n ■ ■ Xi y ■ ■ OR Qass. Book AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST : BEING AN EXHIBITION OF THE EVIDENCE THAT AN ANCIENT POPULATION OF PARTIALLY CIVILIZED NATIONS, DIF- FERING ENTIRELY FROM THOSE OF THE PRESENT INDIANS, PEO- PLED AMERICA MANY CENTURIES BEFORE ITS DISCOVERY BY COLUMBUS, AND INQUIRIES INTO THEIR ORIGIN, COPIOUS DESCRIPTION OF MANY OF THEIR STUPENDOUS WORKS NOW IN RUINS, WITH CONJECTURES CONCERNING "WHAT MAY HAVE BECOME OF THEM. Compiled, from Ti'avels, Authentic Soirees, and the Researches of Antiquarian Societies* BY JOSIAH PRIEST. FIFTH EDITION. 32,000 volumes of this work have been published for subscribers only. ALBANY: PRINTED BY J. MCJNSELL, STATE STREET. 1841. By Transfer 0. C. Public Library DEC 22 1938 T But to the research of the highly gifted antiquarian, Rafinesque, we are greatly indebted in one important respect, as it is well known that persons in the learned world have greatly admired the boast- ed antiquity of the Chinese nations, who, by their records, make the earth much older than the account given by Moses. But this philosopher on this subject writes as follows : "The two Chinese words, Ki and Shi translated period and dynasty, or family, are of some importance. As they now stand translated, they would make the world very old ; since no less than ten Ki, or periods, are enumerated, (we are in the 10th ;) wherein 232 Shi, or dy- nasties of emperors, are said to have ruled in China, during a course of 276,480 years Christ, at the lowest computation ; and 96,962,220 before Christ, at the highest ; with many intermedia- ry calculations, by various authors. But if Ki, he says, may also mean a dynasty, or division, or people, as it appears to do in some instances, and Shi, an age, or a tribe, or reign, the whole preposterous computation will prove false, or be easily reduced to agree with those of the Hindoos, Per- sians and Egyptians ;" and come within the age of the earth as given in the Scriptures. If the central region of Asia, may have been exempted from that flood, we may then safely inquire whether other parts of the globe may not also have been exempt ; where men and animals were preserved ; and thus the account of the Ark, in which, as related by Moses, both men and animals were saved, is completely overturned. But the universal traditions of all nations, contradict this, while the earth, every where shows signs of the operations of the waters, in agreement with this universal tradition. If such a flood never took place, which rushed over the earth with extra- ordinary violence, how, it may be enquired, are there found in Si- beria, in north latitude 60 and 70 deg. great masses of the bones of the elephant and rhinoceros — animals of the hot regions of the equator. From this it is evident that the flood which wafted the bodies of those animals, rolled exactly over all China and the Hindoo regions. In all parts of the earth, even on the highest regions and 14 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES mountains, are found oceanic remains. Whales have been found in the mountains of Greenland, and also in other parts, as in Amer- ica, far from the ocean. Chinese history, it is true, gives an account of many floods, which have ruined whole tracts of that country, as many as sixty- five, one of which, in the year 185 before Christ, it is said, form- ed that body of water called the Yellow Sea, situated between Co- rea and China. But were the histoy of American floods written, occasioned by similar causes : such as rivers rupturing their mountain barriers ; and the shocks of earthquakes, since the time of Noah's flood ; who could say there would not be as many. We shall have oc- casion to speak of this subject before we close this volume. It is said that the history of China gives an account of the state of mankind before the flood of Yuti, or Noah, and represents them as having been happy, ruled by benevolent monarchs, who took nothing and gave much ; the world submitted to their virtues and good laws ; they wore no crowns, but long hair ; never made war, and put no one to death. But this is also contrary to the account of Moses ; who says the earth before the flood was corrupt before God, and was filled with violence. But they carry their descrip- tion of the happiness of men so high, as to represent perfect har- mony as having existed between men and animals ; when men liv- ed on roots and the fruits of the earth ; that they did not follow hunting ; property was common, and universal concord prevailed. From this high wrought account of the pristine happiness of man, we are at once referred to the original state of Adam in Paradise, and to his patriarchal government after his fall and it is likely also to that of his successors, till men had -multiplied in the earth ; so as to form conflicting interests, when the rapine and violence com- menced, as spoken of by Moses, which it seems grew worse and worse, till the flood came and took them all away. That the central parts of Asia were not overflown by the deluge, appears of vast importance to some philosophers of the present day to be established. For if so, we see, say they at once, how both men and animals were preserved from that flood ; and yet this does not, they say, militate against the Mosaic account ; for the very word ark is in the original language, theba and signifies re- fuge } and is the country of Thibet. So that when Moses talked AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 15 about an ark, he only meant the central part of Asia, or Thibet, in which men and animals were saved, instead of a vessel. Theba, or Thibet, situated in what is called Central Asia, and in size equal to three fourths of the area of the United States, is in- deed the highest. part of that continent, and produces mountains higher than any other part of the earth : yet Moses says, that the flood prevailed fifteen cubits and upwards above the highest moun- tains. Thibet is situated in latitude 30 degrees north, exactly between Farther India, Hindostan and Siberia, where banks of the bones of equatorial animals are found, as we have noticed; by which we ascertain that the deluge rolled over this very Theba, the country supposed to have been left dry at the time of Noah's flood. The Mosaic account plainly says that God said to Noah, " make thee an ark of gopher wood. 79 Surely Noah did not make the cen- tral part of Asia, called Theba or Thibet ; neither was he com- manded to do so, as it would have taken much gopher wood to have formed the whole, or a part of so large a country. But re- specting the word which is translated ark in the scriptures, it is said by Adam Clarke to be in the original Tebath, and not Theba, The word Tebath, he says, signifies vessel, and means no more nor less than a vessel, in its most common acceptation, a hollow place, capable of containing persons, goods, &c. The idea, there- fore, that the word ark signified the central parts of Asia, called Theba or Thibet, fails to the ground; while the history, as given by Moses, respecting the flood of Noah, remains unshaken. The same author has also discovered that a race of ancient people in South America, called the Za^otecas, boast of being an~ tediluvian in America, and to have built the city of Coat-Ian, so named because this city was founded at a place which swarmed with serpents, therefore named Snake city, or Coat-Ian, built 327 years before the flood, and that at the time of the flood, a remnant of them, together with their king, named Pet-ela, (or dog,) saved themselves on a mountain of the same name, Coat-Ian. But we consider this tradition to relate only to the first efforts at architecture after the flood of Noah, round about the region of Ararat, and on the plains of Shinar. The very circumstance of this tribe being still designated by that of the Dog tribe, is an evi- 16 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES dence that they originated not before the flood as a nation, but in Asia, since that era; for in Asia, as in America, tribes of men have also been thus designated, and called after the various ani- mals of the woods. The Snake Indians are well known to the western explorers in America, as also many other tribes, who are named after various wild animals. And the. circumstance of their city being built at a place where there were many serpents, shows the allusion to point to the same time and place spoken of on page 11, where the Chinese historians, Liu-yu and Lo-pi say the ser- pents were driven together by the waters, at the flood of Peleg, — where, according to the Zapotecas,the city of Snakes, or Coat-Ian, was built. Many of the first nations were called after serpents, — as the Hivites, the Ophites, the Ethiops, or Ethiopians, Bassolidians,&c. — all derived, it is likely, from circumstances variously relating to the abundance of serpents in those times, and abounding at certain places more than others. Even the adoration and worship of that terrible reptile obtained among many nations, before as. well as after the Christian era. Supposed Origin of Human Complexions, with the ancient signification of the names of the three sons of Noah, and other curious matter. The sons of Noah were three, as stated in the book of Genesis, between whose descendants, the whole earth, in process of time, became divided. This division appears to have taken place in the earliest ages of theirs* nations after the flood, in such manner as to suit or correspond with the several constitutions of those nations in a physical sense, as well as with a reference to the various complexions of the descendants of these three heads of the human race. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 17 This preparation of the nations, respecting animal constitution and color, at the fountain head, must have been directed by the hand of the Creator, in an arbitrary manner; by which not only his sovreignty, as the Governor of the earth, with all its tribes, is manifest, but also his wisdom; because the same physical consti- tutions which are suited to the temperate and frigid zones of the globe, could not endure the burning climates of the torrid; so nei- ther are the constitutions of the equatorial nations so tempered as equally to enjoy the snowy and ice-bound regions in the high la- titudes north and south of the equator. The very names, or words, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, were in the language of Noah, (which was probably the pure Hebrew, in some sense, significant of their future national character. We proceed to show in what sense their names were descriptive, pro- spectively, of their several destinies in the earth, as well also as that Ham was the very name of his color, or complexion. The word Shem, says Dr. Clarke, signifies renown, in the lan- guage of Noah; which, as that great man, now no more, remarks, has been wonderfully fulfiled, both in a temporal and spiritual sense. In a temporal sense, first, as follows : His posterity spread themselves over the finest regions of Upper and Middle Asia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, Persia, and the Indus, Ganges, and possibly to China, still more eastward. The word Japheth, which was the name of Noah's third son, has also its meaning, and signifies, according to the same author, that which may be exceedingly enlarged, and capable of spread- ing to a vast extent. His posterity diverged eastward and westward from Ararat, throughout the whole extent of Asia, north of the great range of the Taurus and Ararat mountains, as far as the Eastern ocean; whence, as he supposses, they crossed over to America, at the straits of Behring, and in the opposite direction from those moun- tains, throughout Europe, to the Mediterranean sea, south from Ararat; and to the Atlantic ocean west from that region; whence also they might have passed over to America, by the way of Ice- land, Greenland, and so on to the continent, along the coast of Labrador, where traces of early settlements remain, in parts now desert. Thus did Japheth enlarge himself, till his posterity liter- 2 18 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES ally encompassed the earth, from latitude 35 degrees north and 1 upward, toward the pole. The word Ham signified that which was burnt or black. The posterity of this son of Noah peopled the hot regions of the earth, on either side the equator. But as it respects the complexions of these heads of the nations of the earth, we remark as follows : Shem was undoubtedly a red or copper colored man, which was the complexion of all the antediluvians. This conclusion is drawn from the fact, that the nations inha- biting the countries named as being settled or peopled by the de- scendants of Shem have always been, and now are, of that cast. We deem this fact as conclusive, that such was also their proge- nitor, Shem, as that the great and distinguishing features and complexion of nations change not materially. Shem was the father of the Jewish race, who are of the same hue, varying it is true, some being of a darker, and some of a lighter shade, aris- ing from secret and undefinable principles, placed beyond the re- search of man; and also, from amalgamation by marriage with white, and with the darker nations, as the African. But to cor- roborate our opinion that the antediluvians were of a red, or cop- per complexion, we bring the well-known statement of Josephus, that Adam, the first of men, was a red man, made of read earth, called virgin earth, because of its beauty and pureness. The word Adam, he also says, signifies that color which is red. To this account the tradition of the Jews corresponds, who, as they are the people most concerned, should be allowed to know most about it. Shem, therefore, must have bee-n a red man, derived from the complexion of the first man, Adam. And his posterity, as above described, are accordingly of the same complexion; this is well known of all the Jews, unmixed with those nations that are fairer, as attested by history, and the traveller of every age, in the countries they inhabit. The word Ham, which was the name of the second son of No- ah, is the word which was descriptive of the color which is black, or burnt This we show from the testimony of Dr. Hales, of England, who was a celebrated natural philosopher and mathema- tician of the 17th century, who is quoted by Adam Clarke, to show AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 19 that the word Ham, in the language of Noah, which was that of the antediluvians, was the term for that which was black. It is not possible, from authority so high and respectable, that doubts can exists respecting the legitimacy of this word, and of its ancient application. Accordingly, as best suited to the com- plexion of the descendants of Ham, the hot regions of the equator were allotted to those nations. To the Cushites, the southern climes of Asia, along the coast of the Persian gulf, Susiane, or Cushistan, Arabia, Canaan, Pa- lestine, Syria, Egypt -and Lybia in Africa. These countries were settled by the posterity of Ham, who were, and now are, of a glossy black. But the vast variety of shades and hues of the human face, are derived from amalgamations of the three original complexions^ red, black, and white. This was the act of God, giving to the three persons, upon whom the earth's population depended, by way of perpetuity, such complexions, and animal constitutions, as should be best suited to the several climates, which he intend- ed, in the progress of his providence, they should inhabit. The people of these countries, inhabited respectively by these heads of nations, the immediate descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth, still retain, in full force, the ancient, pristine red, white, and black complexions, except where each have intruded upon the other, and become scattered, and mingled, in some degree, over the earth. Accordingly, among the African nations, in their own proper countries, now and then a colony of whites have fixed their dwellings. Among the red nations are found, here and there, as in some of the islands of the Pacific, the pure African; and both the black and the red are found among the white nations; but now, much more than in the earliest ages, a general amalga- mation of the three original colors exists. When we speak of the original, or pristine complexions, we do not mean before the flood, except in the family of Noah, as it is our opinion that neither the black or the white was the complexion of Adam and all the nations before the flood, but that they have been produced by the power and providence of the Creator in the family of Noah only. Much has been written to establish the doctrine of the influence of climate and food, in producing the vast extremes between a fair 2* 20 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES and ruddy white, and a jet blaek. But this mode of reasoning, to establish the origin of the human complexion, we imagine very inconclusive and unsatisfactory; as it is found that no distance of space, lapse of ages, change of diet, or of countries, can possibly 11 remove the leopard's spots, or change the Ethiopian's skin." No lapse of ages has been known to change a white man and his posterity to the hue or shape of an African, although the hottest rays of the burning clime of Lybia, may have scourched him ages unnumbered, and its soil have fed him with its roots and berries, an equal length of time. It is granted, however, that a white man with his posterity, will tan very dark by the heat of the sun; but it can never alter, as it never has altered, the shape of his face from that which was characteristic of his nation or people, nor the form of his limbs, nor curie his hair, turning it to a wool, provided, always, the blood be kept pure and unmixed. Power in the decomposition of food, by the human stomach, does not exist of sufficient force to overturn the deep foundation of causes established in the very germ of being, by the Creator. The circumstance of what a man may eat, or where he may chance to breathe, cannot derange the economy of first princi- ples. Were it so, it were not a hard matter for the poor African, if he did but know this choice trait of philosophy, to take hope and shake off entirely his unfortunate skin, in process of time, and no longer be exposed, solely on that account, to slavery, chains, and wretchedness. But the inveteracy of complexion against the operation of cli- mate, is evinced by the following, as related by Morse. On the eastern coast of Africa, in latitude 5 deg. north, are found jet black, towny, olive, and ivhite inhabitants, all speaking the same language, which is the Arabic. This particular part of Africa is called the Magadoxo kingdom : the inhabitants are a stout, war- like nation, of the Mahometan religion. Here, it appears, is per- manent evidence that climate or food have no effect in materially changing the hues of the complexion, each retaining their own original tincture; even the white is found as stubborn in this tor- rid sky, as the black in the northern countries. The whites found there are the descendants of the ancient Ro- mans, Vandals and Goths, who were, it is asserted by John Leo, the African, who wrote a description of Africa in Arabic, all an- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 21 ciently comprehend under the general name of Mauri, or Moors, as well as the black Moors themselves. — (Morse's Universal Ge- ography, vol. ii., pp. 754, 781J Procopius, a Greek historian of the 6th century, speaks of a race of fair complexioned people, with ruddy countenances and yellow hair, who dwelt far within the desert of Lybia, which is Africa. The same race was found by Dr. Thomas Shaw, the antiquary, who was born in the 17th century, who speaks of them as retaining their fair complexion and yellow hair, although a lapse of years, no less than twelve hundred had transpired, from the time of Procopious till the time of Dr. Shaw. The latitude of their country is between 10 and 12 degrees south. — Encyclopedia, vol. vi., part 2, p. 668, American edition. J Shem, according to the commonly received opinion, was the eldest son of Noah; and as the complexion of this child did not differ from that of other children born before the flood, all of whom are supposed to have been red, or of the copper hue, on the ground of Adam's complexion; Noah did not, therefore, name the child at first sight, from any extraordinary impulse arising from any singular appearance in the complexion, but rather, as it was his jirst born son, he called him Shem, that is, renown, which name agrees, in a surprising manner, with what we have hereafter to relate, respecting this character. The impulse in the mind of Noah, which moved him to call this first son of his Shem, or renown, may have been similar to that of the patriarch Jacob respecting his first born son. He says, Reuben, thou art my first born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. The ideas are similar, both leading to the came conse- quence; in one case it is renown, in the other the excellency of' power, which is equivalent to renown. It is not unusual for parents to feel this sensation, on the birth of a first child, especially if it be a son; however, it is not impos- sible but the prophetic spirit moved Noah so to name this son by the extraordinary appellation, renown, or Shem; and the chief trait of celebrity which was to attach itself to the character of Shem, was to arise out of the fact of his being the type of the Messiah; and the time was to come when this person, after the flood should have passed away, would be the only antediluvian 22 AMERICAN ANTIQUIEIES survivor; on which account, all mankind must, of necessity, by natural and mutual consent, look up to this man with extraordina- ry veneration. By examining the chronological account of the Jewish records, we find the man Shem lived five hundred years after the flood, and that he over-lived Abraham about forty years. So that he was not only the oldest man on the earth at that time, but also the only surviving antediluvian, as well as the great typical progeni- tor of the adorable Messiah. Here was a foundation for renown, of sufficient solidity to jus- tify the prophetic spirit in moving Noah to call him Shetri, a name full of import, full of meaning, pointing its signification, in a blaze of light, to him whose birth and works of righteousness were to be of consequences the highest in degree to the whole race ot Adam, in the atonement. But at the birth of Ham, it was different. When this child was born, we may suppose the house or tent to have been in an up- roar, on the accountof his strange complexion; the news of which, we may suppose, soon reached the ear of the father, who, on be- holding it, at once, in the form of an exclamation, cried out Ham ! that is, it is black/ and this word became his name. It is believed, that in the first ages of the world, things were named from their supposed qualities; and their supposed qualities arose from first appearances. In this way, it is imagined, Adam named all the animals at first sight; as the Lord God caused them to pass before him, a sudden impulse arising in his mind, from the appearance of each creature; so that a suitable name was given. This was natural; but not more so than it was for Noah to call his second son Ham, because he was black ; being struck by this uncommon, unheard of complexion, which impelled him at once to name him as he looked. We suppose the same influence governed at the birth Japheth, and that at the birth of this child, greater surprise still must have pervaded the household of Noah, as white was a cast of complex- ion still more wonderful than either red or black, as these two last named complexions bear a stronger affinity to each other than to that of white. No sooner, therefore, as we may suppose, was the news of the birth of this third son carried to Noah, than, being anxious to em- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 23 brace him, saw with amazement, that it was diverse from the other two, and from all mankind; having not the least affinity of com- plexion with any of the human race; and being in an ecstacy, at the sight of so fair and rudy an infant, beautifully white and transparent of complexion, cried out, while under the influence of his joy and surprise, Japheth ! which word became his name; to this, however, he added afterwards, God shall greatly enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem and Canaan; that is, Ham shall be his servant; so that, in a political sense, he was higher than the other two. But if our opinion on this subject is esteemed not well support- ed, we would add one other circumstance, which would seem to amount to demonstration, in proving Ham and his posterity to have been black at the outset. The circumstance is as follows : At two particular times, it ap- pears from Genesis, that Noah declared, Ham, with/his posterity, should serve or become servants to both the posterity of Shem and Japheth. If one were to inquire whether this has been ful- filled or not, what would be the universal answer ? It would be — it has been fulfilled. But in what way ? Who are the people % The universal answer is, the African race are the people. But how is this proved, unless we allow them to be the descendants of Ham? If, then, they are his descendants, they have been such in every age, from the very beginning; and the same criterion, which is their color, has distinguished them. This proves their progeni- tor, Ham, to have been black; or otherwise, it had been impossi- ble to distinguish them from the posterity of the other two, Shem and Japheth; and whether the denunciation of Noah has been fulfilled or not, would be unknown. But as it is known, the sub- ject is clear; the distinguishing trait by which Ham's posterity were known at first, must of necessity have been, as it is now, black. But some may imagine, that as we do not know the com- plexions of the wives of the three sons of Noah; that- our hy- pothesis is defective. This, however, is not difficult to determine, as they must have been red, or copper-colored, like the rest of the antediluvians, unless we suppose them born with complexions like their husbands, for the same purposes, and occasioned by the same power. But whether this was so or not, it could have made 24 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES no material difference; as it is from the male, the blood of all the- animal creation receives its specific character. We have dwelt thus far upon the subject of human complex- ions, because there are those who imagine the variety now found among men, to have originated purely from climate, food, and manner of living; while others suppose a plurality of fathers to have been the cause, in contradiction of the account in Genesis, where one man is said to have been the father of all mankind. But on this curious subject, respecting the variety of complexions see, toward the close of this volume, the remarks of Professor Mitchell, late of New- York. -■* Respecting a division of the Earth, by JSoah, among his Sons, It cannot be denied but the whole earth, at the time the ark rested on mount Ararat, belonged to Noah, he being the prince, patriarch, Jo r head and ruler of his own family ; consequently, of all the inhabitants of the earth, as there were none but his own house. This is more than can be said of any other man since the world began, except of the man Adam. Accordingly, in the true character of a Patriarchal Prince, as related by Eusebius, an ecclesiastical writer of the fourth century, and by others, that Noah, being commanded of God, proceeded to make his will, di- viding the whole earth between his three sons, and their respec- tive heirs or descendants. To Shem he gave all the East; to Ham, all Africa ; to Japheth, the continent of Europe, with its isles, and the northern parts of Asia, as before pointed out. And may we not add America, which, in the course of Divine Providence, is now in the posses- sion of the posterity of Japheth, and it is not impossible but this quarter of the earth may have been known even to Noah, as we are led to suspect from the statement of Eusebius. This idea, or information, is brought forward by Adam Clarke, from whose commentary on the Scriptures, we have derived it. That a knowledge of not only Africa, Asia, and Europe, was in the possession of Noah, but even the islands of Europe, or how AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 25 could he have given them to the posterity of his son Japheth, as written by Eusebius. It may be questioned, possibly, whether these countries, at so early a period, had yet been explored, so as to furnish Noah with any degree of knowledge respecting them. To this it may be re- plied, that he lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood, and more than two hundred and fifty after the building of the tower of Babel and the dispersion of the first inhabitants, by means of the confusion of the ancient language. This was a lapse of time quite sufficient to have enabled ex- plorers to have traversed them, or even the whole earth, if com- panies had been sent out in different directions, for that express purpose, and to return again with their accounts to Noah. If the supposition of Adam Clarke, and others, be correct ; which is, that at that time the whole land of the globe was so situated that no continent was quite separate from the others by water, as they are now; so that men could traverse by land the whole globe at their will : if so, even America may have been known to the first nations, as well as other parts of the earth. This doctrine of the union of continents, is favored, or rather founded on a passage in the book of Genesis, 10th chap. 20th ver., where it is stated that one of the sons of Eber was Pe- leg, so named, because, in his days, the earth was divided ; the word Peleg r probably signifying division, in the Noetic lan- guage. The forth of Peleg was about an hundred years after the flood, the very time when Babel was built. But we do not imagine this great convulsionary division of the several quarters of the globe took place till perhaps an hundred years after the birth of Peleg, on account of the peculiar latitude of the expression, "in the days of Peleg. " Or, it may have been even two hundred years after the birth of Peleg, as this person's whole life was but two hundred and thirty-nine years; so that Noah over-lived him eleven years. "In the days of Peleg," therefore, may as well be argued to mean, near the close of his life., as at any other period ; this would give time for a very considerable knowledge of the earth's countries to have been obtained ; so that Noah could have made a judicious division of it among the posterity of his sons. 26 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES This grand division of the earth, is supposed by some to have been only a political division ; but by others, a physical or geo graphical one. This latter opinion is favored by Adam Clarke. See his comment on the 25th verse of the 10th chapter of Gene- sis, as follows : — " A separation of continents and islands from the main land, the earthy parts having been united in one great continent, previous to the days of Peleg." But at this era, when men and animals had found their way to the several quarters oV the earth, it seemed good to the Creator to break doivn those uni- ting portions of land, by bringing into action the winds, the bil- lows and subterranean fires, which soon, by their repeated and united forces, removed each isthmus, throwing them along the coasts of the several continents, and forming them into islands ; thus destroying, for wise purprses, those primeval highways of the nations. Supposed identity and real name of Melchisedec, of the Scriptures. This is indeed an interesting problem, the solution of which has perplexed its thousands ; 'most of whom suppose him to have been the Son of God, some angelic or mysterious supernatural person- age, rather than a mere man. This general opinion proceeds on the ground of the Scripture account of him, as commonly under- stood, being expressed as follows : — " "VYithout father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God,, abideth a priest continually." — (Hebrews vii. 2.) But, without further circumlocution, we will at once disclose our opinion, by stating that we believe him to have been Shem, the eldest son of Noah, the progenitor of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Jews, and none other than Shem. We derive this conclusion from the research, and critical com- mentary of the learned and pious Adam Clarke* who gives us this information from the tradition of the Jewish Rabbins, which, without hesitation, gives this honor to Shem. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 27 The particular part of that commentary to which we allude, as being the origin of our belief on this subject, is the preface of that author to the book of Job, on page 716, as follows: " Shem lived five hundred and two years after the deluge; being still alive, and in the three hnndred and ninety-third year of his life, when Abra- ham was born; therefore, the Jewish tradition, that Shem was the Melchisedec, or my righteous king of Salem, " which word Mel- chisedec was ** an epithet, or title of honor and respect, not a proper name; and, therefore, as the head and father of his race, Abraham paid tithes to him. This seems to be well founded, and the idea is confirmed by this remarkable language: (Psalms ex.) Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent or change, at tah cohen- leolam al dibarte Malkitsedek. As if he had said: Thou, my only begotten son, first born of many brethren, not according to the substituted priesthood of the sons of Levi, who, after the sin of the golden calf, stood up in lieu of all the first born of Israel, invested with their forfeited rights of primogeniture of king and priest: the Lord hath sworn and will not repent, (change.) Thou art a priest forever, after the (my order of Melchisedec, my own original primitive) order of primogeniture: even as Shem, the man of name the Shem that stands the first and foremost of the sons of Noah. The righteous Prince, and Priest of the Most High God, meets his descendant, Abraham, after the slaughter of the kings, with re- freshments., and blessed him as the head and father of his race, the Jews in particular; and, as such, he received from Abraham, the tithe of all the spoil. How beautifully does Paul of Tarsus, writing to the Hebrews, point to Melchisedec, (or Shem, the head and father of their race,) invested in all the original rights of primogeniture, Priest of the Most High God, blessing Abraham as such, before Levi had ex- istence, and as such, receiving tithes from Abraham, and in him from Levi, yet in the loins of his forefathers: Moses, on this great and solemn occasion, records simply this: Melchisedec, king of Salem, Priest of the Most High God, sine genealogie; his pedigree not mentioned, but standing as Adam, in St. Luke's genealogy, without father and without mother, Adam ef God. — ( Luke iii. 38.J How beautifully, I say, doth St. Paul point, through Melchisedec, to Jehoshua, our great High Priest and King, Jesus Christ, whose eternal generation who shall declare ! Ha Mashiach, the Lord's 28 AMERICAN ANTIQQITIES anointed High Priest and King, after the order of Melchisedec; only begotten, first born son. Thus far for the preface on the subject of Melchisedec, show- ing that he was none other than Shem, the son of Noah. We shall now give the same author's views of the same supposed mys- terious character, Melchisedec, as found in his notes on the 7th Hebrews, commencing at the third verse. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life. " The object of the Apostle, in thus producing the example of Melchisedec, was to show, 1st. That Jesus was the person prophesied of in the 110th Psalm, which Psalm the Jews uniformly understood as predicting the Messiah. 2. To answer the objections of the Jews against the legitimacy of the priesthood of Christ, arising from the stock from which he proceeded. The objection is this: if the Messiah is a true priest, he must come from a legitimate stock, as all the priests under the law have regularly done; otherwise we cannot acknow- ledge him to be a priest. 44 But Jesus of Nazareth has not proceeded from such a stock; therefore we cannot acknowledge him for a priest, the antetype of Aaron. To this objection the Apostle answers, that it was not necessary for the priest to come from a particular stock; for Mel- chisedec was a priest of the Most High God, and yet was not of the stock either of Abraham (for Melchisedec was before Abra- ham,) or Aaron, but was a Gentile. 44 It is well known that the ancient Jews, or Hebrews, were ex- ceedingly scrupulous in choosing their high priest; partly by di- vine command, and partly from the tradition of their common ancestors, who always considered this office to be of the highest dignity. 1st. God commanded, (Leviticus xxi. 10,) that the high priest should be chosen from among their brethren; that is, from the family of Aaron, 2d. That he should marry a virgin. 3d. He must not marry a widow. 4th. Nor a divorced person. 5th. Nor a harlot. 6th. Nor one of another nation. He who was found to have acted contrary to these requisitions, was, jure di- vino, excluded from the pontificate, or eligibility to hold that office. 44 On the contrary, it was necessary that he who desired this honor should be able to prove his descent from the family of AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 29 Aaron; and if he could not, though even in the priesthood, he was cast out, as we find from Ezra ii. 62, and Nehemiah vii. 63. To these divine ordinances the Jews have added, 1st. That no prose- lyte could be a priest. 2d. Nor a slave. 3d. Nor a bastard. 4th. Nor the son of a Nithinnim; these were a class of men who were servants to the priests and Levites, (not of their tribe,) to draw water, and to hew wood. 5th. Nor one whose father exer- cised any base trade. " And that they might be well assured of all this, they took the utmost care to preserve their genealogies, which were regularly kept in the archives of the temple. When, if any person aspired to the sacerdotal function, his genealogical table was carefully in- spected, and if any of the above blemishes were found in him, he was rejected." But here the matter comes to a point as it respects our inquiry respecting Melchisedec's having no father or mother. "He who could not support his pretensions by just genealogical evidences, was said to be without father. Thus in Bereshith Rabba, sec. xviii. fol. 18, are these words: For this cause shall a man leave father and mother. It is said, if a proselyte to the Jewish religion have married his own sister, whether by the same father or by the same mother, they cast her out, according to Rabbi Meir. But the wise men say, if she be of the same mother, they cast her out; but if of the same father, they retain her, shein ab la gai, for a Gentile has no father; that is, his father is not reckoned in the Jewish genealogies." In this way, both Christ and Melchisedec were without father and without mother, had neither beginning of days, descent of lineage, nor end of life in their books of genealogies, which gave a man a right to the priesthood, as derived from Aaron; that is, were not descended from the original Jewish sacerdotal stock; yet Melchisedec, who was a Gentile, was a priest of the Most High God. This sense Suidas* confirms, under the word Melchisedec, where, after stating he reigned a prince in Salem, (that is, Jeru- salem,) 113 years, he died a righteous man. To this he adds: — "He is, therefore, said to be without descent or genealogy ', because * Suidae, a Greek scholar of eminence, who flourished A. D. 975, and was an ecclesiastical writer of that age. 30 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES he was not of the seed of Abraham, (for Abraham was Ms seed) but of Canaanitish origin." We think this sufficient to show the reason why he is said to have had no father or mother, beginning of days, nor end of life, as stated in Hebrews. But this is not said of him in the book of Genesis, where we first become acquainted with this truly won- derful character. It should be recollected that the Jewish genealogies went no farther back, for the qualifications of their priestly credentials, or eligibility to the pontifical office, than to the time and family of Aaron, which was more than four hundred years after that of Abraham and Melchisedec. No wonder, then, that Christ's gen- ealogy was not found in their records, so as to give him a claim to that office, such as they might approve. But inasmuch as Melchisedec was greater than Abraham, from whom the Jewish race immediately originated, he argues from the authority of the 110th Psalm, where Melchisedec is spoken of, which the Jews allowed to be spoken of Christ, or the Messiah, who was to come, and was, therefore, a priest after the order of that extraordinary Prince of Peace, and King of Salem; because, neither had he such a claim on the Jewish genealogies, as required by the Jews, so as to make him eligible to their priesthood, for they knew, or might have known, that Christ did not come of the Aaronic race, but of the line or tribe of Judah. That he was a man, a mere man, born of a woman, and came into the world after the ordinary manner, is attested by St. Paul's own 'extraordinary expression. (See Hebrews, vii. 4. J " Now consider how great this man was, unto whom Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils." However wonderfully elevated among men, and in the sight of God; however powerful and rich, wise, holy, and happy; he was, nevertheless, a mere man, or the tenth of the spoils he would not have received. But the question is, what man was he, and what was his name ? " Now consider how great this man was," are words which may possibly lead us to the same conclusion, which we have quoted from the preface of the book of Job. There are not wanting circumstances to elevate this man, on the supposition that he was Shem, in the scale of society, far above a common level with the rest of the inhabitants of his coun- AND DI6C0VERIS IN THE WEST. 31 try, of sufficient importance to justify St. Paul in saying, " now consider how great this man was." We shall recount some of the circumstances; and first, at the time he met Abraham, when he was returning from the slaughter of the kings who had carried away Lot, the half brotherof Abra- ham, with all his goods, his wife and children, and blessed him; he was the oldest man then on the earth. This circumstance alone was of no small amount, and highly calculated to elevate Shem in the eyes of mankind; for he was then more than five hundred and fifty years old. Second : He was then the only man on the earth who had lived before the flood; and had been conversant with the nations, the institutions, the state of agriculture, arts and sciences, as under- stood and practised by the antediluvians. Third : He was the only man who could tell them about the fo- rmation of the garden of Eden; a question, no doubt, of great cu- riosity and moment to those early nations, so near the flood; the manner in which the fall of Adam and Eve took place. He could tell them what sort of fruit it was, and how the tree looked on which it grew; and from Shem, it is more than probable, the Jews received the idea that the forbidden fruit was that of the grape vine, as found in their traditions. Shem could tell them what sort of serpent it was, whether an orang-outang, as believed by some, that the evil spirit made use of to deceive the woman; he could tell them about the former beauty of the earth, before it had become ruined by the commo- tion of the waters of the flood; the form and situation of coun- tries, and of the extent and amount of human population. He could tell them how the naiions who filled the earth with their vi- olence and rapine, used to go about the situation of the happy garden to which no man was allowed to approach nor enter, on account of the dreadful Cherubim and the flaming sword; and how they blasphemed against the judgments of the Most High on that account. Fourth : Shem could inform them about the progress of the ark, where it was built, and what opposition and ridicule his fa- ther Noah met with while it was building; he could speak respecting the violent manners of the antediluvians, and what their peculiar aggravated sins chiefly consisted in — what God meant when he 32 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES said, that ii all flesh had corrupted its way before Him," except the single family of IN oah. There are those who imagine, from that peculiar phraseology, "all flesh hath corrupted its way on the earth," that the human jform had become mingled with that of animals. If so, it was high time they were drowned, both man and beast, for reasons too obvious to need illustration here; it was high time that the soil was purged by water, and torn to frag- ments and buried beneath the earthy matter thrown up from depths not so polluted. It is not at all improbable but from this strange and most hor- rible practice, the first ideas of the ancient statuaries were derived of delineating sculpture which represents monsters, half human and half animal. This kind of sculpture, and also paintings, abounded among the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, as well as other nationsjof the early ages. Of these shapes were many of their gods; being half lion, half eagle, and half fish; accord- ing to the denomination of paganism who adored these images. Fifth : Shem was the only man in the days of Abraham, who could tell them of the promised Messiah, of whom he was the most glorious and expressive type afforded to men, before his coming, as attested by St. Paul. It is extremely probable, that with this man, Abraham had enjoyed long and close acquaintance, for he was descended of his loins, from whom he had the knowl- edge of the true God, in all probility, in the midst of his Chal- dean, idolatrous nation,, and learned the faith of Melchisedec. From the familiar manner with which Melchisedec, or Shem, who, we are compelled to believe, was indeed Melchisedec, met Abraham, and blessed him, in reference to the great Messiah, we are strongly inclined to believe them old acquaintance. Sixth : It appears that Shem, or Melchisedec, had gotten great passessions and influence among men, as he had become king of Salem, or ancient Jehus, where Jerusalem was afterward built, and were mount Zion reared her towers, and was the only tem- ple, in which the true God was understandingly worshipped, then on the earth. It is not impossible but the mountainous region about Mount Horeb, and the mountains round about Jerusalem, were, before the flood, the base or foundation of the country, and exact location of the region of the garden called Eden, the place where Adam was created. But when the waters of the deluge AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 33 came, they tore away all the earthy matter, and left standing those tremendous pinnacles and overhanging mountains of the re- gion of Jerusalem and Mount Horeb. By examining the map on an artificial globe, it will be seen, the region of country situated between the eastern end of the Me- diterranean sea, the Black and Caspian seas, and the Persian gulf, the country now called Turkey, there are many rivers run- ning into these several waters, all heading toward each other; among which is the Euphrates, one of the rivers mentioned by Moses, as deriving its origin ^in the garden, or country of Eden. Mountainous countries are the natural sources of rivers. From which we argue that E(jejj*»Hf3t ,, hWi»e4ie 4 en a high region of coun- try, as intimated ^d^n^sisV^nmery^^ic^ible on all sides, but the east ; at which point ^fee^^y^n^rjpf the ChWubim was placed to guard the way of the free^of. life- . Some have imagined the Persian gulf tove the spot where the garden ,p situated. But this is impossible^s^tfeat the river EupJwate^runs into that gulf, from toward -Tft n i sate wa^ffi QI^ V T T|'|-|^h* rfi nf Jerusalem. And as the regoin of Eden was the source of four large rivers, running in different directions, so also, now the region round about the present head waters of the Euphrates, is the source of many riv- ers, as said above; on which account, there can be but little doubt, but here the Paradise of Adam was situated, before the deluge. If the Euphrates is one of the rivers having its source in the garden or country of Eden, as Moses has recorded, it is then proved, to a demonstration, that the region as above described, is the ancient and primeval site of the literal Paradise of Adam. The latitude of this region is between 20 and 30 degrees north, and running through near the middle of this country, from east to west, is the range of mountains known by that of Mount Tau rus and Mount Ararat. So that we perceive this part of the globe is not only the ancient Eden, from where the human race sprang forth at first, but that also, it was renewed probably near the same spot, in the family of Noah, after the flood. Thus far we have treated on the subject of Melchisedec, show-, ing reasons why he is supposed to have been Shem, the son of Noah, and reasons why St. Paul should say, " Now consider how- great this man was." We will only add, that the word Melchise- dec is not the name of that man so called, but is only a term, or a 34 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES appellation, used in relation to him, by God himself, which is the same as to say, my righteous king. So that Melchisedec was not the name he received at his birth, but was Shem, as the Jews in- form us in their traditions. Division of the Earth in the days of Peleg, and of the spread- ing out of the nations, with other curious matter. But to return to the subject respecting the division of the earth in the days of Peleg. If, then, the division of the earth was a physical one* consequently such as had settled on its several parts before this division became forever separated, towards the four quarters of the globe. If this position be true, the mystery is at once unriddled, how men and animals are found on all the earth, not excepting the islands, however far removed from other lands by intervening seas. But of this matter we shall speak again towards the close of this work, when we hope to throw some degree of light upon this obscure, yet exceedingly interesting subject. We here take the opportunity to inform the reader, that as soon as we have given an account of the dispersion of the inhabitants of the earth, immediately after the flood, from whom sprang the several nations mentioned in sacred and profane ancient history,, we shall then come to our main subject, namely, that of the anti- quities of America. In order to give an account of those nations, we follow the Com- mentary of Adam Clarke, on the 10th chapter of the Book of Genesis; which is the only book to which we can resort for in- formation of the kind; all other works which touch this point, are only illustrative and corroboratory. Even the boasted antiquity of the Chinese, going back millions of years, as often quoted by the sceptic, is found, when rightly understood, to come quite with- in the account given by Moses of the creation. This is asserted by Baron Humboldt, a historian of the first order, whose mind was embellished with a universal knowledge of the manners, customs, and traits of science, of the nations of the earth, rarely acquired by any man. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 35 The Chinese account of their first knowledge of the oldest of their gods, shows their antiquity of origin to be no higher than the creation, as related in Genesis. Their Shastrus, a book which gives an account of the incarnation of the god Vishnoo, states, that his first incarnation was for the purpose of bringing up the Vedas, (sacred books) from the deep. This appearance of Vish- noo, they say, was in the form, of a fish. The books, the fish, and the deep, are all derived from Noah, whose account of the creation has furnished the ground of this Chinese tradition. In his second incarnation, he took the newly created world on his back, as he assumed the form of a tortoise, to make it sta- ble. This alludes to the Mosaic account, which says, God sepa- rated the water from the dry land, and assigned them each their place. In his third incarnation he took the form of a wild boar, and drew the earth out of the sea, into which it had sunk during a periodical destruction of the world. This is a tradition of the deluge, and of the subsiding of the waters, when the tops of the mountains first appeared. A fourth incarnation of this god was for the rescue of a son, whose father was about to slay him. What else is this but the account of Abraham's going to slay his son Isaac, but w r as rescued by the appearance of an angel, for- bidding the transaction. In a fifth incarnation he destroyed a giant, who despised the gods, and committed violence in the earth. This giant was none other than Nimrod, the author of idolatry, the founder of Babel, who is called, even by the Jews, in their traditions, a giant. The inhabitants of the Tonga islands, in the South Pacific ocean, have a similar opinion respecting the first appearance of land, which evidently points to the flood of Noah They say, that at a certain time, the god Tangaloa, who was reputed to preside over arts and inventions, went forth to fish in the great ocean, and having from the sky let down his hook and line into the sea, on a sudden he felt that something had fastened to his hook, and believing he had caught an immense fish, he ex- erted all his strength, and presently there appeared above the sur- face several points of rocks and mountains, which increased in number and extent, the more he strained at his line to pull it up. It was now evident that his hook had fastened to the very bot- tom of the ocean, and that he was fast emerging a vast continent: 3* 36 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. when, unfortunately, the line broke, having brought up only the Tonga islands, which remain to this day. The story of this fishing god Tangaloa, we imagine is a, very clear allusion to the summits of Ararat, which first appeared above the waters of the flood in Asia. " Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth; and unto them were sons born after the flood." (Genesis x. 1, and onward.) The sons of Japheth : " Japheth is supposed to be the same with Japetus of the Greeks, from whom, in an extreme remote antiquity, that people were supposed to have derived their origin. On this point most chronologists are pretty well agreed. Gomer is supposed to have peopled Galatia; this was a son of Japheth. So Josephus, who says that the Galatians, (or French people, de- rived from the ancient Belgaic tribes,) were anciently named Go- merites. From him the Cimmerians, or Cimbrians, are supposed to have derived their origin. Bochart, a learned French protes- tant, born at Rouen, in Normandy, in the 16th century, has no doubt that the Phrygians sprung from this person; and some of our principal commentators are of this opinion. Madai, one of the sons of Japheth, is supposed to be the pro- genitor of the ancient Medas. Javan was another of his sons, from whom, it is almost universally believed, sprung the Ionians of Asia Minor. Tubal is supposed to be the father of the Iberi- ans, and that a part, at least of Spain was peopled by him and his descendant; and that Meschech, who is generally in Scripture joined with him, was the founder of the Cappadocians, from whom proceeded the Muscovites or Russians. Tiras. From this person, according to general consent, the Thracians derived their origin. Ashkenaz. From this person was derived the name Sacagena, a province of Armenia. Pliny, one of the most learned of the ancient Romans, who lived immediately after the commencement of tho Christian era, mentions a people called Ascanticos, who dwelt about Tannis, or Palus Mseoticus; and some suppose, that from Ashkenaz the Euxine or Black sea derived its name; but others suppose, that from him the Germans derived their origin. Riphatm The founder of the Paphlagnoians, which were an- ciently called RiphatoeK AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 37 Togarma. The inhabitants of Sauromates, or of Turcomania. Elishah. As Javan peopled a considerable part of Greece, it is in that region we -must look for the settlements of his descend- ants. Elishah probably was the first who settled at Elis, in Pe- loponesus. Tarshis. He first inhabited Cihcia, whose capital, anciently, was the city of Tarsus, where St. Paul was born. Kittim. Some think by this name is meant Cyprus; others, the isle of Chios; others, the Romans; and others, the Macedo- nians. Dodanim, or Rhodanim. Some suppose, that this family set- tled at Dodana; others, at the Rhone in France; the ancient name of which was Rhodanus, from the Scripture Rhodanim : — " By these, were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands." Europe, of w r hich this is allowed to be a general epithet, and comprehends all those countries to which the Hebrews were obliged to go by sea; such as Spain, Gaul or France, Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor. Thus far we have noticed the spreading out over many coun- tries, and the origin of many nations, arising out or from Japheth, one of the sons of Noah; all of whom were white, or at least come under that class of complexions The descendants of Ham, another of the sons of Noah, and some of the nations springing from him, we shall next bring to view. Cbsh, who peopled the Arabic nome, or province, near the Red sea, in Lower Egypt. Some think the Ethiopians sprung from him Mizraim. This family certainly peopled Egypt; and both in the east and west Egypt is called Mizraim. Phut. Who first peopled an Egyptian nome, or district, bor- dering on Lybia. Canaan. He who first peopled the land so called; known also by the name of the Promised Land. These were- the nations which the Jews, who descended from Shem, cast out from the land of Canaan, as directed by God, because of the enormity and brutal nature of their crimes; which were such as no man of the present age, blessed with Christian a education, would excuse on a jury, under the terrors of an oath, from the punishment of death. They practised, as did the antediluvians and Sodomites, those 38 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES things which were calculated to mingle the human with the brute. Surely, when this is understood, no man, not even a disbeliever in the inspiration of the Bible, will blame Mqses for his seeming severity, in cutting off those nations with the besom of entire ex- termination. "Seba. The founder of the Sabeans. There seems to be three different people of this name, mentioned in the tenth chapter of Genesis, and a fourth in the twenty-fifth chapter of the same book." The queen of Sheba was of this race, who came, as it is said, from the uttermost parts of the earth, to Jeru- salem, to know the wisdom of Solomon and the Hebrew religion; she was therefore, being a descendant of Ham's posterity, a black woman. Havillah, Sabtah, Ramah, Sabtechah, Sheba, Dedan. These are names belonging to the race of Ham, but the nations to whom they gave rise, is not interesting to our subject. Nimrod, however, should not be omitted, who was of the race of Ham, and was his grandson. Of whom it is said, he was a mighty hunter before the Lord: meaning not only his skill and courage, and amazing strength and ferocity, in the destruction of wild animals, which infested the vast wilds of the earth at that time, but a destroyer of men's lives, and the originator of idolatry. It was this Nimrod who opposed the righteous Melchisedec; and taught, or rather compelled, men to forsake the religion of Shem, or Melchisedec, and to follow the institutes of Nimrod. "The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Acad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. — (Genesis x. 10.) The tower of Babel and the city of Babylon were both built on the Euphrates. Babel, however, was first built by Nimrod's agency, whose influence, it appears, arose much from the fierce- ness of his disposition, and from his stature and great muscular powers; qualifications which, in every age, have been revered. The Septuagint version of the Scriptures speaks of Nimrod as being a surly giant. This was a colored man, and the first mo- narch of the human race since the flood. But whether monarchical or republican forms of government obtained before the flood is uncertain : — Probability would seem to favor neither; but rather that the patriarchal government suc- ceeded, as every father, to the fourth and fifth generation, must have been, in those days, the natural king or chief of his clan. AND DISCOVERIES IN WEST. 39 These, after a while, spreading abroad, would clash with each •other's interest, whence petty wars would arise, till many tribes being, by the fortune of war, weakened, that which had been most fortunate, would at once seize upon a wider empire :■ — Hence monarchies arose. But whether it so fell out before the flood, cannot now be ascertained. A state^ however, of fearful anar- chy seems to be alluded to in the Scriptures; where it is said, that the earth was "filled with violence." This, however, was near the time of the flood. Popular forms of government, or those called republican or de- mocratical, had their origin when a number of distant tribes or clans invaved a district or country so situated as that the interests of different tribes were naturally somewhat blended; these, in or- der to repel a distant or strange enemy's encroachments, would naturally unite under their respective chiefs or patriarchs. Ex- perience would soon show the advantage of union. Hence arose republics. The grand confederacy of the five nations, which took place among the American Indians, before their acquaintance with white men, shows that such even among the most savage of our race, may have often thus united their strength — out of which civilization has sometimes, as well as monarchies and republics, arisen. Sinoe the flood, however, it is found that the descendants of Japheth originated the popular forms of government in the earth; as among the Greeks, the Romans, and more perfectly among the Americans, who are the descendants of Japheth. We shall omit an account of the nations arising out of the de- scendants of Shem, (for we need not mention the Jews, of whom all men know they descended from him;) for the same reasons assigned for the omission of a part of the posterity of Ham, be- cause they chiefly settled in those regions of Asia, too remote to answer our subject any valuable purpose. M In confirmation, however, that all men have been derived from one fjamily, let it be observed, that there are many usages, both sacred and civil, which have prevailed in all parts of the world, which could owe their origin to nothing but a general institution, which could not have existed, had not mankind been of the same blood originally, and instructed in the same common 40 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. notions before they were dispersed" from the mountains of Ara- rat, and the family of Noah. Traits of this description, which argue to this conclusion, will in the course of this work, be made to appear; which to such as believe the Bible, will afford peculiar pleasure and surprise. Antiquities of the West. There are no parts of the kingdoms or countries of the old world, but have celebrated in poetry and sober history, the mighty relics and antiquities of ancient empires, as Rome, Babylon, Greece. Egypt, Hindostan, Tartary, Africa, China, Persia, Eu- rope, Russia, and many of the island of the sea. It yet remains for America to awake her story from its oblivions sleep, and tell the tale of her antiquities — the traits of nations, coeval, perhaps,, with the eldest works of man this side the flood. This curious subject, although it is obscured beneath the gloom of past ages, of which but small record remains; beside that which is written in the dust, in the form of mighty mounds, tu- muli, strange skeletons, and aboriginal fortifications; and in some few instances, the bodies of preserved persons, as sometimes found in the nitrous caves of Kentucky, and the west, yet affords abundant premises to prompt investigation and rational conjecture. The mounds and tumuli of the west, are to be ranked among the most wonderful antiquities of the world, on the account of their number, magnitude, and obscurity of origin. " They generally are found on fertile bottoms and near the rivers. Several hundreds have been discovered along the valley of the Mississippi; the largest of which stands not far from Wheeling, on the Ohio. This mound is fifty rods in circumfer- ence, and ninety feet in perpendicular height." This is found filled with thousands of human skeletons, and was doubtless a place of general deposite of the dead for ages; which must have been contiguous to some lage city, where the dead were placed in gradation, one layer above another, till it reached a natural climax, agreeing with the slope commenced at its base or foundation. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 41 It is not credible, that this mound was made by the ancestors of the modern Indians. Its magnitude, and the vast numbers of dead deposited there, denote a population too great to have been supported by mere fishing and hunting, as the manner of Indians has always been. A population sufficient to raise such a mound as this, of earth, by the gradual interment of the deceased inha- lants, would necessarily be too far spread, to make it convenient for the living to transport their dead to one single place of reposi- tory. The modern Indians have ever been known, since the acquaintance of white men with them, to live only in small towns; which refutes the idea of its having been made by any other peo- ple than such as differed exceedingly from the improvident and in- dolent native; and must, therefore, have been erected by a people more ancient than the Indian aborigines, or wandering tribes. " Some of these mounds have been opened, when, not only vast quantities of human bones have been found, but also instru- ments of warfare, broken earthen vases, and trinkets. From the trees growing on them, it is supposed, they have already existed at least six hundred years; and whether these trees were the first, second or third crop, is unknown; if the second only, which, from the old and decayed timber, partly buried in the vegetable mould and leaves, seems to favor; then it is all of twelve hundred years since they were abandoned, if not more. Foreign travellers complain, that America presents nothing like ruins within her boundaries; no ivy mantled towers, nor moss covered turrets, as in the other quarters of the earth. Old Fort Warren, on the Hudson, rearing its lofty decayed sides high above West Point; and the venerable remains of two wars, at Ti- conderoga, upon Lake Champlain, they say, afford something of the kind. But what are mouldering castles, falling turrets, or crumbling abbeys, in comparison with those ancient and artificial aboriginal hills, which have outlived generations, and even all tradition; the workmanship of altogether unknown hands. Place these monuments and secret repositories of the dead, to- gether with the innumerable mounds and monstrous fortifications, which are scattered over America, in England, and on the conti- nent of Europe, how would their virtuosi examine, and their an- tiquarians fill volumes with their probable histories. How would their fame be conveyed from learned bodies, and through literary 42 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES volumes, inquiring who were the builders, of what age of the world, whence came they, and their descendants; if any, what has become of them; these would be the themes of constant spe- culation and inquiry. At Marietta, a place not only celebrated as being the first set- tlement on the Ohio, but has also acquired much celebrity, from the existence of those extensive and supposed fortifications, which are situated near the town. They consist of walls and mounds of earth, running in straight lines, from six to ten feet high, and nearly forty broad at their base; but originally must have been much higher. There is also, at this place, one fort of this an- cient description, which encloses nearly fifty acres of land. There are openings in this fortification, which are supposed to have been, when thronged with its own busy multitude, ** used as gateways, with a passage from one of them, formed by two pa- rallel walls of earth, leading towards the river." This contrivance was undoubtedly for a defence against surprise by an enemy, while the inhabitants dwelling within should fetch water from the river, or descend thither to wash, as in the Gan- ges, among the Hindoos. Also the greatness of this fort is evi- dence, not only of the power of its builders, but also of those they feared. Who can tell but that they have, by intestine feuds and wars, exterminated themselves ? Such instances are not unfre- quent among petty tribes of the earth. Witness the war between Benjamin and his brother tribes, when but a mere handful of their number remained to redeem them from complete annihila- tion. Many nations, an account of whom as once existing, is found on the page of history, now have not a trace left behind. More than sixty tribes which once traversed the woods of the west, and who were known to the first settlers of the New-England states, are now extinct. The French of the Mississippi have an account, that an exter- minating battle was fought in the beginning of the 17th century, about two hundred and thirty years ago, on the ground where Fort Harrison now stands; between the Indians living on the Mis- sissippi, and those of the Wabash. The bone of contention was, the lands lying between those rivers, which both parties claimed. There were about 1000 warriors on each oide. The condition of the fight was, that the victors should possess the lands in dispute. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 43 The grandeur of the prize was peculiarly calculated to inflame the ardor of savage minds. The contest cemmenced about sunrise. Both parties fought desperately. The Wabash warriors came off conquerors, having seven men left alive at sunset, and their ad- versaries, the Mississippians, but five. This battle was fought nearly fifty years before their acquaintance with white men." — Webster's Gazetteer, 1817, p. 69. Also the ancient Eries, once inhabiting about Lake Erie, and gave name to ^hat body of water ; were exterminated by their enemies, another tribe of Indians — so far as that but one member of that nation, a warrior, remained. It is possible, whoever the authors of these great works were, or however long they may have lived on the continent, that they may have, in the same way, by intestine feuds and wars, weak- ened themselves, * so that when the Tartars, Scythians, and de- scendants of the ten lost tribes, came across the straits of Bhering, that they fell an easy prey to those fierce and savage northern hordes. It is not likely that the vast warlike preparations which extend over the whole continent, south of certain places in Canada, were thrown up all of a sudden, on a first discovery of a strange enemy; for it might be inquired, how should they know such a mode of defence, unless they had acquired it in the course of ages, arising from necessity, and were constructed to defend against the inva- sions of each other'? — being of various origin and separate inte- rests, as was much the situation of the ancient nations, in every part of the world. Petty tribes of the same origin, over the whole earth, have been found to wage perpetual war against each other, from motives of avarice, power, or hatred. In the most ancient eras of the history of man, little walled towns, which were raised for the security of a few families, under a chief, king, or patriarch, are known to have existed; which is evidence of the disjointed and unharmoni- ous state of human society; out of which, wars, rapine and plun- der arose. Such may have been the state of man in America, before the Indians found their way here; the evidence of which, is the innumerable fortifications, found every where in the western regions. Within this fort, of which we have been speaking, found at 44 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES Marietta, are elevated squares, situated at the corners, one hun- dred and eighty feet long, by one hundred and thirty broad, nine feet high, and level on the top. On these squares, erected at the corners of this great enclosure, were doubtless placed some modes of annoyance to a besieging enemy; such as engines to sling stones with, or to throw'the dart and spear, or whatever might have been their modes of defence. Outside of this fort, is a mound, differing in form from their general configuration: its shape is that of a sugar loaf, the base of which is more than a hundred feet in circumference; its height thirty, encompassed by a ditch, and defended by a parapet, or wall beyond the ditch, about breast high, through which is a way toward the main fort. Human bones have been taken from many of these mounds, and charcoal, with fragments of pottery; in one place,, a skeleton of a man, buried east ahd icest, after the manner of enlightened nations, was found, as if they understood the car- dinal points of the compass. On the breast of this skeleton was found a quantity of isinglass, a substance considered sacred by the Mexicans, and adored as a deity. Ruins of a Roman Fort at Marietta. But, respecting this fort, as above, we imagine that even the Romans may have built it, however strange this may appear. The reader will be so kind as to have patience, till we have advanced all our reasons for this strange conjecture, before he casts it from him as impossible. Our reasons To r^this idea arise out of the great similarity there is between its form and fortifications, and camps, built by the an- cient Romans. And in order to show the similarity, we have quo- ted the account of the forms of Roman camps, from Josephus ? s description of their military works. See his works, Book v. chap. 5, page 219, as follows: " Nor can their enemies easily surprise them with the sudden- ness of their incursions, for as soon as they have marched into an enemy's land, they do not begin to fight till they have walled their AKD DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 45 camp about; nor is the fence they raise rashly made, or uneven; nor do they all abide in it; nor do those that are in it take their place at random: but if it happens that the ground is uneven, it is first levelled." " Their camps are also four square by measure; as for what space is within the camp, it is set apart for tents, but the outward circumference hath the resemblance to a wall; and is adorned with towers at equal distances, where, between the towers, stand the engines for throwing arrows and darts, and for slinging stones, where they lay all other engines that can annoy the enemy, ready for their several operations. " They also erect four gates, one in the middle of each side of the circumference, or square, and those large enough for the en- trance of beasts, and wide enough for making excursions, if oc- casion should require. They divide the camp within into streets, very conveniently, and place the tents of the commanders in the middle; in the very midst of all, is the general's own tent, in the nature and form of a temple, insomuch that it appears to be a city built on the sudden, with its market place, and places for handi- craft trades, and with seats for the officers, superior'and inferior, where, if any differences arise, their causes are heard and de- termined. " The camp, and all that is in it, is encompassed with a wall round about, and that sooner than one would'imagine, and this by the multitude and skill of the laborers. And if occasion require, a trench is drawn round the whole, whose depth is four cubits, and its breadth equal, 77 which is a trifle more than six feet in depth and width. The similarity between the Roman camps and the one near Marietta, consists as follows: they are both four square; the one standing near the great fort, and is connected by two parallel walls, as described; has also a ditch surrounding it, as the Ro- mans sometimes encircled theirs; and, doubtless, when first con- structed, had a fence of timber (as Josephus says the Romans had,) all around it, and all other forts of that description; but time has destroyed them. If the Roman camp had its elevated squares at its corners, for the purposes of overlooking the foe, and of shooting stones, darts and arrows; so had the fort at Marietta, of more'than a hundred 46 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES feet square, on an average, of their forms, and nine feet high. Its parapets and gateways are similar; also the probable extent of the Roman encampments agrees well with the one at Marietta, which embraces near fifty acres within its enclosure.; a space sufficient to have contained a great army; with streets and elevated squares at its corners, like the Romans. Dr. Morse, the geographer, says, the war camps of the ancient Danes, Belgae and Saxons, as found in England, were universally of the circular, while those of the Romans, in the same country, are distinguished by the square form; is not this, therefore, a trait of the same people's work in America as in England? Who can tell but during the four hundred years the Romans had all the west of Europe attached to their empire, but they may have found their way to America, as well as other nations, the Welch and Scandinavians, in after ages, as we shall show before we end the volume. Rome, it must be remembered, was mistress of the known world, as they supposed, and were in the possession of the arts and sciences; with a knowledge of navigation, sufficient to traverse the oceans of the globe, even without the compass, by means of the stars by night, and the sun by day. The history of England informs us, that as early as fifty-five years before the Christian era, the Romans invaded the island of Britain, and that their ships were so large and heavy, and drew such a depth of water, that their soldiers were obliged to leap into the sea and fight their way to the shore, struggling with the waves and the enemy, both at once, because they could not bring their vessels near the shore, on account of their size. North America has not yet been peopled from Europe so long, by two hundred years, as the Romans were in possession of the island of Britain. Now, what has not America effected in enter- prise, during this time? And although her advantages are supe- rior to those of the Romans, when they held England as a pro- vince, yet we are not to suppose they were idle, especially when their character, at that time, was a martial and a maritime one. In this character, therefore, were they not exactly fitted to make discoveries about in the northern and western parts of the Atlan- tic, and may, therefore, have found America; made partial set- tlements in various places; coasted along down the shores of this AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 47 country, found the mouth of the Mississippi, and thence up- that stream, making here and there a settlement 1 ? This supposition is as natural, and as possible for the Romans to have done, as that Hudson should find the mouth of the North river, and explore it as far north as to where the city of Albany is now standing. It was equally in their power to have found this coast by chance, as the Scandinavians in the year 1000, or thereabouts, who made a settlement at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. But more of this in due time. To show that the Romans did actually go on voyages of discovery, while in possession of Britain, we quote from the history of En- gland, that when Julius Agricola was governor of South Britain, he sailed quite round it, and ascertained it to be an island. This was about one hundred years after their first subduing the country, or fifty-two years after Christ. But they may have had a knowledge of the existence of Ame- rica, prior to their invasion of Britain. And lest the reader may be alarmed at such a position, we hasten to show in what manner they might have obtained it, by relating a late discovery of a planter in South America. " In the month of December, 1827, a planter discovered in a field, a short distance from Mont-Video, a sort of tomb-stone, upon which strange, and to him unknown, signs or characters were engraved. He caused this stone, which covered a small excavation, formed with masonry, to be raised; when he found two exceedingly ancient swords, a helmet and shield, which had suffered much from rust ; also, an earthen vessel of large capa- city." The planter caused the swords, the helmet and earthen amphora, together with the stone slab, which covered the whole, to be re- moved to Mont-Video, where, in spite of the effect of time, Greek words were easily made out, which, when translated, read as fol- lows: — "During the dominion of Alexander, the son of Philip, king of Macedon, in the sixty-third Olympiad, Ptolemaios" — it was impossible to decipher the rest, on account of the ravages of time on the engraving of the stone. On the handle of one of the swords was the portrait of a man, supposed to be Alexander the Great. On the helmet there is sculptured work, that must have been executed by the most exqui- 48 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES site skill, representing Achilles dragging the corpse of Hector round the walls of Troy; an account of which is familiar to every classic scholar. This discovery was similar to the Fabula Heica, the bas-relief stucco, found in the ruins of the Via Appia, at Fratachio, in Spain, belonging to the princess of Colona, which represented all the principal scenes in the Iliad and Odyssey. From this it is quite clear, says the editor of the Cabinet of In- struction and Literature, from which we have extracted this ac- count, vol. 3, p. 99, that the discovery of this monumental altar is proof that a cotemporary of Aristotle, one of the Greek phi- losophers, has dug up the soil of Brazil and La Plata, in South America. It is conjectured that this Ptolemaios, mentioned on the stone, was the commander of Alexander's fleet, which is supposed to have been overtaken by a storm at sea, in the great ocean, (the Atlantic) as the ancients called it, and were driven on to the coast of Brazil, or the South American coast, where they doubtless erected the above mentioned monument, to preserve the memory of the voyage to so distant a country; ar\d that it might not be lost to the world, if any in after ages mi^ht chance to find it, as at last it was permitted to be, in the progress of events. The above conjecture, however, that Ptolemaios, a name found engraved on the stone slab which covered the mason work, as be- fore mentioned, was one of Alexander's admirals, is not well founded, as there is no mention of such an admiral in the em- ploy of that emperor, found on the page of the history of those times. But the names of Nearchus and Onesicritus are mentioned, as being admirals of the fleets of Alexander the Great; and the name of Pytheas, who lived at the same time, is mentioned, as being a Greek philosopher, geographer and astronomer, as well as a voy- ager, if not an admiral, as he made several voyages into the great Atlantic ocean; which are mentioned by Eratosthenes, a Greek philosopher, mathematician and historian, who flourished two hun- dred years before Christ. Strabo, a celebrated geographer and voyager, who lived about the time of the commencement of the Christian era, speaks of the voyages of Pytheas, by way of admission, and says that his know- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 49 ledge of Spain, Gaul, Germany and Britain, and all the countries of the north of Europe was extremely limited. He had, indeed, voyaged along the coasts of those countries, but had obtained but an indistinct knowledge of their relative situations. During the adventures of this man at sea, for the very purpose of ascertaining the geography of the earth, by tracing the coasts of countries, there was a great liability of his being driven off in a western direction, not only by the current which sets always towards America, but also by the trade winds, which blow in the same direction for several months in the year. Pytheas, therefore, with his fleet, it is most probable, either by design or storms, is the man who visited the American^coast, and caused this subterranean monument of masonry to be erected. The Ptolemaios, or Ptolemy, mentioned on the stone, may refer to one of the four generals of Alexander, called sometimes Ptolemy La- gus, or Soter. This is the man who had Egypt for his share of the conquests of Alexander; and it is likely the mention of his name on the stone, in connection with that of Alexander, was caus- ed either by his presence at the time the stone was prepared, or because he patronised the voyages and geographical researches of the philosopher and navigator, Pytheas. Alexander the Great flourished about three hundred years be- fore Christ; he was a Grecian, the origin of whose nation is said to have been Japetus, a descendant of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, as before shown. Let it be observed, the kingdom of Macedon, of which Alex- ander was the last, as well as the greatest of . its kings, com» menced eight hundred and fourteen years before*Christ, which was sixty-one years earlier than the commencement of the Ro- dmans. But, what is to be learned from this story about the Greeks, re- specting any knowledge in possession of the Romans about a con- tinent west of Europe? Simply this, that an account of this voy- age, whether it was an accidental one, or a voyage of discovery, could not but be known to the Romans, as well as to the Greeks, and entered on the records of the nation on their return. But where, then, is the record ? We must go to the flames of the Goths and Vandals, who overran the Roman empire, in which accounts of the discoveries of countries and the histories of antiquity wero 4 50 AMFRICAN ANTIQUITIES destroyed; casting over those regions which they subdued, the gloom of barbarous ignorance, congenial with the shades of the forests of the north, from whence they originated: on which ac- count, countries, and the knowledge of many arts anciently known, were to be discovered over again; and among them, it is believed, was America. When Columbus discovered this country, and had returned to Spain, it was soon known to all Europe. The same we may sup- pose of the discovery of the same country by the Greeks, though with infinitely less publicity; because the world at the time had not the advantage of printing; yet, in some degree, the discovery must have been known, especially among the great men of both Greeks and Romans. The Grecian or^Macedonian kingdom, after the death of Alex- ander, maintained its existence but a short time, one hundred and forty-four years only; when the Romans defeated Perseus, which ended the Macedonian kingdom, one hundred and sixty-eight years before Christ. At this time, and thereafter, the Romans held on their course of war and conquest, till four hundred and ten years after Christ,— amounting in all, from their beginning, till Rome was taken and plundered by Alaric, king of the Visigoths, to one thousand, one hundred and sixty-three years. Is it to be supposed, the Romans, a warlike, enlightened, and enterprising people,|who had found their way by sea so far north from Rome as to the island of Britain, and actually sailed round it, would not explore farther north and west, especially as they had some hundred years opportunity, while in possession of the north of Europe? Morse, the geographer, in his second volume, page 126,. says: — Ireland, which is situated west of England, was probably discovered by the Phoenicians; the era of whose voyages and maritime exploits commenced more than fourteen hundred years before Christ, and continued several ages. Their country was situated at the east end of the Mediterranean sea; so that a voy- age to the Atlantic, through the strait of Gibraltar west, would be a distance of about two thousand and three hundred miles, and from Gibraltar to Ireland, a voyage of about one thousand AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WPST. 51 and four hundred miles; which, in the whole amount, is near four thousand. Ireland is farther north, by about five degrees, than Newfound- land, and the latter only about eighteen hundred miles southwest from Ireland; so that while the Phoenicians were coasting and voyaging about in the Atlantic, in so high a northern latitude as Ireland and England, may well be supposed to have discovered Newfoundland, (either by being lost or driven there by storm,) which is very near the coast of America. Phoenician letters are said to be engraven on some rocks on Taunton river, near the sea, in Massachusetts; if so, this is proof of the position. Some hundreds of years after the first historical notice of the Phoenician voyages, and two hundred years before the birth of Christ, the Geeks, it is said, became acquainted with Ireland and was known among them by the name of Juverna. Ptolemy, the Egyptian geographer, who flourished about one hundred years after Christ, has given a map of that island, which is said to be very correct. — (Morse.) Here we have satisfactory historical evidence, that Ireland, as well, of course, as all the coast of northern Europe, with the very •islands adjacent, were known; first, to the Phoenicians; second, to the Greeks; third, to the Romans; and, fourth, to the Egyp- tians — in those early ages, from which arises a great probability that America may have been well known to the ancient nations of the old world On which account, when the Romans had extend- ed their conquests so far north as nearly to old Norway, in latitude 60 degrees, over the greater part of Europe; they were well pre- pared to explore the North Atlantic, in a western direction, in quest of new countries; having already sufficient data to believe western countries existed. It is not impossible but the Danes, Norwegians and Welsh may have at first obtained some knowledge of western lands, islands and territories, from the discoveries of the Romans, or from their opinions, and handed down the story, till the Scandinavians or Norwegians discovered Iceland, Greenland and America, many hundred years before the time of Columbus. But, however this may be, it is certain those nations of the north of Europe did visit this country, as we have promised to show in its proper place. Would Columbus have made this at- 4* 52 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES tempt, if he had not believed, or conjectured, there was a western continent; or by some means obtained hints respecting it, or the probability of its existence'? It is said, Columbus found, at a cer- tain time, the corpses of two men of a tawny complexion, floating in the sea, near the coast of Spain, which he knew were not of European origin, but had been driven by the sea from some un- known western country; also, timber and branches of trees, all of which confirmed him in his opinion of the existence of other coun- tries westward. If the Romans may have found this country, they may also have attempted its colonization, as the immense square forts of the west would seem to suggest. In 1821, on the bank of the river Desperes, in Missouri, was found, by an Indian, a Roman coin, and presented to Gov. Clarke. This is no more singular than the discovery of a Persian coin near a spring on the Ohio, some feet under ground; as we have shown in another place of this work — all of which go to encourage the conjecture respecting the presence of the ancient Romans in Ame- rica. The remains of former dwellings, found along the Ohio, where the stream has, in many places, washed away its banks, hearths and fire places are brought to light, from two to six feet below the surface. Near these remains^ are found immense quantities of muscle shells and bones of animals. From the depths of many of these remnants of chimnies, and from the fact that trees as large as any in the surrounding forest, were found growing on the ground above those fire places, at the time the country was first settled by its present inhabitants, the conclusion is drawn that a very long pe- riod has elapsed since these subterraneous remnants of the dwel- lings of man were deserted. Hearths and fire places. — Are not these evidences that build- ings once towered above them? If not such as now acommodate the millions of America, yet they may have been such as the an- cient Britons used at the time the Romans first invaded their country. These were formed of logs set up endwise, drawn in at the top, so that the smoke might pass out at an aperture left open at the summit. They were not square on the ground, as houses are now built, but set in a circle, one log against the other, AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 53 with the hearth and fire place in the centre. At the opening in the top, where the smoke went out, the light came in, as no other window was then used. There are still remaining, in several parts of England, the vestiges of large stone buildings, made in this way; that is, in a circle. — ( Blair 7 s History of Eng- land, p. 8.) At Cincinnati, there are two museums, one of which contains a great variety of western antiquities, many skulls of Indians, and more than a hundred remains of what has been dug out of the aboriginal mounds. The most strange and curious of all, is a cup, made of clay, with three faces on the sides of the cup, each pre- senting regular features of a man, and beautifully delineated. It is the same represented on the plate. — (See letter E.) A great deal has been said, and not a little written, by antiqua- rians about this cup. It was found in one of those mysterious mounds, and is known by the name of the triune cup. In this neighborhood, the Yellow Springs, a day's ride below Cincinnati, stands one of those singular mounds. Whenever we view those most singular-objects of curiosity, and remains of art, a thousand inquiries spring up in the mind. They have excited the wonder of all who have seen or heard of them. Who were those ancients of the west, and when, and for what purpose these mounds were constructed, are questions of the most interesting nature, and have engaged the researches of the most inquisitive antiquarians. Abundant evidence, however, can be procured, that they are not of Indian origin. With this sentiment there is a general acquiescence; however, we think it proper, in this place, to quote Dr. Beck's remarks on this point, from his Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Mis- souri. (See page 308.J u Ancient works exist on this river, the Arkansas, as elsewhere, The remains of mounds and fortifications are almost every where to be seen. One of the largest mounds in this country has been thrown up on this stream, (the Wabash,) within the last thirty or forty years, by the Osages, near the great Osage village, in honor of one of their deceased chiefs. This fact proves conclusively the original object of these mounds, and refutes the theory that they must necessarily have been erected by a race of men more civilized than the present tribes of Indians. Were it necessary, 54 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES (says Dr. Beck,) numerous other facts might be adduced to prove, that the mounds are no other than the tombs of their great men." That this is one of their uses there is no doubt, but not their ex- clusive use. The vast heighth of one of them, which is more than a hundred feet, would seem to point them out as places of lookout, which, if the country in the days when their builders flourished, was cleared and cultivated, would overlook the country to a great distance; and if it were not, still their towering summits would surmount even the interference of the forests. But although the Osage Indians have so recently thrown up one such mound, yet it does not prove them to be of American Indian origin; and as this is an isolated case, would rather argue that the Osage tribe have originally descended from their more ancient progenitors, the inhabitants of this country prior to the intrusions of the late Indians from Asia. Before we close this work, we shall attempt to make this appear from their own traditions, which have of late been procured from the most ancient of their tribes, the Wyandots, as handed down for hundreds of years, and from other sources. The very form and character which Dr. Beck has given the Osage Indians, argues them of a superior stock, or rather a dif- ferent race of men, as follows : " In person, the Osages are among the largest and best formed Indians, and are said to pos- sess fine military capacities; but residing as they do in villages, and having made considerable advances in agriculture, they seem less addicted to war than their northern neighbors." The whole of this character given of the Osage Indians, their military taste, their agricultural genius, their noble and command- ing forms of person, and being less " addicted to war," shows them, it would seem, exclusively of other origin, than that of the common Indians. It is supposed, the inhabitants who found their way first to this country, after the earths division, in the days of Peleg, and were here long before the modern Indians, came not by the way of Bhering's strait from Kamtschatka, in Asia, but directly from China across the Pacific, to the western coast of America, by means of islands which abounded anciently in that ocean between Chinese Tartary, China, and South America, even more than at present, which are, however, now very numerous; and also by AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 55 the means of vessels, of which all mankind have always had a knowledge. In this way, without any difficulty, more than is common, they could have found their way to this, as men have to every part of the earth. We do not recollect that any of those peculiar monuments of antiquity appear north of the United States. Mackenzie, in his overland journey to the Pacific, travelling northwest from Mon- treal, in Canada,, does not mention a single vestige of the kind, nor does Carver. If, then, there are none of these peculiar kinds, such as the mounds, farther north than about the latitude of the Canadas, it would appear from this, that the^rs^ authors of these works, especially of the mounds, and tumuli, migrated, not from Asia, by way of Bhering's strait, but from Europe, east — China, west — and from Africa, south — continents now separated, then touching each other, with islands innumerable besides, affording the means. If this supposition, namely, that the continents in the first ages immediately after the flood, were united, is not allowed, how, then, it might be inquired, came every country yet discovered, of any size, having the natural means of human subsistence, to be found inhabited % In the very way this can be answered, the question relative to the means by which South America w&sjirst peopled, can also be answered, namely ; the continents, as intimated on the first pages of this work, as quoted from Dr. Clarke, were, at first, that is, immediately after the flood, till the division of the earth, in the days of Peleg, connected together, so that mankind, with all kinds of animals, might pass to every quarter of the globe, suited to their natures. If such were not the fact, how then did the seve- ral kinds of animals get to every part of the earth from the ark ? They could not, as man, make use of the boat, or vessel, nor could they swim such distances. From Dr. Clarke's Travel's it appears, ancient works exist to this day, in some parts of Asia, similar to those of North Ame- rica. His description of them, reads as though he were contem- plating some of these western mounds. The Russians call these sepulchres logri; and vast numbers of them have been discovered in Siberia and the deserts bordering on the empire to the south. Historians mention these tumuli, with many particulars. In them 56 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES were found vessels, ornaments, trinkets, medals, arrows, and ofn*~ er articles; some of copper, and even gold and silver, mingled' with the ashes and remains of dead bodies. When, and by whom, these burying places of Siberia and Tar- tary, more ancient than the Tartars themselves, were used, is ex- ceedingly interesting. The situation, construction, appearance^ and general contents of these Asiatic tumuli, and the American* mounds, are however, so nearly alike, that there can be no hesi- tation in ascribing them to the same races, in Europe, Asia, Afri- ca, and America; and also to the same ages of time, or nearly so* which we suppose, was very soon after the flood; a knowledge of mound building was then among men, as we see in the authors of Babel. "The triune cup (see plate, letter E.,) deposited in one of the- museums at Cincinnati, affords some probable evidence, that a part, at least, of the great mass of human population, once inhabit- ing the valley of the Mississippi, wergfbf Hindoo origin. It is an earthen vessel, perfectly round, and will hold a quart, having three distinct faces, or heads, joined together at the back part of each, by a handle. The faces of these figures strongly resemble the Hindoo countenance, which is here well executed. Now, it is well known, that in the mythology of India, three chief gods constitute the acknowledged belief of that people named Brahma? Vishnoo, and Siva. May not this cup be a symbolical represen- tation of that belief,~and may it not have been used for some sa- cred purpose, here, in the valley of the Mississippi? In this coun- try, as in Asia, the mounds are seen at the junction of many of the rivers, as along the Mississippi, on the most eligible positions for towns, and in the richest lands: and the day may have been, when those great rivers, the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Illinois, and the Muskingum, beheld along their sacred banks, countless devotees assembled for religious rites, such as now crowd in su- perstitious ceremonies, the devoted and consecrated borders of the Indus, the Ganges, and the Burrampooter, rivers of the Indies. Mounds in the west are very numerous, amounting to several thousand, none less than ten feet high, and some over one hun- dred. One opposite St. Louis measures eight hundred yards in circumference at its base, which is fifty rods. Sometimes they stand in groups, and with their circular shapes, at a distance look AND DISCOVERIS IN THE WEST. 57 like enormous hay stacks, scattered through a meadow. From their great number, and occasional stupendous size, years and the labors of tens of thousands must have been required to finish them. Were it not, indeed, for their contents, and design manifested in their erection, they would hardly be looked upon as the work of human hands. In this view, they strike the traveller with the same astonishment as would be felt while beholding those oldest monuments of wordly art and industry, the Egyptian pyramids; and like them the mounds have their origin in the dark night of time, beyond even the history of Egypt itself. Whether or not these mounds were used at some former period, as " high places" for purposes of religion, or fortifications, or for national burying places, each of which theories has found advocates, one infer- ence, however, amidst all the gloom which surrounds them, re- mans certain: the valley of the Ohio, was once inhabited by an immense agricultural population. We can see their vast funeral vaults, enter into their graves, and look at their dry bones; but no passage of history tells their tale of life; no spirit comes forth from their ancient sepulchres, to answer the inquiries of the living. It is worthy of remark, that Breckenridge, in his interesting tra- vels through these regions, calculates that no less than Jive thou- sands villages of this forgotten people existed; and that their lar- gest city was situated between the Mississippi and Missouri, not far from the junction of those rivers, near St. Louis, In this re- gion, the mighty waters of the Missouri and Illinois, with their unnumbered tributaries, mingle with the " father of rivers," the Mississippi; (Mississippi, the word in the Indian language means Father of Rivers;) a situation formed by nature, calculated to in- vite multitudes of men, from the goodness of the soil, and the fa- cilities of water communications. The present race, who are now fast peopling the unbounded west, are apprised of the advantages of this region. Towns and cities are rising on the very ground where the ancient millions of mankind had their seats of empire. Ohio now contains more than six hundred thousand inhabitants; but at that early day, the same extent of country, most probably, was filled with a far greater population than inhabits it at the present time. Many of the- mounds are completely occupied with human skeletons, and mil- 58 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES lions of them must have been interred in these vast cemeteries, that can be traced from the Rocky mountains, on the west, to the Alleghenies on the east, and into the province of the Texas and New Mexico to the south: revolutions like those known in the old world may have taken place here, and armies, equal to those of Cyrus, of Alexander the Great, or of Tamerlane, the powerful, might have flourished their trumpets, and marched to battle, over these extensive plains, filled with the probable de- scendants of that same race in Asia, whom these proud conquerors vanquished there." Course of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. There is a strong resemblance between the northern and inde- pendent Tartar, and the tribes of the North American Indians, but not of the South American. Besides this reason, there are others for believing our aborigines of North America were descended from the ancient Scythians, and came to this country from the eastern part of Asia. This view by no means invalidates the opinion that some tribes of the Indians of North America are descendants of the Israelites, because the Scythians, under this particular name, existed long before that branch of the family of Shem, called Israelites; who, after they had been carried away by Salmanasser, the Assyrian king, about 700 years B. C, went northicard, as stated by Esdras, (see his second book, thirteenth chapter, from verse 40 to verse 45, inclusive,,) through a part of Independent Tartary. During this journey, which carried them among the Tartars, now so call- ed, but were anciently the Scythians, and probably became amal- gamated with them. This was the more easily effected, on account of the agreement of complexion and common origin. If this may be supposed, we perceive at once, how the North American In- dians are in possession of both Scythian and Jewish practices. Their Scythian customs are as follows: — " Scalping their prison- ers, and torturing them to death. Some of the Indian nations also AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 59 resemble the Tartars in the construction of their canoes, imple- ments of war, and of the chase, with the well known habit of marching in Indian file, and their treatment of the aged;" these are Scythian customs. Their Jewish customs are too many to be enumerated in this work; for a particular account of those customs, see Smith's View of the Hebrews. If, then, our Indians have evidently the man- ners of both the Scythian and the Jew, it proves them to have been, anciently, both Israelites and Scythians; the latter being the more ancient name of the nations now called Tartars,* with whom the ten tribes may have amalgamated. That the Israelites, called the ten tribes, who were carried away from Judea by Salmanasser to the land of Assyria, went from that country in a northerly di- rection, as quoted from Esdras, above, is evident, from the Map of Asia. Look at Esdras again, 43d verse, chap. 13, and we shall perceive, they " entered into the Euphrates by the narrow passes or heads of that river," which runs from the north into the Persian gulf. It is not probable that the country which Esdras called Arsareth could possibly be America, as many have supposed, because a vast company, such as the ten tribes were at the time they left Syria, (which was about one hundred years after their having been car- ried away from Judea, nearjy 3000 years ago,) could travel fast enough to perform the journey in so short a time as a year and a half. We learn from the map of Asia, that Syria was situated at the southeasterly end of the Mediterranean sea, and that in entering into the narrow passes of the Euphrates, as Esdras says, would lead them north of Mount Ararat, and southeasterly of the Black sea, through Georgia, over the Caucassian mountains, and so on to Astracan, which lies north of the Caspian sea. We -may, with the utmost show of reason, be permitted to argue, that this vast company of men, women, and ther little ones, would naturally be compelled to shape their course so as to avoid the deep rivers, which it cannot well be supposed they had the means of crossing, except when frozen. Their course would then be along the heads of the several rivers running north, after they had passed the coun- * The appellation of Tartar was not known till the year A. D. 1227, who were at that time considered a new race of barbarians. — Morse. 60 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES try of Astracan. From thence over the Ural mountains, or that part of that chain running along Independent Tartary. Then, after having passed over this mountain near the northern boundary of Independent Tartary, they would find themselves at the foot of the little Altain mountains, which course would lead them, if they still wished to avoid deep and rapid rivers, running from the little Altain mountains northward, or northwesterly, into the Northern ocean, across the immense and frozen regions of Sibe- ria* The names of those rivers beginning on the easterly side of the Ural mountains, are first, the river Obi, with its many heads, or little rivers, forming at length the river Obi, which empties into the Northern ocean, at the gulf of Obi, in latitude of about 67 de- grees north. The second is the river Yenisei, with its many heads, having their sources in the same chain of mountains, and runs into the same ocean, further north, towards Bhering's straits, which is the point we are approximating, by pursuing this course. A third river, with its many heads, that rises at the base of an- other chain of mountains, called the Yablonoy, or Lena. There are several other rivers, arising out of another chain of mountains, farther on northward towards Bhering's straita, which have no name on the map of Asia; this range of mountains is called the St. Anovoya mountains, and comes to a point, or end, at the strait which separates Asia from America, which is but a small distance across, about forty miles only, and several islands between. Allowing the ten tribes, or if they may have become amalga- mated with the Tartars as they passed on this tremendous journey toward the -Northern ocean, to have pursued this course, the dis- tance will appear from Assyria to the straits, to be six thousand, two hundred and fifty-five miles — more, by nearly one-half, than such a vast body, in moving on together, could possibly perform in a year and a half. Six miles a day would be as great a dis- tance as such a host could perform, where there is no way but that of forests untraced by man, and obstructed by swamps, mountains, fallen trees, and thousands of nameless hindrances* Food must be had, and the only way of procuring it must have been by hunting with the bow and arrow, and by fishing. The sick must not be forsaken, the aged and the infant must be cher- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 61 ished; all these things would delay, so that a rapid progress can- not be admitted. If, then, six miles a day is a reasonable distance to suppose they may have progressed, it follows that nearly three years, in- stead of a year and a half, would not have been more than suffi- cient to carry them from Syria to Bhering's straits, through a re- gion almost of eternal snow. This, therefore, cannot have been the course of the Ten Tribes to the land of Asareth, wherever it was; and, that it was north from Syria, we ascertain by Esdras, who says they went into the narrow passes of the Euphrates, which means its three heads, or branches, which arise north from Syria. From the head waters of this river, there is no way to pass on, but to go between the Black and Caspian seas, over the Caucassian mountains, as be- fore stated. From this point, they may have gone on to what is now called Astracan, as before rehearsed; but here we suppose they may have taken a west instead of a north direction, which would have been toward that part of Russia, which is now called Russia in Europe, and would have led them on between the rivers Don and Volga; the Don emptying into the Black sea, and the Volga into the Caspian. This course would have led them exactly to the places where Moscow and Petersburg now stand, and from thence, in a north- westerly direction, along the south end of the White sea, to Lap- land, Norway and Sweden, which lie along the coast of the North Atlantic ocean. Now, the distance from Syria to Lapland, Norway, and Swe- den, on the coast of the Atlantic, is scarcely three thousand miles; a distance which may have easily been travelled in a year and a half, at six miles a day, and the same opportunity have been af- forded for their amalgamation with Scythians or Tartars, as in the other course, towards Bhering's strait. Norway, Sweden, and Lapland may have been the land of Arsareth. But here arises a question; how, then, did they get into America from Lapland and Norway ? The only answer is, America and Europe must have been at that time united by land, or they may have built boats. The manner by which the original inhabitants and animals 62 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES reached here, is easily explained, by adopting the supposition, which, doubtless, is the most correct, that the northwestern and western limits of America were, at some former period, united to Asia on the ivest, and to Europe on the east. This was partly the opinion of Buffon, and other great natu- ralists. That connection has, therefore, been destroyed, among other great changes this earth lias evidently experienced since the flood. We have examples of these revolutions before our eyes. Flo- rida has gained leagues of land from the gulf of Mexico; and part of Louisiana, in the Mississippi valley, has been formed by the mud of rivers. Since the Falls of Niagara were first discovered, they have receded very considerably; and it is conjectured, that this sublimest of nature's curiosities was situated originally where Queenstown now stands. Sicily was united formerly to the continent of Europe, and an- cient authors affirm, that the straits of Gibraltar, which divide between Europe and Africa, were formed by a violent irruption of the ocean upon the land. Gey Ion, where our missionaries have an establishment, has lost forty leagues by the sea, which is one hundred and twenty miles. Many such instances occur in history. Pliny tells us, that in his own time, the mountain Cymbotus, with the town of Eurites, which stood on its side, were totally swallowed up. He records the like of the city Tantelis, in Magnesia, and of the mountain Sopelus, both absorbed by a violent opening of the earth, so that no trace of either remained. Galanis and Garnatus, towns once famous in Phoenicia, are recorded to have met the same fate. The vast promontory, called Phlegium, in Ethiopia, after a violent earthquake in the night, was not to be seen in the morning, the earth having swallowed it up, and closed over it. Like instances we have of later date. The mountain Picus, in one of the Moluccas, was so high that it appeared at a vast dis- tance, and served as a landmark to sailors. But during an earth- quake in the isle, the mountain in an instant sunk into the bowels of the earth, and no token of it remained. The like happened in the mountainous parts of China, in 1556, when a whole province, with all its towns, cities and inhabitants, was absorbed in a mo- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 63 ment ; an immense lake of water remaining in its place, even to this day. In the year 1646, during a terrible earthquake in the kingdom of Chili, several whole mountains of the Andes, one after another, were wholly absorbed in the earth. Probably many lakes, over the whole earth, have been occasioned in this way. Lake Ontario is supposed to have been formed in this way. The greatest earthquake we find in antiquity, is that mentioned by Pliny, in which twelve cities in Asia Minor were swallowed up in one night. But one of those most particularly described in history, is that of the year 1693. It extended to a circumference of two thousand six hundred leagues, chiefly affecting the sea coasts and great rivers. Its motions were so rapid, that those who lay at their length were tossed from side to side, as upon a rolling billow. The walls were dashed from their foundations, and no less than fifty-four cities, with an incredible number of villages, were either destroyed or greatly damaged. The city of Catanea, in particular, was utterly overthrown. A traveller, who was on his way thither, at the distance of some miles, perceived a black cloud hanging near the place. The sea all of a sudden began to roar — Mount iEtna to send forth great spires of flames; and soon after, a shock ensued, with a noise as if all the artillery in the world had been at once discharged. Although the shock did not continue above three minutes, yet near nineteen thousand of the inhabitants of Sicily perished in the ruins. We have said above, that Norway, Lapland, and Sweden, may have been the very land called the land of Arsareth, by Es- dras, in his second book, chapter thirteenth, who may, with the utmost certainty, be supposed to know the very course and place where these Ten Tribes went to, being himself a Jew and a his- torian, who at the present day is quoted by the first authors of the age. We have also said, it should be considered impossible for the Ten Tribes, after having left the place of their captivity, at the east end of the Mediterranean sea, which was the Syrian coun- try, for them to have gone in a year and a half to Bhering's strait, through the frozen wilderness of Siberia. In going away from Syria, they cannot be supposed to have had any place in view, only they had conferred among themselves that, 64 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES as Esdras says, " they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a country where never mankind dwelt;" which Esdras called the land of Arsareth. Now, it is not to be supposed, a land or country where no man dwelt could have a name, especially in that early age of the world, which was about seven hundred years before the Christian era: but on that very account, we may suppose the word Arsareth to be descriptive only of a vast wilderness country,where no man dwelt, and is probably a Persian word of that signification, for Syria was embraced within the Persian empire: the Israelites may have, in part, lost their original language,, having been there in a state of captivity for more than one hundred years before they left that country. Esdras says that Arsareth was a land where no man dwelt; this statement is somewhat corroborated by the fact, that the country which we have supposed was Arsareth, namely, Norway, &c, was anciently unknown to mankind. On this point, see Morse's Geography, vol. 2, p. 28: "Norway — A region almost as unknown to the ancients as was America." But in this he is mistaken, as will appear by and by, in the course of this work. America was known to the ancients. Its almost insular situation, Graving on the west the Atlantic ocean, on the south end the North sea, and on the east the Baltic and the gulf of Bothnia — these waters almost surrounding it — there being a narrow connexion of land with the European conti- nent only on the north, between the gulf of Bothnia and the White sea, which is Lapland, and was a reason quite sufficient why the ancients should have had no knowledge of that region of country. Naturalists, as before remarked, have supposed that America was, at some remote period before the Christian era, united to the continent of Europe; and that convulsions, such as earthquakes, Yolcanos, and the irruptions of the ocean, has shaken and over- whelmed a whole region of earth, lying between Norway and Baffin's bay, of which Greenland and Iceland, with many other islands, are the remains. But suppose the American and European continents, seven hun- dred years before the Christian era, were not united; how, then, AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 65 did such part of the Ten Tribes as may have wandered to that region from Syria, get into America from Norway? The answer is easy: they may have crossed over, from island to island, in vessels or boats, for a knowledge of navigation, and that of the ocean too, was known to the Ten Tribes; for all the Jews and civilized nations of that age were acquainted with this art, derived from the Egyptians. But it may be said, there are no traces that the Jews were ever residents of Norway, Lapland, or Scandinavia. From the par- ticular shape of Norway, 'being surrounded by the waters of the sea, except between the gulf of Bothnia and the White sea, we perceive that the first people, whoever they were, must have ap- proached it by the narrow pass between those two bodies of water, of only about forty-five miles in width, if they would go there by land. Consequently, the place now designated by the name of Lap- land, which is the northern end of Norway, was first peopled before the more southern parts. An inquiry, therefore, whether the ancient people of Lapland had any customs like those of the ancient Jews, would be pertinent to our hypothesis respecting the route of the Ten Tribes, as spoken of by Esdras. Morse, the geographer, says, that of the original population of Lapland very little is known with certainty. Some writers have supposed them to be a colony of Fins from Russia; others have thought that they bore a stronger resemblance to the Semoeids of Asia. Their lan- guage, however, is said by Leems to have less similitude to the Finnish, than the Danish to the German, and to be totally un- like any of the dialects of the Teutonic, or ancestors of the ancient Germans. But according to Leems, as quoted by Morse, in their language are found many Hebrew words; also, Greek and Latin. Hebrew words are found among the American Indians, in con- siderable variety. But how came Greek and Latin words to be in the composition of the Laponic language 1 This is easily answered, if we suppose them to be derived from the Ten Tribes; as, at the time they left Syria, the Greek and Latin were languages spoken every where in that region, as well -as the Syrian and Chaldean. And on this very account, it is likely the Ten Tribes had in part lost their ancient language, as 5 66 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES it was spoken at Jerusalem, when Salmanasser carried them awaj^. So that by the time they left Syria, and the region thereabouts,to go to Arsareth, their language had become, from this sort of mix- ture, an entire new language, as they had been enslaved about one hundred years. So that, allowing the ancient Laplanders to have derived their tongue from a part of these ten wandering tribes, it well might be said by Leems, as quoted by Morse, that the language of Lap- land, commonly called the Laponic, had no words in common with th Gothic, or Teutonic, except a few Norwegian words, evi- dently foreign, and unassociated with any of the languages of Asia or Europe; these being of the Teutonic, or German origin, which goes back to within five hundred years of the flood, seve- ral centuries before the Ten Tribes were carried away by Salma- nasser. This view would seem to favor our hypothesis. We shall now show a few particulars respecting their religious notions, which seem to have, in some respects, a resemblance to those of the Jews. Their deities were of four kinds : 1st. Super-celestial, named as follows: Radien, Atzihe, and Kiedde, the Creator. Radien and Atzihe they considered the fountain of all power, and Kiedde, or Radien Kiedde, the Son, or Creator. These were their supreme gods, and would seem to be borrowed from the Jewish doctrine of the Trinity. 2d. Celestial, called Beiwe, the Sun, or as other ancient nations had it, Apollo, which is the same, and Ailekies, to whom Satur- day was consecrated. May not these two powers be considered as the shadows of the different orders of angels, as held by the Jews ? 3d. Sub-celestial, or in the air and on the earth. Moderakka, or the Lapland Lucina ; Saderakka, or Venus, to whom Friday was holy; and Juks Akka, or the Nurse. These are of heathen origin, derived from the nations among whom they had been slaves and wanderers, the Syrians. 4th. Sub-tcrranean, as Saiwo, and Saiwo-Olmak, gods of the mountains; Saiwo-Guelle, or their Mercury, who conducted the shades, or wicked souls, to the lower regions. This idea would seem to be equivalent with the doctrine found in both the Jewish and Christian religions, namely, that Satan AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 67 conducts or receives the souls of the wicked to his hell, in the subterranean fire of the earth. They have another deity, belonging to the fourth order; and him they call Jabme-Akko, or he who occupied their Elysium; in which the soul was furnished with a new body, and nobler privi- leges and powers, and entitled, at some future day, to enjoy the light of Radien, the fountain of power, and to dwell with him for- ever in the mansions of bliss. This last sentiment is certainly equivalent to the Jewish idea of heaven and eternal happiness in Abraham's bosom. It also, un- der the idea of a new body, shows a relation to the Jewish and Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body, at the last day; and is indeed wonderful. 5th. An infernal deity, called Rota, who occupied and reigned in Rota-Abimo, or the infernal regions; the occupants of which, had no hopes of escape. He, together with his subordinates, Fudno, Mubber, and Paha-Engel, were all considered as evil dis- posed towards mankind. This is too plain not to be applied to the Bible doctrine of one supreme devil and his angels, who are, sure enough, evil disposed towards mankind. Added to all this, the Laplanders were found in the practice of sacrificing to all their deities, the rein-deer, the sheep, and some- times the seal, pouring libations of milk, whey, and brandy, with offerings of cheese, &c. This last item of their religious manners is too striking not to claim its derivation from the ancient Jewish worship. The Lap- landers are a people but few in number, not much exceeding twelve hundred families ; which we imagine is a circumstance favoring our idea, that after they had remained a while in Ar- sareth, or Lapland and Norway, which is much the same thing, that their main body may have passed over into America, either in boats, from island to island; or, if there then was, as is sup- posed, an isthmus of land, connecting the continents, they passed over on that, leaving, as is natural, in case of such a migra- tion, some individuals or families behind, who might not wish to accompany them, from whom the present race of Laplanders may be derived. Their dress is much the same with that of our Indians ; their complexion is swarthy, black hair, large heads, 5* 68 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES • high cheek bones, with wide mouths; all of which is strikingly national. They call themselves Same, their speech Same-giel, and their country Same-Edna. This last word sounds very much like the word Eden, and may be, inasmuch as it is the name of of their country, borrowed from the name of the region where Adam was created. When men emigrate from one region of the earth to another, which is very distant, and especially if the country to which they emigrate is a new one, or in a state of nature, it is perfectly natu- ral to give it the same name or names which distinguished the country and its parts, from which they emigrated. Edessa was the name of an ancient city of Mesopotamia,which was situated in the country or land of Assyria, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. In this region the Ten Tribes were held in bondage, who had been carried away by Salmanasser, the As- syrian monarch. We are, therefore, the more confirmed in this conjecture, from the similarity existing between the two names, Edna and Edessa, both derived, it is likely, from the more an- cient word Eden, which, from common consent, had its situation, before the deluge, not far from the same region where Turkey is now, between the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian seas, and the Persian gulf, as before argued. If suck may have been the fact, that a part of the Ten Tribes came over to America, in the way we have supposed, leaving the cold regions of Arsareth behind them, in quest of a milder climate, it would be natural to look for tokens of the presence of Jews, of some sort, along countries adjacent to the Atlantic. In order to this, we shall here make an extract from an able work, written exclusively on the subject of the Ten Tribes' having come from Asia by the way of Bhering's strait, by the Rev. Ethan Smith, of Poltney, Vt., who relates as follows: "Joseph Merrick, Esq., a highly respectable character in the church at Pittsfield, gave the following account: That in 1815, he was levelling some ground under and near an old wood-shed, standing on a place of his, situated on Indian Hill. He ploughed and conveyed away old chips and earth, to some depth. After the work was done, walking over the place, he discovered, near where the earth had been dug the deepest, a black strap, as it appeared, about six inches in length, and one and a half in breadth, and about the thickness of a leather trace to a harness. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 69 He perceived it had, at each end, a loop, of some hard sub- stance, probably for the purpose of carrying it. He conveyed it to his house, and threw it into an old tool box. He after- wards found it thrown out at the door, and again conveyed it to the box. " After some lime, he thought he would examine it ; but in at- tempting to cut it, found it as hard as bone: he succeeded, how- ever, in getting it open, and found it was formed of two pieces of thick raw-hide, sewed and made water tight with the sinews of some animal, and gummed over; and in the fold was contained four folded pieces of parchment. They were of a dark yellow hue, and contained some kind of writing. The neighbors coming in to see the strange discovery, tore one of the pieces to atoms, in the true Hun and Vandal style. The other three pieces Mr. Mer- rick saved, and sent them to Cambridge, where they were exa- mined, and discovered to have been written with a pen, in Hebrew, plain and legible. The writing on the three remaining pieces of parchment, was quotations from the Old Testament. See Deut., chap, vi., from 4th to 9th verse, inclusive; also, chap, xi., verse 13 to 21, inclusive; and Exodus, chap, xiii., 11 to 16, inclusive, to which the reader can refer, if he has the curiosity to read this most interesting discovery." These passages, as quoted above, were found in the strap of raw-hide, which unquestionably had been written on the very pieces of parchment, now in the possession of the Antiquarian Society, before Israel left the land of Syria, more than twenty- five hundred years ago; but it is not likely the raw-hide in which they were found enclosed, had been made a very great length of time. This would be unnatural, as a desire to look at the sa- cred characters would be very great, although they could not read them. This, however, was done at last, as it appears, and buried with some chief, on the spot where it was found, called Indian Hill Dr. West, of Stockbridge, relates, that an old Indian informed him, that his fathers in this country had, not long since, been in the possession of a book, which they had, for a long time, carried with them; but having lost the knowledge of reading it, they buried it with an Indian chief. — ( View of the Hebrews, p 223.) It had been handed down, from family to family, or from chief 70 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES to chief, as a most precious relic, if not as an amulet, charm, or talisman; for it is not to be supposed, that a distinct knowledge of what was contained in the strap could have long continued among them in their wandering condition, amid woods and forests: "It is said by Calmet, that the above texts are the very passa- ges of Scripture which the Jews used to write on the leaves of their phylacteries. These phylacteries were little rolls of parch- ment, whereon were written certain words of the law. These they wore upon their forehead, and upon the wrist of the left arm." — (Smith's View of the Hebreivs, p. 220.) This intimation of the presence of the Hebrews in America, is too unequivocal to be passed unnoticed, and the circumstance of its being found so near the Atlantic coast, and at so vast a dis- tance from Bhering's straits, we are still inclined to suppose, that such of the Israelites as found their way to the shores of America, on the coast of the Atlantic, may have come from Lapland or Norway; seeing evident tokens exist of their having once been there, as before noticed. But there is a third supposition respecting the land of Arsareth; which is, that it is situated exactly east from the region of Syria. This is thought to be the country now known in Asia by the appel- lation of Little Bucharia. Its distance from Syria is something more than two thousand miles; which, by Esdras, might very well be said to be a journey of a year and a half, through an en- tire wilderness. Bucharia, the region of country of which we are about to speak, as being the ancient resort of a part of the lost Ten Tribes, is in distance from England, 3,475 miles; a little southeast from the latitude of London; and from the state of New York, exactly double that distance, 6,950 miles, on an air line,, as measured on an artificial globe, and in nearly the same latitude, due east from this country. It is not impossible, after all our speculation, and the specula- tions of others, that instead of America, or of Norway, this same Bucharia is, in truth, the ancient country of Arsareth; although in the country of old Norway, and of America, abundant evi- dence of the presence of Jews at some remote period, no doubt derived from this stock, the Ten Tribes. The country of Bucharia is situated due east from Syria, where AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 71 the Ten Tribes were placed by Salmanassar, as well as farther east on the river Gozan, or Ganges, of Hindostan. The distance is about 2,500 miles, and at that time was a vast desert, lying beyond the settlements of men, in all probability; and in order to go there they must also pass through the narrow passes of the river Euphrates, or its heads, near the south end of the Caspian sea, and then nearly due east, inclining, however a little to the north. Two circumstances lead to a supposition that this Bu- charia is the Arsareth mentioned by Esdras. The first is, at this place is found a great population of Jews: Second, the word Ar- sareth is similar to the names of other regions of that country in Asia: as Ararat, Astracan, Samarcand, Yarcund, Aracan, Ala Tau, Alatanian, Aral, Altai, Arnu, Korassan, Balk, Bactriana, Bucharia, Argun, Narrat, Anderab Katlan: (this word is much like the Mexican names of places, as Aztalan, Copallan, and so on,) Anderab, Aktau, Ailak. Names of countries and rivers might be greatly multiplied, which bear a strong affinity in sound and formation to the word Arsareth, which is probably a Persian word, as well as the rest we have quoted, as from these regions, ancient Bucharia, the foundations of the Persian power was de- rived. The reader can choose between the three, whether America, Norway, or Bucharia, is the ancient country called Arsareth, as one of the three is, beyond a doubt, the place alluded to by Esdras, to which the Ten Tribes went; and in all three the traits of Jews are found. In this country, Bucharia, many thousand Jews have been dis- covered, who were not known by the Christian nations to have existed at all till recently. It would appear from this circum- stance, that the Ten Tribes may have divided, a part going east to the country now called Bucharia; and a part west, to the coun- try now called Norway; both of which, at that time, were the region of almost endless solitudes, and about equal distances from Syria: and from Bucharia to Bhe ring's strait, is also about the same distance. In process of time, both from Bucharia in Asia, and Norway in Europe, the discendants from these Ten Tribes may have found their way into America. Those from Norway, by the way of islands^ boats or continent, which may then have existed, between America and north of Europe; and those from Bucharia, by the 72 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES way of Bhering's strait, which at that time, it is likely, was no strait, but an isthmus, if not a country of great extent, uniting Asia with America. The account of the Bucharian Jews is as follows : "After having seen, some years past, merchants from Tiflis, Persia, and Armenia, among the visitors at Leipsic, we hav© had, for the first time, (1826,) two traders from Bucharia, with shawls, which are there manufactured of the finest wool of the goats of Thi- bet and Cashmere, by the Jewish families, who form a third part of the popoulation. In Bucharia, (formerly the capitol of Sog- diana,) the Jews have been very numerous ever since the Baby- lonian captivity, and are there as remarkable for their industry and manufactures, as they are in England for their money trans- actions. It was not till 1826, that the Russian government suc- ceeded in extending its diplomatic mission far into Bucharia. The above traders exchanged their shawls for coarse and fine woollen clothes, of such colors as are most esteemed in the east." Much interest has been excited by the information which this paragraph conveys, and which is equally novel and important* In none of the geographical works which we have consulted do we find the least hint as to the existence in Bucharia of such a body of Jews as are here mentioned, amounting to one-third of the whole population; but as the fact can no longer be doubted, the next point of inquiry which presents itself is, whence have they proceeded, and how have they come to establish themselves in a region so remote from their original country? This question, we think, can only be answered by supposing that these persons are the descendants of the long lost Ten Tribes, concerning the facts of which, theologians, historians, and antequarians, have been alike puzzled: and however wild this hypothesis may at first appear, there are not wanting circumstances to render it far from being improbable. In the 17th chapter of the second book of Kings, it is said, " in the ninth year of Hoshea the king of As- syria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Helah and in Haber by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:" and in the subsequent verses, as well as the writings of the prophets, it is said, that the Lord then " put away Israel out of his sight, and carried them away into the land of Assyria unto this day." In the Apocrypha, 2d Esdras, ch. xiii., AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 73 it is said, that the Ten Tribes were carried beyond the river, (Euphrates,) and so they were brought into another land, when they took counsel together, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go fonh into a further country, where never mankind dwelt; that they entered in at the narrow passages of the river Euphrates, w r hen the springs of the floods were stayed, (frozen,) and "went through the country a great journey, even a year and a half;" and it is added, " there will they remain, until the latter time, when they come forth again. 77 The country beyond Bucharia was unknown to the ancients, and it is, we be- lieve, generally admitted, that the river Gozan, mentioned in the book of Kings, is the same as the Ganges, which has its rise in those very countries in which the Jews reside, of which the Liepsic account speaks. The distance which these two merchants must have travelled, cannot, therefore, be less than three thousand miles; and there can be but little doubt that the Jews, whom they represent as a third part of the population of the country, are descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel settled by the river Gozan. The great plain of Central Asia, forming four principal sides, viz: Little Bucharia, Thibet, Mongolia, Mantehous, contains a surface of 150,000 square miles, and a population of 20,000,000. This vast country is still very little known. The great traits of its gigantic formation compose, for the most part, all that we are certain of. It is an immense plain of an excessive elevation, intersected with barren rocks and vast deserts of black and almost moving sand. It is supported on all sides by mountains of granite, whose elevated summits determine the different climates of the great continent of Asia, and form the devision of its waters. From its exterior flow all the great rivers of that part of the world. In the interior are a quantity of rivers, having little declivity, or no issue, which are lost in the sands, or perhaps feed stagnant waters. In the southern chains are countries, populous, rich and civilized; Little Bucharia, Great and Little Thibet. The people of the north are shepherds and wanderers. Their riches consist in their herds. Their habitations are tents, and towns, and camps, which are trans- ported according to the wants of pasturage The Bucharians en- joy the right of trading to all parts of Asia, and the Thibetians cultivate the earth to advantage. The ancients had but a confused 74 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES idea of Central Asia. " The inhabitants of the country, " as we learn from good authority, " are in a high state of civilization; possessing all the useful manufactures, and lofty houses built with stone. The merchants of Cashmere, on their way to Yarkland in Little Bukharia pass through Little Thibet. This country is scarce- ly known to European geographers." The immense plain of Central Asia is hemmed in, and almost inaccessible by mountain ranges of the greatest elevation, which surround it on all sides, except China; and when the watchful jealousy of the government of the Celestial Empire is considered, it will scarcely be wondered at, that the vast region in question is so little known. Such is the country which these newly discovered Jews are said to inhabit in such numbers. The following facts may per- haps serve to throw some additional light on this interesting sub^ ject. In the year 1822, a Mr. Sargon, who had been appointed one of the agents of the London Society, communicated to England some interesting accounts of a number of persons resident at Bombay, Cinnamore, and their vicinity, who are evidently the descendants of the Jews, calling themselves Beni Israel, (sons of Israel) and bearing almost uniformly Jewish names, but with Per- sian terminations. This gentleman, feeling very desirous of ob- taining all possible knowledge of their condition, undertook a mis- sion for this purpose to Cinnamore; and the result of his inquiries was, a conviction that they were not Jews of the one tribe and a half, being of a different race to the white and black Jews at Cochin, and consequently, that they were a remnant of the long lost Ten Tribes. This gentleman also concluded, from the infor- mation he obtained respecting the Beni Israel, or sons of Israel, that they existed in great numbers in the countries between Cochin and Bombay, the north of Persia, among the hordes of Tartary, and in Cashmere; the very countries in which, according to the paragraph in the German paper, they exist in such numbers. So far, then, these accounts confirm each other, and there is every probability that the Beni Israel, resident on the west of the Indian peninsula, had originally proceeded from Bucharia. It will, there- fore, be interesting to know something of their moral and religi- ous character. The following particulars are collected from Mr. Sargon's accounts : 1. In dress and manners they resemble the AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 75 natives so as not to be distinguished from them, except by atten- tive observation and inquiry. 2. They have Hebrew names of the same kind, and with the same local termination as the Sepoys in the the ninth regiment Bombay native infantry. 3. Some of them read Hebrew, and they have a faint tradition of the cause of their original exodus (exit) from Egypt. 4. Their common lan- guage is the Hindoo. 5. They keep idols and worship them, and use idolatrous ceremonies intermixed with Hebrew. 6. They cir- cumcise their children. 7. They observe the Kipper, or great ex- piation day of the Hebrews, but not the Sabbath, or any of the feast or fast days. 8. They call themselves Gorah Jehudi, or white Jews; and they term the black Jews Colla Jehudi. 9. They speak of the Arabian Jews as their brethren, but do not acknow- ledge the European Jews as such. They use, on all occasions, and under the most trivial circumstances, the usual Jewish prayer — " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." 10. They have no cohen, (priest) levite, or kasi, among them, under those terms; but they have a kasi, (reader) who performs prayers, and conducts their religious ceremonies ; and they appear to have elders and a chief in each community, who determine in their religious concerns. 11. They expect the Messiah, and that they will one day return to Jerusalem. They think the time of his ap- pearance will soon arrive, at which they much rejoice r believing that at Jerusalem they will see their God, worship him only, and be despised no more. These particulars, we should presume, can scarcely fail to prove interesting, both in a moral and religious, as well as in a geographical point of view. The number of the scattered mem- bers of the tribes of Judah, and the half tribe of Benjamine, rather exceed than fall short of five millions. Now, if this num- ber he added to the many other millions to be found in the different countries of the east, what an immense power would be brought into action, were the spirit of nationality once roused, or any ex- traordinary event to occur, which should induce them to unite in claiming possession of that land which was given to them iC for an heritage forever," and to which, in every other clime of the earth, their fondest hopes and their dearest aspiration never cease to turn. But although the opinion that the American Indians are the de- 76 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. scendants of the lost Ten Tribes, is now a popular one, and ge- nerally believed, yet there are some who totally discard this opinion. And among such;, as chief, is Professor Rafinesque, whose opinions on the subject of the flood of Noah not being uni- versal, and of the ark, we have introduced on the first pages of this work. This gentleman is decidedly, and we may say severely, opposed to this doctrine, and alleges that the Ten Tribes were never lost, but are still in the countries of the east about the region of ancient Syria, in Asia. He ridicules all those authors who have attempted to find in the customs of the Indians, traits of the Jews, and stamps them with being egregiously ignorant of the origin of things pertaining to this subject. This is taking a high stand, indeed, and if he can maintain it, he has a right to the honor thereof. Upon this notion, he says, a new sect of religion has arisen, name- ly, the Mormonites, who pretend to have discovered a book with golden leaves, in which is the history of the American Jews, and their leader, Mormon, who came hither more than 2,000 years ago. This work is ridiculous enough, it is true ; as the whole book of Mormon bears the stamp of folly, and is a poor attempt at an imitation of the Old Testament Scriptures, and is without connection, object, or aim ; shewing every where language and phrases of too late construction to accord with the Asiatic manner of composition, which highly characterises the the style of the Bible, and how can it be otherwise as it was written in Ontario county, New York. As reasons, this philosopher advances as follows, against the American nations being descended from the Ten Tribes of ancient Israel : " 1. These Ten Tribes are not lost, as long supposed ; their descendants, more or less mixed with the natives, are yet found in Media, Iran, Taurin, Caublistan, Hindostan, and China, where late travellers have traced them calling themselves by various names. 2. The American nations knew not the Sabbath, nor .yet the Sabbattical weeks and years of the Jews. This knowledge could never have been lost by the Hebrews. The only weeks known in America, were of three days, five days, and half lunations, (or half a moon) as among the primitive nations, before the week of AND DISCOVERIES IN WEST. 77 seven days was used in Asia, which was based upon the seven planets, long before the laws of Moses." 7 Here is another manifest attempt of this philosopher to invali- date the Scriptures, in attempting to fix the origin of the ancient Jewish and present Christian Sabbath, on the observances of the ancient nations, respecting the motions of the seven primary planets of the heavens ; when it is emphatically said, in the He- brew Scriptures, that the week of seven days was based on the seven day's work of the Creator, in the creation of the world. And as the Creation is older than the astronomical observations of the most ancient nations of the earth, it is evident that the Scripture account of the origin of seven-day week ought to have the precedence over all opinions since sprung up. 3. He says, " The Indians hardly knew the use of iron, al- though common among the Hebrews, and likely never to be lost ; nor did they, the Indians of America, know the use of the plough." " 4. The same applies to the use of writing ; such an art is never lost when once known." "5. Circumsion was unknown, and even abhorred bj the Ame- ricans, except two nations, who used it — The Mayans, of Yu- actan, in South America, who worshipped a hundred idols, and the Calchaquis, of Caho, of the same country, who worshipped the sun and stars, believing that departed souls became stars. These beliefs are quite different from Judaism; and besides this, the rite of circumsion was common to Egypt, Ethiopia, Edom, and Chalchis." But to this we reply, supposing circumsion was practised by all those nations, and even more, this does not disprove the rite to be of pure Hebrew or Jewish origin, as we have an account of it in the Scriptures written by Moses, as being in use quite two thou- sand years before Christ ; long enough before Abraham or his posterity knew any thing of the Egyptians; it was therefore, most undoubtedly introduced among the Egyptians by the Jews them- selves, or their ancestors, and from them the custom has gone out into many nations of the earth. Again, Mr. Rafinesque says, one tribe there was, namely, the Calchaquis, who worshipped the sun and the stars, supposing them to be the souls of the departed. This notion is not very far removed from, or at least may have 78 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES had its origin with the Jews; for Daniel, one of their prophets, who lived about 500 years before Christ, expressly says, respect- ing the souls of the departed righteous: " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars, for ever and ever." A sen- timent of such transcendant beauty and consequence is not easily lost. This tribe, therefore, as above named, may they not have been of Jewish origin % " 6. None of the American tribes have the striking ; sharp, Jewish features, and physical conformation." [But other authors of equal celebrity, have a contrary opinion. Mitchel and others.] " 7. The American Indians eat hogs, hares, fish, and all the forbidden animals of Moses, but each tribe abstain from their tutelar animals," (which, as they imagine, presides over their destinies,) " or badges of families of some peculiar sort." But to this we reply, most certainly the Jews did use fish ; as in all their history, even in the Bible, frequent reference is had to heir use of fishes, and to their fish markets, where they were sold and bought. " 8. The American customs of scalping ; torturing prisoners, cannibalism, painting their bodies, and going naked, even in very cold climates, are totally unlike the Hebrew customs." Scapling, with several other customs of the sort, we have elsewhere in this work shown to be of Scythian origin; but does not, on that account, prove; nor in any way invalidate the other opinion, that some of the tribes are of Jewish origin. '* 9. A multitude of languages exists in America, which may perhaps be reduced to twenty-five radical languages, and two thou- sand dialects. But they are often unlike the Hebrew, in roots, words, and grammar ; they have, by far, says the author, more analogies with the Sanscrit," (the ancient Chinese) Celtic, Bask, Pelasgian Berber," (in Europe ;) " Lybian, Egyptian," (in Afri- ca;) " Persian, Turan, &c," (also in Europe;) " or in fact, all the primitive languages of mankind. " This we believe. "10. The Americans cannot have sprung from a single nation, because, independently of the languages, their features and com- plexions areas various as in Africa and Asia." " We find in America, white, tawny, brown, yellow, olive, cop- per, and even black nations, as in Africa. Also, dwarjs and AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 79 giants, handsome and ugly features, flat and aquiline noses,, thick and thin lips," &c. [Among the Jews is also a great variety.] The Rev. Mr. Smith, of Pultney, Vt., a few years since, pub- lished a work entitled " A View of the Hebrews," in which he labors to establish that the American Indians worshipped but one God; the great Yohewah, or Jehovah of the Scriptures. This is vehemently opposed by philosopher Rafinesque, as follows, in re- ply to him. " You say, all the Americans had the same God Yohewa; this is utterly false. This