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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clich6 sont filmdes d partir de Tangle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images necessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 TORONTO PUBLiu mmt bz. \ '7 '-1 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN nr AMERICA, A PAPER READ BEFORE THE NOVA SCOTIAN INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE, ON THE EVENINDS OF THE 8th FEBRUARY, AND 8th MARCH, 18C9. By WILLIAM GOSSIP, Eovly. Secretary of the InstittUe. HALIFAX, N. S. PRINTED BY JAMES BOWES & SONS, BEDFORD ROW 1869. U-. ti \ d. I* ' / ^am inL \ r ^. <, rf . /*i--^j, ^ Cy .(.- CC <, ^ ., ^ T ' u- ■/ry THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN n AMERICA, A PAPER READ BEFORE THE NOVA SCOTIAN LVSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCE, ON THF EVENINGS OF THE 8tii FEBRUARY, AND 8th MARCH, 180!). . By WILLIAM GOSSIP, Eon'y. Secretary of the JtisiHutc, HALIFAX, N. S. PRINTP]D BY JAMES BOWES & SONS, BEDFOED ROW. 1869. at ai is P< ri it! ui h{ cc ej in w m ol of A th ra in pi G ni A> of sii ot re St as ki ly ci n( m Fl A PREFACE. The accompanying Paper on the Antiquity of Man in America, is an attempt to show, with more certainty than the author is aware has yet been arrived at, the probable advent of the human family to this Continent. This is an ethnological question of great interest, but derives its importance more perhaps from the speculations on the origin of mankind to which it has given rise, at variance with the Scripture history, than from any beneficial result its settlement can have upon the destinies of a race gradually passing away under the intluences of modern civilization. The author considers that he has conducted the enquiry within the limits of the knowhdge which has been communicated tons by the sacred writers, of the events that took place in the early history of mankind : and subject to the facts of these events, of their impression upon the minds of the survivors of the great diluvian catastrophe which destroyed a corrupt race. In addition to the argument, he also sub- mits the following considerations : — The antediluvian genealogy would appear to be confined strictly to the oldest sons in all the families from Adam to the Flood. Neither the numbers of the others are mentioned, nor the regions which they inhabited. But from Adam to Noah in the order of descent, the record describes the increase of the main branch, as afterwards it does from Terah to Jacob. This formed a race of mankind within a known and limited area, and having constant intercommunication. Whatever might be the extent of country they occu- pied, or wherever it might be, they were one people, as much as Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Belah, were in the time of Abraham. They may or may not have been contiguous to the Cainites on the east of Eden. We know nothing particularly of that family after Tubal-Cain, unless some of them are included in the designation of " the daughters of men." A similarity of names would seem to imply that they amalgamated with the other descendants of Adam, — but they may have separated and reached remote portions of the earth with others of that race, far from the central stock, and unknown to them. In 1600 years, unless these antediluvians were as far advanced in art and science as is the present habitable earth, the knowledge that there existed remote peoples and tribes would iiave been entire- ly lost, as it was to the c escendants of Noah, who afterwards became great and civilized nations in the common centre in Asia. The Scripture Genesis takes no account of any such wanderings, and therefore must refer entirely to the main branch; indeed it is shown by several indications, that altlioiigh the Flood of Noah drowned a race corrupt in the extreme, which an inspired Apostle calls " the world of the ungodly," it yet must have been a catastrophe limited to that people. Neither geological science, nor what we know of the present or past condition of the earth, will permit of any other conclusion. We may conjecture, that five thousand years ago, the earth was more subject to convulsions than it is now; and that the phenomena of the flood might have been induced by the operation of natural causes, progressively indicated a long time previous, like the gradual sinking of the Pacific Islands, but quite unheeded by those who were at last destroyed. \Ve may assume all this now and much more, without disbelieving the narrative, or the Divine agency connected with it ; and it is a remarkable peculiarity of Biblical truth, that it conforms to every degree of intellectual advancement and true scientific knowledge. To Noah and his sons without doubt it was a palpable fact, that the whole human race was destroyed, except themselves ; .\nd as they saw nothing but an immensity of waters, "that all the high hills that were under the whole heaven m'vtq covered," which could not have been known by personal observ.atlon, and could therefore only r^fer to what they knew and what they saw. Their descendants would have carried the account of such a deluge, wherever they travelled, and were certainly engaged in providing against the calamity of its recurrence when they had all gathered on the plain of Shinar, and at the dispersion it accompanied them whithersoever they went. On this topic, an eminent author, Dr William Smith, Classical p]xaminer of the University of London, in his " Student's Scripture History," acknow- ledging that "the literal truth of the narrative obliges us to believe that the whole human race, except eight persons perished by the waters of the Flood," speaks as follows: "The language of the Book of Genesis does not compel us to suppose that the whole surface of the globe was actually covered with water — if the evidence of Geology requires us to adopt the theory of a partial deluge. It is natural to suppose that the writer, when he speaks of "all flesh," "all in whose nostrils was the breath of life," refers only to his own locality. This sort of language is common enough in the Bible when only a small part of the globe is intended. Thus for instance it is said that " all countries c&mc into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn ;" and that all the world should be taxed." In these and many similar passages, the expressions of the writer are obviously not to be taken in an exactly literal sense. Even the apparently very distinct phrase — " all the high hills that were under the rvhole heaven were covered," may be matched by another precisely similar, where it is said that God would put the fear and dread of Israel upon every nation under heaven. W. G. G. THE ANTIQllTY OF iMAN IN AMKRICA. TllK l*K()PLI\(; OF AMKinCA. T[[f: Continont of Aincric;! is an inmicnso area r'iii;i'lni>: from lat. S2^' \. to lat. T)!;^' S. and from lonir. H')'" to loni,^ KIS"^ \V. It is l)otiii(k'(l N. by the Arctic Ocean, K. I)y the .Athintic Ocean, W. I)v the Pacific Ocean, and S. I>y the Southern Ocean, so <'alled. Althon;i;h desiufnatcd a Continent froni its vast extension on all sides, it is nevertheless surrounded by water, the niufliest land l)ein<>' the north eastern extreniitv of Asia, from which it is separated by the Strei^hts of liehrinir, lat. (!()*^ X., in some |)Iaces only 'JC) miles broad. South of l>ehrini>*s Streiijfhts, in lat. I")""' N. are the Aleutian Isl mds, stretchim; from the Peninsula of Alaska nearly to the Asian Continent, lat. i)2^ f)'i\' N. — one thousand miles. These, the Asian shore of the Streii;hts of IJehrin^, and the Aleutian Islands, arc the nearest lands west and north on the ]\icific side to the American C^ontinent. East and North, separated from America by HafHn's Bay and Davis' Strei^hts is (ireenland, ran^dnii' from lat. oi)^ 4i>' to Hl"^ 29' X., with a much ijreater unknown northern extensi(m ; and from lonfr. 20*^ to 7')" W., which ai^ain is a short distance west from Iceland, easy of reach from the (Conti- nent of Euroi)e. It must be evident therefore, that had the science of na\ it!:ation been as well known to the ancient world as it is to the modern, in either ecmtinent, there could be no physical rejison why America shoidd not have been systematically peopled from Europe or Asia by these routes, if all others were impracticable, or why there miji^ht not have been an interconununication between 6 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. them. Or, i' such idciis, wliy accident from imperfect navi- gation may not have cast human beings on the northern or other coasts of America, on both sides, who became the pro<2;enitors of the American Indians. AVc are not, however, warranted by facts, in ascribing the })eo- pling of America to either of tliese conjectural causes ; ahhough shadowy traditions have always been extant in the eastern hemis- phere of lands beyond the flood, which it was im})ossible to reach, inhabited by rich and civilized conununities. These may have had reference to inter-connnunication with ^Vmerica in the long past ; or they may have been amplified fictions of the imagination. There is nothing tangible in these floating traditions or myths ; and all real knowledge of a western continent had lony; been lost. jVIodern research, however, has sufficiently proved, that early in the tenth century, before Columbus landed in .Vmcrica, the North- men sailing west from Iceland discovered Greenland and planted Colonies ; and from thence, still continuing west, came upon the coast of America, landed, wintered and formed a settlement.* It is conjectured that they may have touched at Labrador, or the Island of Newfoundland, skirted Nova Scotia, and proceeded farther south than New England. If they did so history is as oblivious of the results of their voyages as of those of earlier periods. They left no reliable record of their presence in a country much better than their own, which once found they ought never to have lost sight of. Little however could have been expected from the Icelandic navigators. The difficulties and hardships attendant upon the colonization of new countries, inhabited by hostile races, are well known even in modern times, and with all the ajjpliances of civilization. They may have been so great then as to discou- rage the adventurers, and may plead an excuse for neglecting the discovery. Although believing that they did Land upon this con- tinent we are compelled to affirm that it proved valueless, alike to themselves and the imperfect civilization of their times ; and that there is no reason whatever to suppose that they contributed a tribe to America, or influenced the lives of its i)eoj)le. But, in whatever way the western continent may have been * It continued to be known to them until the 12th Century. — l^b. Roy. Soc. iV. Antiqns, Copen. THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. feet navi- or otlier ;nitors of the peo- although •11 heniis- to reach, have liad n<,^ past; I. There ; and all ,t early in lie North- il planted upon the It.* It is he Island ;hcr south us of the They left 3tter than have lost from the attendant tile races, [ipplianees to discou- 2cting the this con- , alike to ; and that ted a trihe have been I. Jioy. Soc, oriji^inally peopled, it is an indisputable fact, that from extreme north to farthest south, and throui>hout its entire breadth, it was inhabited lonf^ aes anterior the period when an ancient civilization prevailed in the earliest of the eastern empires of wliich we have authentic record. OriMOXS OF IMIILOSOPIIEIIS AM) TJJAVELLKUS. The attention of philoso[)hcrs has long been directed to the pro- blem Avhich this wide peo[)linf!: of the western hemisphere, so com- pletely isolated from the eastern continent, has placed before them. The solution is not easy. It leads the ethnolooist throu^-h the whole ranj>e of human proi^ress and capacity back to the creation of man, and still it seems impossible to arrive at a definite conclu- sion. Probal)ility and }»ossibility — hypothesis and theory — are all that have yet been evolved from the investiijfation. Some of these are the speculations of infidels, others are frroy.sly absurd, and almost all lack a large portion of the element of common sense. — It may not be amiss to refer to a few of them, collected froui vari- ous sources and bearing upon the pre-Noachite antiquity of man in America. A variety of material is ready at hand for this purpose from the Smithsonian Papers, and other sources. — 1. Paracelsus suggested, and Lord Kaimes and others have argued ui)on general philosophical j)rinciples, that the races of men and animals were severally created in the regions which they inhabited. 2. Among authors who assume that America was peopled before the Noachian Deluge, liurnett, in a Theory of the Earth, pul)lished in London 1()84, states the belief held by some, " that the earth, before the flood, was one mass of land, and when this was broken at the Deluge, Providence made provision to save a rem- nant of people in every country, although we ha\e accounts of what ha])pencd in (me continent only. It has been argued, from differences in the animal kingdom, many of whose s])ecies would not survive transportation, that they must have been originally bred where they are found ; and it has been maintained that, according to f ;rrr 1/ ', » THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMEHICA. tlie prevailing traditions of antiquity, Paradise was w'tliout the eastern continent, and beyond tlie ocean/' 3. Dr. Morton, an eminent physic »looi,st and able writer, in his work " Kncpiiry into the distinctive chara(;teristics of the abori- ginal race of AniCrica,'' says "that the study o^ plnftiicnl conforma- tion alone, excludes everv branch of the Caucasian race from anv obvious participation in the [)eo|)Iin^' of this continent ;" and again — "■ that the organic characters of the people themselves, through all the endless ramifications of tribes and nations, prove them to belong to one and the same race, and that this race is distinct from all <»thers." In one of his papers he ob:3erves, '' T regard the American nations as the true aufoc/ifho)U'/^ — the })rim<'v;d inhabitants of this vast continent, and when I s[)ca!v of their being of one race and of one origin, F allude only to their indifjctious relation to each other, as sh )wn in all those attributes of mind and body Avliich have been so amply illustrated by modern ethnography." 4. jNfcssrs. Nott and ( Jliddon, in a book entitled " 1 ypes of Man- kind," j)ublished in 1^<")4, illustrated by selections from the unedited j)apers of Dr. Morton, and contrioutions from l*r(»f. L. Agassiz and others, urge the following among other pro})Ositions : — "• There exists no data by whicii we can approximate the date of man's first appearance upon eartii ; ami for aught wc yet know it mav be thousands of millions of vears beyond our I'cach. " The human fossil remain^ of Brazil and Florida, carry back the original population of this continent far beyond the necessity of huntiu"' for American man's foreiiiii oriiiiu thronu'li Asiatic emi- gration. " There are natural relations between the diiFerent types of man, and the animals and plants inhabiting the same regions. "• ^jot a single animal, bird, ivptile, fish, or plant, was common to the Old and ^«ew World." 5. Caj)t. liernard Uomaus, vho in 1771-2, travelled through the (•arolinas, (ieorgia, K. and W. Florida, and as far west Jia the ^lississippi river, says very little about ancient remains, but otters some decided views respecting the aborigines, and ex[)resses his belief, that " from one end t)f Ameiica to the other, the red ])eople are the same nation, and draw their origin from a ditt'erent source )ut the iter, in e ubori- }forma- 1)111 any d aj^ain Diiu'li all ) belonj^ IVoni all merioan s of this and of ih other, ' been so of Man- unedited ijjsiz and date of know it •ry back Kssity of itic eini- of man, eonnnon through west as iiiiis, but resses his I j)eople it source i TIIR ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMKHICA. 9 than cither Europeans, Cniincse, Xegroes, Moors, or any other different speeios of the human j:!;enus." He further says, "I am Hrmlv of opinion that (rod created an oriijinal man and woman in this part of tlie globe of a difi'erent species from any in other parts." ]). H from the tendency of recent publications, wc must be [ircpared for the rc-ad- \ancement of an ancient tlieory, now based uj)on geological j)heno- mena, tlie structure of native < connected with that celebi-ation in November, and that of the primitive year as regulated by the Pl(Madcs, which so far arc conlirmatory of the unity of the race. He considers it j)laiidy manifest, that from Australia to Britain, Ave have all inheri- ted these celebrations from a common source. Tie then a>ks a ({uestion — "• )\'as it carried south by northern nations ; ov, has there been a miirration of s(tuthern races to northern latitudes?" Ilebeirs the answi'r when further on he says : — '■'■ It is not gratifying it is true, for civilized and refined nations to trace their origin to tlu^ saAages of the Pacific Islands; yet those persons Avho may dislike the con- clusions to which this ciKpilry tends, may if tlicv agree in the cor- rectness of my views, console themselves by rtMiiembcriug the monuments of an extinct ciAilization that are still to be f »und in those Islands, and that \\\\\<\ have been the work of races far sujjc- rior to the |)rcseiit races of Polynesia." *" He quotes Prof. ^lax Miillci-'s o])inion derived from a suj)posed similarity of structure of the Polynesian and Indo-Furoj)ean languages — as confirmatory of the ccmchisions to Avhicli ethnology had led him — to Avit : * Rc'ft'rriii.u: to tlic sinfjiilur ri'inniiis in f 'visiter Isihuids, that liave attracted so niiu'li attention. — Ellis Pol. /'cs. viii, 32^. T»^ 10 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. " that t^traiif^o as it may sound to licar the lan[)()keti of as an off^lioot of the Sandwicli It^laniLs, mere ridicule W()ule the primitive lan<^uttle, p((s.sin(/ to the easf.eriv co^.v^v oj' Asia, commenced the ciollization of Japan and China.^^ It may not be out of place here to quote an opinion of the cele- brated tra\('ller Humboldt. — " The natives (of Peru) described to him that the name Chim- bonizo, meant sim[)ly " the snow of Ciiimbo," a name given to the district in which the mountain is situated : but he inclined to think that the name might be totally indei)endent of the Inca language, and ha\e come down from an earlier and forgotten ag<^ He points out that the names of other mountains, such as (*otopaxi, Pictunea and Ilinissa, are totally devoid of meaning in the language of the THK ANTIQUITY' OF MAX IN AMERICA. 11 Incas, and concclvos that tlic name Cliimborazo, like these, may have been (l(M-i\('il from 8ome tonj^iic whose memory has perished from the faee of the earth." ilj)al)le cele- OI'IXIONS COXTUOVKUTKI). These quotations as well as numerous others of a simihu* bear- ing tliat miii'ht have been made, eovcr what may be 8tyk;d theolyce- tive theories to the unity of the human family ; l)ut no proeess of induetion will establish as a fact the su^'i^estions of J^ai'acelsus, that the races of men and animals were severally created in the regions which thev inhabited: or the " theorv," published bv liurnet, that Paradise was without the Eastern (continent; or the " opinion' of Morton — that the American nations are the true (mtoclifhones, having an Inditjcnoux relation to each other; or that of Nott and Gliddon, and Agassiz — that for aught we know the appearance of man uj)on earth may be millions of years beyond our reach, — that the human fossil remains of Brazil and Florida prove the original population of this continent prior to that of Asia, — that non(! of the animal species are identical; — or the strong opinion of ('aj)tain Bernard Romans — that (rod created an original man and woman in this part of the gh)be, of a dilferent species fi-om any in other parts ; — or the half ventured o[)inion of llaliburton, that the refined and civilized nations of the Ohl AVorld arc descended from the savages, or the presumed ancient civilization of the Pacific Islands; — or that of Colonel Galindo — that to the primeval civili- zation of America wc nuist assign an indefinite anti([uity, — and that colonies from that antiipiity couunenced the civilization of jFapan and Cliina. It is worthy (»f notice connected with the geological evidence of man's first a[)pearancc on the earth, that when any ju'oposition is made which seems to inxalidate the Scri[)ture history, counter evi- dence is easily and readily produced, based upon scientific fiicts and deductions in accordance therewith. Xonc of these |)hilosopher8, with the desire in their hearts to show that the human race is twenty, thirty, fi)rty, or a hundred thousand years old, })retend tliat man appeared on the earth before the recent peritxl, or when all things were nuich the same as they are now, exce])t the changes wrought by convulsions of nature, subsidence or emergence in sundiy (-~ 12 TIIK ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMKIUCA. r ; il ! Ii [)laces, volounic action, cartli(|iialh totally ignorant of the phenomena that may have hroun'htthcm together ; and tliey base a theory of time upon a suspicion of fiicts, wliich pro- vokes discussion, leads to further research, and almost invariably [troduees counter evidence to u[)set or neutralize tlicii- spccuhi- tions. The principles of the science ol' (ieoloixy are firndy estab- lished; but calculati'.ms of time durinji; any of its successive periods are not to be relied on ; and in the llecent especially, Avhen made to account for the age of such loose materials as alluvium, or peat, or such easily compacted rocks as coral or limestone, or of their contained remains, nuist be generally doubtful, and often false and delusive. Tlu! bold assertion of Messrs. Xott and (Hiddon, that the fossil remains of lirazil and Florida carry back the original jjojmlation of America beyond the necessity of hunting fo;* AmiM'ican man's foreign origin through Asiatic emigration, is of the character above alluded to, and is met and reasonably disposed of by Sir Clias. Lyell, himself not free from a certain belief in the pre-adamite antiquity of man. He had called attention to the Brazilian human fossils in his travels in America in 1842, when he ituiigincd, owing to the presence in the same matrix of oysters with serpula'.; attached, the whole to be of sid)marine origin. Subse(iuently he f)und reason to relin((uish that idea, and did not doubt that the shells had been brought to the phvce and heaped up with other materials, at the time when the bodies were buried, and then supposed that " the whole artificial earthwork, with its shells and skeleton, might ha\e been bound together by an infiltra- tion of carbonate of lime, and that the mound might therefore be of no higher antirpiity than some of those on the Ohio, — to which he alludes in substance as follows : " The extraordinary number of the mounds imjdies .i long period. mmm THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMEUICA. 13 lan c actor by tlu« the 842, ■IX of •iu'ln. (lid 'apod 1 1 vied, th its liltra- bc of ich he or iod. durirify which a settled agricultural population had made consider- able j)ro?i;ress in civilisation — ea as to require temples for religious rites, and fortifications to protect them from their enemies. Some (the mounds) are so ancient that rivers have had time to encroach on the lower terrace which su])p()rts them, aiid havinnf undermined and destroyed a ])art of the works, again to recede for the distance of nearly a mile." The age of these mounds is approached by a (piotation i'rom a memoir on the s'bject by the late (ieneral Harrison, IVesident of the United States in 1841. "We may be sure," he ol)serves, "• that no trees were allowed to o-pow so Ion;; as the earthworks were in use, and when they were forsaken the ground, like all newly cleared land in Ohio, would for a time be mono[)oliz(;d by one or two sj)ecies of tree, such as the yellow locust and the black or white walnut. ^Vhen the individuals Avhich ucre the first to get possession of the ground had died out one after the other, they would in many eases, instead of being replaced by the same sj)ccies, be succeeded by other kinds, till at last, after a great niuui)er of centuries, (several thousand years pei'haps,) that remarkable diversity of species, characteristic of North America, would be established." So then, if we allow two or three thousand years for the trees, (which I take to be far too long) and two thousand years for the progressive civilization of the mound builders, (which judging from the remains of that civilization is too long also,) thiM-e may still be good ground for believing (Messrs. Xott and (Jliddon to the con- trary) in the Asian migration to America of the human species, and in their descent from Adam. In like manner may the age of the coral reefs of Florida, as calculated by Professor Agassiz, be disposed of. lie estimates that it has taken lo"),()()0 years to form the southern half of that j)eninsida, and based u])on this calculation, that the age of a calcareous conglomerate, forming a part of those reefs, in which some fossil human remains have been found consisting of jaws and teeth, with some bones of the foot, is about ten thousand years old. Now you will recollect that our worthy President, (^Ir. Jones,) in a Paper on the Corals of Permuda, showed in a most conclusive man- ner, that so.ne species of coral, instead of being of slow growth, were I'l 14 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. in the Bermudas at least, of very raj)i(l ^'rowth ; and lie ])r()dueed specimens ot' common wine bottles, which were completely encrust- ed with it, proving very simply, that it was possible for a larj^e growth of coral to take place in a few years, and that there- fore the estimate of ten thousand years as the age of the Florida human fossil, or a few bones found in dead coral debris thrown up by the ocean, must be entirely erroneous; and upon this point alone, without reference to any phenomena but the natu- ral course of events, or considering other circumstances, these remains would (;omc far within the chronologic era, whatever may be their true age. Again, in this connection, I would shortly refer to the hypo- thesis framed on the similarity of certain jieriodic ol)servan(.'es in the eastern and western hemispheres, in the mind of our fi-iend Haliburton, angIcal discovery, he yet goes a step too far when he imagines that the origin of man took place in the kSouth Sea Islands, or perhaps in Australia ; or that emigration from thence conveyed these observances to Asia, from whence they were propagated over the known world. Surely if it were so, these c(Hmtries prolific of all that can minister to human progress, could not have fallen into an oblivion that left no traces of them, or into the extreme of human degradation. At the discoAcry of America, the Aztecs had succeeded to, and improved upon the civilization of the Toltecans, — yet Austra- lia, and many of the Southern Islands, contained a population that might fairly be termed the fag end of humanity ; with no evidence of a genius that could warrant a belief that they were the progen- itors of Asian or European migrants. It would be far more Avith- in the range of probability to assume, that those observances and customs were inherited directly from Adam, degenerated by j)rogres- sive and loni; continued miirration from the common centre, which had also affected the primeval type of the race ; and in the eastern hemis{)here that they may have been derived directly from the Noachian family, who inherited them in common from Adam, and probably ])racticcd them, but had no knowledge of the Southern hemisphere. THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. 15 THE AMERICAN liACE PUE-NOACIIITE. While these .ind all other hypotheses and theories which imply that the AnuTiean savaj^e is predecessor to the civilized races of the eastern hemisphere, are incapable of bein^ reduced to sufficient proof, and are therefore contrary to what we believe as an act of faith, they nevertheless all agree in one essential truth. They carry back beyond the remotest knowled<(e, and therefore beyond the Noachian family, the arrival of the human race on this Continent. Of that era we shall probably never possess more informaticm than at present. From a peoj)le havin*^ no written lan<>iiage, and living upon tradition up to the time of Columbus, but little can be expect- ed that will bear the test of authenticity. This is not surprising. It is a reiteration of wlint we know of the ancient inhabitants of P^urope two thousand years ago, and of our own British ancestry. But in all this there is nothing to disprove the unity of mankind ; and we may therefore fairly leave their history in America, as God h.is left it, to be defended by natural phenomena, and a faithful and reasonable inter})retation of the divine record. From my own j)oint of view, and for the further elucidation of my argiunent, it is very im[)Ortant that the high antiquity of the American race should be fairly established and conceded. I have shown that geologists and ethnologists arc alike agreed upon the subject — although in most instances with great exaggeration. I shall notice further another series of proofs, based upon a similarity of construction in all, with scarce a single exception, of the primitive languages of this continent. EVIDENCE DERIVED FROM THE CONSTRUCTION OF LANGUAGE. The Hon. Albert Gallatin, an American Secretary of State, and a learned and judicious writer, who had all the information of his department relative to the Indian tribes at his disposal, commu- nicated to the American Antiquarian Society in 183(5, by whom it was published, " A Synopsis of the Indian tribes within the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and in the British and Russian Possessions of North America." He ascertained the languages of eighty-one tribes, and investigating the several dialects and voca- bularies, divided them into twenty-eight families, and of these he says, " I feel some confidence that I have not been deceived by k; 'lUK ANTIQUITY OF MAX IN AMERICA. false ctyniolo^qos, and tluit the errors wliicli may be discovered hy further researches, will be t'ound to eonsist in liavinfj; eonsidercd a.« distinct families, some which belonj^ t(t the t«ame stock, and not in havin*^ arrannjed a^^ belon'^in;^ to the same faniily, any radically distinct laniiiiau^cs forming separate families." lie uses the term "'families" not in a limited sense, but in the same way as we consider tin; Slavonic, the Teutonic, the Latin and (ireek and Sanscrit, and the Zend or ancient Persian, as retaining!," in their vocabuhiries conclusive jiroofs of their havinu; originally sprung from the same stock. The conclusions he arrives at are that " the number of families of distinct lan.nua"lobe, or than nii;,dif have been expected to <:;row out of the necessity for nations in the hunter state to separate and ^I'adually to form independent com- munities."' lie can [)erceive nothin<; in the number of the Ameri- can lan^ua^•es, and in the <2;reat diti'erences between them, inconsis- tentwith the Mosaic chronolo<;y. And fiu'ther on — " the similarity of their structure and <:;rammatical forms, has been observed and pointed out by the American philologists, the result bein_>j; cimfir- matory of the opinions cm the subject, of Mr. l)u Ponceau, Mr. Pickerinii; and others ; and as proving- that all the lanuiiayes not only of our own Indians, but of the native inhabitants of America from the Arcti<' Ocean to Cape Horn, have as far as they have been investigated , a distinct character, common to all, and aj)parently differing!" from anv of those of the other continents with v.hich wc are most familiar." j\Ir. (lallatin does not assert that there may not l)e somv American laniruajres differinn; in their structure from those alreadv known, or tliat a similarity of chanicter may not be discovered between the t!;ranunatical forms of the lanu:uaL,^es of America, and those of some of the lanmiaues of the other hemisphere : but he says, " the materials already collected appear to justify the general inference of a similar character :" and further on — the languaijres " of America seem to me to bear the impress of primitive langua- ges, to have assumed their form from natural causes, and to afford no proof of their being derived from a nation in a more advance*! state of civilization than our Indians. Whilst the unitv of strue- m thv a(l\| lani tine rool gcs bcini Tilt': ANTrgrrxv of max ix amkuica. 17 not ■riea joeii Mitly oral iigua- attbrd 'ancciL;ist N'atei coidd point <>\\: iiut two lanu'uages that, on account of the muUiplicity of their t'orms, had a character if not Kimilar at least analogous to those of America." These were the Congo and the IJastjue. The first is spoken hy a l>ar!)arous nation of Africa. Tlie oth(>r is now univer- sally adniitti'd to he a remarkahle relic of a most ancient and pri- mitive language, the ancient Iherian, formccl in the most early ages ot' the world. '■ The peculiar characteristics oi' flu- Anici'ican languages, arc shortly dcscrilx'd in a ivport of the Historical Couunittec of the American IMiilolonical Society, piihlished in 1ti-ikc! the mind at once with a whole mass of i(k>as : a neiv manner of expressing the; cases of suhstantives hy inflecting the verhs thiit govern them : a itctf ninnher (the pai'ticular plural). ap[)lied to the declension of nouns and conjugation of verhs ; a new concordance in tense of the conjunction Avith the verb ; we see not (udy pronoinis, as in the Hebrew and some other languages, hut adjectives, conjimctions and adverbs, combined with tlie principal part of sjieech, snid producing an inunense variety of ^erl)al forms. When we consider these and many other singidarities, -which so eminently characterise the American idioms, we naturally ask our- selves th<> (piestion ; Are languages formed on this model to be found in any other part of the earth?"' Now this facility of com})ounding words, and of combining with the princi])al part of speech, pronouns, adjectives conjnnctions and adverbs, when once mastered, seems to exj>lain why the jVmerican lan£rua":es are so nnich more munerous than those of other con- tinents, because it would be very easy to invent additions to the roots to suit all ideas, as circumstances might arise, which amongst * It is obsorvod l)y Vater also — iliat "the discrepancy in the American langua- ges extends to words or notes onlv, the general internal or grammatical structure being the same for all." t New to them, but very old in point of time. h 18 TnK ANTIQCI-n' OF MAN IN AMKRICA. wanclc'rinassage from Europe, or from Asia to America, by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. There is no record that it was ever made in ancient times, since the continents and islands have assumed their present simpe and proximity. They have not, however, always maintained these relative positions. Great changes have undoubtedly taken ]>lacc, in the eastern hemisphere especially, since the advent of man — so vast indeed that we can only satisfactorily account for the long and com[)lete isolation of America, and the peculiar character of its fauna and of the human family within its limits, by sujjposing that the cataclyism that left the Xoachian family to repeople the eastern 22 THE AXTIQUIIT OF ISIAN IN AMEKICA. EWorld must have cfFectuallr divided it from this continent, except at }u)iiits wlwix* tl»erc was rm likelihood for lone: a^^es of intercourse with its people, or its animal life of any sj)ecies (»r variety.* This F.S perfectly in consonance with what I take the liberty to style the iintrinsie truth of the INfosaic history. Sir John llerschel, in a work on Physical Geography, published Pi 8 (II, wlitia speaking of the open sea which is caused in part of the ^)olar regions by the escape of ice thr( nigh Behring's Streights, ob- serves that these Streights, by which the continents of Asia and North -America are ri(')w parted, ■" ai-e only thirty miles broad where nar- ?"Owest, and ocly twenty-five fathoms in their greatest depth. iBut this narrow channel," he adds, " is yet imjiortant in the econo- I'lsy of nature, inasmuch as it allows a portion of the circulating "ivater from a warmer region to find its way into the polar basin, .-aiding thereby not only to mitigate the extreme i-igour of the polar «'ol" from one to anotlier." These fossil bones and other recent or^^an- isms, show thsit the animals to Avhich they Ijclonued iiihahited the country and roamed over it ; and that therefore tlie climate nnist have been very nmcli milder than it is now, and the vegetation luxuriant. This AV(iuld be the case undoubtedly, if tin; land A\ere once as elevated as is Mount St. Klisis, south of the peninsula oi Alaska. A ran_Lie of hiij;h lands, spreading such a distance, cutting off con)nnmieation with the frigid ocean, and swejit at their base by the warm currents of the Pacific shores of America and Asia, would have had a tenij)erature in the valleys in this latitude as high as that of the Japan Islands ; and there would have l)een no ob.-ta- de to the jiassage to America of any ])ortion of the race of Adam which might ha\e made progress in this direcrion. This condition of the arctit; regions granted, there need be no (picstion now as to the colour, or i>hvsi()'.):nomv, or craniology of the human i)i'ings ntrv from which thc\- mi- \^ ' w ho first arrived in America, tl or tiie cou ijfrated. Xor if there be gootl grounds tor sup[)osmg sucli a catas- trophe as I have assumed for tiie arctic borders of the contint'iits. whicli may have taken place conteni[)oraneoiisly with the Noachian referred to such an exi'ut, (*r one verv distinct from that in which Xoah and his faniilv were i)reser\('d. It docs not ap]»ear that the American coast oftlie Pacific south of the Aleutians, partook of tht' depression which has so aiferted the Asian sid(>. South of thc^e islands is Mount St. lOlijjs. 17, .")()() feet high ; and no such disturbanct' within human chronology has affected the llockv ^[ountains or the Andes, nowhere at a great distance from the Pacific. lupposing then that the catastrophe which submerged the arctic land? and which mav hav(^ involved the si'a of Kamtschatka, tl le Kurile islands, the sea of Jajjan and even the Yellow Sea, all great 24 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. basins of depression on the Asian side of the Pacific, festooned by curves of volcanic islands, — was rapidly progressive, and that they have never recovered their former elevation, we shall be compelled to assume a chanije of climate, the destruction of a vast number of species, and the complete isolation of all the rest from cither conti- nent for the last five or six thousand years ; and if we may further as- sume, that at this early period only man and comparatively few recent species had reached the American continent, the fact may be ac- counted for why species are less numerous upon it than in the old world ; while a reason is afforded, not however conclusive, why the fauna of America is dissimilar to that of Europe and Asia, where there has been no isolation whatever. When we call Geology to our aid to account for the northern continuity of land joining the continents, we shall find reason to believe that the facilities in the earliest periods must have been far greater than has yet been described, of reaching America bv what I mav call the middle, or southern passage. Dana, whom I have before (pioted, instances the coral islands of the Pacific as afForduig proofs of great secular subsidence in that ocean. He divides by a line between Pitcairn's Island and the Pelew Islands, the coral islands from those not coral. Over the area north of it to the Ilawaian islands all the islands are atolls,* exce[)ting the Marquesas and three or four of the Carolines. If the atolls are rci^isters of subsidence, (as is be- lieved,) a vast area has partaken of it measuring OOOO miles in length, (a fourth of the earth's circumference,) and 1000 to 2000 in breadth. Just south of the line there are extensive coral reefs ; north of it the atolls are large, but they diminish toward the equator, and disappear mostly north of it. The amount of this subsidence may be inferred from the ecmndings near some of the Islands, to be at lejist 8000 feet. But as two hundred islands havedisapp.eared, and it is probable that some among them were at least as high as the average of existing high islands, the whole subsidence cannot be less than (5000 feet. It is probable that this sinking began in the post tertiary peri(jd. This subsidence, which has now ceased, as is pi'oved by the wooded condition of the islands, must have materially increased the distance between them, which was probably nuich less at the date • Sunken Islands fringed by coral reefs. THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. 25 5 2. of man's creation, and for a thousand years later, than it in now.* Consequently there were ji;reater facilities of transit, and more resting places for a progressive emigration from one continent to the other. Supposing it possible that the route would have been taken (it may have been by accident) which is indicated in the distances between the Islands, there would have been the same facilities for repassing. But although the facts stated may .account for a pro- gressive emigration from Asia some centuries after the Creation, which may have reached this continent and imi)ressed upon the central portions of it the germs of civilization, it is not at all pro- bable that they point to the peopling of the Pacific Islands, until a period subsequent to the Noachian Deluge. EVIDENCE OF (X)LOUU AND FEATURES OF THE AMERICAN RACE. It accords with my theory, and consists with my belief, that the name Adam, given to the man in the day that he was created, betokened the colour of the individual as well as the material out of which h{^ was made. That colour being red would not have been lost in his descendants, in the generations that elapsed between his cre- ation and the date of the Xoachian deluge. If transmitted therefore with those of tlunn Avho arrived before the last event upon this con- tinent, as it certainly nuist have been, we have })i-obably, the origi- nal ty[)e of man, and also his colour before us, in the pure * In considering tlie pcoloi^ic plicnonion.i that may liavo affVctcd tlio peo- pling of AniiTicn we must not lose siijlit of tlie Paeifie Islands, wliieli stretch be- tween the two continents within twenty-five (k'grees north and south of the equa- tor. Tlie existin}^ facilities of conunnnication that are now afforded are thus des- cribed by a modern author. "Lookinji specially at the nuip the distance between the diflerent itroups of islands sccuis immense; but between these are smaller solitary islands, which materially diminish the distance to be traversed in order to pass from one t(/ another. 8ui)iiose that the i)ro;ienitors of th» islanders (l*oly- nesians) had started from the IVIalay coast or Sumatra, what would have been their route ? ]?y sailing 5 dejirees or ;500 miles they would reach IJorneo ; then by crossing the Straits of Macassar about two hundred miles wide, thej- would arrive at the Celeljcs, eight degrees from New Gviinea : but the large islands of Bessey and Ceram intervene. The distance from New lluinea to the New Hebrides is I'JOO miles, but the islands between them are so mimerous that the voyage may be made by short and easy stages. Five hundred miles frosn the New Hebrides are the Figis ; and about JlUU miles furtlier on the Friendly Islands ; .nnother stage of fiOO miles brings you to the Navigators; hut between these two points tlire(! other groui)s intervene. From the .Navigators to the Hervey islands the distance is about 700 miles, and from thence to the Society group about 400 more. The western const of South .America is not very remote from the east- ernmost island of Polynesia, (near I'OOO miles, however,) called Easter Isle, frocn which it nuiy be reached in a few days sailing, with several islands or resting places between them. — Miss'ny Enterprise S. Sea Islands, by Bcv, J. Williams, i^c. 26 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. American Indian. That colour is modified in the hif^h northern latitudes, and is <(radually heightened as it approaches Central America, where the warm climate acts as it does upon the races of the temperate zone of the eastern hemisphere, after permanent residence for successive ji^enerations in the torrid zone — by deepen- ing the tints. Nor is the red colour lost in the descendants of the family of Noah. We find it occasionally very vivid. I have seen it much redder in Europeans, especially in the Celtic family, than I have ever seen it in the Indian — in Avhom it approaches more nearly the Mongol red than the European. AVhen in this last it comes out strong, it is a ruddy brick red, such indeed as is the consequence of a habit long continued of drinking ardent spirits. I do not mean, however, to connect the colour with that vice. It is in many in.stancos natural. Among the Celts of this Province, when- ever an individual shows it stronurlv, and it is desired to distinjjuish him from others of the same clan or surname, the (xaelic word ro?/ which means red, is appended to his name, and he becomes liory McKenzie. ;y>y, or as the name may be. This much for red being the natiu'al colour of mankind. The Avhitc man, by which name the civilized native of the tem})erate zones is distinguished among the dark races, has a colour which seems to be entirely a modification of climate, bv which after Ioul; ages he has changed to a pink and white variety, a mixed colour, with occasionally a return to the original type too plain to be mistaken. It is a singular fact connected with this enquiry, that all the animals subjected by civilized man, vary in colour ; while each species of t\\c Jenr. natnrm preserve a striking uniformity. It ought not therefore to be considered remarkable, that the Indian races maintain their uniform colour throughout the continent, although it may admit of question if they have done so entirely. A similarity of occu[)ation, a generally unsettled life, pursuits which could not fail to turn the coloiu* even of Knroj)ean-«, the ab- sence of civilization and sedentary occupations, all operate to pre- vent a change while they continue. That these causes have con- tinued, and widiout interruption, through all their history, is toler- ably evident, notwithstanding tiie remains of extinct races that exist, who may for a time have risen 8U[)erior to the wild tribes around them. Where there had been any a[)proach to settled life TIIR ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMEUICA. 27 amoiiLj; the fiimilics of the caciques, or amonj;^ the rulin"; familiea of Mexico, or the Incas of Peru, hi-story informs us, tliat living in luxurious ease and refinement, they were as delicate and fair as Europeans. It may well be believed that they were much fairer than the Moor-tinted Spaniard who invaded them, and destroyed, or did liis best to destroy a noble race. OriXIOXS ON IDENTITY OF RACES CONSIDEIIEI). Dr. Pickerini;, an American author of deservedly hi^i^h rcj)ute, in a work entitled "• The races of men and their <^eo_L^raj)hical distri- bution," satisfied hiniKelf that the Californians, Mexicans and West Indians were MdJaij Americans, that is, owed their deriva- tion to the ]Malay stock. The only mark by which he could distin- j^uish Ixitwcen native Polynesians and half civilized Californians at the Hay of San Francisco, was that the hair of the f)rmer waved and inclined to curl, while the latter was invariably straii^ht. He says, "the Cyalifornlans do not scalp their enemies, nor use the tomahawk." All the other American races he classes as Mont^o- lian. His observations appear to me to stop far short of the truth. Indecfl they iinwittinLrly point to the mi_t:;ration of the Malay race long sui)se(iuent t(» the o(n'upation of the continent by a mora pri- mitive rrtcf, neither Malay nor Mongolian, although allied by descent, and which may be styled pre-Noachite. In ascril>ing to the Indian p{>pulation a Malay or Mongolian affinity he is com- pletely pU/CJcled by contradictory circumstances, all wliich would have been reconciled had he admitted a pre-Xoachite migration to America. Tim-!, he says — ''The presence of two aboriginal races in America (M(»ngolian and Malayan) recalls certain historical coincidences. The Toltecs, the predecessors of the Aztecs in Mexico, were ac(iuainted with agricndtnre and manufictures. Now such cultivation could not have been derived from the N^orthprn Mon- f/olidii j)opulati()n, who in their j)arent countries, were by climate p evented from becoming agriculturists. If then the art was intro- duced at iiWfro)/) abroad, it must have come by a southern route, and to all aj)[»earance through the ]\Ialay race. This is not incom- [)atilil(> with an ancient tradition, attributing "the origin of their civilization to a man having a long beard ;" he could not have been Mo)f(/o/ian ,' he might have been a Malay. If, however, any T|f 28 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. aclunl remnant of the Malay race* existed in the eastern part of North America, it is probably to be hooked for amonji^ the Chippewas,f and the Cherokees," — where certainly the arts of cultivation had never been extensively practised, and where he will look a lon<^ time in vain for satisfactory confirmation of hie " probability." If 1 did not believe that this continent was first inhabited by the Adamic family proper, I mii^ht be inclined to accc])t the con- clusions of Ur. Pickerinii;, as to the orii^in of man in America. There is a general but accidental similarity of feature between our northern aboriirines, (in wliom however it is so much more noble in aspect, as to sue nothinii; incredible in this to all wh(» believe that the t-nrfm/ hemisphere, with its minu'led nation- alities, tribes, lanunair<'s and dialects, was peopled by the descend- ants (tf Xoah. nelievinu' that ere they had reached the country now the Aleutian islands, ihey had already lost all knowlcdue of rheii" oriiiin, except what was traditionary, which vaguely appears in some of the le^-ends of the oldest tribes, we need not Avonder as aiies rolled on, at their iL'norance of their nast historv, which thev C^ It*/ only showed in common with the people who came after Xoah. They could have known nothinu' of the cultivation of the soil, either of the art or its applia.nces, and needed not to know, in the abundance of animal life that on all hands administered to their necessities and their comforts. Hut (»f that hapj)y time when this continent had but few human inhabitants, when peace ]>revailed in their tribes, and plenty in their wiu'wams, and the chase was occupation and pleasure and subsistence, the iemend)rannial seasons. The difficulties in subduiuijf the soil and husbandinij: its productions, would be nmch greater than in subduini; the wild animals which rt)amed over it. lie coidd never have eon- eeivo<1, without exam])le, of a systeui of tillaue, by which the ground was to be prepared foi* the seed, and the harvest <:atliered and secured for future use. In \orthern America he found the v.-lld animals a pre-existent creation, in a climate eonijenial to their nature, nud nudtiplied exceedinuly, as though awaitini; his inroads. We shall not therefore be warranted in assertinnj^ that husbandry was the normal condition of the American [)ortion of mankind. Indeed the contrary is typiiiod in the sacred volume, when* it is said that " imto Adam and his wife did the Lord Crod make coats of skins, and clothed them."' AL!;ricidtnrc most likely oriLrinated in climates of efjnal)le temperature, where tlu> productions of the soil intermitted and in some deirree tn|)erseded the necessity for the lal)()nrs of the chase. It would be first learnt, and its benefits })ereeived, when minTation stopped at a region where the earth broui,dit forth spontaneously the products that not only sustained life but administered to luxury. In a country like Kii'v})t, for instan<"e, where the annual inundation fertilized the soil, and seasons j)rcsented no obstacle to a continuation of crops, man would soon become acquainted with its rudiments. Placed tims by nature beyond the fear of want, he would roam no further ; and in a settled life wonld soon discover the causes of fertility, and how to improve them to the utmost extent of affordinsi; sustenance to large communi- ties. In process of time the knowledge thus gained would be commu- nicated to other countries not so favoured. In Mexico and Central ' '/ HO TTIR ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. 11 America, more perhaps tlian in E^ypt, just such a wponta neons fertility existed ; and jiiwt such cmi«es ;j;atliered the first wamli'rers of the Xortii into tliis favoured re^'ion, where they became stationary ear to luivc ever been extensive or varied. The Mexicans had attained to some ])ro(iciency in the art, and it was practised rudely by the tribes who inhabited east and west of the Mississippi. The hibour in most instances was performed by women. Maize, of which it has been said, that it is not indigen- ous in America — thiit it may have l)een brought to this continent from the West India islands — and also that it is an Asian cereal, — was the chief article grown as food. Nor is this to be asserted without qualification. Catlin, in his description of the Festival which the Mandans lield at their corn harvest, says, — that they wasted in a few days the produc^t of a whole year. It may therefore have been looked upon among the tribes high up on both banks of the Mississippi, wli > de[)ended more entirely on the chase, as a luxury of a short continuance, with which to diversify at a particular season the glut of animal food. Some esculents and roots, beans, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, water melons, and tobacco, in addition to the maize, were all the vegetable productions with which they were acquainted. It has however been satisfactorily ascertained, that the tribes toward the south depended more upon the cultiva- tion of the soil than the northern Indians, and less on hunting, an evidence of the gradual extinction of wild animals, and the natural progress towards civilization. When De Soto explored the coun- try from Mexico to the Mississippi the Spaniards were fed almost exclusively on maize, and complained of the want of meat. Two ' \ h; U] THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. 88 id. > eoun- iihnoBt Two hundred years later, Bernard Romans, whom I have before (juoted, Bays, " that near half of the Cho(!taw8 had never killed a deer in their lives." There can be no doubt, that the mounds and remains of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys attest to the presence at one period of a numerous peoj)le, who must have dependcid in some degree on a rather extensive vej^etable production. It is, however, singular with reference to this race, that there has never been found any trace of granaries, imi)lcments, or beasts of burden, or any other thing betokening a high or more than a rudimentary knowledge; of the art. These arc conditions of existence in connection with the mound builders, smd yet their era may have been so ancient, that time had obliterated all such remains while it left the mounds. I consider it remarkable in connection with this subject, that the bison (or buffalo) is found within a well defined area, nigh to the rivers where this ancient cultivation, as it may be sup- posed, had been j)ractised. (iallatin is good authority for the rela- tionship of this animal to the ox of the eastern hemisphere. AVhat he affirms is curious, and deserves to be stated Jit length, as of some theoretical importance in considering the instincts of the sj)ecie8, and the antiquity of the American race. He says: — "The bisons are found in the jNIissouri plains, in flocks of several thou- sands. They generally migrate in winter to the country south of the Ai-kansas. * * AVhci'ever a buffalo path is found in a mountainous or hilly coimtry, it is a sure guide for the most j)racticablc way of crossing the mountains."* He further says, and this is the important part — '• The bison is but a varietij of the European ox;'^ [what Dr. ()ril[)in would perhaps call the original type;"] " and the mixed breed will again propagate. As doubts have lately been raised upon that point, I must say that the mixed breed was quite conunon fifty years ago in some of the north western counties of Virginia ; (ind that the cows the issue of that mixture jiropagated like all others. JVo attempt that I know of, was ever made by the inhabitants to tame a buffalo of full growth. But calves were occasionally caught by the dogs and brought alive into the settlements. A bull thus raised was for a number of years * This is also known of the European ox in our own latitude. T'if 34 THE ANTIQUITY OF :\IAN IN AMKKICA. M (I i owned in my inmudiiite vicinity by ii farmer livinji; on the Monon- •^alielii, a(l joining; Afason and Dixon's Tiine. lie was permitted to roam at lar<:;e, and was no more danj^erous to man than any hull of" tlie oonunon s[)eeies. But to them he was formidable, and would not suffer any to a|)])roaeh within two or three miles of his own ranu'e. Most of the cows I knew were descended from him. For want of a fresh supply of the wild animal, they have now mer<»;ed into the eonunon kind. They were no favourites, as they yiehled less milk. The superior size and streni>th of the bufliilo, mi^ht have imi)roved the breed of >xen for draught : but this was not attended to, horses beini>' almost exclusively eiii|)loyed in that quarter for ai;ricultn»"al purposes." Mr. ( fallatiii draws no ethno- logical influence from these facts coucernintj the American bison. Messrs. Nott, Giiddon and Aj^'assiz would probably deem them t;) be a distinct creation, as well as the red man. An ar«;"iunent of a contrary nature, may howxncr be hazarded. The inference I would draw from the numerous herds, estimated at seven millions stroni;, that now run wild over the Xorth American prairi<'s, where they find climate and herbage suited to their fullest development, may just amount to nothiufj!;, but, it is neither impossible nor im))robal)le. The wild bison, ap[)arently uutameable, may be the lineal descendant of the domestic cattle of the extremely ancient cultivators of the banks of the Ohio, the Missouri and the idissis- sipi)i — of the folded herds on which they dependc(l for sustenance and labour. The barbaric irruptions which (pienched this demi- civilization, may have been prompted by its bovine wealth; and may have destroyed and fed u\nm the captured herds. There would be nothinji" sur[)rising in the indefinite nudti{)lication of those which escaped and became wild, or in their intractable nature, worried and hunted as they have been for thousands of years. There was nothing;' in the condition or state of the Indian races before the advent of the Kuro[)eans, that could have prevented that nudtipli- cation. The hunter afoot, with spear, bow and arrows, may occasionally have surpriserairies from the lifty- Hftli (h'urce of latitude to the sonreos of tiie rivers that empty into the (Juif of ^^exi('o, bctweeti the Mississippi and the l\io Norte. They had penetrated down the Ivio Coh>ra(h>, of (^iliH rnia, as I'ar south as the forlieth d(\'4Tee of hititu(h', and Lewis' Ri\i'r, a southern branch of the (\)huubia,as far west as the out ' uh'ed and fiftecntli (h'LTrce of htny'Itude. Towards the e".s jiey .ad crossed tlie ^Ti-sis- sip])i, and before they were driven away oy the American scttk^- ments, they had ascenck'd the vaHev of the Ohio within 100 niih's of Pittsbiu'i!:, and tliat of the 'l\'nnessee to its sources. '^ it bi'0:ime a diif'erent atl'air, however, wlien the !j:un was i)laeed in llie rndiairs hands, and he was mounted on horsebaek. From that time we may dixto the declension of the bisons : and it is no louLjcr difHcalt to proi»hesy the pei-iod of their total extinction, whicli will ])roI)al)ly be a ecnturv or two before the same fate befalls the red man himself. This is rathei- a di!j;res>i()n, aithou<;h I deem it an interestiuLT one, and in some dci^'ree corroborative of facts which assist the conclusions to which these ati'ricultural observ ations tend. The moiuids and other remains attest a population that did not altoijether d(>[)end u|)on animal food for their sustenanee. Whatever were their means of sn'^port, or extent of civilizatit)n, they were destroyed by ii'ruj)ti(ms o*^* barbarous tribes, who did not sueceed them as })ernianent resi- dents, and soon lost all recollection of the events by which the settled [)eoplc were expelled or destroyed. The bisons, however, nnist have remained. In the lonj^- process ofau'cs, the aurieulture and civilization of Mexico, which probably restdted fntm the retreat southwards of the cultivators made an impression ayain upon these reu'Ioir-, and the |)resent race of Indians aeipiired from them Just so nmch knowledn'e as tlu\v now [)ossess of the cultivation ot" the soil, which tlu; men who eonsideivd the occupation beneath tliciir diijnity, connnitted to the women. The culti\ation found in Ame- ric:i at its modern diseovery, whether recent or proceedini^ from that which was ancient, does not show either tlu> orij^In or desC'.iit of the race who practised it ; and oidy carries back their anti(|nity to a j)eriod when they had lon<>' iidiabited the eoimtry, and w hoa * (iullatin. 3 m I'r 3G THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. the increase of population and the spontaneous fertility of the soil, and the newly found value of the maize as an article of food, had somewhat lessened the previous entire dependence upon the chase, and introduced and encouraged a nascent civilization. * EVIDENCE DERIVED FROM AUCIIITECTURAL REMAINS AND ETYMOLOGIES. There is a wide field for speculation in view of the information communicated of late years, connected with the remains and ruins of an apparent civilization that once existed and was overthrown in the central parts, if not on some of the northern rivers of this continent. We have shown that the wildest conclusions have been liazarded, which follows from allowing the mind to wander from })rol)abilities to a belief in the impracticable. Tlie architectural and other remains of the Mexican and Peruvian nations, are deserving of a*" ntion as attesting to the originality of conception, the settled condition, and the progress in art and science which distinguished them. The massive construction, and the excellent workmansliij) of Egyptian and Indian architecture, are present ; but the design, except as betokening a certain sameness of ideas in the human mind, which mavbe stvled the instinct of art, is neither African, Asian, nor European. The form of the principal structures and mounds, the })icture writings, which however are not hieroglyphics, the progress in astronomy, the worship of the sun and moon, have carried con- viction to some minds that the ancient Pjgyptians or Assyrians were concerned in teaching the Americans what they knew of art, science und religion. If I could bring myself to suppose that these were of foreign instigation, I might be led to believe that they had some * " The country over wliidi nn imperfect aboriginal cultivation extended, is said to be tliat which is bounded on the east by the Atlantic; on the south l)y the Gulf of Mexico ; on the west generally by the Mississippi, or perhaps more properly by the prairies; on the north the boundary of cultivation was near the Atlantic, and included the Kennebec River and prol)ably the Penobscot. [There is no evi- dence that it extended to Nova Scotia, although maize in some seasons produces largely, and is every year an average crop.] With the exception of the Ilurons and other kindred tribes on the northern shores of Lake Eric, there was no cultivation north of the great lakes, nor does there appear to have been any among the Chip- pewas, 'vho occupied the country along the northern border of Lake Su])erior. They and the Menomonies depended for vegetable food principally, if not alto- gether on the wild rice, or wild oats as the plant is called. Tlie few tribes west of the Mississippi, whicii attend at all to agriculture, as well as tliose which extend thence to the Pacific, dcive their principal mcivns of subsistence, cither from the b'lffalo, or from roots and fish." — Gallatin. an( oar shij THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. 37 I, nor , the irre?s con- is were science r'cre of some nded, is by the properly Atlantic, 9 no evi- producc'S rons and lUivation he Chip- uperior. not alto- s west of •h extend from the connection with an ancient Egyptian or Asian advent to this particu- lar portion of the continent. There arc certainly some coincidences which must appear remarkahle. They are limited to the central portions of America, and to Peru. The observations of Hum- boldt previously quoted, with reference to the names of Chimbo- razo and other mountains of Peru, that they had no significance in the language of the Incas, have some importance when it is known that there was a city of Chemmis' in Kgypt * — which may mean, the city of Ham ; that the original name of the Egyptian nation was Cham or Ohimmi (progeny of Ham) ; that one of the moun- tains of Central Asia, where the ark is said to have rested, adjacent to a territory claimed by pliilosophers as the true centre from which the human race spread after the Flood ; and which may have been named, as Egypt was, after Ham, is Chhmilari. Can all this be accidental ? Does it point to an arrival on the shores of Mexico or Peru, of strangers from Asia and Africa, who gave a name to Ohimhorazo, which has survived all remcmbi'ance of themselves, and is the only memorial of their existence ; and might not such stran- iJCers have broulesome. The traditions of antiquity and history had long been examined in vain for traces of some of the most rc- markal)le of these ruins ; and it is only in their recent exhumations iu the East that mankind is beginning to read the history of the past. The relics of the ancient cities and temples of ^Vmerica are upon the surface, sometimes covered with trees and vegetaticm, but none are buried dee[)ly under ground. That many of them are of great age, and their origin nidcnown, is unquestionable; but in these respects they do not differ from the very ancient remains of the eastern hemisphere. An inference, whether correct or not, that I would draw from tliis comparison is, tliat tliey are of a much more recent date, — tliat the era in which tliey were constructed is more recent, — and that proba- bly two thousand years would cover the civilization which then and previously prevailed. I would take none of them to be as old as the relics of Nineveh, the Birs Xinu'oud, or the latest of the Egyptian pyramids, — that in fact, when tlie Sj)aniard arrived in ^Mexico, wlvether Ii> civilization had or had not been affected bv tliat of the eastern hemis[)here, it was still the same as it had been, progressive perha[)s, but j)erpctuating usages and custcmis, and producing the same architectural forms. AVith regard to the antiquities of the United States, Schoolcraft, than whom no one had more ample op- ])ortunities of judging, asserts, that " they are the anti(piities of bar- barism, and not of ancient civilization. Mere age they undoubted- ly have ; but when we look about our magnificent forests and valleys for ancient relics of the traces of the plough, tlie compass, the pen and the chisel, it must require a heated imagination to perceive nnich if anjthing at all beyond the iiunter state of arts, as it existed at the res])ective eras of tiie Scandinavian and Columbian discoveries." Living as we do in a country which at one time the *•' Souri- ((uois"* or Micmac tribe of Indians possessed and roamed and hunted throui^h its length and breadth, extendin": themselves to Cape lireton, P. K. Island, and the south-western coast of Newfoundland, it may not be out of place to advert shortly to what is known of their state Avhen Acadia was first visited by * The proper tribal name of the Nova Scotian aborigines. T 40 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IX AMERICA. li Europeans. Tlie country itself .afforded no evidence whatever, of any prior occupation by a complete or demi-civilization ; and appears to have been almost the last portion of the Continent inhabited by the American race ; as it was also the last which the civilization of Europe deemed worthy of settlement. This is true, but a strikinf^ contrast to its present growing importance in natural resources, and as the gi'eat thoroughfare through which must pass at no distant day the commerce of Europe, Asia and America. The Micmac is an offshoot of the Algonkin family, and a true type of the North American race. The Algonkins are the most ancient, and are still the most numerous of the North American nations. This Lenape family, divided into numerous tribes, often warring against each other, extended from the source of the Missinippi River to Hudson's Bay, crossing which their boundary went west- wardly through Labrador to the extreme boundary of the Labrador P^squimaux on the north shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; thence hy the Atlantic Ocean and including Cape Breton and the S. W. coast of Newfoundland to Cape Ilatteras ; thence by a westerly line to the confluence of the Ohio and Mississip])i ; thence to the source of that river ; thence the Red River of Lake Winnepeg down to that Lake ; thence by a northerly line to the Missinippi. The Algonkin has always been a compound of the hunter and fisher, living near to the great lakes and rivers, or in countries bordering the Atlantic. The fashioning and construction of his canoe, Avhicli under his management is able to ride out a gale, but guided by an P]uropean would upset in a calm, is a most artistic piece of aboriginal naval architecture. There is no evidence whatever that he ever settled down to a civilized life. He may have come after and made war upon more southern tribes ; and his ancestors may have been of those who helped to destroy the ancient settlements and demi-civilization of the Ohio and Mississippi val- leys ; but if so he profited little by the example at home, although he may have learnt some of their arts by the contact. Thus, in several of the Algonkin tribes maize was cultivated ; copper ♦ Missinippi is an Algonkin word, signifying " tlie gatlicring of the whole waters." Mississippi is another Algonkin word signifying "the collection of a// the rivers," — a palpable distinction, but showing the wide extension of the family. THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. 41 < whole m of all fiimily. was known and used* in all the tribes ; and all of them had the art of making a rude pottery, which they ornamented with small cubes of iron ])yrites. They clothed themselves with skins of beavers, moose, &c., and made boxes, baskets and purses, which they ornamented with porcu})ine quills, and dyed of various colours. The cultivation of maize had not however extended to the Micmacs, although they knew the value of some indigenous roots, especially the sa-ga-ban, or Indian potatoc. Neither has there ever been found any burial moiuids in this Province. They mourned their dead with loud lamentations, and buried them in graves dug in the earth. Their religious or rather superstitious observances, so far as known, coincided with those of all the other branches of the family, and generally with all the families of the North. Their language is an Algonkin dialect, which was very well imderstood by the Algonkins of Canada, and it would seem that the varicjus tribes could converse with each other without difficulty. They were sometimes at war with their neighbours and scal})ed their enemies, of whom the Mohawks or Iroquois were the most dreaded. As the forests were plentifully inhabited by the moose, carriboo and bear, the wolf, (for there were wolves when the French made their settlement at Annapolis,) the lynx, the raccoon, the fox and the hare; and the inland waters by the beaver, the otter, and smaller animals ; while the rivers and sea coast })rovided fowl and fish and mollusks, the Micmac must have been the best fed and clothed of any portit)n of the Indian race, and was fast increasing in numbers. But he affords no conclusive evidence of the antiquity of the Ame- rican man. We find his bones, and his weapons buried with him, in Indian graves ; and in the KjoclcenmiJdding^ (adopting the name of the Danish antiquaries,) on the shores of some of the bays and harbours, are relics of pottery made of a coarse clay which had withstood the fire, stone axes, spear heads, and arrow heads, bone needles or piercers, mingled with shells (jf the quhog {vemis mercenaria) , clam {mya urenaria) , all recent ; and bones of the moose, bear, porcu[)ine, beaver, &c., (all existing species), the large bones split for the sake of the marrow, and not yet fossilized, * Mcmbertou, Sagamore of the Souriquois, made a pretence of giving to De- Monts for the King of France, Henry IV. what he called his copper mine, sup- posed to be Cape D'Or. rfi' n 42 THE ANTIQUrrV OF MAN" IN AifEUlCA. M 1, :;, all of wliicli animals he liunted, ate, and appropriated their furs to make his own eh)thin_2; ; and at length traded them with Frenehmen who came from thejxrcat river of C^anada, (the St. Lawrence,) with that object.* It is to be ho])ed, that when we have a l*rovincial Museum, a general collection of all such relics will be made and deposited therein, in order that the recollection of the stone age in Xova Scotia, distinct from the age of civilization, which last may date about 2(50 vears back, shall not be forgotten or lost, fludging from the absence of all attempt at cultivation, for which in fact* there was no necessity, and that the Micmac built no mounds, and had nr) pictorial writing, and that his remains as found are of com- paratively recent date, I would not feel justitied in fixing his occupation of Xova Scotia, at a much earlier j)eriod than five (U* six hundred years since. Yet when the French first came to the coun- try, the Micmac had no kni>wledge and no ti-aditio)i (^f the past history of his own family, although he used iroji im})lements introduced from Canada, whi<'h country was a |)rior discovery. DeMonts and Poutrincourt, who arrived in Xew France, (Xova Scotia,) March l()()4f and coasting west at length came to Anna- ])i»lis or Digby basin, which they named Port lioyal, and sailing up the river formed a settlement, found them a simple minded, intel- ligent race, somewhat superstitious, good specimens physically of the human family, well made, tall and stout savages, with ])erhaps as little of vice in their com[)osition as was over inherited by humanity. For any change in their persons and character in these resj)ects, they are indebted to their intercourse with the imjxtrted civilization of Europe. They have adopten one of their Field Days a few years since,) and recorded hy the writer in the inililished "Transactions." t LesCarbot who wrote a history of LaCadia or New France, arrived tlie succeeding year. i th TFIK AXTIQirTY OF MAN IN AMERICA. 4a luity. tlicv n of id it "■ised n, it ihoir -in- )enin- >w at ite of (l Diivs ins.'" .'d the (Iccvca.'i'e, nnd jrivc some idea of the influenco upon tlicin of the manners and customs of tlio eastern world. SUMAFAKY OF THE AKOIMKXTS, A\J> C(JNCLU.SION. A fair interpretation of tlie Book of Xature, as opened to us in the colour and laniruaiic of the Amencan race ; the ji^eoloijical possiI)ilities and ])rol)al)iliti(>s tliat may lia\(' affected facilities of couununication with the eastern liemispheie ; the structure of language and aftinlties of dialects ; the relics of human occupa- tion as exhibited in tlie singidar mounds and other evidences of a nascent civilization and settled conununities in the north extend- inii' fi-om the ]Mississi])pi to the Ohio; — the original designs of their architectural aiiti(|uitic;-, and the progressive civilization of iMexico and Peru. — wr.i'i-ant the conclusion, that the American family of men is unirpie, descended from the same stock hut distinct from all the races of the eastern h(>!nisj)]iere, and of pre- cxistent antiquity. Unless we choose to hjok for that anti(|uity in the vagaries of those v,ho assinne several centres of creation, we nmst try and find it in the V^olume of inspiration, — and in the history, which very many believe to have been communicated by God liimself to ^Foses ; although there is no I'eason whatever why it may not have been handed down by tradition and j)icture writing", and hieroglvi)hs, throuii'h the succccdinu' iicnerations from Adam to Moses. Unless, I say, we can find a coincidence between that Volume and the book of Xature alluded to, I fear that all attem])ts to trace the origin of man upon this continent, may be deenied hopeless. I believe this c;in be found. If the evidence laid before you, which is but a small ])ortiou of what could be ])roduced, is sufficient to jirove his antiquity, it remains to find a valid reason, supposing the Xoachian deluge to have destroyed th<> human family in Asia, why the human family of .Vmcrica shoidd have been preserved. Nothing short of this, I am jiersuadcd. Avould satisfv anv religious mind, firndy Ix'lieving that the world, and all that was thci'cin of iuiimal life, was destroyed by a fiood. It is to this im[)ortant ])ait of the subject that T sliall shortly advei-t, stating the ground upon which I rest my argument, which assumes the unknown from the known, by induction carried back to the time of 44 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMEHICA. the first peopling of Ainerica, .and rcdting for corroboration on the attributes of the justice and mercy of the Ahnighty. The great difficulty with ])hilos()phers in fixing the time of man's* first appearance in America, is the Noachian deluge. Either they have tried t(j .account for his advent after that event, which does not afford a sufficient anticpiity , or any reasonable proof ; or going beyond it, have assumed for him a })re-Adamite age. Had they looked for that appearance to an intermediate time between the Creation and the Noachian deluge, they might have been able to account for it in- dependent of that cataclysm. Gallatin, whom I have alluded to, who while obliged to claim for the race the hif/hesf possible antiquity, is fettered by the Noachian event, ])laces the first arrivals " after the dispersion," the evidence being the unity of the structure of the language throughout the continent ; and then enters upon a calcula- tion based upon thirty j)eriods of duplication of three couples, that probably admits of no allowance for depopulation by wars, pesti- lence and other contingencies, to show that America began to be inhabited onlv five or six hundred vears later than the other hemis- phere — this passage being so far obscure that it is difficult to tell whether he means after Adam or Noah. Schoolcraft also is evi- dently hampered by a similar difficulty, and gets over it very clum- sily. He says " Considered in every point of view the Indian race appears to be of an old — a very old stock. Nothing that we have in the shape of books is ancient enough to recall the period of his origin but the sacred or.acles." He considers that if we aj)peal to these, " a probable prototype may be recognized in that branch of the race which m.ay be called Almogic, from Almod.ad the son of fFoktan," of whom indeed I can find nothing recorded except that "Joktan begat Almoda nuMi. liiit tlio finidiiinontiil Ix'licf, cvoii sonic ot' tlu; nistoniH akin to those of tlu! ffcvvs, which may have hcon transmitted from Adam, wei-e ^a'lierally remai'ked, and remained to show that the fire worsliip, adoration of the snn and moon, and idol worsliij), had l)een engrafted on the trne worship of (lod. This i(h»hitry, it is just to infer, wonhl have n^rown <;ra(hially from priestcraft, and an assunijjtion of snjternatnral powers hy a priviU?<^cd elasH amon<;'st |an iuiiorant pe(H)k', always ready to evolve the su[)crnatnral out of natin-al phenomena ; and may therefore have been, as 1 believe it was, indiivencnis. 'i'he idea that the American ra<'(! were idolatrous from the l)ei;iniiin_L!; cannot be entertained for a moment. The sui)erstiti()uw observances which amoufj the more northern families, clouded a true conce])ti()n of the Deity, evidently were ])roIr mode of life, and peculiar habits, lonii- jifter they had miihiplied in the land. If this be so then, we may not believe that ihcy were (corrupt at the time of Xoah ; or that it consisted with Divine justice and mercy that the people of this e^)ntinent should ha\(' been destroyed in the overthrow of the un^nxlly. Amomjst the many hypotheses' and theories Avhich ha\e been hazarded to acconnt for the peopling- of .\merica, there is none in which the evidence, althouirh circumstantial, is so safe, as that which points to the appearance of man u[)on this continent at a period intermediate betw(>en the assumed date of the (^reation and that of the Xoachian Delude. That period will afford a siiHicient time for all the various phenomena connected with the race, which I have ])rcvionsly described. If we f,a'ant that the continent may have been or was so peo|)led, all the various phenomena connected with the j)ro<^ress of the American race up to the ]»ei'iod of the Euro]iean discovery, follow in their natural ordm-. The fact as I view it, neither conflicts with the eoiidition and })rojri-ess of man- kind, as these are rccoi'ded before the Noachian flood, nor with the demand that Christianity makes upon the common salvation. It would be well, I think, if this belief were so firmly establi.-^hed as to be generally received, and so to supplant or supersede the vari- ous speculations that perj)lex men's minds, and lead astray from a true conception of the Avise and beneficent designs of the (creator of mankind. Should this paper lead to further enquiry which may contribute to such an end, I shall be amply rewarded. <' •^ * ^ i« K' i