Skip to content

Chapter XXXIII: Appendix: A (6)

Text size

[667] The following is Kingsborough’s account of the Mexican baptism: “The midwife took the infant in her arms naked, and carried it into the court of the mother’s house, in which court were strewed reeds or rushes, which they call Tule, upon which was placed a small vessel of water, in which the said midwife bathed the said infant; and after she had bathed it, three boys being seated near the said rushes, eating roasted maize mixed with boiled beans, which kind of food they named Yxcue, which provision or paste they set before the said boys, in order that they might eat it. After the said bathing or washing, the said midwife desired the said boys to pronounce the name aloud, bestowing a new name on the infant which had been thus bathed; and the name which they gave it was that which the midwife wished.”—_Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi, p. 45.

[668] _Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi, p. 248.

[669] _Ibid._, vol. viii, p. 69.

[670] _Ibid._, vol. vi, pp. 163 _et seq._

[671] _Ibid._, vol. vi, p. 167.

[672] _Ibid._, vol. viii, p. 248.

[673] _Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi, p. 125; _Codex Telleriano-Remensis_, pl. xix; _Mex. Antiq._, vol. vii, pp. 240–1, and Duran, MS., part ii, cap. 20; see further, _Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi, pp. 135–218.

[674] _Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi, pp. 121–2. He cites several authors to prove this sweeping statement, and is not content with finding it among the Indians, but is provoked by his zeal to discover the practice of the same rite among the Hottentots. See _Ibid._, vol. vi, pp. 272, 333–5; vol. viii, pp. 143, 391, 20. On page 393, vol vi, he makes this remarkable statement: “From an examination of some of the Mexican paintings, it would appear that circumcision among the Indians was not confined to the human species.” Also vol. viii, p. 155: “The head of the Totonac high-priest, was anointed by the blood of circumcised children.”

[675] _Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi, p. 273; vol. viii, pp. 157, 236, 160.

[676] _Ibid._, vol. vi, p. 504.

[677] _Ibid._, vol. vi, p. 361.

[678] _Ibid._, vol. vi, p. 257.

[679] _Ibid._, vol. vi, p. 222.

[680] _Ibid._, vol. vi, p. 142.

[681] _Ibid._, vol. viii, p. 258.

[682] _Ibid._, vol. vi, pp. 301, 312; vol. viii, pp. 23–58.

[683] _Ibid._, vol. viii, p. 27.

[684] _Ibid._, vol. viii, p. 32.

[685] _Ibid._, vol. viii, pp. 26–7.

[686] _Ibid._, vol. vi, p. 190.

[687] _Ibid._, vol. vi, pp. 207–8.

[688] _Ibid._, vol. vi, p. 261.

[689] _Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi, pp. 207–8. He thinks the gospel must have been preached at an early day in Yucatan, and in proof cites from the sixth chapter of the Fourth Book of Cogolludo’s History the following: “A certain ecclesiastic wrote to a priest commissioned by Las Casas, that he met a principle-lord, who, on being questioned respecting the ancient religion which they professed, told him that they knew and believed in the God who was in Heaven, and that this God was the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and that the Father was named Yzona, who had created man; and that the Son was called Bacab, who was born of a virgin of the name of Chiribirias, and that the mother of Chiribirias was named Yxchel; and that the Holy Ghost was named Echvah. Of Bacab, the Son, they said he was put to death and scourged and crowned with thorns and placed with his arms extended upon a beam of wood, to which they did not suppose that he had been nailed, but that he was tied, where he died and remained dead during three days, and on the third day came to life and ascended into heaven, where he is with his Father; and that immediately afterwards Echvah, who is the Holy Ghost, came and filled the earth with whatsoever it stood in need of.”

[690] Mr. Bancroft in his fifth vol., pp. 84–89, has collated a great number of Lord Kingsborough’s analogies. Our limited space forbids further treatment.

[691] Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. v, p. 41; Humboldt’s _Vues_, tom. i, p. 236.

[692] Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. v, p. 41; Humboldt, _Vues_, p. 256; Tschudi, _Peruvian Antiq._, p. 211.

[693] _Vues_, p. 230 (ed. 1810).

[694] Viollet-le-Duc in Charnay’s _Ruins_, pp. 41–2. Paris, 1863.

[695] _Vues_, p. 148 (ed. 1810).

[696] _Mœurs des Sauvages_, pp. 108–455.

[697] Brasseur in _Introduction_ to Landa’s _Relacion_, pp. lxx–i.

[698] Landa’s _Relacion_, _Introduc._, pp. lxxi _et seq._

[699] Brasseur de Bourbourg in Landa, pp. lxvi–ix.

[700] We have not thought it necessary to treat the mythology or religious systems of the Mayas and Nahuas in any formal manner, but only incidentally to call attention to some salient features, cropping out in connection with the subject in hand. The religions of the ancient Americans have been so often and so admirably treated, that anything relating to them in this connection would be superfluous. See especially Bancroft’s _Native Races_, vol. iii; Müller’s _Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen_; Squier’s _Serpent Symbol in America_; Brinton’s _Myths of the New World_, and _Ibid._, _Religious Sentiments in the New World_.

[701] _Families of Speech_, pp. 134–6. London, 1873. 12mo.

[702] Spanish, in Kingsborough’s _Mex. Antiq._, vol. viii, pp. 110–15.

[703] English translation in Prescott’s _Mexico_, vol. iii, and Bancroft’s _Native Races_, vol. ii, pp. 494–97.

[704] _Families of Speech_, pp. 125–26.

[705] The same author refers to the classification of languages adopted by Prof. Steinthal in his _Charakteristik der hauptsächlichsten Typen des Sprachbaues_. Languages are divided into _cultivated_ and _uncultivated_, and each again are subdivided into _isolating_ and _inflectional_. The American languages are classed as uncultivated and inflectional by incorporation.—(_Families of Speech_, p. 127.)

[706] See Bancroft’s _Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 559, 670–2. See on the latter page especially a vocabulary of resemblances.

[707] We refer the reader who is interested in the aboriginal languages of the North-west to the _Contributions to North American Ethnology_, published by the Department of the Interior, under the direction of Major J. W. Powell, Washington, 1877. 3 vols. 4to.

[708] Garcia y Cubas, _The Republic of Mexico in 1876_. A political and ethnographical division of the population, etc., translated by Geo. F. Henderson, p. 66. Mexico, 1876. Most of the above names are cited by Mr. Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, p. 760; by Orozco y Berra, _Geografía_, pp. 18–25 _et passim_, and by Pimentel, _Lenguas Indígenas de Mex._, vol. ii, p. 5 _et seq._

[709] _Leng. Indig. de Mex._, vol. ii, p. 3.

[710] _Geografía de las Lenguas de Mex._, pp. 129.

[711] See Bancroft’s _Native Races_, vol. iii, p. 760, and the literary apparatus appended.

[712] Orozco y Berra, _Geografía_, pp. 22, 128.

[713] Communication of Dr. Le Plongeon to the Hon. John W. Foster, minister of the United States at Mexico, dated Island of Cozumel, May 1, 1877, in Salisbury’s _Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan_, p. 83.

[714] Dr. Le Plongeon, communication to Stephen Salisbury, Jr., Esq., dated Island of Cozumel, June 15, 1877. He remarks: “Notwithstanding a few guttural sounds, the Maya is soft, pliant, rich in diction and expression, even every shade of thought may be expressed.” “Strange to say the language remained unaltered. Even to-day, in many places in Yucatan the descendants of the Spanish conquerors have forgotten the native tongue of their sires, and only speak Maya, the idiom of the vanquished.”—_Communication above cited in Salisbury’s Le Plongeon in Yucatan_, pp. 95 _et seq._

[715] The following is Señor Melgar’s comparative list with the Spanish translated into English.

_Hebrew._ _English._ _Chiapenec._

Ben, Son, Been.
Bath, Daughter, Batz.
Abbá, Father, Abagh.
Chimah, Star in Zodiac? the creator of rain, Chimax.
Maloc, King, Molo.
Abah, Name applied to Adam, Abagh.
Chanan, Afflicted, Chanam.
Elab, God, Elab.
Tischiri, September, Tsiquin.
Chi, More, Chic.
Chabic, Rich, Chabin.
Enos, Son of Seth, Enot.
Votan, To give, Votan.
Lambotus, River of Arica, Lambat.

He adds: “Todas estas coincidencias hacer suponer que en épocas muy remotas existeron communicaciones entre el viejo y el nuevo mundo.” He then refers to Plato’s _Atlantis_.—_Melgar in Sociedad Mex. de Geog. Boletin_, iii, _Época_, p. 108.

[716] Brasseur’s letter to M. Rafn in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 6th series, vol. xvi, p. 263. He thinks the Scandinavians may have reached those remote parts at an early day. On pp. 281–9 he gives a list of words chosen from the Quiché, Cakchiquel and Zutohil, showing analogies with languages of Northern Europe, especially with the Scandinavian. Also see the same author in the _Nouv. Ann. des Voy._, 6th series, vol. iii, 1855, pp. 156–7. The Abbé in a letter to the _New York Tribune_, November 21st, 1855, in referring to the early inhabitants of Vera Paz, says: “_They came from the east_—not from the south-east, _but from the north-east_. I speak only of the tribes of Quiché-Cakchiquel and Zutohil. They came from the north-east, certainly passed through the United States, and as they say themselves, _they crossed the sea in darkness, mist, cold and snow_. I suppose they must have come from Denmark and Norway. They came in small numbers, and lost their white blood by their mixture with the Indians whom they found—whether in the United States or in these regions, certainly there must have been a Tula in our northern European countries. But what is more convincing of this migration or passage, I find the same result by a comparison of the languages. I cannot speak of the structure of them, but by what I have observed is that the fundamental forms and words of the languages of these regions (except the Mexican) are intimately connected with the Maya or Tzendal, and that all the words that are neither Mexican nor Maya belong to our languages of Northern Europe, viz.: English, Saxon, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Flemish and German, some even appear to belong to the French or Persian.”

[717] Dr. Farrar, referring to the Basque, says: “What is certain about it is, that its structure is polysynthetic, like the language of America. Like them, and them only, it habitually forms its compounds by the elimination of certain radicals in the simple words; so that, _e. g._, _ilhun_, twilight, is contracted from _hill_, dead, and _egun_, day; and _belhaun_, the knee, from _belhar_, front, and _oin_, leg. It was this fact that made Larramendi give to his treatise on Basque grammar the title of ‘The Impossible Overcome.’ The most daring of all the hypotheses which have been suggested points to the conceivable existence of some great Atlantis; to the possibility of the ‘Basque area being the remains of a vast system, of which Madeira and the Azores are fragments belonging to the Miocene period.’ Be this as it may, the fact is indisputable and is eminently noteworthy that, while the affinities of the Basque roots have never been conclusively elucidated, there has never been any doubt that this isolated language, preserving its identity in a western corner of Europe between two mighty kingdoms, resembles in its grammatical structure the aboriginal languages of the vast opposite continent, and those alone.”—_Families of Speech_, pp. 132–3. Also see Alfred Maury in Nott and Gliddon’s _Indigenous Races of the Earth_, p. 48.

[718] See Maury in Nott and Gliddon’s _Indig. Races_, pp. 81–84.

[719] Salisbury’s _Le Plongeon in Yucatan_, p. 96.

[720] See on the Maya, Ruz, _Gram. Yucateca_; Pimentel, _Quadro Leng. Indig._, tom. ii, pp. 5 _et seq._, whose grammar we have followed above. Also vol. ii, pp. 119, 221; vol. i, p. 229, for idioms; Gallatin in _Am. Ethnol. Soc. Transact._, vol. i, pp. 252 et seq.; Vater, _Mithridates_. tom. iii, pt. iii, pp. 4–24; Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Grammaire_ in Landa’s _Relacion_, pp. 459 _et seq._, also _Maya and French Vocabulary_; Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 759–82, quotes prayer as above. Further see literature cited in Ludewig’s _Literature of American Aboriginal Languages_, ed. of Trübner. London, 1858, pp. 102–3.

[721] Full accounts of the grammatical structure of the languages of this family may be found in Pimentel’s _Quadro_, tom. i, pp. 35–78, 321–60; Orozco y Berra’s _Geografía_, pp. 25 _et seq._; Bancroft’s _Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 748–58.

[722] Ixtlilxochitl, _Hist. Chic._ in Kingsborough’s _Mex. Antiq._, vol. ix, p. 217, and cited by Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, p. 724.

[723] _Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 724–5; Pimentel, _Quadro Leng. Indig. de Mex._, tom. i, pp. 154–8, and our discussion in this work, chapter vi. p. 255.

[724] _Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 726–7. The same author refers to the _Natural History_ of Dr. Hernandez, written in the Aztec, as proof of its copiousness. “Twelve hundred different species of Mexican plants, two hundred or more species of birds, and a large number of quadrupeds, reptiles, insects and metals, each of which is given its proper name in the Mexican language.” (Quoted by Pimentel, _Quadro._, vol. i, p. 168.)

[725] See Prescott’s _Conq. of Mex._, vol. i, p. 174 (ed. of 1875). “Tezcuco,” says Boturini, “where the noblemen sent their sons to acquire the most polished dialect of the Nahuatlac language, and to study poetry, moral philosophy, the heathen theology, astronomy, medicine and history.” (_Idea_, p. 142, cited by Prescott.)

[726] _Geografía de las Lenguas_, p. 9.

[727] Pimentel, _Quadro, Lenguas Indig._, p. 165, also copied by Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, p. 731. From Pimentel we draw our extract of Aztec Grammar.

[728] _Quadro, Leng. Indig._, tom. i, p. 183.

[729] It will be observed in some portions of this abstract, I have used almost the same words as are employed by Mr. Bancroft. This is owing to the fact that both he and I have translated certain passages literally from Señor Pimentel, from whose work I have drawn this account throughout. See _Quadro, Lenguas Indig. de Mex._, tom. i, pp. 164–216; Gallatin in _Amer. Ethnol. Soc. Trans._, vol. i, pp. 214–246; Vater, _Mithridates_, vol. iii, pt. iii, pp. 85–106, and Bancroft’s _Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 721–37.

[730] _Native Races_, vol. iii, p. 726.

[731] _Mithridates_, tom. iii, pt. iii, pp. 75 _et seq._

[732] Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 663–70, our authority for the facts stated on p. 486. See his sketch of the theory and the reaction under Buschmann.

[733] _Die Lautveränderung Aztekischer Wörter in der Sonorischen Sprachen._ Berlin, 1855, 4to, and _Die Spuren der Aztekischen Sprachen_. Berlin, 1850, 4to.

[734] Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, p. 669.

[735] Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 667–8; William von Humboldt in Buschmann, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._ pp. 48–50; Orozco y Berra, _Geografia_, p. 39.

[736] Buschmann, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, p. 172; Orozco y Berra, _Geografia_, pp. 321–5; Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, p. 714.

[737] _Geografia_, pp. 58, 147–8.

[738] “As regards this Aztec element, I do not mean to say that these languages are related to the Aztec language in the same sense that other languages are spoken of as being related to each other, for this might lead those who are searching for the former habitation or fatherland of the Aztecs, to suppose that it has been found. This element consists simply in a number of words identical or reasonably approximate to the like Aztec words, and in the similarity, perhaps, of a few grammatical rules. How this Aztec word-material crept into the languages of the Shoshones, whether by inter-communication, or Aztec colonization, we do not know. Nor do I wish to be understood as attempting to sustain the popular theory of an Aztec migration from the North; on the contrary, the evidences of language are all on the other side.”—_Bancroft’s Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 660–1.

[739] Buschmann, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, p. 290; Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 673–4.

[740] _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, pp. 349–51, 391, 648–52 _et seq._; Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 661–79, comparative table compiled from Buschmann, Turner, Molina, Ortega, and others, on p. 678.

[741] Buschmann, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, p. 629, and Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, pp. 630–1.

[742] “The Chinook language is spoken by all the nations from the mouth of the Columbia to the Falls. It is hard and difficult to pronounce for strangers, being full of gutturals like the Gaelic. The combinations _thl_ or _tl_ are as frequent in the Chinook as in the Mexican.”—Franchère, _Narrative of a Voy. to N. W. Coast of N. Am._, p. 262. Swan, speaking of the Chinook, says: “The peculiar clucking sound is produced by pressing the tongue against the roof of the mouth, and pronouncing the word ending with _tl_ as if it were the letter _k_ at the end of the _tl_; but it is impossible in any form or method of spelling that I know of, to convey the proper guttural clucking sound. Sometimes they will, as if for amusement, end all their words in _tl_; and the effect is ludicrous to hear three or four talking at the same time with this singular sound, like so many sitting-hens.”—_North West Coast_, p. 315.

[743] Buschmann, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, pp. 628–9; Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii, p. 619.

[744] Gibbs’ _Alphabetical Vocab. of Clallam and Lummi Lang._, p. 6; Gallatin, in _Trans. Am. Eth. Soc._, vol. i, p. 54.

[745] Buschmann, _Die Völker und Sprachen Neu-Mexico’s_, p. 370, calls attention to the great resemblance of

_Aztec._ _Nutka._

tepuztli = copper = chipuz
tetl = stone = tenetschök

and adds that _Esquiates_ the name of a society is entirely Mexican. We append the result of his investigations:

“Von ähnlicher Art, gleich den Spanisch gemodelten Gestalten
Mexicanischer Wörter, sind viele Nutka-Wörter der Spanischen
Sammlung: nur mit dem Unterschiede, dass sie auf keinen
vorhandenen mexicanischen Wörtern beruhen (da zufällig diese
Buchstaben-combinationem in der Azt. Sprache nicht vorkommen, aber
ihren Wesen nach recht gut vorkommen könnten). Solche Wörter sind:
_iztocoti_ = Muschel (dazu Eigenname _iztocoti_ No. 923); _majati_
= jagd (caza), _mamati_ = Hof, _muztati_ = Regenbogen: _cucustlati_
= Nasenloch, _natlaycazte_ = Rippen; _otniquit_ = Jungfrau;
_mamatle_ = Schiff; _oumatle_ = Leib; _aguequetle_ = Hunger;
_capitzitle_ = Dieb; _tahechitle_ = larga: _temextixitle_ = Kuss;
_cuachitle_ = reisen; _cuchitle_ = pincher; _meyali_ = Schmerz.
Es giebt noch eine höhere Gattung von Nutka-Wörtern (der Span.
Reise), welche (besonders durch die Aechtheit ihrer Endung von der
vorigen verschieden) ganz und gar wie mexicanische Wörter aussehen,
und (so weit sie substantiva sind) mexicanische sein würden, wenn
es der Sprache beliebt hätte diese bestimmten Lautgestalten zu
bilden: _inapatl_ = Rücken; _tlexatl_ = Matte; _tzahuacatl_ =
9; _chamiehtl_ = Iris; _naguatzitl_ = Zwerg; _naschitl_ = Tag;
_jacamitl_ = viereckig; _huatzacchitl_ = Husten; _nectzitl_ =
trinken; _pugxitl_ = heben; _cocotl_ = Seeotter; _amanutl_ =
espinilla; _apactzutl_ = Bart; _ictlatzutl_ = Mund; _iniyutl_ =
Kehle; _jayutl_ = Fluth; _tlatlacastzeme_ = Blätter (wie ein Mex.
Plural in _me_); _coyactzac_ = Fuchsbalg. Noch mehr Wörter finden
sich, wenn man für die Mex. Sprache unnatürliche und zu harte
Consonanten—Verbindungen übersieht. Diese letzte höhere Gattung
vorzüglich, doch auch die erstere meint Alexander von Humboldt in
der obigen Stelle (S. 363). So gawinnt die Nutka-Sprache durch eine
reiche Zahl von Wörtern und durch grosse Züge ihres Lautwesens,
einzig von allen anderen fremden, die ich habe aufdecken können,
in einem bedeutenden Theile eine täuschende Aehnlichkeit mit
der Aztekischen oder Mexicanischen; und so wird die ihr schon
früher gewidmete Aufmerksamkeit vollständig gerechtfertigt. Ihrer
Mexicanischen Erscheinrung fehlt aber, wie ich von meiner Seite
hier ausspreche jede Wirklichkeit.”—_Ibid._, p. 371.

[746] _Compte-Rendu Seconde Ses. Cong. Internat, des Américanistes_, Luxembourg, vol. i, pp. 51–2.

[747] Bancroft’s _Native Races_, vol. iii, p. 727. Acosta, _Hist. Nat. Ind._, p. 600. Sahagun, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii, lib. ix, cap. 9.

[748] “To show how languages spring up and grow, Vancouver, when visiting the coast in 1792, found in various places along the shores of Oregon, Washington and Vancouver’s Island, nations that now and then understood words and sentences of the Nootka and other tongues, some of which had been adopted into their own language. When Lewis and Clarke, in 1806, reached the coast, the jargon [Chinook] seems to have already assumed a fixed shape, as may be seen from the sentences quoted by the explorers.”—_Bancroft’s Native Races_, vol. iii, p. 632.

[749] I append a partial list from Señor Najera’s _Disertacion sobre la lengua_ _Othomi_, Mexico, 1845, fol., pp. 87–8. I have rendered the Spanish list into English.

+----------+----------+-------------++----------+---------+------------+
|_Chinese._|_Othomi._ | _English._ ||_Chinese._|_Othomi._| _English._ |
+----------+----------+-------------++----------+---------+------------+
| Cho. | To. | The, that. || Pa. | Da. | To give. |
| Y. | N-y. | A wound. || Tsun. | Nsu. | Honor. |
| Ten. | Gu, Mu. | Head. || Hu. | Hmu. | Sir, Lord. |
| Siao. | Sui. | Night. || Na. | Na. | That. |
| Tien. | Tsi. | Tooth. || Hu. | He. | Cold. |
| Ye. | Yo. | Shining. || Ye. | He. | And. |
| Ky. | Hy (ji). | Happiness. || Hos. | Hia. | Word. |
| Ku. | Du. | Death. || Nugo. | Nga. | I. |
| Po. | Yo. | No. || Ni. | Nuy. | Thou. |
| Na. | Ta. | Man. || Hao. | Nho. | The good. |
| Nin. | Nsu. | Female. || Ta. | Da. | The great. |
| Tseu. | Tsi, Ti. | Son. || Li. | Ti. | Gain. |
| Tso. | Tsa. | To perfect. || Ho. | To. | Who. |
| uan. | Khuani. | True. || Pa. | Pa. | To leave. |
| Siao. | Sa. | To mock. || Mu, Mo. | Me. | Mother. |
+----------+----------+-------------++----------+---------+------------+

[750] Warden, in _Antiquités Mexicaines_, tom. ii, div. ii, pp. 125 _et seq._ The same author has furnished many linguistic analogies, though without following any scientific classification. Ampère, _Promenade en Amérique_, vol. ii, p. 301, furnishes a list of Chinese and Otomi resemblances.

[751] Orozco y Berra, _Geografía_, p. 17. Pimentel, _Leng. Indig. de Mex._, tom. i, p. 118. Bancroft, vol. iii, p. 737. Vater, _Mithridates_, tom. iii, pt. iii, p. 113. Malte-Brun (V. S.), in _Congrès des Américanistes, Luxembourg, Seconds Ses._, tom. ii, pp. 16–18.

[752] “In 1857, a gentleman named Henley, a good Chinese scholar, who acted as an interpreter of this state for some time, published a list of words in the Chinese and Indian languages to show that they were of the same origin. From this we make an extract supporting our remarks:

_Indian._ _Chinese._ _English._ | _Indian._ _Chinese._ _English._
|
Nang-a, Nang, Man. | A-pa, A-pa, Father.
Yi-soo, Soa, Hand. | A-ma, A-ma, Mother.
Keoka, Keok, Foot. | Ko-le, A-ko, Brother.
Aek-a-soo, Soo, Beard. | Ko-chae, To-chae, Thanks.
Yuet-a, Yuet, Moon. | Nagam, Yam, Drunk.
Yeeta, Yat, Sun. | Koolae, Ku-kay, Her.
Utyta, Hoto, Much. | Koo-chue, Chue-koo, Hog.
Lee-lum, Ee-lung, Deafness. | Chookoo, Kow-chi, Dog.”
Ho-ya-pa, Ho-ah, Good. |

We have no means at hand of testing the following statement from the same author: “The Chinese, who have become so numerous in California since the discovery of gold, bear a striking resemblance to the Indians, and are known to be able to converse with them in their respective languages to an extent that cannot be the result of mere coincidence of expression.”—_Cronaise, The Natural Wealth of California_, p. 31. Probably a mistake.

[753] “Unhesitatingly as I make this assertion—an assertion for which I have numerous tabulated vocabularies as proof—I am by no means prepared to say that one-tenth part of the necessary work has been done for the parts in question; indeed, it is my impression that it is easier to connect America with the Kuirle Isles and Japan, etc., than it is to make Japan and the Kuirle Isles, etc., Asiatic.”—_Latham, Man and His Migrations_, pp. 195–6. Barton, _New Views_, is certain that the languages of America originated in Asia; see pp. lxxxviii–xcii. On p. 28 of Appendix he furnishes a comparative list of Japanese and Indian words.

[754] Vergleichung der Amerikanischen Sprachen mit den Ural-Altaïschen hinsichtlich ihrer Grammatik. (_Congrès des Américanistes_, Luxembourg, 1877, tom. ii, p. 56 _et seq._) Also see E. L. O. Roehrig “On the Language of the Dakota or Sioux Indians,” _Smithsonian Report_, 1872.

[755] Prof. Valentini’s communication to the author.

[756] Brasseur, in Landa’s _Relacion_, p. xxi, and _Popol Vuh_, chap. iii. Brasseur, in _Quatre Lettres_, p. 24, speaking of the _Codex Chimalpopoca_, says: “Oui, Monsieur, si ce livre est en apparence l’histoire des Toltèques et ensuite des rois des Colhuacan et de Mexico, il présente, en réalité, le récit du cataclysme qui bouleversa le monde, il y a quelques six on sept mille ans, et constitua le continents dans leur état actuel,” pp. 40–41. He expresses his belief that the _Cod. Chim._ has a double meaning, and that many names and symbols possessed by the natives refer to the cataclysm which occurred six or seven thousand years ago. “C’est le récit de ces bouleversements, c’est l’histoire du cataclysme, dont tous les peuples ont gardé la mémoire, que racontent tous mes documents.”

[757] The following are the legends, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg: “According to the tradition of the Sacred Book (_Popol Vuh_), water and fire contributed to the universal ruin, at the time of the last cataclysm which preceded the fourth creation. ‘Then,’ says the author, ‘the waters were agitated by the will of the Heart of Heaven, and a great inundation came upon the heads of these creatures. * * * They were engulfed, and a resinous thickness descended from heaven. * * * The face of the earth was obscured and a heavy darkening rain commenced, rain by day and rain by night. * * * There was heard a great noise above their heads as if produced by fire. Then were men seen running, pushing each other, filled with despair; they wished to climb upon their houses, and the houses tumbling down fell to the ground; they wished to climb upon the trees, and the trees shook them off; they wished to enter into the grottoes, and the grottoes closed themselves before them.’ In the _Codex Chimalpopoca_, the author, speaking of the destruction which took place by fire, says: ‘The third sun is called _Quia-Tonatiuh_, sun of rain, because there fell a rain of fire; all which existed burned, and there fell a rain of gravel.’ They also narrate that whilst the sandstone which we now see scattered about, and the _tetzontli_ (amygdaloide poreuse) boiled with great tumult, there also rose the rocks of vermillion color. Now this was in the year _Ce Tecpactl_, One Flint, it was the day _Nahui-Quiahuitl_, Fourth Rain. Now, in this day, in which men were lost and destroyed in a rain of fire, they were transformed into goslings; the sun itself was on fire, and everything, together with the houses, was consumed.” Brasseur recounts a Haytian legend concerning the origin of the sea and isles: “There was, they say, a powerful man called Iaia, who, having murdered his only son, wished to bury him; but not knowing where to put him, enclosed him in a calabash, which he placed afterwards at the foot of a high mountain, situated a little distance from the place where he lived; on account of his affection for his son he often went to the spot. One day, having opened it (the calabash), there came out whales and other very large fishes, of which Iaia, full of fear, having returned home, told his neighbors what had happened, saying that this calabash was filled with water and innumerable fishes. This news being spread abroad, four twin brothers, desiring to obtain fish, went to the place where the calabash was. Just as they had taken it in their hand to open it, Iaia came, and they seeing him, threw the calabash on the ground, in their fear of him. This (the calabash) having burst, on account of the great weight which was enclosed in it, the waters gushed forth, and the interminable plain, which stretched farther than the eye could reach, was flooded and covered with water. The mountains alone, because of their great height, were not submerged in this great inundation. So they believed that these mountains were the islands and the other divisions of the earth which we see in the world.”—_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in _Landa’s Relacion_, pp. xxi–iv.

[758] “With regard to the primitive dolichocephalæ of America, I entertain an hypothesis still more bold, perhaps, namely, that they are nearly related to the Guanches in the Canary Islands and to the Atlantic populations of Africa, the Moors, Tauricks, Copts, etc., which Latham comprises under the name of Egyptian-Atlantidæ. * * * We find, then, one and the same form of skull in the Canary Islands, in front of the African coast, and in the Carib-Islands, on the opposite coast which faces Africa. * * * The color of the skin on both sides of the Atlantic is represented in these populations as being of a reddish-brown. * * * These facts involuntarily recall the tradition which Plato tells us in his _Timæus_ was communicated to Solan by an Egyptian priest respecting the ancient Atlantis. * * * This tradition deserves attention in connection with facts which seem to point in the same direction.”—_Retzius, in Smithsonian Report_ for 1859, p. 266.

[759] Salisbury, _Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan_, pp. 57–61.

[760] Unger, _Die Versunkene Insel Atlantis_, cited by Lyell, _Antiquity of Man_, p. 440.

[761] Published in Winterthal, 1854–58, 3 bde. Also by the name author, see _Urwelt der Schweiz_, Zurich, 1865, and _Ergänzungsblätter_, bd. ii (Hildburgh), 1867. See Meyer’s _Konversations-Lexicon_, 3. _Aufl._, bd. viii, p. 693; bd. ii, p. 125, where the above are cited. Dr. Otto Ule, _Die Erde_, bd. i, p. 27, concurs with the above; work published in Leipzig, 1874, 2 vols. large 8vo.

[762] See Lyell, _Antiquity of Man_, p. 440, and Oliver, _Lecture at the Royal Institution_, March 7, 1862, cited by Lyell.

[763] Sir C. Wyville Thomson, _The Atlantic_ (voyage of the _Challenger_), vol. i, pp. 190, 208, 213; vol. ii, 23, 232. New York, 1878. Also see _Scientific American_ for July 28th, 1877.

[764] _Depths of the Sea_, by Dr. Carpenter, F.R.S., J. G. Jeffreys, F.R.S., and Dr. Wyville Thomson, F.R.S., London, 1873.

[765] _The Atlantic, Exploring Voyage of H. M. S. Challenger_, vol. ii, pp. 248–9.

[766] _The Atlantic_, vol. ii, p. 23.

[767] _Scientific American_, July 28, 1877.

[768] _The Atlantic_, vol. ii, p. 254.

[769] _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 288.

[770] _Popular Science Review_, July 1878, cited by _Scientific American_ of August 24, 1878, vol. xxxix, p. 114.

[771] Le Conte, _Elements of Geology_, New York, 1878, p. 131.

[772] Le Conte, _Geology_, p. 129.

[773] _Ibid._, pp. 127–32. Dr. Otto Ule, _Die Erde_, bd. i, ss. 496–502.

[774] See Plato’s _Critias and Timæas_. Also Aristotle, _De Mundo_, cap. iii, and _Prince Henry the Navigator_, chap, vii, by Major, Lond., 1868.

[775] See Reclus, _The Ocean_, pp. 70–82. New York, ed. 1878.

[776] Irving’s _Columbus_, vol. i, chap, iii; vol. ii, p. 308. Reclus, _Ocean_, pp. 223, 229.

[777] Irving’s _Columbus_, vol. ii, p. 279. Lafiteau, _Conquestes des Portugais_, lib. ii, cited by Irving.

[778] See Martius, _Beitrage_, etc., p. 180, for the origin-tradition of the Tupis or Brazilians, where it is narrated that two brothers with their families landed at a remote period on Cape Frio. The brothers Tupi and Guarani gave their names to the two great South American families.

[779] Brasseur in Landa’s _Relacion_, pp. lii–lxv; Eckstein, _Les Cares or Cariens de l’Antiquité_, 2d part, vi, dans la _Revue Archéologique, XVᵉ année_; Brugsch, _Die Geogr. der Nachbarlaender Egyptens_, pp. 84–88, cited by Brasseur. “En ces vieux jours du monde, dit encore M. d’Eckstein, où Ibères et Libyens, Lahabim et Phoutim s’enlacaient plus ou moins à travers l’Europe occidentale, et poussaient jusqu’au sein de l’Irlande et de la Grande Bretagne, les monuments de Mizraïm semblent révéler des rapports maritimes de ces Libyens et probablement de ces Ibères avec les Cares et avec les autres races anté-pélasgiques des côtes de la Grèce et de l’Italie, ainsi que des iles de l’Archipel.”—_Brasseur de Bourbourg in Landa’s Relacion_, pp. lvii–lviii.

[780] _Manual of Geology_, second ed., p. 583.

[781] Le Conte, _Elements of Geology_, pp. 145–149.

[782] Baldwin’s _Ancient America_, Appendix C, pp. 288–293.

[783] _Man and His Migrations_, pp. 129–30.

[784] Kennon in Leland’s _Fusang_, p. 68.

[785] “From the result of the most accurate scientific observation, it is evident that the voyage from China to America can be made without being out of sight of land more than a few hours at a time. To a landsman, unfamiliar with long voyages, the mere idea of being ‘alone on the wide, wide sea’ with nothing but water visible, even for an hour, conveys a strange sense of desolation, of daring and adventure. But in truth it is regarded as a mere trifle, not only by regular seafaring men, but even by the rudest races in all parts of the world; and I have no doubt that from the remotest ages, and on all shores, fishermen in open boats, canoes, or even coracles, guided simply by the stars and currents, have not hesitated to go far out of sight of land. At the present day, natives of the South Pacific islands undertake, without a compass, and successfully, long voyages which astonish even a regular Jack-tar, who is not often astonished at anything.”—_Kennon in Leland’s Fusang_, pp. 71–2.

[786] See Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. v, pp. 51–54, where the paper of the Japanese Consul, Mr. Brooks, read before the Californian Academy of Sciences in March, 1875, is cited, detailing forty-one instances in which Japanese junks were cast upon our coast since 1782. Mr. Brooks states that he has a record of over one hundred similar disasters. Whymper, in his _Alaska_ (N. Y. 1869), p. 250, refers to other Japanese wrecks, and especially to one which, after drifting ten months, reached the Sandwich Islands. The Hawaiians, on seeing the crew, said, “It is plain now, we came from Asia.” See also M. de Roquefeuil, _Journal d’un Voyage autour du Monde, pendant les annes, 1816–1819_; _Smith’s Human Species_, p. 238.

[787] _Physical Geography_, p. 41, cited by Lyell, _Antiquity of Man_, p. 367.

[788] _Antiquity of Man_, p. 367.

[789] “There is as much reason to believe that America was peopled from Asia, as that the primitive races of Europe and Africa should derive their origin from an Eastern source.”—_Macfie, Vancouver Island and British Columbia._ London, 1865.

[790] “The weather is, it is true, cold at Behring’s Straits, even in summer, but not one-fourth as cold as at Matsumai, Japan, in winter.”—_Col. Kennon in Leland’s Fusang_, p. 74.

[791] Frederick von Hellwald in _Smithsonian Report_, 1866, p. 345. “Open skin canoes, capable of containing twenty or more persons with their effects, and hoisting several masts and sails, are now frequently observed among the seacoast Tehuktchis, and the inhabitants of northern Alaska.”—_Whymper, Alaska_, p. 246–7.

[792] He continues his statement that the Gulf Stream of the Pacific is the warming agent, and adds the argument that “the present inhabitants of the countries contiguous to Behring’s Straits on the two sides, in manners, customs, and physical appearance are almost identical.”—_Smithsonian Report_, 1866, p. 345.

[793] Gallatin, p. 156. Bancroft, in assuming the certainty of a migration by Behring’s Straits, says “it seems absurd to argue the question from any point,” vol. v, p. 54. Venegas, _Noticia de la California_, Madrid, 1757, vol. i, p. 71, and London ed., 1759, p. 61, says the Californians at that date had clear traditions of having come from the north. Fontaine, _How the World was Peopled_, (N. Y. 1872), pp. 147–9, thinks that the march of Genghis with 1,400,000 Tartars caused the flight of his enemies in large numbers across the Aleutian archipelago and Behring’s Straits. Warden, _Recherches_, pp. 118–36, makes an argument for a migration through Behring’s Straits from Tartary and China.

[794] Gallatin, in _Amer. Ethnol. Soc. Trans._, vol. i, p. 158, says: “That America was first peopled by Asiatic tribes is highly probable; but after the lapse of several thousand years, the memory of that ancient migration was lost.” He inquires as to what we knew of Gaul or Britain before the Roman invasion. Mr. W. H. Dall, in his thoughtful Memoir on the _Origin of the Innuit_, says: “I see no reason for disputing the hypothesis that America was peopled from Asia originally, and that there were successive waves of emigration. The northern route was clearly by way of Behring Strait; at least, it was not to the south of that, and especially it was not by way of the Aleutian Islands.”—_In Contributions to North American Ethnology_, vol. i, p. 95. Washington, 1877. 4to.

[795] Aug. R. Grote, _The Peopling of America_, in _American Naturalist_, April 1877.

[796] Croll, _Climate and Time_, New York, 1875, 12mo. Prof. McFarland in _Am. Jour. of Sci. and Arts_, June 1876, p. 456. Newcomb on Croll’s _Theory_ in same journal for April 1876, p. 263.

[797] Whymper, _Alaska_, pp. 246, 247, discusses the volcanic nature of the Aleutian Islands, mentioning the fact that “There are records of very severe shocks of earthquake felt by the Russian traders and nations dwelling on them.”

[798] Sir Charles Lyell, _Antiquity of Man_, pp. 273 _et seq._, has shown that Great Britain was separated from the continent by subsidence and glacial action, thus producing the English Channel which, we have already seen, corresponds singularly with Behring’s Straits in width and depth, and formerly, no doubt, both corresponded more nearly in climatic conditions. It is not unreasonable to suppose that both passages were produced by the same agencies.

[799] Presidential Address to the Am. Association for Adv. of Sci., 1872, and published in his _Darwiniana_, pp. 203 _et seq._

[800] John H. Becker, _The Migration of the Nahuas, Congrès des Américanistes_, Luxembourg, ses., tom. i. p. 349. Altogether the most enlightened treatment of the subject yet published.

[801] Becker in _Ibid._, pp. 348–9. The same author cites from the _Trans. of Am. Geog. Soc._, 1874, the following interesting statement made by Gen. Milnor: “Nowhere else on the continent can similar great valleys such as the Missouri and Columbia be found, meeting advantageously at a common point on the main dividing backbone which separates the continental waters flowing east and west to the two oceans. The heads of these main valleys are here only from three to four thousand feet above the sea, while the great treeless plains—further south—are elevated more than six thousand feet.”

[802] The expedition which the German government and the Berlin Geographical Society is about to send to the North Pacific under the intelligent direction of my friend Dr. Van der Horck, will no doubt contribute largely to our information concerning the ethnographical relationship of America to Asia.

[803] Second Report on the Implements found in the Glacial Drift of New Jersey, by C. C. Abbott in _Eleventh Annual Report of Peabody Museum_, pp. 225–57. Cambridge, 1878.

[804] Mr. Becker remarks: “Why should the Aztec priesthood and nobility, a class bred and educated in the understanding of traditional lore and an elaborate system of picture-writing, be considered as a set of metaphysical lunatics who did not know or did not mean what they said.”—_Migration of the Nahuas_ in _Cong. des Américanistes_, Luxembourg, 1877, tom. i, p. 342.

[805] _Vide_ _Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History_, Vol. I, No. 3, October, 1878.

[806] _Vide_ _Archæological Explorations in Tennessee_, by F. W. Putnam. _Eleventh Annual Report of the Peabody Museum of American Archæology and Ethnology_, Cambridge, Mass., 1878.

[807] Letter to the author, dated Davenport, Iowa, May 24, 1879.

[808] _Bulletin of U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories_, vol. ii., No. i., p. 6.

[809] _Contributions to North American Ethnology_, vol. iv.—U. S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, J. W. Powell in charge. Washington, 1881: especially chap. ix.

[810] In addition to the work by Mr. Morgan above cited, the student of Mound-builder and Pueblo archæology should not fail to consult vol. vii. of the _Report upon U. S. Geographical Surveys west of the one hundredth meridian, in charge of Lieutenant Wheeler_, Washington, 1879. The volume bears the above date, but did not appear until near the close of 1881. The editing of this valuable work was committed to the discriminating care of Professor F. W. Putnam, who was assisted by an able corps of specialists, among others Dr. C. C. Abbott and Albert S. Gatschet. The Second Part is devoted to papers on the Pueblos. The magnificent fund of materials here presented, accompanied by full-page heliotypes of ruins and implements, vastly enlarges our knowledge of that interesting people. Still another work, of more than ordinary importance to ethnological and archæological students, is Dr. Charles Rau’s _Observations on Cup-shaped and other Lapidarian Sculptures in the Old World and in America_, Contributions to Ethnology, vol. v. Washington, 1881. Last, but not least, is Professor Otis T. Mason’s _Account of recent Progress in Anthropology_, in Smithsonian Report for 1880.

Transcriber’s Notes:

- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
- Blank pages have been removed.
- Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
- Wide tables have been split.

Comments

Log in to leave a comment.

The North Americans of AntiquityChapter XXXIII: Appendix: A (6)

0%28 min left in chapter