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Printed ST. p A ^ / y y /^ '^ A VIE W //y / i OP THE AMERICAN INDIANS THEIR GENERAL CHARACTER, CUSTOMS, LANGUAGE, PUBLIC FESTIVALS, RELIGIOUS RITES, AND TRADITIONS: SHEWING THBM TO BE THE DESCENDANTS OF [THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL, Th^ Language ofPr&phecy concerning them, and the course by which they travelled from Media into America. BY ISRAEL WORSLEY. JUNE, MDCCCXXVIII. PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, AND SOLD BY R. HUNTER^ ST. PAUL's'cHURCH-YARD, AND THE AUTHOR, AT PLYMOUTH. \ ■^' 51 -.1 ♦. .11 \ 5 i i ■ 4 If i;iii, I ^m PREFAC On the < On the I The gem The Relij Their Pu PRINTED BY W. \V. ARIJSS, PLYMOITH. The Lan^ The India I'lllil CONTENTS OF THE VOLUME, Preface I'age CHAPTER I. On the Origin of Mankind; plan of the work j CHAPTER IL On the Prophecies ' 15 CHAPTER III. The general character of the American Indians 25 CHAPTER IV. The Religion and Religious Rites of the Indians es CHAPTER V. Their Public Festivals 89 CHAPTER VI. The Language of the Indians.... 105 CHAPTER VII. Tbe Indian Traditions.. "": • 115 b <■ . 8 .. m ! r? ■4 ■ ■ ^'1 yll 11 CHAPTER VIIL On tlio Passage from one Continent to the other 1 23 CHAPTER IX. On the Aril and the Science of the Indians 135 CHAPTER X. The Hohiew Testimony 14.5 CHAPTER XI. On the Invasion of America by Cortes 1 55 CHAPTER XII. Retrospective View and closing Remarks,.,.. 179 PREFACE. 1 HE subject that is treated of in these pages engaged he attention of the Inhabitants of the Unite.1 States but too iate, to obtain that clea,- investigation which is necessary for a full understanding of any subject. References to it and statements of facts which afford us an eaily light, ai^ found in some of tlie public priuts, and in Letters and imvels previous to the year 1816, when a volume was published at Trenton, New Jersey, by the Rev. Dr. Elias i^oudmot, which bears for its title, ^ Star in the West, or a humble attempt to discover tJi^ long lost Ten Tribe, of Israel He gives the following account of himself and of nis work. ' This subject has occupied the attention of the writer at tmies, for more than forty years. He was led to thJ consideration of it, in the first instance, by a conversation with a very worthy and reverend clergyman of his ac quamtance, who, having an independent fortune, under- took a journey, in company with a brother clergyman, who was desirous of attending him, into the wilderness between the Alleghany and Mississippi rivers, sometime m or about the yeaxs 1765 or 6, before the white people b3 Ui': iv had settled be} oud the Laurel Mountain. His desire vfos to meet with native Indians, who had never seen a white man, tliat he might satisfy his curiosity by knowing from the best source, what traditions the Indians yet preserved relative to theii- own history and origin. This, these gen- tlemen accomplished with gi'cat danger, risque and fatigue. On their return one of them related to the \vTiter the informa • tion they had obtained, what tliey saw and r/hat they heai'd.' ' This raised in the writer's mind such an idea of some former coimection between tliese aborigines of our land and the Jewish nation, as greatly to 1. crease a desire for further information on so interesting ana curious a subject.' 'Soon after, reading (quite accidentally) the 13th chap- ter of the 2nd apochryphal book of Esdras, supposed to have been written about the year 100 of tlie Christian era, his ardour to know more of, and to seek further into the circumstances of these lost tribes, was in no wise di- minished. He has not ceased since to improve every opportunity afforded him, by personal interviews with Indians, reading the best histories relating to them, and carefully examining our public agents resident among them, as to facts reported in the several histories, without letting them know his object; so as not only to gratify his curiosity, by obtaining all the knowledge relating to them in his power, but also to guard against misrepresentation as to any account he might thereafter be tempted to give of them. His design at present is, if by the blessing of Almighty God his life, now far advanced, should be spared a little longer, to give some brief sketches of what he has learned in this important inquu-y, lest the facts he has tr^ collected should be entirely lost ; as he feds hiraseir cul- pable for puttin- off this business to so advanced a period of life, as to leave him but small hopes of acconiplishinfr his intentions.' In the year 1825 ni^peared another volume, written by Ethan Smith, Pastor of a Church in Poultney, 2nd Edn. eniiilcd. View of the Hebrews or the Tribes of Israel in America. The great objection to these works, andeopecial 'y the last, is their lengthyness, the profusion of matter which they contain, frequei t repetitions, much cf it foreign to Jie subject, and *hc disposition she-.vn to intermix re- ligious views and party zeal, which cannot but be offensive to many readers. The object of the present work is to extract irom these and from other sources, as well as from the incidental re- 'uarks of our historians, Josephus, Prideaux, Gibbon,' Robertson and others, such materials as bear directly rpon the point In question, and to arrange them in a clear and concise manner, so as to give a short but conspicuous view of the subject. This has been found by no means an easy task, and may no doubt be improved if another edition should be called for; the materials of a work not being seen in a clear light until they have appeared in a connected fonn. The Author esteems himself particularly hanpy in having obtained a sight of a little Hebrew vol- ume, u. -ontents of which are given in the tenth Chap- ter. They furnish a most satisfactory support and form a valuable conclusion to the materials offered before them. One of the most respectable authorities, for the manners and customs of this people since the time that the- have b3 \ ? I V '1 m '5 P- 1 ' r i I I I Ml VI hecome the object of attention to the moderns, is jMr. Adair's, who wrote a History of the Indians about the year 1 775. He appears to liave paid much attention to them, lived forty years domesticated with the Soutliern Indians, was a man of great respectability and leainhig, and left the States soon after he had prepai'ed his maniLScript, and escaped to England, on account of the troubles then com- ing on. lliis work was afterwards examined by a mem- ber of ihe CongTCss, who had acted as Indian Agent to the Southward, without his knowing the design of enquir- ing his opmion of it, and by him found to be con'ect in all its leading facts. Of this Mr. Boudinot made much use. Charlevoix wis a Clergyman of high respectabihty, who spent many years with them and tiuvelled from Canada to the Mii^sisslppi at an early day. The Rev. Mr. Brain- erd was a man of remarkable piety, and a Missionary to the Crosweek Indians to his death. Dr. Edwards was eminent for piety and learning and was intimately ac- quainted with i-iem from his youth. Dr. Beatty, a Cler- gyman of note and established character. Barti'am a man well known and respected, wdio travelled the country of the Southern Indians as a Botanist, a man of discernment and great means of knowledge : and JNPKenzie in the em- ployment of the North- West company, an old trader, the first adventurous explorer of the country from the lake of the woods to the Southern Ocean. It has been thought desirable to give in the first place a general outline of the character of the aborigines of Amciica; which, to form a just opinion of them, should be taken tliose per oi-iginal a ans indu( tlie free u sive Savai and hunte ders, orsii laws, yiali. unknown i liLst and chai-acter c different f tbeir frien( friendly al Indejxinde: arcii, to sa religion ai slwvv, had t wide uncu which they pollutions God in j)ea WilS fully ol wajidering ble of *upp this vej-y d l>erty to tak scattered, as ened, and i ■Yt:p^^i)^ffi^i^m>xi90^m^;: , t'-jn Vll be taken from what was said or writen about them bv those persons »-ho were acquainted with U,em in their original and pure state, before their alliance witl. Europe- ans induced new desires and new habits; and, f™. bcL the free unlicensed rangers in tlie vast woods and e^te-i! s.ve Savannalis of the new world, they became ,H^secutld and hunted hordes scattc- 1 by the pursnil., of tlieir inva- ders, or submitting with an abject and servile spirit to tiieir laws, yreHing to the bribery of intoxicating liquors, before unlnown ainong them, and sacrificir.g aid, otiier to the im and t« vengeance of Europeaiis. The modem char-acterof Uiese wTetched jieople has be«riudeed widely different from what it was when Columbus fim sought be,r nen ship, when Penn form«] witi.tla™ ajust a°nd nendly alhance, and when the i,ersec.„tc^ and distressed Indei«ndent, flod from the tynumy of a British Mon- »rch, to seek liberty of conscience and t!>e consolatioiis of rehgion ainong a people, who, it will be my business to sluHv, had t^iemselves fled from a tyrant's grasp, and, in a ».cie uncultivated, bat rich and abundant countr;, of .*>ch they had gained intelligeac, hoped to escape^he po u,,™. or an idolatrous people, and worslnp' their God in peace. Tlie first in ,«intof time of these Ejects w.. ally obtatned. No tyrant's law could restni ;: wandenng tnbcs in a country without inhabitants, capa! be of supporting hundreds of millions of people. But bis vo-y arcumstance, of the wide range U,ey were at li- berty to take, was the cause of their being soon veiy widely scattered, as tlie U-ibcs giew large and tlieir families thick- -ed. and of their losing Uiat chamcter of one people N '. »■ i ^ J' If m VIU which marked them in the land of their captivity. Sub- ject in their new abode to none but a patriarchal law, numerous circumstances would arise, many coincidences would take place, to give different characteristic features to the tribes and kingdoms which were fonned among them ; religious views and feelings would vary according as leaders of different minds rose up among them ; and it may well be imagined, that while many customs of former times would remam to shew the relationship be- tween them, some practices and some opinions would par- ticularize their societies; so that after a lapse of some hun- dred years, they may be thought to have arisen from different heads. If I am correct in the point I h ave to estab- lish, wha* more probable, than that the larger proportion of these rambling tribes would hold the belief in One God, whom they might with a striking truth and beauty call. The Great Spirit: while one body of tliem, retaining the Idolatrous impressions of their Assyrian master, would in tlie spirit of fear offer sacrifice to aMolock, the evil being, whom tliey had learned to regard as the Author of Evil and the power that had contaminated the beautiful creation and scattered curses over it : whom they must propitiate — and such were the Mexicans — and another body of them, entertaining more delightful views of the world and the author of it, would adopt the system of tlie ancient Magians; and, regarding light and fire as the image of God, and the symbols both of his purity and his beneficence, would adopt the bright luminary of day as their Emblem of the Almighty ; believing with those ancient Sages, that the Sun was the place of his abode, the body which his soul animated, and the great centre from which he scvt- tered the rays of his love upon all the creatures of his for- mation— and such were the Peruvians : whose Incas were the Children of the Sun : the first of them, they had been taught to beUeve, had descended ui)on earth, a special gift of their God, whose person and all wh. e race were sacred, and received from them a subordinate worship. The three gi-eat classes of the aboriginal Americans, first and best knovvn amongthem, bore these great and substantial marks of a Hebrew and an Assyrian origin. By these marks their forefathers in the land of Canaan had been distinctly known : for their leanings tow£u-ds Idolatry and some es- l>ecial features of it, which I shall have occasion to point out, ai-e too plainly described in the scripture history to leave us in any doubt; while they still professed, in a defective manner, their belief in the One True God: and probably tlieir residence in Media of some continuance, and how long we ai-e not able with certainty to say] little tended to lessen the disposition they had always manifested to Idolatry, with its hateful and iniquitous cus- toms. The Jews had never sunk so deep in that iniquity which the holy soul of Jehovah abhorred, that they could not be recovered: they were so to a great degree by their captivity in Babylon. But of the tribes of Israel we have never heard so good a character. Although the hands of their forefathei-s were not stained with the blood of h im nhom we. Christians, receive as the Messiali of God,— tbr they were removed to a great distance from the scene of his ministry, and did not fall under the temptation of thus striving against God,— their habits were so deeply rooted. /'; ! ' tlieir minds were so fast riveted to Idolatiy, even of the vilest kind, that it must be believed many would retain those praoticevS, and gome would break out again in their new habitation and shew the indications of the disease deeply fix- ed in tlieir ra^e. There was not one King over the Isr ael- itcs, after their separation from the house of David, who ruled the people axxording to the law of Moses : although therefore Uiey had not altogether forsaken that law, yet they were well prepared to treat its injunctions lightly. That their language should soon change and different dialects of it be fonned, is no more than has occurred in all l)arts of tjie woild upon die division of families. The three great heads of our race, the sons of Noah, separating from the place of their birth, in a Northern, an Eastern, and a Western direction, became the roots from which many nations sprang; and from tliera the numberless lan- guages of the world have arisen. Many tongues are spoken by the inhabitants of Africa, many by the people of the East, and Sir William Jones, speaking of Tartars, says, tliat their languages, like tliose of America, are in perjictual fluctuation, and that more than fifty dialects are spoken between Moscow and China by the many hundred tribes and their several branches. Yet he has no doubt that they sprang from one common source. And it will further be shewn, that although the Indians have great and striking varieties in their language, yet all of them bear strong marks of being derived from one root. Of tlie first family he also observes, in his discourse on tlie origin of the Hindoos, Arabs and Tartars— " Hence it follows, that the only family after the flood established itself in the part XI now Persia, that as the family multipUed they were di- vided into three distinct branches, each retaining little at first, and losing the whole by degrees of their common pnmary language, but agree.ing severally on new expres- sions for new ideas." Manners soon degenerate amongst wandering tribes, liv- ing mthout principle, laws, education or civil government especially where absolute want of the necessaries of life is sometimes takingplace. and the necessity of doing without causes the names and the uses to i>erish togetW. The' Indian languages, not having been reduced to any certainty by letters, must have been exposed to great changes and to misconceptions. Our organs of speech do not act with an absolute certainty, and from a defect or a redundancy in any one of them, an object may obtain a new name or an idea may be conveyed by a different combination of ^r^'' J^^ ^^^^ ^^^"^ «f «^^«g«> as well as of social iife, will have given rise to as varied a manner of speaking and the mere caprice or authority of an individual wiU iii many places have originated both words and phrases unknown to any others. It will be seen in the perusal of the following pages that when the American Indians spoke of those placesTnd persons that were selected for important national purposes and for those of religion, they invariably used a term expressive of high regard: their priests and old wairiors were beloved men, their great square in which they met to celebme public festivals was the beloved place the hut or tent which contained the holy things was the beloved house. We cannot but feel pleasure at this I'l 1 ' ", ; ■ y ( ' ■ * 1 '■I ■ I' '5i h Xll thought : for altlioiigh the usages of social life would occa- sion such tenns to appear afTected on our lips, in a sim- ple and unassuming state of society like theirs, the terms convey a devotedness of mind to men experienced in hfe and proved to be faithful, and to all that relates to the Divine Being. I cannot but regard this simple circum- stance as a beautiful trait of character, in those who have been vilified in a thousand forms and shewn in the most detestable points of light. ON THE ( >■ CHAPTER I. « i ON THE ORIGIN OF MANKIND. PLAN OF THE WORK. -LIlD we not know the rapacious disposition of mercan- tile men when they le^ve their home in order to enlarge their fortune and raise their families to wealth, it might be thought a most extraordinary thing, that the settlers on the western continent should have passed through a long succession of yeara without giving themselves any concern about the origin of the people among whom they had settled and whose land they had seized upon; that a race altogether different from any already found in any part of the world should be within their knowledge and under their eye, and yet no enquiry be made from what stock they had descended, and in wliat branch they were alHed to the inhabitants of the old Continent ITie opinion generally prevailing among us is, that the whole human r^ is descended from one pair. This opmion is derived from what we regard as divine authority: but lest any of my readers should question that authority and conceive that the early part of the history of the world B .» ^Wi ft ■i- (t >tf' was gathered by Moses or some other learned Israelite from traditions which had been handed down from gene- ration to generation, and therefore do not bear a divine stamp; it shall be added, that this opinion is corroborated and strengthened, by the observations which have been made by philosophical observers on the different nations of the earth, by the light shades of difference which are perceptible in the gradations from the purest fair to the darkest black complexion, and the evident and palpable effects of climate, food, manners, customs, habit and edu- cation, the influence of superstition which has produced its effects on the body as well as on the mind of man, and a variety of political and moral regulations. If the mind be the standard of the man; it is not less true, that pecu- liar notions taken up and acted upon, have had a sensible influence on the features of the countenance, tlie motions of the body, the shade of complexion and other traits of the human character. So that although there are great diversities in the general appearance of mankind, and we may divide them into classes, each possessing peculiarities different from the others; yet are there none of these peculiarities, whether of form or feature, or colour, but may readily be accounted for by the influence of climate, food, &c. and this is yet more confirmed by the utter impos- sibility of drawing the line which shall separate one race ii'om another, and decide tha^ this is descended from the tawny race and tliat from the fair : because the difference is so small, while the similarity is so striking, that more easy would it be to divide the approximating colours of the rainbow. There are great dissimilarities observable in M the Inhabitants ofEurope; the nations of it are harac- terised in 8u6h a way as to |)e easily distinguished; tlie Gennan, the l^renchman, the Dutchman, the Spaniard, although they haven general resemblance, are marked by traits wide enough to be known, as well in general ap- pearance as in colour; nor can we readily suy, why these nations hjive assumed peculiarities by which they are known among their fellows. But they have assumed those peculiarities. And if we pass over a few more leagues of the land or of tiie sea either to the north, the east, or the south, We eonie 'to nations whose complexions, whose form of countenance, whose figure, and Whose manner of life, are Vety materially Jifferent from those of the Eu- ropean; yet, while they exhibit as mariy shades of differ- ence as does the Iris on the cloud, they pass as gradually as do the colours of that beautiful bow from one to the other, which are known by differences so small, that we cannot perceive where one of tliese colours ends and ano- ther l>egins: so neither can we distinguish the termination of one set of characteristics of the human race and the beginning of another, so as to say, these are from one original stock and those from another. The American tribes, of whom I am about to treat, have a general character peculiar to themselves, yet they differ in some striking particulars from one another. Their general resemblance has been observed by many persons who, independenuy of each other, have visited distant pai'ts of that vast continent. There has been found a great likeness throughout, together with lines of difference, similar to those which are seen in the societies B 2 i 'I n i fi I! that possess the lands of the old hemisphere : but there are none of those great dissimilarities amongst them which mark the natives of Europe, Asia and Africa. Al- though they axe spread over a country which bears a near pioportion to the Eastern Continent, and stretches as wide from North to South, into the frigid and over the torrid zone, still a great resemblance is discovered among them, they have all the appearance of being descended from one stock. When this extensive country became first known to the Europeans, it bore evident marks of having been but recently the abode of men. The greater part of it was wild, oveiTun with woods, interspersed with bogs and marshes, whose pestilential vapours the industry of man had not attempted to remove j t^xtenslve suviimialis, in which wild herds of cattle fed undisturbed; and rivers to which those of Europe axe streamlets, yet over which no vessels had ever sailed larger than the light canoe, made of the bark taken off sound and whole from their majestic trees, or cut out with uncouth instruments from the solid timber. It is a circumstance deeply to be regretted, that the first visiters oi the new contment, and the first settlers upon it, do not appeax to have entertained the thought of enquiring into the origin of this new people. At that period, before they were defiled by the impurities and the impieties of European civilization, and driven from their pacific settlements by European rapacities and cruelty, before they were scattered like sheep by ravenous wolves, and, being so scattered, lost gradually the marks by which they were then distinguished j and before they fell a sac- nficc by Im„,lre,h„„,I I,y .touxu.uls to the cruel bondaRe by •vluch they wei-e visited, to obtain fur their unfeeling task- masters that eursed gold «hich has enflamed the evil pas- sions in aU ages, but never before with that unfeeliuK rapacty that filled the Spaniarf's breast with every „„ju,t «nd .mpious tho„ght-nt that period much might have been discovered from the customs prevalent among them, an, from the traditions which were fresh in their memories, and had not been disturbed by change of manners or by persecufon, of their early history, andmo,^ certain means might have been obtained for tracing their origin. The Spamards cared little for the history of these hamless people They found them a set of beings differem from ^e mhabttants of the old world, meek, peaceful, hospita- ble, benevolent, possessing few marks of what they regard- ed as cm'u=ation, and, compared with themselves in a state of Ignorance and of barbarism. They found their mterestm reading and in describing them as an inferior roee, and m the pride or the hypocrisy of their heart, they id not hesitate to declare, in the reports they sem home to their govenmient, that they were of an inferior order of men, fitted only for beasts of burden. They forced tliem to toil in the ricu streams thatpoured down LZZ mountems golden sand, they devoted them to iZrt the mines which they soon discovered rising .„ the IZ urface of the mountdns. Ueir only earelas to iZ the eyes of the ruleB at home, to whom they were T oountabk for their conduct abroad; and so eiy L » efl-ectually did they complete this w^iked purpLftr by the nusrepresentation of their wretched IveV^d b3 d 3 ■4 ii ! •n i WuK 6 tlie powerful iudiicnce of the silver and gold which they icinittwl to their king, they concealed the real condition, character, and powers of the natives from the Spanish Court, and went on for a long time iu the exercise of ra- piK'ity, cruelty, and murder, until hy far the greater jmrt of the population of tliosc tenitories which they had in- vaded were exhausted hy rigorous treatment, by severe 1'isks which their delicate frame could not endure, and by a generally licencious conduct unchecked by any principle of humanity — but — alas — all iu tlie name of religion ! ! These evilfe 'ell chiefly on those Americans who lived a comparatively civilized life — who had a quiet and a happy home, and, with few wants and tliose easily suppUed, had no occasion for the bodily laboms which stiffen the mus- cles and sticngthen the nerves, and form the robust and vigorous man, and on tliat account were totally unfit for the hard duties imposed upon them by their merciless invaders. Happy were the wild and wandering tribes among them iu those days of tenor, who could strike t\mr tents and retire into the woods at the i^ound of an enemy's footsteps. The savage as he wa? called was hapi)y while the civilized Indian fell a prey to the avaince and the reck- less cruelty of tlie Si)amard. Long was it after these Christians had landed in America before, great as wus their zeal for the catholic faith, lliey oilered the cv. 'isola- tions of religion to these wretched sufferers: and when at lenifth thev did ofl'er them, it was with a view to enveiijlc, to deceive, and to pilfer them with greater ease. Yet the remarks which were made incidcntarv by some of the first settler:; farui.sh valuable hints to ,sup-port the object of the present work. Although they apiK'or to haw; en- tertaiued uo thought of these people being dcscoaderl from on European or an Asiatic race, yet their observaUons t«nd in some iustoncos to illustrate the subject which is now before ua. I'hosc remarks are the more valuable, Ixjcauae they came from obscn-ation, and without any thought of the use that would afterward be made of them; and be- cause they were ma^lo at the early period when the Ameri- cans retained more of their original character. In an enquiry like the pre^ont, some notion of the origin of the I»eoplew of great importance, because the enquirer will tlien have his mind directed to those tniits of chanicter wiiich support his position; whereas, without it he may I«i.ss many of them by unobserved, for the want of per- ceiving their bearing on the point in view: and this was no doubt the case with the first setUers in Amenca. They did not see the points of resemblance which we are iH>w seeking for, becaase they hiul no concc^ption of their existence, and their minds and their whole attention were turned to very different objects. T may be lead astray in a contrary coarse. The man n'lio thinks he is in posses-sion of some new and valuable thou£rht, and is desirous of estal>lishin<,' the proof of it, may exun:i>e the energies of his mind to make all that occurs b(>nd to supp)rt his opinion ; in thi., way facts may be mi::;repi-esented or distorted for the express puipose of supixntiTig an hypotJiesis. It may happen that circum- stimces will be detailed in tliis volume which have this cluiracter; for I shall not withhold even slight symptom.^ (>{■ resemblance wlii.-h bear upon the point in question: 8 .;i» "♦I but, as I trust I shall produce much more tlian mere conjecture many circumstances which amount to a strong presumpt /e proof, and an abundance of corroboratinir o facts, those minor points of simiUtude will be regard- ed in their proper light, and be allowed to throw in their mite of evidence in support of the interesting fact, that — The immense populatiomvith which the contijient of vimerica was f mind to be inhabited on itsjirst discovery, were the direct lineal descendants of the nine tribes and a half, or a large part of them., that were carried captive by tite Assyrian King, and since their banishment from their own country have been lost to their brethren the Jews and to all the historians of latter times. But can they be altogether lost, or can they be inter- mingled among the new tiibes that have been fonned and the new kingdoms that have sprung up? Tliei' constituted a large proportion, more than three fourths, of the chosen people of God; concerning whom so many prophecies stand recorded in the holy books, for whom so many stiiking interferences took place under the direct agency of the Almighty ; for the express purpose of separating them from the idolatrous nations, of keeping them a distinct and peculiar people, of making them bear his name to the ends of the earth and spread his glory among the nations. Can they then be lost, destroyed, rooted out from the habitations of men ? Or can they be so amalgamated with those Idolaters who conquered them, or with those people with whom they have since dwelt, as to be no more known a separate people, as to have lost their identity, and be no where to be found in the day to 9 th„=» ^v. "'"^^'^<^° dt.,pemd amcig tke nations, ami t°^ »•'» i-e been cast oot, shall alike be call dZ the sp«=:al vo.ce of G to their conn" i J ^ -...e.i':::-r--:;--- name is one, and whose praise one > to!^!^^^"t*"f **"' tot«x.ncae himself coranletelv ^ 4e though, th« there has long been an end to' tlfo e tnbes He says "thus the ten tribes which had sepam^ d"L : "'"'"^ ^ '""^'^ «" " f»" ^^"- "Some nfT """ "^"^ '"="™-^ themselves." Again came wHoUy absorbed and swaUowed un in th ^ese are bold ^X ^I ^f ^^^ ''':'^" °"' other p.^,; than tl.at he, wi4 l^L^"" P'"?""" "'' e should they be ill „a«,; and if u-e d b lei aco„™t,«n that they act on a conscientioua prinlip' and do no, become christia.«, beca„«, they think fev ought not, they do not deserve iU usage of rep ^ "I our par, morathan we do on theirs,Za„se Tl „„" abandon our christian faith and submi, to the hIZ Their foreHrthers oever sunk so deen in th^ ,.• •.• or Idolatry a, did their b.U>re„ ofTU X'"" : for «h.ch abandonment of , heir integrity thev incun-ed l^fW"''^'^'' P'^'-*' denounced by" propheta In the very peculiar state in which they con! ~i.e.e see .he pledge and the certainey of Z Not less frequent nor less plain are the prophecies which -reredehver^ to the Israeh,es while they dwe^nt ' pon 7LT I """'^'' "' "^"^ "^ •« loose .ITr? ; Av^ngorwas bmught up against ,hem by tha Bemg by whom kings «ig„, and thTy we™ carried capfve to a strange land, there «, expiate their sin bvl! ^ffenng of dist^ss and affliction, wlL were d^'fa t he d,spensatK.„s of Heaven to operate as a medfcine o 'h« Aseased mind, and make them .^tum ^wT , -1 »«ul .0 him from whom they had dee^^ i'"" n h.s s.pent „f the divine pur^^e'be:^;,;' ""' •"= '^"''"'y^' 'h^y cannot he mixed wilh Z I I'' ft-*. I 12 ■** heatliciij I ke the waters of a river in the great bed of the Ocean ; they must still have an existence, as distinct as that of their brethren, the Jews, and will be found of him that seeks after them, when he shall display his great jMJwer and the banner of his salvation. It is quite certain that in the captivity, both of tlie Jews and the jjeople of Israel, the whole body of them was not included. Some were left behind, not worthy the captor's attention^ otliers escaped before they were mustered to submit to their fate. Many, of those perhaps who had money at command, fled into Eg)rj>t. When Ptolemy, long after, obtained from the High Priest the copy of the holy writings, in order to have them translated into Greek, they were accompanied by a letter from Eleazar in which he wrote, "I have sent you six elders out of every tribe, with the law to attend your pleasure'*. Some of all the ten tribes must therefore have been at Jerusalem at that time : perhaps the holy city was never entirely without a few of every tribe. The plan to be pursued in the present work is the fol- lowing. We shall first take a view of the prophecies relative to the Tribes of Israel, both as to their dissolution and their recovery — ^then show the general character of the Inhabitants of the American Continent, the degene- rate state to which they have been reduced, and the immense sacrifice of life they have sustained through the cupidity and licentiousness of the Europeans ; their man- ners, customs and religious ceremonies; the traditions still found among them of their original settlement in that country, .the people from whom they descended and the 13 quarter at which their ancestors entered -th.!,™ , e.«ons which have been tep. .^^^:XT I te%, we shall attempt to trace the course 4 cluhT" marks of an incidental nature laid before the reader i ^JI consider whether there be not reason to bd^e 'tl^ the God of the Jews ha, still taken care of his ch L; t .^peai, of ui: „::;rrt^^ '"-' '- future time, it is the natio.: th Ca" "', ' "'""f °^'''<' I*"!"'^ remains, so long as they retain -setti.a.non,th:„no:rtLtt:T;ri tne lulseliood of tlin«P n,„* t i ' ^"^ . "" "I "io&e that did attempt it, the rUfflpnU 0^0. nnng proper ana fear th.-y have entertained of the white people, from r t ■ trl 14 H H ■•in whom they have received little other than injury, extreme suffering and wanton destruction — It must be obvious that under such circumstances as these many difficulties will arise in this investigation. We have a comparison to make between a people originally possessing and observing a peculiar economy, but degenerating under that economy in an extreme degree, and intermixing in its aws and customs others to which they were originally and systematically hostile ; calling themselves the wor- shippers of One God and yet indulging in the worship of many; acknowledging themselves bound to the Mosaic law yet uniting with it what was the most alien from it — and an immense population divided into separate communities, forming new kingdoms, instituting new laws; or remain- ing under the authority of no established code, but sub- mitting to tlie rule of a chief who professed no authority but the tradition of which himself was the depository. When the very different states of two such people arc considered, and the long lapse of time between the disap- pearance of the former and the discovery of the latter, together with tlie distance of the countries in which they severally resided, and that one was in the highest state of cultivation while the other was a wild waste : must it not be thought that, tliough these histories relate to the same people yet great and incalculable changes must have taken place among them, and that we are not to expect to find many clear and distinctive marks by which it may be made to appear, that the American Tribes are the offspring of the captivated and cast-out tribes of Israel. CHAPTER IT. 1' 1 * r : ■ ■ i ' ■ i OF THE PROPHECIES. From ,ho history of the Hebrews and fro,,, .!,„, saored wr,t,„gs i, appears, that the great Governor o I! um^rse did select that people fro.^„ „. ZZ^^Z earth, not only to receive and to preserve the great do,- «.ne of the d.vino Unity, together with that pu.i.y .„,d ^■enessof worship whichhe requires; b„t also todo,:^^ ove the same to the other nations. They have bee,, made the depositories of Prophecies, instr,fctive .0 themselves alone but to all the earth Th informed in a language the most plain, what^w^d W d ments of God or were disobedient to them and in th.- r^n^ fully e^Henced the truth X;; ^ -v th the uT "7T '"' '"" P^*'"^ -I"-'"' w,th the untoward disposition of the people Jhen h,. he,r tendency would be to revolt .0 I absurdities^ d .•.bom,„at,onsofthe„ations around .hem;.ndbei„gin.pi,.«! c2 V ; ' -1,1 J --I • y i 'i if III ^1 : 1 II *?• 16 "t with a spirit of prophecy, he warned them of their danger in suhUme language. Deut. 4. 23. "Take heed to your- selves lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God which he made with you, to make you a graven image or the likeness of any thmg which the Lord thy God hath forhidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire. —When yon corrupt yourselves and make a graven Image I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off tlie knd wliither ye go over Jordan to possess it. And the Lord God shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall he left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And ye shall sei-ve other Gods, tlie work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, or hear, nor eat, nor smell. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul." After this Moses gave them the law, and enumerated many blessings which should he conferred on them in case of their hearkening diUgently to the voice of the Lord, to observe and do his commandments, and then passed on to the extraordinary and dreadful curses which would rest upon them if tliey were disobedient to the heavenly vision. See 29. 10. and following. o For the fulfilment of the divine commands it was neces- sary to separate them from the rest of the people of the earth; so that their political and religious institutions might be known to the world, and the exclusive nature of their principles. They were thus separated, and enjoyed the privileges of their land through many genera-lens : but i'l 17 ...ey soon fo,g„t ,he covenant of their God and fell into 1. Ido atry of other nation. About seven hundred yZ Wore tl.e ehnsuan era, near the Ume of Salmanaeax, Kin. f As.,,™. Isaiah the prophet rose among them and delivered from Gel 4is solemn message. ^'The Urd sent a word unto Jacob and it lighted „po„ Is J Jj ,^ f' rir'i' '"""'-T ^''-'- -' "^^ heart r; t" ""' T *" P"""" ""^ ^'<»"'><=- "f 'heir ■cart, the bneks are fallen down but we will build with .o«„ stone &c-therefore the Lorf will cu, off from W oad^d^l, branch and root, together." Isaiah 9 ^To IJ. -0 Assyrian! U.e rod of mine anger: and tl,e Jl ^thetr hand is mine indignation. I wSl in^^^ Je A Syrian), agamst an hyp<«ritical nation, and lil, * P»f of my -ath will I give him a charge, T2 themrre of the streets." ch. 10.3. 6. In eh Tin 2 1~ that he will recover his people from tieir bond: r "'7°'' ^''^'^^ i» -ery place; among othe^Zl f T"'7 '^^«"« "-"di-g to Wh, imLerry rT feed m Uiereceived version, theislandsofthe sr "ITd he shall hft up a signal ,„ tj.e nations, and shall ^al!r tlie four e.«remities of the earth ^'"^f^"^^ f™™ ■%Hway for the remnan^of ir^^thS'^.r "^.^ Irom Assyi-ia." i'^*^ wm.n shall remain Benjamin that adhered faithfully .0 th?h:.:;'Sard. c3 * I t •r '•1 ".1 . i le H\ 1 : 1 ' and the other ton tribes usually called Israel, and also Ephraim, who had served another race of kings. The one is described as dispersed among tlie nations in the four comers of the globe, the other as outcasts from the nations. This restoration is said to be accomplished a second time. The first was from Egypt, the second from all parts to which tliey were spread. The places too are designated from whence they shall return, I'rom Assyria and Egypt, where many of the Jews still reside, from different parts of Persia, where are numbers of them, from the provinces of Assyria, and from the western regions. The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which are well known to be still dispersed throughout the three quarters of the Globe, are thus distinctly described, together with tlie places in which they will be found ; with whom a part of the tribe of Levi have always been inteiinixed — ^but as for the majority of these privileged people, the nine tribes and the rest of the Levites, generally known by the designation of the ten tribes, although the devout believer in divine revelation has no doubt of their being preseiTed by the sovereign power of God in some unknown region, yet, after the world has been traversed in every possible direction, they have not yet been discovered. The interpretation given by Lowth, who when he >n*ote his translation of Isaiah, had no tiiought of the subject now before us, directs us to look for them in the western region whither they had been cast out. The jms sages in Isaiah which have a reference to God's people are numerous, I need not repeat them all, but would refer my reader also to the forty-third chapter at !l!!l|i| 19 ihe bcginnins, "But now ,aitl. the Lord who created thee Jaeob, ,ml he who formed thee, O Wl; fe., „„, f„; 1 have redeemed thee, &c. I„ Is. 49. 12 Uiey are d^ scnbel as r-^ing mom.tain, fi™, far and eomim; from the north and west and other, from the eastern eountry In tl,e book of Ezekiel 37. 16. w„ have thk striking passage, "Moreover, tliou son of man, take thee a stiek a.Kl write upon it, 'forJudah and for4l>eehiIdren of Israel Ins companions." And U.en another stick and write upon "; 7°', ^r^^' *" ''i* of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel, h>s companions.' And the fact has been as the prophet intimated : for at the captivity some of the people ol Israel were intenni.TOd with tl.oso of Judah and taken away with them, while the greater part were carried cap- tive at a different time and placed in a countr to the north of Babylon. Tlie return of these tribes has also an allusion to them as a separate people, Zech. 8. 7. -I will save my people torn the east country, from Babylon and Assyria, and from tlie west eoar.try". I should also refer the reader to the 20th. Ezekiel, 35 and following verses, from which it appears, that they will be gathered out of all comitries whither they have wandered, and from a wildern^,s in which God will plead with them, that they will suffer greatly, and yet with reluctance will leave their settle- mem, and their retmn shall be in many respects like that of then: fathers out of Egypt. It is not posdble for Ian- guage to be more clear than is the lavage found in many ol the prophet,, of the finaj mum of these tribes to tlieir former city and country; which language is not confined 20 Hi I to the Jews, who arc known still to exist in great num- bers; but equally applies to the Israelites. Ezekii'l writes, "Thus saitli tlie Lord, behold I will take the children of Israel, (these tenns are applied to tlie wh'jlo family of Jacob, ) from among the heatlien, whither they are gone, and will gather them on every sido, and bring them into their own land, and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king of them all, and they shall no more hi-. two kingdoms any more at all." Ez. 37. 21. and the following verses. They are especially chai'ged with the sin of drunkenness, of which more will be said hereafter. Amos was of tlie ten tribes and delivered his prophecies not long before tlieir banislnnent. There is an extraor- dinary coiTcspondence between his prophetical words and tliose of Esdnis which were historical. He describes the Idolatry of Israel, thus, "Tliey that swear hy the sin3 of Samaria, and say. Thy God, O Dan, Uvetli; and the maimer of Beersheba livetli : even they shall fall." Those two phices were at the extremes of Samaiia, Chap. 8. 1 1 and following. "Behold the days come, saith tlie Lord,, tliat I will send a famine on the land — on the tribes of Israel — not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water; but of hearing tlie word of the Lord. And tliey shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to tlie east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of tlie Lord, and shall not find it" Here is a prediction, that in their exile they shall know, that they were blessed with divine communication but have lost it ; which correctly corres- ponds with declarations of ten made by the Indians to the 21 Kuropeans-that .bey shall rove from sea to sea ami fr„,„ Ih. north even to Ike .„,^tl.e exact course which it will he shew^ they ,ook-fr.„„tl.e MeUitcmu.eun to the easten, occai. and again from tl,e Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean- they shall run to and fro through a large and free space,' they shall rotah, jome just notions of God, ,md seek his wonl from their priests, but shall not find it. In the 15th' U.e,r return is foreU,W. -. J ,,„ bring again the captivity of my people Isra^d to." The spirit of prophecy ba, thus funnshed ua w.th a valuable clue to the discovery of those tnbcs: not m U.eir own land nor soatterc-d amo„. the natton^but pas.sing liom the north to U.e east amrfrom ■sea to sea, roving about; retaining some traditionary vewsoffonnertbings, seeking divine communicaU„ns,but ■n vam. When the pages of this volume have been read, then- tradtfons considere.1 and their usages surveyed, it is not too much to say, U.at the tribes of Israel will be ree„gn.sed in A.ue.ica, perishing under tl.e predicted famme ol the wonl. The language of prophecy must be acknowledged to be d,(hcult mterpretotion, and it is only where the terms of u do appear to apply clearly .„ any particular case that I should be disposed to attempt its cxpIanaUon. Now some of tlmse of the prophets seem ,„ deserve notice on 4e suVct that is before us. Let the reader turn also to tl.e tlnrfeth and thirty-first chapters of Jeremiah, which were written about a hundral and twenty yea., after the e..puls.on of the ten tribes, he will find promises which have notyet been fulfilled, a ..storation in the latter days. Tlicy are called Ephram. my dear Son "upon whom U,c i f ' * fell I I ) mi •HE 22 liord will have mercy : he will bring again the captivity of his people and cause them to retmn to the land of their fathers, he will save them from afai-, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, because they called thee an outcast, saying, this is Zion, whom no man seeketh after." He speaks Quisles afar off, which signify.lands beyond sea. See also ch. 16. and Isaiah 18. "Ho, thou land shadow- ing with wings'*— an illusion perhaps to the safety in which the people shall rest in that unmolested coun- try—" which is beyrad the rivers of Ethiopia. Who sendest Embassadoi-s by the sea, oven in vessels of bul- nishes upon the face of die watci-s," a nation expert in navigation. "Go ye swift Messengers to a nation scat- tered and peeled, whose land the rivers have spoiled." Rivers is a prophetic term often used for armies which overflow a country. Verse 7. "At that time shall a pre- sent be brought of a people scattered and peeled &c." There are numerous other chaptei-s in the prophets to which die readier might be refeired, which speak of the return of the Israelites, as well as of the Jews, to their own land at a future period, sufficiently plain to convince us, that diey have been kept by the mighty power of God, and still are preserved, against that great day of their sal- vation. But where in all the world can they be found if it be not on the Continent of America ? In the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, die prophetic lan- guage is of a peculiar cast and although I will not say it distincdy points to a Country and people situated a^ America and its inhabitants are, yet I must not omit directing the attention of my readers to its contents. It 23 Wgins with on invocation u, tl,e M.^,vl.ich tenn does far" n^fl , """ "'"' '""''^" ^' P-P'^' fro™ f • llus ,s the knguage of tl,e people of Wl. "He " f ,""•" me, thou a« my servant, O Israel, in whom I he tnbes of Jacob, and restoring the preserved of Israel . vat.on he deivered .he.n: to the prisoners he wo'uld say. Go forth, and to them that are in darkness shew :rxrte:rr™:r-f--'" g^ en that should a mother fo-get her suckling child yet L d wUl not forget her, and that the numbers whL T etl ,t ■""■"" •'y '^'"<'" "''^ "habitants. Then „,,„ .T.e children which thou shalt have, * thou hast lost the other."-the race of the Jews t 7 f ' '"' "'"'^ '''^*^^" "- I'-Mtes shall .W, . J'T' 'f r ^'^' <■•" - Si- place that I may l»dl Ihen Shalt thou say in thine heart. Who l>ath U^oten me these, seeing I ha,^ Ios.u,y children, and " hath brought up d>ese? Behold I was left alone' tee. where have they been?" After which we leam ' *e ruhug powers of nations shall be employed to . re t e p. ,e of God, who h.^ been utteriy L of La! r f"^*' P«rio-e visited djfferent tnbes. Bat this remark does not apply ,o the Esquimaux, who appear to be a difliaent J;. Those wh.ch are fomid in Labrador, Greenland and round S^oyeds and Tamrs, who may have gone over fr„„ he north of Europe to Iceland and thenee u> Greenland and Labnulor These people do not seem to have intermixed with the Indians. DuPratz, in hUhistory of I^uisiana, gives an account the nation of the Paducas, west of the Missouri, in 1 724 which may furnish a faint idea of the numbers riginully inhabiting this vast mnrin^n. ti ™ feuwuy the P.,^L "on'^nt He says "The nation of the Paducas is very numerous, extending about two hundred leagues: they have settlements quite close IZ Spamaris of New Mexico. They have laige viZ which are permanent abode,, from which a hundTed tock of arrows. The village in which we were consfsted of one hundred and forty huts, containing eight hundred t il M li*il III] i ' ^ 1 f^^l i ■ 1 llH fl' \^U ^" !H 1 ^ .M 38 1 •"; I t I, ■231 warriors, fifteen bundi-ed women, and at least two thousand children ; some men having four wives." Some writers report the number of the waniors in the state of Virginia to have been fifteen thousand, and their population fifty thousand, each village containing foui-teen thousand souls. From which it is but a moderate estimate to suppose, that there were six hundred thousand fighting men or warriors on this continent at its first discovery. Vaiious estimates of this kind were made by diflTerent persons long time ago, under the direction of the government, and by the Missionaries sent among them. Of the Mexican Indians we learn, that according to their account the empire ha/1 not h«.,n of long duration. Their country was rather possessed than peopled by small independent tribes, whose mode of life and manners resembled that of the most rude : that, about the period coiTesponding witli the beginning of the tentli century, many tribes moved in successive emigrations towards the north-west, and settled in what is now called New Spain. These began t» form themselves to the arts of social life. Long after they were united they were unacquainted with regal dominion, and were governed in peace and conducted in war by such as were entitled to pre-eminence by their wisdom or their valour; whose authority centered at last in a single person. From the migration of then- parent tribes they reckoned only about tlu-ee hundred years; from the establishment of the monarchy a hundred and thirty, or two hundred by another computation. The colour of tlie Indians, generally speaking, is red, brown or copper colom , difiering according to climate and 39 to high or W ground. They are umversally attached to their colour, thinkmg it an honourable mark of distinction. They make use of stains, prepared from plants a,,d trees, to deepen it ' The powerful operation of heat appears to be the cause which produces the striking varieties in the complexion of men. AU Europe, great part of Asia, and the temperata parts of Afnca. .are inhabited by men of a white cdour. with vanetie, proportioned to the heat: the tonid zone of A noa, and some spots of Asia, are filled with blacVs; the coloui increasing as we advance towards the meridian, and deepemng till it becomes perfectly black. In Africa the colour IS the deepest of aU In consequence of the e=rteneive deserts of sand and the intense burning heat which they mduce. But in America the same phenomena aie not seen; a little difference of colour ia percqitibk as we advaace to the southward, but a striking similarity i, found m the figu,« and general aspect of the jjfle. This differenc-e of the influence of climate In thV two contmentsjs accounted for by Robertson, by "the intense cold which comes from the pole where reposes m eternal body of snow and ice. the influence of which on the .imosphere is not completely overcome eveo when it reachesdiegulf of MeKico." To which may be added^l! cause of the difference, the still defective cultivation of the bH the unmeiise swamps in lie neighbourhood of the great nvers, end the want of the burning sands whkh cover a large part of the other continent I Zohnot *o to add the iact of the recent popuinfth: extensive counter by one of the great families of mankind. ••11 l«-Hl f i >j I i i ;-l iI'HI 30 ■fe: J J,.. -fir,. The testimony of so great a historian as Robertson on this point we must not omit: excepting tlie Esquimaux and Greenlanders, he says, "Among all the other Americans there is such a striking similitude, in the form of their bodies and qualities of mind, that notwithstanding the diversities occasioned by climate and an unequal progi-essin improvement, we must believe them descended from one scource. Variety of shades, but all one colour; each ti-ibe sometliing to distinguish it, but all certain features common to the race:" after some other remarks he compares them to the rude Tartars, "from whom I suppose them to have sprung." " TJie Esquimaux ^nd the dwellers round Hudson*s Bay, to whom the Greenlanders may be added, are the only people of America that are unlike the main body, and beai- a resemblance to the Europeans. Of the origin of those people we are instructed by Grotius, that "some of tlie Norwegians passed over into Ameiica by way of Greenland." Proud of their red colour, to tlie white people the natives give names expressive of contempt: often with great bitterness ihey call them, "the accursed people.'^ It is asserted by Adair, fiom actual observation, that the hotter the country in which they dwell, the deeper is the colour of their bodies. They endeavour every where to cultivate the copper colour, but some are naturally fairer than others. They have a tradition among them, that in the countiy fai- west, from which they came, all the people are of one colour, but they no longer know what that colour was. Europeans have been known to become as deeply coloured as the Indians, by living among them '(', 31 and using the means they furnished them with, in a very few years. The inliabitants of tJie north are not of so deep a dye as those of the south, a fact which is a^ obsen'able m Europe and Asia as it is in America. It is a matter of fact proved by liistorical documents, tliat the Europeans found these people upon tJieir first intimacy kind, hospitable and generous ; wanting nothing themselves, they were ready to communicate of their plenty t» others : but whentlirough a thirst of gam, they were over-reached and betrayed, and their friends and relatives weie stolen away and sold to slavery, an inveterate enmity and a spirit of revenge succeeded to their natural kuidness. The evil passions, cruel conduct, and vicious habits which aftenvards distinguished them, are to be attributed, not to themselves, but to those who forced them into birth: their conquerors raised their jealousy, provoked their free spirit, and funiislied all the means of propagating and spreading the evil. Take but the account given by Dr. Robertson of the hostilities carried on in the colony of Virginia. "So much were the natives provoked by tlie conduct of the new settlers who were few and feeble, that they formed the determination to extirpate them. Their attack was conducted with secrecy, the colonists were surprised and a large proportion of them were cut off. In tlieir tnm the sui-vivors waged a destructive war with tlie Indians, and regardless, like the Spaniards, of those principles of faith, honor, and humanity, wluch regulate hostilities among civilized nations, the EngUsh deemed every thing allowable which helped to accomplish their designs. They hunted 1.1 H nil I > ■ ; 5Bi ! i\ ; .•■.It' I. I V 1 III m if ft:: 33 the Indians like wild beasts rather than like men ; and as the approach to them in the woods was difficul't and dangerous, they allured them from their fastnessses with offers of peace and promises of oblivion, and with such an artful appearance of sincerity as deceived the Indian chief, and induced them to return in the year 1623 to their former settlements, and resume their peaceful occupations. The behaviour of the two people seemed now to be reversed. The Indians, like men acquainted with the principles of integrity and good faith, confided in the reconciliation and lived in security, without suspicion of danger; while tlie English, with perfidious craft, were preparing to outdo the savages in auelty and revenge. On the approach of harvest, when a hostile attaxik would be most fatal, the English fell on the Indian Plantations, murdered every person of whom they could lay hold, and drove tlie rest into the woods, where great numbers perished through want; and some of the tribes which were nearest the coast were totally extirpated." Of the wax in New England, in their first attempt against the Pequod Indians he writes thus : " The Indians had secured their town, which was on a rising ground on a swamp, with pallisades; The New England troops unperceived reached the pallisades ; the barking of a dcj alanned the Indians. In a moment they started to arms^ raised the war-cry and prepared to repel the assaflants! But the English forced their way through into the fort, set fire to the huts which were covered witJi reeds, and confusion and terror soon became general. Many women and children perished in the flames, and the warriors who 33 endeavoured to escape were either slain by the Englisli or falling into tlie bands of their Indian Allies, were reserved for a more cruel fate. The English resolved to pursue their victory, and bunting the fugitives iroin one place to another, subsequent encounters were scarcely less fatal tlian the first action : and in less than tliroe months the tribe of the Pequods was cxtii-pated." He also states "that the inhabitants of the islands resembled very mudi tliose of tlie main land in their appearance and manner of life: but the Carribbees arc said to have been canabals, which charge has also been brought against the inhabitants of Rio Plata." This may be one of the calumnies brought against diem by then- enemies and invaders, to blacken tliem, and give a kind of justification to their own cruel tieatment and plan of extermination, and might arise from the solemn and formal manner in which tliey execute some that have been taken in war, to satisfy the ashes of firiends on whose account the wax had been carried on. "Thus die Enghsh stained dieii- laurels by die use they made of victory. Instead of treating the Pequods as an independent people, who made a gallant efibrt to defend die property, the rights, and the freedom of their nation, they retaliated upon them all the barbarities of American war, to which themselves hod first given birth. Some diey massacred in cold blood, others they gave up to be tortured by dieir Indian Allies, a considerable number were sold as slaves in Bermuda, the rest were reduced to servitude among themselves.'* It has been in diis way, it is to be feared, that die larger part of that > • * i I I if I ■ •■■35' I^ni it 34 ground on which the Independent States of America arc now boasting of tlieir freedom, was fir«t (obtained from its former owners and finally secured totJic present possessors. If tlie character of the Indians, us originally kind and hospitable, should be doubted by those who would judge of tliem by their more recent circmnstances and conduct- we may go back to the days cf Columbus, and learn whal he thought of them : no one aunly could be a better judge of the native character of that unkno^vn people. In wilting to his master, the King, under whose sanction he maxle his voyage, he says, «I swear to your Majesties, that there is not a better people in the world than these, more affectionate, affable and mild. They love their neighbours as themselves. Their language is the sweetest, the softest and moat cheerJ'ul, for they always speak smiling." A venerable old man one day apprt)ached Columbus with great reverence, and presenting him with a basket of Iruit, said, "You are come into these countries with a force against which, wei-e we inclined to resist, resistance would be folly. We are all therefore at your mercy. But il you are men, subject to mortality like ourselves, you cannot be unapprised, that after this life there is' another, wherein a very different portion is allotted to good and bad men. If therefore you expect to die, and beheve with us, that every one is to be rewarded in a future state, according to his conduct in the present, you wiU do no hurt to those who do none to you." ^ De Las Casas, Bishop of Chapia, who spent much tunc and labour among the ^ndians of New Spain, writes ^i^'ji'i. ^w 35 "I was one of the first who went to America, ncithe- curiosity nor interest prompted me to undertake so long and so danjerous a voyage. The saving the souls of the heathen was my sole object It was said, that barbarous executions were necessary to punish or check the rebellion of the Americans. But to whom was this owing? Did not this people receive the Spaniards who first came among them with gentleness and humanity? Did they not shew more joy in proportion, in lavishing treasure upon them, than the Spaniards did greediness in receiving it? Though they gave up to us their lands and riches, we would also take from them their wives, their children, and their liberty. To blacken the character of these unhappy people, their enemies «8sert that they are scarcely human beings. But it is we i;'ho ought to blusli, for having been less men and more barbarous than they. They are represented as a stupid peopje and addicted to vice. But they have contracted most of their vices from the examples of christians. The Indians stili remain untainted by many vices usual among Europeans, such as ambition, blasphemy, swearing, treachery, which have not taken place among them. They have scarcely an idea of these, &c."~«imilar representations are gjven by Spaniards rho hrJ the earliest opportunites of knowing these people, although it has ever been a subject of deep regret that the public authorities who were sent out by the Spanish Government, and even many of the priests who accompanied them, made it a business to vilify these poor creatures, and represent them as fit only to be employed as beasts of burden. '%ilil *,II, I ii ^■;: .:( t ; 1 ?j :Svl : 1 , "1" 11 H I m\ 36 ■•-r . ..J ' ■ ..J ■ •'j I -J k In a sermon which was preached at Plymouth, in the year 1620, by tlie Rev. Mr. Cushman, tlie following remarks are found : "The Indians are said to be the most cruel and treaxjherous people, even like lions, but to us they hare been like lambs; so kind, so submissive, so trusty, as a man may truly say, many christians are not so kind and sincere. Though when we first came into this country we were few, many of us very sick and many died by reason of the wet and cold, it being the depth of winter, and we having no house or shelter, yet when tliere were not six able persons among us, and the Indians came daily to us by hundreds with their Sachems or Kings, and might in one hour have made dispatch of us, yet they never offered us tlie least injury in word or deed.'* Many are the authorities which might be quoted to shew the simplicity, amial jeness, and excellence of tlie character these people manifested upon the first settlement of the Europeans on the eastern coast of North America, and in many parts where they were rot provoked to desperation for a century afterwards; but, as much has been written as is necessary for the purpose that is now before us. One quotation more will carry our views into the back settlements, where we shall find tribes of people bearing the same characteristics. Father Charlevoix travelled at an early period and sjient a long time among them, traversing the country from Quebac to New Orleans, and had no object in view but to study and improve the character of his hosts. He \^ rites of tliem thus; "With a mien and apj>earance altogether savaj?e, and with manners and cu?t )ms which savour of the greatest 1 37 barl>arity, tliey enjoy the advantages of society. At first new one would imagine them without form of govern ment, laws or subordination, and subject to the wildest caprice. Nevertheless they rarely deviate from certain maxims and usages fomided on good sense alone, which holds the place of law and supphes in some sort the want of legal authority. They manifest much stability in the engagements they have solemnly entered into ; patience in afflicfaon, as well as submission to what they apprehend to be the appointment of providence. In all this they inamfest a nobleness of soul and constancy of mind at which we rarely arrive, with all our philosophy and reli- gion. They axe slaves neither to ambition nor interest, the two passions which have so much weakened in us the sentiments of humanity, and kindled those of covetous- ness, which are as yet generally unknown to them." "What surprises exceedingly in men whose outward appearance proclaims nothing but barbarity is, to see them behave to each other with a kindness that is rarely met withm civihzed nations, a natural and imaffected gravity which reigns in all their behaviour and even in their' diversions; especially the deference tliat is alwaj^s shewn by young people to tiie aged: and never to see them quaireUng or using those indecent expressions, those oaths and curses, so common in most communities." I^u Prat^ says of them, ^^I have attentively considered the«. Indians a long time, and never found or heard of any disputes or boxings with eiAer boys or men " I„ short, says Boudlnct, 'e.r condition that they had eveiy thing u> gain and I-ttle to ,o,e, when the opportunity of escape presented uself, and a new and promising scene opeued before the.n through the reports of tmveUers, perhaps son:e en.eT,risim, men of the.r own nation, and they heari of a Country la-Se, nch and destitute of population, a still better Ci^an wh,ch they had only to seet a«d to possess. rhe Indians are perfect repubfccans and will admit of no mequaluy except what arises iiom age or wisdom, for cplme and perfect subordination to their chief and to the officers who are chosen f.™„ the experience they have had m «-ar, the management they have shewn in sm^ris- uig an enemy or their wisdom in council. Thevr are dmded into tribes, and subject to a chief chosen Iron, the wst and bravest of them, and march under an ensign bearmg the figure of the anim^ they have selected to dis- imgmsh them. Every nation has its standard and every tribe its own badge or symbol. When they ««amp, they cut the tepre- sentat-on of their ensign on ti,e trees, by which U is k„L who have been ther^ I„ u-eati^ ^ „ ^ ^Lance tl^ Sachem m.es the mark of his tribe, the %ure of the ^imal, upon the tr«.ty. as a co^K-n^ion does ■t^pubhc seal. So among the Jews, tl.e iiTwas the .ymbolof the tribe of Judah, the serpent of Dan, Z wo If ot Betyamin &c But to no animals whatever do h Indians pay any religious respect. Their leader is assisted by a council of old, wise and ' i: 1,5 M. ■t. *? m:i' H f: 44 J I; beloved men. Nothing is resolved upon but in this coun- cil where every one has an equal voice. The chief is seated in the middle, and his council on each hand form- ing a semicircle, the manner in which the Jewish Sanhe- drim sat before them. The seriousness and extreme gravit^' which they observe, both old and young, in every affair of business was observed by Penn in his treaties with them, and by many others who had the opportunity of being present in their consultations. They could not but admire the great reverence in which their aged and beloved men, as they call them, were held and the perfect submission with which their advice was received. These men are generally poorer than the rest of the tribe : tliey usually give away the presents and the plunder which they obtain, so as to leave nothing for themselves. No kind of salary of stipend is annexed to any pubHc office, to tempt the covetous or the sordid ; and their authority resting on the esteem of the people, it ceases the moment that esteem is lost An old Mohawk Sachem, says one of their historians, in a poor blanket and a dirty shirt, may be seen issuing his orders, with aji authority as arbitrary as a Roman Dictator. Time is reckoned after the manner of the Hebrews. They distinguish the spring, summer, autumn and winter. The latter is called Korah by the Cherokees as by the Hebrews. The years are numbered by one of its divisions for they have no name for a year. Like the Israelites they fount the year by months or moons. They divide the day like them by the sun coming out, midday, and the sun being dead ; they also speak of the midnight and 46 the cockcrowing. Their ecclesiastical year begins with the new moon of the vernal equinox, according to mosaic instruction. To the first appearance of every new moon they pay great regard, and name the seasons from the planting and ripening of the fruit. The green-eared moon is the most sacred, when the first fruits are sancti- fied by being oflfered up. When they travel they count their time according to the ancient method by sleeps or more properly by nights, making the evening and the morning the first day, and so on. The number and regular period of the Indian religious feasts, as will be seen hereafter, is a fair historical proof that they counted time and observed a weekly sabbath, long after their arrival on the American Continent: for the remark applies to all the nations. Before the seventy years' captivity the L-aelites, as stated by Prideaux, had names for only two of their months, the one, the equiiioc- tial, Abid, signifying a green ear of com; the other Ethaniam, robust. By the first of these the Indians call their passover, as an explicative, which the trading people call, the Green-Corn Dance. One of the Missionaries, being in the Creek nation on a sabbath day, observed a great solemnity in the town and a remarkable silence andretirednessofthe red inhabitants. Few of them were to be seen, their doors were shut and the children kept within. He asked the meaning of it and was answered, that being the white man's sabbath, they kept it religiously sacred to the Great Spirit. Boudinot being present himself on the Lord's Day at l 5 1 1! 'f ! l\ i 46 I* 4 8; the worship of seven diflerent nations who happened to be at the seat of government, was pleased to see their orderly conduct. They were addressed with great energy hy an old Sachem ; and an Inteqireter being present informed hhnthat he had given an animated representation to his audience, of the love the Great Spirit had always mani- fested towards the Indians, more tlian to any other people, that tliey were in an especial manner under his govern- ment and immediate direction : that it was therefore the least return they could make for so much goodness, grate- fully to acknowledge his favour, and be obedient to his laws, to do his \vill, and to avoid every thing that was evil and of course displeasmg to him. Just before the service began, he observed an Indian standing at a window, looking into a small field adjoming the house, where many white children were playing with the Indian children and making much noise. The Indian seemed displeased and expressed himself so, lamenting the sad state of those white children, whom he called, destitute orphans. He was asked "why he thought them orphans when they were not so." The Indian with earnest- ness replied — "la not this die day on which you told me the white people worship the Great Spirit? and if so, surely these children, if they had parents or any persons to take care of them, would not be suffered to be out there, play- ing and making such a noise. No ! No ! they have lost their fathers and their mothers, and have no one to take care of them." With so much seriousness did he consider the busi- ness of a day devoted to religious worship. Much might be said of their perfect subordination and 47 great skill in coiul acting war, wliicli would throw conside. rable light upon the character of this people, but as tliis would leml us into too wide a field and embrace much which IS not directly subservient to the object in view, it shall be passed over in silence. One subject however must be touch- ed upon. When they detennine upon war or hunting they have preparatory religious ceremonies for purification, similar to those of the Israelites; evidently regarding the danger of losing their lives in these encounters, and the necessity of preparing for such awful event Great how- ever has been their secrecy in keeping their religious rites from the knowledge of the white people; and therefore mistakes have been made in the description given of those ntes. The following account of them seems to be admitted by the best evidence that ha« been obtained. "In case of an expectation of going to war, he who has the command fasts several days, besmeared with black and holding no conversation with any one: he invokes the Great Spirit by day and by night, and is careful to observe his dreams. The fast being over he assembles his friends and with a string of wampum in his hand he addresses them-" Brethren, the Great Spirit authorises my senti- ments and inspires me with what I am to do. The blood of is not wiped away, his body is not covered, and I will acquit myself of this duty towaixls him." Such is Charlevoix's account, that of M'Kenzie of another tribe, and at a later time, is this : "If the tribes are called upon to go to war, the elders convene the people to obtain their opinion, they publish their intention to smoke in the sacred stem, a pipe, at a ii \H 48 '.u ' '.I certain time. To this polemnitj meditation and tasting are required as preparatory ceremonials. WLen assembled and the meeting is sanctified by smoking, in imitation perliajjs of the incense of the Jews, tlie measures projwaed are discussed. Tlie chief then invites those who will follow him to smoke out of the sacred stem, as a sign of enrolment A feast ensues with much seriousness and ceremony, after which the chief turning towards the east explains more fully the design of their meeting, and cun- cludes wdth an acknowledgment for past mercies, and a prayer for the continuance of them from the master of life. He then sits down, and the whole company declare their approbation by uttering the word Ho -n a lioarse guttural voice. Tlie chief then goes round with the pij j from east to west to every one present, and the ceremony concludes.'* These practices remind us of the instructions of the Jewish ritual, the purifications and sanctifying of indivi- duals about to undertake important offices. The Israelites humbled th^nselves and fasted in dust and ashes, the Indian besmears himself in token of humility. Similar accounts are given by Adair and others, who state that, besides the fasting observed on these occasions tiiey drink freely of a solution of bitter herbs which they call purifying, bek)ved physic, the effect of which is strong- ly purgative and offensive to the taste: and so observant are they of these old established customs, that they will not suffer any one, although engaged in the war with them, to enter their camp or have intercou:se of any kind with 49 them until he had undergone the piuifying rites. This also savours of Ilchrew manners. Dent. 23. 9. &c. A friend just returned from Canada, brought with hira a string of s^ -t pieces of an extremely bitter root which was given liim as a matter of great favor by a chiel with whom he was intimate. He described this root to possess great virtue. It is probably the casava, of which they make the bitter purifying liquor; the taste of it is extremely nauseous. Bitter herbs. Num. 9. 11. The Hebrews carried to the wars with them an Ark or Chest. "And it came to pass when the Ark set forward, Moses said. Rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee '' ?fore thee." And when it rested he said, "Return O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel." Num. 10. 35. "They pre- sumed to go up unto the top of the hill, but the Ark of the covenant and Moses departed not from the camp." 14, 44. The Israelites were then smitten and d-,comfitted! See also 1 Chron. 15. 12. In this Ark the ephod was kept, and by it Dav-'d enquired of the Lord, 1 Sam 23. 9. The person who earned it was anointed with holy oil and was called, the anointed for the war. How the answer was obtained it is difficult for us to say: but we learn thai, before the temple wa. built this mode of asking council of Gc 1 was frequent; liiere is no instance recorded of it during the time of the first temple. The Jews tell us, that during the tabernacle Cxod spake by Urim and Tlmmim, under the first temple by the prophets, and under the second by a voice from the cloud. t 1) i t : i ft 'M »-. ' 1 1 ^) m " i Ifijii 1 ;;; M]': '' 1 1 i 1 m\ 50 ■fe 'u3 a -Vl *«»i The Indians have also an ark or chest which is canied with them to the wars of simple construction, only worthy of notice on account of the use that is made of it, about half the dimensions of the Jewish ark, carried by the leader himself or a beloved waiter who undergo a more severe purification than the rest, the one being Priest of war, the other helper to cany the ark while they are engaged in fighting. Consecrated vessels of antiquatc. forms are contained in the chest. In the Percy Anecdotes is an account of an old Indian who was made prisoner when warring against another tribe. He assigned as the reason of his misfortune "that lie had forfeited the protection of the divine power hy some impurity, when carrying the holy ark of war against his devoted enemy." Which was a recognition of a God and his providence, and of the sanctity of the ark and the required purity of him that bore it. It is never placed on the ground : where stones are plenty they heap them up and place it on them ; but where there are no stones they have short logs of wood or a kind of tripod or three legged stool on which the ark and themselves may rest. Such was the pedestal on which the .fewish ark was placed. In the power and holiness of tliis-ark they have a strong faith. It is deemed sacred; and no one, not even their own sanctified warriors, are pcimitted to touch it. No one may on any account med- die with it except the war chieftain ajid his waiter, under tlie penalty of great evil. Nor would the most inveterate ■nipuiy among their own people touch it in the woods, ilnoiigh the same impression of its sanctity. Here may 51 a striking comparison be made bet^veen these simple but saperatitious people and the Hebrews before them— a comparison which will not hold with any other known nation of the earth: under this divine banner they carry on the wars. This ark or chest appears to have dee:enerated with sonic of the smaller tribes into a sack. They carry with them in their war a kind of sack which contains their holy things, which they believe to have some secret virtue; and which is held in the same reverence as the ark of the other nations: this the conquerors would by no means touch if left on the field of battle. The women are expected to take upon themselves all the household work-the me- resemng themselves for war or for the chase. The wc ...n ^re treated with respect so long as they conduct themselves with propriety, and the greatest decorum is observed on all occasions ^- /ards them. E 'en to female prisoners no violence is ever offered : not the least indecency : their persons are sacred. But we are told on the authority of a Spanish Priest, that on the Oronoko if a woman is caught in the act of adultery, she IS stoned to death before an assembly of the people, after the manner of tlie ancient Jews. Another oustom of the women must not be past over in sUence. They obHge them in their lunai- visitations to retire to a small hut at a distance from their dwelling houses, and there to remain, at the risk of their lives, a time that is thought sufficient. The general prevalence of this custom has been well established. See 15 ch. Lev : A young woman, at the first change of frame, separates f2 i ! 'll' 52 '•0 herself from the rest in a distant hut and remains there for seven days or longer if necessary. Her food is brought to her by a person who may not touch her ; nor may she touch her food with her hands. When tb their hair behind, worked bands round their heads, and ornamented them with shells g3 P !?■;: 66 '0 ■►•.J ■'*«»j and feathers, and wore strings of beads round several parts of their bodies. Round their mocasins they had shells and turkey spurs, to tinkle like little bells as they walked." Of these things we read among the fantastic peculiarities of the Hebrew women in the days of their degeneracy, Isa. 3, 18. "In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their caul« and their round tires Hke the moon : the chains and the bracelets and the muflers: the bonnets and the ornaments of tlie legs, and the hand-bands, and the tablets, and the ear-rings : the rings and the nose j ewels." " The common dress was a flannel garment or mantle ornamented on the upper edge by a nanwv strip of fur, and at the lower edge by fringes or tassels. Over this, which reached below the knee, was worn a small cloak of the same materials, like- \Nise fringed at the lower part;" which reminds us of the fringes and tassels worn by the Jews on their garments. They were then in the careful observance of certain reli- gious feasts, which bore a remarkable likeness to those of the ancient Hebrews. Indeed many of the early visitors of this hitherto unknown country and most of the serious and intelligent part of the settlers, who paid attention to the people and to their customs, both S})uniards and English- men, made tlieir re aarks upon the general likeness they bore to the Jews, vithnri unfortunately entering farther into the que; uon, of lue 4aarter fiom whence they sprang. Speaking ■■ i" religion. Father Charlevoix observes. "Nothing hv.4 vindergoue more sudden, frequent and sur- jM-ising revc'ctions, iuan religion. When once men have abandoned the '>ii\y triye one, they soon loose sight of it, 67 and find themselves entangled in such a labyrinth of inco- herent errors, inconsistencies and contradictions, that there often remains not the smallest clue to lead us back to the truth. The Buccaniers of St. Domingo, who professed to be christians, but who had no intercourse except with one another, in less than thirty years, through the want of religious worship, instruction and an authority that might keep them to their duty, had lost all marks of Christianity except baptism alone Had those people continued only to the third generation, their grard- cliildren would have been as vo^I of Christianity as the inhabitants of Temi- Austrahs, or New Guinea. They might, possibly, have preserved some ceremonies, the meaning and origin ol" which they could not explain.'* The Israelites were carried captive about seven hundred years before the Christian era, and may have remained under the controul of their conquerors for two or uiiee liundred years. We shall in a future chapter encpiire about what period their escape from Media may have been n-compHshed; out, making every allowance that time and circumstances seem to require, it must luive been nearly two thousand years after that escape, that these numerous and singrj.T tribes were discovered on the American Continent What surprising changes may not have taken plaf -nong them, or many parts of them, during that lo'i^term of years! Without government, without laws, ^vi.hout any head but the head of the family, or of a small ass„v:..ied tribe, or any will but that of the patriarchal IneC; with an unlimited range over an immense continent, nch in natural Produce, and abounding in Game and II *t i , I i I 68 '4 [ li '•0 ■ ..I -lit. in wild Animals of various kinds; with more food at their command than many years could consume, and the I)rospect of their provision multiplying rather than dimi- nishing ; numberless will have been the modifications of character which they assumed, and incalculable the dis- tance — I mean in manners and in thoughts — from which families and tribes will have receeded from one another. And yet these wandering tribes of Indians, spreading during the space of two thousand years, over an extent of country ninety degrees in length with a proportionate spread, have preserved so many essential parts of an original plan of divine worship, and so many primitive doctrines, as to satisfy enquirers, that they have descend- ed from one family, and to point us with a sufficient clearness to that family ; while yet they have almost, and in some parts wholly, forgotten their meaning and tiieir end. It has been no uncommon thing for ignorant people to charge them with being idolaters ; the occasion of which charge is well explained. Good men, from a want of the knowledge of their language, and from an intimacy with the most worthless of them, residing near the European settlements, without making any allowance for situation and circumstances, have given terrific accounts of these children of nature. Some zealous and pious men, deeply aflfected with a sense of what they considered their unhap- py state, have i -ne ii'to the woods to them, to preach the Gospel, without a preparatory education for so important an undertaking; without understanding their language well, and knowing their customs, habits and prejudices. 69 • Among some of these peoi)le it has hecn said there was a talk of many Gods; yet to this was added the declara- tion, that there is one gi-eat and good God, who is over all the rest: by the many gods may he meant the lesser spi- rits or angels, in which they all l)elieve. To persons so ignorant of what they ought first to have known, and trusting to a heathen interpreter who was unable to feel or express the nature of spiritual things, and (laving to deal with a jealous and artful people, rendered so by a suficring experience of more than a centurv, hv imposition and oppression, what may we inuigine would hajipen, but that they should be despised by the Indians, and then made a butt of to laugh at and to frighten. They have dressed themselves, for the sake of a ftolie, in a ter- rific manner, and made frightful images, with extravagant emblems about them, to alarm the weak minds of the white people of whom they thought but lightlj'. It is a well known fact that a jn-eacher of this insignifi- cant class went among them before the revolutionary war, and in his discourse began to tell them; "that there is a God who created all things; that it is exceedingly sinful and offensive to him, to get drunk, or lie or steal : which they should carefully avoid." They answered him. " Go about your business, you fool ! Do not we know there is a God as well as you ! Go to your own peojile and preach to them; for who gets drunk, and lies and steals more than you, white people ?" Indeed, if the Indians form their ideas of us from the common traders and land s])ecu- lators, and common people, with whom alone they associ- ate, they will not run into a greater error than the , ^3|ij IT: ■ •14, J 70 Europeans do, when they fonn their ideas of the character of Indians, from those that keep about the settlements and tralfic with the frontier inhabitants. Respectable as the character of Robertson is generally as a historian, he appears to have been deceived by the Spanish Writers to whom he trusted, though not impli- citly. In his account of the Mexican religion there is much truth, mixed, as it appears from more recent investi- gation, with much en-or. "Among the Mexicans religion was formed into a regular system, with a complete train of priests, temples victims and festivals. From the genius of their religion we may form a just conclusion with respect to its influence on the character of the people. The aspect of supersti- tion was with them gloomy and attrocious ; its divinities clothed with terror and delighting in vengeance : they were exhibited under detestable fonns which created hor- ror. The figures of serpents, vipers, and other destructive anunals decorated their temples : fear was the only prin- ciple which inspired their votaries ; fasts, mortifications and penance were employed to appease the wrath of their Gods, and the Mexicans never approached their altars but with blood sprinkled upon them from their own bodies. Human sacrifices were deemed most acceptable; every captive in war was devoted as a victim, and sacrificed with rites no less solemn than cruel. The head and the heart were the portions consecrated to the Gods : the warriors who had made the prisoners, carried off the bodies to feast upon them with theh- friends. The Spirit of the Mexi- cans was therefore unfeeUng, and the genius of their reli- 71 gion so far counteracted the influence of policy and the arts, that, notwithstanding their progress in both, their manners, instead of softening, became more fierce." "In Peru, the whole system of civil policy is founded on religion. The Inca is not only a legislator but the messenger of heaven : his precepts are not received as the mjunctions of a superior but as the mandates of a God : his race is held sacred and not inteimixed with mean blood : he is the child of the Sun, and is deemed under the protection of the deity from whom he descended : his power is absolute, and all crimes committed against him are violations of heaven's decrees. The genius of religion was with the Peruvians quite opposite to that of the Mex- icans. The Sun, the great source of light and joy and fer- tilityin the creation, attracted their principal homage ; the noon and stars, co-operating, were entitled to secondaiy lonours." So the commands of Moses were those of God. "There were no imaginary beings in Peru presiding over lature to occasion gloom ; but real objects, mild and gene- •ous, made their religion gentle and kind. They offered to the sun part of those productions which his genial warmth had called forth from the bosom of the earth and reared to maturity. These people never stained their altars with himian blood, but were formed to mildness by correcting all that is adverse to gentleness of character." Here is a thread of Persian theology woven into the the- ocracy of Israel. As their ancestors caught the Egyp- tian distemper, which burst out in the golden calf; so a ^ribe or family of the Israelites blended the Persian fire n their worship. r. I- Htl:| 72 in' .In .•••I IT I.'. '■ ;?i: 'I'he Indians are filled with a spiritual pride, cspcciallv their chief and best men. They consider themselves under a theocracy, and that the Great Spirit wlH)m they worship is in an especial manner their governor and head. They pay their worship, as Mr. Adair assures ' us, and he lind the best opportunity of knowing, to the Great, nenoficeut, Supreme, Holy Spirit of Fire, who resides above the clouds, and on earth with unpolluted, holy peo])le. Some Spanish writers on their first amval among them declared, that i^' .Mexico they paid adoration to images or dead •S persons, or to the celestial luminaries or to evil Spirits • but Adair assures us, that the charge is totally false, although .it may not have appeared to them alto'^'^ether gioundless. Their religious ceremonies api)roa^. 6^ f> it i! %. •in' ;. I 'i,' M 76 Grenada, was founded by a mysterious personage called Bochira, who, according to tradition Kved in the temple of the Sun at Sogamoza two thousand years ago. The people are called Moscas. Sogamoza has been thought to be compounded of Sagan, the name of the Deputy high priest of Israel, which is also a well known Indian name for the deputy or waiter on their Priest, and Moses. Cal- met tells us, that Moses was Sagan to Aaron, as he learns from the Rabbis. Hence this blind tradition of the Moscas may have confounded the names of the person and the place, or transferred that of the former to the latter, alluding in pomt of fact to theur real lawgiver, Moses, two' thousand years before some noted era. They profess an opinion exactly similar to that of the Jews, that the Great Spuit is the head of their state, and has chosen them from aU the rest of mankind as his elect and beloved people. This is a circumstance related not to a few, but to aU who have had an intercourse with them, which would lead to the knowledge of it; nor can it well be accounted for, if they were not derived from the same stock as the Jews. Such is their religious pride, that they hold the white people in contempt, applying to them in their set speeches a word which signifies nothing. But they flatter themselves with the name, the beloved people, or holy people; and in their addresses they enlarge in boasting terms on the happiness of their country, and the special favour shewn it by God. When any of the beloved people die, they soften the thoughts of death by saying, he is gone to sleep with kis beloved fore-fathers, and have a proverbial expression 77 among them, tJte days appointed him arefnished. They jiffinn there is a fixed time and place, when and where every one must die, without the possibility of avoiding it. They also say, such a one was iveighed on the path, and made to be light; ascribing life and death to God's uner- ring and particular providence. "I'he Jews hold the solemn four-lettered name of God in great reverence, and mentioned it only once a year when the high priest went into the holy place ; and it is a strik- ing fact ascertained by abundance of testimony, that the Indians utter loud the sound Yah at the beginning of their religious dances ; they then sing y, y. y; ho, ho, bo; he he, repeating these sounds often, as if to retain the remem- brance of the name, but never utter the whole word too-e- ther, at the somid of Yah, wbich so nearly resembles the word J ah, the abstract of Jehovah, they fall into a bowing posture." Whence can have come this veneration for cer- tain sounds, their frequent and regular repetition on reli*rer joint of the thigh, but always throw it away." Other persons have said they tlirow it into the fire. "They have been often heard to utter dis- tinctly the word Hallelujah in singing ; and at the return of their hunting party they make a feast of which nothing must be left, but all consumed, or entirely disposed of before the next morning; as in the passover of the Israel- ites; and if any family cannot accomplish the prescribed command, they call in the assistance of their neighbours ; as was practised in Canaan when a family was not large' enough to consume the paschal lamb." " The American Indians, especially the Cherokees and Choktaws, have in their places of worship, as they call them, the beloved squares, a very humble resemblance of ^he Cherubim which overshadowed the mercy-seat. Adair saw in one of these squares, two white painted eagles, carved out of poplar wood, with the wings stretched out, standing in a comer five feet from the gi-ound, close to the red and white imperial seats, and within were painted with a white clay the figure of a man, with bufialo's horns, expressive of power, and that of a pan- ther, which is the nearest of the animals of America to a lion. Compare Ex. 37. 9. Ezekiel chap. 10. Each of the Cherubims, according to the prophet, had theheadand face of a man, the likeness of un eagle about the shoul- ders, with expanded wings, tlie neck, mane and breast of a lion, and the feet of lui ox: See Ezekiel, 1. 5. In these squares they dance on the winter nights, singing Hallelujah ; also yo, he, wah : but never discover any signs of adoration of these figures.'' When the Israelites 79; encamped we learn of them, that they were usually ar- ranged into four divisions, under four different standards, namely, a man, an eagle, a lion and an ox, which four emVlematic figures, whatever they may mean, were found roughly drawn in this and other similar temples. The terms of their language direct to the character of their religious feelings. The southerns call God by a name which signifies greatness, purity and goodness ; the great, beloved, holy cause: persons and places set apart, are called sanctified; which epithet is also applied to their priest or holy man, calling him, the great, holy, beloved, sanctified man of the holy one. The most sacred appella- tive they have for God is that already mentioned, yo, he, wah, which they do not uttc xU common speech. Ol" the time and place of uttering it they are very particular, ;'nd it is always spoken in distinct syllables, and with a solemn air. They have among them an order of men answering to both prophet and priest. With some their language calls them cunning men, and prescient of futurity, but gene- rally men resembling the holy fire. Their tradition re- ports of them, that in former times they were possessed of an extraordinary divine spirit, by wliich they foretold things future, and controuled the common course of na- ture ; and they believe that, by the aid of the same divine spirit or fiie, they can still effect the same. These perhaps, were the lineal descendants of the tribe of Levi. A similar account of the prophets of the Delaware nation, was given by Mr. Beatty about sixty years ago. " They consulted them upon occasion of great sickness. l;v ! i ill 80 1 i - W,( fl vl mortality, or other oxtraordinaiy occurrences; as tlie Jews of old enquired of the prophets. These people are called, beloved men, and their pontifical office descends by inhe- ritance to the eldest." I scarcely think it necessary to enter here into a minute description of the dress of the priests, which it will be sup- posed, in their rude and distressed condition, cannot liave retained the richness of the ancient priesthood : it is how- ever astonishing to .see how much, in their humble style, it corresi)onds with that of the Jewish priesthood. There is with tliem a long and a solemn ceremony once a year for making the supposed holy fire,and offering a yearly atone- ment for sin, when the priest is clothed in a white garment, resembling the Ephod, made of a fine ly dressed deer-skin : it is a waistcoat without sleeves : his shoes and other gar- ments are white and new, and worn only on that occasion: —he puts on a breast-plate, made of a white conch- shell, with white buttons on the outside, in hnitation, we will venture to say, of the precious stones of urim and thum- mim. Kound his temples is a wi-eath of swan's featliers, or a piece of swan-skin doubled, so as that only the snowy down may appear; corre.'ponr'-ng in a humble degree with the plate of gold of the Je,.ish High priest; and on his head a tuft of white feathei-s : on his mocasins are fas- tened a number of blunted turkey-cock spurs, as the Jew- ish High priest wore bells on his coat of blue. In every town or tribe u^ a High priest, and others of inferior rtmk. The oldest presides in spiritual things : he maintains great influence among his people, and the great council never determine on any point of importance with- 81 out his advice. The people firmly believe, that they have comtnunion with invisible spirits, who have some share in the government of human affairs, and also of tho elements. Their incense is the smoke of tobacco, which they puff about on some occasions, and blow towards the sun ; and they reckon their time by the new moon, of which they are great observers, and rejoice at its coming as the Hebrews did before them. There is an odd story among them, which may be con- ceived to have had its birth from their knowledge of the blazing stones of the urim and thummim. It is of a trans- parent stone of supposed great power to bring down rain, when put into a basin of water, agreeably to a divine vir- tue impressed on one of them in times of old. This stone would suffer injury if it were seen by any common person, and if seen by foreigners would lose all its divine power. '* They have also a most holy place, into which none but the priest can enter. It is partitioned off by a mud wall, and in it are deposited their consecrated vessels. To ap- proach this sacred spot would occasion danger to them- selves, and general injury to the tribe. The great public square, or beloved place, stands alone in the centre and highest part of the town. It has four square or cubical buildmgs, enclosing a spot large in proportion to the size of the town : one of these is the council-house — another a dark building, a secluded place, designed for a sanc- tuary or temple, into which it is death for any but the High priest to enter ; in which are deposited, the sacred things, the physic pot, rattles, chaplets, eagle's tail, calu- met, or sacred stem, a sort of pipe, the pipe of peace, &c.'* k\ ^ 1 1 m I't'; ••'I. 1 n^ '5^ 1 ' 'is '.*,i 4* ■ :;ii I 82 Mr. Bartrain was once present in a town when the peo- ple were fasting, talcing medicine to purge thoroughly the system, and praying the Great Spirit to avert from them a sickness which Iiad long afflicted them. They fasted seven or eight days, taking no food hut a meagre gruel, made of com, flour and water, and drinking ahlack drink whicli acted as an emetic. Deut. 16. a fast of seven days. In short, their ceremonies of religion are much after the mosaic plan, and have scarcely any resemhlance to Pagan institutions, while they are utter strangers to all the gestures ])ractised by the pagans in their religious rites. To the above remarks, which ai)ply chiefly to the North American Indians, it is desirable to add the remarks of early writers on the state and customs of those of Mexico and of South America. These miters have been chiefly Spaniards, who cared little about the religious feelings of the natives, and appear to have done all in their power to have them regarded as idolaters, cannibals, oflering human sacrifices, barbarous and premeditated murderers. There were 'Jideed some happy exceptions among those writers. From these persons we learn, that they ottered to the sun and earth asmall quantity of every kind of meat and drink be- fore they tasted it themselves. This was the evening sacrifice already explained. Montezuma shut himself up and con- tinued for the space of eight days in fasting and prayer when the Spaniards arrived ; and to blacken his character they have added without sufficient authority, that he of- fered up human victims in sacrifice to Ins God. These prayers and fastings were doubtless the same as those of the Northern Indians, to sanctify himself and gain favour and coum with a pri with the ] Bertrai pie, comp held their holy, intc sacred th the males ripe fruits cicnt pent time of ri] Hebrews, Oftlie extraordin two days, salt meat > They ass( any beasts and feastei ment for S "The women an^ a house, repeating the beIov( ^'hey have tlia alread when the ( to the tem 'n the peo- oughly the Tom them 'ley fttsted gre gruel, lack drink ven days. 1 after the to Pagan e gestures ly to the 3 remarks »f Mexico n chiefly 3eHngs of power to g human There ! writers, o the sun h'inkbe- sacrifice Lud con- prayer haracter it he oi- These those of I favour 83 ana council from tlic Deity. At Mexico was found atem])lc, with a priest, called the minister of holy things, together with the hearth or altar, the continual fire, the holy ark,&c. Bertram gives a description of a Southern Indian tem- ple, composed of a square of small buildings; " here they held their councils; a part was shut up, being esteemed holy, into which the priest alone entered, and where the sacred things were deposited. At this temple, he says, the males assemble three times in a year, at the feast of ripe fruits, at the hunting feast, about the time of the an- cient pentecost, and at the gi-eat feast of expiation, at the time of ripe com. When one dies, the Indians, like the Hebrews, wash and anoint the body." Of tlie Peruvians, Acosta relates, ''that they held an extraordinary feast, for which they prepared by fksting two days, not accompanying with their wives, or eating salt meat or gariic or drinking chicca daring that time. They assembled in a place, which neither strangers nor any beasts were allowed to enter, afterwards they danced and feasted." Here is the Northern's festival of Atone- ment for Sin. He adds. "The Charibbeans at a triennial feast divided the women and children from the men; the latter, shut up m a house, sang, he, he, he, while the others answered by repeating the same : they danced to the sound of rattles, the beloved man bein g dressed in pontifical garments." They have also a kind of feast of love or friendship similar to Ilia already described. The Mexicans have also the feast when the corn is ripe, on which occasion every one brings fo the temple a handful with a drink made of the same." % 84 ^ I i' I 'hi' ii f ^ ♦» Lact, in his description of South America, assures us, "that he often heard the Indians repeat the word hallelu- jah." and Malvenda states " that the natives of St. Michael had tomh-stones with ancient hehrew characters upon them, as these. Why is God gone away ; and, he is dead. God knows.'* The Mexicans have also the tradition of a deluge, in which one man was saved with his family and different animals ; and a Portuguese historian in his history of Bra- zil, says, " America has been wholly peopled by the Car- thagenians and IsraeHtes. As to the last, nothing but cir- cumcision is wanting to constitute a perfect resemblance between them and the Brazilians.'* Other authorities similar to these might be quoted from the eai-ly Spanish and Portuguese writers. What has been given is sufficient to answer the end designed in selecting them. There has recently appeared in this country, The Se- cret Report on America, by Ulloa and Juan, written ac- cording to the instructions of the Secretary of State, and presented to Ferdinand the 6th. One of the most impui- tant points to which the authors of this report directed their attention, was to redeem from calumny the character of the native Indians, whose supposed incapacity had been made the pretext of so much injustice and cruelty. The country is stated by tliem " to be covered with the ruins of magnificent works of public[utility, erected by them, which the Spaniards thought them incapable of executing. Solid paved roads four hundred leagues in length, aqueducts which brought water a hundred and twenty leagues, temples nionumei Pizarro a arts whic and yet bigotry ) libelled w truth is, and weal Spaniard; A you Captain I siderable remain in ny league tains. T works of ruins of 1 He dug : places, to tions, and of perfect Museum. carefully which the found in i dies, tLe I I'ally in th might be some of a ssures us, (I hallelu' . Michael ers upon e is dead. lelugc, in 1 diflerent ry of Bra- the Car- ig but cir- iemblaiico loted from Vhat has signed in The Se- Titteii ac- etate, and )st impui- t directed character had been itj. The e ruins of nn, which g. SoUd aqueducts ' leagues, 85 temples and palaces of a most splendid character, wTrc the monuments of an empire only four hundred years old when Pizarro visited Peru, and found a people eminent in the arts which adorn a highly advanced state of civilization : and yet this people, because they have sunk under ihe bigotry and oi)pression of their plunderers, are farther libelled with the charge of imbecility and incapacity. Tlie truth is, that nothing has tended to depress the people and weaken them more than the measures which the Spaniards adopted to make them christians." A young Clergyman of Plymouth who went out with Captain Mends in 1825, in the Ship Blanche, took con- siderable pains to examine the antiquities which still remain in abundance all afong the Peruvian coast for ma- ny leagues, running parellel with the sea and the moun- tains. There are still, not only the remains of stupendous works of great antiquity: but there are also extensive ruins of temples and fortifications made of burnt brick. He dug into the cemetaries, an immense line of burial places, to all appearance the receptacles of many genera- tions, and disinterred some bodies, which were in a state of perfect preservation, and are now lying in the British Museum. The bodies were dry, consisting of bone and skin carefully wrapped up in cotton cloth. In the tombs in which these bodies were laid, small earthen vessels were found in the n ugh fonn of a bottle with a handle or han- dles, the bottom round, and having a mourh-piece, gene- i-ally in the handle, out of which the contents of the vessel might be taken. Some of these have the form of a fish, some of a bird, and some are plain : a few are double, 1 St )"1 • 1: ,1 ad i« I <^ •^ »«-3 • »■ ':iJ l»t ^ ] i "t !• - »• '^' i--5 ;!■ ••. ■a • vk. 91; 5I> Hi ..J re made in two dist'nct parts, united at the side by a brace three or four inches long, with two orifices terminating in one, intended perhaps for the tomb in which two persona united in life were interred. Tliese vessels wer stopped at thomoutJb, and contained a small quantity of fine dust, the remains of a food which the suivivors deposited in the grave o[ their friends, to supply their immediate want in the event of a revival. The tomb of a Casique^ which is distinguishable by its being situated in the centre of the burial place of his tribe, was opened by some of tlie crew of the Ca..,bridge in the same ypar ; and, besides the body of the chief, the skele- t/jns of twelve men were found, and on their skulls were «lcarly distinguishable fracturoj, as from an axe or toma- hawk ; who are said to have been sacrificed at his death in order to be buried with him, that on his rising again he might nr-t be unaccompanied by a proper retinue. In the graves ave also found such instruments or articles as cor- res])ond with the character of the deceased, and would be proper for them to resume on their rising again. Thus, in that oi" tlie warrior were instruments of war, the spear, the axe and the arrow ; in another's and he probably addict- ed to the sea, a very small canoe, or a fishing rod in minia- 1 urc ; in the woman's grave was discovered a rough kind ol' distaff, with thread still on it in a perfect state of preser- vation, also wooden needles, and the like. The earthen vosseb, or bottles, as they may be called, are of different sizes, and may contain a quarter of a pint or a half pint, — there are two large enough to hold about two quarts, which we will suppose were designed for the Casique ■ 87 and his attendants. On some of them is the serpent, dij«- tinctly formed with the tail hi its raoutli, the Egyptian and Babylonian emblem of Eternity; on others tl>e rough figure of a bird, perhaps the Apis of Egypt, not unknown ill Chaldea. There are other characters also, which ni.iy be emllematicali or merely fanciful according to the whiiu of thep3tt<^r. These kinds oi things have been shewn in Europe as proofs of the idolatrous disposition of the natives of Aineri- ca; — but, as well might th'^ uncouth images which dig. adorn our old cathedrals, a^.d were the sports of monJ nIi days, in which the cleverest kilow was he wiio could frame the oddest image, — as for instance; tlie Devil on the Witch's back who is looking over Lincoln — as well might these be axlduced as indications of the idol worship of the dark ages, as many of those articles which are lianded about by our Missionaries, and other credulous person.", to awaken tht* zeal of public meetings and obtain money for the conversion of the Heathen. The natives have for the most part forsaken the spot where these venerable remains and the ashes ol their fore-fathers still aie seen, and retired backwards towards and amongst the long range of the Cordilleras ; leaving th«; Coast in the h«nds of their conquerors, and now ir.habited ^y i mot- ley race made up of Europeans, Indians and Africans, mixed and mixed again in an indiscriminate succession. They are however very numerous in their back settlements, and remain pure and uncontaminated by what they may well regard as base and defiled blood. lliere is a striking similarity in the opinions which I 2 'l 1 1^ '1 I i(. 88 have been discovered amongst the scattered nations and tribes of that Contine it, in reference to the object of their worship. Speaking of the Deity, they call him, the Spirit, ihe Great Spirit, and the Spirit of fire ; some indiscrimi- nately : but the Peruvians carry their symbol worship still farther. Their Incas are Children of the Sun : the first of them descended from the Sun to give them Laws: their temples are temples of the Sun. Yet we are not to sup- pose that the Sun itself was their God. They directed theii* attention to that bright luminary, as the ancient Persians and Chaldeans did, because it is the direct dwelling Place of the Great Spirit — as we say. Heaven is God's throne. But they .certainly have formed no images of their God, nor did they plant Groves around their temples, as the Canaanites and the Druids were used to do: so often referred to in Scripture. In almost all other parts of America the dead were placed on their haunches, the face towards the East, that on revival they may hail the rising Sun : but it is remark- able that in Peru, which is bounded on the East by an uninteiTupted range of lofty mountains, and where the Sun is not seen till it has risen high in the heavens, the dead are always found in the same position with tlieir faces to- wards the West—that they may behold his setting, since his rising is not within their view. Of the Antiquities of Mexico and the Missisippi, I shall speak in a future chapter. wh^!i fruits. CHAPTER V. OF PUBLIC FESTIVALS. XT will be proper to give a particular account of the festivals of the American Indians ; for in all ages and in all generations religion has been connected with festivals, and the indulgence of the appetite has formed a part of the gratitude to be paid to the giver of all blessing. Those wh ? 'lave \vritten on the feasts of the Indians, specify five that bear strong characteristic marks, by which the philo- sophical enquirer may be assisted in forming his opinion of the ancient stock from whence they sprang. These are. The feast of first fruits, the hunters* feast, the feast of har- vest, a daily sacrifice, and a feast of love. Of all habits those of religion are the most powerful, and keep the fastest hold. Mr. Penn, who acquired his knowledge of tins people from his own observation, informed his friends in England in the year 1683, that "their woi-ship consisted of two parts — sacrifice and cantico: the first is for their first fruits. The first fat buck they kill goes to the fire, where i3 « t ^0 *.:; it is all burned with a doleful chaunt of the priest, anti with such fervency and labour of body that he sweats to a foam. The other is the cantico, performed by round dances, words, songs and shouts, and drumming on a board." At one of the feasts Mr. Penn was present: it consisted of twenty bucks with hot cakes made of new corn, of both wheat and beans, in a square form, wrapped in leaves and baked in the ashes: when these were eaten they fell to dancing. Every visitor takes with him a present in their money, which is made of the bone of a fish, the black is as gold, the white as silver ; they call it wampum. He also remarks "that they reckon by moons, they offer their first fruits, they have a kind of feast of tabernacles, they are said to lay their altars upon twelve stones, they mourn a year, they have a separation of women"; and other things which do not occur in the present day. From Mr. Adair we have the follow^ing abstract of a feast which may be called, the feast of first fruits. "On tlie day appointed, as soon as the spring produce comes in, while the sanctified new fruits are dressing, sLx old ])eloved women come to the temple or sacred wigwam of worship, and dance the beloved dance with joyful hearts. They obsei-vc a solemn procession as they enter the holy ground, carrying in one hand a bundle of small branches of green trees ; where they are joined by six old men, adorned with white feathers, having gr^en boughs in the other hand. They are dressed in shewy ornaments. The oldest man begins the dancd, going round the holy fire in solemn silence : in the next circle he invokes yak, after the usual manaer, on a bass key and with a strong Wig* 91 accent : in another circle he sings Ao, ho, which is repeated by all the religious procession, tUl they finish the circle. Then in another round, iJiey repeat, he, he, in regular notes, keeping time in the dance ; another circle is made in Uke manner, repeating ivah, vmh. A little while after this is finished they begin again, going fse&h rounds sing- ing, hal-hal-le'le'lu^lu-yak^yah, in like maunei-, and fre- quently tlie whole train strike up, halelu, haUelu, halle^ ImfoJi, hallelnyak, with earnestness, fervour and joy, each striking the ground witli right and left foot ahemately, strongly and well timed. Then a kmd of hollow sounding drum joms tlic sacred choir, on which the old women chaunt forth their grateful praises to the Great Spirit, redoubling their steps in imitation of the beloved men at their tiead." ITiIs is similar to the dances of the Hebrews, some of whose dance-songs had no doubt the word hallelii^ yah at tJie beginning or ending. These degenerate people, losing their ancient language, and with it the wonls of these festive songs, have stfll retained the chorus sound, as that whidi made the deejwst impression and was known by all; and it va well attested, that all the inhabitants of the extensive regions of North and South America, have and retain these very expressive sounds, and repeat them distinctly in their religious acclamations. Deut. oil, 26. especially verse U. On other religious occa«ions they have he^ distinctly heard to sii^ ak-yo, ale-yo, the divine name expressive of omnipotence : also, he-wah, 1ie-y;ah, intimating the soul, or eternity, derived from yo-Jie-wak. These words of tlieir leligious dances are never rMvaterl at n«o nrht^-n ♦.•rno. ^ 1i !f|| 92 4|j . t .5 ! " : ^ I I which has contributed to the loss of their meaning, for it is thought they do not now understand either the Uteral or the spiritual meanmg of wliat they sing, any furtlier than by allusion to the name and the praise of the Great Spirit. ** In these circuitous dances they frequently sing on a bass key, aluhe, aluhe, aluwah, aluwah; also shilu-yo, shilu-he, shilvr-wah and shilvr-hah. These they transpose in several ways, with tlie same notes, lliey continue their hyr 'is of joy for the space of about fifteen njinutes and tlien they break up. As tliey degenerate they are said to lengthen Uie dance and shorten the fast and purifica- cation, and so exceedingly are they known to have changed witliin the last seventy or eighty years, that if tliey continue to decline from the manners of their ances- tui's, there will not ere long be a possibility of recognising tliem, but by their dialects and war customs: which also will alter. After the dance is over tliey drink plentifully of bitter liquids to cleanse their sinful bodies; and then go to some convenient water, and there, according to tlie cere- monial law of the Hebrews, they wash away their sins. They then return witli joy in solemn procession, singing songs of praise, till they enter the sacred square, to eat the new fruits which are brought to the outside of it by the beloved women. They observe the greatest decorum in these solemnities, and give the name karuUia to any who violate them. There is a subdivided tribe on the North part of Pensylvania called Kanoa or Kanai, a sound much like Canaan." Accounts very similar to this are given by other writers. 93 Dr. Beatty states thus what he saw: "Before they make use of any of their first fruits, twelve old men meet and l)rovide a deer and some new fruits. They are divided into twelve parts, the old men hold up the venison and pray with their faces to the east, aclcnowledging tlie bounty of heaven towards them. It is then eaten, after which they freely enjoy the fruits of the earth. On the evening of the same day they have another feast which looks something like the passover ; when a large quantity of venison is provided with otlier things, and distributed to all the guests, of which they eat freely; and if any is left it is thrown into tlie fire and burned, for none of it must remain till sun-rise on the next day, nor must a bone of the venison be broken." Num. 9. 12. Deut. 16. 4. The feast of PaSvSover was observed by the Hebrews not in their own houses, but in a sacred spot, which the Lord should choose to place his name in, Deut. 16. 6; and in America we find these people obsemng their feast in the sacred place of worship, or in the beloved Square. I shall now proceed to describe the Hunter's Feast. This is thought to resemble the feast of Pentecost. The reader may judge. After their return from a hunt- ing expedition, during which they leave their families for a certain space of time, longer or shorter as may be requir- ed, they have a feast of gratitude. Dr. Beatty says " that once in a year, some of the tribes beyond the Ohio choose twelve men, who go out and provide twelve deer ; others have ten men and ten deer, — these numbers of twelve and ten deserve attention —each of them cuts a sapling, and stripping off the bark 4iq III i I 94 ^ they make a tent by striking tlie ends in the ground and bending them close at the top, covering them with blank- ets. Each man chuses a stone, which they make hot and place together in the form of an altar within the tent, on which they bum the inside fat of the deer. See Num. 18. 1 7. Lev. 8. 25. While making this offering, the men within cry out, we pray or praise, they without answer, we hear: then from the tent the sound proceeds, ho-hah, loud and long. When the fat is consumed, they bum tobacco cut fine on the same stones, by way of incense. Of this altar, so like to the Jewish altar, it is to be remarked, that no tool may be used in shaping the stones of which it is built, they are 'taken rough, and no instrument of any kind employed in building them up. Deut 27. 5 and 6. The Southern Indians have a similar custom ; if they have been successful on any occasion and returned safe, tliey offer a sacrifice of gratitude : but if they have lost their men, they imagine they have been impure and moum for the sin which occasioned their loss. Like other ill-informed and superstitious people, the poor Indians imagine that their sins are the procuring cause of all their evils : thus did the friends of Job ; and that the Divinity in the ark will always bless the more religious party with success. This is with them a governing sen- timent, and the reason of mortifying themselves in the severest manner while they are at war, living scantily, lest by luxury their hearts should grow evil and give them occasion to moum. Tfum shall affikt thyself. Beatty, who went at an early period -^to the Delaware nation, was present at a great meeting on a consultation 95 for going to war with a neighbouring nation. " They kill- ed a buck and roasted it, as a kind of sacrifice, on an altar formed of twelve stones, upon which stones they would not suffer any tool or instrument to be used. The whole of this animal was afterwards eaten by them except- ing the middle joint of the thigh." Genesis 32. 25 and 32. "The Muskohgee Indians sacrifice apiece of every deer thoy kill at their hunting camps or near home. If the latter, they dip their middle finger in the broth and sprinkle it over their domestic tombs, to preserve them from the power of evil spirits; according to their mytho- logy of those beings. This custom seems to have a view to the sprinkling with blood : no other semblance offers itself in the history of antiquity." Lev. 8. 15 and 19. The Feast of Harvest and Day of Expiation for Sin. The Indians formerly observed this solemn feast and fast, and the offerhig of the first fruits of harvest, at the beginning of the first new moon in which their com be- came full-eared: but for many years past, they have regulated it by the forwardness or backwardness of their haiTest. Accordmg to Charlevoix, "the harvest is in common with the Natchez, on the Missisippi. The Chief fixes the day for beginning the festival, which lasts three days, spent in sports and feasting. Every family brings some- thing obtained by hunting, fishing or other means, as maize, beans and melons. The Chief presides and on the last day addresses the company in a set speech, exhorting them to the punctual perfonnance of their respective du- ; !l 1': I ill I i! ;r ]**■ 'h ' -k! »w.J 1 1- 1, ' 1 ■>. ' '1 /'Hi 1 n 96 ties, to a high veneration for the Spirit which resides in the temi)le, and to a careful instruction of their children. Of the first produce a part is brought to the temple ; and also of all presents made to their nation, which are distri- buted according to the pleasure of the Chief. But the offerings every new moon are for the use of the keepers of the temple. This feast is preceded by a fast of two nights and a day. This feast was kept by the Hebrews in the month Tizri, the first month of the civil year, answer- ing to September and October : it took place previous to the great day of expiation, the tenth of the month. About this time the Indian com is full-eared and fit to eat, and nearly abWt the same time their feast of harvest is observ- ed." Lev. 1 and 2 ch. Priest's Portion. Num. 18. To meet the letter of the divine precept, the Jews on the eve of the Passover festival, which was to be eaten with bitter herbs, instituted a rigorous search through every part of theu" houses, not only removing all leavened bread, but sweeping every part clean that no crumb should be left. Leaven may be regarded as the emblem of sin, because it proceeds from corruption. On the next day they offered to God a handful of bariey which, the high priest, seasoning with oil and frankincense, presented to the Lord : then was offered the lamb, a whole burnt- offering, together with fine flour mingled with oil ; also a drink offering of wine : and they were forbidden to eat ei- ther bread, or parched com, or gi'een ears, until the offer- ing was made to God. Lev. 23, 14. " When the feast is over, the holy place is carefully cleaned out, the old hearth or altar is dug up, the temple i h 97 « sv^ept, so that not the .smallest crumbs should remain to defile It, and a preparation is made for obtaining the holy fire. In the mean time the women are busy at home m cleanmg iheir houses and putting out their fires, AH bemg ready for the sacred solemnity, the remains of the foast are carried to the outside of the square, every thing IS removed, even the vessels and utensils of every sort which have been used during the past year. The war- nors and old men are then called by proclamation to come imo the beloved square, and keep the fast: the women and Children are kept apart, according to their law: dl living creatures are forbidden to enter except those who have been called, and the fast is then kept until the rising of the second Sun; no temptation whatever prevaUlng tith men in health to take food during that time-whUe thev are drinking plentifully of a decoction of the button-snaie root, to make them vomit and cleanse their sinfulbodies -but children and weak persons are allowed to eat after the Sun has gone down. May not the snake-root used by those in the temple, and the bitter green tobacco which 18 taken by the women and those who by reason of defilement have not been admitted to the square, point to the bitter hei'bs of the family of Isi^]:? Proclamation IS then made to enquire, whether the old Gre is every vrhere put out; for that the hoTj^ fire v^ill'b^ brought from the temple. The beloved man and his attendant go to the holy place, and taking a piece c/f dry wood, cut a hole m It but not so deep as to go through ; he then sharpens anothet piece, and placing it in' the hole, he drills it briskly between his knees till it begins to smoke; or by rubbing K i i e i4 I I- Ml ' 98 two pieces together for about a quarter of an hour, he ob • tu US by friction the hidden fire ; which they believe pro- ceeds from tlie holy spirit of fire. Tliis they cherish witli fine chips, till it bursts into a flame. Tlie fire is then brought out from the holy place and put upon tlve alt«ar ; at which they exceedingly rejoice, supposing all tlieir past crimes except murder to be atoned for. An offering is then made of some new fruits rubbed witli bear*s oil on the altar, Lev. 8, 10, to the bountiful spirit of fire, all siiners are called on to apjjear, the high priest gives injunctions to the people, presses upon them the necessity of a careful, observance of the ancient law, and directs tliat the holy fire should be laid outside the consecrated ground for the use of the houses, which are often some miles apart." This custom very much resembles one which was observed by the ancient Persians as well as by tlie Jews. " After the ceremony is ended the priest orders them to paint themselves and follow him. They appear rubbed over with white clay, and form a slow procession to a running stream, singing halleluyah or yo-he-wah, into which they all plunge, men, women and children. Thus being purified and their sins washed away, they think themselves out of the reach of temporal evil on the ground of past conduct." Similar statements have been made by other persons, of the same feast held by the SoutJiem Indians ; and that they collect together all old and filthy and unclean things, and cast them into a large fire, take medicine, fast for three days, extinguish all their fires, abstain from the gratification of every appetite, proclaim a general amnesty, and recal malefactors to their houses ; then by friction 99 they obtain new fire, with the pure flame of wliicli overy habitation is supplied. They then sing, dance and itjoir.e, keeping feast for three days. They also bum th(- fat of the inwards in the fire. The Feast of the Daily Sacrifice was offered by the Hebrews every morning and evening. It consisted of u lamb, and was all burnt to ashes excepting the skin and tlie entrails. The Indians seem to observe a humble imitation of it. Some persons who have been adopted by them and lived in their families, tell us, "that they observe a daily sacrifice, both at home and in the woods, with new killed venison. They draw it before it is dressed several times through the fire and smoke by way of sacri- fice, and to consume the blood, which to eat would be an abomination to them : the melt or a large piece of the fat of the first they kill is consigned to the fire ; and within their houses a small piece of the fattest of the meat is thrown into the fire before they begin co eat." Lev. 8. 25. A feast of Love, to renew old firiendships, has been also observed among them, in which the people eat, drink, and walk together with arms entwined: the young men and women dance in circles from evening till morning, to glad- den their hearts and unite them before y, o, he, toah. ^c. Mr. Boudinot informs us, that he was present at a dance given by the Seneca Indians, six or seven nations united, in return for a hospitable entertainment given them by the En - glish Governor, of which we have the following description. "After the company had assembled in a large room, the oldest Sachem and a beloved man entered with a kind of drum, on which the former beat time ; upon which k2 Is h ) : i ; s ^ ;l , -Hi t ^ ■• *i; 1 ■.* -• :)^ < -1: ; , : j 4„ ■'4' 1 *1 . ! . < . : 'i I •■ i' ' 1 .■ -1* 1 . ;i k 1 l' BT V ;^ h ii; 1 I 100 between twenty and tliirty Indians caine in, wrappetl ia iheir blankets. These n^ade a solemn and slow procession round the room, keeping a profound silence, the Sachem's drum directing their movement. At the second round they began to sing on a bass key, v, y, y, till they completed the circle, dancing to the sound of the drum in a serious manner. On the third round, their ardour increased, tl ey danced to a quicker step, and sang he, he, he, so a.s to be- come warm, to perspire and to loosen the blankets. On the fomth round they sang ho, ho, ho, with greater earnestness, and, dancing with more violence, their heat increased, and they oast away the blankets; which caused some con- fusion. The last round put them into a mere frenzy; they twisted themselves about, wi-eathed like snakes, made the antic gestures of a parcel ol'monkies, singing aH the while with great nolence wah, wah, wah. They kept perfect time to the music, each round occupying ten to fif- teen minutes. They then withdrew in Indian file. In a short time a gi-at bustle was heard, \hilis. This question, which has been agitated during tliree Centuries, has been at lengtli set at rest by the researches of Dr. Thienne, a Physician of Vicenza, who has satisfactorily proved the ravages of this disease long before the biith of Columbus. His investigations have led to some curious remarks; inasmuch as he has established a sort of analogy and iden- tity between the elephantiasis, the leprosy, the venereal infection of Canada, the sibbeus of Scotland, the rarlzyge of Norway, the saws of Afiica, tlie pan of America, the malady of schertieno in tlie Tyrol, &c.*' Now if there be a real correspondence between these virulent diseases, which are found on different spots and in varied climates, the Doctor may have erred in imagining he has discovered that species of the disease in i i Mi i (| 1 i • i 1 i r i 1 i i i 1' v) I !l i 104 question in the annals of a period prior to Columbus. And the generally prevailing opinion may be true — that it was brought into Europe from America, corroborated by his own remarks of its similarity with other prevailing complaints. It is well known that the Israelitish nation were in old times much subject to the leprosy ; which disorder may have assumed a new character upon a new soil, under the influence of a new and very different man- ner of living, and with habits so very unlike those which prevailed among them when inhabiting the well cultivated regions of Asia. If so awful a visitation had been experi- enced under similar circumstances in Greece and in Rome, it must be regarded as a most extraordinary fact, that it is not described, nor distinctly alluded to, by the numerous \vriters of tliose nations : and had it been known in Europe previous to the voyage of Columbus, it would surely have been clearly defined and the mode of cure pointed out by our own Sui^eons. The disease called Brenning or Burning, which prevailed in England in the fourteenth and fifteenth Centuries, appefljs to have had a great resemblance to the Syphilis; but as that was a period when the leprosy was common throughout Europe, this complaint was probably a pecu- liar, being a local, branch of it. For Leprosy see Lev. chap. 13 and 14. Ti *oIumbus. rue — that roborated prevailing sh nation ; which on a new 2nt man- >se which cultivated n experi- in Rome, that it is luinerous I Europe ely have d out by prevailed enturies, Syphilis; common a pecu- jee Lev. f I CHAPTER VI. OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE INDIANS. Ti HIS is the most difficult part of the subject before us; for, were we inclined to yield to the evidence already pro- duced, to shew the many points of resemblance between the ancient Hebrews and the Indian tiibes, we can scarcely expect to find enough of the old language lemain- ing to furnish a fresh evidence of their kin. The Indian languages have never been reduced to any certainty by written characters: it has never even been thought to form a grammar by which it shall be taught to their child- ren. Masters and Professors they have none of any kind. Traditions only have been conveyed down from father to son ; and these, during a long course of years, and in the mouths of hundreds and thousands of instructors, have so changed, that they assume different faces on dif- ferent spo* , by some are altogether lost, and by many are upheld in a rough and careless manner, without any knowledge of their origin and of their rational or spiritual design. Of art and science taey are compai'atively igno- I i!^ ■;«■■('' ,■-1 ■;;i' :.^;;& I 106 rant : no monuments of antiquity are standing memorials with the present race : oppressed on every side, driven from home to home, as circumstances have varied, and homes been abandoned, language has undergone many changes ; and not a little variety will liave arisen as new families sprang up and new tribes were formed, from the simple circumstance of the construction of the organs of speech ; which even among ourselves occasions the same words to be so differently pronounced, that a foreigner, understanding them when proceeding from one mouth, is often at a loss when they are uttered by another. Putting idioms out of the question, and new words coined to express new things, the very names of things in common use will be expressed by many inflexions of the voice, so as to become in the ears of a stranger different words. Take for example the sound of many of our vocables uttered in the streets of London, in the villages of Yorkshire and among the mines of Cornwall, and many of our familiar ex- pressions. We do not ourselves often know what our own countrvmien say, on a spot where eveiy thing is done that can be done to preserve the purity of our language ; of purity indeed we must be silent when we speak of the use of words in the mouths of the unlettered of our Island. Of the Indian languages, which are numerous, and to aji European ear very unlike, it has been observed, tliat they are copious and expressive, more so than might be expected with a people whose ideas must be few in compa- rison with those of civilized nations. They have neither cases nor declensions; few or no prepositions; but like some of the ancient languages abounding in affixes memorials ie, driven aried, and me many n as new from the organs of the same foreigner, mouth, is Putting Joined to common voice, so It words. 's uttered shire and liUar ex- our own is done nguage ; akofthe r Island. 3, and to red, tliat light be compa- neither but like affixes 107 and prefixes: the words are the sam€ in both numbers. It has been said that no language known in Europe, except the Hebrew, is destitute of prepositions, as separate and specific words. They have no comparative or super- lative degree, but express them as the Hebrews do by terms dignified and honourable. Thua the Cedars of Lebanon, famed for their loftiness and grandeur, are in the Hebrew the Cedars of God, and a mighty wind is a wind of God. So with the Indians, the superlative is formed by one of the lettera of the divine name being added to the word. Their public speeches are adorned with strong metaphors in correct language and often with allegory. An example or two may be acceptable to the reader. About the year 1684 the Governor of New York sent an ^ent, on a dispute likely to arise vdth the French, who behaved in a haughty manner before the Indians. One of tlie chiefs answered him in a strain o^ simple eloquence, in which he said among other things, " I have two arms : I extend the one to Montreal, there to support the tree of peace, and the other towards Corlaer (the Governor of New York) who has long been my brotlier. Ononthis (of Canada) has been these ten years my father. But neither the one nor the other is my master. He who made the world gave me this land I possess. I am free, I resi^ect them both, but no man has a right to command me, and none ought to take amiss my endeavouring all I can, tliat this land should not be troubled. I can no long- er delay repairing to my father, who lias taken the pains to come to my very gate, and has no terms to propose but what are honourable." n i ! ihv . 108 At a meeting held with General Wasliington in 1790, a chief called Cornplant, who had ulways sliewn ^eat friendship for the white i)eople delivered an impressive speech, of whioh this is an extract. "Father, when your army enteFed tlie territoiy of the six nations, we called you the town-destroyer ; and to this day when your name is heard, our women look he- hind them and turn pale ; our children cling close to fh. necks of their mothers : hut our councellors and warriors being men, cannot be afraid : their hearts are giieved by the fear of the women and children, and desire that it may be buried so deep as to be heard of no more. Fa- ther, mi will not conceal from you, that the Great Spnit has preserved Complant from the hands of his own nation. You told us, say the>', that a line drawn from Pennsylva- nia to Lake Ontario would mark our land forever on the ejist ; and a line running from Beaver Creek to Pennsyl- vania would mark it on the west. But we see that it is not so. For first one and then another comes and takes it away by order of that people, who you told us would secure it to us for ever. Cornplant is silent, for he h.'is nothing to answer. When the sun goes down Complant opens his heart before the (Great Spirit, and earner than the sun appears aoam upon the hills ; he gives thanks for his protection during tlie night, for he feeh, that rm.oiig men become desi>eiate by the injuries they sustain, it is God only tiiat can preserve him. Cornplant loves peace : all he bad in store he has given to those who have been robl-ed by your people, lest they should plunder the inno- cent to repay themselves." I in 1790, iwn ^eat mpressive )ry of the ; and to look be- ►se to tht . warriors lieved by e that it re. Fa- 5at Spirit n nation, nnsyh'a- 'T on the !*ennsy]- that it is takes it s would ' he lias ornplant ^'er than anksfor t OUiOJlg tin, it is J peace : re been i€ inno- 109 What follows is a sentence of a speech of an Indian Chief to his companions, in a war oration. He told them, "he feehngly knew that their guns were burning in their hands; their tomahawks were thirsty to drink the blood of their enemies, and their trusty arrows were impatient to be on the wing; and lest delay should burn their hearts any longer, he gave them the cool refreshing word, 'Joiu the holy ark,' and away to cut olftlie devoted enemy." A speech made by Logan, a famous chief, about the year 1 775, cannot perhaps be excelled by any of the highly celebrated examples of Grecian, Roman or British elo- quence. In revenge for a murder committed by some unknown Indians, a party of the Americans fired on a canoe loaded with women and chddren, all of whom happened to belong to the family of Logan, who had been long a staunch friend of tlie white people and then at perfect peace with them. A war immediately ensued, and after much blood-shed peace was restored. A treaty was proposed, but Logan disdainfully refused to be reckoned among the suppliants for peace. "I appeal," said he, "to any white man to say, if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungiy, and he gave him not meat —if he ever came cold and naked, and Logan clothed him «ot. During the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was his love for the white men, that my countrymen pointed as they passed and said, Logan is the friend of white men. I had tliought to have lived with you, but for the injmesof one man. Colonel the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not l! > no sparing even my women and children. There runs not a drop of his blood in the veins of any hving creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it I have kill- ed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbour a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt feai\ He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? No, not one." Energetic and eloquent as is this address, under the painful impressions in which it was given, let the reader re- member how extremely difficult it is to obtain a translation of such an example of oratory that conveys the spirit of the original: few languages will admit of it, and, the sim- pler and less redundant the language in which it was delivered, the more difficult it must be to retain the genuine character in the diffuse terms of modem tongues. Mr. Adair, who had the best opportunities of becoming acquainted with the idioms of their language by a residence of forty years among them, has taken great pains to shew the similarity of the Hebrew to the Indian languages, both in their roots and general construction ; and gives reason to believe that many of their words are even to this day pure Hebrew, notwithstanding the danger it has run of perpetual change, so as to render the preservation of even a part of it little less than miraculous. It is well known that the original Hebrew, which was spoken by the Jews before the i vptivity in Babylon, was a language very different from that which was afterwards known to the people of Jerusalem, and is now known to the descendants of that people. Our learned men even I t 111 now declare that the old language of the Jews is lost; tlmt it was more properly a Phenician or Chaldaic idiou) jirid that it was during the captivity of no more than seventy years that they adopted an idiom essentially diflerent, that of Babylon, together with its character. What shall m-. then say, if only a similarity can be shown, and a fair comparison can be established, between the terms of the natives of this wilderness, and those of the stock from whence W3 maintain that they are sprung? Father Charlevoix was a man of learning and of respect- able abiUties: he paid more attention to the Indian lan- guages than perhaps any one before him or since, and he had gi-eater opportunities. These are his remarks. "The Algonquin and Huron languages have between them that of almost all the savage nations of Canada: whoever should well understand both, might travel without an interpreter more than fifteen hundred leagues of country, and make himself understood by a hundred diiierent na- tions, who have each its peculiar tongue. The Algonquin has an extent of twelve hundred leagues, and they sJ 5 ; ■ I'W 120 teligion, and were desirous of learning whetlier any thing!? in our scriptures were similar to tlicrr customs. They are firmly persuaded that they are the people of God, hut have lost their way and are lewildered in darkness." Mr. Hyde then gives a statement of their customs and religious ohservances, similar to what has been stated already. The entire discontinuance of the Sahbath among these tribes may be regarded as an argument against the hypo- thesis which the forementioned facts go to establish. It may be said; "If they have presened the sacred words and continued the ancient festivals of the i)eople of Israel, how is it they have lost their Sabbath day, the most pe- culiar of all the characteristics of God's people. Habit would surely confirm them so strongly in the observance of that day, that they could not possibly forget it ; and if some extraordinary revolution, hke that of the days of terror in France, should obliterate the day cl rest from the alma- nack, because it had been a religious festival, we should see it revived in some other form ; like the decade of the French Revolution." There does seem much force in this remark : for we are so completely the creatures of habit, that even a slight deviation from our ordinary routine cannot be effected, without disturbing our peace and producing unpleasant sensations: much less cau our religious associations be inten-upted without offering a severe violence to our feel- ings. But I am led to remark on this ai)parently strong objection, that it i3 evident, from the denunciations of the prophet, that this custom of keeping a Sabbath day, which ly things 3. They God, but arkness." ;oms and en stated ong these ;he hypo- blish. It ed words of Israel, most |)e- e. Habit ervance of id if some f terror in the alma- vve should ide of the for we are m a shght 3 effected, mpleasant nations be our feel- itly strong ions of the lay, which 121 was a practice entirely unknown to the Heathen nation?, had lost its force with the Hebrews long before these peo- ple arrived on the Western continent, supposuig that they ever did arrive there. From the 17th ch. of Jeremiah, we learn, that the inhabitants of Judah had broken the fourth commandment in so notorious a manner as to call down the indignation of the Almighty against them, verse 21. "Thus saith the Lord: Take heed to yourselves and bear no burden of the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work; but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I com- manded your fathers. But they obeyed not, neither mclin- ed their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction." Now if this was the character of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who did retain a respect for the ordinances of Moses, and never plunged into Idolatry as the Israelites did ; it is no great demand made upon our faitli to beheve, that these latter had been prevailed on, long before they were driven out from their happy land, to give up the observance of a Sabbath day. The idolatrous women with whom they had so generally associated, the people of the land whose abominations they had adopted, the example of their Kings and Queens who forsook God, would above all tilings separate them from a custom which belonged to them OS a distinct race ; and in the attachment they fomied to the pagan worship, to tlie Calves of Rehoboam, and the Baals and Ashtarotlis of tlie land, they would, as a matter of course, follow the observ'ance of days and times to which those people were devoted. In foiincr times public festivals were connected with religion; and M '!fl ( M' I 1 I M • ! I i I « PI l t'l i! j I 122 when wiiolo societies of people were converted to Christi- anity, the ancient festivals were generally preserved, and, with a slight alteration, were made to answer for the Christian worship. The Israelites would probably retain their festivals, being that part of their original institutions which well vitiA llie carnal appetite, and they would still have a re^^a i to these in their new places of abode. With annual festivities no system of religion, not even the Christian, is offended; while therefore they retained theirs, there would be no peculiar inducement for them to resume the interruption of a day of rest From tra- ditions still preserved, however, there is good reason to believe, tliat a Sabbath was observed by some of the tribes- after their arrival in America: but, when it ceased, and why, we have no means of ascertaining. It is well Known, that the rite of circumcision was in use among some of the tribes even at a compai'atively late period o* time, but was given up, according to ihaii traditions, by the young men, because they thought it an unne- cessary and even a cruel custom, and did not know for what reason their ancestors had appointed it. The Sab- hath may have been abandoned under a similar persua- f^ion, that there was no necessity for its observance. Thus those ancient customs which afforded a pecuhar gratification retained a feeble and half expiring life, while others from which no pleasure was acquired were by de- grees suflered to sink into oblivion. Christi- rved, and, : for the bly retain istitutions ley would of abode. t even the retained for them horn tra- reason to the tribes- !ised, and [t is well se among period o* traditions, in unne- know for The Sab- ir persua- ce. a peculiar life, while ire by de- t: 'I CHAPTER VIII. ON THE PASSAGE FROM CONTINENT TO CONTINENT. Tj HESE traditions of the aboriginal nations of Anu- rica which have been found in different parts of it, and some, indeed most of them in many parts, with such shades of difference as may be expected to exist, may now be connected with the discoveries which liave been made at a later period of that part of the Northern c can which lies between the Western shore of America and the opposite coast of Kampschatka j and a farther corro- boration will present itself of the important fact it is the object of these pages to establish. Kampschatka is a large peninsula on the North-easterii part of Asia, a mountainous country, with a cold and frozen climate. The Islands, in this narrow sea nhich divides it from America, are now numerous; they are subject to continual earthquakes, discover evident marks of repeated volcanos, and abound in sulphur : so that it may well be imagined, that in the course of many Centuries gi'eat changes have taken place in that part of the sea, and that M 2 it II III ••4 l4 124 a chain of islands may bave run across/ fonning an easy communication from continent to continent at all times, and especially in the winter season, when the land aid sea would fonn one continued track of solid ice. The strait is often filled with ice at the present time, so as to afford a free passage ; and when tlie water is free, it 18 very shallow: so that it is no gi'eat stretch of probability to suppose, tliat two tliousand years ago the two continents were joined, though UtUe known to each other by reason of the severity of the climate ttiat must have been endured m pas.sing from tlie one to the other, and the inliospitality of the soil in the North-eastern part of Asia: an abundance of unoccupied ground still lying open to the tribes and families that were wanderingabout what we now call Siberia. The Northern parts of the two continents where they approach have been found to abound with the same kmds of animals, bears, wolves, foxes, hares, deer, roe- buck, elk and the like, nor was it until the number of these had been greatly diminished in the European continent, that the hunters crossed the narrow strait to sport on the American land, in which their numbers were immensely great and they were so tame that they were easily taken . We are also informed by Robertson, that "when Peter the Great determined on exploring the North-east pait of his empire and the seas lying thereabout, a tradition was found to exist, that a communication had been held with the opposite coast: in those provinces an opinion prevailed, that there are countries of great extent and fertility at no great distance from them." m Du Pratz, who 125 In the wrote in the year 1720, informs ..„, that he met with a very intelligent Indian who had travelled to the North-west, through a pressing curiosity to see the land from whence his forefathers came, but found it cut off therefrom by the sea to his great disap- pointment. He there heard of a very old man, who had seen the distant land before it was cut away by the great water, and that when the water was low, many rocks were seen across it." There are some striking points of resemblance between the Kampskadales and the Indians, but it is scarcely worth while to describe them here, alluding only to the habit of puncturing the flesh, and making figures upon it which they rub over with a blue liquid, and the marks become indelible. Bishop Lowth imagines this practice to be alluded to in Isaiah 49, 16. "Behold I have graven thee on the palms of my hand." The Jews at this time making representations of the City and Tem- ple in their skins, to shew their affection for it, and retain its image in their minds. Steller in his journal states that, "the main land of America lies parallel with the coast of Kampschatka, and they have the appearance of having been onco joined, especially at the Cape- He assigns four reasons which induced him to think they were once united; the appear- ance of both coasts, which seem to have beenV>m asunder, many Capes which project into the sea, many small Islands which lie between them, the relative situ- ation of those Islands, and the present breadth of the sea. From Bhering's Island, which Hes in tlic middle. I 126 both continents can be clearly seen even now : from all which it appears clearly, that there was once a passage, l)robably an easy one, from the one to tlie other land, either on the main before the; separation took place, or from Island to Island at short distances or on the ice ; and that the tribe:4 of Israel wandering North-east and directed by the unseen hand of providence, or by some express tidings they had received, thus entered into a country wherein mankind net^r before dwelt. Dr. Robertson's remarks on these Stiaits, which had not the least reference to the subject of this volume, are however illustrative of the position here laid down. '• The number of Volcanos in this part of the world is remark- able : there arc several in Kampschatka, and not one of the Islands, great or small as far as the Russian naviga- tion extends, is without them. Many are actually buni- ing, and all the mountains bear mai'ks of having been once in a state of irruption. Were I disposed to admit such conjectures as have found a place in oilier enquiries concerning the peopling of America, I might suppose, that this part of the earth, having manifestly suffered vio- lent convulsions from earthquakes and volcanos, an isth- mus, which formerly united Asia to America, has been broken and fonned into an island by the shock.'* From the discoveries of Capt. Cook it appears, that within less than a degree of the polar circle these two continents present two opposite capes which are only thirteen leagues apart, in nearly the middle of which space lies Bhering's Island. Passing through this strait he saw distinctly the two continents lying on the right and left. 127 These tribes may not have gone diitlicr alunc. The alliances they liad fonned in Media might induce some other Easterns to accompany them; particularly their brethren who had been carried captive before them, and were in tlie same neighbourhood, and as much dissaiisHed with the place of their banishment and witli their oppi-es«or'^ rod, as themselves. Others, natives of tlie Eastern cxmst, may have been driven by storms and cost upon tho oppo- site Western land ; and tliese considerations will furnish us with tlie means of accounting for a mixture of Asiatic- language, manners and peculiarities. How often do we read in ancient history, of very lar^e bodies of people moving away from their ancien* resic'enc^, dther through choice or driven by a tyrant's command, to seek a new abode! When the warriors of the Northern nations invaded the South, they came accompani'-^l by their wives and children, with the only liabitations they could boast of, their tents, confident of obtaining belter ])Ossessions in a more feidle and less encmnbert^l country. The Israelites, with tlieir floclcs and families, were forty years finding their way into Canaan. When driven out by their Assyrian conquerors tliey were probably allowetl but a small portion of their projjcrty to cany wiUi thean, but tliey went en masse, a distance of about 900 miles. Beyond them, in the vast regions of the Nortli, was at that peiiod but a very thin population, and we hav« reason to believe few or perhaps no settlal habitations, towns or villages. The Scythians, whom Alexander could not conquer even on a more southern ground, must have been less and less thinly scattered as the country became In I i-< I I 1 I I i i- 1; ^ ^i , 1. ! r 128 more cold and less inviting. Tlic Hebrew tribes were sent into their borders by the command of a Monarch, who at that time held a sovereign sway over an inmiense range of country as far North as what we now call Great Tartury, bordering upon a wild uncultivated track. Tlie geographical situation of this country is wortliy of attention. Media lay on the South-west side of tlie Caspian Sea stretching Northward beyond Armenia and Georgia; and, to the Northern-most quarter of this vast Empire, to Halah, Habor and Hara, on the river Gozan, tliese cai)tives were sent. After tlie Assyrians, tlie Metles made themselves masters of tliat country, tlirowing off tlie Ass^Tian yoke. About one hundred years after which time the Scythiai a conquered iho Median Empire in up- [>er Asia, and retained the government about thirty years, 'riius a tmie long enough elapsed to promote an acquaint- ance between the Northern parts of Media and the still more Northern country of Scythia or Tai'taiy. It should be remarked, thai the Russians did not get Siberia under their government until long after tlie period to which our attention is now directed. While his power remained his captives would be com- pelled to keep their appointed station, but in after times when terror and confusion was spread through that country by die success ^ the Macedonian arms, and still more when the mighty conqueror had paid the debt of nature, leaving no heir to his crown, and his Generals became Kings and rivals among the Asiatic States, while they were waging war with one another and had more than enough to do to defend their own kingdoms from the aspir- I • ribes were Monarch, immense now call ited track, kvortliy of e of tlie aenia and this vast r Gozan, (le Metles 3wing off tcr which !re in up- rty years, acqnaint- l the still L't should ia under o which be corn- ier times country ill more r nature, became lie they re than ►easpir- 129 ing chiefs; it does not apjiear tliat any obstacle would lie in the way of these Isi-aelitish captives to move ofl-in a di- rection contrary to that in which the civilized powers were keenly contesting for a mastery, through what might be called no man's land, to escape ejitirely from the hands of tlieir enemies. Possessed of die spirit of animosity which enflamed tlie breast of the Assyrian; prince p^ainst these revolting triW, after removing them t ) so great a distance from their own country, it is not probable that he would appoint them a place in the most fertile pmt of his dominions, but rather on its Northern frontier, yet tliinly peoplcxl, where their restless disi^ositions would place tlie peace of Media at no risk. And so it appears from history thut he did. Robertson, in his history of America, says of Uiis country " that, if it was populated at all, it became so by the Sannathians or Scythians. The land may be said to have belonged to none.'* Some communication had always been kept up acrass the Nortliem parts of Asia in the way of trade, if it were only for the skins and he rich furs always in request in Babylon, and Assyria, and Persia. Through tlie means of merchants in these articles of commerce, some knowledge would be gained of cotmtries lying at a distance, and the inhabitants of Media would not improbably learn that there was a country lying to the North-east which was visited for no other purpose than to obtain furs, in which were no human inhabitants. To the natives of Media and Persia this might be news of no interest, but in the proscribed race ,f Israel, robbed of a valuable and beloved !! a II ;! 1 1 •f H M- , h •VV Q <:';! <: ^;' ■*] t •^v 1 „ I- %, 'i 'O' 1 Ir ^ ' i Jv :*. ♦l ■ *• I :|l 1 ;*'■'■ I I* m in Mi V ■ (* ■ h 130 home, to which they could not look with the expectation of a return, it might well awaken expiring hope : they would listen with eagerness to all the reports which were brought by travellers conceming it, they might even re- peat the cautionary measure of the great leader of their ancestors, and send some men in the character of traders to spy out the land, and might eventually take advantage of the confused state of Median and Macedonian politics to slip away, with such means of suhsistance us they could procure : their immediate neighbours, happy to be released from a large society of people whose manners were unlike their ovni and whom they could regard in no other light than conquered enemies. Than these none could be less acceptable as neighbours. The inhabitants of Media and Armenia might gladly act over again the part of the E gyptians, and offer facilities to the escajje of a people whom they could not look upon with pleasure. Let us pursue the object before us. In their progress there would be litile or nothing to impede them but the care about provision, and one of the American ti*aditions says that they suffered great hardships : perhaps, as in their fonn- er pilgrimage so in this, all the soulr died who went out of Media, or perhaps some may have reached the land they had promised themselves. But liberty was in their eye. To be free from the state of anarchy in which they had long been in Canaan through the attacks of their enemies, and out of the hands of the tyrant who had robbed them of their all, to enjoy independance in a wide range of land where no one could oppress them, and in which provision cf various kinds was ready prepared to their hands — would be to :pectation tpe : they hich were t even re- er of their • of traders advantage an politics they could be released v^ere unlike other light uld be less Media and lart of the f a people 3. Let us press there It the care itions says their fonn- went out of e land they 1 their eye. 1 they had ir enemies, hbed them Dge of land provision cf would be to 131 obtain a land flowing indeed with milk and honey-literally -and all their own, without even the danger of conquest. The idea of subjection to a foreign prince was always a galling load for a Hebrew to bear; the tributes they paid ^vere the sorest of all tlieir grievances. They are so to any nation, but were more especially so to these people who boasted of being immediately in God's keeping, and subject to no law but his, who held all idolaters in con- tempt and thought tliem the enemies of Jehovah. On their way to the Eastern shore they w .uld meet now and then with travellers whose reports would revive their sink- ing spirits, and enable them to submit to privations and to suffer want, in the assurance that every day canied them nearer to the end of their march and that then their toils would be over. Vegetation of some sort would abound, wild animals ^ -ght also range the forests and the wastes, and in whatever way the wandering Scythians lived, they might live in the same way. We who have been accus- tomed to a peaceful residence with civiHzed manners and plenty around, can form but a slight conception, scarcely any at all, of the manner in which the huge armies of Darius, of Alexander, of Xerxes, or of the Goths, were supported widi their ten thousands of attendants. It has been often said that where an Enj^lish Array would starve a French one woulc' Hve well: if there be so much differ- ence between those who in most points resemble each other, what may not be the difference between the means of maintaining at the present time a British population and those which were required for an Eat^tem mass of people two thousand years ago. i !'|i ' r i i ,y } 1; i 1 % '•■i • I'i [■1 5; • s '^ ^ t'li ; s i!;. 1: 1 1 ; ■ •| * 1 13-2 Aliiong othef traditions which have been met with is one upon the North-east coast of Asia, that very long ago, a large body of jjeople coming out of tlie interior of the country did pass over into America, men, women and children. And now let me direct the attention of my reader, not to the prophetical but the historical aid we receive from Scripture. The books of Esdras are not received into the Canon of Scripture ; therex^ore I do not lay claim to divine authority, nor do I need it in reporting a plain fact known at the time of its being written, which was in the second century of the Christian asra ; and evidently re- lated by the writer with no design to impose a falsehood upon any one : for he could have no possible motive for venturing such a falsehood. In his second book 13. 50. we read. '*And whereas thou sawest, that he, Jesus Christ, gathered another peaceable multitude unto him : those are the ten tribes, who were carried away prisoners out of their own land in tlie time of Osea, the King, whom Salmanazar, the King of Assyria, led away captive. And he carried them over the waters, and so they came into another land. But they took this council among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a fartlier country where never mankind dwelt, that they might there keep their statutef^, which they never kept in tlieir own land. And they en- tered into Euphrates by the narrow passes of the river; for the Most High then shewed signs for them and held still the flood till they were passed over : for through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year fl' it with is long ago, ior of the men and ler, not to dve from [J into the claim to plain fact ?as in the lently re- falsehood aotive for 5 13. 50. le, Jesus mto him: prisoners he King, Lj captive, •hev came ;il among de of the lere never ir statatef^, I they en- tile river; and held 'ough that of a year 133 cmd a half. And the same region is called Arsareth." Euphrates was a term common with the Jews to signify a gi-eat river or hody of water— this was in a country heyond that to which they were canied captive— God stopped the waters, froze them up, to let them pass— they went into a farther country where never man dwelt— and it was a great way off. All this account well corresponds with what has heen said before, of the facilities which would offer themselves for their journey, and I think I may add, in the language of the mechanic, that it serves to dove-tail the statements abeady given, and to bring down my history in a clear and connected manner to that fatal war, which put an end to the Kingdom of Israel and gave a large and active population to the wilds, the woods, the mountains, and the Savannahs of a new world. In reference to what has been stated at page 117, rela- tive to the Copper-mine river, the place of landing in America, according to an ancient tradition, it may be°ob. served, that near Bhering's Straits there is a place called Co]5per Island, from the vast quantities of that metal which are there found. In Grieve's history we are informed, that copper covers the shore in great abundance, so that r hips might be loaded with the ore. In consequence of which report, the Gazetteer informs us, that an attempt was made in 1770 to obtain a load of it, but that the ice, even in July, was so abundant, and other difficulties so great, that the object was relinquished. There are other authorities to support this tradition, that in former times gi-eat quantities of copper were seen in those parts. And I will add, that the probability seems to be, that soon after N \ I i i I HI 134 the banishment of these trihes from their own land, into one of the very outskirts of the territory of their conqueror, they proceeded onward and reached this continent through the North-east passage : perhaps even before the captivity of the Jews. We have no reason given us to suppose, that they were carried captive for any use that the King of Assyria could make of them. They were not made slaves in his capital, nor employed in raising pyramids or other public works; but were placed where they would be out of the way of mischief. The captor appears to have wanted, not them, but their land, to complete his conquests : into which he sent a colony of his ancient subjects, to inhabit it, in whom he could place a greater confidence than he could place in a newly conquered nation, proud of supposed privileges and indignant of slavery. J Tn and, into )nqueror, t through captivity suppose, the King lot made ramids or would be i to have )nqu€Sts : jjeets, to onfidence >n, proud CHAPTER IX. ON THE ARTS AND THE SCIENCE OF THE INDIANS. XT has been chiefly through the means of pious men of the United States, that we have been brought acquainted with the American Indiana, and their acquaintance has been most intimately with those tribes which inhabited the back settlements, and the land lying towards the Pacific Ocean. These aie the tribes which have discovered the least of civilization, they have dwelt in a country abounding in immense forests, which have been stored with a profusion of game and wild cattle of various kinds; and, being of a warlike character, have been at perpetual war with ea^h other, and lived in a half savage, half civihzed state, in the ordinaiy enjoyment of abundance; but, having no written means of instruction, have remained stationary, and have had no inclination to form themselves into better constructed and more enlightened society. B ut we. are not therefore to conclude, that civilization has not taken place among any of these people; for on tlie contrary, it is well known, that there has been a great n2 !■! S ! i i ■1; i !i I i:- :« 136 II i progress towards refinement, arts have been carried to a great extent, and there was a period, the date of which we ca.nnot now ascertain, when Egypt herself could not furnish greater marks of industry, ingenuity and per- severance in the mechanic arts, than these people have exhibited. These have been inquired into with gi-eat industry by Baron Humboldt, a native of Gemiany, whose Essays on the Kingdom of New Spain were published in New York in 1811. He ventures not any opinion on the origin of the people, but says that in New Spain, Peru, Canada, Florida and Brazil, there is a marked resemblance prevailing among them; and he adds, "In the faithful portrait which an excellent observer, Mr. Volnt-y, has drawn of the Canada Indians, we recognize the tribes scattered in the meadows of Rio Apure and the Corona." "ITiey — the Mexicans before the Spanish conquest — had an almost exact knowledge of the duration of the year, and mtercalated at the end of their gi-eat period of a hundred and four years with more accuracy than did the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. The Taultees in the seventh and the Aztees in the twelfth centuries, as he learned from the hieroglyphical tables of the latter, which tables ti'ansmit to us the memory of the principal epochs of migration among the tribes, drew up the geographical map of the Country traversed by them ; constructed cities, highways, dikes, canals, and immense pyramids very accurately designed, of 1416 feet in length. That of Cholula is 177 feet in height, it has four stories, lies exactly with the meridian, north and south, the width the ihi Tied to a vhich we )uld not and per- ple have iustry by Issays on in New ;he origin Canada, smblance 3 faithful Iney, has he tribes I^orona." conquest )n of the 2riod of a n did the 2S in the es, as he er, which al epochs graphical ted cities, lids very That of >ries, lies he width 137 nearly equal to the length, and is composed of alternate strata of brick and clay. Many other pyramids are of the same construction but not so large, and bear a great resemblance to the temple of Belus at Babylon, and to the pyramids near Sackhara in Egypt. On that of Cholula is a Church surrounded by cypress : the length of the base is greater by ahnost half than that of the great pyramid Cheops, and exceeds all that are known on the old continent, and is constructed on a similar plan with them.'* Humboldt adds. " How is it possible to doubt, that the Mexican nation had arrii^ed at a certain degree of civili- zation, when we reflect on the care wth which their hieroglypliical books were composed and kept; and recollect that a citizen of Thascala in the midst of the tumults of war took advantage of the facility offered him by the Roman alphabet, to write in his own language five large volumes on the history of a country, of which he deplored the subjection. Their hieroglyphical paintin<^s, buildings of hewn stone, curious carvings in wood and works of sculpture still in preservation, though they do not discover any great excellence, yet bear a striking ana- logy to the monuments of more civiUzed people." In the Archaeologia Americana, containmg Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society, pub - lished at Worcester in 1820, are described antiquities of the people who formerly inhabited the western parts of the United States : from these are taken the following extracts. "The military works, the walls and ditches which cost so much labour in their structure, the numerous and tasty n3 .1 : n I {■ I I ^^ -K, w < ? •> ■ a,' IS* ' i! • > -;t^: 138 mounds, which owe theu* origin to a people far more civil- ized than our Indians but far less so than Europeans, are interesting on many accounts to the antiquarian, the i)hilo- sopher and the divine : especially when we consider the immense extent of country which they cover, the great labour which they cost their authors, the acquaintance with the useful arts which they display, the grandeur of many of the works themselves, and the traditionary accounts re- specting them. They were once forts, cemeteries, temples, altars, camps, towns, villages, race grounds, and other places of amusement, habitations for chieftains, Avatch-towers and monuments. From what we see of these works, th<' people inust have had some acquaintance with the arts and sciences. They have left us perfect specimens of circles, squares, octagons and parallel lines, on a gi'eat and noble scale ; and we also know, that they possessed the art of working metals. Theii- wells, with stones at their mo hs remind us of those described in the patriarchal age." "Near Newark, in Licking County, Ohio, between two branches of the Licking river, at their junction, is one of the most notable remains of the ancient works. It is a fort inclosing forty acres, whose walls are ten feet high, with eight gateways, eacrh fifteen feet. Each gate guarded by a wall placed before it. Near this fort was another containing twenty two acres and connected with it by two parallel walls of earth. Just without a gateway there is an observatory so high as to command a view of the region to a great distance ; from which is a secret passage to an ancient watercourse — other forts join to them, with watch- towers sun'oundcd by circular walls. These forts were )ro civil - euns, are lie pliilo- consider he great nice with of many Qunts re- teinples, ler places .'h-tovvers orks, the ! arts and »t' circleti, nd noble the art ol' ir mo hs ge." between Ml, is ont- ks. It is feet high, B guardetl s another it l)y two i there is he region sage to an ith watch- forts were 139 so placed as to enclose a number of large fields Ibr cultnre, and appear to have had a communication with other fort« by long parallel walls to the distance of many miles; tho planning of which works of defence speaks volumes in la- vour of the sagacity of their authors. I'umuli, and Si.uie of them built of stone, are found about them. Pieces of eurthenwaie, ornamented and glazed, pieces of copper and tools of iron are found in these works." An account is given of several of this kind of military works, with various tools and instruments dug up iVom them, as spears, swords, knives, bricks well burned, mir- rors of isinglass, stone axes and knives, oniaments ol" cop- per and of silver, a crucible that will still bear the usual heat, a stone pipe curiously wrought in high relief; on the front side a handsome female face. In the Tumuli have been found immense numbers of human bones, indicating a great population, or a vast destruction of life in war. A writer in the Archaeolcgia mentions one place, near the junction of the Ohio with the Missisippi, whqre are more than three thousand Tumuli, the largest of huge dmiensions. " I have been sometimes induced," he says, "to think that at the ])eriod when these were constructed, there was a popu- lation 83 numerous as that which once animated the bor- ders of the Nile or tli« Euphrates. I am jierfectly satisfied that cities similar to those of ancient IVIexico, of several hundred thousand souls, have existed in this countrv. Nearly opposite St. Louis, there are traces of two sudi rities in the distance of five miles." Near Mexico are many pyramids whicli of themselves ): i 1 - I w, '■f ;' ; * i .^■ 1 M f . 7^ ■"■ , ^1 1 1 146 Popayan, that is, he says, to Quito, where he hired mules of a Spaniard to go into the Country, and took with him a guide who was called Francisco. With him he proceed- ed towards the Cordilleras. Falling into conversation with his guide, he found him to be one of the original natives of America, who had much violence and injustice to charge the Spaniards with. He complained bitterly of their cruelties, and expressed not only a hope, but even a persuasion, that his countrymen would one day have the satisfaction of a revenge through the means of a people that were then concealed. Aaron's curiosity was much excited to know mo:, of these people ; and learning from his guide that some of them wore very long beards, others short ones, and that they observed the rite of circumcision, his anxiety greatly increased to see them, and he begged his guide to accompany him to the place where they re- sided. His guide consented, and he gave him three dol- lars to buy provisions, with a part of which money he purchased canvas shoes, and they began their journey. As they proceeded Francisco *nade many enquiries about Aaron's friends and origin. He asked liim if he knew who was his original ancestor; to which Aaron replied yes, his name was Abraham, and added that he believed in one God that is in Heaven, and that all else that is said about God is false. Francisco then bound the stranger by an oath, that he would not betray him, either as to any thing he saw or any thing he heard, and that he would do as he directed him. Having travelled two days, the Indian made him put on the canvas shoes, take a staff and follow him.—He does not assign his reasons for 5J mules vith him proceed- rersation original injustice itterly of 3ut even have the a people IS much ng from s, others meision, B begged they re- tiree dol- loney he journey, bnquiries im if he ti Aaron I that h(! ,t all else ound the til, either I that he ;vvo days, s, take a a?ons for 147 this change; probably they were climbing the mountains, and the staff and the shoes were useful in their progress.- Iho Indian carried widi him three measures of wheat aud two ropes, in oneofwlich were many knous and .t the ends ol them were short iron spikes, to throw (l,e says) among the rocks as they climbed up. On the Sabbath day they rested, and after two days journey more tJiev arrived at the bank of a large river, much larger than the J^ouro. His guidethen said to him, "here you will see your brethren." Having made a kind of flag with two pieces of cotton cloth, he waved it backward and forward >vheu a great smoke arose on the other side the river! That smoke," said thelndian, "is a sign that they know w. are here - he then gave another sign, ai.d three men and a woman came over in a little boat. Aaron did not under- stand the language in which these persons spoke, but his guide understood them: they looked hard in his face ex pressed g,.eat pleasure at seeing .Jm, and jumped about and embraced, and kissed him. They said to him and It was explained by Francisco, m Lord is our God the Lard i. One. see Deut. 6. 4. They used signs which Uie guide explained; tiiey evidently knew that he was a Jew. They said Joseph dwells in the midst of the Sea and held up two fingers, 5m joined together and then' lield apart, to intimate that they were two families de- scended from one head-Manasseh and Ephraim-and added, there wiU be a day on which we shall all meet: and you will tell oar bretliren, that you were die first tliat <^ame here to us : no one of tJiem has been here befbre you. IJpon this Aaron made a motion to get into the boat. o2 i i 1 I 1 < us 4 ; ^1 ( s 148 but they checked him, and, stniggling with them, he fell into the water; they took him out, but refused to let him go over with them. For three successive days the boat continued to move to and fro across the water, bringing always four persons at a tune; so that he supposed he saw about three hundred of them. His account of the people is, that their countenances were much burned by the sun, that they were of a fine tall strait figure, many with beards, and that they wore on their heads a kind of turban. They gave directions to the Indian to tell him more about them, and then took their leave : on which the Jew and his guide returned to Quito. On their way Aaron said to his guide, "now smce you know a good deal about these people, you must tell me all you know, for they ordered you to tell me." The guldens answer was, "I will tell you the truth, and if you are not satisfied with what I tell you, and waut to know more, I shall tell you false : what I know I learned from my ances- tors, and it was handed down to them by tradition. The Almighty brought the children of Israel mto this country by great miracles and wonderful works; if I told you all, you would thmk them contrary to nature. When we came into this coimtry we had great battles with the people that lived here before us, and the wizards, of whom there were many among us, advised us to go to the place where those people whom you have just seen are, and make war against them; which we did, and all our army was de- stroyed. Then we gathered a larger army and fought with them ; and that army was also cut oflT. A third time we I, he fell olet him the boat bringing )d he saw itenances of a fine 1 wore on jctions to then took itumed to since you tell me all lie guide*s 3a are not w more, I my ances- ion. The is country ,d you all. When we the people horn there lace where make war ly was de- bughtwith rd time we 149 collected all our men of war together, and none of thein returned alive. We then tliought that the wizards had given this advice through spite; and they that remained rose against them and killed a great many of them • the otiiers begged for their life, which was grunted, on condi- tion of their telling them die truth. Then the old mt-n taught us, that the God of the chUdren of Israel is tlie true God, and that his commandments are true; and that a time wiU come when these people will have rule over the whole earth. Peace was then made between us all, on condition tiiat we should never pass over the river to them, but that every seventeen moons one of their people should come amongst us, to make us a visit and enquire about our prosperity, and that the secret of their concealment' should not be revealed to any one who was not three hundred moons old; that it should never be revealed in any house, but in the field in the open air, that none might overhear. There has been communication between them and us only three times; the first when the Spaniards came over into the country, the second when ships caine into the sea of Zur, and the third time is the present of your coming." The above historical circumstances are related in the preface to the little book, which forms a comparatively large portion of it: after which the Author proceeds to make remai-ks on the Narrative of Aaron Levi. He says that before this time it was quite out of his power to obtain any satisfactory information of the ten tiibes. He had read several accounts of them, but could rely upon none. He quotes some of these accounts, giving the particular] o3 tll i'A H ■ I u m 150 and his reasons for discrediting them. One of them. Arias Montana, says, "The language of the Peruvians is the same as our language/' The Jews receive and acknowledge four hooks of Ezra, written in the time of Hosea; the first is that which is in oiur Bible; in the fourth Ezra writes — "that the ten tribes were solicitous to find a place in which they might remain quiet and at peace. So they passed over the Euphrates, God performing a miracle and stopping the water, that they might pass safely over. They then came to a country called Arsaret, which is Great Tartary, and passing through it they arrived at an Island called Grona, from whence they crossed a narrow passage to a land called Labrador, which is India." The passage already quoted fifom Esdras has much the appeai'ance of having been taken from it. Another writer says, "Arsaret is the outer part of the continent, which is Tartary on the Sea, and that Plyneas writes, that from thence there is a narrow passage over to another land." Another writer mentions the fact, "that the Spaniards found a tombstone in Mexico which was engraven in the Hebrew language, that the customs of the American Indians where just like those of the Jews, and that some of them were known to use the rite of circumcision." Upon the whole this writer appear.^ fully satisfied, that by some means or other a considerable portion of the ten tribes went over into America ; and thinks it probable, that Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, which were taken away in the first captivity, anrl placed among the Mountains of of them, rnvians is i of Ezra, hich is in t the ten ley might over the pping the then came rtary, and 3d Grona, [and called iy quoted ving been part of the at Plyneas Lge over to Spaniards Lven in the American that some umcision." dd, that by of the ten (bable, that in away in )untains of 151 Media, by the King of Ashur, were the earliest to go there. And that the / wcie afterwards followed by the men of the second captivity. Here is an evidence, coming in an oblique direction, which carries with it, as 1 conceive, gi-eat conviction, tliat It was known to the learned among the Jewish people two hundrc'l years ago, scarcely half a century after the con^ quest of Peru, that some of their brethren, of whom they had long lo ,t sight, were safely settled in the continent of America: that the fate of these people had engaged the attention of many of their writers, who had solicitously enquired after th. ir destination ; and that at last, one who held a high rank among them, published in his own lan- guage a httle book, for the express puipose of declaiing, that, although he had hitherto been ignorant of their fate, he wa3 then satisfied, by evidence which he saw no reason to discredit, that at least a pait of them were safely esta- blished as a separate people among the vast range of the Cordilleras. There is considerable difBculty in deciphering some of the proper names which are found in this little book : the Hebrew characters not con'esponding exactly with the English, and the manner of writing the words depending on the reporter's pronunciation, and tlie names of places and of countries not being the same two hundred years ago, in the languages in which the books were written, that they are now in our Atlas. Another remark may be of some interest to the reader : whether when these people made use of the passage that ig found in Deuteronomy, The Lord is our God, the Lord is 152 ) ( t-V I i i-tli I One, they would, had they been permitted, have used the word Jehovah. But the reporter could not inform us of this very important fact, which would so clearly illustrate the subject; for no Jew is allowed to write that word on any occasion whatever, except in copying the books of Moses, nor to utter it on any such an occasion : and, when the word occurs in i-eading any part of those books in the Synagogue on the Sabbath day, they always substitute for it the term adonai. Admitting even that ^hey were of the Hebrew nation, they must have said, and Jacob must have written, adonai. The Indian, who acted as interpreter on tliis occasion, spoke of people who were in the country when his ances- tors arrived in it; which may lead some to suppose, that these Hebrew tribes were not the first to colonize the American continent, or at least that part of it which lies below the Cordilleras towards the sea. It is not clear however from this man'o relation, that they carried on war against any but those on the other side the river, nor is any motive assigned for their attempting to disturb them in tlieir settlement If the supposition of this learned Jew be correct, it will appear, that the first persons who came there were the descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim who stationed chemselves beyond the river, and that some other wanderers of the same migration aftenvards settled in Peru, and having skirmished awhile with their neigh- bours, ultimately formed the kingdom which sprang up and was consolidated under the Incas; a peaceful and happy nation. The term Wizard used by the Indian is, in this little 153 used the rm us of illustrate : word on books of nd, when ks in the ubstitute y were of cob must occasion, is ajices- lose, that nize the '^hich lies not clear i on war r, nor is irb them med Jew ho came Ephraim bat some Is settled ir neigh- )rang up eful and his little book, the same word as is found in the Hebrew Bible and translated Wizard in ours : an order of men for whom tlie degenerate Israelites had a high regard, and to whom tlicy applied habitually for advice in all difficult cases; as ap- pears from many demmciations of the Prophets. And, as Moses in his law guarded them against their imposi-, tions, and forbade the people to apply to them, it would appear; tliat they brought with them some of this order into the land of promise, who had learnetl their magic arts in Egypt; that they retained them in the land of Canaan, where tliey recovered their plenary power under the Idolatrous Kings of Israel; and that they still preserved that power after they had emigi-ated to the new world. Their ancient priests had been long neglected ; but wiz- ards and necromancers were still in esteem. That the people finding themselves deceived by the wizards, who we are to suppose were numerous and fonning an order in the state, should rise against them and kill a great many of them, is exactly what their ancestors had been every now and then in the habit of doing with their ghostly advisers. One time it was the Priests of the Lord who were slain by scores and by hundreds : another it was tlie- Priests of Baal who fell in crowds : and again we read, of all the witches and wizards of the land being put to deatli. Such was the spirit of this people : they were always a murderous set When we find that the Jewish nation had entirely lost sight of their brethren, the Children of Israel, and had not been able before the period in which this httle book was written to obtain any information as to what had be- if ^Il 1 ^ :'! 1 154 coiuo of them, we need not wonder that CInistian writers were a( an utter loss to account for their entire disajjpear- ance ; tliat Prideaiix should unhesitatingly declare, that they were merged and lost in the Asiatic tribes; and that Gibbon should give himself no trouble to account for the tofcjil destruction of a nation once so peculiar in their habits, so deeply i ooted in national prejudice, and so distinguished as these descendants of the Hebrew i)eople were. His l)roud and unbelieving spirit would perhaps grudge the labour of research after thcni. The ruler of the Syna- gogue at Amsterdam had been interested in the question of their final destiny; he could not be satisfied that they had be6n abandoned by their Almighty Friend, and had taken pains to search into every thing that had been writ- ten concerning them : but without success. It is only by uniting facts which time brings to light, that circumstances of so mysterious a nature, as the disaj> pearance of tliis great body of people, can find an explana- tion ; and then it is the bearing of one discovery upon anotlier, and their leading to the developement, rather than a direct and clear evidence, that unfolds the liidden secret and brings satisfaction to the mind. r •» K^\ His CHAPTER XL THE INVASION OF CORTES. In the year 1578, a book was published in London with Uie tule "The Pleasant Historie of the Conquest of the V Veast IiKlia, now called new Spayne, Atchieued by the vvorthy Prince Hernando Cortes, Marques of the vall.v of Huaxacat, most delectable to Reade." This is a translation from the Spanish, and is printed m the old Enghsh Black Letter. I have it in my posses- sion and esteem it a curiosity. It betrays too surel. both the mdisposition of the Spaniards to think, or at ieast, to speak justly of those truly interesting people the pams they took to misrepresent them, either tlirou^h ignorance or base design, and the steady and perseverir-^ use Cortes made of the name of Religion, as a plea for his usurpation and apology for all his cruelties. Throughout this book they are represented as idolaters of the basest land; they are charged with sacrificing thousands of their enemies and also of their own peo])le to their deity; thev are spoken of as constantly and ordinarily feeding on i I j ii lis -I 4 ■ ^■. «. 15G human carcases; and, to crown all, it is the Devil who is their favorite deity and chief adviser, in all the stej)s they were induced to take to resist these worthy christians ; who came to visit them with no other design than to make them cease from human sacrifice, give up the worship of the Devil, and receive the glad tidings of Salvation through Christ Jesus. It is a heart-rending history indeed that even this Spaniard writes, whose object it was to show his companions* behaviour in the fairest colours. No one can read it, who has obtained information respecting that de- generate race of men from other quarters, without perceiv- ing an entire ])lan of deception carried on, from the time that Cortes first landed at Ulhua to the complete conquest of the rich town of Mexico. A few extracts from this work may amuse the reader. The Oration that Cortes made to his Soldiers. — "My louing fellowes and deere friendes, it is certayne that euery valiant manne of stoute courage, doth procure by deedes to make him selfe equall with the excellente men of his time, yea and with those that were before his time. So it is, that I do now take in hand such an enterprise, as god- willing shall be heereafter of greate fame, for myne heart doth pronosticate vnto mee, that we shall winne greate and rich Countreys, and manye people, as yet neuer scene to anye of oure nation, yea and (Ibeeliue) greater kingrlomes than those of oure kinges. And I assure you, that the de- sire of glory dotlie further extend, than treasure, the whiche in sorte, mortall life doth obtayne. I haue now prepared Shippes, Armor, Horses, and other furniture for the warres, with victuall suflicient, and all things that are 157 evil who is stei)s ihey [•}\ristians ; .11 to make worsliip of m through lulccd that show his '^0 one can ig that de- nt perceiv- n the time e conquest from this 1-s.— "My that euery by deedes men of liis time. So se, as god- lyne heart greatc and ;r scene to kingrlomes lat the de- asure, the haue now miture for ^s tliat are N-sed as nree'^.u , in Co.uiuestes. I haue bin at -n'eate costesuul ci .rges, wi.erein I banc not oneiv employed myneon-nf g. .d^s,biit also the goodes of my friendes, Vet "le tL.nkei'^ • ^u the employmente thereof dothe encrease my tr.a.n-. . „,i ],onor. We ought (loiiing followes) to leaue on siiiall things, vhen great matters doe oiler them- selues. And cuen as my trust is in God, cuen so gi-eater profile shall come to our kings, and a nation of this ouro enterprise, than hath heertofore of any other. I doe not speake how acceptable it will be to God our sauiour for whose loue I do chielly and willingly hazard my goods and trauel. I will not nowe treat of the perils and danger of life that I haue passed since I began this voyage. "^This I say, that good men doe rather expect renoune, than trea- sure. We doe now attempt and begin wan-e that is both good and iust, and the almiglity God in whose name and holy faith this voyage is begoni^e, will assuredly giaunte vntovs victory, and the lime will she. the end of thin-s well begonne." ^ On an island called Acusamil they met with a S])aniard who gave the following account of himself—" Sh-, my name is Geronimo de Aguilar, I was borne in the Cittie of Esya in the Andohzia, and by misfortune I was loste after this sorte. In the warres of Darien and in the time of the contentions and passions oilame^ de Nicimsa and Vasco Nonez Balboa, I came with Captaine Valdinia in a little Carnell, toward Santo Domingo, to giue aduice to the Admirall and gouernour, of the troubles which had happened, and my comming was for men and victuals • and likewise we brought twentye thousand Duckettes of '■'ts?*"- 53Bt/'i&Jt» mz.j^.'^Td' \ / 158 lilt kings in .^nno 1511. Avd when we apported at/a- nmyca, our Curuel was lost on the shallowes whiche were callod the Uipars, and with greate pain we entred (about twenty persons) into the boate, with out sayle, water or bread, and weake prouission of oares : we thus wander tliirtecnc or fourteene dayes, and then the currant, whiche is there very great & runneth alway weastward, cast vs a shoiire in a prouince called Maya, & trauelling on our way, seauen of our fellowes died wyth hunger & famin. \nd caj)lain Valdinia & other 4. were sacrifised to the ydols by a cruel and cursed Cacike, th^t is to say, a Lord in whose jwwer we fell, &c. "And after the sacrifice, they were eaten among the In- diam for a solemne ^anket : and I, and other sixe wer put into a Cage or coupe, to be fatued for an other sacrifice. And for to escape suche abhominable death, we brake the prison and flcdde through certaine mountaines : So that it pleased God 'hat wee niette with another Cazike who wa? enimy to him that first toke vs, his name was Quin- qus, a man of more reason and better condition, hee was Lord of Xamamana : he accepted vs for his captiues, but shortly after he dyed, and then I aboad with Taxmar his heire. Tlien deceased other fine of oar fellowes, so that there remayned but only I and one Gonsalo Guerrer, a 1 ..aryner, who now abydeth with Nachancan the Lorde of CheLnal, and he man-led with a rich gentlewoman of that countrey, by whom he hath children, and is made a Captaine, and wel esteemed with the Cazike for the victo- ries that he Iiath bad in the wars against the other Lords. I *ti]t vnto him your worships letter, desiiing him that he 159 h In- "would come with me hauing so fit a passage, bat he re- fused my request, I belieue for verye shame, because liee had his nose ful boared of holes, & his eares iugged, liys face & handes painted according to the vse of the countrey, or else he abode there for the lone he bare to his wife and children/* *A 11 those whichestoode by & hard this Histovie, were amased, to heare Geronimo de Aguilar re})ort lyivvr those Indians did sacrifise & eate mans flesh. They also la- mented the miserie & death of his fellowes, and highly praysed God, to see him free from his bondage & fk)ni such ci-uel & barbarous people, & to haue likewise so good aii enterpreter with them, for vndoubtedly it semed a miracle the jlluarados ship fel into a leak, for with the extremity they returned back again to that Hand, wheras with contia- rie winde tiiey were constrayned to abide the coming of Aguilar, and certainly he was the mean & speech oial their proceedings. And therfore haue I bin so prolixiors in tht rehearsal of this matter, as a notabk point of this historie. Also I wil not let to tell how the mother of Ger»nimo de Aguilar, became mad. &c.* * When she hard that hir son was captiue among people who vsed . o eate mans flesh, & euer after when she saw any flesh spitted or roasted, she would make an open out- crie, saying, oh I miserable woman, behold this is the flesh of my deai'ebeloued sonne who was all my comiort.' The account given of this island is that * It contayneth ten leagues in length & thrive leagues in breadth, although some say more, some lesse : it standeth twentye degrees on this side the eKjuator, and flue leagues from iiie womtns cape : it hath three villages, in the which liueth nere 3 thou- p2 I I 'rJ « \ k \i J. ■ : V r *■ ' l,| i i 160 sand men. The houses are of stone and hrick, and couered with straw & bowes, & some with tile. Their temples and towers are made of hme & stone very wel built : thei haue no other fresh water but out of welles and raine water. Calachuni is their chiefe Lord : they are browne people & goe naked : & if any weare cloth, it is made of cotten wool only to couer their private members: they vse long hear platted & bound about their foreheads : they are great fisher- men, so the fish is their chiefest foode & sustenance, they haue also Maiz which is for bread : also good fruites : & hony, but somewhat som-e : and plots for bees, which contayn. 1000 hiues. They knew not to what use wax serued, but when they saw our men make candels thereof, they wondred thereat. Their dogges haue Foxe faces and barke not, these they gelde and fatten to eate. This Hand is fulof high mountames, & at thefeete of them, good pastures many Deare and wilde Boares, Connyes and Hares, but they are not great The Spaniardes with their handguns and crossebov es prouide them of that \dctual, fresh salt and dried. The people of this Hand are Idolaters, they doe sacrifice children, but not manye. And many times in stead of children they sacri- fice dogges. They are poore people, but very charitable and louing in their false religion and beliefe.* 'Tlie rehgion of the people oi Acusamil.-^The tem- ple is like vnto a square Toure broad at the foote, & steps round about it, & from the middest upward very straight: the top is hollow and couered witli straw: it hith foure windowes with frontais and galleries. In the holow place is their chappel, wheras their Idols do stand. mummtF 161 The temple that stoode by the sea side was such a one in the which was a maruellous straunge Idol, and difler^ ed muche from all the rest, although they haue manye and of dmerse fashions. The body of this Itlol was great and hollow, and was fastened in that wall with lime • - hee was of earth. And behinde this Idols backe was the Uesterie, where was kept ornaments & other things ot seruicefor the temple. The priests had a little secret dore hard adjoining to the Idol, by which dore they crept into the hollow Idol, and answered the people who came with prayers & peticions. And with this deceit the simple soules beleued al the Idol spake, and honored the god more then al the rest with many perfumes and sweete smelles, and offered bread and fruite, with sa- cnfice of Quayles bloud, and other bu-ds, and Ao^es and sometime mans bloud. And through the fameof L' IdoUand Oracle, many Pilgrimes came to Jlcusamil &om many places At the foote of this Temple was a plotte hkea Churchyard, well walled and garnished with 4ner pmnacles, in the middest whereof stoode a Crosse V ten fuote long, the which they adored for God of the rayn. for at all times when they wanted rayne, they would goe'thi ther on Procession ('euoutely, and offered to the Cross'-- Quayles r^erificed, for to appease the witith ^hat the God seen .3d to hane agaynste them : and none was so accept.- bk ^i '^cnfi,e, as the bloud of that little birde. -hey vse * to bum. certaine sweete gume, to perfume that Gc J wi^h- 4ll, and to besprinkle it with water, and this done thevr cel^ued assuredly to haue rayne. Such, h the Keligion of tho.e Indians of Acusamil. They could ueure W p3 i M #. 1 1 1'" fi t !"■ li- ^^ l"* 1 '* ^:| % I 162 the original how that God of Crosse came amongst tliem, for in all those parties of India, there is no memorie of anye Preaching of the Gospell that had bin at any time, as shall be shewed in another place.* Similar descriptions are given of other towns. Xext follows a descripticn of a temple found on the Continent. 'There was in that Village a temple, whiche hadde a little I'ower with a Chappell on the toppe, and twentie ste})pes to come unto the Chappell, where they found some Idolles, and many bloudy papers, and much mans bloud of those which hadde bin sacrificed, as Marina did certifie. They found also the blocke wheieupon they used to cutte open the menne sacrificed, and the razors made oi Flint; wherewyth they opened their breasts and plucked out their heartes beeyncr aliue throwing them uppe toward Heaven as an oflfering, and after t'as done they anoynted their idolles and .the papers they offered, and then burned them.' * From the passage of the river they had a faire way to another river, which being likewise waded ouer, they discried Zempoallan, whiche stoode a myle distant from them, all beset with fayre Orchardes and Gardens, verye plcasaunte to beholde, they used always to water them with sluses when they pleased. There proceeded out of the towne many persons, to behold an receyue so strange a people unto them. They came with smihug countenance and presented unto tliem diuers kinde of floures and sun- dry fruites, which none of our men had heeretofore seene. These people came without feare among the ordinance ; with this pompe, tiiumph, and ioy they were receiued into 163 tlie Citic, Hhich seemed a bea.tifuU Garden, for the tree, weresogreene andhighthat scarcely the houses appeared.' From Vera Crux, the first town the Spaniards built rich presents were sent to the Court of Spain, many arti^ cles m gold. Sliver, feathers and wood, curiously wrou^^ht with carpets and cloth of cotton. 'AU these tilings wer more beautiful than rich : the workmanship of al was more worth than the tiling it selfe The colours of the cloth of cotton wool was exceeding- '' e and the fethers natural.' jThe pounced worke in gold and sUuer excee .r gddsmithes. They joyned to tliispresent certaine Indian bookes of figures which serve to their use for letters : these bookes arefcldenlikeuntoclothes,and written onboth sides. Some of tliese books were made of cotton and glewe, and others were made of leaves of a certain t^ee calledMelt, whyche serue for theyr paper, a thing straunge to behold.' The Country of TIaxcallaa was separated from that of Mexico ' by a greate circuite of stone made without lyme or mortar, ])eing a fathom and a half high and twentie ^oote brode, with loupe holes, to shoot at: Uiatwall cross- e 'They have aU kinde of good poUcie in the citie ; there are ^oHsmithes, Fethenlressers, Barbors, Hotehouses and T'.rf^ ^1,0 „^^^ ^ g^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ .^^^^^ in Spayne. 164 Chololla, a place they passed through in their way to Mexico 'is called the Sanctuary or holy place among tlie Indians, and thither they trauelled from many places farre distante on pilgrimage, and for this cause were many temples. It sheweth outwards verye beautifull and full of tx)wers, for there are as manye temples as dayes in the veare, and every temple hath his towers. Our men count- ed foure hundred towers. The men and women are of good dispositions, well fauoured and veiy wittie.* We learn that when Mutezuma heard of the taking of Chololla, he feared and said, "These are the people that our Gods said should come and inherite this land." 'He went incontinent to his oratore and shut himself alone, where he abode in fasting and prayer eyght dayes, with sa- crifice of many menne to asslake the fury of his idolles, who seemed to be offended. The voyce of the Diuell spake unto him, bidding him not to feare the Christians &c.' I shall here subjoin the speech of Mutezuma to Cortes and his company. "Lorde and Gentlemen. — I doe much rejoyce to haue in my house such valiant men as ye are, for to vse with curtesie, and entreate you with honour, according to your desert and my estate. And where heretofore i desired that you shoulde not come hither, the onely cause was my people had a greate feare to see you, for your gesture and grimme beards did terrific them, yea, they reported that yee had such beastes as swallowed men, and that your coming was from heaven, bringing with you lightning, thunder and thunderbolts, wherwith you made the earth to tremble and to shake, and that yee slew therewith whom r way to nong tlie y places jre many I and full ^es in the m count- re of good Ne learn Chololla, that our 1." 'He ;lf alone, , with sa- ls idolles, 16 Diuell itians &c.* , to Cortes ;e to haue » vse with ig to your i desired se was my ssture and ►orted that that your lightning, the earth fvith whom 165 ye pleased. But now I do see and know that ye are mor- toll men, and that ye are quiet and hurt no man : also I haue seene your horses, which are but your seruauntes, and youre Gunnes lyke vnto shootyng Trunkes. I do now holcl all for fables and lyes which hatl, bin reported of you, and Idoalso accept you formy meere kmsmen. My father tolde me that hee had heard his forefathers say, of whome I doe descende, tiiat they helde ophnon howe Uiey were not naturals of thys lande, but come hither by chance m company e of a mighty Lorde, who after awhile tliat tl J baclde abode heere they retui^ed to tlieir natiue soyle : After manye yeares expired, they came agayne for those who,ne they had left heere behind them, U they would not goe wyth them, because they had heere inhabited, and hadde wyues and children, and great gouen.ement in the ^d Nowe these myghtieLordes seeyng that they were ft;om tbem sore displeased, saying, that he woulde sende his children that should botli rule and goueme them, in lustice, peace, and auntient Religion, and for tliis con- sideration, wee haue alwayes expected and beleeued, that suche a people should come to rule and goueme us and consulenng from whence you come, I doe think that you are Uiey whome we looked for, and the notice which the greate Emperour Charles had of vs, who hath now sent sured, that we wyll obey you, if there be no fayned or ^ceytfull matter in your dealings, and will a Jdeuide tlu. which X haue sayde were not only for voure vertue : V 166 fame, and deedes of valiant Gentlemen, I would yet do it for your worthincsse in the battayles of Tauasco, Teocaz- inco, and Cholhlu, beeying so few, to ouercome so many.'* , . " Now agayne, if ye ymagine that I am a God, and Uie walles and roufes of my houses, and all my vessell of ser- uicc to be of pure golde, as the men of Zernpoallan, Tlux- callan, and Uuexozlnco hath enformed you, it is not so, and I iud-e you to be so wise, that you giue no credit to such fablel You shall also note, that Uirough your comm>mg hitlicr, manye of my subiects haue rebelled, and are be- comt^ my mortall enimies, but yet I purpose to breakc their wings. Come feele you my body, I am of fleshe and bone, a mortal man as others are and no God, althougli as a king I doe esteeme my seUe of a greater digmtie and preheminence than others. My houses you do also see which are of tymber and ettrtlie, and the principallest of Masons worke, therefore nowe you do both knowe and see what ochous lyai-s those talebearei-s were. But troth it is, that golde plate, feathers, armour, iewels, and other riches, I haue in the treaso-y of my forefathers a long tmie presenied, as the vse of kings is, all the which you& yours shal enioy at all times. And now it may please you to take your rest, for I know that you are weery of your iouniey." Cortex with ioyfull countenance humbled him- selfe, seeyng some teai'es fall from Mutezuma his eyes, saying vnto him, " Vppon the trust I hauehaxide in youre clemencye, I insisted to come boUi to see and talke wyth your highnesse, and now I know that all are lyes which hath bin tolde me. Tlie like youre highnesse hath hearde yet do it , Teocaz- jrconie so (1, and tlie sell of ser- 'an, Tlax- not so, and (lit to such commyng ind are be- j to breakc f fleshe and i, althougli ter dignitie do also see icipallest of knovve and But troth 3, and other hers a long ivhichyou& J please you eery of your imbled him- na his eyes, dde in youre i talke wyth ; lyes which ! hath hearde 167 Imported of vs, assure youre selfe, that the Emperoure J^yng oiSpayne is your natural] Lorde, whome yee haue expected for, he is the onely heyre from whence youre Iv- nage dothe proceede, and as touching the offer of yo^re highnesse treasure, I do most hartyly tbanke you." 'TheMaiestieand order, wherewith Mutezuma was serued.—Mutezumawas a man of small statm-e and leune his couloure tawnie as all the Indians, are. He haddJ long heare on hys heade, six little heares vppon him as though they hadde bin put in with a bodkin. HiJ thnine bearde was blacke. Hee was a man of a fayre condition, and a doer of Justice, well spoken, graue and wise, beloued and feared among his subjectes. Mule ^uma doth signifie sadensse.* 'To the proper names of Kings and Lords, they do adde this sillable C. which is for *.rtesie and dignitie as we vse Lord. The Turke vseth Zultan. The Moore' or Barbanan calleth his Lorde.^.%, and so the Indians say Mute Zuma Zin. His people haddc him in such reuerence. that he permitted none to sit in his sight, nor yet 111 his presence to weure shoes, nor looke him in the iace, except very few Princes. He was glad of the con- uersation of the Spanyardes and would not suffer tliem to stande on foote, for the great estimation he had (.f them and If he lyked any of the Spanyardes garments, he woulde exchange his apparrell for theirs.* 'He changed his owue apparrell four times euery day and he neuer clothed himselfe agayne with the garments which he hadde once worne, but all suche were keptein his Guardrobe, for to gine in presents to his seruantes 1G8 'f. and Ambassadors, and vnto valiante souldycrs wliich had taken any cnimic prisoner, and that wi»,s esteemed a great reward, and a title of priuiledge. * Then follow an account of suitors who applied to the King, who having their answers returned backward not turning thoir tayles to the Prince, after Nvhich followed players, who play with their feete as we doe with oure handes: also other plays, throwing cudgels into the air: they have a kind of bean squared like dice and marked, at which game they play all that they haue and many tyraes they valew the}T owne bodyes and play that into captivi- tie. To which succeeds an account of a tennis court, in which the Khig anmsed himself with a ball made of gum, hard, black, but excellent to rebound. He is represented as having a thousand women, gentlewomen, servants and slaves, the most noblemen's daughters. ISIutezuma took for himself those he liked best antl gave the rest in mar- riaf^e to Gentlemen, his servants. His palace was of an immense extent with courts, a hundred bathes and hot- houses, worked with great art and beauty, a house of foule for hawking, others kept only for their feathers, together with animals of all kinds in abundance, snakes and lizards and adders and lions— though th(;re certainly were no lions in America— and wolves and tigers, howling and Marking to the great terror of the Spaniards, who saw the floure couered with bloud like a slaughter house, it stonke honibly. ' Moste certaine, in the nighte season it seemed a Don- geon of Hell, and a dwelling place of the Deuill, and even so it was indeede, for neare at hande was a Hall of a -r rs which .'Steeinfd iecl to the ward not followed mx\i oure ) the air: larked, at Liiy tymes to captivi- court, in leofgum, :;presented rvants and zuma took St in mar- was of an 3 and hot- se of foule i, together ind lizards re no lions id l)arking ■ the floure it stonke led a Don- I, and even Hall of a 169 hundred and fiftie foote long, and thirtie foote broad, where was a ChappcU with the Roofe of siluur and gold in leafe Wainescotted, and decked with gi-eate store of pearle and stone, as Agattes, Conierines, Enieraldes, Rubies, and diuerse other sortes, and thys was the Oratory where Mutezuma prayed in the nighte season, and in that chap- pell the Diuell did appeare vnto hyin, and gaue him an- swere according to his prayers/ The description of his armory, his gardens, his court and body guard exhibit hini as a most powerful and splendid n. )narch, to whom the noblemen paye their tribute in personal service, the husbandmen with body and goodes. 'The great Temple of Mexico.— The Temple is called Teucalli, that is to say, Gods house, Teurl signifieth God, and Calli is a house, a vowell very fitte, if that house had bene of the true God. The Spaniards that vnderstand not the language, do pronounce and call those Temples Cues, and the God Vitzilopuchtli, Vchilobos. There are in Mexico many parishe churches, with towers, wherein are Chappells and Altares where the images and idols do stande, and those chappells do serue for burial places of their founders, and the Parishioners are buried in the Church- yarde. All their Temples are of one fashion, therefore it shalbe nowe sufficient to speake of the cathedral church. And euen as those temples are al in generall of one mak- ing in that citie. I doe beleue that the lyke was iicur scene nor harde off'. This temple is square, and dotli con . ♦{line euery way as much ground as a crossebow can reach leuell : it is made of stone, with foure dorcs that abutteth IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I S ^ IIIIIM •« 14 U 1.25 1.4 J4 .4 6" — »> V] y] >^. 'cf^^ r c* c'i .^J ^> /A %oyy '^/ ''f '/ Photographic Sdences Corporation •n WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 -r^K %^ ^i lllil parte of the a mount of fadom long le of Egipt, I flatte, and steppes vp me, whiche ! did seeme jeholde the ceremonies, ppe of this ant the one nme of the d them at ght hande, bote highe, le, paynted 1 was fayre her, euery susteyned d like vnto ' of: from les rounde odiy pros- should see ithcr, and I from the •t or space ithoiit di«- 171 ward the nsmg of the sunne. Upon ech alter standeth a great kIoII Beside this tower tl,at standeU. vpon the mam.de, there are fourtie towers great and smaU belong, mg to otherlmle temples which stand in the san.e cir- yet theyr prospect was not westwarde, but oth. vvayet bicause there should be a difference betwixte the gTat' temple and them. Some of tlrese Temples were b%; than othe,, and eueiy one of a seuemll God, amongT wh.he U^ere was one rounde temple dedicated to the G^ of the ayz. called Quecalcouail, for euen as the ayre goeth zt: b^ ''' 'r^"'' ^"^" '- that con -dero!; tI "^f.^"^'^^^' ^^""de. The entmnce of that Temple had a dore made lyke vnto tlie mouth of a JSer- pent, and was paynt^ with foule and Dieulish gestures with greae teeth and gummes wrought, whiehc was a thing' to feare those that should enter in the. at, and especially lto.MT 'f '" it represented very Hel with that ougly face and monsterous teeth.* 'There were other Teucalles in the citie tl.at had the ascending vp by steps in three places : all these temples had houses by themselues with all seruice and priests and par- ticular Gods At euery dore of the great temple standeth a large Hall and goodly lodgings, both high and lowe round about, which houses were common annories for the Utie for die force and strength of euery town, is the temple, and therefore they haue there placed their store- house of munition. They had other darke houses full of Idols, greate and small, wrought of sundry mettals, they Q2 ^ ,T. 3 M\4-. '\V 172 aie all bathed and wushed with bloud, and do shewe very- black through theyr dayly sprinklyng and anointing them with the same, when any man is sacrificed : yea and the walles are an inch thicke with bloud, and the grounde is a foote thicke of bloud, so that there is a diueUsh stench. The Priests or Ministers goe daylye into those Oratories, and suffer none others but great personages to enter in. Yea and when any such goeth in, they are bounde to offer some man to be sacrificed, that those bloudy hangmen and ministers of the Diuell may washe their handes in bloud of those so sacrificed, and to sprinkle their house therewith.* * For their seruice in the kitchen they haue a ponde of water that is filled once a yeei«, which is brought by con- duct iiom the principal fountayne. All the residue of the foresayde circuite serueth for places to breede foule, with gardens of hearbes and sweete trees, with Rose and floures for the Alters. Such, so great and straunge was this temple of Mexico, for the seruice of the Diuell who had decieued those simple Indians. There dothe reside in the same temple continually fiue thousand persons, and all they are lodged and haue theyr living there, for that temple is maruelous riche, and hath diuers townes onely for their maintainaunce and reparation, and are bounde to sustajTie the same alwayes on foote. They doe sowe come, and maintayne all those fiue thousande persons with bread, fruyte, flesh, fish and firewoodde as mud as they neede, for they spende more fire-woodde than is spent in the kings courte: these persons doe Hue at their hartes ease, as seruauntes and vassals vnto the Goddes. Mute' hewe very iting them ea and the rounde is a sh stench. Oratories, o enter in. bounde to hangmen handes in heir house a ponde of ht by con- idue of the foule, with Rose and aunge was )iuell who 3the reside rsons, and e, for that (rnes onely bounde to doe sowe ie persons i mucl as ui is spent leir hartes 5. Mute- 173 zuma brought Cortes to this temple, because his men shoulde see the same, and to enforme them of his rehgion and holinessc, wherof I will speake in an other phu^e, bemg the most straunge and cruellest that euer was hardo off.* The Idols of Mexico.— < The Gods of Mexico, were two thousand in number, as tlie Indians reported, th« chieftest were Vitcilopuchtli and Tezeatli^puca, whose images stoode highest in the Temple vppon the Altars- they were made of stone in ful proportion as bigge as a Gyant. They were couered with a lawne called ^aear These images were besette with pearles, precious stones! and peeces of gold, wrought like birds, beastes, fishes, and floures adorned with Emeralds, Turquies, Calcedons, and otlier little fine stones, so that when the lawne Nacar was teke>i away, the Images seemed very beautiful to beholde.* 'Tlie Image had for a girdle great snakes of gold, an^^ for collors or chaynes about their necks, ten hartes of men^ made of golde. and each of those Idolles hac' a counterfait^ mar with eyes of glass, and in their necks death painted- eadie of these things hadde their considerations and mean- ings. These two Goddes were brethren, for Tezcatlisjmea w«u* the God of Providence, and Vitcilopuchtli God of tiie warres, who was worshipped and feared more than all the rest* 'Thei-e was another God, who hadde a greate Image placed vppon the toppe of the Chappell of Idols, and hee wa« esteemed for a speciaU and singular God aboue aU the reste. This God was made of aU kinde of swedes iii«»t groweth in that Countrey, and being ground, they q3 174 made a certayne past, tempered with childrens blond, and Virgins sacrificed, who were opened with the'j razures in the breastes, and tlieir heartes taken out, to offer as first fruites vnto the Jdoll. The Priestes and Ministers doe consecrate this Idoll with great pomp and many Ceremo- nies. All the Comarcans and Citizens are presente at the consecration, with great triumph and incredible deuo- tion. After the consecration, many deuoute persons came and sticked in the dowy Image precious stones, wedges of golde, and other Jewels. After all this pomp ended, no secular man mought touch e that holye Image, no nor yet come into his Chappell, nay scarcely religious persons, except they were Tlamacaztli, who are Priestes of order. They doe renue this Image many times wyth new dough, taking away the olde, but then blessed is hee that can get one piece of the olde ragges for relikes and chiefly for souldyers, who thought themselues sure therewith in the warres. Also at the consecration of thys Idoll, a certayne vessell of water was blessed with manye wordes and cere- monyes, and that water was preserued very religiously at the foote of the altar, for to consecrate the king when he should be crowned, and also to blesse any Captayne gene- rall, when he shoulde be elected for the warres, with only giuing him a draught of that water.' How the Diuell appeared to the Indians. — 'The Diuell did many times talke with the priestes, and with other rulers and perticular persons, but not with all sortes of men. And vnto him to whom the Diuell had appeared, was offered and presented great giftes. The wicked spirit ap- peared vnto tliem in a thousand shapes, and fashions, and i i illi 175 blond, and razures in Fer as first nisters doe y Ceremo- presente at iible deuo- rsons came es, wedges •mp ended, ige, no nor us persons, es of order, lew dough, hat can get chiefly for with in the a certayne !S and cere- hgiously at iig when he tayne gene- s' with only TheDiuell with other )rtes of men. peared, was 3d spirit ap- ishions, and finally he was conuersant and familiar among them very often. And the fooles thought it a greate wonder, that Gods would be so familiar with mortal men. Yea they not knowing that they were Diuells, and hearing of them many things before the had hapned, gaue great crevith large and flourishing towns, was hostile to the sceptre of Montezuma, and under the influence and subject to the law of the Governor of Tlax- callan. This unhappy division of power, and the bitter jealousy which had long been cheriehed by the two pre- vailing governments, were the cause of the final subjuga- tion of the capital of the kingdom. Without them it would have been impossible for the small army of Spa- niards which invaded them to have formed an establish- ment in the country ; still less to have maintained their authority, after it had been discovered by the Indians, that the only purpose for which they came was plunder. These men first obtained an influence among the natives, through that extreme simplicity and character of mildness by which they weremarked,and it was afterwards cherished and confirmed by the jealousies wliich they carefully fer- mented, the false hopes by which thcjy fed the discontented party, the promises always unfulfilled which were libe- rally given, and the cruel severity which they exercised as soon as tliey had gained a footing firm enough to empow- I II II I '1 i ? :i. i ? ■■■.} iJHHii M n^^HH| <./ '■jH* V "r i£E i Jk <•' ) HI f 'i •*< i'^4l 178 cr tlicm to use decisive mcaaiires. Nor did they finally succeed without the almost entire anninilation of the higher ordcjrs of the people, the princes, the priests and leading men, and tens of thou3ands, perhaps I might say, hundreds of tliousands of the gentle, harmless, virtuous Indians. Of these conquerors it might indeed be said, that " they created a desart and called it Peace ;" aiul tlie terror with which tliey inspired the feeble natives, like that which surrounded the dungeons of the Inquisition, sealed every mouth which still remained unclosed in silence, and brought every neck to a yoke galling, sore, and insup- portable, under which millions more sunk into an early grave, welcome to their broken hearts. k- .: W they finally )f the higher and leading ly, hundreds us Indians. that •« they ! terror with that which sealed every ilencc, and and insup- nto an early CHAPrEll XII. RETllOSrECTIVE VIEW. Ai .ND now, my Reader, we will take a general view of the contents of this volume, in order to ascertain the value of the information that has been afforded from va- rious, but all, I believe, respectable quarters, and how far it may be seen to prove the point for which it has been col- lected; namely, that the original inhabitants of America are descended in a direct and pure line from tlic Ten Tribes of Israel. If we respect the proi»hetic language of the Old Testa- ment, we are compelled to believe that tlie people of Go«J, who once enjoyed special tokens of his favour and lost them, as foretold \>y their great prophet and lawgiver, in consequence of disobedience, will be restored io his favour and regain the distinction they once enjoyed. If any confirmation of this sacred truth were requiretl, it is ob- tained from the actual state of the Jews, the descendants of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who are still liv- ing in a state of separation from all the nations amontr Ii 1 1 ■' i 1 ' ■ ?• 1 • 1 ■ ■ N" i f"'j ■ ii-U^ ^! 1 1 1 i 180 whom tlicy dwell, adhering stricktly to ti.e worship of their One and Only God, and exhihi ting a faithfulness of wor- ship that does honour to Him they serve. Here they are among us stll waiting for their redemption. And it is a thought, unaccorapained by doubt in the Chnstian's mind, t^iat their day of salvation draweth near, when they shall he united with us in the worship of their God and King. But why they, two tribes alone, and not the other ten. who are all included in the general charter, of whom sc -ipture speaks in the plainest t . ms. anil calls them by nn,A\e ? Are they not also to 1 o recovered and restored, together with the Jews ? Yes. they arc to be so. Not the scattered and dispersed alone, but also the outcast shall return to the Almighty's embrace and to their own land. For, as Paul assures us. All Israel shall be saved. ITiese tribes have therefore ai. existence some where- far from their brethren; who are ignorant of them and now acknowledge them not. One of their own prophets has told us the way in which they departed from their captivity. In the book of Esdras iheir journey can be traced into a land ivliere no man dwelt. And although throughout the space of two thou- sand five hundred yec^s tJwy have not been enquired after, they are not less in beinr on this account. In that direc- tion which the prophetic historian points out, a way of a year and a halfs journey, is a passage to a wide land, icherein they might wander undisturbed /rom sea to sea. In that land an immense population has been discovered. intJieir usages and customs unlike any of the tribes and Iiip of their less ofwor- Ilere they m. And it Christian's , when they their God e other ten, r, of whom ills them hy ,nd restored, be so. Not the outcast to their own ittll be saved. )me where — 7/ them and way in which )ok of Esdras ftere no man of two thou- quired after, In that direc- ;, a way of a a wide land, m sea to sea. m discovered, :he tribes and 181 nations existing in Europe or Asia, with peculiar and striking features, which render them remarkable. Of these let the Miming be duly considered. They are Hving 'n tribes, wiUi heads of tribes-they hav. .11 a family likeness, thou^di covering thousands of leagues of land i and have a tradition prevaihng univei^- ally, that they carae into that country at tire North- West comer-they are a very religious peoi,le, and yet have en- tirely escaped the idolatry of the old world-tbey acknow- ledge One God, the Gveat Spirit, who created all things seen and unseen-the name by which tiiis being is known to them IS ale, the old Hebrew name of God ; he is dso called yehowah, sometimes yah. and also abba-for this Oreat Being they profess a high reverence, calling him the head of their community, and themselves his favorite people-they believe that he was more favorable to them in old times than he is now, that their fathers we e in covenant with him, that he bilked wiUi them and gave ihem la^v■s-tlley are distinctly lieard to sing with their religious dances, halkluyah or praise to jah : other re inarkable sounds go out of their mouths, as shilu-yo shilu-he aU.yo, he~wak, yoheivah : but they profess not to know the meaning of these woms; only that they learned to use them upon saere ^ casions-they acknowledge the government of a providence over-ruling all things, and ex press a willing sulmission to whatever takes place-they keep annual feasts which resemble those of the Mosaic mual; a feast of first fruits, which they do not permit themselves to taste until they have made an o/Terin. of them to G(d; also an evening festival, in which n. bone A ^! Hi 't Pi 3 ■'I M IMI ■1^: ^ ii I ■ 182 of the animal that is eaten may be broken ; and if one fomily be not large enough to consume the vvimle of it, a neighbouring family is called in to assist: the whole ot H is consumed, and the relics are burned before the nsmg ofthenexi day's sun: there is one part of the animal which they never eat, the hollow part of the thigh-they eat bitter vegetables and observe severe fasts, for the purpose of cleansing themselves from sin-they have also a feast of harvest, when their fruits are gathered m, a daily sacrifice and a feast of love-their forefathers prac- tised the right of circumcision; but not knowmg why so stran<^e a practice was continued, and not approving of it they gave it up-there is a sort of jubilee kept by some of ^hem-they have cities of refuge, to which a guilty man and even a murderer may fly and be. safe ; for these be- loved or sacred towns are never defiled by the shedding of blood-in their temples is a holy place into which none may enter but the priest, and he only on particular occa- sions-there he makes a yearly atonement for sm, dressed in a flmta^tic garb, which is a humble imitation of the Ili-h Priest's robes, with a breast plate and other orna- ments-he addresses the people in the old divine speech and calls them the beloved and holy people-they have a succession of priosts, who are inducted into office by pun- hcation and anointing-they had once _ a holy book, ,,hich while they kept, things wentwell with them ; thev lost it, and in consecpence of the loss fel under the dis- pleasure of the Great Spirit; but they believe they shall L day regain it-they are looking for and expectm, some one to come and teach them the right way.- 183 md if one lole of it, } whole of the risint^' ;he animal igh— they s, for the 1 have also lered in, a thers prac- ing why so oving of it, by some of guilty man )r these be - shedding of which none icular occa- sin, dressed ation of the other orna- livine speech -they have a fice by puri- Iioly boolc, them ; they nder the dis- ve they shall id expecting; way. — Let the reader here peruse Amos 8, 1 1, and Ezekiel 37. Their forefathers had a power of foretelling future events and working miracles — they have an ark or chest, in which they keep their holy things, and which they cany with them to the wars — a person is aj)pointed u. cany it, called the Priest for the war, who is especially purified by fasting and taking a bitter drink — he has a sa- gan or helper: no other than these two dare to touch the ark, not even an enemy — it must not be placed on the ground, through feai- of defilement, but upon a heajt of stones piled up, or on a wooden stool provided lor the purpose — all the males appear in their temples three tinu-:. u year at the appointed feasts: on which occasions the women and children do not form any part of the devotional body — their temples are high places : among the nioK civilized they wei'e huge heaps of earth, used as place s to bury their dead as well as for temples, altars and leli- gious worship; to which they last resorted when drivia by an enemy, and where no quarter was either received (»r given — ihey tell us, that God made the first man ulclav and breathed on him, and so gave him life; of a flood in which all the inhabitants of the earth were drowned rx- cept one iamily, which was saved in a large vessel wiilj various animals; that a great bird and a little one were Hent out from it, that the little one returned with a bv.ii.d! in his mouth but the great one remained abroa