Chapter I: On the Origin of the Americans (7)

[I-221] 'Vinland was situate at the distance of two days' sail, consequently about from fifty-four to sixty miles, in a south-westerly direction from Markland. The distance from Cape Sable to Cape Cod is stated in nautical works as being W. by S. about seventy leagues, that is, about fifty-two miles. Biarne's description of the coasts is very accurate, and in the island situate to the eastward (between which and the promontory that stretches to eastward and northward Leif sailed) we recognize Nantucket. The ancient Northmen found there many shallows (_grunnsæ fui mikit_); modern navigators make mention at the same place "of numerous riffs and other shoals," and say "that the whole presents an aspect of drowned land."' _Id._, pp. 121-2. 'The leading evidences serve to attest that Vinland was the present very marked seaboard area of New England. The nautical facts have been carefully examined by Professors Rafn and Magnusen, and the historical data adapted to the configuration of the coast which has Cape Cod as its distinguishing trait. All this seems to have been done with surprising accuracy, and is illustrated by the present high state of the arts in Denmark and Germany.' _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. i., p. 111.

[I-222] 'Kialarnes (from Kiölr, a keel, and _nes_, a cape, most likely so named on account of its striking resemblance to the keel of a ship, particularly of one of the long ships of the ancient Northmen) must consequently be _Cape Cod_, the Nauset of the Indians, which modern geographers have sometimes likened to a horn, and sometimes to a sickle or sythe.' _Id._, p. 122.

[I-223] 'The Straumfiördr of the ancient Northmen is supposed to be _Buzzard's Bay_, and Straumey, Martha's Vineyard; although the account of the many eggs found there would seem more precisely to correspond to the island which lies off the entrance of Vineyard Sound, and which at this day is for the same reason called _Egg Island_.' _Id._

[I-224] See _Abstract of Hist. Evid._, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. viii., p. 114, et seq., and _De Costa's Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer._, p. 11, et seq.

[I-225] In the year 983, according to _Abstract of Hist. Evid._, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. viii., p. 125. De Costa makes it 928. _Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer._, p. 86.

[I-226] 'Professor Rafn in, what seems to the author, his needless anxiety to fix the locality of the White-man's land in America, says that, as this part of the manuscript is difficult to decipher, the original letters _may_ have got changed, and vi inserted instead of xx, or xi, which numerals would afford time for the voyager to reach the coast of America, in the vicinity of Florida. Smith in his _Dialogues_, has even gone so far as to _suppress_ the term _six_ altogether, and substitutes, "by a number of days sail unknown." This is simply trifling with the subject. In _Grönland's Historiske Mindesmœrker_, chiefly the work of Finn Magnussen, no question is raised on this point. The various versions all give the number six, which limits the voyage to the vicinity of the Azores. Schöning, to whom we are so largely indebted for the best edition of Heimskringla, lays the scene of Marson's adventure at those islands, and suggests that they may at that time have covered a larger extent of territory than the present, and that they may have suffered from earthquakes and floods, adding, "It is likely, and all circumstances show, that the said land has been a piece of North America." This is a bold, though not very unreasonable hypothesis, especially as the volcanic character of the islands is well known. In 1808, a volcano rose to the height of 3,500 feet. Yet Schöning's suggestion is not needed. The fact that the islands were not inhabited when discovered by the Portuguese does not, however, settle anything against Schöning, because in the course of five hundred years, the people might either have migrated, or been swept away by pestilence. _Grönland's Historiske Mindesmœrker_, (vol. i., p. 150), says simply, that "It is _thought_ that he (Are Marson) ended his days in America, or at all events in one of the larger islands of the west. Some think that it was one of the Azore islands."' _De Costa's Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer._, p. 87.

[I-227] _Abstract of Hist. Evid._, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. viii., p. 125; _De Costa's Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer._, p. 89, et seq.

[I-228] See _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. i., pp. 110, et seq., for plate and discussion of Dighton Rock.

[I-229] It bore the following inscription: _Elligr. Sigvaps: son: r. ok. Bjanne. Tortarson: ok: Enripi. osson: laugardag. in: fyrir gagndag Holpu: varda te. ok rydu: M. C. XXXV_; or, _Erling Sighvatssonr, ok Bjarne Pordarson, ok Endridi oddsson laugardaginn fyrir gagndag hlodu varda pessa ok ruddu 1135_; 'c'est-à-dire: Erling Sigvatson, Bjarne Thordarson, et Endride Oddson érigèrent ces monceaux de pierres le samedi avant le jour nommé Gagndag (le 25 avril) et ils nettoyèrent la place en 1135.' _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 152.

[I-230] 'We have noticed the discovery of a place called Estotiland, supposed to be Nova Scotia, in 1354, the inhabitants of which were Europeans, who cultivated grain, lived in stone houses, and manufactured beer, as in Europe at that day. Now, from the year 1354, till the time of the first settlements made in Onondaga county, by the present inhabitants, is about 400 years. Is it not possible, therefore, that this glass bottle, with some kind of liquor in it, may have been derived from this Estotiland, having been originally brought from Europe; as glass had been in use there, more or less, from the year 664, till the Scandinavians colonized Iceland, Greenland, and Estotiland, or Newfoundland.' _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 260-1.

[I-231] 'Malgré les réclamations que mes suppositions soulevèrent de divers côtés et les sourires incrédules qu'elles appelèrent sur les lèvres de plusieurs de nos savants dont je respecte et honore les connaissances, je persiste plus que jamais dans l'opinion que j'exprimais alors; plus j'avance dans mes études américaines plus je demeure convaincu des relations qui existèrent, antérieurement à Christophe Colomb, entre le Nouveau-Monde et les contrées situées à l'orient de l'autre côté de l'océan Atlantique, et plus je suis persuadé que les Scandinaves ont dû, à une période même plus reculée que celle dont vos (Prof. Rafn's) intéressants mémoires rapportent le souvenir, émigrer vers le continent américain.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1858, tom. clx., pp. 261-92.

[I-232] 'Il est impossible de ne point être frappé de l'analogie qui existe entre les idées bramaniques sur la divinité et les passages du _Popol-Vuh_ cités plus haut. Mais si nous consultons les traditions beaucoup plus récentes, conservées même après l'établissement du christianisme en Suède, nous trouverons encore, entre les coutumes religieuses des populations de ces contrées et celles qui nous sont retracées dans le Popol-Vuh, plus d'un rapport.' _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Charnay_, _Ruines Amér._, pp. 41-2. See farther concerning emigration to America from north-western Europe: _Mitchill_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., p. 341, et seq.; _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, scattered notices, pp. 88-9, 234-329; _Robertson's Hist. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 278-80; _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. i., pp. 110-11, 120-4; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1855, tom. cxlvii., pp. 157-8; _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Charnay_, _Ruines Amér._, pp. 11, 18-19, 23-4, 42-3; _Warden_, _Recherches_, pp. 146-54; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, pp. 28-30, 117; _Tschudi's Peruvian Antiq._, pp. 3-7, 21-2; _Malte-Brun_, _Précis de la Géog._, tom. i., pp. 197-8; _Davis' Discovery of New England by the Northmen_; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 279-85; _Davis' Anc. Amer._, pp. 13-31; _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp. 278-9; _M'Culloh's Researches on Amer._, pp. 21-2; _Brinton's Abbé Brasseur_, in _Lippincott's Mag._, vol. i., p. 79, et seq.; _Smith's Human Species_, p. 237; _Deuber_, _Geschichte der Schiffahrt_; _Hermes_, _Entdeckung von Amer._, pp. 1-134; _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 399-400; _Hill's Antiq. of Amer._; _Wilson's Prehist. Man_, pp. 394-420; _Kruger's Discov. Amer._, pp. 1-134; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 53-64, 404, 411-12; _Beaufoy's Mex. Illustr._, p. 322; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 18-22; _Id._, _Popol Vuh_, pp. li.-liv., lxxxix.-xcii.; _Hist. Mag._, vol. ix., pp. 364-5; _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., p. 15; _Humboldt's Exam. Crit._, tom. ii., pp. 83-104, 105-20; _Irving's Columbus_, vol. iii., pp. 432-40; _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., p. 239; _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., pp. 164-71; _Rafinesque_, _The American Nations_; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Quatre Lettres_, p. 17; _Williamson's Observations on Climate_; _Zesterman's Colonization of America by Northwestern Europeans_; _Farcy_, _Discours_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. i., pp. 48-9; _Simpson's Nar._, p. 159; _Schoolcraft_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., pp. 391-6.

[I-233] About 1169-70.

[I-234] 'All this is related in old Welsh annals preserved in the abbeys of Conway and Strat Flur.... This emigration of Prince Madog is mentioned in the preserved works of several Welsh bards who lived before the time of Columbus. It is mentioned by Hakluyt, who had his account of it from writings of the bard Guttun Owen. As the Northmen had been in New England over one hundred and fifty years when Prince Madog went forth to select a place for his settlement, he knew very well there was a continent on the other side of the Atlantic, for he had knowledge of their voyages to America; and knowledge of them was also prevalent in Ireland. His emigration took place when Henry II. was king of England, but in that age the English knew little or nothing of Welsh affairs in such a way as to connect them with English history very closely.' _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 286. See also _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii., pp. 142-9; _Farcy_, _Discours_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. i., pp. 49-50. 'Before wee passed these ilands, under the lee of the bigger iland, we anchored, the wind being at north-east, with intent to refresh ourselves with the fowles of these ilands. They are of divers sorts, and in great plentie, as pengwins, wilde duckes, gulles, and gannets; of the principall we purposed to make provisions, and those were the pengwins; which in Welsh, as I have beene enformed, signifieth a white head. From which derivation, and many other Welsh denominations given by the Indians, or their predecessors, some doe inferre that America was first peopled with Welsh-men; and Montezanna, king, or rather emperour of Mexico, did recount unto the Spaniards, at their first comming, that his auncestors came from a farre countrie, and were white people. Which, conferred with an auncient cronicle, that I have read many yeares since, may be conjectured to bee a prince of Wales, who many hundreth yeares since, with certaine shippes, sayled to the westwards, with intent to make new discoveries. Hee was never after heard of.' _Hawkins' Voy._, in _Hakluyt Soc._, p. 111.

[I-235] Written in Welsh, translated into English by Humphrey Llwyd, and published by Dr David Powel in 1584.

[I-236] Dedicated to Prince Charles, and published in 1613.

[I-237] See _Warden_, _Recherches_, pp. 154-7.

[I-238] They are 'made of _raw-hides_, the skins of buffaloes, stretched underneath a frame made of willows or other boughs, and shaped nearly round, like a tub; which the woman carries on her head from her wigwam to the water's edge, and having stepped into it, stands in front, and propels it by dripping her paddle _forward_, and _drawing it to her_, instead of paddling by the side.' _Catlin's Amer. Ind._, vol. ii., p. 261.

[I-239] See comparative vocabulary. _Id._

[I-240] As a good deal of importance has been attached to it, it will be as well to give Jones' statement in full; it is as follows: 'These presents certify all persons whatever, that in the year 1660, being an inhabitant of Virginia, and chaplain to Major General Bennet, of Mansoman County, the said Major General Bennet and Sir William Berkeley sent two ships to Port Royal, now called South Carolina, which is sixty leagues southward of Cape Fair, and I was sent therewith to be their minister. Upon the 8th of April we set out from Virginia, and arrived at the harbor's mouth of Port Royal the 19th of the same month, where we waited for the rest of the fleet that was to sail from Barbadoes and Bermuda with one Mr. West, who was to be deputy governor of said place. As soon as the fleet came in, the smallest vessels that were with us sailed up the river to a place called the Oyster Point; there I continued about eight months, all which time being almost starved for want of provisions: I and five more traveled through the wilderness till we came to the Tuscarora country. There the Tuscarora Indians took us prisoners because we told them that we were bound to Roanock. That night they carried us to their town and shut us up close, to our no small dread. The next day they entered into a consultation about us, and, after it was over, their interpreter told us that we must prepare ourselves to die next morning, whereupon, being very much dejected, I spoke to this effect in the British [Welsh] tongue: "Have I escaped so many dangers, and must I now be knocked on the head like a dog!" Then presently came an Indian to me, which afterward appeared to be a war captain belonging to the sachem of the Doegs (whose original, I find, must needs be from the Old Britons), and took me up by the middle, and told me in the British [Welsh] tongue I should not die, and thereupon went to the emperor of Tuscarora, and agreed for my ransom and the men that were with me. They (the Doegs) then welcomed us to their town, and entertained us very civilly and cordially four months, during which time I had the opportunity of conversing with them familiarly in the British [Welsh] language, and did preach to them in the same language three times a week, and they would confer with me about any thing that was difficult therein, and at our departure they abundantly supplied us with whatever was necessary to our support and well doing. They are settled upon Pontigo River, not far from Cape Atros. This is a brief recital of my travels among the Doeg Indians.

Morgan Jones, the son of John Jones, of Basateg, near Newport, in the County of Monmouth. I am ready to conduct any Welshman or others to the country.

New York, March 10th, 1685-6.' _Gentleman's Mag._, 1740.

[I-241] _Chambers' Jour._, vol. vi., p. 411.

[I-242] 'These accounts are copied from manuscripts of Dr. W. O. Pughe, who, together with Edward Williams (the bard of Glamorgan), made diligent inquiries in America about forty years ago, when they collected upwards of one hundred different accounts of the Welsh Indians.' _Id._ 'It is reported by travellers in the west, that on the Red River ... very far to the southwest, a tribe of Indians has been found, whose manners, in several respects, resemble the Welch.... They call themselves the McCedus tribe, which having the Mc or Mac attached to their name, points evidently to a European origin, of the Celtic description.... It is well authenticated that upwards of thirty years ago, Indians came to Kaskaskia, in the territory, now the state of Illinois, who spoke the Welch dialect, and were perfectly understood by two Welchmen then there, who conversed with them.' _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 230-2.

[I-243] _Recherches_, p. 157. Griffiths related his adventures to a native of Kentucky, and they were published in 1804, by Mr Henry Toulmin, one of the Judges of the territory of Mississippi. See _Stoddard's Sketches of Louisiana_, p. 475; _Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal_, vol. i., 1805.

[I-244] _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., p. 305.

[I-245] We read farther: 'But what is still more remarkable, in their war song he discovered, not only the sentiments, but several lines, the very same words as used in _Ossian's_ celebrated majestic poem of the wars of his ancestors, who flourished about thirteen hundred years ago. The Indian names of several of the streams, brooks, mountains and rocks of Florida, are also the same which are given to similar objects, in the highlands of Scotland.' All this, could we believe it, would fill us with astonishment; but the solution of the mystery lies in the next sentence: 'This celebrated metaphysician (Monboddo) was a firm believer in the anciently reported account of America's having been visited by a colony from Wales long previous to the discovery of Columbus.' _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, p. 230. It is this being a 'firm believer' in a given theory that makes so many things patent to the enthusiast which are invisible to ordinary men.

[I-246] _Monastikon Britannicum_, pp. 131-2, 187-8, cited in _De Costa's Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer._, p. xviii.

[I-247] See _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi., pp. 188-90; _De Costa's Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer._, pp. xviii.-xx.

[I-248] _Mœurs des Sauvages Amériquains Comparées aux Mœurs des Premiers Temps._ Paris, 1724.

[I-249] _García_, _Orígen de los Ind._, pp. 189-92.

[I-250] _Pidgeon's Trad._, p. 16.

[I-251] _Landa_, _Relacion_, pp. lxx.-lxxx.

[I-252] _Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 107. In the Greeks of Homer I find the customs, discourse, and manners of the Iroquois, Delawares, and Miamis. The tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides paint to me almost literally the sentiments of the _red-men_, respecting necessity, fatality, the miseries of human life, and the rigour of blind destiny. _Volney's View of the Climate and Soil of the United States of America._ London, 1804.

[I-253] See _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 385-90; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 255; _Scenes in Rocky Mts._, pp. 199-202; _Villagutierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, p. 6; _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi., pp. 184, 527-8.

[I-254] See _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 177; _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 394-5.

[I-255] _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 6.

[I-256] 'Imaginez un livre entier écrit en calembours, un livre dont toutes les phrases, dont la plupart des mots ont un double sens, l'un parfaitement net et distinct de l'autre, et vous aurez, jusqu'à un certain point, l'idée du travail que j'ai entre les mains. C'est en cherchant l'explication d'un passage fort curieux, relatif à l'histoire de Quetzal-Coatl, que je suis arrivé à ce résultat extraordinaire. Oui, Monsieur, si ce livre est en apparence l'histoire des Toltèques et ensuite des rois de Colhuacan et de Mexico, il présente, en réalité, le récit du cataclysme qui bouleversa le monde, il y a quelques six ou sept mille ans, et constitua les continents dans leur état actuel. Ce que le _Codex Borgia_ de la Propagande, le _Manuscrit de Dresde_ et le _Manuscrit Troano_ étaient en images et en hiéroglyphes, le _Codex Chimalpopoca_ en donne la lettre; il contient, en langue nahuatl, l'histoire du monde, composée par le sage Hueman, c'est-à-dire par la main puissante de Dieu dans le grand Livre de la nature, en un mot, c'est le Livre divin lui-même, c'est le _Teo-Amoxtli_.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg._ _Quatre Lettres_, p. 24.

[I-257] _Id._, p. 39.

[I-258] In the Codex Chimalpopoca, Brasseur reads that 'à la suite de l'éruption des volcans, ouverts sur toute l'étendue du continent américain, double alors de ce qu'il est aujourd'hui, l'éruption soudaine d'un immense foyer sous-marin, fit éclater le monde et abîma, entre un lever et un autre de l'étoile du matin, les régions les plus riches du globe.' _Quatre Lettres_, p. 45.

[I-259] _Id._, p. 108.

[I-260] See farther, concerning Atlantis: _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _MS. Troano_, tom. i., pp. 29-32, 199; _Irving's Columbus_, vol. i., pp. 24, 38, vol. iii., pp. 419, 492-4, 499-512; _Baril_, _Mexique_, p. 190; _Dally_, _Races Indig._, p. 7; _Farcy_, _Discours_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. i., pp. 41-2; _De Costa's Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer._, p. xiii.; _Heylyn's Cosmog._, pp. 943-4; _Sanson d'Abbeville_, _Amérique_, pp. 1-3; _Willson's Amer. Hist._, pp. 90-1; _Warden_, _Recherches_, pp. 97-113; _Carli_, _Cartas_, pt i., p. 1; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in _Landa_, _Relacion_, pp. xviii.-cxii.; _Davis' Anc. Amer._, p. 13; _Malte-Brun_, _Précis de la Géog._, tom. i., pp. 28-30, 213-15; _Wilson's Prehist. Man_, pp. 392-3; _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi., pp. 181-4; _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 394-9; _Larrainzar_, _Dictamen_, pp. 8-25; _Stratton's Mound-Builders_, MS.; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 216-22; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 174-84; _Mitchill_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc._, _Transact._, vol. i., p. 340; _Faliés_, _Études Hist. sur les Civilisations_, tom. i., pp. 185-93, 218; _M'Culloh's Researches on Amer._, pp. 26-32; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i., pp. 42, 130-206, tom. ii., pp. 46, 163-214; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., pp. 14-18, 22; _Monglave_, in _Antiq. Mex._, pp. 57-60; _Cabrera_, _Teatro_, in _Rio's Description_, p. 126; _Villagutierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, pp. 5-6; _Purchas his Pilgrimes_, vol. v., pp. 799-801; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 29; _West und Ost Indischer Lustgart_, pt i., pp. 4-5; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, pp. 18-19; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. iv., p. 31; _Despréaux_, in _Museo Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 84-6; _Major's Prince Henry_, p. 83; _Rafinesque_, in _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 123-4; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 42-6, 413-14; _Fontaine's How the World was Peopled_, pp. 256-7; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. i., cap. ii.; _Smith's Human Species_, p. 83; _Soc. Géog., Bulletin_, tom. iv., p. 235.

[I-261] Davis, _Anc. Amer._, p. 12, thinks that a portion of the animals of the original creation migrated west. 'If this idea,' he says, 'is new to others, I hope it may be considered more reasonable than the infidel opinion, that men and animals were distinct creations from those of Asia.' 'Think you,' he adds sagely, 'they would have transported venomous serpents from the old to the new world?'

[I-262] Concerning unity or variety of the American races, see: _Prichard's Researches_, vol. i., p. 268, vol. v., pp. 289, 374, 542; _Morton's Crania Amer._, p. 62; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 197-98; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 66-7; _Maury_, in _Nott and Gliddon's Indig. Races_, p. 81; _Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, tom. i., p. 83; _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 21-36; _Willson's Amer. Hist._, p. 89; _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 4; _Smith's Human Species_, p. 251; _Catlin's N. Amer. Ind._, vol. ii., p. 234; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 3-4.

[I-263] 'I am compelled to believe that the Continent of America, and each of the other Continents, have had their aboriginal stocks, peculiar in colour and in character--and that each of these native stocks has undergone repeated mutations, by erratic colonies from abroad.' _Catlin's N. Amer. Ind._, vol. ii., p. 232; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 224-5, thinks it consonant with the Bible to suppose 'distinct animal creations, simultaneously, for different portions of the earth.' A commentator on Hellwald who advocates autochthon theory remarks that: 'the derivation of these varieties from the original stock is philosophically explained on the principle of the variety in the offspring of the same parents, and the better adaptation and consequent chance of life.' _Smithsonian Rept._, 1866, p. 345. 'That theory is probably, in every point of view, the most tenable and exact which assumes that man, like the plant, a mundane being, made his appearance generally upon earth when our planet had reached that stage of its development which unites in itself the conditions of the man's existence. In conformity with this view I regard the American as an autochthon.' The question of immigration to America has been too much mixed with that of the migration in America, and only recently has the opinion made progress that America has attained a form of civilization by modes of their own. Neither the theory of a _populating immigration_ or a _civilizing immigration_ from the old world meet any countenance from the results of the latest investigations. _Hellwald_, in _Id._, p. 330. All tribes have similarities among them which make them distinct from old world. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 23. Dr. Morton says the study of physical conformation alone, excludes every branch of the Caucasian race from any obvious participation in the peopling of this continent, and believes the Indians are all of one race, and that race distinct from all others. _Mayer's Observations_, p. 11. We can never know the origin of the Americans. The theory that they are aborigines is contradicted by no fact and is plausible enough. _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., pp. 177-8. The supposition that the Red Man is a primitive type of a human family originally planted in the western continent presents the most natural solution of the problem. The researches of physiologists, antiquaries, philologists, tend this way. The hypothesis of an immigration, when followed out, is embarrassed with great difficulties and leads to interminable and unsatisfying speculations. _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, p. 251. God has created several couples of human beings differing from one another internally and externally, and these were placed in appropriate climates. The original character is preserved, and directed only by their natural powers they acquired knowledge and formed a distinct language. In primitive times signs and sounds suggested by nature were used, but with advancement, dialects formed. It requires the idea of a miracle to suppose that all men descend from one source. _Kames_, in _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 203. 'The unsuccessful search after traces of an ante-Columbian intercourse with the New World, suffices to confirm the belief that, for unnumbered centuries throughout that ancient era, the Western Hemisphere was the exclusive heritage of nations native to its soil. Its sacred and sepulchral rites, its usages and superstitions, its arts, letters, metallurgy, sculpture, and architecture, are all peculiarly its own.' _Wilson's Prehist. Man_, p. 421. Morton concludes 'that the American Race differs essentially from all others, not excepting the Mongolian; nor do the feeble analogies of language, and the more obvious ones in civil and religious institutions and the arts, denote anything beyond casual or colonial communication with the Asiatic nations; and even these analogies may perhaps be accounted for, as Humboldt has suggested, in the mere coincidence arising from similar wants and impulses in nations inhabiting similar latitudes.' _Crania Amer._, p. 260. 'I am firmly of opinion that God created an original man and woman in this part of the globe, of different species from any in the other parts.' _Romans' Concise Natural Hist. of E. and W. Florida._ 'Altamirano, the best Aztec scholar living, claims that the proof is conclusive that the Aztecs did not come here from Asia, as has been almost universally believed, but were a race originated in America, and as old as the Chinese themselves, and that China may even have been peopled from America.' _Evans' Our Sister Rep._, p. 333. Swan believes that 'whatever was the origin of different tribes or families, the whole race of American Indians are native and indigenous to the soil.' _N.W. Coast_, p. 206.