reconcile the matter Avith probabflity, have asserted that the antediluvians computed their ages by lunar months, and not by solar years : but this expedient would reduce the length of their lives to a shorter period than our own. If this hypothesis be admitted as probable, it must necessarily follow, that some of them were fathers at the absurd age of six or seven years. Be- sides, the whole interval between the Creation and the Deluge would then be contracted to less than two hundred years. This supposition, therefore, we shall, at once, re- ject as incredible. For this longevity there are, however, reasons suffici- ently obvious. In the first place, we must suppose, thai, while the earth was inhabited by a scanty population, commencing with a single pair, it would be necessaiy to endow men with a stronger frame, and to allow them a longer continuance on earth, for peopling it with inhabit- ants. Philosophers, likewise, contend, and in our opinion, on veiy reasonable grounds, that the qualities, of the air, and consequently the stamina of the human constitution, were greatly altered for the worse by the several changes which the world must have undergone at the flood. We are, indeed, convinced, beyond the possibility of doubt, that the Deluge affected, most materially, the whole body of nature; but, whether that alteration has tended to contract the duration of human life, we cannot possibly ascertain. We are, likewise aware, from daily experience, that cli- mate, food, and mode of living, have a tendency to length- en or shorten the days of man. INTRODUCTI0I«. XXIX THE FOUNDATION OF NATIONS FY THE POSTERITY OF JAPHET. By the sacred historian we are informed, that Noah, soon after landing from the ark, betook himself to hus- bandry, and planted a vineyard. Of the juice of the grape he drank so freely, it seems, that he lay in a state of in- ebriety, carelessly uncovered in his tent. In this condition he was discovered by his youngest son Ham, who, on seeing him, called to his Ijrethren Japhet and Shem, that they might witness his unbecoming situation. But they, mindful of their filial duty, and the respect due to their parent, in place of exposing and ridiculing their father's nakedness, as Ham did, took a garment between them, and, walking in backward, covered Noah and retired. Having awoke from his sleep and wine, and become ac- quainted with what had happened, he pronounced a pro- phetic epitome of the history of his posterity. " Cursed be Canaan," said he, " a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japhet. and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant." The extirpation of the Canaanites, the subjugation of the Phceniclans and Carthagenians, the slavery of the African negroes would seem to be fulfUments of the curse pro- nounced on Canaan, the son of Ham, as these people were evidently his descendants. Japhet was the common progenitor of almost the one half of the human race, through his son Gomer. All European nations were desdended from the Gomarians, or Gomerites. The Lesser Asia, or Asia Minor, with the " isles of the Gentiles," and some of the vast regions an- ciently inhabited by the Scythians were peopled by the descendants of Japhet. 3* mmtm XXX INTRODUCTION. At a very early period, numerous migrations from Greece poured into the western parts of Asia Minor, on the coasts of which many powerful kingdoms or common- wealths were established, under the names of iEolia and Ionia. In the north-west part of this peninsula was also the famous kingdom of Troy ; but the whole now forms part of Turkey in Asia. The writers of ancient history generally agree, that the descendants of Gomer, the eldest son of Japhet, settled in the northern parts of Europe, whence they spread them- selves to the adjacent regions, and the isles of the Gen- tiles, by which expression Europe is generally understood, as it contained those countries to which the Hebrews were obliged to go to by sea, such as the lesser Asia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Gaul, and the islands in the ^gean and Mediterranean seas. In the process of time, the descendants of Gomer assumed different national appellations. They were first known to vhe Greeks under the name of Cimmerii, or Cimbri, which is still preserved by the inhabitants of Wales, in the v/ords Cirabrian or Cambrian. But the Cimbri of the ancients, or rather Cimmerii, was evidently a modification of the Greeks and Latins, from the more original term Cymro and Cumeri, representing the still more original appellation Comer. In their various migrations and subsequent settle- ments in different countries, they were called Sacae,Titani, Celto-Scythge, Celt-Iberi,Galatai, Galli. and Celtce; that is the people of Sacastena, Titans, Celto-Scythians, Celt- Iberians, Galatians, Gauls, and Celts. To Gomer, there- fore, we may attribute the origin of all the primitive in- habitants of Europe and a great part of Asia, including the Ancient Briton i and Irish. The Irish and Scots of the present day, who speak the Celtic language, once so universal over Europe, are beyond any possibility of doubt, the only pure remnants of Gomer. W ith regard to the assertion of one of the most elevated and influential English peers, " that the Irish were aliens in language, nation, &c.," we have only to say, that, if the Ihe jnd ler. led }n£s the INTKODUCTION. XXXI 4 present race of Celtic Irish arc the descendants of the aborigines of Britain and Ireland, as undoubtedly they are, it must sound strange in their ears, to hear themselves called strangers in the land which they have inherited and inhabited from time immemorial MAGOG, THE PROGENITOR OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Magog, the second son of Japhet, founded those who were, after him, called the Magogites, but whom the Greeks named Scythians. According to Josephus, St. Jeronymus, the majority of the Christian fathers, and some of the most eminent historians and geographers, ancient and modern, Magog was the founder and father of the Scythians, Tartars, and Moguls, and consequently of the Siberians, and all these north-eastern tribes. The Arabs place Magog, whom they call Majuj, to the farther end of Tartary, towards the north and north-east. There is not the least doubt, therefore, but the posterity of Ma- gog were those who wandered north and north-eastward, after the dispersion of the children of Noah from their primeval seats ; and the Scythians were, perhaps, the first and the most numerous. At this early state of society, when mankind were but loosely combined together in social union, every quarrel, every crime, every fond fancy or moody disgust, continu- ally prompted emigration; and even the most remote and inhospitable parts of the earth were beginning to receive human inhabitants. For nearly thirty years, after having harassed and broken the monarchies of the south, the Scythians were the lords also of western Asia. At the time when the Assyrian empire was at its highest pitch XXXll INTRODUCTION. of greatness they advanced with a destructive career, through the kngdoms of the south. As last, luxury, disunion, and the effects of a climate and habits of life to which they were unaccustomed, wasted the Scythian forces, until at last the reins of the empire of Asia dropped from their enfeebled hands and they retired with diminished numbers, to the desolate plains of the north and north-east. With regard, more particularly to our subject, we must admit that almost all the northern countries of Asia were colonized by Scythians, the descendants of Magog. We are also to look upon these bleak regions of the north as the quarter from whence America must have received, at a very early period, a great portion of its aboriginal inhab- itants. But, whether the South American Indians, and other tribes who must have had possession of North Amer- ica, prior to the. arrival of the present race, inasmuch as they were certainly more civilized, came from Tartary, and Siberia, in the north, is a question which we may, hereafter, have occasion to examine. Now as to the opin- ion, that Siberia, Calmuck Tartary, and the peninsula of Kamschatska, owe their inhabitants to the ancient Scy- thians, we bc'ieve it to be beyond a mere conjecture. In confirmation of this, we may here refer to the testimony of Eugenius Cabolski, and Monsieur Piston. The former was a missionanr in Siberia for seven years, and wrote a treatise in the Latin tongue, on the origin of the Tartars and other northern tribes ; the latter was a French travel- ler under the patronage of the Russian government. " All those" says Cabolski, " who are acquainted with ancient history, mr,'^ know, that the Scythians, both with- in and without tht: mountains of Imaus, inhabiced those countries which arc now called North Siberia and Kam- schatska ; for we may understand so, because the name Magog is still preserved in many families, towns, anj fortifications."* • Lib. ii. cap. 10. Omnes qui historice antiqunc sunt periti, Scythas intra Imaum, nee non extra Imaum, has regiones qucc nunc Siberia et I • ' INTRODUCTION. xxxiii M«nsiejr Piston is still more clear on this point; but, as we shall refer to him again these brief observations may suffice at present. " As I have already endeavoured," he says, " to point out the dillcrent modes in which these nations of the North resemble each other, every one can make his own conclusions." " If a person," he adds in another place, " pays attention to the striking circumstance, that name^i of mountains,, towns, and rivers, can be discovered in Tartary, and in Siberia, which indicate their antiquity and their origin from those whom the Greeks called Scythians, it appears to me just, that no one should, any longer, doubt the genealogy of this people."* From these authorities, as well as many others, it would appear, that Tartary and Siberia were originally colonized or peopled by the Scythians, the posterity of Magog ; and that Kamschatska and the north of Siberia being the nearest point ©f Asia to America, whence migrations could easily take place. The Indians of North America should also claim the Scythians as their progenitors, and, conse- quently, Magog as the founder of their nation. .el- with 'ith- aose ^am- lame and Kainscliatska nppellantur, vetustUsimis temporibus Scythas incoluisse cognoscnnt. Sic enim intelligere Possimus, quod nomcn Magog in multis, civitatibus et Castellis adhuc servatur. * Liv. V. Coinine j'ai eu deja soin de marquer les modes difl'erentes, dans lesquellcs ces nations du Nord se resemblent, cliacun pourra tirer ses concJusions en i-onscquence. Si I'nn fait attention a la fameuse circonstance, qu'on trouvera dans la 7 artarie, et dans la Siberie, des noms de montagnes, de villes, ct de rivieres qui indiquent leur antiquite, et leur origine des Scythes, iJ me semble qu'il soil juste de ne plus douter la genealogie de ce pe ijile. XXXIV INTRODUCTION. THE POSTERITY OF SHEM, SUPPOfSED TO BE THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF AMERICA. Shem, the second son of Noah, had five sons who inhab- ited the land that began at the Euphrates and reached to the Indian Ocean ; and their names were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. Salah, the son of Arphaxad, was the father of Eber, whose elder son was called Joktan. This Joktan was the father of thirteen sons, who were heads of as many nations. With regard to the countries which they possessed, very little can be said with any certainty ; but most of the an- cients were of opinion, that the Last Indies, China, and Japan, must have been peopled by the descendants of Shorn, through Joktan, his great great grandson. As the North and South American Indians are reason- ably believed to be of difterent origin, inasmuch as the natives of the South were found to be not only more civilized than the rude tribes of the North, when first dis- cover^^'l by Europeans, but their personal appearance, reli- gior. and language, exhibited so striking a diversity, which should at once, a\ithorise this belief, many have supposed that Jucatan, or Yucatan, a province of Mexico, derives its name from Joktin. Among these Arius Montanus is the foremost, and he thinks that Joktan himself either pas- sed into America, or that this continent was peopled by his posterity. As far as the crigin and identity of nations can be traced by a similarity of names, Arius Montanus and his followers seem to (tier a plausible conjecture, as Yucatan, Juckatan, or Juclc'an, in its contracted state, bears a vc.-y great resemblance to Joktan. We leave, however, this opinion as we fourd it, a mere conjecture; still, while Ave are under the necessity of giv ing to the Mexican, and the INTRODUCTION. XXXV inhabitants of the other southern regions, a different origin from that of the present Red Men of the North, it is quite reasonable to suppose, that the earliest colonies that set- tled in America were of the line of Shem, and came, no doubt, from the .asteinor north-eastern parts of Asia, such as China or Corea ; and from the latter the journey could easily be performed, as we shall afterwards see. The descendants of Shem were certainly the first of the poster- ity of Noah that arrived at a state of. civilization, and consequently might be looked upon as thr authors of the innumerable monuments of antiquity which are scattered over the vast continent ; for the present Indians of North America were utterly unacquainted with the art of con- structing them, as well as with their history, even by tradition. Of Ham, the third son of Noah, we have nothing to say as his posterity are not considered to have anything to do with the early peopling of America, except inas- much as refers to the claims of the Carthagenians, by passing through the straits of Gibraltar, at a vtiy remote period, when, according to some historians, they discover- ed this continent ; but this we '^hall examine in its proper place ; suffice it to say now, tliat Ham was the founder ol almost all African nations, and of the Philistines and Canaanites in Asia. -.r- -«•■" « 1 III '■* m, DISCOVER^ OF AMERICA. That the ancients had an imperfect notion of this quarter of the globe, should not, perhaps, be reasonably doubted, when we consider the very early period at which the sciences of geometry, cosmography, astronomy, and drawing, were studied in the schools of Greece and I?ome, as well as in Egypt, Carthage, and Babylon. It is, bow- ever, generally agreed, that the Greeks, who first among the Europeans cultivated the science of geography, derived their knowledge of it from the Egyptians or Babylonians, But which of those two nations had the honour of the in- vention, it is impossible to determine. In those days, the spherical figure of the earth might be known, and its magnitude also ascertained with some accuracy. With this knowledge, geographers would, no doubt, naturally suppose, that Europe, Asia, and Africa, as far as they were then known, could form but a small portion of the terraqueous globe. It was also suitable to the ideas of man, concerning the wisdom and beneficence of the author of nature, to believe that the vast space still unexplored w^as not covered entirely by an unprofitable ocean, but occupied by countries fit for the habitation of man. It might appear to them, likewise, equally probable, that the continents on one side of the globe were balanced by a proportional quantity of land in the other hemisphere. From these conclusions, arising solely from theoretical principles, the existence of the Western Continent might 1 40 DISCOVERY OF have been concieved by the ancients. But whether they had the sagacity to form such conjectures, we are not authorized to say. Of the two hemispheres, which comprise the wLole ter- raqueous globe, the ancients had certainly no pr ictical knowledge of more than what we now denominate the Eastern, containing the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. They supposed the pillars of Hercules, consisting of the Rock of Gibraltar on one side, and Mount Calpe on the other, to be the western boundaries of the earth; and on the east they carried their ideas no farther than the '^ancjes. In the south, they had some confused notions of '1, extending into the torrid zone ; but they scarcely Li v^ed it possible that men could exist in those sultry climes. With regard to the north, their notions were sometimes ridiculously strange concerning the inhabitants of the terra incognita, (the unknown country) of Europe and Asia. Although we have no reason to believe that the ancients ever ventured to explore the continent of America by prac- tical observation, whatever might have been their ideas respecting the existence of such a country ; yet, there are some, histor i ans whO' would seem to favour i\^ opinion, that the Carthagenians, the Welsh, and the Noi ^egians discovered this country at a very early period, and prior, of course, to the famous voyage of Columbus. Those who contend for the Carthagenians have no other support than a few obscure passages from the ancients, who would really seem to be but little acquainted, with this island, which they describe and place at a short dis- tance beyond the pillars of Hercules, or the straits of Gibraltar. We shall first notice Diodorus Siculus, a Sici- lian historian and a Stoic philosopher, in the time of Julius Caesar. " PhoBnices vetustissimis temporibus extra columnas Herculis navigantes ingentibus ventorum procellis ad longinqaos Oceani tractus fuisse abreptos, ac multis diebus vi tempestatis jactatos, tandem ad ingentem insulam in AMERICA. 41 ■"a Oceano Atlantico, complurium dierum navfgatione a Lybia in occasum remotam venisse ; cujus solum fructife- rura, arane iavigabiles,sumptuosaaedificia fuerint. Inde Carthaginienses et Tyrrhenes harum terrarura notitiara accepisse. Postea Carthaginienses, cum saepe a Tyriis et Mauritanis hello premerentur, Gadibus praeter navigatis, et Atlantico provectos oceano, tandem ad novas has regio- nes appulisse, et coloniam duxisse ; earaque rem diu taci- turn servasse, ut si rursum sedibus ejicerentur, haberent locum in quem se cum suis reciperent. Repertam a Car- thaginiensibus fortuito insulam ; et in eam injussu Ma- gistratus commigrasse pluriraos : quod disfluente paulatim populo coeperit postea Capitale esse." Here we are told by Diodorus, that the Phojnicians were, at a very early period, driven by the violence of the winds far beyond the pillars of Hercules or the straits of Gibral- tar, into the ocean : that they discovered to the west of Lybia or Africa, at the distance of a few days' sailing from that continent, a large and fertile island and finely watered with navigable rivers ; that this discovery was soon made known to the Carthagenians, p. Phoenician colony in Africa, and to the Tyrrhennians or Tuscans in Italy : that the Carthagenians sometime after undertook, on account of hostile invasions made by the Moors and Ty- rians, a voyage in which they passed the straits of Gibral- tar and advanced beyond Cadiz without the pillars oi Hercules, till they arrived in those new regions, where they made a settlement ; but the policy of Carthage dis- lodged the colony, and laid a strict prohibition on all the subjects of the State not to attempt any future establish- ment. It is truly suprising that historians of considerable re- nown should jiave mistaken the American continent for the fertile and beautiful island which is mentioned in this passage from Diodorus. This geographical sketch of the new country which the Phoenicians discovered, and the Carthagenians afterwards colonized, corresponds in every respect with tho situation and fertility of Ireland, being wmm ^p»^ 42 DISCOVERY OF distant only a few days' sailing from the straits of Gibral- tar, while few countries can surpass it in beauty. Ireland is also supplied with navigable rivers. In the researcRes of eminent antiquarians, we are taught to believe beyond the possibility of a doubt, that the Phoenicians were about the first of the human race that visited Ireland, where they established a colony. The chronicles of Ireland bear testi- mony to this fact ; and when we collate the Irish language with the Punic or Phoenician, we find so striking an affinity, that the Irish or Celtic language may be said to have been, in a great degree, the language of Hannibal, Hamilcar, and Asdrubal. This opinion will at once be con- firmed by having recourse toPlautus,where we see a Car- thagenian speaking the Punic, which is no other than almost the pure Celtic or Irish language. In a forthcoming work, however, to be entitled " The Origin of the Primitive In- habitants of Great Britain and Ireland," we shall prove this point so clearly, that to doubt it would be denying the most glaring truth. " The PhoBnicians," says Diodorus, in the first part of the passage -^hich we have transcribed, " after a few days' sailing beyond the pillars of Hercules, discovered a large and fertile island in the ocean ; and its beauty induced the discoverers to settle there." It is certain that the inven- tion of the mariner's compass cannot be dated from a much earlier period than the beginning of the fourteenth century ; and that towards the close of the same century, the navigation of Europe was not extended beyond the limits of the Mediterranean It is not reasonable, there- fore, to think that the Carthagenians should venture from the sight of land and stretch out into unfreqented and un- known sed. without the help of this sure guide, however prompted they might have been by the most .ardent spirit of discovery, and encouraged by the patronage of princes. Such a bold enterprise is not at all congenial to the cau- tious and timorous minds of the ancient navigators. We see also in the sarr^ passage, that they performed their voyage in a few days, so that the land which they dis- AMERICA. 43 covered could not have been America, seeing that Colum- bus, the most skilful navigator of the age in which he \i\»eil, consumed seventy-one days in accomplishing his noble undertaking. The second part is no less inconsist- ent, when we learn that the policy of Carthage dislodged, the colony, and laid a strict prohibition on all the subjects of the State not to attempt any future establishment. This is certainly a line of policy, which could not have been pursued by any ambitious state, that wished to extend its power and enlarge its territories, by the discovery of so valuable an island as is described in Diodorus, and at so short a distance from the pillars of Hercules. It has never been satisfactorily proved, that there exists in America any tribe, whose language, manners, and customs, bears any resemblance to those of the Carthagenians. Were we even to grant, that the Carthagenians visited America prior to the discovery of Columbus, it would certainly ap- pear very extraordinary, that the existence of this portion of the globe, should not have been revealed by the Car- thagenians to some of their neighbouring nations, especial- ly to the Spaniards ; for in Spain the Carthagenians found- ed several cities. It is no less surprising that the Car- thagenians Iheraselves had never attempted, at a future period, to make a second settlement in America. The opinion, therefore, that the western continent was dis- covered by the Carthagenians, seems to have no other support, except the passage which we have quoted from Diodorus and a few others. Next comes Plato, who, according to Mr. Chamber's abridged account of this island, from Plato's Timaeus, gives us the following description : " The Atalantis was a large island, in the Wtctern ocean, opposite to the west of Cadiz. Out of this island there was an easy passage into some others, which lay near a continent, exceeding in extent all Europe. Neptune settled in this island, from whose son. Atlas, its name was derived, and he divided it among his ten sons To the youngest fell the extremity of the island, called Gadir, which, in the language of the 44 DISCOVEUV OF countiy, signifies fertile, or abundant in sheep. The de- scendants of Neptune reigned here from father to son, for a great number of generations, in the order of primogeni- ture, during the space of nine thoiisand years. They also possessed several other islands ; and passing into Europe and Africa, subdued all Lybia as far as Egypt, and all Europe to Asia Minor. At length the island sunk under water, and for a long time afterwards, the sea thereabouts was full of rocks and shelves." This description of Plato, that of Diodorus, and a pas- sage in Seneca's Mcdcea, with some others, scarcely worthy of notice, have given rise to many arguments among mod- ern writers. Some have maintained that this continent, mentioned above as lying behind the island Atalantis, must have been another island extending from the Azores to the Canaries ; but that, being swallowed up by an earthquake, as Plato asserts, those small islands are the remains of it. From supposition only, it has been assert- ed that America was known to the ancients, that is, to the Phoenicians and Carthagenians, who, after 'he exter- mination of their power and the destruction of all their records, lost all recollection of it. Be this, however, as it may, this account of Plato appears to us as somewhat fab- bulous, without believing, for a moment, that America was the continent lying behind that island. Fables of much the same complexion also possessed the minds of the ancients, as to the inhabitants of the north of Europe and Asia, and many incredible tales were current among them relative to the Scythians ; and Strabo, though in most respects a good geographer, blamed P>-thias Massilirensis, who had surveyed the utmost parts ot Europe, for endeavouring to turn the popular opinion ; yet subsequent experience has shown, that, for the most part, Pythias was right. The Phoenicians, and after them the Carthagenians, traded to Britain for tin ; and we have also, as already observed, every reason to believe that Ireland was likewise known to them. After the destruction, however, of the Cartha AMEr.ICA. 45 genians, the knowledge of Britain was lost among the an- cients, till Julius Cffisar saw it from the coasts of Gaul, and added it to the conquests of Rome. It appears, therefore, that scarcely one-half of the world was known to the ancients, and even of that, with the exception of Egypt, the north coast of Africa, Greece, and Italy, and the countries immediately connected with them, they had a very imperfect idea. To confirm us in our opinion, we shall here attend to Vesputius, a learned Latin author, who made able research- es, (le origine gentium. His manuscripts, which have not as yet been published, are still preserved in the Vati- can library at Rome. " Extra columnas Herculis quam vastissimus est oceanus, in quo sitae simt insulae duae quae Albion, et lerna apellan- tur. Ex Gallia saepenumero colonos acceperunt, quamo- brem lingua Gallica aut Celtic incolae loqui dicuntur lUuc neque dubitari potest, quin Cathaginienses coloniam olim miserint, lingua enim Punica quam simillima est eorum sermoni." This learned antiquary contends that Albion and Erin, which are situated according to him, in a vast ocean, without the pillars of Hercules, received col- onies not only from Gaul, as their inhabitants speak the language of the Gauls, but that the Phoenicians also con- tributed at some remote period to the colonization of these two islands, on account of the affinity between the Celtic and the Phoenician languages. Vesputius is supported by Monsieur BouUet, a French etymologist, in his Mem. sur la Langue Celtique : — " La langue Celtique etant de la plus haute antiquite (says BouUet) n'etant meme, ainsi qu'on la prouve, qu'un dia- lecte de la primitive, elle a du etre la mere de celles qui se sont formees par la succession des temps dans les pays qu'ont occupes les Celtes, ou Celto-Scythes. Le Latin, le Go- thique, 1' Anglo-Saxon, le Theuton, I'Irlandois, le Prunique, le Suedois, le Danois, I'AUemand, I'Anglois, I'ltalien, I'Espagnol, le Francois, ayent ete formes immediatement, on immediatement, en tout, ou en partie, du Celtique, on 46 niSCOVEKY OF doit regarder cet ouvrage comrae uu dictionaire etimolo gique de ces langues dans lequel on trouvera I'origine des terraes qui les composent. Il-y-a encore tant de similitude entre la langue Carthaginoise, qu'on doit regarder les Irlandois et les Carthaginois coinmc deux nations de la meme origine." The learned Boullet says, that the Celtic language is so ancient, that it is, as has been often proved, no less than a dialect of that language which was first spoken in paradise ; and that it must be the mother of all those languages which had been formed in those countries which were formerly occupied bythe Celts or Celto-Scythians. Therefore, he concludes, that the Latin, the Gothic, the Anglo-Saxon, the Teutonic, the Icelandic, the Prunic, the Swedish, the Danish, the German, the English, the Italian, the Spanish, and French languages must have been derived, directly or indirectly, from the Celtic, which is no other than an etymological dictionary of the terms of which those several languages are composed-. There is also, he continues, such a similarity between the Celtic and the Carthagenian language, that the Irish and Carthagenians are to be consid- ered as two nations of the same origin. We could offer the testimony of several other learned men who are not only convinced that the Carthagenians visited and coloni- zed Ireland prior to the arrival of any other colony, but are also of opinion that Diodorus Siculus alludes to Ireland, while he describes that fertile island which the Carthage- nians discovered beyond the pillars of Hercules. As we do not, however, intend, on the present occasion, to trace the origin of the Irish nation, but merely to shew from the national connexion, which evidently exists between the Irish and Carthagenians, that Ireland must, and undoubted- ly, be that country which the Carthagenians, according to Diodorus, discovered in the Atlantic Ocean. The most reasonable mode, therefore, of accounting for this ancient consanguinity, is to conclude that, at some remote period, the Carthagenians, after a few days' sailing from Cadiz, a ♦own which was built by the Phoenicians in Andalusia a AMERICA. ^ province in the south of Spain, arrived fortuitously in Ire- land, where they made settlements. The Welsh also fondly imagine, that their country con- tributed, in 1170, to people the new world, by the ad- ventures of Madoc, son of Owen Guyneyd, who they say, on the death of his father, sailed there, and colonized a part of the country. All that is advanced in proof of this discovery, is a quotation from one of the British poets, who proves no more, than that he had distinguished himself both by sea and land. This compliment was immediately perverted by the Welsh bards. They pretend that he made two voyages ; that sailing west, he left Ireland so far to the north, that he came to a land unknown, where he saw many strange things ; that on returning home, and making report of the fruitfulness of the newly discovered country, he prevailed on numbers of the Welsh of each sex to accompany him on a second voyage, from which he never returned. Without commenting on these assertions, for they do not wear the visage of truth, we need only en- quire who the Welsh bards were. It is clearly stated by Strabo and Ammian what they were, anciently, in their day ; but Lucan has more briefly, and distinctly enough for • the present purpose, informed us in the following verses: " Nos quosque, qui fortes animas, belloque peremptas, Laudibus in longum vates demittis acvum, Plurima securi fudistus carmii bardi." •' The brave who fell in war, ye poets, praise, In strains that shall descend to distant times. And spread their fame, ye bards, in many songs." The bards, therefore, were retained by the chiefs of ancient families as minstrels, who, by their songs, perpet- uated to posterity the n>emory of their patrons. Next come the senachies, anotler description of minstrels, "who recited, from memory, the genealogies of their chiefs and other men of property. But these, too, were generally destitute of learning, and, besides, no reliance could be placed on men whose expectations and subsistence depend- i: I i 48 DISCOVEUY OF cd on adulation. If to this be added, as it often must, that national partiality which usually perverted their judgment, who would venture to affirm upon their testimony either what is true or what is false, or seek for certainty amoug such uncertain authorities, The Welsh, then, have no other testimony except the fabulous relations of bards and senachies; and as such were ever liable to delusion and error, their claim must ever be pronounced as entirely destitute of support. Besides the Welsh were never known as a people who were skilful in naval affairs, and even the age in which Madoc lived was particularly igno- rant in navigation, so that the most which they attempted, could not have been more than a mere coasting voyage. The Norwegians claim their share of the gloiy, on grounds rather better than the Welsh. By their settle- ments in Iceland and Greeenland, they had arrived within so small a distance of the new world, that there is at least a possibility of its having been touched at by a people so versed in maritime affairs, and so adventurous as the ancient Normans were. The proofs are much more, nu- merous than those produced by British historians, for the discovery is mentioned in several Icelandic manuscripts. The period was about the year 1002, when, according to their own records, it was visited by one Biron ; and the discovery pursued to greater effect by Leif, the son of Eric, the discoverer of Greenland. It does not appear that they reached farther than Labrador ; on which coast they met with the Esquimaux, on whom they bestowed the name of Scroelwgs, or dwarfish people, from their small stature. They were armed with bows and arrows, and had leathern canoes, such as they have at present. All this is probable, although the following tale of the German, called Tyrker, one of the crew, does not tend to prove the discovery. He was one day missing ; but soon returned, leaping and singing with all the extravagant marks of joy a bon vivant could shew, on discovering the inebriating fruit of his own country, the grape ; Torfseus even says, that he returned in a state of int(^xication. To convince f j > AMERICA. ^» his commander, he brought several bunches ■^f grapes, who from that circumstance named that country Vinland. , It is not to be denied, that North America produces the true vine ; but it is ibund in far lower latitudes than our adventurers could reach in the time employed in their voy- ages, which was comprehended in a very f^.nall space. However, be this as it may, there appears no reason to doubt the discovery ; but as the land was never colonized, nor any advantages made of it by the Norwegians, it may fairly be conjectured, that they reached no farther than the coast of I.ahtador. In short, it is from a much later pe- riod that we must date the real discovery of America The mariners of the seventeenth century acquired great applause by sailing along the coast of Africa and dis- covering some of the neighbouring islands ; and although the Portuguese were decidedly the most skilful navigators of the age, still, with all their industi y and perseverance, they advanced southward no farther than the equator. The rich commodities of the East had for several ages been brought into Europe by the way of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean ; and it had now become the object of the Portuguese to find a passage to India by sailing round the southern extremity of Africa, and then taking an eastern course. This great object engaged the general attention of mankind, and drew into the Portuguese service adventurers from every maritime nation in Europe. Every year added to their experience in navigation and seemed to promise a reward to their industiy. The prospect, however, of arriving at the Indies was extremely distant Fifty years' perseverance in the same track had brought them only to the equator ; and it was probable that as many more would elapse before they could accomplish their purpose, had not Colvmhus, by an uncommon exer- tion of genius, formed a design no less astonishing to the age in which he lived, than beneficial to posterity. Among the foreigners whom the fame of the discoveries made by the Portuguese had allured into their service was 5 50 DISCOVERY OF Christopher Columbus or Colon, a subject of the republic of Genoa. It has been generally asserted by those who have given us a biographical sketch of Columbus, that the place of his birth is n^'^ known with certcinty; but Father Lerafini, a learned Itai^m historian, spea^cs as follows of the famous navigator. " Christofero Colombo era na^c iiclla citta di Genoa, I'an- no millequattro cento e quaraita due. II suo padre, un marinaro Portuguese, era nominate, di commun consenso, per coudottiere principale ia un viaggio di acopcrta sulla ccsta Africana. Christofero, il secondo figlio, volendo se- guire la medesiraa occupazione, commincio a studiare le lingue, la navigazione, e le altre scienze che erano neces- sarie per scoprire imovi paesi." According to Lerafini, who was also a Genoese by birth, Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, in the year one thousand four hundred and foily-two. His father, he says, a native of Portugal, was so skilful a mariner, tiiat by the common consent of his followers ho was appointed to the chief command of a small Genoese squadron, which had been fitted out for a voyage of discovery on the coast of Africa'. Christopher, the second son, wishing to pursue the iJ.ime course of life, to which his father had been train- ed, applied himself with the greatest industry and perse- verance to the study of the Latin tongue, the only lan- guage in which science was taught at that time ; he was also instructed in all those branches, which aie connected with navigation, such as Geometry, Cosmography, As- tronomy, and the art of Drawing. 'I bus qualified, he went to sea at the age of fourteen, ami began hi:, career on that element, which conducted hiui to so much glory, and proved so "nteresting to mankind in fxcncral and to the inhabitant:i of Europe in particular. As his early voyages were confined to those ports in the Mediterranean, which were frequented by his eountrymtn, the Genoese, his active mind he had made an excursion to the bci satisfied, until icrn seas and visited i t AMERICA. 61 the coasts of Iceland, to which the English and other na- tions had begun to resort on account of its fisheries. The fame which was now acquired in navigation, excited such emulation among the more enterprizing mariners, that Columbus ventured to proceed several degrees within the polar circle and advanced beyond that island, which is called the Thule of the ancients. Having satisfied his curiosity by this voyage, which tended more to enlarge his knowledge of naval affairs, than to improve his fortune, he entered into the service of a famous sea captain of his own name and family. This man who commanded a small squadron, with which he cruised sometimes against the Mahometans, sometimes againt the Venetians, the rivals of his country in trade. With him Columbus con- tinued several years, no less distinguished for his courage, than for his experience as a sailor. At length, in an ob- stinate engagement off the coast of P'^'-^ugal, with seme Venetian caravals, returning richly laden from the Low Countries, the vessel on board which he served took fire, together with one of the enemy's ships to which it was fast grappled. In this dreadful extremity his intrepidity and presence of mind did not forsake him. He threw himself into the sea, laid hold of a floating oar, and by support of it, and his own dexterity in swimming, he reach- ed the shore, though above two leagues distant, and saved a life reserved for great undertakings. Columbus immediately repaired to the court of Portugal, where they conceived such a favourable opinion of his merit, as well as his talents, that they warmly solicited him to remain in that kingdom. Columbus listened with a favourable ear to the advice of his friends, and, having gained the esteem of a Portuguese lady, whom he married, he fixed his residence in Lisbon. As his father-in-law, Bartholomew Peresirello, was one oi the captains who were employed by Prince Henry, when the islands of Porto Santo and Maderia were discovered and planted, Columbus got possession of the journals and charts of Perestrello, who was an experienced navigator. The fif A' DI&COVERV OF more he contemplated the maps and read the description of the new coimtries which Perestrello had discovered, the more impatient he became to visit them. In order, there- fore, to ir.'ulge his favourite passion, he made a voyage to Madeira, and continued during several years to trade with that island, with the Canaries, tue Azores, tue settlements in Guinea, and all the other places whi h the Portuguese had discovered on the continent of Africa. During such a variety of voyages to almost every part of the globe with which, at that time, any intercourse was carried on by sea, Columbus was now become one of the most skiliul navigators in Europe. But not satisfied with that praise, his ambition aimed at something more. The successful progress of the Portuguese navigators had awa- kened a spirit of curiosity and emulation, which set every man of science upon examining all the circumstances that led to the discoveries which they had made, or that afforded a prospect of succeeding in any new and bolder undertaking. The mind of Columbus, naturally inquisitive, capable of deep reflection, and turned to speculations of this kind, was so often employed in revolving the princi- ples on which the Portuguese had founded their schemes of discover)', and the mode in which they had carried them on, that he gradually began to form an idea of improving on their plan, and of accomplishing discoveries which hitherto they had attempted in vain. To find out a passage by sea to the East Indies, was the grand object in view at that period. From the time that the Portuguese doubled Cape de Verd, this was the point at which they aimed in all their navigations, and in com- parison with it all their discoveries in Africa appeared in- considerable. The fertility and riches of India had been known for many ages ; its spices and other commodities were in high reputation throughout Europe, and the vast wealth of the Venetians arising from their having engros- sed this trade, had raised the envy of all nations. More than half a century had been employed by the Portuguese in advancing from Cape Non to the equator, in hopes of AMBRICA. ^Uli: arriving at India bv steering towards the south and tum> ing to the east, auer they had sailed round the farther extremity of Africa. Even although they could succeed in arriving at India by pursuing this course, they were at last convinced that the remaining part of the navigation from the equator to India was extensive, that it comd not but be attended with uncertainty, danger, and tediousness. These difficulties naturally led Columbus to consider wheth- er a shorter and more direct passage to tlie East Indies might not be found out. After revolving long and seriously every circumstance suggested by his superior knowledge, in the theory as well as practice of navigation, and com- paring attentively the observations of modern pilots, with the hints and conjectures of ancient authors, he at last concluded that by sailing directly towards the west across the Atlantic Ocean, new countries which probably formed a part of the great cotinent of India must infallibly be discovered. Columbus was confirmed in his opinion by the accounts of a certain Portuguese pilot, who having stretched farther to the west than was usual at that time, took up a piece of timber, artificial!) carved, floating on thte sea; and as it was driven towaids him by a westerly wind, he concluded that it cf"^efrom some unknown land situated in that quarter. Pieces of timber fashioned in the SEune manner, and floating on the waves, were seen by sga eral Portuguese pilots, to the west of the Maderia isleb, and thither th«v were brought by a westerly wind. Canes ol .m enormoi..^ size had been found, which resembled those described by Ptolemy as productions peculiar to the East Indies, After a course of westerly winds, trees torn up by the roots verc often driven upon the coasts of the Azores, and one time the dead bodies of two men, with singular features, resembling neither the inhabitants of Europe nor of Afi-ica, were cast ashore there. As the force of this united evidence, arising from oretical and practical observations, led Columbus to expect the discovery of new countries in tiie western ocean, other •5* ■^pawtpv I fiit DISCOVERY OF reasons induced him to believe that these must be connect ed with the continent of India. Though the ancients had hardly ever penetrated into India farther than the banks of the Ganges, yet some Greek authors had ventured < des- cribe the provinces beyond that river. As men are prone, and at liberty, to magnify what is remote or unknown, they represented them as regions of an immense extent. Cesias affirmed that India was as large as all the rest of Asia. Onesicritus, whom Pliny, the naturalist, follows, contended that it was equal to a third part of the inhabitable earth. Nearchus asserted, that it would take four months to march in a straight line from one extremity of India to the other. The journals of Marco Polo, who had proceeded towards the east, far beyond the limits to which any European had ever advanced, seemed to confirm these exaggerated ac- counts of the ancients. From the* magnificent descriptions which Marco Polo gave of Carthay and Cipango, and of many other countries on that continent, it appeared to Columbus that India was a region of vast extent. He concluded, that in propor- tion as the continent of India stretched out towards the east, it must, in consequence of the spherical figure of the earth, approach nearer to the islands which had lately been discovered to the west of Africa ; that the distance from the one to the other was probably not very considerable, and that the most direct, as well as the shortest course, to the remote regions of the East, was to be found by sailing due west. Although he was supported in this opinion by some of the most eminent writers' among the ancients, still, not wishing to rest with absolute assurance, either upon his own arguments or upon the authority of the an- cients, he consulted such of liis contemporaries as he con- sidered capable of lomprelu'nding the nature of the evidence which he had produced. At that time, as the most distinguished astronomer and cosraographer was one Paul, an eminent ]>hysician of Florence, Columbus failed not to communicat 'to him his ideas concerning the pro- babMity of discover, ng new countries bv sailing westward. il I AMERICA. 55 The learned physician highly approved of the plan, and exhorted Columbus to persevere in so laudable an under- taking. Columbus, being fully satisfied with respect to the truth of his' system and a successful issue, was impa- tient to brinw it to the test ; and, wishing that his native country should first reap the fruits of his labours, he laid the scheme before the senate of Genoa. But the Genoese, unfortunately for their commonwealth, were unacquainted with the abilities and character of the projector, by reason of his having resided so long in foreign countries, that they rejected his plan as a chimerical undertaking. The coun- try which had the second claim to his service was Portugal, where he had been long established. To John the Second, king of Portugal, therefore, he made the next tender of his service, by offering to sail under the Por- tuguese flag, in quest of the new regions which he expect- ed to discover. At first he met with a favourable reception from the king, to whom the professional skill and personal good qualities of Columbus were well known. As King John was a monarch of an enterprising spirit, and no incompetent judge in naval affairs, he listened to Columbus in a most gracious manner, and referred the consideration of his plan to Diego Ortiz, bishop of Cereta, and two Jewish physicians, eminent cosmographers, whom he was accustomed to consult in matters of this kind. Here Co- lumbus had to combat with prejudice, an enemy no less formidable than the ignorance of the Genoese, who were so little accustomed to distant voyages, that they could form no just idea of the principles on which he founded his hopes of success. The persons, according to whose de- cision his scheme was to be adopted or rejected in Portugal, had been the chier directors of the Portuguese navigations, and contended with great confidence that India could be ai rived at by pursuing a course directly opposite to that which Columbus recommended. Under these circumstan- ces they could not approve of his proposals, without sub- mitting to the double mortification of condemning their own theory, and of acknowledging his superior sagacity mm 06 DISCOVERY O? After Columbus had given such a particular explanation of his system, as might lead them into a knowledge of its nature, they declined passing any judgmen tin its favour. On the contrary they erdeavonred to undermine him by advising the king to despatch a vessel, secretly, in order to attempt the discovery, by following exactly the course which Columbus seemed to point out. John, forgetting on this occasion the sentiments becoming a monarch, meanly adopted this perfidious counsel. But the pilot chosen to execute Columbus's plan, had neither the genius nor the fortitude of its author. Contrary winds arose, no sight of approaching land appeared, his courage failed, and he returned to Lisbon execrating the project as equally extravagant and dangerous. On learning this dishonourable transaction, Columbus immediately quitted Portugal and landed in Spain in order to, court the protection of Ferdinand and Isabella, who at that time governed the imited kingdoms of Castile and Arragon. Spain was now engaged in a dangerous war with Granada, the last of the Moorish kiftgdoms in that country ; and as Columbus had already experienced the .imcertain issue of applications to kings and ministers, he took the precaution, at that critical juncture, of sending into England his brother Bartholomew, to whom he had fully communicated his ideas, in order that he might ne- gotiate with Henry VII., who was reputed oue of the most sagacious as well as opulent princes in Europe. Ferdinand and Isabella, though fully occupied by their operations against the Moors, paid so much regard to Columbus as to remit the consideration of his plan to the queen's confes- sor, Ferdinand de Talavera. This prelate consulted such of his countrymen as he considered the' most skilful in navigation. But Spain could not at that time boast of having pro- duced men who were versed in true science, so that those who were selected to decide a matter of such moment, did not comprehend the first principles upon which Columbus foimded his conjectures. Some of them, from mistaken AMEUICA. 67 notions concerning the dimensions of the globe, contended that a voyage to •;hose remote parts of the east which Columbus expected to discover, could not be performed in less than three years. Others concluded that he would either find the ocean to be of infinite extent, according to the opinion of some ancient philosophers, or if he should persist in steering towards the west beyond a certain point, that the convvjx figure of the globe would prevent his return, and that he must inevitably perish, in the vain at- tempt to open a communication between the two opposite hemispheres, which nature had for ever disjoined. They maintained that if such countries existed, as Co- lumbus represented, they could not have remained so long concealed, to be at last discovered by an obscure Genoese. He was, therefore, looked upon as a presumptuous man, who pretended that he alone possessed knowledge superior to all the rest of mankind. Here, also, Columbus had to contend with the same ignorance and pride of false know- ledge which counteracted his plans in Portugal. Five years had now elapsed in fruitless endeavours, when Talavera, to whom the decision was referred, made such an unfavourable report to Ferdinand and Isabella as in- duced them to acquaint Columbus, that until the war with the Moors should be brought to a period, it would be im- prudent to engage in any new and expensive enterprise. Columbus's hopes of success were, however, so sanguine that his enthusiasm was not to be cooled by delays, nor damped by disappointment. He next applied to persons of inferior rank, and addressed successively the Dukes ol Medina Sidonia, and Medina Celi, who though subjects, were possessed of power and opulence more than equal to the enterprise which he projected. Columbus met with the same mortifying disappointment from these noblemen, who either from their ignorance of the force of his argu- ments, or a dread of offending the pride of a sovereign who would not countenance the scheme, rejected the plan us the invention of a chimerical projector. Among these disappointments, Columbus had also the >** -""^•"■wuppwnwiwai^wr niSCOVEUY OK mortification to be unacquainted with the fate of his brother, who, as has been said by some Spanish historians, fell into the hands of pirates on his way to England ; and having been stripped of everything, was detained a pris- oner for several years. At length he made his escape and arrived in Londdn, but in such extreme indigence, that he was obliged to employ himself during a considerable time, in drawing and selling maps, in order to pick up as much money as would purchase a decent dress, in which he might venture to appear at court. He then laid before the king the proposals with which he had been entrusted by his brother, and notwithstanding Henry's excessive caution and parsimony which rendered him averse to new or expensive undertakings, he received Columbus's over- tures with more approbation than any monarch to whom they had hitherto been presented. At this time Cohimbus seeing that he had no prospect of encouragement in Spain, was preparing to follow his brother to England. But Juan Perez, the guardian of the monastery in which Columbus's children had been educated,. and a man ot some credit with Isabella, prevailed on him to defer his journey for a short time. This learned monk, being a considerable proficient in mathematical knowledge, soon became acquainted with the abilities and integrity of Co- lumbus, to whom he was so warmly attached, that he ven- tured to write to Queen Isabella, conjuring her to consider the matter anew with the attention which it merited. As there was now a certain prospect that the war with the Moors might be brought to a happy issue by the re- duction of Granada, which would leave the nation at liber- ty to engage in new undertakings, the queen, moved by the representation of Juan Perez, a person whom she re- spected as a competent judge to decide in matters of this description, countenanced, for the second time, the grand schemes of Columbus. Accordingly, she desired Perez to repair to the village of Santa Fe, in which, on account ot the siege of Granada, the court resided at that time, that she might conf(;r with him on this important subject. This r AMERICA. *m interview proved so favourable, that Columbus received a warm invitation to return to court. His former friends, therefore, Alonzo de Quintanilla, comptroller of the finances in Castile, and Louis de Santangel, receiver of the eccle- siastical revenues in Arragon, seeing this happy change in favour of Columbus, appeared with greater confidence Ihan ever to support his scheme. Although Isabella ex- pressed her approbation, still Ferdinand pronounced the scheme to to be impracticable. Columbus, however, as if determined to surmount every obstacle that could be thrown in his way, appeared before them with the same confident hopes of success as formerly, and insisted upon the same high recompense. Columbus proposed that a small fleet should be fitted out under his command, to at- tempt the discovery ; that he should be appointed hi^red- itary admiral and viceroy of all the seas and lands which he should discover ; and that he should have the tenth part of the profits arising from them settled irrevocably upon himself and his descendants. At the same time he oifered to advance the eighth pait of the sum necessary for accomplishing his design, on condition that he should be entitled to a proportional share of benefit from the ad- venture. K the enterprise should totally fail, he made no stipu- lation for any reward or emolument whatever. But the persons with whom Columbus was treating, began to calculate the enormous expense of the expedition, and the exorbitant reward which he demanded for himself. In this imposing garb of caution and prudence, they misrep- resented everything to Ferdinand, wKj opposed the ad- venture from the commencement, Isabella, though more generous and enterprising, was under the influence of her husband in all her actions, and declined again giving any countenance to Columbus. Thus Columbus almost des- paired of success, and withdrew from court in deep anguish, with an intention of prosecuting his voyage to England, as his last resource. About that time, Granada surrendered, and Ferdinand and Isabella, in triumphal pomp, took pos- # eo DISCOVERY OF session of a city, the reduction of which extirpated a sovereign power from the heart of their dominions, and rendered them masters of all the provinces extending from the bottom of the Pyrenees to the frontiers of Portugal. As the flow of spirits which accompanies success elevates the mind, and renders it enterprising, Quintanilla and Santangel, the vigilant and discerning patrons of Colum- bus, tooK advantage of this favourable situation, in order to make one eflbrt more in behalf of their friend. They addressed themselves to Isabella, and represented Colum- bus as a man of vsound understanding and virtuous charac- acter, well qualified by his experience in navigation, as well as his knowledge in geometry to form just ideas with respect to the structure of the globe and the situa- tion of its various regions. The sum requisite, they said, for equipping such an armament as he demanded, was inconsiderable, and the advantages which might accrue from his undertaking were immense. They also con- vinced her that his offer to risk iijs life and fortune in the execution of his scheme, gave the most satisfying evidence both of his integrity and hope of success. These forcible arguments, urged by persons of such authority, and at a juncture so well chosen, produced the desired effect. They dispelled all Isabella's fears and doubts. She ordered Columbus to be instantly recalled, and declared her resolution to employ him on his own terms. The state of her finances were at that time so low, that she offered to pledge her own jewels, in order to raise as much money as might be required to accomplish his design. Semtangel, however, lest she might have recourse to such a mortifying expedient engaged to ad- vance immediately the sum that was requisite. Colum- t)us, upon hearing this unexpected revolution in -liis fa- vour, returned to Santa Fe, for he was now several leagues on his journey to England. The negotiation now went forward with facility and despatch, and a treaty of ca- pitulation with Columbus was signed on the seventeenth of April, 1492. ■■■ AMKRICA. 61 ' 'i •'■^J The chief articles of it were : 1. Ferdinand and Isa- bella, as sovereigns of the ocean, constituted ColuUibus tiieir high admiral in all the seas, islands, and continents which might be discovered by his industry j and stipulated, that he and his heirs forever should enjoy this office, with the same powers and prerogatives which belonged to the high admiral of Castile, within the limits ot his jurisdic- tion. 2. They appointed Columbus their viceroy in all the islands and continents which he should discover ; but if, for the better administration of affairs, it should here- after be necessary to establish a separate governor in any of those countries, they authorized Coliunbus to name three persons, of whom they would choose one, for that office J and the dignity of viceroy, with all its immunities, was likewise to be hereditary in the family of Columbus. 3. They granted to Columbus, and his heirs forever, the tenth part of the free profits accruing from the pro- ductions and commerce of the countries he should discover. 4. 1 hey declared that if any controversy .or lawsuit should arise, with respect to any mercantile transaction in the countries which should be discovered, it should be de- termined by the sole authority of Columbus, or of judges to be appointed by him. 5. They permitted Columbus to advance oneeighth part of what should be expended in preparing for the ex- pedition, and in carrying on commerce with the countries he should discover, and entitled him in return to one eighth part of the profit. As soon as the treaty was signed, Isabella, by her at- tention and activity in forwarding the preparations for the voyage, endeavoured to make some reparation to Columbus for the time he had lost in fruitless solicitation. By the 12th of May, all that depended upon her was ait justed. After Columbus hal waited on the king and queen, and received his final instructions, Isabella ordered the ships of which Columbus was to take the command, to be 6 62 DISCOVERY OF fitted out in the port of Palos, a small maritime town in the province ol" Andalusia. Fortunately for Columbus, Juan Perez, who always interested himself in behalf of this enteiprising navigator, resided in the neighbourhood of this place, and by the influence of this good ecclesiastic, Columbus not only procured the sum he was bound by treaty to advance, but also engaged several of the in- habitants to accompany him in the voyage. The chief of these associates were three brothers' oi the name of Pinzon, of considerable wealth and of great experience in naval affairs, who were willing to hazard their lives and fortunes in the expedition. But after all the efforts of Isabella and Columbus, the armament was not suitable, either to the dignity of the nation by which it was equip- ped, or to the importance of the service for which it was destined. The small squadron consisted of three vessels. The largest, a ship of no considerable burden, was commanded by Columbus as admiral, who gave it the name of Santa Maria, out of respect for the Virgin Marj'. The second, which was called the Pinta, was commanded by Martin Pinzon. Of the third, named the JYigna, Vincent Yanez was captain. This squadron was victualled for twelve months, and had on board ninety men, mostly sailors, to- gether with a few adventurers who followed the fortune of Columbus, und some gentlemen of Isabella's court, whom she appointed to accompany him. Though the expense of the undertaking was one of the iU'cumstanccs which chiefly alarmed the court of Spain, and retarded so long the negotiation with Columbus, the sum employed in fitting out this squadron did not exceed four thousand pounds. As the- art of ship building in the fifteenth century was extremely rude, and the bulk of the vessels was accommoda- ted to the short and easy voyage along the coast, which they were accustomed to perform, it is a proof of the courage as well as the enterprising genius of Columbus, that he ventured, with a fleet so unfit for a distant navigation, to .i #* /MEBICA. '9t^- explore unknown seas, where he had no chart to guide him, no knowledge of the tides and currents, and no ex- perience of the dangers to whj. h he might be exposed. His eagerness to accomplish the great design which had so long engrossed his thoughts, made him overlook or disregard every circumstance that would have intimidated a mind less adventurous. He pushed forward the prep- arations with such ardour, and was seconded so effect- ually by the persons to whom Isabella hau committed the superintendance of this business, that "every thing was soon in readiness for the voyage. But as Columbus was deeply impressed with sentiments of religion, he would not set out on an expedition so arduous, and of which one great object was to propagate > the Christian faith, without imploring publicly the protection and guidance of Heaven. With this view, he, together with all the persons under his command, marched in solemn procession to the monas- tery of Rabida, where, having confessed their sins, they received the holy sacrament from the hands of the guar- dian, Judn Perez, who joined his prayers to theirs for the success of an enterprise which he had so zealously patro- nized. Next morning, being Friday the 3d of August, in the year 1492, Columbus set sail, a little before sun rise, in . presence of a vast crowd of spectators, who sent up their supplications to Heaven, for the prosperous issue of the voyage, which they wished rather than expected. Colum- bus steered directly for the Canary Islands, and arrived there, August 13, 1492, without any occuiTence that would have deserved notice on any other occasion. But, in a voyage of such expectation and importance, eveiy circum- stance was the object of attention. The rudder of the Pinta broke loose, the day after she left the harbour, and that accident alarmed the crew, no less superstitious than unskilful, as a certain omeri of the imfortunate destiny of the expedition. R'ven in the short ruE to the Canaries, the ships were foun»! to be so crazy am? ill- appointed, as to be very im- )P|I|IIWI.<. J. Ml. ^^^m^mmm Si . 61 DISCOVEUY OF proper for a navigation, which was expected to be both long and dangerous. Columbus refitted them, however, to the best of his power, and having supplied himself with fresh provisions, he took his departure from Gomera, one of the most westerly of the Canary Islands, on the sixth day of September. Here the voyage of discovery may probably be said to begin ; for Columbus, holding his course due west, left im- mediately the usual track of navigation, and stretched into unfrequented and imknown seas. The first day, as it was very calm, he made but little way ; but on the second, he lost sight of the Canaries ; and many of the sailors, deject- ed akeady and dismayed, when they contemplated the boldness of. the undertaking, began to beat their breasts and to shed tears, as if they were never more to behold land. Columbus comforted them with assurances of suc- cess, and the prospect of vast wealth, in those opulent re- gions whither he was conducting them. This early discovery of the spirit of his followers taught Columbus, that he must prepare to struggle, not only with fhe unavoidable difficulties which might be expected from the nature of his imdertaking, but with such as were like- ly to arise from the ignorance and timidity of the people under his command ; and he perdfeived that the art of gov- erning the minds of men would be no less requisite for ac- complishing the discoveries which he had in view, than naval skill and undaunted courage. Happily for himself and the country by which he was employed, he joined to the ardent temper and inventive genius of a projector, vir- tues of another species, which are rarely united w ith them. He possessed a thorough knowledge of mankind, an insin- uating address, a patient persererance in executing any {)lan, the perfect government of his passions, and the ta- ent of acquiring an ascendant of those of other men. All these qualifications which formed him for command, were accompanied with that superior knowledge of h'.s profession which begets confidence in times of difficulty and danger. To unskilful Spanish .sailors, accustomed Vi AMERICA. ¥M only to coasting voyages in the Mediterranean, the mari- time science of Columbus, the fruit of thirty years' ex- perieflce, improved by an acquaintance with all the inven- tions of the Portuguese, appeared immense. As soon as they put to sea he regulated everything by his sole authority ; he superintended the execution of every order ; and allowing himself only a few hours for sleep, he was at all other times on deck. As his course lay through seas which had not formerly been visited, the sounding line or instruments for observation were continually in his hands. After the example of the Portuguese discoverers, he attend- ed to the motion of tides and currents, watched the flight of birds, the appearance of iishes,of see weeds, and of every thing that floated on the waves, and entered every occur- rence with a minute exactness in the journal which he kept.* As the length of" the voyage could not fail of alarming sailors habituated only to short excursions ; Columbus en- deavoured to conceal from them the real progress which they had made with this view, though they had run eighteen leagues on the second day after they had left Gomera, he . . gave out that they had advanced only fifteen, and he uniformly employed the same artifice during the whole voyage. By the 14th of September the fleet was above two hundred leagues to the west of the Canary isles, at a greater distance from land than any Spaniard had been be- fore that time. There they were struck with an appear- ance no less astonishing than new. They observed that the magnetic needle, in their compasses, did not point ex- actly to the polar star, but va'-ied towards the west ; and as they proceeded, this variation increased. This appear- ance which is now familiar, though it still remains one of the mysteries of nature, filled the companions of Columbus with terror. They were now in a boundless unknown ocean, far from the usual course of navigation ; nature itself seemed to be altered, aad the only guide which they had left was about to fail then. Columbus, with no less quickness than ingenuity, inveMed a reason for this ap- pearance, wh ch, though it did mt satisfy himself, seemed 6* ' 4 ••' I W DISCOVERY OF SO plausible to them, that it dispelled their fears and ' silenced their murmurs He still continued to steer due west, neatly in the same latitude with the Canary Islands. In this course he came within the sphere of the trade wind, which blows invari - ably from east to west, between the tropics and a few degrees beyond them. He advanced before this steady gale, with such uniform rapidity that it was seldom neces- sary to shift a sail. When about four hundred leagues to the west of the Canaries he found the sea so covered with weeds, that it resembled a meadow of vast extent ; and in some places they were so thick as to retard the motion of the vessels. This strange appearance occasioned new ^larm and disquiet. The sailors imagined that they had Tiow. arrived at the utmost boundary of the navigable ocean ; that these floating weeds would obstruct their far- ther progress, and conceal dangerous rocks, or some large tract of land, which had sunk, they knew not how, in that place. Columbus endeavoured to persuade them, that what had alarmed, ought to have encouraged them, and was to be considered as a sign of approaching land. At the same time a brisk gale arose, and carried them for- ward. Several birds were seen hovering about the ships, and directed their flight towards the west. The despond- ing crew resumed some degree of spirit, and began to en- tertain fresh hopes. Upon the first of October they were, according to the Admiral's reckoning, seven hundred and seventy leagues to the west of the Canaries ; but lest his men should be intimidated by the prodigious length of navigation, he gave out that they had proceeded only five hundred and eighty-four leagues ; and fortunately for Coliunbus, neither his own pilot, nor those of the other ships, had skill suffi- cient to correct this error and discover the deceit. They had now been above three weeks at sea, and had advanced far beyond what former navigators attempted or deemed possible. All their prognostics of disco /eiy, drawn from the flight of birds and otmr circumstances proved falla- « ''''*" i! »?^ 's AMERICA. n treincly delightful. The inhabitants appeared in the simple innocence of nature, entirely naked. Their black hair, long and uncurled, floated upon their shoulders, or was bound in tresses around their heads. They had no beards, and every part of their bodies was perfectly- smooth. Their complexion was of a dusky copper col- our, their features singular, rather than disagreeable, their aspect gentle and timid ; though not tall, they were well shaped, and active. Their faces and several parts of their bodies were fantastically painted with glaring colours. They were shy at first, through fear, but soon became familiar with the Spaniards, and with transports of joy received from them hawk's-bills, glass beads, or other baubles in return, for which they gave such provisions as they had, and some cotton yarn, the only commodity of value they could produce. Towards evening Columbus returned to the ships, accompanied by many of the islanders in their boats, which they called canoes, and, though rudely formed out ofthe trunk of a single tree, they rowed them with surprising dexterity. Thus in the first interview between the inhabitants of the old and new worlds, every thing was conducttd amicably, and to their mutual satisfaction. The former, enlightened and am- bitions, formed already vast ideas with respect to the advantages which they might derive from the regions which began to open to their view. The 1 atter, simple and undiscerning, had no foresight of the calamities and deso- lation which were approaching their country. Columbus, who now assumed the title and authority of admiral and viceroy, called the island which he discovered San Salvador. It is better known by the name of Gvanahani, which the natives gave it, and is one of that large cluster of islands called the Lucaya or Bahama Isles. Thus Columbus, by his superior sagacity and fortitude had conducted the Span- iards, by a rout concealed from past ages, to the know- ledge of the new world. No event ever proved so interest- ing to mankind in general, and to the inhabitants of nipi ii^i«v^ii J I iqpi P " ■■wiww'^fT^pi «^ niscovERY or America- Europe in particular, as the discovery of America and the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope : it at once gave rise to a revolution in the commerce and in the power of nations, as well as in the manners, industry, and gov- ■^rnment of almost the whole world. At this period new connexions were formed by the inhabitants of the most distant regions, for the supply of wants they had never be* fore experienced. The production of cl imates situated under the equator were consumed in countries bordering on the pole; the industry of the north was transplanted to the south ; and the inhabitants of the west were clothed with the the manufactures of the east ; in short, a general intercourse of opinions, laws, and customs, diseases and remedies, virtues and vices, were established among them. " Such is a brief account of the discovery of America by Columbus ; and with respect to the voyage itself and what relates to the famous navigator and his vicissitudes of for- tune at the court of Spain, we have chiefly followed Winterbotham, frequently verbatim. 'i •"'Vr-- '^■m. "t:.- '• •, :v/H-'«*^ .1 *il i •♦ « '■ ■■'»•;•■; ^' ORIGIN ♦ . t OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Having given an account of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, we shall now proceed to ac- count for the peopling of this continent. When America was discovered, it was found habited by a race of people, no less different from the inhabitants of Europe, Africa, and the greater part of Asia, than the climate and natural productions of the new world are different from those of the old. To trace the descent of the red men who are melting, as was said by one of their most celebrated war- riors,* " like snow before the sun," and perpetuate their national character on the page of history, before they totally disappear as a portion of the human race, will, we have no doubt, be no less gratifying to the scientific than to the curious. In perambulating this labyrinth of obscurity and antiquity, no safer guide can be offered us, than a portrait of the characteristical features of the In- dians, which, when compared with the national charac- ter of some Asiatic tribes, will, by the resemblance which, • The noted Miami chief Mishikinakwa, or LilUe Turtle, who con- tributed most to the defeat of St. Clair. 7 . .- . r ~ m ORIGIN OF THE in their manners, habits, and customs, they bear to each other, lead us to the original scource whence sprang the North American Indians. The European colonies in America have now become too numerous and too-power- ful to fear the effects of savage barbarity, and when fear ceases, contempt is the natural consequence. While the Indians are thus despised and forgotten as the original proprietors of this vast continent, which has served as a refuge to the oppressed inhabitants of Europe, in general they are by many deemed unworthy the attention of the antiquary. The Indians, it is true, cannot be classed among civilized nations, who cultivated the arts, agricul- ture, and commerce ; still, leading a barbarous life as they did, it cannot be denied but that the lofty notions of hon- our and independence, with which the minds of some Indian tribes were imbued an'^ jjed them to deeds of admirable heroism and striking ;nerosity, is a proof of elevation of mind and refinement of sentiment; qualities, perhaps, which are seldom to be found among those who charge the Indians with an inferiority of species. The l^reatest part of them had truly a nobleness and an equal- ity of soul, which we seldom attain, with all the helps we can obtaih from philosophy and religion. They were always masters of themselves, in the most sudden mis- fortunes, and the least alteration could not be perceived in their countenances. A prisorter who knew in what his captivity would end, or what, perhaps, is more sur- prising, who was uncertain of his fate, did not lose on this account a quarter of an hour's sleep ; even the first emotions did not find them at a fault. It is no less astonishing to see men whose whole out- ward appearance proclaimed nothing but barbarity, be- have to each other with such kindness and regard, that are not perhaps to be experienced among the most civi- lized nations. This doubtless proceeded in some measure from the words mine and thine being as yet unknown to those savages. These cold words, as St. Chrysostom calls them, which, extinguishing in our hearts the fire of I 1 NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 75 '■I charity, light up that of covetousness. We are equally charmed with that natural and unaffected gravity which reigned in all their behaviour, in all their actions, in the greatest part of their diversions, as likewise with the civility and deference they showed to their equals, and the respect of the young people to the aged ; and, lastly, to see that they never quarrelled amongthemselves with those indecent expressions, and the oaths and curses so common among the whites. All these are proofs of good sense and a great command of temper. The Indians have been frequently misrepresented by writers, who have been either prejudiced against them from some impure motives, or who had been too tran- siently resident amongst them, to ascertain with any ac- curacy the real character of the Indians ; for the Indians are not commpiicHtivo in relation to their national peculi- arities, or original descent. It requires, therefore, a good deal of familiar, attentive, and unsuspecting observation to obtain an;^ knowledge respecting them, as they have neither records nor oral trodition to throw any degree of satisfactory light on their character and descent. The speculative opinions of several historians who wrote concerning the religion of the Indian tribes of America, and the question, whence America might have been peopled, led to many misrepresentations of the re- ligious rites, language, and customs of its original inhab- itants. They discovered affinities which existed no where, but in the fanciful invention of the discoverers. Gomara, Lerius, and Lescarbot inferred, from some re- semblance of this kind, that America had been peopled by the Canaanites, when they were expelled by Joshua. The celebrated Grotius, adopting the opinion of Martyr, imagined that Yucatan, a province of New Spain, was first colonized by the Ethiopians, and that those Ethio- pians were Christians. The human mind derives plea- sure from paradox, for the same reason that it delights in wit. IJoth produce new and surprising combinations of thought, and the judgment being overpowered by the ^"^mmm' 76 ORIGIN OF THE fervours of imagination, becomes for a time insensible to their extravagance. The opinion extensively prevails, that the North American Indians are descendants of the tribes of Israel. This so possessed the mind of Adair, that, although he had the greatest opportunity of obtaining knowledge, his book is comparatively of little use. We are constantly led to suspect the fidelity of his statements, because his judgment had lost its equipoise, and he saw every thing through a discoloured medium. It is impossible for the religious man not to take partic- ular interest in the history of the Hebrews ; and while he reads of the extermination of the kingdom of Israel, when the blindfolded tribes were torn from the land of their prerogative, his soul must be filled with compas- sion for their misfortunes. Their subscMent history is attended with such impenetrable darkness, that this sentiment of compassion naturally combines with curios- ity, to penetrate even the forests of the western continent, in order to identify the lost tribes of Israel. This has ac- tually been the case, for the idea of tracing to America the long lost tribes of Israel rose before the imagination of many with captivating splendour. In the establish- ment however of this theory, thejudgments of those who endeavoured to make researches this way were so much perverted, that resemblances were imagined which had no existence in reality.* The affinity, it is true, of languages tends in some measure to , point out the connexion of nations ; but this depends on the high or low degree of similarity which we find when we collate the one lan- guage with the other. In the Celtic language, for ex- ample, we find several words which bear so radical re- semblance to the. Indian, especially to that language which is spoken by the Algonquins : but hence, it would not be reasonable to conclude a consanguinity between the Irish and the North American Indians. It is, there- • See Jarvis On the Religion of the Indiana. M NORTH AMEIUCAN INDIANS. T7 fore, on the resemblanc« which a few words in the lan- guages of the Indians of North America bear to the He- brew, that some authors have contended with a great deal of confidence, that the lost tribes of Israel are the red men of North America. On the continent of America three radical languages are spoken by the Indians, exclusive of the Karalit or Esquimeaux. Mr. Heckewelder denominates them the Iroquois, the Lenape, and the Floridian ; the Iroquois is spoken by the six nations, the Wyandots or Hurons, the Naudowessies, the Assiniboils, and other tribes beyond the St. Lawrence. The Lenape, which is the most widely extended lan- guage on this side of the Mississippi, was spoken by the tribes now extinct, who formerly inhabited Nova Scotia' and the present State of Maine, the Abenakis, Micmacs, Cannibas, Openangos, Soccokis, Etchemirs, and Souri- quois ; dialects of it are now. spoken by the Miamis, the Potanotamies, Mississngoos, and Kickapoos, the Cones- togos, Nauticokos, Shawanese, and Mohicans, the Algon- quins, the Knistewans,and Chippeways. The Floridian includes the languages of the Creeks or Muscohgees, Chickesaas, Choctaws, Pascagoulas,*the Cherokees, Se- minoles, and several others in the southernf parts of Flo- rida. These three languages are primitive, that is to say, are so distantly related, as to have no perceivable affinity. Seeing therefore that there are three primitive lan- guages spoken by the North American Indians, which have no radical conrexion the one with the other, it would be absurd to countenance for a moment the asser- tion, that the red men of America are the lost tribes of Israel, without having a better proof than a similarity, as we have already mentioned, between a few Indian and Hebrew words. The distant relation itself between these three primitive languages of America is enough to over- throw the argument ; for, if the Indians are the descen- dants of the Hebrews, it would certainly follow that al- most all the dialects, especially the three primitive lan- 7* '^BtrnM^mttm^^fmni^' I •» ORIGIN OF THE giiages, would not only bear a most striking resemblance* to the Hebrew, but would also be more nearly allied among themselves. Besides there is one striking peculi- arity in the construction of American languages, which has no counterpart in the Hebrew. Instead of the ordi- nary division of genders, they divide them into animate and inanimate. But this is not the only instance, in which the He- brew and the Indian languages differ in their idioms. To enumerate, however, all the idiomatical discordances of the Indian and Hebrew languages, will not be neces- sary on the present occasion, as we shall prove in the following pages, bej'ond the possibility of a doubt, that the Indians are descended from a different source. Those, therefore, who contend from merely a slight affinity of languages, that they have dispn^'^red the long lost tribes of Israel on the western continent, might as well say that the Arabians and Abyssinians are the lost tribes of Israel, for their languages have a very strong affinity with the Hebrew. Were we even to allow the affinity of lan- f'uages in its fullest extent, the only legitimate inference vvould be, that the languages of America are of Oriental origin, and consequently that America was peopled from Asia. Rut the affinity between the Hebrew and the Indian languages of America, is so slight and imperceptible that we could scarcely be induced, on this ground alone, to believe even the Asiatic origin of the North American Indians. However much the language of the primitive ■ habitants of the western continent became altered by the r'3volntioi(s, which are incident to communities and na* tions, it is not to be presumed, that the original language was totally extinguished ; some vestiges would still /o- main, as a moiumient of its original descent. Pere liCveque, who paid the strictest attention to the national peculiarities of all the tribes of North American Indians, among whom he had a chance to dwell during his mis- sionary travels in North America, has given us much (I y I* I ' ;! i NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 79 useful information respecting, the early condition of the Abori;?ines of this cou'lry. Although his researches are neither so extensive nor so valuable as those of Charlevoix his countrymen, still, it would appear that his travels were not at all confined to the French Colony, as was jEfenerally the case with the missionaries of Canada. While he describes the rer* man in his original state as minutely and as correctly a ' ^ny other who had gone be- fore him or come after him, his judgment inclines neither to the right, nor to the left, as he had but one object in view, which was a fair and an honest statement of facts, as may easily be seen from his candour and impartiality without the slightest prejudice, either for or against the race of people whose characteristic he endeavours to de- lineate. " Nothing can be more absurd,"* says our author, " than to believe for a moment, that the western continent had been peopled by the lost tribes of Israel, or at least that the present Indians- of America are the lost Israelites. Adair, as every person knows, has assumed nn extraordi nary and singular position on this subject, wliile he /i/ids, or rather pretends to find, an aflinity between the Jwwm and the American Indians, in all those respects which i'mxx be called national. This author is said t© have lived forty years among the Aborigines of the country, which may be true for all vre know, but it iscerJainly true, that few or none have gono bef(/re, or come after him, who witnessed what he witnessed, or viewed the Indians as he viewed them In this assertion, all those who are in the least acquainted with the manners and customs of the red men, will, no doubt, concur with me. Is it not strange, that, after discovering the Mosaic law, or at least the leading statutes of it, he had not also observed a Sy- nagogue ! If he had at once the audacity to tell us i\m\ he was in the habit of attending Divine Worship with 80 ORIGIN OF THE them on the Sabbath day, who could dare deny but Adair made out his point ! notwithstanding this deficiency, our vMithor's book is furnished with sufficent evidence to phew, that he is himself a most superficial observer, or a huge impos'or. ' 11 ne lui appartenoit que de con- naitre la vcrite, et de la dire ; s'il etoit fascine' par V esprit de partly il ne devenoit que V organe deserreursJ What mfluenced Adair to lose his equilihrium in weigh- ing so unfairly his observations and arguments, we cannot pretend to know. This author, it is true, stands not alone in this theory, but the most of his supporters bear witness to him, on whose system they have generally built tlieir arguments. If Julius Cassar had been a lover of the Jews, or if he felt, in any way, interested in their aflfairs he could equally well have discovered the lost tribes of Israel among the ilncient Gauls and Britons in his Bel- lum Gallicum. But Ccesar was a different historian, not only from Adair, but many othersof our owiiday, whose religion teaches them the profession of truth as this gen- eral was, jierhaps, one of the most candid and impartial historians that ever wrote. With regard, then, more par- ticularly to the real origin of the North American Indians, I have only to say, that we must look to the numerous tribes scatteced over the dreary regions in the north-east parts of Asia, as their progenitors. And if it be said, that the lost Israelites might have wandered thither, and thence have migrf.ted to America by Beering's Straits, we can reply that the Jewish features, so peculiar to that nation, the Hebrew language, the Jewish religion, and the customs of the Jews have never been traced among the Aborigines of America." Religion, customs, the shape and size of the body, the tinge of skin, and the features of the visage are, as well as language, indicative of the original connexion of nations. But in this view also, the relation between the Indians and tribes of Israel, is equally distant, as will be seen when we delineate the red Indian in that original state in which he was found by the first visiters from Europe. rl .? ^ NORTH AMERWAN INDIANS. «i s By the discoveries of Captain Cook in ins last voyage, it has been estabhshed beyond a doubt, that at Kamschatka, in about latitude 66° north, the continents of Asia and America are separated bj'' a strait only eighteen miles wide, and that the inhabitants on each continent are similar, and frequently pass and repass in their canoes, from the one continent to the other. It is also certain, that, during the winter season, Beering's straits are frozen from the one side to the other. Captain Williamson, who was lieutenant to Cook in those voyages, has also as- serted that, from the middle of the channel between Kamschatka and America, he had discovered land on either side. This short distance, therefore, he says, should account for the peopling of America from the north-east parts of Asia. The same author farther as- serts, that there is a cluster of islands interspersed be- twen the two continents ; and that he frequently saw canoes passing from one island to the other. From these circumstances we may fairly conclude that America was peopled from the north-east parts of Asia ; and, during our inquiry, we shall endeavour to point out facts, which tend to prove the particular tribe in Asia, from whom the North American Indians are directly descended. The Esquimeaux on the coast of Labrador are evidently a separate species of men, distinct from all the nations of the American continent, in language, disposition, and habits of life ; and in all these respects, they bear a near resemblance to the Northern Europeans. Their beards are so thick and large, that it is with difficulty the fea- tures of their face can be discovered, while all the other Indian tribes of America are particularly distinguished for the want of beards. The North American Indians re- semble each other, not only in ""'^""*al and bodily frame, but generally in their manneiL, ' .«• s, and customs. The Esquimeaux are a very dnninutive race ; but the other tribes are generally tall, athletic, and well propor- tioned. It is believed by many that the Esquimeaux In- dians emigrated from the north-west parts of Europe. In ^mpp^ww^PF 'mmmmmitimi' \/ n ORIGIN OF THE this belief we are confirmed from several circumstances. Low stature and long beards are peculiar to some coun- tries in the north- west parts of Europe. As early as the ninth century the Norwegians discov- ered Greenland, and planted colonies there The com- , munication with that country, after a long interruption, was renewed in the twelfth century. Some missionaries, prompted by zeal for propagating the Christian faith, ven- tured to settle in this frozen region. From them we have learned that the north-west coast of Greenland is separa- ted from America, but by a very narrow strait, if separa- ted at all ; and that the Esquimeaux of America perfect- ly resemble the Greenlanders in their aspect, dress, mode of living, and probably language. The following passage, which we have quoted from Senor Juan Perez, will tend in a great measure to identify the Esquimeaux as the descendants of the Gteenlanders. Juan Perez, a (Spaniard, remained for several years in Greenland and on the coasts of Labrador, as missionary for the propagation of the Christian religion: " Los nativos de Greenland y los Indies de Labrador parecen los mismos. La identidad no consiste solamente en la forma de las personas, que no exceden cinco pies de altura, mas tambien en la complexion, que es el color amarillo. Los Indies de Labrador y los nativos de Green- land son carianchos, romos, bezudos, y tengon losojos y los cabellos negros. La lengua de los Esquimeaux no es que un dialecto de aquella que se hablaen Greenland. Esta lengua abunda en largas polisilabas. Las canoas de los dos pueblos son construidas dela misma manera. Adoran ambos al Grande Espiritu con otros inferiores que resideii en todas partes. De estas y otras coincidencias que no es posible numener al presente, son convencido que la tierra de Labrador habia sido problada por los nativos de Greenland, antes del arribo de otras naciones." The inhabitants of Greenland, says Juan Perez, hav« a striking resemblance to the Esquimeaux, not otily in person, which seldom oxcood five feet, but in comj^ex- \/ i K -.Jl NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 83 ion, which is yellow. The Esquimeanx and the inhab- itants of Greenland have broad faces, flat noses, thick lips, with black eyes and hair. The lan^uaffe of the Esqui- meanx is no other than a dialect of that language which is spoken in Greenland, abounding in polysyllables of great length. The canoe used by the Esquimeaux are exactly built of the same materials, and in the same form as those of the Greenlanders. Both these people have their Great Spirit, as well as several other mferior ones, residing, according to their belief, in every part of the country. From these and other circumstances, continues Juan Perez, I am convinced that the Esquimeaux .are the descendants of the Greenlanders. The coasts of Labrador, on the Atlantic, are inhabited by tribes of those people, who have been called Esqui- meanx. This name has been given them by the tribes of American Indians, from whom thoy seem to be a peo- ple entirely ditfereut. The name signifies eaters of raw flesh, which the Esquimeaux are observed to do frequent- ly. These tribes are said to be distinguished from the other American Indians by many characteristics. Their colour is not that of copper, but the tawny brown which distinguishtvs the inhabitants of the more nothern parts of Eurv'jv: they all have lx;ards, and some of them have betni observed with hair of diftorent colours, some fair and others red. Those marks by which they are so evi- dently distinguished fn">m the American Indians, have in- clined several philosophers to believe that they are of European descent; their colour is similar to that of thfe inhabitants of the north of Europe. Their red and fair hair, found in the north of Europe, more frequently than, in any other part of the world ; but, above all, their lan- guage, which !s said to be a dialect of that spoken in East Greenland, the inhabitants of which are believed to have emigrated from Europe, seem to give this conjecture a considerable appearance of probability ; besides, their re- liffious notions are exactly the same i^ those of the Green- landers. On the whole, it appears rational to believe, I I 84 ORIGIN OF THE that the progenitors of all the American nations from Cape Horn to the southern limits of Labrador, from the similarity of their aspect, colour, language, and customs, migrated from the north-east parts of Asia ; and that the nations that inhabit Labrador, Esquimeaux, and the parts adjacent, from their unliken'ess to the rest of the Ameri- cans, and their resemblance to the northern Europeans, came over from the north-west parts of Europe. Such are the most rational conjectures which we have been able to form respecting the origin of the Esqui- meaux, who are evidently a different race from all the other North American Indians. It remains now to trace the descent of these other tribes, who are scattered over that country which extends from Cape Horn to the south- ern limits of Labrador. We shall here quote the following passage from Brere- wood, a very learned author, who paid much attention to the present subject, and lived in the time of Q,ueen Eliza- beth. " It is very likely that America received her first in- habitants from the east border of Asia; so it is altogeth- er unlike that it received them from any other part of all that border, save from Tartary. Because, in America there is not to be discerned any token or indication at all of the arts or industry of China, or India, or Cataia, or any other civil region, along ail-that border of Asia : but, in their gross ignorance of letters and of arts, in their idolatry, and the specialities of it, in their incivility, and nii^ny barbarous properties, they resemble the old and rude Tartarf^ above all the nations of the earth. Which opinion of mine, touching the Americans descending from the Tartars, rather than from any other nation in that border of Asia, after the near vicinity of Asia to America, this reason, above all others, may best establish and per- suade ; because it is certain, that that north-east part of Asia possessed by the Tartars, is. if not continent with the west side of America, which yet remaineth somewhat doubtful, certainly, and without ail doubt, the least dis- r |i *! NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 85 joined by sea, of all that coast of Asia, for that those parts of Asia and America are continent the one with the other, or, at most, disjoined but by some narrow channel of the ocean, the ravenous and harmful beasts, wherewith America is stored, as Bears, Lions, Tigers, Wolves, Foxes, &c. (which, then, as is likely, men would never to their own harm transport out of the one continent to the other) may import. For from Noah's ark, which rested after the deluge, in Asia, all those beasts must of necessity fetch their begitining, seeing they would not proceed by the course of nature, as the imperfect sort of living creatures do, of putrefaction : or if they might have putrefaction for their parentage, or receive their original by any other sort of generation of the earth, without a special procreation of their own kind, then I see no ne- cessity why they should, by God's special appointment, be so carefully preserved in Noah's ark (as they were) in time of the deluge. Wherefore, seeing it is certain, that those ravenous beasts of America, are tlie progeny of those of the same kind in Asia, and that men, as is likely, con- veyed them not (to their own prejudice) from the one continent to the other, it carrieth a great likelihood and appearance of truth, that if they join hot together, yet are they near neighbours, and but little disjoined the one from the other, for even to this day, in the isles of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Burichena, and all the rest, which are so far removed from the firm land, that these beasts cannot swim from it to them, the Spaniards record, that none of these are found"* The potrait painter, Mr. Smibert, who accompanied Dr. Berkeley, then Dean of Derry, and afterwards Bish- op of Cloyne, from Italy to America in 1728, was employ- ed by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, while at Florence, to paint two or three Siberian Tartars, presented to the Duke by the Czar of Russia. This Mr. Smibert, upon his landing at Narraganset Bay with Dr. Berkeley, in- • Brerewood's Enquiries, p. 117, 118. 8 \/ *> 86 ORIGIN OF THK stantly recognized the Indians here to be the same people as the Siberian Tartars whose pictures he hnd taken.* The learned traveller Mr. John Bell of Antermony makes the following observation. " From all the accounts I have heard and read of the natives of Canada, there is no nation in the world which they so much resemble as the Ton^usians. The distance between them is not so great as is commonly imagined." Great question, says Mr. Jefferson, has arisen whence came those aboriginal inhabitants of America. Discover- ies, long ago made, were sufficient to show that a passage from Europe to America was always practicable, even to the imperfect navigation of ancient times. In going from Norway to Iceland, from Iceland to Greenland, from Greenland to Labrador, the first traject is the widest; and this having been practised from the earliest times of which we have any account of that part of the earth, it is not diffi- cult to suppose that the subsequent trajects may have been sometimes passed. Agnin the late discoveries by Captain Cook, coasting from Kamschatka to California, have pro- ved that, if the two continents of Asia and America be separated at all, it is only by a narrow strait. So that from this side also, inhabitants may have passed into America; and the resemblance between the Indians of America and the eastern inhabitants of Asia, would in- duce us to conjecture, that the former are the descend- ants of the latter, or the latter of the former ; excepting indeed the Esquimeaux, who, from the same circum- stance of resemblance, and from the identity of language, must be derived from the Greenlanders, and these pro- bably from some of the nothern parts of the old conti- nent." Dr. Swinton in his learned contributions to ancient universal history, after having examined the theory by • " The United States elevated to Glory and Honour." A Sermon Seaehed before his excellency Jonathan Trumbull, Esq. L. L. D. &c. c. By Ezra Stiles, U. D. L. L. D., President of Yale College, p. 16 •ndl7. , il ... ....^^a^iMMiMM^fe NORTH AMEKICAN INDIANS. 97 which the Plienicians are supposed to have been the first colony that peopled America, observes, " that, therefore the Americans, in general, were descended frum some people, who inhabited a country not so far distant from them as Egypt and Phenicia, our readers will, as we ap- prehend, readily admit. Now, no country can be pitch- ed upon so proper and convenient "^r this purpose as the north eastern part of Asia, parties riy great Tartary, Siberia, and more especially the Peninsula of Kum- schatka. That probably was the tract through which many Tartarian colonies passed into America and peo- pled the most considerable part of the New World." The most unequivocal mode, therefore, as we have al- ready said, of throwing any satisfactory light on this ob- scure subject, is to compare the personal appearance, reli- gion, and the manners, habits, and customs of Indians, with those of Asiatic nations ; and when we find a stri- king similarity between them, we may fairly conclude that the North American Indians are connected with them, and that they are the descendants of those to whom they bear the greatest resemblance. PEJRSONS, FEATURES, AND COLOUR OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. The North American Indians have a striking simi- larity in their external appearance. Their bodies though slight, are strong, !al),aud straight, but this strength is ra- ther suited to endure the exercise of the chase, than hard labour, by which the/ are soon|;onsumed. In some na- tions it is not uncommon lo see the middle status c; the smallest degree of deformity, however, is rarely seen among any of them. The strength of their bodies, the extraordinary suppleness of then- limbs, and tlie height which they attain nmy fairly be attributed to U,Ueitj( ar\d .uipnipili I 88 ORIGIN OF THB ■': exercise to which the children are accustomed from their earliest youth. There is also a conformation of features as well as person, which, more or less characterises them all. The face is round, and farther removed than that of any other people from an oval shape. Theircheek-bones are a little raised, for this peculiarity the men are more distinguish- ed than the women. Their forehead is small : the extre- mity of the ears far from the face ; their lips thick ; their noses are generally broad, with wide nestrils ; their eyes are black, or of a chestnut colour, small, but capable ot discerning objects at a great distance ; their hair is thick and strong, without any tendency to curl ; their ears large ; their legs well formt ], and the feet small. They have little or no beards on the face, which is not a natu- ral deficiency, as some travellers have asserted but an artificial deprivation, for they carefully eradicate the hair from every part of the body, except the head, and they confined that^ in ancient times, to a tuft on the top. One great peculiarity in the native Americans is their colour, and the identity of it throughout the whole ex- tent of the continent, except the coasts of Labrador, as we have already mentioned. Their colour is that of copper; a colour which, as has been frequently observed, is pecu- liar to the Americans. " They are all," .says Chevalier Pinto, "of a copper colour, with some diversity of shade, not in proportion to their distance from the equator, but according to the degree of the elevation of the country in which they reside. Those who live in va high country are fairer than those in the marshy low lands on the coast." It is said, however, and it is probable enough, that two small tribes have been lately discovered in Mexico, who differ con|jderably from all the other In- dian nations in colour and mode of living. We there- fore, quote the following article from the Western Dem- ocrat : "It is a fact not generally known, that there do exist in the far west at least two small tribes or bands of white pp % NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 89 people. One of these bands is called Mawkeys. They reside in Mexico on the south- west side o^the rocky mountains, and between 300 and 500 mile^rom Santa Fe, towards California, and in a valley which makes a deep notch into the ninuntain, surrounded by high and impassible ridges, and which can only be entered by a narrow pass from the south-west. They are represented by trappers and hunters of the west, known to the writer of this to be men of veracity, as an innocent and inoffen- sive people, who live by agriculture, while they also raise a great number of horses and miles, both of which are used by them for food. They cultivate maize, pump- kins, and bean's in large qnautities. These people are frequently depredated upon by their more warlike red neighbours, to whom they submit without resorting to deadly wenpons in order to repel them. Not far distant from the Mawkeys, and in the same range of country, is another band of the same description, called Nabbehoes, a description of either of these tribes will answer for both. They have been described to the writer by two men in whose veracity the fullestconfidence may be pla- ced: they say the men are of the common stature, with ligfit flaxi;ii hair, li:,lit lilue eyes, and that their skin is of the most delicate whiteness. One of my informants, who saw *= von of these people at Santa Fe in 1830, in describing "^ Mawke;.'^ says, ' they are as much whiter than I am Wi iter than the darkest Indian in the Creek nation,' and my informant was of as goi>d a complexion as white men general! v ai' A trapper on one occasion in a wandering excursion, -irrived at a village of the Mawkeys He was armed with a rifle, a pair of belt pis- tols, knifi: and tomahawk ; all of /liich were new to tluMU, and appe.'ued to excite their x^ onder and surprise. After conversifig sonn time by signs, he firodonc of the pistols, when the whol-- group around him inj.tani'y fell to the grouiid in the utmost consternation. They entreated iuni not to hurt llicni, and showed in various ways that ^. ^. Ox* ^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) // V C?x :^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 1.4 12.5 12.2 2.0 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WESi ^lAlN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 873-4503 4^ fl ^i4" rf> O' "> 1 90 OUHUN OK THE ll till 'd' they thought him a supernatural being. He saw vast number of kprses and mules about the village." Being fuTiy convinced that America as well as the old continent had been peopled by different races, and at different times, we hesitate not a moment to believe that tribes of this description exist in the west ; neither do doubt but several more could be discovered who w exhibit a higher degree of civilization, than has been wit- nessed among the red Indians. Asia, no doubt, contri- buted at different periods to the peopling of America with tribes of different degrees of civilization. The Tartars, Siberians and Kamschadales, are of all the Asiatic nations with whom travellers are acquainted, those who bear the greatest resemblance to the North American Indians, not only in their manners and customs, but also in their fea- tures and complexion. The Tartars have always been known as a race whose disposition led them to rove and wander in quest of conquest and plunder. While the present Indians can be identified as the descendants of the Tartars or Siberians, and when it can be proved be- yond a doubt that America was inhabited by a more civi- lized people than the present, it may fairly be conjectured that the original and more civilized inhabitants were ex- terminated by some great revolution, which had, very probably, been effected by a Tartar invasion, similar to that which under Gengis Khan devastated the Chinese empire, and to that also which overwhelmed the Roman empire. But as we shall hereafter have a more favour- able opportunity of discussing this subject in its proper place, we shall now pass over into Asia, in order to show how far the persons, features, and complexion of some Asiatic tribes coincide with those of the North American Indians. i I I ! NOKTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 91 ■» PERSdNS, FEATURES, AND COMPLEXION OF THE TONGUSI OF SIBERIA, IN ASIA. " I Tongusi." sa^'s the learned Padre Santini, n native of Italy, and u missionary in Chinese Tnrtary end Siberia, "sono generalmente, alti, forliflessibilieben stretti; cor- rono con tanta velocita, che li ho veduto sovente volte sopragiungere i pin veloci animali della foresta. Lacor- pulenza e la deformita di pijrsona sono vizii, che si vedo- no rarissime volte fra questa gente, perche dalla lore gio- ventu si avvezzano alia caccia e alia guerra." Here we are told by Santini, that the Tongiisi are gene- rally tall, athletic, and straight; that they run with such velocity that he frequently saw them overtake the swift- est animal in the forest. Corpulency and deformity of person, he says, are blemishes which are seldom seen among them, because from their youth they are trained to the chase and war. In speaking of the Coriacks and Kamschadales, Santini gives us the following description : "I Coriackidi Siberia, I Tongusiei Kamschadaii han- no, mi sembra, la medesima origine ; poiche, sebbene le lora lingue non sono simili intieramente, nulladimeno hanno un legamento radicale, che e si chiara, che bisogna che tutte le tre siano stato le figiie della medesima madre. La somiglianza della figura del eorpo e della fatezza del viso, e tanto evidente, che I'identita di stirpe non si puo dubitare, come si vedra adesso. II viso e rotundo, le mascelle alzate, i labri grassi, gli occhi picoli e neri, la fronte non e graude; I'orechi son grandi, i denti bianchi e I capelli son neri. Gli Indiani dell' America setten- trionale, che aveva veduto a (Quebec I'anno 1748 sono della stessa stirpe perche hanno il medesimo colore, viso e i loro costumi, lingua e religione sono assai somigliantL" The Coriacks, Tongusi, and Kamschadales, says San- tini, it seems tc me, have had the same orijrin for, al- r^-.-;==73=: ^ ^m^ 92 ORIGIN OF THE though their languages are not altogether the same, still their connexion is so radical that they must bcmediately or immediately, the daughters of the same mother. The similarity of person and visage is so striking, that the identity of person cannot be doubted. Their faces are round, the cheek bones high, the lips thicic, the eyes small and black, the forehead small, the ears large, the teeth white, and the hair black. The Indians of North America, (the same author con- tinues), whom I saw at duebec in 1748, must be of the same origin as the Asiatic tribes I have now described : ihey have the same complexion and vi.sage ; and their customs, religion, and language are also very similar. Of this resemblance in external appearance we are ful- ly convinced ; for, in 1826, two young princes of the Tongusi tribe were taken to Rome by two Jesuits, who had converted them to the Christian faith in their native country. Their complexion, we must acknowledge, was fairer than that of the Indians, but, in every other respect, there was a singular coincidence. The diligent antiqua- ry, Count Rosetli, who travelled, some years since, in the United States, was so perfectly satisfied with their identity, that he published, on the arrival of the young princes at Rome, an able article for the Society of Anti- quaries, proving the Asiatic origin of the North American Indians. To confirm his assertions, he brought before the Society of Antiquaries the two Asiatic princes and an Indian who had accompanitd him from America to Italy. During this inquiry, some of the most literary men in Italy were present, and among them wc observed two or three foreign ambassadors. The sameness of people was at once acknowledged by the society, not only on account of their similarity in external appearance, but the afllnity of languages, and the agreement of manners, habits, and customs, as was satisfactorily proved from the reseaiches of Count Rosetli, and the Jesuit missionaries who had ar rivf»d in Italy from Siberia in Asia. \ ) V. Al NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 93 % PARTICULARITIES OF THE INDIAN LANGUAGES. sAlthough it is generally allowed that all the dialects which are spoken in North America, are derived from the three primitive languages which we mentioned above, still it does not follow that these three are original, or of the first institution of languages. The discourse of the Indian is so marked with those figurative expressions, for which some languages spoken in the north-east parts of Asia are particularly noted. Upon this ground alone some persons stood forward to derive the origin of the North American Indians from Asia, and this clue should be sufficient without any other proof to satisfy the philo- sophic mind, in the absence of u surer guide. The Hu- ron language has a copiousness, an energy, and a sublim- ity perhaps not to be found united in any of the finest languages that we know. It has frequently been asser- ted, that those, whose native tongue it is, are tndovved with an elevation of soul, which agrees with tiie majesty of their language. Some have fancied they found in it some similitude with the Hebrew : others have said that it had the same origin as the Greek ; but nothing could be more trifling than the proofs they bring forward. Gabriel Saghard imagined he had made wonderful dis- coveries in his vocabulary ; James Cartier and Baron de la Hontan were equally enthusiastic in their researches. These three authors took at random some terms, some of which were Huron and others Algonquin, signifying quite diflferent from what they asserted. They pretended from a similarity of sound in a few words, to have dis- covered a radical connexion between the Indian languages and the Hebrew. The Algonquin language has not so much force as the Huron, but it has more sweetness and elegance, and may with great propriety be denominated the Italian of the western continent ; for it abounds with vowels, which renders it soft, musical, and harmonious. Both «)4 ORIGIN OF THE the Algonquin and the Huron have a richness of expres- sion, a variety of turns, a propriety of terms, and a regu- larity which seldom prevails in some of the more cultiva- ted languages of Europe. In the Huron all is conjugated ; a certain device, which cannot be well explained, distinguishes the verbs, the nouns, the pronouns, the adverbs, &c. The simple verbs have a double conjugation, one absolute, and the other reciprocal : the third persons have the two genders, for there are but two in these languages ; that is to say; the noble and the ignoble gender. As to the number and tenses, they have the same differences, as the Greek and some languages spoken in the north-east of Asia; for instance, to relate travels, they express themselves differ- ently according as it was by land or water. The verbs active multiply as often as there are things which fall under action ; as the verb which signifies to eat varies as there are things to eat. The action is expressed differ- ently in respect to any thing that has life, and an inani- mate thing : thus, to see a man, and to see a stone, are two different verbs ; to make use of a thing that belongs to him who uses it, or to him to whom we speak, are also two different verbs. It may be said, and it is certainly true, that these lan- guages from their richness and variety are attended with considerable difficuly in learning them, and it is no less certain that their poverty and barrenness, on the other hand, render them equally so. When we speak of their poverty and barrenness, we must not be understood as alluding to the sterility of the languages; for the richness or poverty of a language depends on the knowledge or ig- norance of the people who speak it. The Indians, for in- stance, seldom gave names to things which they did not use, or which did not fall under their senses, so that when Europeans conversed with them on subjects with which they were unacquainted, they were naturally in want of terms to express their ideas. Even the refined languages of Greece and Rome, when we speak of modern inven- NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. <»5 tions and things which were not known in ancient times, are labonritio; under the same disadvantage ; still they are not to be pronounced as barren, for it is not to be expect- ed that man is to give names to things which he neither saw nor heard. In speaking to an Indian in his savage state, concerning religious worship. Heaven and the Deitj'; about virtues, vices, and the cultivation of the arts, or other subjects of our common conversation, nothing could be expected but confused ideas and such a vacuity in his language as would require circumlocutions in order to throw any information within the compass of his imderstanding. Such, then, is the barrenness of the Indian languages, but as far as they have been cultivated, they are found to be not only rich in expressions but full of harmony and melody. Travellers have diifercd in giving names to the three primitive languages which are spoken in North America; they generally go, however, under the names of the Siouxs, the Huron and the Al- gonquin. That of the Huronr is more copious and better cultivated than those spoken by the Algonquins and Sipuxs, by reason of their ha\ ing attained a higher de- gree of civilization ; for the Hurons have always applied themselves, more than any other tribe, to the cultivation of the land. They have also extended themselves much less, which has produced two effects. In the first place, they are better settled, better lodged, and better fortified. Under these circumstances they could more easily culti- vate the arts, and form fixed rules for their govern- ment. These would inevitably be the means of supplying their language with terms which, otherwise, would never have been introduced. In the second place, lUiey became more industrious, more dexterous in managing their affairs ; these improvements cannot be attributed hut to a spirit of society, which they have preserved better than others. Notwithstanding the difference which evidently exists between these three primitive languages, it cannot be denied that a radical connexion exists, which is not w 96 OltlGIN OF THE ! i.'** easily perceived but by those who are well versed in them. Although we are fully satisfied from several other cir- circumstances, as well as the affinity of languages, that the North American Indians are descended from the north-east parts of Asia, still we do not at all imagine that they are descendants of one and the same Asiatic tribe who spoke the same language. It may appear singular that there should exist such a dissimilarity in the lan- gtiages which the north-east Asiatics carried with them to America; but the surprise will at once vanish when we consider that the north-east parts of Asia had been peopled by different races of men from different parts of Asia. The Highlanders of Scotland, it is well known, are of a different origin with their more southern neigh- bours ; and their language, which is likewise radically different, they have preserved in its purity, notwithstand- ing their union by local situation and intermarriages. In every part of the new world where these Highlanders have made settlements, the GaBlic is spoken as purely al- most as it came from the lips of Ossian ; under similar circumstances, therefore, the Indians have been able to retain the languages of their respective progenitors. The same can be said of the Irish, Germans, and Dutch who have emigrated to America. It is not then to be wonder- ed at, that there should exist among the Indians three primitive languages, which are very distantly connected, although they all came latterly from the north-east parts of Asia. Here we may quote the following from the learned re- searches of Mr. Du Ponceau, who, in speaking of the In- dian languages, says ; "If I have shown it to be, at least, sufficiently probable, that Bolysynthetic forms are the general characteristic of the American Indian languages, I need only refer to Mr. Heckewelder's correspondence, to prove that those forms, as exemplified by him in the Delaware, are sijch as I have described them ; that they are rich, copious, expressive, and, particularly, that the NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 97 greatest order, method, and nimloory reij^n through them. To endeavour to give better proof of this fact, than those which that learned gentleman has given, would be a waste of labour and time. Indeed from the view which he offers of the Lenni-Lenape idiom, it would rather ap- pear to have been formed by philsophers in their closets, than by savages in the wilderness. If it should be asked how this can have happened, I can only answer, that I have been ordered to collect and ascertain facts, not to build Iheories. There remains a great dedl yet to be as- certained, before we can venture to search into remote causes." With regard to the Polysynthetic form or construction, the same author thus explains it. " The Polysynthetic construction is that in which the greatest number of ideas are comprised in the least num ber of words. This is done principally in two ways. 1. By a mode of compounding locutions, which is not con- fined to joining words together, as in the Greek, or varying the inflection or termination of a radical word as in most European languages, but by interweaving to- gether the most significant sounds or syllables of each single word so as to form a compound that will awaken in the mind at once all the ideas singly expressed by the words from which they are taken. 2. By an analagous combination of the various parts of speech, particularly by means of the verb, so that its various forms and in- flections will express notonly the principal action, but the greatest possible number of the moral ideas and physical objects connected with it, and will combine itself to the greatest extent with those conceptions which are the sub- ject of other parts of speech, and in other languages requi- red to be expressed by separate and distinct words. Such I take to be the general character of the Indian languages." These, then, are the declarations of Mr. Du Ponceau concerning the Indian languages. 1st. That the Ameri- can languages, in general, are rich in words and in grammatical forms, and that, in their complicated con- 9 T mmmm 98 ORIGIN OF THE struction, the greatest order, method, and regularity pre- vail. 2d. That these complicated forms, called by him Polysynthetic, appear to exist in all these languages from Greenland to Cape Horn. 3d. That these forms appear to differ essentiallj from those of the ancient and modern lan- guages of the old hemisphere. PARTICULARITIES OF THE ASIATIC LANGUAGES. '\' Santini, after collating the Indian language with those spoken by the Coriacks and Tongusi, gives us the fol- lowing particularities of these Asiatic dialects. "Le lingue che si parlano dai Tongusi e i Coriaki di Siberia, sono originalmente uscitedalla medesima fonte ; perche, avendo studiato tutte le due, sono capace di ve- de J 1' afiinita; oltrequesto, ho osservato sovente volte che i Tongusi e Coriaki potevano parlare insieme senza alcuna interpretazione ; e ciascheduno parlava nelja lingua sua. Quests lingue hanno due generi, uno che si applica all' animante, e un altro all' inanimato. I verbi sono senza numero, e si aumentano secondo la varieta delle cose che si fanno e si vedono. Per esempio, un Coriako non si serve del medesimo verbo, quando vuol dire che ha veduto un uccello e un albero. Nella medesima ma-' niera, si varia il verbo, quando dice, che ha bevuto dell' acqua o del vino. II medesimo idiomasi puo vederencHa lingue che parlano gli Indiani American!. Padre Chia- ratesta, che era restato due anni in Kamschatka, ha detto e non si puo dubitare le sue parole, che quelli dall' altra parte del stretto di Bearing, comprendevano la lingua dei Kamschadali, e che si vedevano frequentemente passare e ripassare da un continente all' altro."* The languages which are spoken by the Tougusi and * Libro secondo, cap. settimo. r' p NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 99 Coriaksof Siberia, says Santini, have originally sprang from the same fountain. Having studied them both, the . affinity appears to me to be very evident. Besides, I ' frequently observed the Tongusi and the Coriaks conver- sing together, while each used that language which was spoken in his own country. They could not, certainly, understand each other easily, from the repetitions, ges- tures, and circumlocutions which I observed during their conversation. Both languages have two genders : the one is called the noble, and is applied to animate things ; and the other the ignoble, of which gender are inanimate things. The verbs are without number, and are increased according to the variety and quality of the action. For example, a Coriak does not use the same verb, when he says he saw a bird or a tree. In the same manner the Co- riaks alter their verb, when they say they drank wine or water. The same idiom, continues Santini, is peculiar to some languages which are spoken by the North Ameri- can Indians. Father Chiaratesta, who remained two years in Kamschatka, has said, and his word should not be doubted, that those on the American side of the Straits of Beering understood the language of the Kamschadales, and were seen frequently to pass and repass from the one continent to the other. According to this author, the language of the Kam- schadales is not much different from that spoken on the other side of Beering's straits. He alludes to the land- ing of Caesar in Britain from Gaul, where the passage be- tween Calais and Dover is as wide as that of Beering's straits in one place, and much more difficult to cross, by reason of the cluster of islands that is interspersed in this narrow channel between Asia and America. As Caesar found the ancient Britons to resemble, in a most strikine^ manner, the Gauls whom he had left behind him on the continent, in their dress, language and mode of fighting, so Chiaratesta discovered the Indians ©f America to be equally similar to the Kamschadales of Asia, in language and dress. " Eadem lingua,'^ he says, "fere utebantur m ORIGIN OF THE atque eodem modofere vestiti, qnamobrem dubitari non potest qiiin propinquitatibtis qffinitatibnsque conjuncti sint."* From this assertion it would appear, that Chia- ratesta feels convinced of the sameness of people, as he observed them use almost the same language, and dress almost in the same manner. These are his very words, and he hesitates not a moment to conclude the Asiatic origin of the North American Indians, especially of those whom he met on crossing the Straits of Beering. We are assured by all those travellers who made any inquiries after the nature and construction of the lan- guages or dialects spoken in the regions of the north-east of Asia, that they partake, in an eminent degree, of the idiom of American languages. A most singular coinci- dence in the formation of verbs in the Tongusian lan- guage is noticed by Abernethv. Nothing can indicate more clearly or more decidedly the connexion of the In- dian and Aaiatic dialects than this circumstance. To kill a deer and to kill a bear is expressed by the Tongusi with two different verbs. To eat flesh and to eat fish, just in the same manner as the American languages vary, is likewise ti^pressed by two diflerent verbs. This cir- cumstance alone is sufficient to prove their similarity. We shall now offer the reader a comparative table of the Asiatic and Indian languages, taken chiefly from Dr. Barton, Abernethy, and Santmi, where the identity of languages is evident at first sight. * Chiantesta, De terra incognita, p. 96. '•.■ ; '■-' ■ .■ •. V' .M.-ni(';r?. •■ ^ ■ ;^ ,: \ NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 101 A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE INDIAN AND ASIATIC LANGUAGES. INDIAN. ■ ^ ASIATIC. GOD. Lenni-Lennape, or Delaware.. Kiisckunanmo.^^^ .JiZ^^JSZl Algonquins and Chippewas, Kitchi^mamtm, ami ManUoa. Onondagas, &c., Nioh. Kikkapoos, Kishdt. Narragansets, Keeshuk. Lenni-Lenna'te, Nooeh. Chippewas, tumach, noosah. Poltawatameh, noosah. Miamis, rionsah, nosah. Algonquins, noiuce. Naudowessies, otah, ottak. Daiien Indians, tautah. Poconchi, tat. Caraibeea, baba. Lenni-Lennape, Gahowees. Poltawatameh, natma. Indians of Pennsylvania, ?^„„a. according to W. Penn. $ Darien Indians, nannah. HEAVEN. FATHER. Semoyads, noob and nub. Tartars, JTodf. Semoyails, Koosotk. Semoyads, Niysce, juezee. Kamschadales, noueck. Olonetzi, or Fins, tauto. Wallachians, tat, Tartars on the Jenisea, baba. MOTHER. Morduani, duoee. Tartars of C^an, ana, aJMM"«e. ■ Tartars of Orenburg, ) ^^^ Siberia, S Tartars near Tobolsk, ana. Tooshetti, nana. SON. Indians of Penobscot, St. Johns, and Naragan- > nomwi. sets, Pottawatameh* aesah. Miamis, aheemah. Narragansets, veaaick. Miamis, neeweewah. Pottawattameh, neowah. BROTHER. HUSBAND. WIFE. 9* Semoyads, nioma. Kamftsthin-', ne^m, Tongusi, nioman. Tchionski, aezoee. Kamschadales, aeezomeh. Semoyads, vrnMocko. Tchoukti, BMtceegon. Semoyads, luoo. mmmm I K K ' * - . V, \ 102 ORIGIN OF THE « INDIAN. ASIAtlC. CHILD. Lenni-Lennape, nitsck, n Chippewus, hcbeloahin. Piankashaws, pappooz, Narragansets, pappoot. tachaan. Semoyads, ntfachoo. Suanetti, bohach. Kottowi, poop- NOSE. Algonkins, yaka. Eoriaks, keka. Acadians, chikm. Kamschadales, kaikan. Indians of Penobscot and St. Johns, keetor. Tongusi, kaiton. V. EYES. Chilese, ne. .,;,; ■ Tcherkessi, M. FOREHEAD. Indians of Pennsylvania, haktUu. ' ' Tooshetti, Adlu. HAIR. Chippewas, lissU, Imey. Tuskaroras, wooaara. Eoriaks, 2useA. Ostiaks, uarrdu. MOUTH. PottRwattameh, indovn. Miamis, endonnee. Eoriaks, miom. Karassini, ende. HAND. Lenni-Lennape, ruthk. Indians of Pennsylvania, Akashini, tiofc. . •Muii, Tongusi, 4ieafcfc(Z and natto. FLESH. Shavmees, toiothe. Chippewas, weas. Ostiaks, twafe, woUt. Koriaks, weon. BLOOD. Macicanni, pucakan. Chilese, mooUbuen. Brasilians, tagut. Tartars, kagm. Koriaks, mooUyomool. Dugorri, toog. HEART. Lenni-Lennape, ktee. Chippewas, michewah. Taweeguini, keet. Tongusi, michewan. SUN. Chippewas, keaU, kiachU. Koriaks, keeaschia. Machicanni, keesogh. Kamschadales, keosan Indians of Penobscot and St. Johns, kee900$t. Tartars, kooauck Indians of New England, keans. Coreans, kaeaet Chikasah, haache. Algonkins, kisia, kesia, • • tl NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 103 INDIAN. MOON. Some Indians of North Carolina, heshwe. Indians of Pennsylvania, keshow. New Englanders,fcej«i. Miamis, kelsoa. Carabies, woonttm. ' Naudowessies, oweeh. Lenni-Lennape, alank. Algonkins, akin, aJank. Miamis, alanqua. Shawnees, alaqua. Chippewas, kimmaimn. Sliawnees, kimmewane. Algonkins, kimiowan. Lenni-Lennape, tundew. Muskohge, toatka. Brasilians, tata. Chippewas, mittie. Muskoghe, etoh. Cherakee, attoh. , Lenni-Lennape, me-karme Cherakee, keera. Darien Indians, tsi. STAB. RAIN. FIRE. WOOD. DOG. THERE. Lenni-Lennape, icka. Lenni-Lennape has also, taUi. Chippewas, woity. ASIATIC. Tongusi, kashot. Kamschadales, kooUovxih. Korit^s, noonoee. Tartars, oee, aee. Kottowi, alagan. Assani, alak. Koriaks, agalan. Kamschadales, lawkwah. Lesghis, kema. Kamschadales, kemasee, Koriaks, kovioaeh Semoyads, tun. Vogouliichi, taoot. Koriaks, tatoeh. Semoyads, meete Koriaks, oottoo. Tartars, otook. Semoyads, kaimak. Tchiochonski, koera. Pumyocolli, tzee. Kartalini, ecka, eck. Tongusi, talai. Kodaks, wooateh. The first personal pronmn /, (ego in Latin.) Lenni-Lennape, ni. Chippewas, nee. Miamis, iiee. Wyaidots, dee. Mauilowessies, meoh. Indi&ns of Penobscot & St. Johns, neah. Kamschadales, nteoA Koi'iaks, neah. Tongutani, nat. Lesghis, dke. Tchonski, mta. Motouri, n«. M. m ! I !' • I -I M ORIGIN OF THE These sources of information are certainly worthy of credit ; for they are distinguished as men of the highest veracity, as well as profound judgment and acute imagi- nation. It is likewise generally known that no person can contract a greater intimacy with barbarous nations, than missionaries, who, by the dignity of their sacred of- fice, the affability of their manners, and their brotherly counsel, have always succeeded in endearing themselves to the rudest of nations. We have the testimony of other travellers, to corroborate the assertions of the learned Santini and Chiarutesta, while they endeavour to prove a similarity between the Indian languages and those of the Tongusi and Coriaks. Hennepin, who travelled among the Indians of North America, says, that the Huron lan- guage partakes in a high degree of the idiom of Asiatic tongues, that it abounds with those figurative expressions, sublimity of thought and sweetness, which are so char- acteristic of some Asiatic languages. Abernethy collated two hundred Indian words with the Coriack language, and the identity is so evident that every person who is acquainted with the derivation and formation of lan- guages, will at once acknowledge the Asiatic origin of th^ Indian languages. RELIGION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Among the most savage nations in the world, the opinion prevails, that there are beings superior to them- selves, who manage by their power and wisdom, the af- fairs of this world. The religion of the Indians is very simple, for it consists of few doctrines and fewer ceremo- nies. The Supreme Deity, they call the Great Spirit, whose power they believe to be infinite; to him they as- cribe their victories in the field of battle and their suc- cess in ^ho chase. They believe also in an inferior Hpi^t V '.tn they consider as a malevolent being and ; NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 105 the author of all tlieir misfortunes. They more frequent- ly adore him, that he may remove the evils by which they are oppressed ; still they are sometimes prompted by gratitude to perform an act of devotion to the Great Spirit, that he may continue his favours. They believe in a future state, where they are to enjoy in a more com- plete manner those pleasures in which they have here delighted ; a mild climate, a fertile soil, abounding with game, whose flesh never cloys the appetite, nor surfeits by excess ; the intercourse of all their friends and rela- tions, in short, all their temporal enjoyments unmixed with any of their troubles. The following concise account of the religion of the In- dians as given by Jarvis, according to Charlevoix may not perhaps be unworthy of attention. " But, besides the Supreme Being, they believe in an infinite number of subaltern spirits, who are the objects of worship. These they divide into good and bad. The good spirits are called by the Hurons, Okkis, by the Al- gonquins, Manitoiis. They suppose them to be the guardians of men, and that each has his tutelary Deity. In fact, every thing in nature has its spirit, though all have not the same rank nor the same influence. The animals they hunt have their spirits. If they do not un- derstand any thing, they immediately say, it is a spirit. If any man performs a remarkable, exploit, his tutelary deity is supposed to be of more than ordinary power. "It is remarkable, however, that these tutelary deities are not supposed to take men under their protection till something has been done to merit their favour. A parent who wishes to obtain a guardian spirit for his child, first blackens his face, and then causes him to fast for several days. During this time it is expected that the spirit will reveal himself in a dream ; and on this account, the child is anxiously examined every morning with regard to the visions of the preceding night. Whatever the child hap- pens to dream of most frequently, even if it happens to be the head of a bird, the foot of an animal, or any thing of mm i . I . 106 ORIGIN O:; THK the most worthless nature, becomes the symbol or figure under which the Ok/ci revetils himself. With this figure, in the conceptions of his votary, the spirit becomes identified ; the image is preserved witli the greatest care — is the constant companion on all great important occa- sions, and the constant object of consultation and wor- ship."* As soon as a child is informed what is the nature or form of his protecting deity, he is carefully instructed in the obligations ne is under to do him homage — to follow his advice communicated in dreams — to deserve his fa- vours — ^to confide implicitly in his care — and to dread the consequences of his displeasure. For this reason, when the Huron or the Iroquois goes to battle, or to the chase, the image of his Ok/ci is as carefully carried with him as his arms. At night each one places his guardian idol on the palisades surrounding the camp, with the face turned from the quarter to which the warriors, or hunters, are about to march. He then prays to it for an hour, as he does also in the morning before he continues his course. This homage performed, he lies down to rest, and sleeps in tranquility, fully persuaded that his spirit will assume the whole duty of keeping guard, and that he has nothing to fear for that day. L'Abbe Perrin tells us that they have also their priests, who are similar to the Druids of the ancients. These pretend to have a more intimate correspondence with the Deity than any other mortal. They are, there- fore, held in the highest estimation, because they can either coinciliate the favour of the Great Spirit, or avert the wrath of the malevolent or inferior Deity. The Abbe observes, that as the Indians seldom engage in tfie solem- nities of religion, the priesthood is not a lucrative profess- ion ; by professing, however, the gift of prophecy and the science of physic, they are seldom reduced to a state of indigence or want. Whenever the cures, which they NORTH AMEHICAH mCIANS. 107 prescribe as physicians, prove unsuccessful, they have the policy to ascribe this failure to the Evil Spirit, whose wrath, they say, is implacable from some motives which they are not allowed to divulge. The only valuable part of "their skill consists in their knowledge; of simples, chiefly salubrious herbs, with which their country abounds. We are told by medical men who stand high in their profession, that these In- dian herbists have, to their own knowledge, cured diseases of which they despaired. In administering these medi- cines, the Indians are said to use many ceremonies which are ridiculous, and sufficiently mysteilous to acquire fame and veneration among the superstitious, especially if the patient recover, but if he die, the Evil Spirit is blamed. The offices of priest, physician, and prophet or conjurer are generally hereditary. This belief is inculcated by those who profess these sciences ; for they impose on the credulity of the people, by telling them, that their families have been particularly pointed out by the Great Spirit, who threatens voDgance against those who might inirude on professions so sacred. It has seldom or never b<,cti observed by travellers, that the ludiaus offered human sacrifices to either of the dei- ties. It has, however, been frequently asserted, that when an oifering was made, it consisted generally of a dog ; and this took place at no other time, except in the times of calamity, f^carcity, and sickness. , Having pro- cured a suitable animal, generally a dog, they tie his mouth, without killing him, and singe him at the fire. They then affi;f, him to a pole with a bundle of beaver skins. Whe*: the pole is erected, the priest' approaches, addresses the Spirit, deprecates his wrath, and implores a mitigation of their troubles. The tribe at the conclu- sion of his speech shout their concurrence. They then leave the dog and the pole, never touching them till they rot and fall. This ridiculous mode of offering a sacrifice was witnessed on many occasions among the Hurons by Hennepin, Perrin, and several other travellers. mm 108 OKIGIN OF THE The Indians hnve their Godoftoar also, but this being is no other than the Great Spirit, to whom we have al- ready alluded, and who is particularly invoked in their war songs. The Hurons call him Areskoiii, and the Iroquois call him Agreskoui. How hg is styled in the Algonquin, we have not been able to ascertain. But it is somewhat strange, that Ares in the Greek language is Mars, or the God of war ; from this it would appear that Ares in Greek is the root whence Areskoui of the Hurons, and Agreskoui of the Iroquis must have been derived. *Although we are not warranted from this similarity alone to pronounce an affinity between the Greek and In- dian languages, still it appears probable enough that the Greek and Indian terms for the God of ar had one common origin, if we allow that the early progenitors of the Greeks and Indians might have been intimately allied at some unknown remote period, previous to the establish- ment of colonies in the Grecian isles, and long before the arrival of any Asiatic tribe on the continent of America. If this opinion be well founded, and we do not see how it could be doubted, whatever alterations these languages may have undergone in the course of ages, by the multi- plication of ideas, and consequently of words, or by the revolutions which the languages ofcivilized nations must undergo, it would be very unjust to deny the probability of some affinity between the Greek, Hebrew, and Indian language. After the dispersion of Babel, for instance, they might have set off together in quest of settlements. Notwithstanding this probability, we are far from believe- ing that the Indians areconsanguineously related to those Greeks, whose language rose into a fabric of the most ex- * Charlevoix, Journal, p. G44. II paroit que dans ces chansons (de guerre) on invoque le Uieu de la guerre que Ics Hurons nppellent Areskoui, et let Iroquois Agreskoui. Je ne sais pas quel nom on lui donne dans les langues Algonquines. Mais n'est il pas un peu etonnant que dans le mot Grcc Ares qui est le Mars, et leDieu de la guerre dans tous lea pays, ou I'on a suivi la Theologie d' Homere, ou trouve la r&cine d'ou semblent deriver plusieurs terines de la langue Huronne et Iroquoise qui ont rapport a la guerre ? NORTH AJIEUICAN INDIANS. quisite and astonishing art, or to any of the tribes of Israel whose language was the Hebrew, Let us now, however, return to the Indian God of war. Before the battle and in the height of the engagement, his name is the iiar cry ; upon the march also-they often repeat it, by way of encour- agement to each other, and to implore his assistance. L'Ab- be Perrin says, that before an Indian engagement, the war- . riors raise a most hideous yell, with which they address their God of battles, looking at the same time upwards, as if in the greatest solicitude to behold his mightiness in the heavens. L'Abbe de la Fontaine says, that when they are afraid of being conquered in battle, they senn their supplications also to an Evil Spirit, that he may be pleased to prevent their utter destruction ; this they do with the greatest humility and submission, accompanied with rosolutions and promises never to incur his wrath for the time to come. De la Fontaine admires and eulogizes the sub- lime language which they make use of on these solemn occasions : he compares their poetical and martial ideas to the lofty strains of Ossian, the famous bard of the an- cient Celts. THE RELIGION OF THE TONGUSI, CORIAKS, AND - KAMSCHADALES. The most barbarous nations in the world believe in the existence of a being who is superior to themselves. Na- ture has never failed to indicate to the human mind, the existence of some Deity, who presides over the human race. Although man sees not his superior, yet the vari- ous revolutions which he sees take place around hirn in- culcate the idea that there exists a Sovereign Lord, at whose control te world revolves. The Mahometans, who borrowed their religious notions from the Jews and. Christians, pretend that they are the 10 wmmmm )/■ 110 ORIGIN OF THE t| great supporters of the doctrine of the unity of the Deity. Under a pretence of improvement, they impeach both the Jew and Christian with a plurality of Deities, But it is well known, that the Jews and Christians make the unity of the Deity a fundamental doctrine of their religion. From these three sects, however, the doctrineof the unity of the Deity has been imparted to almost every nation and tribe with whom we are acquainted. We do not, however, mean to say, that they have been solely the means of propagating this doctrine, for we are no less certain, that several nations with whom we are utterly unacquainted and who never, perhaps, heard of Revela- tion, entertain ideas of one Supreme Deity, with many inferior agents, similar to each other. Among those rude nations, the notion of a Supreme Being appear to have arisen from the force of human reason ; the idea of his numerous inferior ministers seems to have originated in the imbecility of the human imagination. Notwithstan- ding this general belief of the unity of the Deity, which prevails almost every where, however rude the nation may be, every country has its own peculiarities in reli- gion, as well as in their language and modes of living. In no part of Asia has the fancy multiplied more infe- rior Spirits, than in Hindostan. The spiritual agents of the Deity are there innumerable, and each of them is rep- resented under different aspects ; but to enumerate the whole would be impossible and superfluous on the present occasion. From the researches of the most veracious travellers in Asia, we are informed, that of all the Asiatic nations whose religious tenets they could ascertain with any ac- curacy, the Tongusi, Coriaks, and Kamschadales re- semble most the North American Indians, in their ideas concerning the Deity. " The Tongusi," says Abernethy, "believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, according to whose will they shall either conquer or die. They call him the God of hosts, because on him, they imagine, the fate of their warlike expeditions depend. They worship NORTH AMEniCAN IN'DIANS. 1^1' likewise nn mfernal Demon, whose attributes are wratli and vengeance ; while they invoke him, they ar" infl'^en- ced solely by fear, lest he may afflict or toment -hem, for they believe that from him all their calamities and mis- fortunes proceed. As to a future state, they areas chari- table as the Vniversalist, for they cannot bear to hear of a future state of torments and damnation. On the other hand, they imagine that they are to enjoy all the pleasures after which they aspired in this world. They have their priests, prophets, and physicians : and their sacrifices con- sist generally of those brute animals which they consider the greatest favourites of the Evil Spirit, for they seldom supplicate the Great Spirit, except before battle, as they deem hima benevolent Deity, who is dispDsed to ftivour. rather than torment them." The Coriaks have a God of war, whcse aspect they imagine to be fierce and sour, while terrcr is in his looks as well as in his dress. This Mars of the Romans, and the Ares of the Greeks, they call Aricski, a name which not only resembles the Ares of the Greeks, but is almost the very same as the Areskotii of the Hurons of America, an appellation which they apply to the same martial Deity. It appears rather singular that the same term for the God of war should be found in the Coriafc of Siberia, the Greek and the Huron languages of America. We cannot, however, account for this identity of terms, more reasonably than we have already done. The Greeks cal- led him Ares, either from the destruction and slaughter which he caused ; or from the silence which is kept in war, where actions, not words, are necessary. This term may, very probably, have been derived from the Greek verb airein, to take away, or anairein, to kill. But from whatever words this name is deriv* i, it is certain that those famous names, Areopagus nnu Areopagita, are de- rived from Ares. The Areopagus, that is, the " hill," or " mountain" of Mars, was a plaf;e at Athens, according to the Greek mythology, in wh.ch Mars being accused of murder, &c., was forced tf defend himself before r 112 ORIGIN OF THE twelve ffods, and was acquitted by six voices ; from which time that place became a court wherein were tried capital causes and the things belonging to religion. The Kamschadales, according to Santini, coincidewith the Coriaks and Tongusi, almost in every point of reli- gion, except the offering of sacrifices. They believe in a Supreme and benevolent Being, whose sole care it is to w itch over their interests, provided they do not incur the displeasure of the Evil Spirit, who is always disposed to punish them when they offend him. DRESS AJND ORNAMENTS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. It has always been observed that all the various tribes have a close resemblance in their dress ; that of the North American Indians in their original state, consists entirely of furs and hides ; one piece is fastened round the waist, which reaches the middle of the thigh, and another larger piece is thrown over the shoulders. Their stock- ings are of skins, fitted to the shape of the leg ; the seams are ornamented with porcupines' quills ; their shoes are of the skin of the deer, elk, or buffalo, dressed for the most part with the hair on ; they are made to fasten about the ancles, where they have ornaments of brass or tin, about-an inch long, hung by thongs. The women are all covered from the knees upwards. Their shifts cover their body, but not the arms. Their petticoats reach from the waist to the knees ; and both are of leather. Their shoes and stockings are not different from those of the men. Those men who wish to appear gay, pluck the hair from their heads, except a round spot of about two inches diameter on the crown of the head ; on this are fastened plumes of feathers with quills of ivory or silver. The peculiar ornaments of this part are the dis- tinguishing marks of the different nations. They some- jL NORTH AMERtCAN INDIANS. US times paint their faces black, but oftener red ; they bore their noses and slit their ears, and in both they wear vari- ous ornaments. The higher ranks of women dre^ their hair sometimes with silver in a peculiar manner , they sometimes paint it. They have generally a large spot of paint near the ear, «>a each side of the head, and not un- frequently a small spot on the brow. .The Indians, it is true, have made several improvements in their dresses, since they commenced to receive European commodities. The picture, however, which we have given, is not so perfect an image of the Indians as the following portrait by the Bishop of Meaux : " The colours with they paint their faces, and the grease with which they rub all their bodies, produce the same advantages, and, as they fatic}'-, give them the same good appearance as pricking, of which we shall speak hereafter. The warriors paint themselves when the*' take the field, to intimidate their enemies, perhaps also to hide their fear, for we must not think that they are all exempt from 't. The young people do it to conceal an air of youth, or a paleness remaining after some distem- per, which may, they are apprehensive, be taken for the want.of courage : they do it also, no doubt, to make them look handsome, but on this occasion the colours are more lively and more varied. It is said that they paint the prisoners who are going to die, and for what purpose we have not been informed ; it has been thought, however, by some, that it is to adorn the victim, who is to be sacrificed to the God of war. The dead are also painted, in order, no doubt, to hide the paleness of death which disfigures them, for they are at the same time dressed in 4their finest robes to meet the Great Spirit, with whom they are to live for ever. " The colours which they use on these occasions &re the same they employ to dye skins, and they make them from certain earths and barks of trees. They are not very lively, still they are not easily worn out. The men add to this ornament the down o^ ^vans or other birds, which 10* \ ♦ 114 ORIGIN OF THE they strew on their hnir, after it has been grensed, like powder. They add to this feathers of nil colours md bunches of hnir of divers animnls, nil placed in au odd manner. The piacinjj of the hair, sometimes standings up like bristles on one side, and flattened on the other, oi dress- ed in a thousand different ways jKindants ; in their ears and sometimes m tlieir nostrils ; a great shell of porcelain hnnginjj about t*'-ir neck, or in their breast ; some crowns made of the pmmage of scarce birds, the claws, the feet, or heads of birds of prey, little horns of roebucks, and in- numerable other things constitute their finejry. " The men. we see, take little pains to adorn any othei part of the body but their heads, which is just the re- verse with the women, for they scarcely wear any thing on it. They are certainly fond of their hair, and they would consider themselves disgraced if any part of it was cut off. To preserve their hair they grease it often and powder it with the dust of spruce bark, and sometimes with Vermillion ; then they wrap it up in the skin of an eel or serpent, in the fashion of whiskers which hang down to their waist. As to their faces, they are satisfied with tracing some lines on them with vermillion or other colours. • " Their nostrils are never bored, and it is only among some nations that they bore their ears ; then they wear in them, pendants as do also the men, made of beads of porcelain. When they are dressed in all their finery, they havo robes painted with all sorts of figures, with little collars of porcelain, set on without any order or symmetry, with a kind of border tolerably worked with porcupines' hair, which they paint also with various col- ours. They adorn in the same manner the cradles of their children and they load them with all sorts of trin- ke*.s: the.«!e cradles are made of light wood, and have at the upper end one or two semicircles of cedar, that they may co^er them without touching the head of the child. " Many Jien make various figures all over their bod- - I|^ \ \ p*ni| part, more fortunate than the others who are reserved for a slower punishraent. " In order to leave on the field a mark of their victoiy, the chief of the victorious party sticks in the ground his tight- ing club, on which ho had taken care to trace Ihe maiK of of his nation, that of his family, and his own picture ; that is to say, an Ova', with all the figures he had in his face. Others painted all these marks on the trunk of a tree, or on a piece of bark, with rharcoal pounded and rubbed, mixed with some colours. They add some hieroglyphic characters, by means of which, those who pass by may know even the miinitest circumstances, not only of the action, but also of the whole transactions of the campaign. They know the chief of the party by all the marks I have mentioned ; the number of his exploits by so many mats; that of his soldiers by lines ; that of the prisoners carried away by little Mar- mosets ■placed on a stick or on a Chiclncouc ; that of the dead by human figures without heads, with diflerences to distinguish the men, the women, and the children. But these marks are not always set up near the place where the action happened, for when a party is pu'sucd, they place them out of their route, in orde'r to deceive their pursueis. " When the warriors are arrived at a certain distance from the village whence they cane, they halt, and the chiel sends one to give notice of their approach. Among some nations, as soon as the messenger is within hearing, he makes various cries which give a general idea of the prin- cipal adventures and success of the campaign ; he marks the number of men they have lost by so many cries of death. Immediately the young people come out to hear the par- ticulars; sometimes the whole village comes out, but one alone addresses the messenger, and learns from him the de- tails of the news which he brings. As the messenger relates a fact, he repeats it aloud, turning towards those who ac- companied him by acclamations, or dismal cries, according as the news are mournful or pleasing. The messenger is then conducted to a cabin, where the cldeis jiut to him the same questions as before; after which, a public crier invites NORTH AMEIURAN INDIANS. 141 all the young people to go to meet the warriors, and the women to carry them relreshments. In sdne places thpy only think of mourning I'or those ihey have lost ; then the messenger makes only cries of death. They do not go to meet him ; but at his entering the village, lie finds all the people assembled, he relates in a few words all that has passed, then retires to his cabin, where they carry him food; and for some time they do nothing but mourn for the dead. " When this time is expired, they make another cry to proclaim the victory. Then every one dries up his tears, and they think of nothing but rejoicing. Something like this is practiced at the return of the hiiiiters: the women who remained in the village go to meet them as soon as they are informed of their approach,,Jind bjloro they inquire of the success of their hunting, they iniorm them by their tears of the deaths that have happi'iied since their departure. To return to the warriors, the moment wIk ii the women join them, is, properly speaking, the be- inning of the pi'nishment of the prisoners ; and when some of ihem are intended to be adopted, which is not allowed to be done by all nations, their future parents, whom they take care to in- form of it, go and receive them at a little distance, and conduct them to their cabins by some round-about ways. In general, the captives are" a long time ignorant of their fate, and there are few who escape the first fury of the women. " All the prisoners who are destined to die, and those whose fate is not yet decided, as I have already said aban- doned to the fury of the women, who go to meet the war- riors ; and it is surprising that they resist all the evils they make them sulfer. If any one, especially, has lost either her son or husband, or any other person that was dear to her, though this loss had happened thirty years before, she is 2^ fury. She attacks the first who falls under her hand; ana one can scarcely imagine how far she is transported with rage she has no regard either to humanity or decency, and on every wound she gives him, one would expect to seehira fall dead at her feet, if we did not know how ingenious 142 ORIGIN OF THE these barbarians are in prolonging the mcfst unheard of punishments. All the night passes in this manner in the camp of the warriors. " The next day is the da}' of the triumph of the warriors. The Iroquois and some others effect a great modesty, arid ;i still greater disinterestedness on these occasions. The t^hiefs enter alone into the village, without any mark of victory, keeping a p'-ofound silence, ai:d retire to their cab- ins, without showing that they have the least pretensions to the prisoners. Among other natior s the same custom is not observed : the chief marches at the head of his troops with the air of a conqueror ; his lieutenant comes after him, and a crier goes before, who is ordered to renew the death cries. The warriors follow by two and two, the prisoners in the midst, crowned with flowers, their faces and hair painted, holding a stick in one hand and a Chichicoue in the other, their bodies almost naked, their arms tied above the elbows with a cord, the end of which is held by the warriors, and they sing without ceasmf, their death song to the sound of the Chichicoue. " This song has something mournful and haughty at the same time; and