^RESEARCHES ON AMERICA; 
 
 BEINf; 
 
 AN ATTEMPT TO SETTLE SOME POINTS 
 
 RELATIVE TO THE 
 
 ABORIGINES OF AMERICA, 
 
 JtY JAMES If. M'CULLOff, JUM M 1). 
 
 Baltimore : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH ROBINSON 
 1817. 
 
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 u 
 
 X 
 
117458 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ASIATICS: SOCIETY OF BENGAL 
 
 1 HE author of the following sheets begs leave to 
 dedicate the first fruits of literary labours and early 
 life to the very respectable society of gentlemen, 
 whose careful and extensive researches into the his 
 tory and monuments of the eldest nations known on 
 earth, have given him so much satisfaction and such 
 assistance in the solitary path he has taken. But 
 placed at the distance of half the globe, and under se 
 veral disadvantages, his obscure offering may never 
 reach them. It is his hope, that others pursuing the 
 same course of inquiry and disquisition, as well as 
 the scientifick world at large, may pay them a wor 
 thier tribute; that they may enjoy the high gratifica 
 tion of having largely contributed to the stock of hu- 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 man knowledge, and drawn from the rubbish of ages, 
 memorials and proofs illustrative of human existence, 
 connexion and progress, which at once bid, as it were, 
 light to be on the chaos of periods past, and shine to 
 those to come. The philosopher, the historian, and 
 naturalist, must subscribe, with the present author, 
 their grateful acknowledgments to the distinguished 
 association, whose intelligence and labours have ef 
 fected such important, pleasing and impressive dis 
 coveries. 
 
 BALTIMORE, Oct. 15, 1817. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 As- the first edition of this work was printed 
 with many inaccuracies, and under several 
 disadvantages, it appears proper that the 
 author should here state, the causes of the 
 defects in that impression. 
 
 The principal part of this essay was writ 
 ten previous to the year 1813; under the 
 disadvantages of youth, occupation, and a 
 limited library. The war that followed put 
 a complete stop to further study ; and the 
 author holding a commission in the army, 
 was ordered on to the frontiers ; while thus 
 absent, he permitted his imperfectly arrang 
 ed notes, and crude materials of an essay 
 to be printed ; and which he had not seen 
 for nearly two years. Under these unfa 
 vourable auspices, was the first edition print 
 ed, containing many errours, many in 
 advertencies, and in some instances, appear- 
 
Vi PREFACE. 
 
 ing to express opinions the very opposite to 
 what was intended. 
 
 A year of greater leisure, has, however, en 
 abled the author to revise, correct, and add 
 certain facts and considerations, esteemed im 
 portant to his first work, and to endeavour 
 to put it in a more systematick shape. All 
 these circumstances, however, can scarcely 
 justify the quickness of a second edition, but 
 as the author has adopted a plan of life in 
 compatible with reading, or study ; and 
 which, if it ever admits of literary leisure, 
 will be after the lapse of many years ; he is, 
 therefore, induced to think himself better 
 qualified to print this essay at the present 
 time, when his mind is impressed with the 
 consideration of the subject, than is probable 
 would be the case at any future period. 
 
 Influenced by these views, and with the 
 hope that the principal part of this essay 
 may be deserving the reflection and atten 
 tion of the philosopher, the antiquarian, and 
 the naturalist, the author offers this correct 
 ed edition, and retires. 
 
 So much has been written on the origin 
 of the American Indians, that it is scarcely 
 possible for an opinion to be now given, 
 which would not, in some manner or other, 
 
PREFACE. VII 
 
 have coincidences with some preceding hy 
 pothesis. This has often been experienced by 
 the author of this essay ; and sometimes with 
 chagrin, for, after believing himself the ori 
 ginal framer of certain opinions, he has af 
 terwards found, that the same idea had been 
 promulgated many years ago ; and perhaps 
 there may be other opinions, advanced in 
 this work, that are similarly situated. How 
 ever, as far as possible, I have done justice 
 to every writer I have met with. 
 
 The common method of tracing a nation 
 or people by means of etymological inquiries, 
 appears defective; and, in thus venturing to 
 dissent from great authorities, it may be 
 proper that I should justify myself, for not 
 making any use of etymology in this essay. 
 
 It cannot be doubted, if inquiries could be 
 made by a philologist himself, among the 
 different nations of the globe, that such a 
 procedure would be highly important ;but 
 this plan cannot or has not been followed. 
 Navigators and curious travellers, have made 
 vocabularies of the languages of the different 
 people they may have seen or visited : this 
 has been done by the English, French, Ger 
 mans, Dutch, Spanish. Portuguese, &c. 
 &c. A writer, in making etymological i 
 
Vili PREFACE. 
 
 quiries, then takes the vocabularies formed by 
 the travellers of different nations ; and un 
 dertakes to compare them as they are wrote, 
 unconscious of* the confusion that has been 
 made by the collectors, in labials, dentals, 
 or of words or sounds, compounded of conso 
 nants, and such that an European cannot 
 pronounce. 
 
 This source of errour which the etymolo 
 gist is liable to, cannot be guarded against but 
 by a critical knowledge of many European 
 languages. For example the French have 
 no W in their alphabet; now, had Dr. Bar 
 ton been aware of this, he would not have 
 made the mistake which he has done in his 
 notes on Pinkerton's Geography; where he 
 says ; The Lake known in Canada by the 
 Anglo-Americans, by the name of Winne- 
 pt'ck, is called by the French Ouinipeque ; 
 now, though these words are thus differently 
 written, they are pronounced exactly alike ; 
 for the French, to imitate our W, have to use 
 the three letters o, u, i; which answers the 
 purpose effectually ; thus, the French 
 affirmative yes, is wrote oui ; but is pro 
 nounced 'We 
 
 Again ; where a language is but imper 
 fectly understood, collectors of words often 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 mistake by giving the adjective along with 
 the noun ; thus a stone or rock being pre 
 sented to a savage for the name ; he may 
 answer, it is true, that it is a rock or 
 stone, but there are much greater chances 
 for his calling it, a holy stone, if he made 
 his gods of it, he might say it was, hatch 
 et stone, or spear stone, if he made those 
 weapons of it ; and twenty different ways of 
 answering the question, and none the direct 
 one : and this no doubt is the cause why 
 savages are stated to have such long words. 
 
 And savages, when asked a question, also 
 may misunderstand the nature of it. Cap 
 tain Cook asked a New-Zealander, the name 
 of one of the neighbouring islands, as is 
 probably by pointing to it ; the native re 
 plied, Tavi Poenamono, which means, Jade, 
 a stone of which their hatchets were made, 
 and a Lake ; and by those two words he sig 
 nified, that there was a lake in that island 
 whence they procured jade : but captain 
 Cook understood him that the island was 
 known by that name ; this mistake he after 
 wards discovered and acknowledged, in the 
 account of his Third Voyage. 
 
 Another source of errour in forming vo- 
 
 o 
 
 cubularies is from having a defective ear ; 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 and this has frequently been asserted to have 
 been the case of captain Cook. Baron 
 Humbolt observes ; " We cannot con 
 ceive by what misconception, the illustrious 
 Cook could convert the name of Yucuatl 
 into Nootka ; this last word being unknown 
 to the natives of the country, and having 
 no analogy to any of the words of their lan 
 guage excepting Noutchi ; which signifies 
 a mountain." 
 
 [See Polit. Essay, II. 256.] 
 
 These impediments to the formation of 
 vocabularies, affect the remaining labours of 
 the etymologist ; and, as might be well expect 
 ed, that setting out with wrong premises, 
 their conclusions must be either false or im 
 perfect. 
 
 I shall say nothing of the confusion intro 
 duced by etymologists themselves, such as 
 substituting one consonant, or vowel, for 
 another ; by which means any thing may 
 be proved or disproved according to their 
 own hypothesis. 
 
 The incapacity of etymology to shew the 
 origin of the American Indians, cannot be 
 doubted, when we examine THE NEW VIEWS 
 of Dr. Barton ; and to which I refer. This 
 ingenious physician has taken fifty-four 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 words of the most common use ; such as fa 
 ther, mother, hand, head, &c. and collat 
 ed the American Indian with no less than 
 eighty different languages or dialects of Asia 
 and Europe ; and besides, he introduces the 
 languages of the islanders of the Pacific ; 
 The Yolofs, (one of the blackest nations in 
 Africa ;) the Celtic, the Hebrew, Chaldeac, 
 Syriac, Arabic, &c ; as also containing ana 
 logies or affinities to the Lenni-Lenappi, 
 or Delaware Indians, thus the mind, in 
 stead of coming to any conclusion, is lost, as 
 is well observed by the Cyclopedia, in an 
 endless labyrinth of conjecture. 
 
 From this exhibition of the subject it will 
 be seen, that etymology offers little or no 
 help in investigating the origin of the Ame 
 rican Indians, arid we must therefore have re 
 course to other means that appear more aus 
 picious ; This we have done : how far the 
 attempt may be successful, must be hereaf 
 ter determined. 
 
 I have not thought it necessary to examine 
 the opinion, which supposes two or more 
 different creations of men or animals. The 
 best naturalists have agreed in the identity of 
 the human race, and that animals have des 
 cended in like manner, from certain original 
 
Xll FREFACE. 
 
 pairs ; these observations concurring with 
 the Pentateuch, should be considered con 
 clusive. 
 
 It seems to be of little use to enlarge upon 
 the importance of the subject, I have under 
 taken to write on ; every thing connected 
 with the history of man attracts our sensibili 
 ty ; and as men look forward to remembrance 
 after their departure from earth, and cannot 
 separate the idea of still existing, from their 
 present consciousness, so we are also looking 
 backward to the former races of living men, 
 the possessors of the same earth in which we 
 find ourselves, and who we feel must have 
 been actuated by like views, desires, fears, and 
 subject to all the changes, casualties, joys 
 and misfortunes, which are in the picture 
 of the world before us at present. This 
 interest is manifested in all the inquiries 
 which men have incessantly directed towards 
 their progenitors ; and in the memorials of 
 every kind, which they have attempted to 
 set up and preserve. The common mortali 
 ty to which all generations are subject, adds 
 a peculiar feeling and tenderness to the in 
 terest universally felt ; when we inquire for 
 those who have been, and no longer are. 
 We look back for the traces of their being, 
 
PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 with a pleasing pensive desire to know more 
 of them ; a desire which is not quashed ; 
 but rather grows under the difficulty of car 
 rying on the inquiry, through the accumu 
 lation of years and ages. 
 
 Whoever attempts to trace the steps by 
 which a people have risen from obscurity to 
 notice among the nations of the earth, will, 
 says the ingenious and learned Robertson, 
 "be disappointed." The truth of this ob 
 servation is strikingly evinced by the testi 
 monies of the several writers of history, both 
 in ancient and modern times, whose unsatis 
 factory labours have been ever accompanied 
 with complaints of this great obscurity. Some 
 ages have passed away without any records 
 of them ; and the history of ensuing years 
 have for a length of time to depend only on 
 oral traditions ; and these are so generally 
 blended with fiction, that writers aiming at 
 the accuracy of truth, are obliged to give up 
 the distant pursuit, or suffer the relation to 
 stand on the doubtful support of theoretical 
 conjecture. But though the obscurity which 
 at once excites and opposes the inquiry, 
 hangs, like an immovable cloud, upon the 
 eldest times of nations, yet it is capable of 
 some enlightening from the reflection of cir- 
 
Xl\T PREFACE. 
 
 cumstances, incidents and narrations, coinci 
 dent and coeval, that from one side or the 
 other break into the darkness. The collec 
 tion, arrangement and exposition of these 
 become the object of inquisitive persons, 
 and facilitate the acquisition of such know 
 ledge as is desired upon the subject. 
 
 The inspired writings give us the first ac 
 counts of the original formation of nations ; 
 they are the most ancient, and surely the 
 most accurate of histories. But in them no 
 more is given than is barely sufficient to in 
 form us of the beginning and state of man ; 
 and to illustrate that, is the theological part 
 of the volume. Brief, and strikingly con 
 cise, they seem to impart knowledge without 
 gratifying a curiosity perhaps insatiable. Yet 
 this must be our greatest and surest refer 
 ence. Whatever profane history gives forth 
 in fuller detail, is derived to us through one 
 principal channel. Chaldea, Phoenecia and 
 Egypt scarcely speak for themselves, but 
 have delivered up what remains of their an 
 tique archives to the inquisitive and commu 
 nicative Grecians. But among the fragments 
 they have collected from the first formed em 
 pires, what a chasm appears. From the days 
 of Noah, distinguished in most of the ancient 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 histories, till about 500 years before Christ, 
 we have scarcely a fact to rest upon ; and 
 if serious difficulties arise to historians in 
 treating of events after this period, when his 
 tory assumes a form tolerably connected and 
 regular, what shall they not have to struggle 
 with, who, in pursuit of their object, are 
 forced on those ages, the remembrance of 
 which is only preserved in monstrous and 
 mutilated traditions ? They indeed hint of 
 great events that have passed, and exploits 
 famous in the transaction ; but the story has 
 died with the actors and witnesses, and is for 
 ever lost. 
 
 The great and mighty kingdoms of Egypt 
 and Hindostan, the remains of whose ancient 
 power and grandeur have astonished the world 
 for two thousand years ; with the Assyrian 
 empire, all rose to their zenith of greatness 
 and power in these dark ages ; and doubtless, 
 thousands of men, distinguished as much for 
 virtue, heroick intrepidity, and patriotism, as 
 any of latter times, have passed away with 
 out leaving a single trace behind. The long 
 period of years during which they flourished 
 in all their greatness, has not left on the 
 ample page of history one single brilliant 
 action, or glorious achievement: and later 
 
XVl PREFACE. 
 
 men have marked that series of years with 
 the broad, emphatick, dreary words, UN 
 KNOWN or FABULOUS AGES. 
 
 Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona 
 
 Multi : sed omnes illacrimabilea 
 Urgentur ignotique longa 
 Nocte, carent quia vate sacro. HOR. 
 
 And even the sacred poet has not been able 
 to establish in all minds a conviction of 
 the truth of his narration. The very poet 
 just cited is a striking example; for the 
 existence of Agamemnon himself has been 
 disputed, and the brave and chivalrous ex 
 ploits of his associates and heroick enemies, 
 have been asserted to have existed only in 
 the glowing imagination of the bard. Thus 
 difficulties arise one after the other, and seem 
 as if they would perpetually recur to the em- 
 barrasment and disappointment of persons 
 engaged in historick pursuits. And if the 
 early civilized and polished Greeks have left 
 the dawn of their history involved in such 
 doubts, that their best historian acknowledg 
 es he can find nothing certain of the begin 
 ning orearliest transactions of his own na 
 tion, what indulgencies are authors not to 
 expect, in writing on a people who have been 
 from the earliest times, until the year 1500 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A. D. utterly unknown, through a lapse of 
 more than 3000 years ; a people having none, 
 or remarkably few monuments ; and even 
 those, which in some instances might have 
 been useful, are concealed under the myste 
 rious veil of hieroglyphic symbols Scarce 
 ly a star glimmers on our path, yet we have 
 to pass a wide and trackless waste, full of dan 
 gers and difficulties ; and even when we may 
 arrive at our proposed journey's end, doubts 
 may remain whether we have reached it by 
 that road which so many have in vain at 
 tempted to find. But to use a simile of Dr. 
 Burnett's, " if an ancient and intricate lock 
 " is discovered, and after trying uosuccess- 
 " fully many keys, if we at least ; get one 
 ec that draws the bolt, we may fairly con- 
 " elude that it is the original and real key." 
 On the same principle, if our system ex 
 plains or accounts for the various and seem 
 ingly opposite facts that are entitled to ad 
 mission, respecting the Aborigines of Ameri 
 ca, we may venture to offer to the publick 
 the inquiries made, and the result of the ob 
 servations that incline us to suppose we have 
 found the key to those difficulties, which 
 have so long embarrassed the speculations on 
 this interesting subject. 
 
XViii PREFACE. 
 
 Perhaps no event in the history of the 
 world, ever excited such interest among the 
 philosophick and inquiring, as the discovery 
 of America ; almost every circumstance con 
 nected with this continent was the subject of 
 infinite debate and speculation. In process 
 of time many of these obscure and difficult 
 points were explained away, and settled to 
 the general satisfaction of the literary world ; 
 but other questions, and some of them of the 
 greatest importance to philosophers, have 
 been left nearly if not wholly in their origi 
 nal obscurity. Among these is the origin of 
 the American Indians. Whence come they ? 
 In what age did they arrive, and in what 
 manner? A curiosity to understand or explain 
 the difficulties attending the peopling of 
 America, first led the author of this essay to 
 make some research on the subject, the re 
 sult of which is now given, and in the man 
 ner and general order in which the investi 
 gation proceeded. 
 
RESEARCHES ON AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WHENCE COME THE MEN AND ANIMALS OF AMERICA? 
 
 XT would be very unnecessary to introduce in this 
 place, the various theories which have been proposed 
 for solving this question ; suffice it to observe, that 
 generally they have been so very imperfect, that it 
 has been doubted by many, whether a satisfactory 
 answer could be given. 
 
 At present, those who do not wish to leave this 
 curious subject in all its original obscurity, have 
 adopted the hypothesis of Dr. Robertson ; a prefer 
 ence, which is more, perhaps, to be ascribed to the 
 eloquent and classical language of that great histo 
 rian, than to the weight of his facts, or even the 
 plausibility of his speculations. As this opinion is 
 usually referred to as authority to the point in ques 
 tion, it may not be improper to show, that its author 
 formed his belief on very slight grounds, and that 
 there are several important points which such an opi 
 nion fails to elucidate. 
 
 " The vicinity of the two continents of Asia and 
 America," says Dr. Robertson, " renders it highly 
 probable that the human race first passed that way 
 
20 
 
 from Asia. In latitude sixty-six degrees north, the 
 two coasts are only thirteen leagues asunder, and about 
 midway between them lie two islands, the distance 
 from which to either shore is short of twenty miles ; 
 at this place the natives of Asia could find no diffi 
 culty in passing over to the opposite coast, which is 
 in sight of their own ; they might have also travelled 
 across on sledges or on foot, for we have reason to 
 believe, from the accounts of captain Cook and his 
 officers, that the strait is entirely frozen over in the 
 winter, so that the continents during that season, with 
 respect to the communication between them, may be 
 considered as one land. 
 
 " We may therefore conclude, that the Asiatics 
 having settled in those parts of America, where the 
 Russians have discovered the proximity of the two 
 continents, spread gradually over its various regions." 
 (See Robertson's Hist. America.) 
 
 This proposed route for the emigration of man 
 kind from Asia to America, is, in the very com 
 mencement, opposed by the striking fact, that about 
 Behring's Straits, the precise spot where Dr. Robert- 
 son believes man to have crossed over from one con 
 tinent to the other, there is a very widely extended 
 race of men interposed, who are utterly dissimilar to 
 either Asiatics or Americans. This race is the Esqui 
 maux, who, as Dr. Robertson hiitlself acknowledges, 
 bear a near resemblance to the northern Europeans, 
 and none to the American Indians. 
 
 This fact, so directly adverse to the doctor's gene 
 ral theory, obliges him to form a new opinion as to 
 
21 
 
 the origin of the Esquimaux ; whom he supposes to 
 be descendants from the Norwegians and Icelanders. 
 But is it probable, I was near saying, possible, that 
 within the time that has elapsed since the fourteenth 
 century, the Norwegians could have been degraded 
 from their lofty stature down to that of Esquimaux ? 
 Can we suppose, moreover, that any people used to 
 the comforts of civilized life, would stay in the most 
 dreary, desolate, and unfruitful region on earth in a 
 tract of country where the cold is so excessive, that 
 ten degrees farther to the south than Behring's Straits, 
 every aqueous and fermented liquid is frozen, not 
 withstanding the efforts of man, and where even spi 
 rits of wine are reduced by the frost to the consist 
 ence of oil ? 
 
 Besides, the Norwegians landed in Greenland ; now 
 the Esquimaux extend across the whole continent of 
 America, along the circle of latitude sixty-five de 
 grees north ; a distance greater than 4500 miles ; or 
 from Greenland to Behring's Straits ; for captain 
 Cook found them at Norton Sound, Oonelashka, and 
 Prince William's Sound. (See his third voyage.) 
 This statement must close the absurdity of giving 
 an European origin to this people ; for who can be 
 lieve, that a colony of civilized men, would confine 
 their migrations exclusively along the Arctic circle.* 
 
 * The Greenlanders and Esquimaux are certainly the same people ; 
 this is evident from Crantz' History of Greenland ; but that they are 
 perfectly dissimilar to any nation of Europe, or Asia, is also certain. 
 Reese's Cyclopaedia, see article Greenland, has the following- observa 
 tion : 
 
 " The language of the Greenlanders seems to have no affinity in ety- 
 
 4 
 
22 
 
 Mr, Pennant, though the most able defender of 
 Dr. Robertson's opinion, observes that the Norwe 
 gians, when they first landed in America, found the 
 Esquimaux already there, and gave them the name 
 of Skrcelingues, or dwarfish people, from their small 
 stature. See Arctic Zoology, Introduc. vol. i. p. 
 164. 
 
 But the facts most strongly opposed to a migration 
 to America by way of Behring's Straits, may be de 
 duced from the utter impossibility of animals ever 
 reaching this continent by that route ; and if they 
 could not arrive in this way, the theory is indefensi 
 ble ; for we must believe, that men and animals did 
 come by the same passage, wherever such passage 
 may have lain. To admit the contrary, would be a 
 libel on the proceedings of the Deity, who, without 
 a deviation from his uniform wisdom and simplicity 
 of design, could not have provided two ways where 
 one only was necessary. This must be obvious to 
 the lowest capacity. 
 
 Some persons, however, have the hardihood to 
 contend, that men and animals did pass by Behring's 
 Straits to America. Such an allegation as this, sup 
 poses that animals living now only in the hottest parts 
 
 mology, signification, or declension, with any of the northern, Tarta- 
 rian, or Indian languages, as far as they are known to us ; excepting 
 the Esquimaux, who, however, seem to be the same people : their 
 language is copious and graceful, perhaps not less so than any lan 
 guage we are acquainted with." 
 
 We might also apply, if it was considered necessary, every one of 
 the arguments which we have used on the Esquimaux , to the Tschutchi 
 on the Asiatic side of Behring's Straits ; who are perfectly dissimilar 
 to any of the Asiatic nations. 
 
23 
 
 of America, such as the guanas, alligators, monkies, 
 parrots, and a vast number more, actually past in the 
 winter, within the Arctic circle, through a cold that 
 congeals spirits of wine ! For the writers who main 
 tain this hypothesis, have been necessarily obliged to 
 make them pass in the winter, in order that they may 
 avail themselves of a bridge of solid ice, forty miles 
 in length, which, during this season, connects the 
 two worlds together. Besides, is not all herbage 
 either killed or covered with snow, for hundreds of 
 miles, both on the Asiatic and the American side of 
 the strait, during the inclemencies of winter ? 
 
 This brief examination of Robertson's theory, is 
 all I conceive necessary ; the more so, as he himself 
 simply advances it without attempting its permanent 
 establishment. Several writers have, indeed, endea 
 voured to confirm it, but without success. Neither 
 has the laboured and curious essay of Dr. Barton, 
 nor the shorter attempt of Mr. Pennant,* eventuated 
 more favourably to their respective writers. Their 
 arguments I shall pass over without notice. Dr. Bar 
 ton's arguments may be found in his New Views of 
 
 * It is astonishing that Mr. Pennant should support this hypothesis ; 
 for he describes the cold of these regions so excessive, that we will in 
 further refutation of his theory, give the following extract from his 
 Arctic Zoology, In trod. I. 113. 
 
 " The climate daring winter is uncommonly severe, for so low as 
 Bolcheretsk, lat 5~2 3(X, all intercourse between neighbours is stop 
 ped, they dare not stir out for fear of being frost bit ; snow lies on the 
 ground from six to eight feet thick, as late as May ; and the storms 
 rage with uncommon impetuosity, owing to the subterraneous fires, the 
 sulphurous exhalations, and general volcanick disposition of the coun- 
 try." 
 
 To this description we will only add, that Behring's Sraits are yet 
 14 further to the north, than Bolcheretsk ! 
 
24 
 
 the Origin of our Aborigines, and those of Mr. Pen 
 nant in the introduction to his Arctic Zoology, vol. 
 i. p. 161. 
 
 Some theorists have suggested an opinion, that 
 Asiatics have been forced to sea in boats, and driven 
 by storms or currents afterwards upon the American 
 continent ; and in this manner they account for the 
 peopling of the new world. The most invincible ar 
 guments are opposed to this hypothesis. 
 
 Without considering the disastrous and unprovi 
 ded state of persons who may have been thus unex 
 pectedly driven to sea ; and who, without water or 
 provisions, in open boats, had to perform a danger 
 ous navigation of several thousand miles ; '-such an 
 opinion will not account for the appearance of ani 
 mals in America ; of animals not only useless to 
 mankind, but in many instances fierce, intractable, 
 or poisonous; or what must completely destroy the 
 theory, the fact, that there are many animals found 
 in America utter/2/ unknown to any part of the old 
 xvorld. 
 
 The opinion of the Abbe Clavigero, that land once 
 connected Africa and South America together, is 
 certainly erroneous and imperfect ; and has so few, 
 if any advocates, that it is not deemed worth while to 
 enumerate the difficulties his theory has to encounter. 
 
 In concluding this chapter it may be proper to ob 
 serve, that in Rees's Cyclopaedia, under the article 
 America, the various hypothesis respecting the peo 
 pling of the new world, have been ably considered. 
 To that work, therefore, the reader is at present re 
 ferred for ample information. 
 
25 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PROPOSED SOLUTION OF THE QUESTION, TOUCHING THE 
 PEOPLING OF THE CONTINENT OF AMERICA. 
 
 HAVING now shown, that the difficulties attending 
 the settlement of America, by men and animals, can 
 not be explained by the commonly received opinions, 
 we are in a manner forced into the belief, that our 
 earth has suffered under some great convulsion, that 
 has destroyed the communications that once existed 
 between the new and old continents. 
 
 We conceive there are faint remembrances of this 
 great event, preserved in certain traditions of some 
 ancient nations, and regarding them in the light of 
 collateral testimony, will preface our inquiry with a 
 few of the most striking. There cannot be a doubt 
 but there are many fabulous circumstances connect 
 ed with them ; but we are convinced, that men ne 
 ver make traditions or histories, without having some 
 foundation for them ; how far they may alter or cor 
 rupt the truth of the fact, is not always to be ascer 
 tained : But in the traditions we are about t$ intro 
 duce, it will, I hope, be hereafter proved, that the 
 greatness of the events have been diminished, rather 
 than exaggerated. 
 
 Although the truth of the story related by the 
 Egyptian priests to Solon, respecting the Island Ata- 
 
26 
 
 lantis, has been disputed and denied; yet, many 
 learned men have defended the narration, and this 
 latter opinion has gained credence considerably with 
 in the last forty or fifty years ; no doubt there is 
 something fabulous in the narration ; but that there 
 was such an island or continent, is highly probable, 
 and we have, within a few years, received no slight 
 proofs of its actual existence. The relation made 
 to Solon was as follows : 
 
 " You Greeks, says the Egyptian, are ever chil 
 dren ; an air of youth is visible in all your histories 
 and traditions ; your country, from its situation, is 
 forever exposed to those inundations which sweep 
 away the generations of men, and leave no traces of 
 the past. The lofty mountain of the Thebais of 
 Egypt, affords its inhabitants a more secure asylum, 
 and in its temples are deposited the records of ages 
 and nations long buried in oblivion. There have 
 been innumerable deluges and conflagrations of the 
 superficial regions of the globe. Your fable of Phae 
 ton setting the world on fire, is founded on some mu 
 tilated tradition of one of these grand catastrophes, in 
 which terrestrial things have perished, by the devas 
 tation of the igneous element. Your histories, I 
 know, mention only one deluge ; but there have 
 been various and successive deluges prior to that 
 mighty one recorded of Deucalion and Pyrrha. 
 There existed an ancient and celebrated people in 
 Greece, the wisdom of whose laws, and fame of 
 whose valour, are renowned in the sacred writings 
 and ancient annals of Egypt. This heroick race were 
 as highly celebrated for their exploits by sea as by 
 
27 
 
 land, as was evident in their arduous contests with 
 the mighty nation who formerly inhabited the vast 
 island Atalantis, now buried in the ocean which bears 
 its name. This island was situated near the straits 
 of Gades, and it exceeded in magnitude all Europe 
 and Asia joined together. It was so called from At 
 las, the son of Neptune, whose descendants reigned 
 there in an hereditary line, during a period of nine 
 thousand years ; and extended their sway over all 
 the adjoining regions, for there was an easy passage 
 from this island to the neighbouring islands and con 
 tinents ; and their armies passing over into Europe 
 and Africa, subdued all Lybia, to the borders of 
 Egypt, and all Europe to Asia Minor : in succeed 
 ing ages, owing to prodigious earthquakes and inun 
 dations, in the space of one day and night, all that 
 part of Greece which your ancestors inhabited, was 
 desolated and submerged, and the Atlantic island 
 itself, being suddenly absorbed into the bosom of the 
 ocean, entirely disappeared, and for many ages after 
 wards, that sea could not be navigated, owing to the 
 numerous rocks and shelves with which it abound 
 ed." 
 
 As a proof of the existence of this island, or coun 
 try Atalantis, Mr. Taylor, who has translated the 
 works of Plato, gives the following relation of one 
 Marcellus, who wrote a history of Ethiopic affairs, 
 according to Proclus, in Tim. p. 55.* 
 
 "That such and so great an island once existed, 
 is convinced by those who have composed histories of 
 
 * Proclus lived 800 years after Plato. The works of Marcellus, \vhom 
 he quotes, are lost. 
 
28 
 
 things relative to the external sea ; for they relate that 
 in their times there were seven islands in the Atlan 
 tic sacred to Proserpine: and besides these, three 
 others of an immense magnitude, one of which was 
 sacred to Pluto, another to Ammon, and another, 
 which is the middle of these, and is of a thousand 
 stadia, to Neptune ; and besides this, that the inha 
 bitants of this last island preserved the memory of 
 the prodigious magnitude of the Atlantic island, as 
 related by their ancestors, and of its governing, for 
 many periods, all the islands in the Atlantic sea." 
 (Sec Rees's Cyclop, art. Atlantis.) 
 
 The Hindoos have in their ancient maps and re 
 cords, a region called Atala, which they assert was 
 sunk by earthquakes* (See Asiat. Research, vol. Hi. 
 p. 300, and also vol. viii. p. 375, where a more en- 
 larged description is given.) 
 
 The appearance of the globe in that part in which 
 this catastrophe is said to have happened, has been 
 asserted by some learned men to bear marks of such 
 an event having taken place ; and that the Canaries, 
 Azores, and Teneriffe, are nothing else than the tops 
 of mountains belonging to land sunk in the Atlantic 
 Ocean. BufFon says this tradition of the Island Ata- 
 lantis is not devoid of probability, and that the lands 
 swallowed up by the waters were perhaps those which 
 united Ireland to the Azores, arid the Azores to the 
 continent of America.* 
 
 * The presence of volcanoes, either burning or extinct, in every island 
 in the Atlantic Ocean, may be considered as no slight argument in our 
 favour. In the Azores alone, there are upwards of forty extinct or ac 
 tive volcanoes. 
 
29 
 
 Mr. Whitehurst says so much in favour of our 
 hypothesis, that we will give the extract in his own 
 words. He was treating on the Giant's Causeway in 
 Ireland, which he asserts is of volcanic origin. " Who 
 ever attentively views and considers these romantick 
 cliffs, together with their exterior appearances, will, 
 I presume, soon discover sufficient cause to conclude, 
 that the crater, whence that melted matter flowed, 
 together with an immense tract of land toward the 
 north, has been absolutely sunk and swallowed up 
 into the earth, at some remote period of time, and 
 became the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean." (See 
 Whitehurst' 's JVorks.) He also makes an observa 
 tion, that he was almost persuaded Ireland was ori 
 ginally a part of the island Atalantis. 
 
 This opinion of Whitehurst's is strengthened by 
 the following remarkable tradition of the old Irish, 
 given by an author of great reputation, whose entire 
 works I regret I have never been able to see. The 
 gentleman alluded to is general Vallancey, who says 
 the old Irish relate, "that a great part of Ireland was 
 swallowed up by the sea ; and that the sunken part 
 often ris~s, and is frequently seen on the horizon from 
 the northern coast. In the north-west of Ireland they 
 call a city of this enchanted island Tir Hud, or the 
 city of Hud, believing one stands there which once 
 possessed all the riches of the world. This is a ge 
 neral tradition with them. This island is called O 
 Breasil, or Brazil,* which signifies Royal Island." 
 
 * There is a rock in the Atlantic Ocean, off the eastern end of Ire 
 land, which in Bowie's Maps, No. 35, is called O Brazil, I have had 
 no opportunity of examining this subject further, 
 
 5 
 
30 
 
 General Vallencey says, " it is evidently the lost city 
 of Arabian story, visited by their prophet Houd, 
 namely, the city and paradise of Irem." He com 
 pares this tradition with Whitehurst's observations 
 on the Giant's Causeway, and suspects it refers to 
 the lost Atalantis" (See Notes to Southey's Ma- 
 doc, vol. i. 238.^ 
 
 It is very probable, says Mr. Ray, (see Bujfon, 
 vol. i. 491.J that the islands of Great Britain were 
 formerly joined to France : whether the separation 
 was occasioned by an earthquake, or an irruption of 
 the ocean, we know not, but its former junction is 
 evident from the identity of the rocks and different 
 strata, at the same elevation on their opposite coasts, 
 and from the similar extent of the rocks on each side 
 being both about six miles. The narrowness of the 
 strait, which is not more than twenty-four miles, and 
 its shallowness, when compared to the depth of the 
 neighbouring sea, render it probable that England 
 has been separated from France by some accident. 
 He adds farther, to prove their former union, that 
 wolves and bears once existed in England : it is not 
 probable that these animals could swim over, nor can 
 we be so absurd as to suppose men would transport 
 them over ; we must therefore come to the conclu 
 sion, that there has been an union between the island 
 and continent, which enabled them to pass without 
 difficulty. 
 
 Kir wan, in his work on Geology, says, that En 
 gland and Ireland have been separated from each 
 other, and the continent, since the deluge. 
 
 Pennant, (see Introduction to Arctic Zoology, ?" 
 
31 
 
 11.^ says, he is of opinion that England was part of 
 the Island Atalantis. 
 
 The Islands of Scilly, are believed by many of 
 the English Geologists and Antiquarians, to have 
 been violently separated from Cornwall.* (See 
 Hist, of Scilly Isles, by Robt. Heath, 234J 
 
 Trie ancient name of these Islands of Scilly, was 
 SORLINGS, which in the old British language signi 
 fies, separated from the height of the land. (See 
 Cyclop, art. Cassiterides.J 
 
 Mr. Bakewell, in his late work on Geology, page 
 234, observes, " The position of the strata in the Isle 
 of Wight, demonstrates that some great convulsion 
 has upheaved from their foundations, and overturned 
 the whole mass of Chalk Rocks, and the superin 
 cumbent strata, which covers them not less than 
 3000 feet in thickness. At the period when this was 
 effected, it is not improbable that England was se 
 parated from the continent." 
 
 Though somewhat irrelevant to our subject, we 
 introduce the following article from Buffon, as testi 
 mony in our favour, of the great changes which have 
 happened in our globe since the Noachich deluge. 
 Buffon asserts, that the Mediterranean sea is not an 
 ancient gulf, but that it has been formed by an erup 
 tion produced from some accidental cause ; such as 
 an earthquake swallowing up the barrier, or a violent 
 
 * There are numerous Geological facts which countenance the belief 
 that there has been a great destruction of land around Great Britain ; 
 see, among many instances, the report of the Abb Correa de Serra, 
 (Philos. Mag. IV. 287.) on the Subterraneous and Submerged Forest, 
 on the coast of Lincolnshire. Pinkerton's Geog, I. 181. 
 
32 
 
 effort of the ocean occasioned by the wind, and for 
 cing its way through the bank, between the promon 
 tories of Gibraltar and Ceuta. This opinion is sup 
 ported by that of Diod. Siculus and Strabo, who in 
 form us that once the Mediterranean sea did not ex 
 ist ; it is likewise confirmed by natural history, and 
 observation upon the strata, on the opposite coasts 
 of Africa and Spain, whereas, in the neighbouring 
 mountains, the beds of earth and stone are the same 
 at equal levels. (See Buffon^ vol. i. 35. J 
 
 Might not the great convulsion which destroyed 
 Atalantis, also have occasioned the formation of the 
 Mediterranean sea ? It is possible, as that island was 
 in part situated before the pillars of Hercules, accord- 
 ing to the Egyptian priest. 
 
 Mr. Bakcwell, in his work on Geology, p. 237, 
 appears to meet this question, by observing that a 
 violent subterranean explosion, nearly in this neigh 
 bourhood, took place in 1775 ; which shook in the 
 same hour all northern Africa, the southern king 
 doms of Europe, and was felt on the distant shores 
 of the American Islands. 
 
 We have now shown, that there is some argument 
 for our belief, that land once existed in the Atlantic 
 Ocean ; we can also show that the countries and 
 islands on and in the Indian and: Pacific Oceans give 
 evidence that land was once submerged in those por 
 tions of the globe, 
 
 The Ceylonese have a tradition, that an irruption 
 of the sea separated their island from the peninsula 
 of India ; and a similar tradition is related by the in 
 habitants of Malabar, in regard to Sumatra. 
 
33 
 
 Pallas gives his opinion, that volcanic eruptions 
 have destroyed land that existed formerly between 
 the Philippine, Mariane, and Caroline islands ; also 
 between New Guinea, New Holland, the Molucca, 
 and Maldiva islands* f (See Howard on the Globe, 
 359J 
 
 Sir Joseph Banks says, " From many circumstan 
 ces it may not be unreasonably supposed, that Ota- 
 heite and the neighbouring islands are either shatter 
 ed remains of a continent ; , which some have supposed 
 to be necessary in this part of the globe, to preserve 
 an equilibrium of its parts, and which were left be 
 hind, when the rest sunk by the mining of a subter 
 raneous fire : or were torn from rocks which from 
 the creation of the world had been the bottom of the 
 sea, and thrown up in heaps to a height that the wa 
 ters never reach. The sea does not gradually grow 
 shallow, as the shore is approached : the islands are 
 almost every where surrounded by reefs, which ap 
 pear to be rude and broken, as some violent convul 
 sions would naturally leafre the solid substance of the 
 earth." 
 
 The inhabitants of Otaheite have a tradition, that 
 once the great Gods in their anger, broke in pieces 
 the whole ruorld, and that islands are but small parts 
 of the great lands y Sfc. (See Nature and Art, vol. 
 ix. 66. ) 
 
 As a collateral argument, we observe that there is 
 
 f So universal are the traces of volcanic fires throughout the Pacific 
 Ocean, that New Caledonia is remarkable, from the circumstance of 
 not exhibiting any marks of their appearance. (See Rees's Cyclopedia, 
 J\'ew Caledonia.) 
 
34 
 
 a period in the Hindoo histories, which was charac 
 terized by the great earthquakes that took place at 
 that time, which were sufficient to make an yug or 
 age of earthquakes. (See Hist. Hind. vol. i. 503. J 
 
 Clavigero in his history of Mexico, relates that the 
 Mexicans, in their descriptions of the different ages 
 of the world, say that the second age lasted from the 
 time of the inundation until the ruin of the giants, and 
 the great earthquakes, which concluded the second 
 sun, which they supposed was destroyed at the end 
 of every age. 
 
 In concluding this chapter, we will only remark, 
 that the number of traditions and geological observa 
 tions, having a reference to a great convulsion of our 
 earth, must strike the reader as some evidence in our 
 favour ; the universality of these traditions, also indu 
 ces us to believe that a great extent of land has been 
 destroyed, f 
 
 f It is impossible to apply the science of geology at large, to this hy 
 pothesis, for the original conformation of the globe is unknown ; the 
 arrangement of mineral substances aflfc unknown ; the internal structure 
 of the globe is unknown ; the causes of earthquakes and volcanoes, 
 those important agents in geology, are unknown. In fact it might be 
 asked, What is known of Geology ? Nothing. Formerly, whenever the 
 deluge, or any great revolution or convulsion of nature was mentioned, 
 the writer framed a system of geology for his own use ; generally com 
 posed of various strata of oil, earth, water, fire, &c. &c. By a dextrous 
 management of these strata any changes were made or modified, ac 
 cording to the will of the theorist. A complete stop to such system 
 framing has taken place of late years, by the ingenious and interesting 
 discovery of the density of our earth ; this mathematical problem has 
 thrown all of our geological speculations into confusion and inconsist 
 encies, from which it is not likely they will shortly recover. The great 
 object to be proved by this essay, to wit, a great submersion of land, 
 must therefore derive its support from the consideration of other sub- 
 
35 
 
 From the present appearances of the earth, its is 
 lands, and other circumstances connected with them, 
 we do not think it a hasty or rash declaration to say, 
 that we believe, since the deluge, there was land of 
 great extent in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic 
 Oceans ; no doubt much shattered and broken, yet 
 not to such a degree as to hinder men and animals 
 from roaming through the extended parts. During 
 this state of things, or whilst men and animals were 
 traversing the world, this land was generally submerg 
 ed ; and though numbers of men and animals were 
 doubtless destroyed, yet the new formed islands (frag 
 ments of this land,) preserved many; and thus early 
 severed from the rest of the world, these fragments 
 of the human family have remained through succes 
 sive generations, until the spirit of navigation and 
 modern enterprise once more united the links be- 
 tween them and their brother men. 
 
 jects, and which may indirectly lead to conclusions, satisfactory on 
 this head, I therefore trust the defence of my geological theory to the 
 ensuing chapters of this work. 
 
 It may be well, however, to observe, that the old opinion which con 
 sidered the creation and the deluge as the only events, which compre 
 hend the changes that have taken place on our earth, has been set aside 
 by late geologists, especially by the celebrated Cuvier, who decidedly 
 considers our earth to have suffered under three universal convulsions 
 of nature. " Life," observes the same celebrated philosopher, " has 
 often been disturbed on this earth by terrible events ; calamities which 
 at their commencement, have, perhaps, moved and overturned to a great 
 depth, the entire outer crust of the globe ; but which since these first 
 commotions, have uniformly acted at a less depth and less generally." 
 (See Cuvier's Geology, 15.) 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON THE ISLANDERS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
 
 As further proof of what has been asserted, there 
 are some extraordinary circumstances connected with 
 the islands in the Pacific Ocean, that most strongly 
 support the idea, that a large tract of land once ex- 
 isted across that sea, and which has been submerged. 
 
 How these islands have been peopled, is as curi 
 ous as the settlement of America ; and the facts that 
 explain the one will also elucidate the other. 
 
 In looking over the map, we find New Zealand 
 about 1500 miles distant from New Holland ; which 
 if not the nearest to it is as near as any other land ; 
 and from which the Zealanders, according to the 
 common theory, can only be supposed to have 
 come : now the New Hollanders are mostly, (for 
 some are like Malays) as black as African negroes, 
 fiat noses, wide nostrils, wide sunk eyes, thick brows 
 and lips, very large mouths, low stature and ill made, 
 arms, legs, and thighs, thin. The New Zealanders 
 are brown and yellowish, long black hair, and in one 
 of their two islands some have white features, regu 
 lar and pleasing. 
 
 Is it possible then, that under such circumstances 
 we can Believe the people of Zealand came from 
 New Holland, or that their animals ever swam 1500 
 
37 
 
 miles, the distance between New Holland and New 
 Zealand. 
 
 The New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Queen Char 
 lotte's Islands, &c. lay nearest to Papua or New Gui 
 nea ; from which, on the most moderate calculation, 
 they are 700 milts distant, and nearly that distance 
 from one to the other. We find the inhabitants of 
 these islands nearly like the Zealanders ; and com 
 pletely different from the Papuans, who are black 
 and shining, woolly heads, and other characters of 
 negroes. 
 
 The Friendly Islands are distant from these last 
 group, which are nearer to them than any other land, 
 about 1200 miles. 
 
 The Society Isles are about 1200 miles distant from 
 these last islands. 
 
 The Sandwich Islands lay above 3000 miles from 
 America, and at least 1500 miles from those groups 
 of islands, where man is supposed to have crossed 
 the ocean ; and Maria Lajara is 300 miles distant 
 from the Sandwich Islands. 
 
 Yet over these insulated spots, have philosophers 
 believed, men actually crossed to America;, and that 
 our animals also came by the same route. A map 
 of this sea is the most striking authority against such 
 an opinion ; and should be consulted as to the dis 
 tance and relative situation of these islands to one 
 another, and to America. 
 
 So great is love of theory, that the possibility of 
 crossing the Pacific Ocean to America, in the way 
 we have just mentioned, has been insisted upon, 
 from the rare circumstance of finding a few savages 
 
38 
 
 in canoes, at considerable distances from land, whi 
 ther they had been driven by winds or currents. We 
 grant that they have been found at great distances 
 from their islands ; but never to one-third of the dis 
 tance that some islands lay apart, or from the conti 
 nent, and where they have been found ; the fact is 
 mentioned, only as being very surprising and uncom 
 mon. 
 
 During all the many voyages that have been made 
 in this sea, the circumstance of thus finding them, as 
 far as I know, does not amount to more than five or 
 six instances ; and never have they been found with 
 animals in their canoes, from whom other lands might 
 be supplied. 
 
 But if ten thousand men in canoes, unprepared as 
 these savages, were thus driven out to sea, not one in 
 a thousand could possibly go half the distance be 
 tween some of these lands without starving ; and 
 then what are the chances of their touching land at 
 all ? The idea is absurd, and requires no further 
 comment. 
 
 Capt. Cook asks, " How shall we account for the 
 Otaheitans having spread themselves, in so ma 
 ny detached islands, so widely disjoined from 
 each other, as in the Pacific ocean ? We find 
 the language of these islanders, from New 
 Zealand in the south, as far as the Sandwich 
 to the north ; and in another direction, from 
 Easter Island to the New Hebrides, to be dia- 
 lecte of the Otaheitan : that is over an extent 
 of ocean of 60 degrees of latitude, or 1200 
 leagues N. and S. and 83 degrees longitude, 
 
39 
 
 or 1660 leagues E. and W." See CooPs 
 Voyage, 4 to. vol. ii. 251. 
 
 This singular circumstance has struck most of the 
 navigators in the Pacific, and who have all made si 
 milar queries. Nothing can be more in favour of 
 our hypothesis than this remarkable fact. 
 
 Mankind, after the confusion, inarched, according 
 to Moses, in three directions. The children of Ham 
 went to Africa, Japhet peopled Europe, while Shem 
 held his course towards the East. By this it is not 
 to be understood, that they each went in a body to 
 these respective parts of the earth ; but, on the con 
 trary, that they were in small tribes or families, and 
 roving over the world.* A continent then stood 
 where now is the great Pacific ocean ; and while men 
 and animals were in this loose and unsettled state, 
 this tract of land was in great measure sunk under 
 the water, and only the tops of its mountains and 
 highlands remained above the surface of the sea. 
 These new made islands saved numbers of men and 
 
 * This is certainly the most natural course that men would follow. 
 It does not appear that any particular allotment of country was assign- 
 ed to any particular tribes or people ; though I am willing to allow, 
 that the respective descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japhet, migrated in 
 general towards some particular points, more or less remote from each 
 other. I subjoin the following authority to ^his opinion. 
 
 Hue fuit quod rerum Phoeniciarum vetustus Scriptor Histoeus Mile- 
 sius, postquam eos qui e diluvio evaserunt venisse dixit in Sennar Ba 
 by Ion \x ; addit continue ; de ccetero inde dispersi propter linguaram 
 varietatem, habitarunt ubivis ; et unus quisque terram occupavit in quam 
 incidit. Sochart Phaleir, page 72, quarto. 
 
 This was also the opinion of Bochart. And in further proof, \re will 
 presently exhibit some examples or instances, which can only be ex 
 plained by this opinion. 
 
40 
 
 animals, who were thus cut off from the rest of man 
 kind, until their discovery a few years since by mo 
 dern enterprise. 
 
 According to the learned Jackson, and many inge 
 nious and sensible commentators on the Mosaic wri 
 tings, the language of man at Babel was not divided 
 into radically different languages, but into dialects of 
 some few original and distinct languages. Now as 
 the settlements of the children of Shem were towards 
 the East, &c. the languages over its extent may have 
 been mere dialects from one common root, belong 
 ing to that branch of Noah's family only : of course, 
 when the division of the earth took place, these dia 
 lects, of one or two roots, would be found in those 
 islands ; the remains of land, once settled or travelled 
 over, to the descendants of Shem ; and thus the great 
 extent of sea, where we find this extraordinary diffu 
 sion of one language and its dialects, may be explain 
 ed and accounted for.* 
 
 From the subjoined observation, this appears to 
 be undeniable. In sir William Jones's Disquisitions 
 on the Nations of the East, he introduces the obser 
 vations of a distinguished author, (Mr. Marsden,) on 
 the insular dialects of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, 
 
 * For a fact that will have an analogous explanation, to what has 
 been observed on the extent of the diffusion" of one language through 
 out the Pacific Ocean ; we refer to Gen. Valancey's Irish Grammar, 
 where it is asserted, that all the European nations were originally of 
 Celtic extraction ; more particularly the Spaniards, Portuguese, Gauls, 
 Germans, Scandinavians, Britains, Picts, Scots or Irish, Jllpenines, Li- 
 gurii, Umbrians, and several others of Italy, as well as sundry others 
 seated in Russia, Salmatia, Hungary, Poland, &c, (See Irish Grammar, 
 
41 
 
 which he decidedly affirms to be all dialects of the San 
 scrit, the original language of the East, and from 
 which the languages of the Eastern world may even 
 now be generally derived. See Sir W. Jones's 
 Works, iii. 175. 
 
 Dr. Barton, see NEW VIEWS, &c. says, that strong 
 analogies may be pointed out between the languages 
 of the Pacific Islanders, and the American Indians. 
 
 How can we explain these striking facts, unless by 
 the theory we have advanced ; for we can now trace 
 a language originating in Eastern Asia, diffusing it 
 self throughout the great Pacific, and afterwards 
 spreading into America. 
 
 From certain analogies between the language of 
 the Malays, and that of the Islanders of the Pacific 
 Oc'.an, it has been supposed, that the Malays colo- 
 ir.zed or settled these Islands. Mr. Marsden, whom 
 we have just quoted, shews the language of the Ma 
 lays is also a dialect of the Sanscrit It therefore fol 
 lows of course, that the languages of the Pacific Is 
 landers, will have some resemblance to the Malay, 
 for they are both dialects of one original stock; but 
 even supposing that it was proved the Malay s were the 
 original settlers of these islands, how were the ani 
 mals transported, or who carried those animals, such 
 as the Ornithorincus or the Kanguroo, which are 
 found in these Islands, not only unknown in Ma 
 lacca, but to the remainder of the world. 
 
 This Malay diffusion, as it has been called, has ex 
 cited the inquiry of Dr. Pritchard, a very ingenious 
 physician ; who at last abandons this theory in the 
 following language : 
 
42 
 
 " After a minute inquiry on the Malays and the 
 diffusion of Malay colonies through the Indian 
 and Pacific Oceans, we shall be obliged to give 
 up the hypothesis of Malay extraction to the 
 Islanders of the Pacific ; and a very curious 
 field of inquiry is opened to our view, by the 
 observation, that many unequivocal marks re 
 main in the Indian Islands, and in various parts 
 of the Indian continent, declaring a state of 
 manners to have existed in those countries, prior 
 to the introduction of more polished and artifi 
 cial modes of life, which closely resemble the 
 rude and barbarous customs of the Pacific Is 
 landers" Pritchard on Man, 306. 
 The explanation of this fact is extremely easy and 
 favourable to our theory ; for it is supposed that men 
 had passed in many places over these islands, then a 
 continent, from the central country of Babel, with 
 only a slight dialectical difference in languages, and 
 less in manners and customs ; the sinking or de 
 struction of land, cut off these Islands from the con- 
 tinent, and the Islands of the Pacific from the Indian 
 Islands. But the communications between the con 
 tinent and Indian Islands, were not entirely destroy 
 ed ; hence they and the continent have more refin 
 ed forms of religion, and more artificial habits, which 
 are the result of greater luxury^ or knowledge, or 
 civilization. But the immense distances between 
 the Islanders of the Pacific and the Indian Is 
 lands, has prevented any intercourse and whate 
 ver improvement has taken place in the manners or 
 habits of these very remote Islanders, is peculiar to 
 
43 
 
 them or it was effected by a population consisting 
 of a few thousand. The Indian Islands and conti 
 nent, on the contrary, containing millions of inhabi 
 tants, and holding an intercourse with the rest of 
 the world, have improved and bettered their origi 
 nal habits or customs but which anciently were pre 
 cisely similar to those of the Islanders of the Pacific 
 Ocean. 
 
 Though we admit there is a certain resemblance 
 of the Islanders to one another, according to the ac 
 count of Capt. Cook ; yet this is done with certain 
 qualifications and we will shew that there are seve 
 ral diversities, and even different races of men exist 
 ing among the scattered Islands of this immense 
 Ocean. 
 
 Thus the people of the Sandwich Islands so close 
 ly resemble the New Zealanders, that notwithstand 
 ing the distance between them (which is upwards of 
 4000 miles,) both Captain Cook and Dr. Pritchard 
 suppose them a kindred race. 
 
 Dr. Pritchard observes, notwithstanding the dis 
 tance of the Sandwich Islands from New Zealand, 
 there are many reasons for believing that they deriv 
 ed their population from that country, rather than 
 from any of the clusters of islands which are situa 
 ted more in their vicinity ; for in manners the natives 
 in many respects, resemble the New Zealanders, much 
 more than the Otaheitans, or the Friendly Islanders, 
 (which lay exactly between the Sandwich Islands and 
 New Zealand. )* ( See Pritchard on Man, 291.) 
 
 * Among other facts which shew there never had been any communi 
 cation between the natives of the Sandwich Islands andanv of the hh- 
 
44 
 
 Again ; the circumstance of finding the people of 
 New Holland, Papua, &c. black, and yet surrounded 
 by men of an olive, copper, or white colour, is very 
 singular. It undoubtedly shows, that the black co 
 lour of this variety of our species is of the greatest 
 antiquity, for no writer ever supposed they came from 
 Africa under existing circumstances. Their being 
 found there now, may be explained by the supposi 
 tion, that a few families of this colour, either by ac 
 cident or design, left their more immediate kindred, 
 and went eastward, along with the children of Shem; 
 by the sinking of land they were here arrested in 
 their march, and confined to the lands whose tops re 
 mained above the ocean. That they are a different 
 race from the other islanders of the Pacific, is clear 
 from their dissimilarity not only as it respects form 
 and colour, but from the circumstance of their lan 
 guage, with the exception of one or two instances, 
 having no analogy with any other language yet exa 
 mined. See Nature and Art ^ vol. ix. 258. 
 
 In this same manner must we account for the peo 
 ple of Mallicolo ; the Nassau, or Poggy Islands ; 
 Madagascar ; the Island of Andaman ; Island of 
 Tchoka or Sagaleen ; Chica or Jesso ; the Kurile Is 
 lands ; the Japanese, and perhaps the Biscayans and 
 Tchutchi. 
 Now to shew that we have \\Q\. fancied the people, 
 
 mediate Southern Islanders, is the remarkable one, that the first men 
 tioned did not know how to preserve the bread fruit, until they were 
 instructed by the English under Capt. Cook ; who had acquired this 
 knowledge at the Friendly and Society Islands. See Cook's Voyage^ w". 
 2050. 
 
45 
 
 just enumerated, to be different from their neigh 
 bours, we will give short extracts from good autho 
 rities as to the fact. 
 
 MALLICOLO. 
 
 On this Island which is one of the New Hebrides, 
 Captain Cook observes, " the natives are unlike all 
 other Islanders we have met with, and they speak a 
 different language." CooJSs Voyage, iii. 599.* 
 
 NASSAU OR FOGGY ISLANDS. 
 
 " From the proximity of these Islands to Sumatra, 
 which in respect to them, may be considered as a 
 continent, we should naturally expect to find their 
 inhabitants to be a set of people originally derived 
 from the Sumatra stock, and look for an affinity in 
 their language and manners ; but to our no small 
 surprise, we find a race of men whose language is 
 totally different, and whose customs and habits of 
 life, indicate a very distinct origin, and bear a strik 
 ing resemblance to those of the inhabitants of the 
 late discovered Islands in the great Pacific Ocean." 
 Asiatic Researches^ vi. 77. 
 
 The distance between them and the nearest of these 
 Islands of the Pacific, is not less than 3500 miles. 
 
 * It may be observed, as a curious circumstance, that Capt. Cook ob 
 served the Syrinx or Pans pipe, in use among the natives of this Island. 
 
 Dr. Pritchard observes, that the natives of Mallicolo do not differ 
 in so great a degree, from the other Islanders of the Pacific, as Capt. 
 Cook supposed. But as his reasoning depends upon certain etymologi 
 cal affinities between them and the other Islanders of this ocean, per 
 haps it may be just as correct to adapt Capt. Cook's opinion* 
 
 7 
 
46 
 
 MADAGASCAR. 
 
 Madagascar is inhabited by two different races of 
 men; some tribes are of a deep black colour with 
 crisp or woolly hair, in short they are true negroes ; 
 other tribes have lank and smooth hair, and are taw 
 ny ; some are copper coloured. The affinities in their 
 language proves the inhabitants of Madagascar to be 
 connected in origin with some of the natives of the 
 Indian Archipelago, f Pr it -chard on Man^ 219. ) 
 
 To this I will add the distance between these two 
 kindred people, which is upwards of 3600 miles. 
 
 ISLAND OF ANDAMAN. 
 
 " Opposite to the coasts of Malacca is the Island 
 of Andaman the people of this island have woolly 
 heads, and perfectly resemble negroes." It has been 
 said that they are the descendants of a crew of Afri 
 cans which were wrecked upon this island. But 
 Pinkerton shews the absurdity of this opinion, by 
 remarking, that this people are mentioned, with all 
 their peculiarities, by Mahometan travellers in the 
 ninth century ; he adds also, that it is very difficult 
 to conceive for what purpose a cargo of slaves could 
 be steered in that direction, especially at that early 
 period : he observes, " they may be the same race 
 with the negroes of the Pacific Islands." This is 
 very likely but even in this case, they are 2800 
 miles distant from either Papua or New Holland* 
 (Sec Pink. Geog. ii. 158.> 
 
47 
 
 ISLANDS OF TCHOKA OR SAGALEEN, CHICA Oil 
 JESSO, .AND THE KURILES. 
 
 These Islanders are a race of men different from 
 the Japanese, Chinese, Kamtshadales and Tartars. 
 La Perotise considers it as indisputable that these 
 Islands have not been peopled from the neighbouring 
 parts of the continent, and that their inhabitants are 
 a colony perhaps even strangers to Asia. (La Pe 
 rouse's Voyage, ii. 485.^ 
 
 The Japanese and Biscay a ns are said, by Baron 
 Humboldt, and Rees's Cyclopaedia, to be different 
 nations from any others surrounding them.* (See 
 Humboldt' 's Researches, octavo, i. 19.^ 
 
 The Tchutchi are entirely dissimilar to any of the 
 Asiatics. (See Lesseps, Pallas, Tooke, f Pennant, 
 &c. and Pink. Geog. ii. 43. ) 
 
 These facts must be considered as greatly strength, 
 ening our theory. They cannot be explained but 
 as we have done in the case of the new Hollanders ; 
 (page 44^ and neither could these several tribes have 
 
 * "The Cantabrian, or language of the province of Biscay, docs not 
 appear to have any affinity with any other known language, abating 
 some Spanish words which have been adopted in it, for things whose 
 use the Biscayans were anciently unacquainted with." See Jtees's Cy 
 clopaedia. 
 
 f Mr. Tooke's opinion is highly consonant with what we have main 
 tained ; he remarks," There is nothing more probable than that this 
 nation is an American colony ; perhaps in some great revolution of na 
 ture in this our globe, a violent irruption of the sea lias divided the con- 
 tinent into two parts, and formed that great cluster of Islands between 
 them, and thus this tribe and that of the Koriacks, may have been se 
 parated from their American brethren." Tooke't Russia, IIL 163, 
 
48 
 
 ever reached the Islands where they are found, unless 
 the land afforded them a passage, which land has 
 since been submerged or destroyed. 
 
 We will exhibit this subject in another point o 
 view, by shewing there has been a difference in know- 
 ledge, and refinement among the Islanders of the Pa 
 cific Ocean, which also can be explained by our hy 
 pothesis, and which has never been done by an} 
 other opinion. 
 
 The fact alluded to is, that in Easter Island arc 
 found stone statues and monuments, undoubtedly 
 proving their erectors to have possessed a degree oi 
 refinement much superiour to any thing hitherto dis 
 covered in the isles of the Pacific sea. 
 
 Capt. Cook, who visited this island, has given a 
 general account of these monuments, and in a man 
 ner sufficiently interesting to induce us to make an 
 extract of it. 
 
 " These statutes or at least many of them, are 
 erected on platforms which serve as foundations ; the 
 workmanship of them is rude, but not bad, nor are 
 the features of the face ill formed, the nose and chin 
 in particular, but the ears long beyond proportion, 
 and as to the bodies, there is hardly any thing like a 
 human figure about them. 
 
 " The platforms upon which these gigantic statues 
 are raised, are of mason- work, and some of them are 
 30 or 40 feet long, 12 or 16 broad, and from 3 to 12 
 in height. They are built, or rather faced, with hewn 
 stones of a very large size, and the workmanship is 
 not inferiour to the best plain piece of masonry we 
 
49 
 
 have in England. They use no sort of cement, yet 
 the joints are exceedingly close, and the stones mor 
 ticed and tenanted one to another in a very artful 
 manner ; the side walls are not perpendicular, but in- 
 clining a little inwards, in the same manner that 
 breast- works, &c. are built in Europe. Yet have not 
 all this care, pains and sagacity been able to preserve 
 these curious structures from the ravages of all de 
 vouring time. 
 
 " We could hardly conceive how these islanders, 
 wholly unacquainted with any mechanical power, 
 could raise such stupendous figures, and afterwards 
 place the large cylindrick stones upon their heads, 
 &c. But let them have been made and set up by this, 
 or by any other method, they must have been a work 
 of immense time, and sufficiently show the ingenuity 
 and perseverence of the islanders in the age in which 
 they were built ; for the present inhabitants have most 
 certainly had no hand in them, as they do not even 
 repair the foundations of those which are going to 
 decay. (Cook's Voyage in 1772, 3, 4, 5. vol. i. 
 294, et seqj 
 
 De la Peyrouse measured one of these statues, or 
 busts, and found it 14 feet 6 inches high, and 7 feet 
 6 inches diameter at the shoulders ; and he speaks of 
 others that fnust have been of greater dimensions. 
 
 A writer on the Games of Palamades, remarks of 
 these busts, that " they are to all intents obelisks, as is 
 observable by the bonnet on the head of each being 
 the frustrum of a cone." (See Observations on 
 Games of Palamades, p. 92. ) 
 
50 
 
 Mr* Bryant notices these statues as an instance of 
 the astonishing diffusion of one religious system over 
 the earth. He attributes the invention of such works 
 to the family of Gush, a grandson of Noah. (See 
 Bryant's Analysis, Worship of the Sun.J 
 
 The explication of the preceding facts, is high 
 ly in favour of the truth of our theory ; for Easter 
 Island, being the most distant of all the isles of the 
 Pacific from Asia, and if the present physical state of 
 that sea is the same as it has been ever since Noah's 
 flood, whence can the inhabitants of that detached 
 isle be derived, and by what means did they arrive 
 there ? If they come from Asia, from Island to Is 
 land, we ought to find similar monuments in New 
 Holland, Society and Friendly Isles, &c. But this is 
 not the case, and the same argument applies against 
 their being immediately derived from any island in 
 the Pacific ocean. Yet we have shown, from the 
 authority of Mr. Bryant, that these statues, have a 
 connexion and reference to the inventions of the an 
 cient continental world. No explanation can be giv 
 en unless in the manner we formerly laid down, that 
 their ancestors possessed a greater degree of refine 
 ment than the ancestors of the other islanders though 
 of the same tribe, as is evident from their language ; 
 and that they were arrested in their march by the 
 sinking of earth, and confined for ever to an Island. 
 The reason they now show no marks of superiority 
 over their fellow islanders, is, probably from the cir 
 cumstance, that their island has suffered exceed 
 ingly by volcanoes. Capt. Cook says, it is the most 
 
51 
 
 barren island in the Pacific, and the whole attention 
 of the present miserable inhabitants must be direct 
 ed to the means of procuring a subsistence. 
 
 La Peyrouse makes similar observations relative to 
 to the barrenness of this Island, he ascribes it in 
 great measure to the want of fresh water, which 
 is so great, as to oblige the natives to drink the wa 
 ter of the ocean. 
 
 From the slight account given in Anson's voy 
 age respecting the Island of Tinian, we might al 
 so infer a similar superiority over the neighbouring 
 Islanders ; the square pillars surmounted by he mis* 
 pheres, of which he has given a plate, appear to re 
 semble the Egyptian style of achitecture, but as I 
 have not seen any other account than the abovemen- 
 tioned one, I cannot urge this fact further. 
 
 There are several instances in America of a mix 
 ture of different races ; which can only be explained 
 as we have done, in page (39). The Esquimaux 
 we have before mentioned as an instance ; and Dr. 
 Robertson, in the notes to vol. ii. p. 474, Hist. Ame 
 rica, observes that the Carribees are certainly a diffe 
 rent people from the inhabitants of the large West 
 India islands ; their language, he says is totally diffe 
 rent. 
 
 The Abbe Molina observes, There is a tribe of 
 Indians in the province of Baroa in Chili, whose 
 complexions are of a clear white and red, without 
 any intermixture of the copper colour. (Hist. Chi 
 li, ii. 4. 
 
52 
 
 Baron Humboldt says : In the forests of Guiana 
 especially near the sources of the Orinoco, are seve 
 ral tribes of a whitish complexion, the Guiacas, Gua- 
 jaribs, and Arigues, of whom several robust indivi 
 duals exhibiting no symptoms of asthenical malady, 
 which characterises Albinos, have the appearance 
 of true Mestizoes.* Yet these tribes have never 
 mingled with Europeans, and are surrounded with 
 other tribes of a dark brown hue. (Sec Humboldt , 
 Polit. Essay, i. 108 J 
 
 Baron Humboldt mentions many other diversities 
 among the American Indians ; we will only intro 
 duce another instance as being connected with some 
 opinion relative to the cause of colour ; and which 
 coming from so learned and intelligent a writer, may 
 be well worthy of the notice of those persons making 
 inquiries upon colour. 
 
 Under 54, 10'. of N. lat. at Cloak Bay, in the 
 midst of copper coloured Indians with small long 
 eyes, there is a tribe with large eyes, European fea 
 tures, and a skin less dark than that of our peasantry ; 
 All these facts tend to prove that notwithstanding 
 the variety of climates, and elevations inhabited by 
 the different races of men, nature never deviates 
 from the model, of which she made selection thou 
 sands ofyears ago." (Ibid, i. 109. J 
 
 * A Mestizo, according to this writer is the son of a white and a na 
 tive of copper colour : His colour is almost a pure white, and his skin 
 of a peculiar transparency. If a Mestizo marry a white man, the se 
 cond generation differs hardly hi any thing from the European race. 
 Humboldt's Polit. Essay . 183. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OF THE ANIMALS OF AMERICA. 
 
 \ ? E anticipate a question here from the zoologists, 
 why do we not find all the animals of America in the 
 old world, and vice versa, if we suppose they passed 
 by land from the old world to this. In the first place, 
 let them answer how is it, that the genus sukotyro 
 is confined to Asia, or the genera camelepardalis, 
 hippopatamus, and hyrax, are found no where else 
 but in Africa, or how is it, that we do not find the 
 polar bear with the tiger in Hindostan ? When these 
 questions are satisfactorily answered, as good reasons 
 can be given why there are some animals in Ameri 
 ca, which are not known to exist in the old world. 
 
 But suppose we drop our opinion of a connecting 
 land between the two continents ; how do you ima 
 gine animals reached America ? It certainly cannot 
 be supposed that the guannas, alligator, monkeys, 
 and other animals that can only live in the hottest parts 
 of America, marched up to Behring's Straits, where 
 they could only pass if they went northwardly. Do 
 you suppose the animals mentioned could endure a 
 cold that congeals spirits of wine ? for recollect the 
 theory that asserts they passed that way, obliges them 
 to cross these straits by a bridge of ice forty miles 
 
 8 
 
54 
 
 long, in the winter season ; and at a time when all ve 
 getation is covered with snow, some hundreds of 
 miles, both on the Asiatic and American shores. 
 
 Though it is not worth while to make an inquiry, 
 we will see how they might manage to pass south 
 wardly ; for if my maps are correct there is no other 
 way left. We here see some islands as stopping pla 
 ces for them, though it must be confessed that some 
 of these islands are situate no little distance from one 
 another, for which recollect what has been discussed 
 on the subject of islands. But the monkeys, opos 
 sums, guanna, squirrel, wild cat, &c. do not swim ; 
 how did they pass the ocean ? did they come, Arion 
 like, on the backs of dolphins, whales or turtles ? and 
 by what wonderful sagacity did they find out Neto" 
 Zealand or the Sandwich Islands, that lay not only 
 hundreds, but thousands of miles out of their suppo 
 sed track. 
 
 This is ridiculous. The opinion of St. Augustine, 
 who supposed the angels carried them over, is laugh 
 ed at, when at the same time recourse is had to as 
 absurd a miracle, to support this opinion. And to 
 bring the subject back to where we started from, why 
 did some leave the old world entirely, and others not 
 come at all ? 
 
 The circumstance of finding some animals peculi 
 ar to America, has been made a most wonderful dif 
 ficulty to explain ; and Dr. Barton, to solve it, has 
 proposed a new and separate creation for this conti 
 nent ; yet a similar state of things are observable in 
 
55 
 
 almost every country of the globe ; and every squa r e 
 of a few hundred miles has animals, minerals, See. 
 peculiar to itself, or in a greater or less number than 
 has an adjoining tract of similar extent. Thus France 
 possesses ten species of quadrupeds more than Great 
 Britain ; and yet Pennant says, England received her 
 animals from France, by means of land that once con 
 nected the Isles of Britain to the continent. (See 
 Pennants Arct. Zoology, vol. i. Introduct. p. 5.J 
 
 But many animals said to be peculiar to either he 
 misphere, may yet be discovered in those countries 
 and situations in which philosophers have denied them 
 an existence. Thus the antelope and the sheep have 
 been found in America, by Captains Lewis and 
 Clark ; and perhaps when the continent of Africa, 
 and some countries of which we scarcely know any 
 thing, are sufficiently explored, we may find the tapir 
 and glama there. 
 
 And of late, discoveries in zoology have been 
 made, which diminish the number of animals said to 
 be peculiar to America. Thus, the sloth, ant-eater, 
 opossum, Maryland marmot, and some others, have 
 been found in other places than on the continent of 
 America. 
 
56 
 
 TABLE 
 
 Of some Animals said to be peculiar to America, but -which have been 
 found in other Places than on that Continent. 
 
 NAME. 
 
 WHERE FOUND. 
 
 AUTHORITY. 
 
 Sloth, - - - 
 
 Ceylon, - - 
 
 Pennant's Hist. Quad. 
 
 
 
 vol ii. p. 496. 
 
 Ant-eater, - - 
 
 Ceylon, - - 
 
 Pennant's Hist. Quod. 
 
 
 
 vol. ii. p. 511. 
 
 Maryland Marmot, 
 
 Bahama Islands, 
 
 Pennt. Arct. Zoology, 
 
 
 
 vol. i. Introd. p. 172. 
 
 New York Bat, 
 
 N. Zealand, - 
 
 Pennt. A. Zool. vol. i. 
 
 
 
 Int. p. 174. 
 
 Raccoon, - - 
 
 Isles of Maria,off 
 
 Pennt. A. Zool. vol. i. 
 
 
 Cape Corientes, 
 
 Int p. 171. 
 
 Opossum, - - 
 
 N. Zealand, - 
 
 Cook's Voyage in Re 
 
 
 
 solution and Adven 
 
 
 
 ture, in 1772-3-4-5 : 
 
 
 
 vol. i. p. 113. 
 
 Armadillo, - - 
 
 Sumatra, - . 
 
 Marsden's Hist, of Su 
 
 
 
 matra, p. 94. 
 
 Coyoto, - - - 
 
 N. Holland, - 
 
 Compare Clavigero 
 
 
 
 and Shaws Zoology. 
 
 
 
 8ee Dingo. 
 
 From the table we have just given, it appears, that 
 several of the animals, once asserted to be peculiar to 
 America, have been found in the islands of the sea, 
 and at immense distances from America, as, for in 
 stance, New Zealand. Is it not strarge how these 
 animals got to these islands ? for they are only found 
 in America, and in these detached and insulated spots 
 of earth, and not on the continent of the old worfa. 
 
 Must we therefore believe, that the animals just 
 mentioned, originally migrated from America to the 
 islands ; or, that they were created in the islands and 
 migrated to America. But if either of these ways be 
 correct, why did not these same animals spread over 
 
57 
 
 Europe and Asia ; for in either case it would be 
 equally easy to go from the islands to Asia, as it 
 would to America ; and if they went from this con 
 tinent to New Zealand, for instance, would it have 
 been more difficult for them to go from thence to 
 New Holland, and from thence to one place and ano 
 ther, throughout Asia : but we find this is not the 
 case ; therefore, some animals by their own wilt, or 
 instinct, have chosen to quit the old -world for this, and 
 others equally unrestrained chose to stay.* 
 
 Again If animals were carried by men to these 
 islands, or even if the animals swam there of their 
 own accord, how can the following fact be recon 
 ciled to either opinion. 
 
 " The Indian Isles, even those which are at no 
 great distance from New Guinea, abound with ox 
 en, " buffaloes, goats, deer, hogs, dogs, cats and 
 rats : in New Guinea however, none of these quad 
 rupeds are found, except the hog, and dog," and 
 rats also. (See Pr it chard on Man, 13 5. ) 
 
 Now surely if men ever carry animals to desert 
 countries, they would carry the oxen, buffaloes, 
 
 * It is laughable tojee Buffon, De Paw, and some soi diseint philoso 
 phers, triumphing over us, because~we have no lions, tigers, leopards, 
 &c. as if they were a positive blessing to them, and that we were suf 
 fering by this curious partiality of nature, in favour of Asia and Africa, 
 So quiet and peaceably inclined are my countrymen, that we would, 
 tsithntt a pang, give up our rattle snakes and scorpions, to the kings 
 and slaves of Europe ; and content us with our liberty, and the agreea 
 ble reflection, that our'happy country does not support a single animal 
 that by its fierceness is dangerous OP formidable to our industrious 
 agriculturists. 
 
58 
 
 goats, deer, hogs, perhaps the dog; But we 
 find only the hog, dog, and rat, in these Isl 
 ands ; neither could they have swam there, for the 
 hog is notoriously incapable of swimming, and the 
 rat can hardly be supposed to have lived in an ocean, 
 which would prevent the crossing of oxen and buf 
 faloes. From every view of the subject it appears, 
 that these animals have migrated to these Islands of 
 their own accord ; but this they could not have ac 
 complished, unless there had been land over which 
 they could walk ; and which once reached from the 
 continent to these islands, wherever they may be 
 found with quadrupeds indigenous to them. 
 
 By a strange fatality, all the writers on American 
 zoology have set down with the prejudice, that there 
 was something peculiarly strange and unaccountable 
 in our animals ; they never appear to have once 
 considered the difference, that exist in the zoology 
 of any two or three adjoining countries in the old 
 world ; all the wonder was, why there should be ani 
 mals found in America, and not in Europe or Asia ? 
 There is just as much room for surprise and aston 
 ishment, in finding animals in South America, which 
 are unknown in the United States, as that there are 
 animals in America taking it generally, which are not 
 found elsewhere. 
 
 I have taken some pains in considering this sub 
 ject, and will endeavour to present the result of some 
 inquiries in such a manner, that the reader may be 
 
59 
 
 able to make a proper comparison between the new 
 and old worlds. We shall also state some examples 
 and illustrations touching the instinct of animals; 
 which perhaps will be able to remove the extraordi 
 nary character that our American animals have re 
 ceived ; as well as explain some apparent difficulties, 
 that have arisen on the subject. 
 
 Let us begin these zoological enquiries by some 
 views of the class MAM ALIA. The number of the 
 individuals of this class whose climates or countries 
 are decidedly known, amount to about four hundred 
 and sixty-four.* (See Shaw's Gen. Zool.J 
 
 Of this number there are peculiar to 
 
 The remaining ninety four 
 are more or less common, 
 
 Asia - - - 115 
 Africa - - 80 
 America - 145 
 
 Europe - - - 16 
 f Australasia and 7 -\ K 
 
 that is, they are found in 
 more than one of these five 
 
 Polynesia. \ j- 
 
 ~ great divisions ; we shall 
 
 371 I notice them presendy. 
 
 * The total number of the Class Mamalia, is about 570, but of this 
 number, 40 are whales, seals, dolphins, &c. which cannot come under 
 consideration ; the remaining 66 are land animals, but whose original 
 countries have not been as yet designated, at least not by Shaw, who 
 is my principal authority ;-- it is, however, but of little consequence, as 
 this number is composed of individuals of various species of animals, 
 and has no entire genera included in it. 
 
 f Australasia, is the Island of New Holland. Polynesia, includes the 
 scattered Islands through the Pacific. Our Researches on Polynesia, have 
 principally been confined to the Sandwich Islands, and the Marquesas ; 
 and all the other Islands east of New-Holland, and below the equator 
 
60 
 
 These animals we say are PECULIAR to each of 
 these geographical divisions ; or in other words, they 
 are exclusively found in those divisions* to which we 
 have affixed the number. 
 
 Now instead of wondering why America has ani 
 mals peculiar to her alone ; let the zoologist ex 
 plain the reason, why there are animals peculiar to 
 Europe which are not found in Asia ; or peculiar 
 to Asia and unknown to Africa. In this case there 
 are no physical impediments to migration, there are 
 no boundless oceans to pass, there is no deficiency 
 of food, and there are cold, temperate, warm, or hot 
 countries* to travel in ; now what is the reason, that 
 certain animals of the old continent, have restricted 
 themselves to particular portions of Asia or Africa ? 
 
 Lord Kaims, though no naturalist, observed long 
 ago : u We learn from experience, that no animal 
 nor vegetable is equally fitted for every climate, and 
 from experience we also learn, that there is no ani 
 mal or vegetable but what is fitted for some climate; 
 where it grows to perfection." 
 
 Perhaps this is the best answer that can be made 
 to the question PPe know it from experience. It is 
 true that instinct directs animals, but so little do we 
 know what instinct is, that we have not been able to 
 define it yet. f We further know, that there are great 
 differences in climate, and even that there are diflfer- 
 
 f- Twixt that and Reason ; what a nice barrier, 
 
 For ever separate, yet for ever Hear. POPE, 
 
61 
 
 ences in climates, which though imperceptible to our 
 feelings, are nevertheless injurious or destructive to 
 animals. Thus the celebrated John Hunter could 
 not, with all his care and attention, make the Virgi 
 nian opossum breed in England ; yet this opossum 
 is found from Canada to Florida, and living equally 
 well and arriving to the same perfection in either 
 place, or the intermediate country. 
 
 There is a very great difference existing between 
 adjoining countries, and even under the same paral 
 lels of latitude. Mr. Pennant observes, 
 
 " If England be divided by a line drawn about 
 Lat. 53, beyond this line nature has allotted to the 
 northern part certain plants, which are rarely or never 
 found to transgress that line to the south ;" (these 
 plants make 56 species ;) he again remarks, that " not 
 withstanding none of these plants are found in Eng 
 land, south of the above line, yet most of them are 
 to be found in very southern latitudes on the conti 
 nent, numbers are inhabitants of Provence, and other 
 warm provinces of France." 
 
 And again, " almost every one of these plants is 
 found in a climate, very opposite to these countries, 
 bordering on the Mediterranean sea ; for there is 
 scarcely one of the plants I have enumerated, which 
 is not found in Sweden, Lapland, or even Iceland."* 
 (See Sup. to Arct. Zool. page 4 to l.J 
 
 4 The great differences that may exist between the productions of ad 
 joining districts ; or even farms, may be well urged from the histo 
 ry of the Constantia vineyard at the Cape of Good Hope, and also the 
 principal Burgundy vineyards of France. 
 
 9 
 
62 
 
 Hence we see a reason, that if there is such a dif 
 ference between the vegetable productions of 
 England, there may be just as great differences 
 in the zoology of the two divisions ; for in 
 stance, If the particular food of an animal 
 grows above the 53 of lat. and not below, it 
 is not surprising that this animal should be un 
 known in those places, where it cannot procure 
 its favourite food. 
 
 What other circumstance will explain the fact, 
 that Pinkerton introduces (See Geog. L 98 J : 
 
 " The nightingale, he observes, is not found in 
 North Wales, nor any where to the north (in Eng 
 land,) except about Doncaster, where it abounds, 
 nor does it travel so far west as Devonshire and 
 Corn-wall ; this limitation is remarkable, as these 
 birds are found in the severe climate of Sweden." 
 
 Now if these local attachments exist in such small 
 divisions as England, France, or Sweden, what great 
 distinctions must exist between the grand divisions 
 of the earth, such as America, Asia, or Africa. 
 
 We will state this subject in another light. The 
 country in which the rattlesnake, or that variety, 
 the Crotalus Horridus, is found, extends from near 
 Lake Champlain to Brasil, from the 44 north 
 lat. to the Equator, now the country included be 
 tween these paralells of latitude, is perfectly dissimi 
 lar in its productions, whether in minerals, vegeta 
 bles, or insects, to any other country on the earth, 
 under the same latitude, -or if, as some philosophers 
 assert, make the allowances that the American cli 
 mate between the same parallels, with parts of the 
 
63 
 
 . 
 
 old continent are several degrees colder ; then take* 
 any climate in the old world, and see if there is not 
 a perfect dissimilarity to the American country, in 
 every production of the soil, and even constitution of 
 the soil itself. How ridiculous then, if this is the 
 fact, to wonder why America has different animals 
 from the old world ? 
 
 Why do we not find the various kinds of fish, 
 which are certainly much more abundant than ter 
 restrial animals, in all the different seas that wash the 
 opposite coasts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Ameri 
 ca ; for the element they live in, is much less affec 
 ted by changes of temperature than our atmosphere, 
 and we cannot say there is any difference in the com 
 position of the waters of the ocean. 
 
 We find, however, that some fish are common to 
 two or more continents, but the greater part of them- 
 shew a certain local attachment to particular coasts 
 or latitudes, out of which they are never or only 
 rarely found. Hence, there must be some instinct, 
 some unknown influence, which thus directs them to 
 those shores or banks, where they may procure their 
 favourite food or avoid their enemies. Now, if these 
 observations are allowed to be just in the case offish, 
 they will certainly be more forcible in the case of 
 terrestrial animals, who evidently and certainly shew 
 the same predilection for particular lands, climates, 
 and soils, as fish do for particular shores and coasts. 
 
 It was observed in page (59,) that there were nine 
 ty-four individuals of the Class Mamalia, which were 
 not peculiar to any one of the five great geographi 
 cal divisions of the earth. We will now give a table 
 
64 
 
 of these animals, and shew by a comparison how 
 these ninety-four are shared among the above-men 
 tioned divisions. 
 
 This will be done by stating the number of ani 
 mals common to Asia, for instance, and the rest 
 of the world : common to America, &c. It must be 
 premised, that some of these animals are common to 
 all of these divisions ; others common to two or 
 three ; hence the same animal is counted twice, 
 thrice, &.c. accordingly. The real number, however, 
 is no more than ninety-four. 
 
 TABLE 
 
 Of Animals of the Class Mamalia, common to either 
 of the Jive grand divisions of the Earth, and the 
 remaini?2g four. 
 
 Common to ASIA, and the rest of the world, 89 
 
 Do. to EUROPE, &c 51 
 
 Do. to AMERICA, &c 46 
 
 Do. to AFRICA, 40 
 
 Do. to AUSTRALASIA &. POL YNE&I A, &c. 6 
 
 Though these divisions of the earth are well mark 
 ed and decided for geographers, they are by no 
 means divided into climates, or into such accurate 
 divisions, that any one could tell from a view of the 
 country alone, whether he was in Asia or Europe, 
 or Asia and Africa : Thus the boundaries between 
 Europe and Asia are the Uralian Mountains, and an 
 ideal line. It is utterly impossible that the peculiar 
 climate or productions of either Europe or Asia, can 
 
65 
 
 come exactly up to the mountains or this ideal line, 
 and then stop short all at once ; on the contrary, 
 many miles on each side of these boundaries will have 
 the same climate, the same productions, and hence 
 the migrations of certain animals, are not limited to 
 either Europe or Asia. 
 
 But America is differently situated ; on the north, 
 migrations are prevented by impenetrable snows and 
 cold, and on the east and west, are two immense 
 oceans, of course, there is no gradual transition of 
 climate, and productions between America and any 
 other country ; there are no ideal lines, our boun 
 daries are fixed by nature herself, and we may say 
 without the chance of mistake, that this is America, 
 and this adjoining is the ocean. 
 
 Of course this table is not accurately just as res 
 pects America, when her animals are compared with 
 those divisions of the old continent, but it cannot 
 be done better, if we were to divide the superficial 
 extent of the old continent into equal divisions, each 
 equal to America still the very same objections 
 would remain. 
 
 But each of these great geographical divisions has 
 certain peculiarities which distinguish them from one 
 another ; that is, there is a general mean, in which 
 will be found a difference. 
 
 For example ; Though Europe touches Asia al 
 most entirely from north to south, yet there are but 
 twenty-four quadrupeds common to the two, yet 
 the animals found in Europe alone adding those 
 common and peculiar together, amounts to sixty- 
 
66 
 
 seven ; and those found in Asia, adding in a like 
 manner, amount to two hundred and four. 
 
 From this table may be seen the futility of the the 
 ory, that supposed a separate creation for America, 
 for we see that there are forty- six quadrupeds common 
 to America and the old world ; which number is near 
 ly in the same proportion to the number of animals 
 common to Asia and Africa ; or Africa and Europe. 
 
 We have stated in the table on page (59,) that 
 America has a much greater number of animals pe 
 culiar to her, than either of the other divisions of the 
 earth ; this surely cannot excite surprise, for the su 
 perficial extent of America is nearly one-third great 
 er than Asia, the most extensive division of the old 
 world. 
 
 Europe, contains . 4,456,065 square miles. 
 
 Asia, ..... 10,768,823 do. do. 
 
 Africa, 9,654,807 do. do. 
 
 America, . , . . 14,110,374 do. do. 
 N. B. The extent of Australasia and Polynesia, 
 is unknown. 
 
 Then of course, as being of greater extent, Ame 
 rica is entitled by right to more animals than either 
 of the five divisions of the globe ; but we have al 
 ready shewn other causes and circumstances, that 
 either prove or modify the reasons for difference. 
 
 AMPHIBIA. 
 
 We will now pass to another class of animals, 
 which we will exhibit in a different point of view ; 
 this class is the AMPHIBIA, consisting of the orders, 
 
67 
 
 tortoises, frogs i lizards, and serpents, these animals 
 are, in general, scattered over the whole earth, and 
 no genera of them appears to be peculiar to any of 
 the five great divisions of the world ; unless we ex 
 cept the crotalus or rattle-snake of America ; Seba, 
 indeed, says, it is found in the East Indies, but late 
 observations have not confirmed his assertion. 
 
 These slow and creeping animals are introduced 
 in this place, with the view of proving the connexion 
 that exists between the AMPHIBIA of America and 
 the old world. Those which will be enumerated, 
 are not marine; they may in some instances be 
 found in rivers or marshes, but any exposure to the 
 waters of the ocean would be as detrimental to them, 
 as it would be to quadrupeds. The only questions 
 I shall ask are, How did these animals arrive in 
 America ? or, could they reach America in any 
 other way, but by means of land, that once connect 
 ed the new and old worlds together. 
 
 Animals of the class Amphibia, common to America 
 and various parts of the old continent. 
 
 TESTUDO, or TORTOISE. 
 
 Geometrical Tortoise, I Asia, Africa, and America. 
 
 Radiated Tortoise, | Madagascar, and Jamaica. 
 
 LACERTA, or LIZARD. 
 
 Crocodile,* 1 Asia, Africa, and America. 
 
 Guanna, j S. America, E, & W. Indies* 
 
 Basilisk, I Africa, and S. America. 
 
 Monitory Lizard, | S. America, and N. Holland. 
 
 * I can see no difference between the aligator and crocodile.. 
 
68 
 
 Dracena Lizard, 
 Marbled Lizard, 
 Azure Lizard, 
 Striped Lizard, 
 Plica Lizard, 
 
 S. America, & Indian Islands. 
 East and West Indies. 
 S. America, and Africa. 
 Africa, India, and S. America. 
 India, and South America. 
 
 OPHIDA, or SERPENTS. 
 
 Constrictor Boa, 
 t Cobra de Capello, 
 Milk white Snake, 
 Broad cheeked Snake, 
 Short headed Snake, 
 Lozenge spotted Snake, 
 ^Esculapian Snake, 
 Ornamented Snake 
 Angular Snake, 
 Pelia Snake, 
 Aberdeen slow Worm. 
 
 Africa, India, Indian Is. S. A. 
 E. Indies, and South America. 
 E. Indies, and South America. 
 S. America, and E. Indies. 
 Ceylon, and Brazil. 
 E. Indies, and South America. 
 Italy, and South America. 
 W. Indies, Ceylon, and Java. 
 S. America, and East Indies. 
 S. America, and East Indies. 
 Scotland, and South America. 
 
 I refer to Shaw's Gen. Zool. as my authority for 
 the above statement. 
 
 ORNITHOLOGY. 
 
 I have endeavoured to present the subject of zoo 
 logy in many points of view, as being one of the se 
 verest tests that can be applied to the truth of ur 
 theory, and it is not so fatiguing to the reader, as if 
 we were to apply the same set of arguments to each 
 of the different branches of zoology ; the intelligent 
 reader will admit that this could have been done, had 
 we been so inclined. 
 
 I have introduced in this zoological inquiry, some 
 observations on ornithology ; principally that of Aus 
 tralasia and Polynesia ; this I have done from the be 
 lief, that no theorist has ever supposed that the cen 
 tre of creation was in these Islands. 
 
 f According to Se,ba. (See Shaw's Gen. Zoology.} 
 
69 
 
 On examining the annexed list of birds, it will be 
 seen, that the greater part of them are of short flight ; 
 some that cannot fly at all ; and others that can fly to 
 great distances ; but which prefer these lonely island^, 
 to either America or the old continent. Now, of those 
 birds that cannot fly and cannot swim, or whose pow 
 ers of flight are but of moderate calculation, how did 
 they get to New Zealand? or the Sandwich Islands? 
 or to any of the Islands in which they are found ? 
 And of those who are able to fly to great distances, 
 why do they confine themselves to these Islands ex 
 clusively ? 
 
 These observations are not confined to individuals 
 of species alone ; they include several entire genera. 
 Why have these entire genera left the old world ? or 
 why have they not flown to America ? These ques 
 tions can only be answered as we have already done. 
 Our readers must be by this time familiar with our 
 explanations, and we will not repeat them in this 
 place. 
 
 Table of BIRDS that cannot fly or swim, and which 
 are peculiar to certain Islands. 
 
 The Galeated Cassowary, is peculiar and confined 
 to Java, Banda, and a few other islands in the Indian 
 Archipelago. (Latham Synopsis, v. 11, and Pen 
 nant's Outlines of the Globe, iv. 8.J 
 
 The New Holland Cassowary, is peculiar to that 
 Island. (See Pennants Outlines, as above.} 
 
 10 
 
70 
 
 The Hooded Dodo,* Is peculiar to the Isles of 
 France, Bourbon, and Roderigues, in the Indian 
 Ocean ; this heavy clumsy bird is not only incapable 
 of flight, but walks slowly. 
 
 N. B. There may be three species of this bird, 
 they are however all similarly situated. (Latham's 
 Synopsis, v. l.J 
 
 TABLE of Entire Genera of BIRDS peculiar to Aus 
 tralasia and Polynesia, and which are capable of 
 flight. 
 
 Glaucopis or Wattle Bird, 
 Paradise Birds, (15 species) 
 
 Scythrops, or Channel Bill, 
 Sheath Bill, 
 
 New Zealand. 
 
 Solely confined to Papua or 
 New Guinea, and the small 
 neighbouring islands. 
 
 New Holland, 
 ditto. 
 
 * Latham, see Synopsis of Birds, says, this bird must be found else 
 where, because the Portuguese who discovered these islands said there 
 were neither bird nor beast there. It is really strange that a naturalist 
 should make so groundless an assertion. The Portuguese only meant 
 they did not see any ; and even if they had asserted there were none, 
 are we to believe it ; did they examine every part of these islands prior 
 to making the assertion ; but supposing it the fact, how did these birds 
 get there who carried them ? not the Portuguese certainly ; or it would 
 have been mentioned ; at any rate we would know where it was they 
 were first found, and there would be no ignorance of their real coun 
 try. 
 
71 
 
 SPECIESO/'BIRDSO/' moderate > or of great powers 
 of flight, and which are peculiar to Australasia and 
 Polynesia. 
 
 Eagles 
 
 two. 
 
 Cockatoo 
 
 four. 
 
 Falcons 
 
 eight. 
 
 fParrot 
 
 three. 
 
 Owls 
 
 two. 
 
 Cuckow 
 
 two. 
 
 Shrikes 
 
 ten. 
 
 Starling 
 
 one. 
 
 Crow 
 
 seven. 
 
 Thrush 
 
 nine. 
 
 Roller 
 
 two. 
 
 Colly 
 
 one. 
 
 Grackle 
 
 seven. 
 
 Grossbeak 
 
 one. 
 
 Hornbill 
 
 one. 
 
 Bunting 
 
 one. 
 
 King Fisher 
 
 seven. 
 
 Finch 
 
 one. 
 
 Nuthatch 
 
 one. 
 
 Fly Catcher 
 
 ten. 
 
 *Tody 
 
 two. 
 
 Lark 
 
 one. 
 
 Pom crops 
 
 two. 
 
 Warbler 
 
 six. 
 
 Bee Eater 
 
 fifteen. 
 
 Titmouse 
 
 three. 
 
 Creeper 
 
 twenty-nine. 
 
 Swallow 
 
 one. 
 
 Parakeet 
 
 twenty-eight. 
 
 Pigeon 
 
 seven. 
 
 Partridge 
 
 two. 
 
 Tern 
 
 five. 
 
 Bustard 
 
 one. 
 
 Petrel 
 
 five. 
 
 Heron 
 
 four. 
 
 Duck 
 
 six. 
 
 Curlew 
 
 one. 
 
 Penguin 
 
 three. 
 
 Snipe 
 
 one. 
 
 Pelican 
 
 five. 
 
 Plover 
 
 four. 
 
 Tropic bird 
 
 one. 
 
 Kail 
 
 eight. 
 
 
 
 Thus we see that tfee instinct that first led these 
 Birds to these Islands., also keeps them there and 
 there is nothing peculiar or strange in it; this is 
 according to the laws of nature, and is the same thing 
 whether in Europe, Asia, or America. How this 
 instinct acts we will not pretend to say, but there 
 
 * Buffou asserted that the whole genu, Tody, was peculiar to Ame 
 rica. 
 
 f Thus far from Shaw's General Zoology. The remaining 1 part of 
 that work not having reached the United States, I have supplied the 
 deficiency from Latham's Synopsis of Birds, a work many years older. 
 
72 
 
 is nothing more certain or wonderful. Derham, m 
 his Physico- Astro- Theology, asks, how these un 
 thinking, untaught creatures, should know the pro 
 per time for their passage, when to come and when 
 to go? 
 
 In the next place, that they should know what way 
 to steer their course, and whither to go ; what instinct 
 i$ it that teaches a poor foolish bird to venture over 
 vast tracts of land and sea. If it be said that by 
 their high ascent up into the air, they can see across 
 the seas, yet what should teach them that another 
 land is more proper for the purpose than this ; *hat 
 Britain, for instance, should afford them better ac 
 commodation, than Egypt, than the Canaries, than 
 Spain, or any other of the intermediate countries. 
 (See Physico Astro Theol. ii. 46. J 
 
 I will conclude these Ornithological views, with 
 an observation relative to a peculiarity which I think 
 may be noticed in the birds of Australasia and Po 
 lynesia ; this is the considerable number that have 
 wattles, thus there are the glaucopis, the caruncu- 
 lated grackle, the wattled crow, the -wattled bee- 
 eater, wattled creeper, wattled starling, wattled 
 quail, and lobated goose. The domestic poultry, 
 though not peculiar to these islands, are, neverthe 
 less, indiginous and we might, perhaps, add the 
 cassowary to these wattled birds also. 
 
 ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 This class of animals might also be arranged so as 
 to support our theory, but we think we have already 
 
73 
 
 exhibited the subject in so many different points of 
 view, that further illustration appears needless. 
 
 The inert and sluggish nature of many insects ap- 
 pers, at first sight, to offer many difficulties to a long 
 migration. But it must be recollected that the great 
 er part of these slow and creeping worms and bugs, 
 are merely in their larva or crysalis state ; and which, 
 in course of time, change to winged insects such 
 as the caterpillar, which changes to the butterfly ; 
 many of the aquatic insects fly only after nightfall, 
 and will not use their wings in the day light; 
 but I subjoin the order of Apter<f^ or insects with 
 out wings, from Shaw's Genl. Zool. whence it will 
 be seen, that they are very few indeed, and that from 
 their habits, many of them can be, and are carried by 
 other animals whither they may roam. 
 
 ORDER APTER^E. 
 
 Lepisma, (Lepisma.) 
 
 Podura, (Podura.) 
 
 Termes, (White Ant,) the male has wings. 
 
 Pediculus, (Louse.) 
 
 Pulex, (Flea.) 
 
 Acarus, (Mite and Tick.) 
 
 Hydrachna, (Hydrachna.) 
 
 Phalangeum, (Spiders, known by the name of 
 long legs.) 
 
 Aranea, (Spider.) 
 
 Oniscus, (Wood-louse.} 
 
 Scolopendra, ( Centipede?) 
 
 Julus, (Insects extremely similar to the Centi 
 pede, in their appearance.) 
 
74 
 
 From the foregoing Zoological views and expla 
 nations, we think the candid reader must now admit, 
 that there is nothing uncommon or mysterious in the 
 animals of America, which may not be equally well 
 applied to those of Europe or Asia. But this is not 
 the object for which these inquiries were made, and 
 we think it necessary to sum up in this place, the ar 
 guments drawn from these Zoological inquiries, that 
 either prove, or tend to prove, that land once existed 
 across the great Pacific Ocean. 
 
 We have shewn, that animals, whether quadru 
 peds and certain birds, such as the Dodo> 
 Ssc. whose conformation restricts them to 
 the ground, and who cannot swim yet are 
 found on islands very remote from either 
 . continent. 
 
 We have shewn that there are a number of ani 
 mals, such as quadrupeds and amphibia, 
 common to America, and various parts of 
 the old continent, that can neither bear mo 
 derate cold, and who cannot swim. 
 We can also shew, that some animals can be 
 tracedfrom the old world, through the is 
 lands of the, Pacific, and finally to America: 
 As the black rat. (See Pennants Arctic Zoology, 
 vol. i. Inlrod. 173 J 
 So also the mouse. Ibid. 
 We ajso see, that some animals are found in the 
 old world, and in the islands of the Indian 
 and Pacific oceans, which are not known to 
 exist in America, 
 
75 
 
 As horses, oxen, Sec. in Europe, Asia, and the is 
 land of Java. Pennant's Outlines of the Globe, vol. 
 iv. 35, 36. Chinese hog, in Asia, New Guinea, the 
 New Hebrides, the Friendly Society Isles, and the 
 Marquesas. Pennant's Hist. Quad. vol. i. 129. 
 
 And that some animals are common to the is 
 lands of the Indian and Pacific oceans, and 
 America, which have nt yet been found in 
 the old world. 
 
 As the sloth, ant-eater, opossum, &c. as, (see our 
 table, page 56.)* 
 
 We think we have now proved, that a way once 
 existed, by which men and animals might pass to 
 America, and we have also shewn they could not 
 have reached this continent in any other manner. We 
 will now make an attempt to shew, at what time this 
 condition of our globe existed, and though a bold 
 undertaking, hope we shall be able to throw some 
 light upon the subject. 
 
 * A question may be here asked, why we do not find, according- to 
 this theory,' a greater number of animals in the islands, which exist 
 in either hemisphere, than the few instances we have been able to 
 show ? We answer, that it would be impossible to state what num 
 bers of animals were destroyed by the submersion of land in these 
 seas ; nor can we guess at the number that may have been saved on the 
 islands : and as the numerous inhabitants of these islands support them 
 selves altogether by preying on the weaker part of creation, they may 
 have destroyed whole species and genera, that may have once been nu 
 merous in those countries ; in this way has the urus, wolf, bear, wild 
 boar, and the beaver, been destroyed in Great Britain. (See Arctic 
 Zoology , -vo/. i, Introd. p, 4.) 
 
76 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON THE TIME IN WHICH THE DESTRUCTION OF LAND 
 COMMENCED, &c. 
 
 
 
 JLT does not appear natural or probable to suppose 
 that this great destruction of land, which we have so 
 frequently mentioned, was universally accomplished 
 in a day, on the contrary, ages may have elapsed 
 during this great work ; still, we think that in some 
 cases, the destruction was great and sudden ; but it 
 is useless to pretend stating any supposed progress 
 or limitation to it. We have, however, attempted 
 to throw some light on the chronology of this event, 
 and have ventured to state the time that this destruc 
 tion may have began, or perhaps was at its height, 
 the candid reader, however, must make certain allow 
 ances, for what may be said upon this chronology. 
 
 A considerable time must have elapsed between 
 the deluge and this destruction of land, in order to 
 account for the pretty fair and just allotment of ani 
 mals, which we find peculiar to the different parts of 
 the earth ; which we have proved in page 59, to be 
 the fact; and we must allow time for the animals of 
 Noah's Ark, to increase to considerable numbers, and 
 time to spread and migrate, to any great distances ; 
 for instance, to America. 
 
77 
 
 The same thing is involved by finding men in these 
 very remote islands. (See our arguments on Island- 
 crs.J 
 
 Another circumstance that may assist us in our 
 search for the chronology of this event, may be de 
 rived from the explanation of a verse of singular ex 
 pression, in the Mosaic writings : " He was called 
 Peleg, for in his days was the earth divided." Gen. 
 chap. 10. v. 25. 
 
 The manner this verse is explained in the different 
 commentaries on the Bible, is certainly incorrect ; for 
 they confound it with the events related of the con 
 fusion of language at Babel. The celebrated Bryant 
 was the first who showed there was an evident dis 
 tinction to be made between the event related of Pe 
 leg, and that of the confusion and consequent disper 
 sion of man from the plain of Shinaar. Though we 
 differ from Mr. Bryant's ultimate explanation of the 
 passage, relative to Peleg, yet the arguments, by 
 which he proved the verse in question, was entirely 
 distinct from the confusion at Babel, are so just, that, 
 as far as they go, we shall avail ourselves of his re 
 search and opinion. 
 
 To show the difference between the event said to 
 have happened in Peleg's days, and that of the confu 
 sion at Babel, he remarks, after mentioning from Gen, 
 chap, x: 
 
 In the days of Peleg -was the earth divided: and 
 the sons of Noah "were distinguished in their genera 
 tions, in their nations, and by these were the nations 
 divided in the earth, after the flood ; that this is said 
 
 11 
 
78' 
 
 to have happened, not after the building of the tower, 
 or confusion of speech, but after the flood. But in 
 the history of the confusion at Babel, it is said, "so 
 the Lord scattered them abroad, from hence (i. e. from 
 the city and tower) did the Lord scatter them abroad," 
 certainly two different events. 
 
 Added to Mr. Bryant's observation, we remark, 
 that it is the earth which is said to have been divided 
 in Peleg's days ; in the history of the confusion, it is 
 the people who were confounded and scattered ; two 
 very different relations, the one of human beings, the 
 other of the earth. 
 
 The word Babel means confusion: the word Peleg 
 is translated sever and divide. 
 
 As the signification of the word Peleg is of some 
 apparent advantage, a minute investigation of it will 
 be entered on. 
 
 According to Mr, Bryant, the explanation is, to 
 sever and divide. 
 
 General Valancey says Peleg means secare in duas 
 paries. (See Ousely^s Orient. Col. vol. ii. 332. J 
 
 From the kindness of Mr. Van VJeck, of Nazareth, 
 Penn., I am enabled to give a more diffuse analysis 
 of the word : he wrote me that the verb Palag, from 
 which the noun proper Peleg is derived, signifies, in 
 general, to divide something into several parts; more 
 especially considered, it implies, in the first place, to 
 part asunder , so as to form a passage for something 
 else, in which sense it occurs in Job, xxxviii. 25. 
 Secondly, to separate into different parts, "which re 
 move into different directions. The noun itself con- 
 
79 
 
 sidered as a common noun, for as such it occurs in 
 various passages, signifies in general a stream, pro 
 perly of water, &c. 
 
 Luther, in his German translation of the Bible, has 
 rendered the passage under consideration thus : "And 
 he was called Peleg, for in his days was the world di 
 vided." This, Mr. Van Vleck considers as an in 
 advertence, as in the parallel passage, i Chron. i. 19, 
 he has rendered it, the land was divided. 
 
 Dr. Clarke, whose commentaries on the Bible are 
 now printing, is also of opinion that a physical divi 
 sion of the earth is the most probable explanation. 
 
 From the etymology of this word, and the general 
 signification of the expression may we not conclude, 
 that it has no reference to a division of men into na 
 tions,* or to a political division of the earth among 
 them, but to a division of the substance of the earth, 
 of the world, a division by which not only continents, 
 but perhaps the greater number of ocean islands were 
 formed. 
 
 Nor are we without historic traditions and the opi 
 nions of learned men, to support the idea : natural 
 causes greatly strengthen it, and without such an hy 
 pothesis, many important circumstances are utterly 
 
 * The most common interpretation of the division mentioned in Pe- 
 leg's days, is, that Noah divided the earth into states or kingdoms, and 
 assigned them to each of his immediate posterity : this silly explana 
 tion long ago was contested and disproved by Bochart ; who thus states 
 his objections ; " Sed neque id capio satis, quomodo potuerit Noe inter 
 filios orbem dividere, cujus multo maxima pars nondum erat cognita-" 
 dicis Noam fuisse prophetam, et orbis singulas partes, Dei revelatione 
 sibi notas designasse filiis ; sed Scripturii taqente. nostrum nen eat haec 
 clivinare," (Phalcg, page 71, Qiiart,) 
 
80 
 
 inexplicable. What has been said concerning Peleg, 
 appears to be considerably strengthened by the obser 
 vation of an ingenious writer, and a fact related by 
 him. This gentleman, Mr. P. Howard, allows about 
 four centuries from the deluge, (see his Observations 
 on the Globe,} for- the accomplishing some consider 
 able revolutions in the appearance of the globe. He 
 grounds this belief upon seeing that the age of man 
 was curtailed two hundred years from Peleg's time;* 
 which is certainly the very probable consequence of 
 bringing a vast body of water to the surface of the 
 earth, which we suppose was occasioned by the sink- 
 ing of a great part of the terrestrial surface of the 
 globe. This observation of Mr. Howard, coincides 
 with the very point of time that this catastrophe is 
 supposed to have taken place. 
 
 The Arabians appear to have a belief of some great 
 convulsions of nature happening about this time as 
 see their accounts of Salah and Houd (Heber), the 
 cotemporaries of Peleg in Herbollefs Bibloth. Ori 
 ent. 
 
 -Bochart observes, SELA Hebrais emissionem sig- 
 nificat nempe aquarum super terram, ut Job v. 10, 
 emittit aquas super faciem agrorum. Itaque pater 
 pius Arphaxad, qui natus crat biennio post diluvium 
 Genes, xi. 10, primogenito suo videtur hoc nomen 
 indidisse, ut tanhorrend, judiciimemoriam refricaret 
 
 * Ages of the Patriarchs according to the Septuagint. 
 
 Sliem lived 
 Arphaxad 
 Cainan 
 Salah 
 Eber 
 
 600 years. 
 538 
 460 
 430 
 561 
 
 Peleg lived 
 Reu 
 Nahon 
 Terah 
 
 339 years- 
 330 
 208 
 205 
 
81 
 
 apud postcros. Ita Enoch propheta sumus cum pro* 
 phetico spiritu praevidisset cladem illam filii mortem 
 statim subsecuturam, vocavit ilium Methusela. Quo 
 nomine significabat statim illo mortuo futuram emis- 
 sionem sive aquarum inundationem in perniciem 
 mundi totius. (See Bochart's Phaleg, Chap. xiii.J 
 
 Bochart is not the only one who has given this 
 explanation to the name of Methusela ; Bishop 
 Watson observes, (see his Tracts, fc. i. 73,) " It 
 is the ingenious conjecture of Ainsworth, that Methu 
 sela is a word compounded of two Hebrew words, 
 Muth and Shalac ; one signifying he dieth, and the 
 other and an emission, as much as to say -when he 
 dieth there shall be an emission or inundation of wa 
 ters."* 
 
 If these explanations or arguments are correct, we 
 may certainly apply nearly the same reasoning to 
 Sala : (who was cotemporary with Peleg) and with 
 this modification ; that in Sala's case the emission of 
 waters was not attended with a destruction of all 
 mankind; as was in the case of Methuselah. 
 
 Father Du Halde says, there is in the Chinese an 
 nals an account of a great inundation that happened 
 in the reign of Yao, in whose time the real history of 
 China begins, which he says was about two thousand 
 three hundred and fifty-seven years before Christ. 
 
 Again, in the Hindoo records, mention is made that 
 the fourth Menu, Ta-masa, derived his name from 
 the universal darkness attending a flood that happen- 
 
 * Calmet, Lightfoot, and Dr. Clarke, also concur in this explanation. 
 
82 
 
 ed in his time, which is said by the Asiatic Society 
 to have been two thousand four hundred and fifty- 
 six years before Christ. f 
 
 Now Peleg was born two thousand six hundred 
 and thirty eight years before Christ, arid lived three 
 hundred thirty-nine years ; so the dates both of the 
 Chinese and Hindoo floods will fall during his life 
 time. 
 
 We have now, from sufficient authority, shown 
 the difference between the .confusion at Babel, and 
 the event related of Peleg ; and no inconsiderable 
 argument has been brought forward to prove what 
 that event was : an attempt will be now made to 
 show the difference in point of chronology between 
 them, the use of which will be obvious in a future 
 page. 
 
 We cannot but support the idea, that the division 
 of the earth which took place in Peleg's days, hap 
 pened many years after the confusion at Babel. It 
 is true, Peleg's name is mentioned in the chapter 
 preceding the one which relates the history of Babel ; 
 
 | This story of an universal darkness does not invalidate the tradi 
 tion ! We have authentick accounts of many similar phenomena, which 
 appear to be of an electrick nature. I refer iv. 417, and v. 83, volumes 
 of the Philosophick Magazine, for further support. The Dry Fog of 
 3783, which spread over the known parts of tke globe, and which con 
 tinued during two entire months, was of this kind. (See also Ordinaire 
 on Volcanoes, page 131.) 
 
 The deluge of Ogyges was also attended with a great darkness ; and 
 very likely belongs to this very same period. In choosing the chrono 
 logy of this event, I prefer that given by " Varro, the most learned of 
 the Romans," who states it to have been 2000 years before the Consul 
 ship of Hirtius ; which was about 43 years before Christ. (See Jlcad.~ 
 ffes Inscriptions, xxocviii. 231.) 
 
83 
 
 but that is of little weight against our belief. Mr, 
 Bryant, in one part of his work, says, " Many things 
 recorded in Scripture are not introduced according to 
 precise method, and the like is to be found in all wri 
 tings : thus, in Genesis, an account is given of Ca 
 naan in chapter ix, and his generation is not related 
 until chapter x." We find also that Nimrod and 
 Ashur are said to have built eight different cities, in 
 chapter x, yet the confusion at Babel is not related 
 until chapter xi : now, assuredly, the dispersion must 
 have taken place before they began to build these ci 
 ties : these examples are sufficient to prove, that ma 
 ny things are not related in exact chronological order 
 in the Mosaic writings, and also show that there is no 
 positive authority against our supposing that the event 
 related of Peleg actually happened some years after 
 the dispersion of mankind from the plain of Shinaar. 
 He was born two thousand six hundred and thirty- 
 eight years before Christ, and lived three hundred 
 and thirty-nine years ; -and as Moses only says the 
 division happened in bis days, there is great latitude 
 for conjecture. We should suppose that the expres 
 sion in his days, would certainly remove it to a time 
 when he was advanced in life, and not at his birth : 
 therefore, we are inclined to place it as late in his 
 life, as is reasonable and possible, without forcing or 
 stretching the period, thinking it highly probable 
 that the confusion at Babel happened at or shortly af 
 ter his birth ; the division of the earth, near his death, 
 making a period of near three hundred years between 
 the two events : as may be se.en by the following 
 
84 
 
 Chronological Table ; which is according to the com 
 putation of the Septuagent. (See Jackson's Chrono- 
 gical Antiquities. J 
 
 B, C. 
 
 3169 The 
 
 2638 BIRTH of PELEG. 
 
 2623 Dispersion from Babel. 
 
 2323 Physical division of the earth according to 
 
 our hypothesis. 
 2299 PELEG'S DEATH. 
 
 2097 Birth of Abraham, Sec. &c. &c. 
 
 We think we have proved in the preceding chap 
 ters, that a way once existed whereby men and ani 
 mals might pass to America ; and also shown, that 
 they could never have reached this continent any 
 other way. We will now give as much of their his 
 tory, &c. as may tend to prove they did not pass 
 since the early time that we have fixed on, and which 
 might be at any time during the space of 250 or 300 
 years after the confusion of language at Babel. Some 
 may declare against so early a migration to America, 
 and say, that men would never wander to such im 
 mense distances ; that there must have been a famine, 
 &c. from their numbers before they would remove. 
 These circumstances would be of weight in after 
 times, but not at the time we have supposed it to have 
 taken place : for we find the building of the tower of 
 Babel was stopped, and the race of men scattered 
 abroad, by the intervention of the Deity; and the 
 
85 
 
 time we have allowed, 250 or 300 years, is surely 
 enough for families, by easy and irregular marches, 
 to have got to America, the islands, and wherever 
 we now find them. It is surprising what an extent 
 of country a rude people will wander over in a short 
 time. Thus it is remarked in the Cyclopaedia, " The 
 nations of America are very much scattered ; in their 
 wars, handfuls of men dispute countries of vast ex 
 tent ; their hostile parties are often hundreds of leagues 
 from one another ; but hundreds of leagues are nothing 
 to them." 
 
 The very circumstance of finding them almost uni 
 versally hunters, may be considered as a proof that 
 they were from the first a wandering people ; and it 
 is most probable, that they reached America roaming 
 at large, and supporting themselves by the chase.* 
 We do not say that large bodies of men migrated 
 here ; there may have been but a few families, and 
 they scattered up and down the continent. 
 
 Before we conclude this chapter it must be observ 
 ed, there is every reason to believe, that there was one 
 or more small tribes in our continent at that time, in- 
 feriour to none, left in the old world, in point of know 
 ledge and information ; this, however, will be more 
 apparent, when we begin their general history and 
 analysis of their institutions, &cc. 
 
 * Lord Kaims observes, and I believe with justice and accuracy, that 
 there is an appetite or propensity to hunting among all men ; we ob 
 serve it in the most civilized people of all classes, ranks, and ages, and 
 hence he infers the reason why there was no shepherds, and very little 
 of agriculture observable among the American Indians ; for the conti 
 nent being but thinly populated, there was an abundance of game to be 
 procured, and while that lasted, we would never find men leaving the 
 hunter, for the shepherd, or the agricultural state. 
 
 12 
 
86 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PEOPLE OF SOUTH AMERICA, &c. 
 
 XHE very short history we give of the people of 
 America, is inserted principally to show what ac 
 counts they give of themselves. At the same time 
 it must be acknowledged, that these ancient stories, 
 going down accurately to a certain time, viz. the 
 confusion of language, and then relating nothing more 
 that coincides with any ancient history of the old 
 world, is a collateral argument of some force, that 
 these nations must have been separated at the early 
 period we have spoken of, from the old vyorld. 
 
 The historical traditions of the northern Indians, 
 are so very obscure and imperfect, and our opportu 
 nities of getting information of them by credible wri 
 ters so slight, that we forbear to say any thing on 
 them. Of the southern, however, we have a consi 
 derable knowledge : and to these Indians must we 
 principally have recourse, for the proofs of our asser 
 tions. 
 
 The works of the Abbe Clavigero are the principal 
 authorities we shall use, and generally in his own lan 
 guage and arrangement. He has given many tradi 
 tions of the people of America relative to the deluge, 
 and some events soon after. For the satisfaction of 
 
87 
 
 those who may not be able to see Clavigero's works, 
 some of the most striking accounts are given. 
 
 The Indians of Cuba told the Spaniards that God 
 created the heavens, earth, &c. ; and that an old man 
 foreseeing a deluge, with which God intended punish 
 ing mankind, built a large canoe, and embarked in it 
 with his family and many animals ; that when the in- 
 undation ceased he sent out a raven, which, because 
 it found carrion to feed on, never returned. That 
 he then sent out a pigeon, which soon returned, bear 
 ing a branch of hoba in its mouth. When the old 
 man saw the earth was dry, he disembarked, and ha 
 ving made some wine of the wood grape, he became 
 intoxicated and fell asleep. Whilst in that situation, 
 one of his sons ridiculed him ; the other one, how 
 ever, piously covered him. The old man upon 
 awakening, blessed one and cursed the other. From 
 the latter they derived their origin. 
 
 The Chiapanese say, that a certain Fotan, nephew 
 of the one who attempted erecting a building which 
 should reach heaven, and which was the place where 
 man received his different languages, went by express 
 command of the Deity, to people South America.* 
 
 * Let no one say these traditions are inventions of the priests ; no 
 person is more willing 1 than I am to give them credit for similar pieces 
 of ingenuity ; but had they been the authors of these traditions, we 
 should have had a great deal more attached to them, they would not 
 have known where to leave off, besides we have no account of saint 
 such a one, or saint so and so ; all this is conclusive evidence to me. 
 Baron Humboldt, in the Paris edition of his works, gives thehieroglj- 
 phical representations of these traditions, and gives his opinion that 
 they were the actual belief of the Mexicans. 
 
V 88 
 
 The traditions of other Indian nations differ incon 
 siderably from these ; and from this time until their 
 discovery, there is no point of history common to them 
 and the old world. 
 
 A concise account of the principal people inhabit 
 ing the part of South America which Clavigero treats 
 of, may aid the better understanding of the analysis 
 we propose shortly to make. The first people he 
 notices are the Toltecas. It is pretty nearly ascer 
 tained, that they arrived in Anahuac, the country 
 around Mexico, &c. about 648 A. D. They had 
 been banished from their own country, Huehueta- 
 pallan, which Clavigero supposes to be Tollan, si 
 tuated north-west from Mexico. The editor to Cla- 
 vigero's works has, with considerable reason, suppo 
 sed this country to be the western states of the Union. 
 However, the Toltecas wandered about one hundred 
 years before they came to Anahuac. f After some 
 inconsiderable removes they built the city of Tollan, 
 or Tula ; after the name of their native country. 
 This was the most ancient city of Anahuac, and was 
 the capital of their kingdom ; which lasted three hun 
 dred and thirty-four years ; during which time, but 
 eight kings reigned, which would be a little strange, 
 did we not know they had a singular law by which 
 their kings should reign neither more nor less than a 
 Toltecan age, or fifty-two years : if he survived this 
 period he was obliged to abdicate the throne, and if 
 he died during the allotted time, the nobles govern. 
 
 | Anahuac, according to Baron Humboldt, anciently extended be- 
 *-een the 14tb and 21st degrees of latitude. (See Polit, Essay, i. 10.) 
 
89 
 
 ed in his name for the remaining years. They al 
 ways had lived in societies, under the dominion of 
 kings, and regular laws, and paid much more atten 
 tion to the arts than to the cultivation of arms. They 
 understood the art of casting gold and silver, and ac 
 quired the greatest reputation for cutting gems. They 
 were either the inventors or reformers of that arrange 
 ment of time which was afterwards adopted by the 
 more civilized nations of Anahuac ; and which im 
 plies wonderful correct astronomy and numerous 
 observations. They built the highest pyramids of 
 Cholula, in honour of their god, Quetzalcoatl ; and, 
 as is probable, those famous ones of Teotihuacan, in 
 honour of the sun and moon. During the four cen 
 turies that their monarchy lasted, they multiplied 
 greatly, built large cities, &c ; but a dreadful famine 
 *nd pestilence attacking them, and which nearly de 
 stroyed them, put an end to their government. The 
 wretched remains of the Toltecas went to different 
 places, and settled among the nations around ; to 
 whom they imparted the different kinds of know 
 ledge they possessed. 
 
 After the destruction of the Toltecas, their country 
 lay desolate about one hundred years ; when the Che- 
 cehmecas arrived : they also came from the north : 
 their motives for leaving their former country, Clavi- 
 gero says, is uncertain. These Checehmecas were 
 much more simple than the Toltecas, and much in- 
 feriour. 
 
 Eight years after the Checehmecas were establish 
 ed, six persons, with a respectable number of follow- 
 
30 
 
 ers, arrived. They also came from the northern 
 parts ; and a few years after, three princes arrived 
 with a great army of the Acolhuan nation, who for 
 merly lived near the same place that the last mention 
 ed emigrants came from, and also settled in Ana 
 huac. These were the most cultivated and civilized 
 of all the nations since the arrival of the Toltecas. 
 With respect to other nations, settled in Anahuac, 
 every thing is so obscure, that, Clavigero says, after 
 long study he was obliged to put them aside, and 
 despair of ever seerig the obscurity hanging over 
 them cleared away. However, he mentions that the 
 Olmecas, Xicallancas, Chiapanese, and some other 
 tribes, are by some writers considered as ancient as 
 the Toltecas. 
 
 The Mexicans seem to have been the last that ar 
 rived in Anahuac. They had the same cause for mi 
 grating that the others had, but what that cause was 
 is unknown. It appears from Clavigero, that they were 
 actually deliberating about changing their country, 
 when a little bird in singing, used a note resembling 
 a Mexican word, which means let us go. This 
 decided the conference, and the Mexicans, with six 
 other tribes or nations, set off together in a very cir 
 cuitous route, until they arrived in Anahuac. On the 
 way they stopped several years at different places, and 
 built forts, &c. At one place where they stopped, 
 the six tribes left the Mexicans behind : (these were 
 the six that arrived first among the Checehmecas.) 
 They after some time got to Checehmeca, where 
 
91 
 
 they were suffered to settle among other nations, who 
 had migrated thither. 
 
 The remaining history of these nations, cannot be 
 of any use in elucidating our subject. We shall there, 
 fore pass them over; and, after a short digression, pro 
 ceed to make some remarks upon their religion, arts, 
 manners, customs, &c. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS, Sic. 
 
 BEFORE entering on our analysis of American usa 
 ges, it may be necessary to make a short inquiry as 
 to the state and advancement of knowledge, insti 
 tutions, and arts, made by man, previous to the dis 
 persion from Babel. The explanations we shall give, 
 as to the religion, customs, &c. of America, will be 
 more clearly understood by such an investigation. 
 
 In the many speculations that have been made up 
 on the early history of mankind ; we will find it al 
 most the universal opinion, that our species were 
 at first, rude, ignorant, and barbarous ; indeed, so far 
 has 'this idea been carried, that the greater part of 
 writers, both ancient and modern, have actually de 
 based the human race in their various disquisitions 
 upon this subject. 
 
 By the ancient historians and philosophers, the first 
 men are represented as living in caves, or hollow trees, 
 like beasts ; without clothing, and even without the 
 knowledge of speech. An accident having however 
 collected a few together, they then for the first time, 
 
93 
 
 discovered the advantages that would result from so 
 ciety and union ; acting under this impression, they 
 associated, or perhaps, what agrees letter with the 
 theory, they herded together ; and by slow and im 
 perceptible improvement, they at last became ration 
 al, and finally civilized and polished men. 
 
 The moderns who have amused themselves with 
 speculating on this subject, do not absolutely begin 
 at a brute state, like the ancient writers ; yet they 
 differ little from them, by beginning with that condi 
 tion of mankind, which allows a comfortable subsist 
 ence, and the exercise of rational powers ; and from 
 this state is generally detailed the progress of civili 
 zation and refinement. 
 
 This state of things commences, they say, with 
 the first post diluvian ages, in which they represent 
 old Noah settled with his family, like a respectable 
 farmer, and with all the simplicity and ignorance of 
 one of our backwoodsmen.* His descendants em. 
 
 * In despite of Dr. Clarke, and various other biblical criticks, and 
 commentators, I maintain that my venerable ancestor, Noah, was ac 
 quainted with the use of wine before the flood-What did he plant a 
 vineyard for immediately after-"* ? This is one of those trifling- passa 
 ges that many persons have given weight, by thinking* it necessary to 
 defend Noah from a charge of intemperance ; and to prove him inno 
 cent, they are willing he should be considered a simpleton. Dr. Clarke 
 tells a story of an Englishman being completely intoxicated, by half a 
 pint of cider ! ! ! which he considers as an analogous illustration; and 
 to make the story fit the better, the subject of it is represented as not 
 knowing what cider was !We cannot disbelieve this narration, as the 
 Doctor was an eye witness ;but the story would have been more sa 
 tisfactory, if the proof of the cider had been given ;howevcr, I am 
 willing to compound this matter with Dr. Clarke and the theologians , 
 for if they will admit that wine was made and used before the flood, I 
 v ill allow that Noah's intoxication was accidental and unintentional. 
 
 13 
 
94 
 
 ployed as herdsmen or planters ; increasing rapidly, 
 and with their numbers their wants also augmenting; 
 from these wants, and by the exertions of some 
 few geniuses that are kindly allowed them, the arts 
 and sciences are said to take their origin, some from 
 the necessities of our nature, and others from con 
 templation and retirement. 
 
 So averse are most writers to admit any know 
 ledge existed in the early post diluvian ages, that 
 those antiquarians, and historians, who have endea 
 voured to prove the contrary, are generally branded 
 with the names of infidel, and deist; the opprobri 
 um of these appellations, will not, however, deter me 
 from making similar inquiries, and of benefiting by 
 the readings and judgment of philosophers, whether 
 scepticks or not ;~- they have proved the fact, though 
 they may have erred in the explanation of it. 
 
 But surely if the commentators on the Bible, and 
 the criticks, (generally contemptible) who so liberally 
 pour out their invectives against " romancing anti 
 quarians, and deistical philosophers," had understood 
 the very Bible they so vehemently defend, it would 
 be seen, that both antiquarians and philosophers had 
 great reason to believe what they wrote, and that their 
 opinions when examined, contain not only things un* 
 offensive to the Mosaic writings, but also that they 
 exhibit very strong proofs, in support of these very 
 books,- and which may be seen in many parts of this 
 Essay. 
 
 But let us return to the consideration of our sub* 
 ject j- When we read that the descendants of Cain, 
 
95 
 
 before the deluge, had discovered the art of working 
 metals ; that they had invented various instruments of 
 musick ; and that they also built and lived in cities t 
 it can hardly be called a gratuitous supposition to 
 believe, that numerous other arts, were either in a 
 state of perfection, or advancing towards it. 
 
 The building of cities, alone infers a multitude of 
 arts, and the construction of the harp and organ, not 
 only shews refinement, but requires great accuracy, 
 great mechanical skill and ingenuity. 
 
 But caeteris paribus ; let us compare the antedi 
 luvian ages, with after ages. In point of time the 
 first amounted to 2257 years ;* and the numbers of 
 men far exceeded those at present, the amount de 
 stroyed by the deluge alone, is supposed to have been 
 upwards of 13,743,895,000,000, (see Art. Antedilu 
 vian Cyclopedia,) whilst, according to the best com 
 putations, in the year 1800, the number of our spe 
 cies then only amounted to 700,500,000. Now, with 
 the above vast numbers, and with the world in the 
 state that it was first tenanted by man, it would 
 surely be unreasonable not to suppose, that some of 
 the antediluvians would be as wise as any of their 
 descendants ; Did the arts owe their origin to the 
 necessities of our nature ? The superiour numbers 
 of the antediluvians certainly then gave them the ad 
 vantage over us. Did the sciences originate in tran 
 quillity, solitude, or society ? They had at least equal 
 
 * According to the Septuagint ; which system of chronology is uni 
 versally used in tkis Essay. 
 
9$ 
 
 opportunities with us. Or was knowledge imparted 
 by intuition or revelation ? If so, they had the ad 
 vantage over us ; for we have no accounts that this 
 was done to the post diluvians, and the theories of 
 writers unanimously deny it. 
 
 Well then, after thus inquiring, we find that there 
 is great reason to infer, that the antediluvians were 
 not only as wise and learned as ourselves ; but it 
 might be even said, that they surpassed us. 
 
 But the most incontestible proof of antediluvian 
 knowledge, is furnished by the science of astrono 
 my. This fact is completely and accurately demon 
 strated by the learned and ingenious professor Play- 
 fair, in the second volume of the Transactions of the 
 Edinburgh Society. This observation arises from 
 his examination of the astronomical tables of the Bra- 
 mins ; which he shews, coincides with the era of the 
 Caliy Youg,* 3102 years before Christ. This era, 
 he shews, must have been ascertained by actual ob 
 servation ; and to enable persons to have made this 
 observation, a stronomick knowledge must have been 
 sedulously attended to 1200 years earlier, (that is, 
 1100 years before the deluge. ) The construction of 
 these tables, he adds, imply a great knowledge of 
 geometry, arithnietick, and even of the theoretick parts 
 of astronomy ; that those who framed them, must 
 
 * See Appendix for account of the Caliy Youg 1 , where we have given 
 a succinct view of the controversy that has been carried on by astrono 
 mers, respecting it. 
 
97 
 
 have possessed a calculous equal to trigonometry ; 
 and that, upon the whole, it appears there existed at 
 that period, a body of science really astonishing. 
 
 We will put this subject in another point of view, 
 by shewing some fragments of astronomical know 
 ledge, that we either know, or believe, to have been 
 made since the flood; even taking this for granted, 
 it will appear that astronomy was cultivated, and sci- 
 entifick observations were made, at periods so shortly 
 after the deluge, that no progress of the human mind 
 can be supposed equal to the acquirement of such a 
 degree of knowledge, in so short a space of time , 
 as that between the flood and the time that these ob 
 servations iv ere made ; and especially so, when we 
 are informed by all writers, that astronomy was first 
 cultivated by herdsmen and shepherds. 
 
 " All the proofs that might have fixed the rise of 
 astronomy among the Egyptians, are lost," says the 
 learned Bailli, " except one ; which is to be found 
 in the Kallendar of Ptolemy, and which seems to 
 have the force of a demonstration, and that is the 
 heliacal rising of Sirius, which Ptolemy fixes at se 
 ven different dates viz. the 4th, 6th, 22d, 27th, 51st 
 and 32d days, after the summer solstice ; now the 
 earliest of these dates which fixes this emersion at the 
 fourth day after the solstice, answers, when we con- 
 sider the climate of the Higher Egypt, to the year 
 2550, B. C. (See Monthly Review, on Bailtfs 
 Hist. Ast. liv. 52 1J 
 
 " It is apparent that the astronomy of the Chalde 
 ans, Indians, and Chinese, was the result of the ob- 
 
98 
 
 servations and researches of a people anteriour to 
 them; who having suffered by some great revolution, 
 the fragments of this knowledge in a shattered state, 
 descended to the Chinese, Hindoos, and Chaldeans. 
 Baiili was confirmed in this opinion by a circumstance 
 of great weight, and that is, among these nations as 
 tronomy has made little or no progress, and has not 
 advanced one step towards perfection. 
 
 " Hence we find," observes the same author, 
 " among the Hindoos, considerable numbers of pre 
 cepts without any explication ; and among the Chi* 
 nese, a number of periods of which the advantages 
 were unknown; and which were the unconnected 
 remains, rather than the elements of astronomick sci 
 ence, "f (See Monthly Review, as before. J 
 
 When Alexander the Great took Babylon, ( ibout 
 326 years before Christ,) Calistines, on inquiry of the 
 priests of Belus, found that they had a series of astro 
 nomick observations extending back for a period of 
 1900 years, written or engraved on tiles. This ac 
 count is a probable one, according to Long, the as 
 tronomer, and it carries us up very near to the pe 
 riod of the general dispersion of mankind. (See 
 Maurice's Anct. Hist. Hind.) 
 
 Thus we have shewn, as we before stated, that 
 scientific/*: observations were made so shortly after the 
 
 j- Though considerable exertions have been made by the author of 
 this Essay, to procure Bailli's Hist. Astron. he has never been fortu- 
 aate enough to accomplish his wish ;"the only opportunity he has had 
 tf benefiting by the learning and talents of that great astronomer, has 
 been through the Monthly Review, as quoted in the text. 
 
99 
 
 deluge, that it is an impossibility to suppose men ca 
 pable of making such observations ; unless it was 
 done by means of instruction, from antediluvian re 
 search and experience. 
 
 The important and useful art of writing, it is high 
 ly probable, was known to the antediluvians ; and as 
 it is so curious a subject, and as there is no impiety 
 in such an investigation, this subject shall be exa 
 mined. 
 
 According to the Chaldeans, they were instructed 
 in the use of letters by an imaginary, or symbolical 
 being named Cannes. I say symbolical, from re 
 spect to Bryant, who says this Cannes was a type or 
 emblem of tfcie ARK. 
 
 The Egyptians said, letters were invented by Taut, 
 or Tauth ; a divinity, generally believed to be the 
 same as Mercury ; and he is, according to Bochart, 
 and apparently with reason, the same as Chanaan. 
 (See Phaleg. Lib. i. chap. 2J 
 
 The Chinese ascribe the origin of letters, to their 
 god Fo-hi ; who is generally allowed to be Noah. 
 
 Some writers, however, think that letters were first 
 revealed to Moses, and the Jews, from Mount Si 
 nai ;* the grounds of this belief is founded in the 
 idea, that if mankind had previously ki.own the use 
 of letters, they would never have employed the im 
 perfect and uncertain means of hieroglyphic!* ; but 
 
 * Writing- in a book is mentioned in Exodus, xvii. chap. 14 verse, 
 preceding the delivery of the law from Mount Sinai. And i.lso Job, 
 xxxi. chap. 33 verse. For this observation I am indebted to Judge 
 Cooper's Introductory Lecture on Chemistry. Page 103. 
 
100 
 
 we know (See ReeJ Cyclopedia J that hieroglyphicks 
 continued in use among the Egyptians, long after 
 letters had been discovered ; and when we under 
 stand the fact, that knowledge in those times was- 
 kept in the custody of the priests, we need not won 
 der at the reasons that kept the use of letters down, 
 and preferred hieroglyphicks. The ancients inform 
 us also, that letters or characters were in use among 
 the Egyptians, and that they were chiefly used in 
 writing letters of state ; and it was hence called epis 
 tolary writing. However, as soon as letters became 
 more common, the priests, as we might readily ex- 
 pect, immediately invented a mysterious alphabet for 
 their own use ; which was called sacred ! and hiero- 
 gramatical. 
 
 Bishop Warburton, argues against the idea that let 
 ters were first revealed at Mount Sinai, and says : 
 that considering the importance of letters among the 
 Hebrews, with respect to the integrity of their reli 
 gion,! if God had then been the immediate author of 
 them, Moses would have recorded the history of 
 their invention as the best sanction to their use, and 
 best security from the danger of hieroglyphick writing; 
 to which this people, so fond of Egyptian manners, 
 were powerfully inclined. (See Divine Legation of 
 Moses, ii. 
 
 f I do not think there is a stronger argument in support of the au 
 thenticity of the Pentateuch, than the fact of its being originally writ- 
 ten in alphabetical characters If. the priests had been the inventors of 
 these books, they would have wrote it in a hierogramatical character, 
 or in hieroglyphicks, to have kept the subject from being understood. 
 
101 
 
 Sir Isaac Newton was of the opinion, that Moses 
 was instructed in writing by the Midianites. 
 
 On this diversity of opinion, relative to the origin 
 and invention of letters, it may be remarked, that no 
 other opiniqn than the one ascribing them to the an 
 tediluvian, or first postdiluvian patriarchs, can be 
 supported ; and though this opinion cannot be satis-- 
 factorily demonstrated, yet it is by far the most pro 
 bable ; I know of no argument against it. 
 
 Having thus shewn the grounds for believing the 
 antediluvians to have been intelligent, rational, scien- 
 tifick, and ingenious ; I shall now apply this result to 
 explain a difficulty that has long embarrassed antiqua 
 rians, and historians, in their speculations upon the 
 resemblance of the ancient nations to one another, in 
 point of science, knowledge, and religion. 
 
 There were eight persons who entered Noah's 
 ark, all adults, and some of them who had lived two 
 or three centuries. We cannot suppose that they 
 forgot or disregarded the arts and conveniences of 
 life, known prior to the flood ; especially, when we 
 have already shewn, that they did not forget the sci- 
 entifick knowledge of that period. They of course re 
 tained a considerable portion of important and useful 
 knowledge ; and believing they were to restore the 
 human race, and re-people the world, they would as- 
 siduously attend to the preservation of knowledge, if 
 they at all resembled the intelligent men of this day, 
 and which no doubt they did. 
 
 And we have seen that the most ancient nations 
 refer the invention of letters to their gods ; who ap- 
 
 14 
 
102 
 
 pear to have been, originally, the first postdiluvian 
 patriarchs. If this is the fact, and I see no reason to 
 doubt it, it would be in the power of Noah and his 
 family, to retain and preserve, a great deal of antedi 
 luvian knowledge. , 
 
 This knowledge, preserved from the ruins of the 
 antediluvian world, was imparted to the posterity of 
 Noah's family ; and speaking but one language, un 
 til the time of the dispersion, the facilities of acquir 
 ing knowledge and information were undoubtedly 
 great, and may have been pretty universally diffused 
 among mankind. During this period, the depravity 
 of man, forgetful of the late awful catastrophe, again 
 began to display itself ; and in less than five hundred 
 years from the time of the deluge, idolatry appears 
 to have acquired such an ascendancy, that men began 
 to make gods, and build altars and temples to them. 
 The tower of Babel, is by most commentators, con 
 sidered in this light ; and which is, I think, the most 
 likely and probable explanation.! 
 
 We have great reason, indeed, to infer this, from 
 the knowledge we have of events afterwards ; for we 
 find Belus, whom all agree was a son of Ham, if not 
 Nimrod himself, promoting the study of astrology, 
 (or superstition) in order to encourage a faith in pre 
 dictions, which he knew how to apply to political pur 
 poses. (See Rees's Cyclopedia, Art. Belus. J 
 
 I It might be also a mark or beacon, a sign or name, or an astronomi 
 cal observatory ; as we well know the ancient temples of Egypt, Chal- 
 dea, Hindostan, and Mexico, were applied to similar and various other 
 purposes. 
 
103 
 
 The establishment of idolatry in Babylon after 
 wards, and the worship of Beius in this very tower of 
 Babel, must be considered as a collateral argument 
 of some weight. 
 
 The principles of this ancient idolatry, most proba 
 bly were founded in a rational Theism ; at least it is 
 reasonable to think so from the sacred writings of 
 the Hindoos, Persians, Chinese, and even the Mexi 
 cans and Peruvians ; which all contain many pure. 
 moral inculcations. The grossness observable in 
 more modern idolatry, appears to have been the com 
 bined result of artifice, superstition, alegorical cere 
 mony, but principally from slavery ; that is, religion 
 and superstition were employed as the engines of ty 
 ranny and usurpation. Pope, has detailed the pro 
 gress of despotism and superstitition, so exactly with 
 my views, that I have introduced the extract in a 
 note, as an illustration.* 
 
 * Force first made conquest, and that conquest, law, 
 THEN superstition taught the tyrant awe, 
 Then shared the tyranny, then lent it aid, 
 And gods of conqu'rors, slaves of subjects made: 
 She 'midst the light'ning's blaze, and thunder's sound, 
 When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the ground, 
 She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray 
 To powers unseen, and mightier far than they : 
 She from the rending earth, and bursting skies, 
 Saw gods descend, and fiends infernal rise : 
 Here fixed the dreadful, there the blest abodes, 
 Fear made her devils, and weak hope her gods ; 
 Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust, 
 Whose attributes were rage, revenge, or lust ; 
 Such as the souls of cowards might conceive, 
 And form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe. 
 
104 
 
 The reader is considered as now being prepared 
 for the following opinion, viz : That prior to the 
 dispersion, the adoration of the heavenly bodies, and 
 the deification of men had commenced ; and that 
 about the time of the building of the tower of Babel, 
 there was a tolerably regular form of idolatrous wor 
 ship established among mankind ; the striking prin 
 ciples of which were the foundation aftenvards, of 
 the religious systems of Chaldea, Persia, Egypt, Hin- 
 dostan, Mexico, &.c. and in fact of all the world. 
 
 This opinion will not seem so hypothetical, when 
 it is known to be a certain fact, that the ground work 
 of the different systems of idolatry, of ancient know 
 ledge, or of ancient institutions, is the same through 
 out the world, notwithstanding the many circumstan 
 ces that might induce us to think the contrary ; such 
 as the distances between many nations, or their self 
 pride, or contempt of one another.* 
 
 Zeal then, not charity, became the guide 
 And hell was built on spite, and heaven on pride. 
 Then sacred seem'd th* etherial vault no more ; 
 Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with gere : 
 Then first the Flamen tasted living food ; 
 Next his grim idol smear'd with human blood ; 
 With heaven's own thunders shook the world below. 
 And play'd the god an engine on his foe. 
 
 Essay on Man, Epist. 3d, line 245. 
 
 * In proof that a great and striking similarity does exist between the 
 religion of most nations, reference is given to Bryant's Analysis of An 
 cient Mythology, Asiatic Researches, Valancy's History of Ireland, 
 Maurice's Indian Antiquities, La Mythologie Comparee, avec L'His- 
 toire, Sir William Jones' Works, Ousely's Oriental Collections, Gra 
 ham's Letters on India, Mallet's Northern Antiquities, Des Cultes An- 
 terieur a L'Idolatrie, Vallancey'* Irish Grammar, Humboldt's Re- 
 
105 
 
 When we find a people with some of the ideas, cus 
 toms and religious ceremonies of Egypt, with some 
 mysteries thought peculiar to India, and some of the 
 superstitions of Persia, &c. blended together with 
 others common to all, and some entirely novel to 
 them, we can hardly carry credulity so far as to sup 
 pose all these different nations aided in forming those, 
 whom they are utterly ignorant of, and when nature 
 herself has placed, in some points, an insurmountable 
 ^ barrier between. 
 
 This resemblance of nation to nation, has seemed 
 inexplicable. Authors, in their attempts to account 
 for it, have attributed all knowledge, institutions, and 
 inventions, to one people, and deriving the informa 
 tion of other nations from them. Hence lord Bacon's 
 idea, that the Persians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, &c. 
 had received their knowledge from some nation an- 
 teriour to them. And we have seen numberless at 
 tempts, that have been made to prove all learning and 
 knowledge emanated from Ghaldea, or Phoenicia, or 
 Egypt, or any country, which learning or prejudice 
 chose to support, f 
 
 searches, &c. &c. and as further proof of the fact, we well know that 
 the Romans found their gods under different names, in every country 
 they visited; hence they said this is the Gaulish Mars this the Ty- 
 rian Hercules this the Sidonian Venus, &c. 
 
 f The attempts that have been made by philosophers to account for 
 the similarity of knowledge existing between different parts of the 
 world, and tlieir attempts to trace the nation diffusing this informa 
 tion, have been so numerous, so hypothetical, and unsatisfactory, that 
 no clearer proof can be given of the futility of such attempts, than their 
 great number, many as ridiculous as the burlesque account of the mon- 
 kies in Swift's and Pope's Miscellanies. 
 
106 
 
 The celebrated Bailli supposed that a race of Tar 
 tars in Asia, were the inventors of almost every thing 
 learned or useful, and that through them it was im 
 parted to the rest of the world. 
 
 There is a work in French, entitled Histoire des 
 Hommes, which gives the honour of all these discove 
 ries or inventions to a race called Atlantians, of whom 
 we scarce know more than their name. 
 
 It has been supposed that Hindostan furnished the 
 rest of the world with this knowledge and learning, 
 from the great reputation in which the bramins of 
 India were held by the sages of Greece or Rome. 
 This opinion is indirectly supported in that very va 
 luable work, the Asiatic Researches. 
 
 The very learned Bryant has given the world a large 
 and erudite work on this subject, in which he ascribes 
 to the family of Cush the invention of ancient religion, 
 arts, and general science. 
 
 In all these opinions, however, there is so much 
 improbability, that we cannot give our assent to any 
 one. The idea of one family or nation travelling over 
 the widely extended countries of the earth, teaching 
 and instructing mankind in every thing respecting 
 religion, arts, &c. is not only improbable, but impos 
 sible. Had this ever been the case, we should have 
 positive and certain information of it ; we should also 
 find a resemblance not in the act, idea, and perform 
 ance, only, but in the name, and especially in techni 
 cals. But we find mankind universally referring the 
 inventors of arts, science, and knowledge, to those 
 ages shortly after the deluge, remounting to the great- 
 
107 
 
 est antiquity, and thus proving the impossibility of 
 any one people either acquiring or being able to in 
 struct mankind in so short a time. 
 
 Taking the same liberty with the subject that other 
 writers have done, and on which the learned may de 
 cide, we suppose, that a regular system of idolatry, 
 and a considerable degree of knowledge in science, 
 and arts, was known, and was common to mankind, 
 previous to their dispersion* from Babel : and the 
 further we proceed in our intended analysis, the more 
 reason will be seen for maintaining this opinion. 
 
 We do not pretend to say, that a nation never bor 
 rowed religious rites, customs, Sec. from other na 
 tions ; far from it ; it is only said, that they did not 
 borrow the fundamental and leading principles of 
 their manners, habits, or religious institutions, from 
 one another. 
 
 Pursuing our subject : when the Almighty con 
 founded the language of mankind at Babel, and obli 
 ged them to scatter over the earth, the same ideas of 
 religion, the same arts, knowledge, manners, &c. were 
 common to all ; and these were carried to the differ 
 ent parts of the world, to which providence directed 
 particular tribes or families. 
 
 By this opinion we shall be able to account for the 
 fact admitted by Baron Humboldt and others and 
 
 * Since the first edition of this Essay was printed, I have met with 
 General Valancey's Irish Grammar, in which I have found, that Doctor 
 Borlase, in a History of Cornwall, which I have never seen, accounts 
 for the diffusion of knowledge among mankind, almost precisely on the 
 system we have maintained in this Esgay. 
 
108 
 
 which, hitherto, has been deemed inexplicable. " If 
 we go back to the early ages," says Baron H. " His 
 tory marks several central points of civilization ; of 
 the mutual relations of which, we are ignorant, such 
 as Meroe in Egypt, the Banks of the Euphrates, 
 Hinclostan, and China." (See Humboldt* s Research 
 es* octavo, i. 48. ) We will hereafter prove, that 
 America is similarly situated, with respect to these 
 ancient centres of civilization ; for the present we 
 will give Baron Humboldt's authority as to the fact, 
 
 " We are astonished to find, that towards the end 
 of the fifteenth century, in a world which we call new, 
 ancient institutions, religious ideas, and forms of edi 
 fices, similar to those in Asia, which there seem to 
 go back to the dawn of civilization." (Humboldt^s 
 Introd* to the Descnp. of the Monuments of America, 
 page \stj 
 
 It is singular, that sir William Jones did not use 
 this theory in accounting for this similarity in reli 
 gion, learning, &c. observable in so many diffused na 
 tions of the earth. He was embarrassed how to ex 
 plain the fact, and yet has this remarkable sentence in 
 his essay : " That the Hindoos, Old Persians, Ethio 
 pians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Tuscans, Scy 
 thians or Goths, Celts, Chinese, Japanese, and Peru 
 vians, had an immemorial connexion with one ano 
 ther ; and as there appears no reason for believing 
 that they were a colony from any one of those nations, 
 or any one of those nations from them, we may fair 
 ly conclude that they all proceeded from the same 
 
109 
 
 common central country." (See Asiatic Researches, 
 vol. i. 430. J 
 
 This common central country, he thinks, was 
 IRAN or PERSIA ; which he considers as compre 
 hending Chaldea, Assyria, Persia, and the greater 
 part of lesser Asia. 
 
 It may be asked, why then do nations differ so 
 much in their religious systems, if having one com 
 mon origin. It is answered, that as idolatrous wor 
 ship is taken almost wholly from objects before our 
 eyes, when we remove to other situations, where we 
 have not those appearances, and objects, that gave 
 rise to particular customs, we endeavour to suit them 
 to the present face of things, or some would drop them 
 entirely, others would retain them, though they for 
 got to what superstition they arose from. The ob 
 servance of particular phenomena, in some countries, 
 would give rise to some additions in their worship. 
 
 But on a minute inquiry, we do not find a great or 
 material difference in point of religion, &c. and the 
 more we search into the subject, the truth of what 
 we have advanced, as to their being of one common 
 origin, will be the more apparent. 
 
 We will conclude this part of our dissertation, with 
 an observation of Lord Kaims upon the effect, that 
 the confusion of speech and dispersion from Babel, 
 had upon mankind. 
 
 " That deplorable event," he observes, " reversed 
 all nature, by scattering men over the face of the 
 earth, it deprived them of society, and rendered them 
 savage. From that state of degeneracy they have 
 
 15 
 
110 
 
 been emerging gradually. Some nations stimulated 
 by their own nature, or by their climate, have made 
 a rapid progress ; some have proceeded more slowly, 
 and some continue savages."* (See Sketches of the 
 Hist, of Man, i. 83 J 
 
 * And if one nation or people possessed or retained more knowledge, 
 learned men, or even priests, than another tribe or nation ; we at once 
 perceive another cause for the difference in degree of knowledge be 
 tween nations, when history first presented her page to the worl^L 
 
Ill 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ON THE MEXICAN RELIGION. 
 
 J.T is observable in the history of mankind, as well 
 the refined, as the more rude and unpolished, that 
 whilst their government, science, and arts, are chang 
 ing or improving, that we still find them bigotedly 
 adhering to the religious superstitions taught them 
 through their ancestors. In all researches like the 
 present, the religion of a nation is of the greatest mo 
 ment, and more important conclusions may be drawn 
 from that source than from any other ; on this ac 
 count, we shall consider it in the first place. 
 
 The Mexicans had some ideas of a supreme God, 
 absolute and independent, whom they regarded with 
 fear and adoration ; they did not represent him by 
 any visible form ; calling him Teotl, or God, to 
 whom they applied expressions highly charactcristick 
 of his nature. 
 
 They also believed in an evil spirit, whom they 
 called Tlacatecolotl, or rational owl. 
 
 They nad three places for the souls of departed 
 mortals : those who died in battle, or in captivity with 
 
112 
 
 enemies, and women in labour, went to the house of 
 the sun, where they led a life of unbounded delight 
 and pleasure. They supposed that after four years 
 had passed in this happy state, the souls then went to 
 animate clouds, and birds of beautiful feather. The 
 Tlasca ] ans believed the souls of persons of rank te 
 nanted the bodies of nobler animals, than those of the 
 plebeians, who were supposed to pass into weasels, 
 beetles, and the more insignificant animals. 
 
 Those who were drowned, struck 'by lightning, 
 died of dropsy, tumours, &c. went along with the 
 souls of children, at least those sacrificed to Tlaloc, 
 (god of water,) to a cool and delightful place, called 
 Tlalocan, where that god resided, and where they 
 were to enjoy the most delicious repasts, with every 
 other kind of pleasure and gratification. 
 
 The third place, allotted for the souls of those whe 
 suffered any other kind of death, was called Mictlan, 
 or hell ; which they supposed was a place of utter 
 darkness in the north, or, as others say, in the centre 
 of the earth. 
 
 The most striking part of this belief is the me 
 tempsychosis ; which doctrine, we have rea 
 son to think, is of very great antiquity ; for 
 Maurice says, from the Ayeen Akbery, that 
 it can be found in the earliest writings of the 
 Hindoos, which are as old as the Pentateuch 
 of Moses. 
 
 Transmigration of souls was also taught by the 
 Druids of Great Britain. 
 
113 
 
 The Persians and Egyptians also taught this doc 
 trine. 
 
 The Otaheitans had a kind of Paradise very much 
 resembling the Tlalocan of the Mexicans 
 for they said that those persons who are 
 drowned in the sea, remain there, where 
 they think is a fine country, and every thing 
 that can make them happy. (See Cook's 
 Voyage, v. 1648 J 
 
 The Mexicans had thirteen principal deities, to 
 whom they consecrated that number. We will give 
 an account of the principal gods, in their proper rank 
 and order, as is detailed by Clavigero. 
 
 TEZCATLIPOCA, 
 
 Was the greatest divinity adored in these countries^, 
 after the invisible God, Teotl. His name means shi 
 ning mirrour, from one that was affixed to his image. 
 He was the god of providence, the soul of the world, 
 creator of heaven and earth, and master of all things. 
 They represented him always young, to denote that 
 no length of time ever diminished his power. They 
 believed he rewarded or punished men, according to 
 their merits. They placed stone seats at the corners 
 of streets, for him to rest upon, on which no one was 
 allowed to sit. It was said that he descended from 
 heaven, by a rope made of spider's web. His image 
 made of teotl, or divine stone, (a black and shi 
 ning stone,) was richly dressed, adorned with gold 
 ear-rings, and from the under lip hung a crystal tube. 
 
114 
 
 within which was a green feather, or a turquoise stone : 
 his hair was tied with a gold string, from the end of 
 which hung the figure of an ear, made of the same 
 metal, with the appearance of smoke painted on it, 
 by which they intended to represent the prayers of the 
 distressed : the whole breast was covered with gold ; 
 upon both arms were bracelets of gold ; an emerald 
 in the navel ; and in his left hand a golden fan, set 
 round with beautiful feathers, and polished like a mir- 
 rour, in which they imagined he saw every thing that 
 happened in the world. At other times, to denote 
 his justice, they represented him sitting on a bench, 
 covered with a red cloth, upon which were drawn the 
 figures of skulls and other bones ; upon his left arm 
 a shield with four arrows, and his right lifted in the 
 attitude of throwing a spear ; his body dyed black, 
 and his head crowned with feathers of the quail. 
 
 We might here make some comparisons between 
 this deity and some others in different parts 
 of the world ; but it would engross more 
 time than such a comparison would deserve ; 
 we shall therefore only remark, that black is 
 one of the favourite colours of idols in ma 
 ny parts of the earth ; thus the terrible god 
 dess Calli of the Hindoos: and Jugernaut, is 
 made of a rude unfigured black stone, among 
 many other instances which might be men 
 tioned. 
 
115 
 
 OMETEUCTLI AND OMECIHUATL. 
 
 The former was a god, and the latter a goddess, 
 whom they believed dwelt in a magnificent city, in 
 the heavens, abounding with delights, and there 
 watched over the world, and gave to mortals their 
 wishes, the first to men and the other to women. 
 They had a tradition, that this goddess, having had 
 many children in heaven, at one time brought forth 
 a knife of flint ; upon which, her children in a rage 
 threw it to the earth ; from which, when it fell, sprang 
 1600 heroes! who, knowing their high origin, and 
 having no servants, (for all mankind had perished by 
 a general calamity) sent an embassy to their mother, 
 to entreat her to grant them power to create men to 
 serve them. She told them to go to Mictlanteuctli, 
 god of hell, and ask of him one of the bones of those 
 men who had last perished, which they were to sprin 
 kle with their blood ; and from it they would have a 
 man and a woman, who would multiply. Xolotl, one 
 of the heroes, went to hell, and got the bone ; but 
 from fear that Mictlanteuctli would repent giving it, 
 (which he actually did,) made such precipitate haste, 
 that he fell, and broke the bone into two unequal 
 parts, which accounts for the difference in stature 
 among men. However, he gathered the pieces up, 
 and returned with them to his brothers, who put them 
 in a vessel, and sprinkled them with their blood, drawn 
 from different parts of the body. On the fourth day, 
 they beheld a boy ; and continuing to sprinkle with 
 blood for three days more, a girl was made ; they were 
 then both consigned to the care of Xolotl, to be 
 
116 
 
 brought up, who fed them with the milk of thistle : 
 from this ceremony, they say, originated the practice 
 of drawing blood from the different parts of the bo 
 dy ; an act of devotion which continued an essential 
 part of the Mexican ritual. 
 
 There is some reason to believe this story had a 
 similar origin with the one related of Deu 
 calion. To show the similarity, a sketch of 
 the Greek fable is given. Deucalion and 
 his wife were saved from an universal de 
 luge, and after the waters had subsided, the 
 oracle was consulted, to know how the earth 
 should again be peopled. The answer was, 
 that they should throw the bones of their an 
 cient parent over their heads. This kind of 
 sacrilege afflicted Pyrrha considerably, for 
 she took it in the literal sense. But her 
 husband, by a quibble, said it must mean 
 their ancient parent, the earth ; and that they 
 were to understand stone, by the word bones. 
 They, therefore, tried this experiment ; and 
 as the stones fell to the ground, men and 
 women were produced. 
 
 Deucalion is undoubtedly a personification of 
 Noah. See Lucian's -Dea. Syria, where he 
 says, " The Greeks, indeed, call him Deu 
 calion ; but the Chaldeans, Isloe ; in whose 
 days happened the great irruption of wa 
 ters."! 
 
 | See also Bochart's Phaleg, page 100 
 
117 
 
 The conformity between the two traditions is 
 striking : for in both there had been an uni 
 versal destruction of mankind ; and the pre 
 sent race of men were produced from rock. 
 The Mexicans, indeed, go somewhat fur 
 ther, and produce men from the bones of 
 those who had perished in the general cala 
 mity. But if we recollect, that the answer 
 given by the oracle was so ambiguous, that 
 it might mean either stone or bone, and that 
 Pyrrha took it in this latter sense, we find 
 this apparent difference vanishes. 
 
 It is a very curious circumstance, that we find 
 so many allusions to stone, related of this 
 event. Mr. Bryant says, Niobe is often 
 mentioned as a person concerned with the 
 deluge, or at least is often introduced with 
 persons who had an immediate reference 
 to it. 
 
 The Quarterly Review, vol. ii. for 1809, p. 56, 
 mentions a tradition of the Society Islands, 
 which attributes the origin of man to a 
 rock. 
 
 The inhabitants of the Ladrone Islands, and the 
 Massachusetts Indians, also ascribe the ori 
 gin of man to rock. 
 
 CIHUACOHUATL, (Woman Serpent.) 
 This deity, the Mexicans believed was the first 
 woman that had children, and she always bpre twins. 
 
 16 
 
118 
 
 Baron Humboldt makes the following observa 
 tions upon this goddess, and the serpent 
 that always accompanies her : " We here 
 think we perceive the Eve of the Semetic 
 nations; and in the snake cut in pieces, the 
 famous serpent Kali-ya, or Kali-naga, con 
 quered by Vishnu ; behind the serpent who 
 appears to be speaking to the goddess Cihu- 
 acohuatl, are two naked figures of boys; 
 they are of a different colour, and seem to be 
 in the attitude of contending with one an 
 other." - (See Humboldfs Researches, 
 i. 
 
 TONATRICLI AND MEYTLI, 
 
 Were the names of the sun and moon, both dei 
 fied by the Mexicans, and other nations of Anahuac. 
 They said, that after the regeneration and multiplica 
 tion of the human race, by the 1600 heroes, there 
 was no sun ; for the one that formerly existed, was 
 destroyed by the calamity we have just noticed, in 
 which mankind perished. The heroes, therefore, as 
 sembled in Teotihuacan, around a great fire, and said 
 to the men, that the first of them who would throw 
 himself into the flames would have the glory to be 
 transformed into a sun. One of the men, more in 
 trepid than the rest, called Nanahuatzin, threw him 
 self into the flames, and descended to hell. During 
 this time, the heroes were betting, as to what moment, 
 and in what part of the heavens, the sun would first 
 
119 
 
 appear : these bets, as soon as lost, were sacrificed ; 
 and consisted of quails, locusts, &c. 
 
 At length the sun rose in that quarter, which, from 
 that time, has been called the Levant. But he had 
 scarcely risen above the horizon, before he stopped ; 
 which the heroes perceiving, sent to him to desire he 
 would continue his course. The sun replied, he 
 would not until he should see them all put to death. 
 The heroes were no less enraged than terrified by that 
 answer ; upon which, one of them taking his bow 
 and three arrows, shot one at the sun ; but the sun 
 saved himself by stooping. After several ineffectual 
 attempts, the sun, enraged, turned back one of the ar 
 rows that had been shot at him, and fixed it in the 
 forehead of that hero, who had first drawn his bow 
 against him, and who instantly expired. 
 
 The rest, intimidated by the fate of their brother, 
 and unable to cope with the sun, resolved to die by 
 the hands of Xolotl ; who, after killing his brothers, 
 put an end to his own life. The heroes, before they 
 died, left their clothes to their servants : and since 
 the conquest by the Spaniards, certain ancient gar 
 ments have been found, which were preserved by the 
 Mexicans, with extraordinary veneration, under a 
 belief that they had them from those ancient heroes. 
 
 They told a similar fable of the origin of the moon. 
 Another person, at the same assemblage, following 
 the example of Nanahuatzin, threw himself into the 
 the fire ; but the flames being somewhat less fierce, 
 he turned out less bright, and was transformed into 
 the moon. 
 
120 
 
 To these two deities they consecrated those two fa 
 mous temples, erected in the plain of Teotihuacan, 
 of which we will speak in another chapter. 
 
 quETZALCOATL, (Feathered Serpent J 
 Was among the Mexicans, and all other nations of 
 Anahuac, the god of air. He was said once to have 
 been high priest of Tula. They figured him tall, big, 
 of a fair complexion, open forehead, large eyes, long 
 black hair, and a thick beard. From a love of de 
 cency, he wore always a long robe. He was so rich, 
 that he had palaces of gold, silver, and precious 
 stones. He was thought to possess the greatest in 
 dustry, and to have invented the art of melting metals 
 and cutting gems. He was supposed to have had 
 the most profound wisdom ; which he displayed in 
 the laws he left to mankind, and above all, the most 
 rigid and exemplary manners. Whenever he intend 
 ed promulgating a law to his kingdom, he ordered a 
 crier to the top of the mountain Tzatzitepcc, (hill of 
 shouting,) near the city of Tula, from whence his 
 voice was heard for three hundred miles. At this 
 time the corn crew so strong, that a single ear was a 
 load for a man ; gourds were as long as a man's body; 
 it was unnecessary to die cotton, for it grew naturally 
 of all colours ; and all other fruits were in the same 
 abundance, and of the same extraordinary size ; then, 
 too, there was an incredible number of beautiful and 
 sweet singing birds. In a word, the Mexicans ima 
 gined as much happiness under the priesthood of 
 Quetzalcoatl, as the Greeks did under the reign of 
 
 " 
 
121 
 
 Saturn, whom this Mexican god also resembled by 
 the exile he suffered. Amidst all this prosperity, 
 Tezcatlipoca, their supreme but visible god, (we 
 know not for what reason,) wishing to drive him from 
 that country, appeared to him in the form of an old 
 man, and told him it was the will of the gods that he 
 should be taken to the kingdom of Tlapalla ; at the 
 same time he offered him a beverage, which he rea 
 dily accepted, in hopes of obtaining that immortality 
 after which he aspired : he no sooner drank it, than 
 he felt himself so strongly inclined to go to Tlapalla, 
 that he set out immediately, accompanied by many of 
 his subjects. Near the city of Quauhtitlan, he felled 
 a tree, with stones, which remained fixed in the trunk; 
 and near Tlalnepantla, he laid his hand upon a stone, 
 and left an impression, which the Mexicans showed 
 the Spaniards. Upon his arrival at Cholula, the citi 
 zens detained him, and made him take the govern 
 ment of their city. He showed much aversion to 
 cruelty, and could not bear the mention of war. To 
 him, the Cholulans say, they owe their knowledge of 
 melting metals, the laws by which they were after- 
 wards governed, the rites and ceremonies of their re 
 ligion, and as some say, the arrangement of their sea 
 sons and calendar. After being twenty years in Cho 
 lula, he resolved to pursue his journey to his imagi 
 nary kingdom of Tlapalla ; carrying along with him 
 four noble and virtuous youths : but on arriving at 
 the maritime province of Coatzacoalco, he dismissed 
 
122 
 
 them, and desired they would return to Cholula, and 
 tell them he would return to comfort and direct them. 
 The Cholulans, out of respect to Quetzalcoatl, put 
 the reins of government into the hands of these young 
 men. 
 
 Some said, this venerable person suddenly disap 
 peared ; others, that he died upon the coast. How 
 ever this may be, he was consecrated as a god, and 
 worshipped in many places. The Cholulans pre 
 served, with the highest veneration, some small green 
 stones, well cut, which they said belonged to him. 
 His festivals were great and extraordinary, especially 
 in the divine years, and were preceded by a fast of 
 eighty days. They said he cleared the way for the 
 god of waters ; because in these countries rain is ge 
 nerally preceded by wind, &c. 
 
 By Quetzalcoatl, is probably meant Noah ; and 
 though the tradition is considerably confu- 
 ed Clavigero has, from some traits in his 
 history, ventured to make a slight compari 
 son between him and Saturn, who is univer 
 sally understood to be the same as Noah.* 
 But the principal reason we have for this as 
 sertion is, that we find in his temple and 
 worship a tolerably clear representation of 
 the ark. Clavigero has put this under the 
 
 * See the first chapter of Bochart's Phaleg, for a very learned dis 
 cussion on Saturn and Noah. It is very probable that the history of 
 two different persons is contained under the name of Quetzalcoatl ; but 
 more of this in a future page. 
 
123 
 
 head of amusements, and calls it the Mexi 
 can theatre. We shall, however, introduce 
 it in this place. 
 
 There was in the area of the temple of this god, a 
 small theatre, thirty feet square, curiously 
 whitened, which was adorned with boughs, 
 and fitted up with the greatest neatness, and 
 surrounded with arches made of flowers or 
 feathers, from which were suspended many 
 birds, rabbits, &c. After dining, the whole 
 people having assembled, certain persons ap 
 peared who exhibited burlesque characters, 
 feigning themselves deaf, sick with colds, 
 lame, blind, crippled, &c. addressing the 
 idol for a return to health. These buffoons 
 raised the laugh of the people, by relating 
 their misfortunes, and ludicrous encounters 
 with one another : others appeared under 
 the names of different little animals ; some 
 were disguised like beetles, toads, lizards, 
 &c. little boys also appeared in the disguise 
 of butterjlies and birds. 
 
 Similar arkite rites* were common in many parts 
 of the ancient world ; none, however, have 
 a more striking reference than this of the 
 Mexicans. 
 
 The feast of Bacchus was an arkite rite, or insti 
 tution ; and was celebrated much in the same 
 
 * Mr. Bryant, in the second volume of his works, treats on the arkite 
 rites at length : a perusal of that part of his writing's, will show the 
 principle of the Mexican superstition. 
 
124 
 
 manner as that of the Mexicans : for men 
 and women, disguised like Silenus, Pan, the 
 Satyrs, &c. acted various buffooneries before 
 the people. From this feast of Bacchus, the 
 Grecian drama arose ; and of course, the 
 modern theatre. 
 
 But to return to Quetzalcoatl. His mysterious 
 disappearance agrees very well with the 
 account given by Berosus of Xisthurus, 
 who also unaccountably disappeared. Xis 
 thurus is so plainly the same as Noah, that 
 no doubt can remain as to their identity. 
 Mr. Maurice remarks, that this disappear 
 ance of Xisthurus, is not irreconcilable with 
 the Mosaic history ; which relates nothing of 
 Noah after the flood, further tjian mention 
 ing the years of his life. Some learned men 
 suppose, that he retired and separated from 
 his posterity ; which may have thus given 
 rise to the history of his having disappeared. 
 
 TLALOC OB TLALOCATEUOTLI, (Master of ' Para- 
 
 disej 
 
 Was the god of water. The Mexicans and others, 
 called him, fertiliser of the earth, and protector of 
 their temporal goods. They believed he resided 
 upon the highest mountains, where the clouds are 
 generally formed. His image was painted blue and 
 green, to express the different colours observed in 
 water ; and he held in his hand a rod of gold, of an 
 undulated and pointed form, to denote lightning. 
 
125 
 
 In the ancient Zodiac of Egypt, (see Hist. Hind, 
 vol. i.) Typhon is represented with similar 
 rods to those of Tlaloc, and which are plain 
 ly emblematical of lightning. Typhon was, 
 as is well known, the deity of water, and a 
 personification of the sea, deluge, &c. 
 
 XIUHTEUCTLI, ( Master of the Year and Grass,} 
 
 Was among the nations of Anahuac, also the god 
 of fire. To this deity they made an offering of the 
 first morsel of their food, and the first draught of 
 drink, by throwing them both into the fire. 
 
 This deity coincides with the Vesta of the Ro 
 mans, who was goddess of the earth, or its 
 productions, and also of fire. The differ 
 ence of sex is of no weight against our ob 
 servation ; we are not to regard sex, in any 
 comparison of ancient deities, f 
 
 CENTEOTL, ( ' Goddess of the Earth and Corn,J 
 Was called also, Tonacajohua, (she that supports 
 us.) Her temple was on a lofty mountain. At her 
 
 j- " Nobody had examined the theology of the ancients more deeply 
 than Porphyry ; he was a determined pagan, and his evidence in this 
 point, is unexceptionable ; he acknowledged that Vesta, Rhea, Ceres, 
 Themis, Priapus, Proserpine, Bacchus, Attis, Adonis, Silenus, and the 
 Satyrs, were all one and the same." (See Bryant's Jlnafysis Ancient 
 Mythol, i. 316 J 
 
 And Sir Wm. Jones,"" We must not be surprised at finding-, on a 
 close examination, that the characters of all the pagan deities, male 
 and female, melt into each other," &?c. f?c. &te. (Sir William Jones's 
 Wnrk.<}> Hi. 3fi5. T 
 
 17 
 
126 
 
 temple, among the Totonacas, was one of the most 
 renowned oracles of the country. 
 
 We have nothing to say here, but that the most 
 famous oracles among ancient nations were 
 in caves, and were under the protection of 
 the goddess of the earth. 
 
 Baron Humboldt, however, remarks, that Cen* 
 teotl is the same with the beautiful Chri, or 
 Lakshmi of the Hindoos ; and whom the 
 Mexicans, like the Arcadians, designated 
 under the name of the great goddess, or pri 
 mitive goddess. (See Humbotfs Research 
 es, i. 221. J 
 
 MICTLANTEUCTLI, 
 
 The god of hell, and his female companion, vere 
 much honoured by the Mexicans. These deities 
 were supposed to dwell in a place of great darkness, 
 in the bowels of the earth. Sacrifice and offerings 
 were made to them in the night ; and their chief priest 
 was always dyed black, in order to perform the func 
 tions of his priesthood. 
 
 HUITZILIPOCTLI, OR MEXITLI, 
 
 Was the god of war, the deity most honoured by 
 the Mexicans, and was considered their chief protec 
 tor. His origin is thus described : There lived in 
 Cotepec, a place near the ancient city of Tula, a wo 
 man called Coatlicue, who was extremely devoted 
 to the service of the gods. One day, according to 
 
127 
 
 her custom, as she was walking in the temple, she 
 beheld, descending in the air, a ball made of various 
 feathers. She seized it, and kept it in her bosom, 
 intending afterwards to decorate the altar with the 
 feathers ; but on searching for them after her walk, 
 they were not to be found, which very much surpri 
 sed her ; and her wonder was much increased when 
 she perceived from that moment she was pregnant. 
 Her pregnancy was discovered by her children ; who, 
 though they could not suspect their mother's virtue, 
 yet fearing the disgrace she would suffer from the 
 world, determined to put her to death. She was in 
 very great affliction at the thoughts of dying by the 
 hands of her own children ; when she heard an unex 
 pected voice issue from her womb, saying, " be not 
 afraid, mother, I shall save you with the greatest ho 
 nour to yourself and glory to me." Her hard-heart 
 ed sons, guided and encouraged by a sister, who had 
 been most keenly bent upon the deed, were upon the 
 point of executing their purpose, when Huitzilopoctli 
 was born, with a shield in his left hand, a spear in his 
 right, and a crest of green feathers on his head, the 
 left leg adorned with feathers, and his face, arms, and 
 thighs, streaked with blue lines. As soon as he came 
 into the world, he displayed a twisted pine, and com- 
 
 ! manded one of his soldiers to kill his sister, as the 
 one most guilty. (It does not appear how these sol- 
 
 ; diers were produced.) He himself attacked the others, 
 
 | with so much fury, that in spite of their efforts, arms, 
 or intreaties, he killed them all, plundered their 
 
 I houses, and presented the spoils to his mother. Men 
 
128 
 
 were so terrified that they called him Tetzahuitl, ter- 
 rour, and Tetzauhteotl, terrible god. This was the 
 god who, becoming the protector of the Mexicans, 
 conducted them through their pilgrimage, and at 
 length settled them on the place where Mexico was 
 afterwards built. His statue was of a gigantick size, 
 in the posture of a man sitting on a bench, of a blue 
 colour, from the corners of which issued four large 
 snakes : his forehead was blue, and his face covered 
 with a golden mask, as was also the back of his head 
 by another : upon his head was placed a crest, shaped 
 like the beak of a bird : around his neck a collar, 
 consisting of ten figures of the human heart : in his 
 right hand was a large blue twisted club ; in his left 
 a shield, on which five balls of feathers were arranged 
 in the form of a cross ; from the upper part of the 
 shield rose a golden flag, with four arrows, which the 
 Mexicans believed came from Heaven : his body was 
 girt with a large golden snake, and adorned with ma 
 ny small figures of various animals, made of gold and 
 precious stones; each of these figures, Clavigerosays, 
 had a particular meaning, which he does not relate. 
 To this deity were sacrificed more human victims 
 than to any other god. 
 
 There is not a small resemblance between Huit- 
 zilopoctli and some parts of the history of 
 the Hindoo Creeshna. Those who may wish 
 to read Creeshna's life at length, will find it 
 in Ancient Hist. Hind. vol. ii. 327. 
 
129 
 
 The accounts given by Clavigero of the remaining 
 great gods, are too brief and insignificant to merit no 
 tice. Besides these, they also had 260 deities, to whom 
 as many days were dedicated. 
 
 The Mexicans also had their Penates, or household 
 gods, which were called Tepitoton. Of these small 
 images, the king and great lords had always six in 
 their houses ; the nobles had four ; and the lower class 
 of people two. These gods were to be seen every 
 where in the streets. 
 
 The comparison which might be made here, 
 must be obvious to every one acquainted 
 with Roman mythology. 
 
 The most extraordinary idol of the Mexicans, was 
 a representation of Huitzilopoctli, made by pasting 
 certain seeds together with human blood. 
 
 This custom of making images of seeds, is not pe 
 culiar to the Mexicans ; though it appears they 
 were the only people who made their gods in 
 this manner. The substance of the following 
 extract is from Rollin's Ancient History : 
 " Empedocles, of Agrigentum, having con- 
 quered at some of the publick games, was 
 obliged to feast the people with an ox ; but 
 being a Pythagorean, he could not kill an 
 animal ; he therefore had the image of an ox 
 
130 
 
 made of a paste, composed of myrrh, in 
 cense, and the different varieties of spices ; 
 which was broken up, and the pieces given 
 to those present." 
 
 We must here introduce an observation on the 
 Mexican gods, who were, for the most part, painted 
 with red and blue streaks. 
 
 Mr. Maurice, in Hist. Hind, says, that blue vest 
 ments and decorations are usually met with 
 on the statues of Hindoo and Egyptian dei 
 ties. Thus, Narayen and Sani are of a blue 
 colour ; and Isis wore a blue veil. Vermi 
 lion was also a common colour with the 
 deities of these two nations. 
 
 Pliny says the Romans painted Jupiter's face red ; 
 and Vulcan was sometimes represented with 
 a blue hat. 
 
131 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON THE MEXICAN TEMPLES. 
 
 As the Mexicans were extremely well priest-rid, 
 they had an immense number of holy persons to sup 
 port. We will not exhibit the ceremonies, vows, 
 vigils, or fasts of this body nor will we expose the 
 impostures and cruelties of the profession, the mise 
 ries a nation endure when under the dominion of 
 priest-craft, are so well known, that our readers might 
 consider it an impertinent digression, were we to at 
 tempt illustrating this fact by accounts of the Mexi 
 can hierarchy. 
 
 The antiquarian will find some interesting facts 
 arising from the consideration of the Mexican Tem 
 ples ; the erection of which buildings cost this Ame 
 rican people great and laborious exertions. 
 
 The principal temple of Mexico, and which was 
 dignified with the appellation of the c R E A T T E M p L E , 
 was dedicated to Huitzilopoctli. This building seem 
 ed as if composed of five pieces, or bodies, one above 
 another, the largest below, and gradually diminishing 
 in each successive piece to the top ; the steps we* 
 
132 
 
 peculiarly constructed, which can be better under 
 stood by means of the following figure, than by any 
 language of description. 
 
 The upper body or story was paved with smooth 
 flat stones ; and at the eastern extremity of this sur 
 face, stood two towers, of the height of fifty-six feet : 
 each of these towers was divided into three bodies ; 
 the lowest of which was of stone and lime, the two 
 
133 
 
 upper ones were of wood well wrought and painted. 
 The stone part of each of these towers was properly 
 the sanctuaries. One of these sanctuaries was dedica 
 ted to the gods of war, and the other to Tezcatlipoca : 
 before each of them was a stone stove, in the shape 
 of the pyx used by the Roman Catholick church, in 
 which was kept a constant fire. A convex stone was 
 at the west end of the surface, upon which human 
 sacrifices were made. This great temple, with forty 
 chapels, colleges, fountains, gardens, &c. was enclo 
 sed by a stone wall, very thick, and eight feet high ; 
 which was ornamented with many stone figures of 
 serpents, whence its name, Wall of Serpents.* 
 
 The principle, strikingly evident in the plan of 
 this Mexican temple, is the same with that 
 of the oldest building recorded in history ; 
 and is a remarkable proof of the great anti 
 quity of the American nations. The extract 
 we shall here give, is so pointed as a parallel 
 with the Mexican temple, that it would be 
 needless to urge the fact. 
 
 " Bochart says, the tower of Babel was, at its 
 base, a square of a furlong, or half a mile, in 
 circumference ; and consisted of eight tow 
 ers, as they appeared to be, built one above 
 the other. The ascent to its top was by 
 
 * The Mexicans had also another form of temples, resembling- a 
 truncated pyramid, and the ascent to the top by means of steps raised 
 on one side only. Mr. Maurice has noticed the analogy between these 
 temples, and those of Hindostan, in a comparative plate, in his Indian 
 antiquities. 
 
 18 
 
 
134 
 
 stairs on the outside ; formed by a sloping 
 line, from the bottom to the top, eight times 
 round it, so as to exhibit the appearance of 
 eight towers ; the uppermost of which was 
 the most sacred, and most appropriate to the 
 uses of devotion. In this temple of Belus 
 there seemed to be two distinct deities wor 
 shipped : one was the supreme God of hea 
 ven, while Belus was at least the delegated 
 god on earth." (See Rees's New Cyclo 
 paedia.} 
 
 The similarity between the Mexican and Baby 
 lonish temples, with respect to the worship 
 of two divinities, is also striking : for the 
 two towers that stood on the Mexican tem 
 ple, were each dedicated to a different deity 
 one to Tezcatlipoca, their supreme (but 
 visible) god ; and the other to Huitzilo- 
 pochtli, god of war, and chief protector of 
 Mexico. (See Clavigero's Hist. Mexico. J 
 
 Baron Humboldt has made a similar application to 
 the Mexican temples ; he thus expresses himself. 
 
 " It is impossible to read the descriptions which 
 Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus have left us of the 
 temple of Jupiter Belus, without being struck with 
 the resemblance of that Babylonian monument, to the 
 teocalli's (temples) of the Mexicans." (Humboldt's 
 Research. 11. 82, octavo. ) 
 
 To illustrate further the great analogies existing 
 between the Mexican edifices, and buildings made 
 
135 
 
 for similar purposes in the old continent, we will 
 here add several observations from the writings of 
 this learned traveller. 
 
 " It is also remarkable, (especially if we call to 
 mind the assertions of Pococke, as to the symmetri 
 cal position of the lesser pyramids of Egypt,) that 
 around the temples of the sun and moon at Teotihu- 
 acan, we find a group, I may say a system of pyra 
 mids of scarcely nine or ten metres. (29 or 32 feet.) 
 These monuments, of which there are several hun 
 dred, are disposed in very large streets, which follow 
 exactly the direction of the parallels, and of the me 
 ridians, and which terminate in the four faces of the 
 two great pyramids : according to tradition they were 
 dedicated to the stars ; it appears certain, however, 
 that they served as burying places for the chiefs of 
 tribes : all the plain bore formerly the name of Mi- 
 caotl, or road of the dead, What analogies with the 
 monuments of the old continent ! and this people 
 who, on arriving in the seventh century on the Mex 
 ican soil, constructed on an uniform plan, several of 
 those colossal monuments, and truncated pyramids 
 divided by layers like the temple of Belus at Baby 
 lon : Whence did they take the model of these edi 
 fices ? Were they of the Mongol race ! ! ! Did 
 they descend from a common stock with the Chi 
 nese, the Hiong-nu, and the Japanese ! ! ! (Credat 
 Judaeus appella.) (See Humboldfs Polit. Essay, it. 
 44J 
 
 Again, 
 
 "In the great pyramid of Cholula, formed of alter- 
 
136 
 
 nate strata of brick and clay, we recognise the same 
 model observed in the form of the pyramids of Teo- 
 tihuacan. This monument suffices also to prove, 
 the great analogy between these brick monuments, 
 erected by the most ancient inhabitants of Anahuac, 
 and the temple of Bel us at Babylon, and the pyra 
 mids of Menschich-Dashour, near Sakara in Egypt." 
 (Ibid, ii. 12Q.J 
 
 From the preceding observations we learn the re 
 markable fact, that the Mexican temples are built 
 upon the very same model as the famous tower of 
 Babel. Why this was done may be easily explain 
 ed by the opinion given in VII. chap, of this Essay. 
 
 The Mexicans being immediately dispersed from 
 Babel, as well as other original nations, would natu 
 rally, when established in another country, act upon 
 the principles and knowledge in which they had been 
 educated, and would do those things which they had 
 been accustomed to. Hence, if mankind, prior to 
 the dispersion, had been accustomed to no other form 
 of temple, than that style in which the temple or tow 
 er of Babel was built, (and which, it is very probable, 
 was only a grand cathedral, on the common plan,) 
 we must then expect to find mankind, after the cjis- 
 persion, building their temples upon the identical 
 plan or model, of those that they had been accustom 
 ed to. 
 
 As an illustration : The Roman Catholicks almost 
 universally build their churches in the form of a cross. 
 This is their plan and model ; and though St. Pe 
 ter's at Rome, is very far superiour to a parish 
 
137 
 
 church, still both of them have the same form and de 
 sign of building ; and this is done in whatever part 
 of the world that a Catholick erects a church. 
 
 And thus we observe, that the religious edifices of 
 Babylon, Egypt, Hindostan, and Mexico, have such 
 analogies to each other, as must convince any one, 
 ' they are all derived from one and the same model s 
 which model appears to be the same as that by which 
 the tower of Babel was built. 
 
 It will be useful to pursue the subject of this chap* 
 ter further, as in it are involved many considerations 
 that must be interesting to the philosopher and anti 
 quarian. From the arguments which we have just 
 urged, it must appear that the Mexicans and other 
 ancient nations, would inevitably follow that style of 
 temple building which we may, for distinction sake, 
 call the Babylonian. Now, in perfect accordance to 
 this, and other opinions of our essay, it can be shewn, 
 that the morais, or temples of the Islanders of the Pa 
 cific ocean, are of the same principle, and same ori 
 ginal model, with those of Babylon, Egypt, or Mex 
 ico. To exhibit this more plainly, see the following 
 extracts from Capt. Cook's voyages. 
 
 " The morai of Oberea is a prodigious pile of 
 stone, two hundred and sixty-seven feet long, and 
 eighty-seven wide at the base. It is raised by flights 
 of steps to the height of forty-four feet, these steps 
 are each four feet high, narrowing gradually till they 
 end in a small entablature, on which near the mid 
 dle stands the figure of a bird carved in wood, and at 
 some distance the broken fragments of a fish cut in 
 
138 
 
 stone. This pile makes a considerable part of one 
 side of a square court, whose area is three hundred 
 and sixty feet, by three hundred and fifty . four, en 
 closed with a stone wall, and paved with the same 
 materials through its whole extent ; at what time it 
 was erected, could not be learned. Captain Cook 
 remarks, that this work being solid and without a ca 
 vity, will last as long as the island itself, and that no 
 time that will not equally effect the island can de 
 stroy it." (See Cook's Second Voyage, ii. 567. J 
 
 Again, 
 
 " In the Isle of Owyhee, was a morai forty yards 
 in length, twenty broad, and fourteen feet in height ; 
 the top is flat, and it is surrounded with a wooden 
 railing; a ruinous wooden building is situated in the 
 centre of the area, connected with the railing by a 
 stone wall, dividing the whole space into two parts." 
 (See Cook's Voyages, v. 1933.^ 
 
 To the same intention with these morais, teo- 
 callis, or temples, we might ascribe many 
 of those rude monuments that occur in ma 
 ny parts of the United States, and are known 
 by the name of mounds. We will hereaf 
 ter shew that they are found in every quar 
 ter of the globe ; among the Caifres of Afri 
 ca, as well as on the plain of Troy. Bryant, 
 says, (see Taph. in Analysis Anc. MythoL) 
 that altars were anciently built on mounds.* 
 
 * "Attila erected an altar or pile of faggots three hundred feet square 
 to the sword of Mars, which was placed erect on the summit, and was 
 annually consecrated by sacrifices." (Gibbon's Decline f? Fall, vi. 44. 
 Land. Edition. J 
 
139 
 
 When the Spaniards arrived in South America, 
 they found stones cut into the figure of the cross ; 
 which were much revered by the Mexicans.* This 
 has long seemed inexplicable : for it induced a be 
 lief, that some Christian people had visited these 
 shores, previous to the discovery by the Spaniards. 
 Later research has however elucidated the difficul 
 ty: for 
 
 The cross is a symbol of MATTER ; and was ve 
 nerated among the Egyptians from the great 
 est antiquity ; and in Hindostan, where the 
 singular fact occurs, of building temples 
 sometimes in that form, as for instance, 
 those ancient ones of Benares and Mattra. 
 (See Anc. Hist. Hind. vol. L 249.^ 
 
 General Valancey says, the symbol of knowledge 
 among the ancient Irish, was the cross. 
 
 The sacrifices of the Mexicans were extremely 
 cruel and bloody ; so much so, that Clavigero, in 
 enumerating their festivals, remarks, that one of tne*ir 
 most extraordinary festivals was the one in which not 
 a Single human victim was required. These horrid 
 sacrifices have many parallels in ancient history, 
 
 * Garcilazo De la Vega, informs us, that the ancient Peruvians had 
 a cross of white marble in the royal palace of Cozco, which they did not 
 adore ; but held it in great veneration ; for which they could assign no 
 reason. fSee Meant' s Translation of Garcilazo, folio, 30. J 
 
140 
 
 especially among the Carthagenians, Gauls and Hin 
 doos.* 
 
 They also sacrificed to the sun, much in the same 
 manner as the old Persians did. This subject, how 
 ever, is not worth our particular investigation. 
 
 * The sacrificing of men has been more or less common with all an 
 cient nations ; for a particular detail ("See Eusebius Prep. Evang. Lib 
 iv. cap. xvi.J 
 
141 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ON THE MEXICAN DIVISION OF TIME, ASTRONOMY, &c. &c. 
 
 J_ H E very considerable degree of astronomick know 
 ledge possessed by the Chaldeans, Hindoos, &c. has 
 for a long time excited the wonder of the literary 
 world. How these nations, without the aid of glas 
 ses, could know and so accurately describe the hea 
 venly bodies, and make the calculations necessary for 
 predicting conjunctions of the planets, eclipses, &c. 
 is very astonishing. To explain the origin of this 
 knowledge, astronomers have been obliged to consi 
 der it of antediluvian existence. And if we can 
 prove the separation of the inhabitants of America 
 from those of the old world, at the early period we 
 have fixed on, this knowledge must certainly be de 
 rived from antediluvian observation and experience : 
 for there is a striking similarity between the astrono 
 my of the Mexicans and other people of South Ame 
 rica, and that of Hindostan, Chaldea, &.c. 
 
 AGES OF THE WORLD. 
 
 The Mexicans, and other nations of Anahuac, dis 
 tinguished four ages of time, by as many suns. The 
 
 19 
 
U2 
 
 first was Atonatiuh, the sun, or age of water ; which 
 commenced with the creation of the world, and con 
 tinued until that time when all mankind perished 
 with the sun, by a general inundation. 
 
 The second, Tlatonatiuh, age of the earth, lasted 
 from the time of the inundation, until the ruin of the 
 giants, and the great earthquakes ; which concluded 
 the second sun. The third, Eatonatiuh, age of air, 
 lasted from the destruction of the giants, until the 
 great whirlwinds, in which all mankind perished along 
 with the third sun. The fourth age, Tletonatiuh, 
 age of fire, began with the last restoration of the hu 
 man race, and was to continue until the fourth sun 
 and the earth are destroyed by fire. 
 
 Several ancient nations of the old continent have 
 similar divisions of the age of the world ; 
 none are of greater antiquity than that of the 
 Hindoos, whose divisions we shall use as a 
 parallel. 
 
 Their first yug or age was finished by a mighty 
 flood ; the second, by means of a great 
 whirlwind and tempest ; the third, by a great 
 earthquake, and the fourth is to be termi 
 nated by a general conflagration. 
 
 It is probable, that the Hindoo arrangement of 
 these divisions is the proper order they should stand. 
 Individually considered, they are precisely the same 
 as the Mexican, and only differing in arrangement. 
 The second sun or age of the Mexicans, we think 
 
143 
 
 should be their third ; and the third sun will then be 
 in place of the second. The original order of the 
 Mexican ages may have been deranged by time, ac 
 cidents, or mistakes of the Spanish writers. 
 
 It cannot be supposed, that these divisions of the 
 age of the world were made previous to the disper 
 sion from Babel ; but they were most probably 
 formed by several great events, happening at differ 
 ent periods of time, and which were important in 
 their influence or effect upon man. 
 
 According to the Hindoos and Mexicans, the first 
 age was terminated by a great inundation, assuredly 
 the same as the deluge. 
 
 The second period was terminated by whirlwinds, 
 which we know not how to affix, unless with Mr. 
 Bryant we believe, that the miracle of the confusion 
 was also attended with violent tempests, whirlwinds, 
 &c. Such an event as the dispersion, might very just 
 ly be denominated the end of an age ; a period which 
 lasted from the deluge, when all mankind were living 
 together as one people, to that time, when they were 
 scattered over the globe. 
 
 The third age, which was finished by earthquakes, 
 was the time from the confusion of language to the 
 great division of the earth, which we have previous 
 ly treated of; and if admitted to the extent we have 
 laid down, there is no difficulty in believing that na 
 tions widely separated would place it as a grand 
 epoch in their divisions of time. 
 
 The termination of this present or fourth age by 
 fire, is an universal belief, as well among Christians 
 
144 
 
 as Pagans. This last termination of the world, the 
 Jews say, was prophesied before the flood, if we mis 
 take not ; but, at any rate, by Noah. We can there- 
 fore account, in this manner, for the universal belief 
 of the ending of the world by fire. 
 
 OF THE MEXICAN YEAR, &C. 
 
 The Mexican year was measured by two different 
 calendars, which were designated by the names of 
 CIVIL, and RELIGIOUS.* 
 
 The civil year was solar, and consisted of three 
 hundred and sixty days, which were formed into 
 eighteen periods or months, of twenty days. To give 
 the correct length to the year, they added at the close 
 of the last month, five days ; which were called 
 nemontemi, void or useless days, as not being attach 
 ed to any month, nor included in any calculation. 
 From the end of these five days they commenced a 
 new year. But as the true length of the year exceeds 
 three hundred and sixty-five days, by six hours and 
 upwards ; the Mexicans lost a day every four years ; 
 this defalcation, however, was allowed to accumulate 
 until it amounted to thirteen days, which would take 
 place during the lapse of fifty two years, (of 365 
 days;) these thirteen days -were then added to the fif 
 ty-two years ; and from their end, a new period be 
 gan, which brought the comm'encement of the year 
 back to its true place. 
 
 * The Jews resembled the Mexicans in this particular, for they be 
 gan the year for civil purposes in the month Tizri, which answers to 
 our September ; but for ecclesiastical purposes with Nisan, which an 
 swers to our April. ("See Priestly 9 s Lectures on History. Sect. xiv. 198. 
 
145 
 
 The correct Mexican year began on the time an 
 swering to our 9th of January ; but as they did not 
 intercalate the six hours, minutes, &c. of excess, un 
 til they amounted to thirteen days: the commence 
 ment of their years varied accordingly, in proportion 
 to the time elapsed from the commencement of the 
 period of 52 years. 
 
 Thirteen years formed a period or cycle, called a 
 XL AL PILL i, four tlalpilli made the period of fifty- 
 two years, known by the name ofxiuHMOLPiLLi*, 
 and two of these last periods formed, what they call 
 ed, an old age, or CEHUEHUETILIZTLI. 
 
 The year was divided into eighteen equal MONTHS, 
 and each month was divided into four periods of five 
 days.| 
 
 The beginning of the Mexican day, according to 
 Baron Humboldt, was reckoned from sun rising, like 
 the Persians, Egyptians, Babylonians, and the greater 
 part of the nations of Asia, except the Chinese ; and 
 it was divided into eight intervals, a division found 
 among the Hindoos and Romans, 
 
 * Xiuhmolpilli, signifies ligature of our years, and was hieroglyphick- 
 ally expressed by a bundle of rushes tied in the middle, something- like 
 a sheaf of wheat ; an apparent analogy to this hieroglyphick, may be 
 seen engraved on the seat of the statue of Menemon, where two figures 
 arc tying a bundle of flags, or rushes, with a rope or cord. (See plate 
 cxi. to Norden's Travels. _) 
 
 Baron Humbeldt observes, that the year was known among the Peru 
 vians, by the name of huata, a word derived from huatani, to tie, or hu~ 
 atanan, a rope of rushes- (Hitmboldt's Researches, i. 287.^ 
 
 f The people of Benin, in Africa, have small periods of five days 
 every fifth day is celebrated as a festival, with sacrifices, offerings, antf 
 entertainments. (See Payne's Geog. ii. 190. J 
 
146 
 
 ON THE MONTH. 
 
 I think it may be proved, says Baron Humboldt, 
 that a great part of the names, by which the Mexi 
 cans denoted the twenty days of their months, are 
 those of the signs of a zodiack, in use from the re 
 motest antiquity among the nations of eastern Asia ; 
 and in order to demonstrate that this assertion is less 
 unfounded than it appears at first sight, I shall unite 
 in the same table ; 1st. The names of the Mexican 
 hieroglyphicks such as they have been transmitted 
 to us by every writer of the sixteenth century. 2dly, 
 The Tartarian, Japanese, and Thibetan names of the 
 twelve signs of the Zodiack : and 3dly, The names 
 of the Nacshatras, or lunar houses, of the calendar of 
 the Hindoos. (See the annexed table. J 
 
148 
 
 The striking analogies exhibited in this table, cer 
 tainly justify Baron Humboldt's belief, that these dif 
 ferent astrological signs have had a common origin ; 
 and he shews in his discourse upon this table, great 
 reason for believing, that the twelve signs of the zo- 
 diack, have been selected from a lunar zodiack of 27 or 
 28 signs. And he observes, we may yet find in some 
 country celebrated for its ancient civilization, a lunar 
 zodiac in which the composition and arrangement of 
 the signs, may be the same with those of the Mexi 
 cans. 
 
 The Baron further observes, that the apes and ti 
 gers, which we find in the zodiacks of the Tartars and 
 Mexicans, are not found either in the central and 
 elevated plains of Eastern Asia, or in the northern 
 parts of New Spain, or North West Coasts of Ame 
 rica, whence the Mexicans emigrated, about 400 
 years prior to the discovery by Columbus. 
 
 Baron Humboldt mentions a series of signs known 
 among the Mexicans, by the names of Lords of the 
 Night ; we might be tempted to look for some ana 
 logy between these nine lords of the night, and the 
 nine astrological signs of several nations of Asia ; but 
 he observes, that this number is chosen merely on 
 account of the facility, with which they divide the 
 360 days into 40 times. I do not think this is a cor 
 rect explanation of this fact, for why should the 
 Mexicans choose numbers that they made no use of, 
 and especially, numbers that were not favourites. 
 
 We will now leave the CIVIL, and speak of the 
 SAC BED or RELIGIOUS calendar, which in fact was 
 the one in common ; we might say, universal use. 
 
149 
 
 This calendar presents an uniform series of small 
 periods of thirteen days, progressing until they 
 amounted to 260 days, which formed the religious 
 year. 
 
 The religious century consisted of seventy -three 
 religious years, amounting to 18980 days; which 
 coincides exactly with the duration of that period, 
 which we have already spoken of under the name of 
 Tlalpalli; in this manner the civil and religious 
 computations were reconciled to each other. 
 
 We will not go into the explanation of the com 
 plex method by which the Mexicans kept their chro 
 nological history ; though considerable analogies 
 might be shewn to exist between the method of the 
 Mexicans and Japanese, Thibetans, Hindoos, and 
 Egyptians. (See Humbolt's Researches, explana 
 tion of plate xxvi.J 
 
 The Mexicans had a very great esteem for the 
 number thirteen ; their century was divided into four 
 periods of thirteen years ; and while thirteen months 
 formed their cycle of 260 days thirteen days made 
 their smaller periods. 
 
 The number four, was esteemed no less ; as they 
 reckoned four periods of thirteen years to their cen 
 tury : they also had thirteen periods of four years; at 
 the expiration of each period of four years, they made 
 extraordinary festivals. 
 
 The number thirteen, as it respects the small pe 
 riods, appears to be nothing else than a rude 
 division of the moon's revolution into halves. 
 20 
 
150 
 
 The first astronomers of the Mexicans had 
 divided the revolution of the moon into two 
 periods : namely, that of the watching and 
 sleeping of the moon. These two divisions 
 of the month, are undoubtedly of the highest 
 antiquity ; for thus the ancient Hindoos di 
 vided their month into two periods, called 
 the light and dark sides of the moon, and 
 were then called a day and night of the 
 gods; the bright side for their laborious 
 exertions, and the dark one for their sleep. 
 (See Asiat. Res. vol. ii. and Hist. Hind. vol. 
 i.p. 138 J 
 
 A circumstance that further confirms the opinion^ 
 
 that the Mexican periods of thirteen days are 
 
 rude attempts to halving the months, is an 
 
 account of the Hindoo year, given by sir 
 
 . William Jones, in Asiatic Researches, v. ii. 
 
 where the reckonings are kept by periods of 
 
 fifteen days, halves of their months, which 
 
 consist of thirty days. 
 
 Why the number four was esteemed, we cannot 
 learn ; but a veneration for that number has 
 existed in many parts of the world, from the 
 greatest antiquity. The Greeks and Romans 
 had an high estimation for it. The chrono 
 logy of Greece was kept by Olympiads, pe 
 riods of four years, so called from the Olym 
 pic games being celebrated every four years. 
 The origin of these games was so remote, 
 that the Greek historians could not date the 
 
151 
 
 time of their first institution. The Isthmian 
 and Panathenian games were also celebrated 
 every four years, the mysteries of Elusis, &c. 
 
 The Romans had a period of five, or, as Ovid and 
 some others say, four years, called the Lus 
 trum ; at the end of which, the whole Roman 
 people were purified. Clavigero says, the 
 Mexicans, at the end of each period of four 
 years, made extraordinary festivals; but does 
 not mention particularities of them. In this 
 case, their conformity to the Lustrum is 
 striking. 
 
 The old Irish, according to general Valancey, 
 had a period of Jive years, called Lusca ; and 
 so also had the Egyptians, or a cycle of 1825 
 days. (See Ousely's Orient. Col. vol. ii. p. 
 332J 
 
 The division of the month, among the Romans, 
 it is very probable, was of the same inven 
 tion as the Mexican periods of five and thir 
 teen days. The Roman, or more properly, 
 the Etruscan month, was divided into Ca 
 lends, Nones, and Ides. The Calends were 
 merely the first days of every month. But 
 it is a little surprising to find, that in eight 
 months of the twelve, the Nones were on 
 \hefifth days, and the Ides on the thirteenth 
 days : in the remaining four months, thb 
 Nones fell on the seventh, and the Ides on 
 the fifteenth days. 
 
152 
 
 The Nones were so called, because they were 
 nine days from the Ides, counting back- . 
 wards. At least, that is the explanation 
 given ; which is the most extraordinary cal 
 culation we know of; and is certainly too 
 complex and unnatural to have been the ori 
 ginal method. It most probably had a si 
 milar origin with the Mexican periods of 
 five days to their months, &c. which we for 
 merly mentioned. 
 
 As to the derivation and meaning of the word 
 Ides, authors differ materially. It may be of 
 use to give their different opinions, which 
 we have extracted from Rees's Cyclopaedia. 
 " Some derive this word from the Greek 
 idein, to see ; because the full moon was 
 commonly seen on the day of the Ides. 
 Others from eidos, species, figure ; on ac 
 count of the image of the full moon then vi 
 sible. Others from Idulium, or Ovis Idulis, 
 a name given by the Etrurians to a victim 
 offered on that day to Jupiter ; or from the 
 Etrurian word iduo, to divide." 
 
 Either of the two first derivations will answer 
 well enough, towards proving the Ides to 
 have been much of a similar institution as 
 the Hindoo and Mexican division of the 
 month into two parts, or the bright and dark 
 sides of the moon : thus, from the Calends 
 to the Ides was the dark side of the month ; 
 
153 
 
 but on the Ides, the moon was full, and con 
 tinued so to the ending of the month, which 
 would answer to the bright side. 
 This Mexican division of the month, may very 
 probably be considered as one of the very 
 first attempts towards forming fixed periods 
 for the computation of time. 
 
 Clavigero remarks, that the Mexican year consist 
 ed of seventy-three periods of five days and the re 
 ligious century of seventy-three periods of thirteen 
 months. 
 
 This number seventy -three, is of a very ancient 
 and mysterious use ; and may have ancient 
 ly had a similar origin with the Hindoo pe 
 riod seventy-one or two : which, according 
 to the Asiatic Society, refers to the preces 
 sion of the Equinoxes, or apparent motion 
 of the fixed stars, which is about one degree 
 in seventy -two years. 
 
 The Hindoos have made great use of this num 
 ber ; and on the multiplication of it by other 
 astronomick periods, is founded the enor 
 mous age of Hindoo history and chronology. 
 The long time the Mexicans have been se 
 parated from the Hindoos, and other people 
 of the old world, may sufficiently account 
 for the different use they made of it. 
 
154 
 
 At the end of the seventy- three periods of thirteen 
 months, which make fifty-two years, the Mexicans 
 broke all their furniture, utensils, &c. fearing the ap 
 pointed time was come for the ending of the world, 
 which, according to their belief would happen at the 
 end of some of their periods of fifty -two years. As 
 soon as assured that such a calamity would not take 
 place, they appropriated the ensuing thirteen days to 
 make new furniture. On this occasion great enter 
 tainments were given, publick games and dances were 
 exhibited, with illuminations, and great demonstra 
 tions of joy. 
 
 This superstition of the Mexicans appears analo 
 gous to the belief of the Burmas who ex 
 pected that all mankind would be destroyed 
 at the end of one of their periods of sixty- 
 four years. (See Asiatic Researches, viii.J 
 
 These thirteen days were not attached to any peri 
 od of time, but were intercalated for the purpose of 
 arranging the seasons, in their proper places ; for 
 though the Mexicans knew the correct year was six 
 hours, more than three hundred and sixty-five days, 
 yet they took no notice of it until fifty-two years had 
 elapsed ; by which time the continual excess of six 
 hours each year, amounted to thirteen days, which 
 were then intercalated, and on their ending, a new 
 century, year, &c. commenced. 
 
 The figure, and manner of keeping an account of 
 
155 
 
 their century, is very curious ; but as it can be of lit 
 tle use in this undertaking, I forbear to describe it. 
 
 Round the circle containing the figure of the cen 
 tury, was a serpent twisted into four knots, which 
 pointed out the commencement of each period of 
 thirteen years. 
 
 The serpent is well known to be emblematical of 
 the Deity, the sun, &c. generally over the 
 world, and maintains a conspicuous station 
 in the astronomick figures of most nations. 
 In the Mexican figure given by Clavigero, 
 this snake has a hairy head, and a mouth like 
 the beak of a bird. This would be scarce 
 worth mentioning, but for the circumstance 
 that antiquarians have referred all serpents 
 thus figured to Egyptian invention ; but 
 from the Mexicans using the same device, 
 it is probably as ancient as any other symbol 
 in the world. 
 
 To represent the year, they describe a circle in 
 which eighteen figures were drawn. I must here 
 remark that the circle is divided into six equal parts, 
 as if into seasons, though Clavigero does not notice 
 the circumstance, the figure will very well bear a 
 similar explanation, with the six seasons of the Hin 
 doos. 
 
 The Chilian year consisted of 12 months or moons, 
 each consisting of 30 days, they also intercalated 
 
156 
 
 five days, though it is not known at what time of the 
 year this was done. The year commenced on the 
 22d of December. This year was divided into four 
 seasons, answering exactly to our method, the day 
 was divided into twelve equal parts, and commenced 
 from midnight. (Abbe Molina's History of Chili* 
 ii. 84, <3c.) 
 
157 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF THE MEXICAN PEOPLE. 
 
 JL HE population of the Mexican empire was divided 
 into four classes, which, if not originally institued by 
 legal authority, were allowed by universal consent and 
 custom. These four classes were, the nobles, priests, 
 soldiers, and common people ; and like the old Egyp 
 tians, every father instructed his son in the profession 
 or art he himself had followed. 
 
 Diod. Sicul. says, the Egyptians were from the 
 earliest times divided into Jive classes ; the 
 fifth class, however, is more an order or di 
 vision of the fourth than a distinct class, for 
 it is made by separating the mechanicks from 
 the husbandmen. 
 
 It is also well known that the Hindoos, from the 
 greatest antiquity, divided their people into 
 four casts or classes, and which are the same 
 as the Mexican. 
 
 21 
 
158 
 
 We will not give any other views of the policy, or 
 principles of government, among the Mexicans ; as 
 such an investigation alone, would require a greater 
 bulk than our whole volume ; the curious reader 
 will be gratified by the Abbe Clavigero. (See the 
 Second volume of Hist* of Mexico. J 
 
159 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MANNER OP WRITING, 8cc. 
 
 A HE Peruvians kept their records, history, &c. by 
 means of knotted cords called quipos. 
 
 This method of preserving the remembrance of 
 past events is of very ancient use, for Du 
 Halde says, in his History of China, that 
 " Fo-hi, first emperour of China, finding the 
 knotted cords used by the Chinese were 
 unfit to publish his laws, therefore invented 
 characters, &c. 
 
 Mr. Marsden observes, that the Sumatrans have 
 a similar invention with the Peruvian qui 
 pos ; he even supposes the one an improve 
 ment on the other. (See History of Suma 
 tra, 154J 
 
 The Wampum belts of the Northern Indians are 
 also of a similar device. 
 
 The Muysca Indians had cyphers to express 
 numbers. (See an interesting account of 
 this people in HumboldPs Researches, ii. 119, 
 et sequitur.J 
 
160 
 
 The Mexicans not only represented the simple 
 linages of objects, but they also had some characters 
 answering like the signs of algebraists for things de 
 void of figure or of difficult representation. 
 
 The cloth on which they painted was made of the 
 thready part of the aloe or palm. They also used 
 dressed skins and paper. In general their paper was 
 made in very long pieces, which they rolled up like 
 the ancient parchments of Europe, or folded up like 
 skreens. 
 
 The Siamese manuscripts preserved in the pub- 
 lick Library of Paris, are folded in zigzag. 
 (See Humboldfs Researches, i. 163 J 
 
161 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 MILITARY WEAPONS, &c: 
 
 Jl HE Mexicans used armour made of quilted cotton, 
 plates of gold, copper, &c. ; they also wore helmets 
 cut into figures of the heads of wild beasts, serpents, 
 &c, precisely similar to those used in the early ages 
 among the Greeks. (See Potter's Antiquities. J 
 
 In place of a sword, they used a large square stick, 
 on two sides of which sharp pointed flints were set 
 like the teeth of a large saw. 
 
 Captain Cook, in one of his voyages to the Pa 
 cific ocean, mentions some of the islanders 
 using an instrument in battle similar to this, 
 with the trifling difference of their using 
 
 sharks' teeth, instead of flints. 
 
 $fc 
 
 The Mexicans also used pikes pointed with flints, 
 or with copper hardened like those weapons of copper 
 used by the ancient nations of the old world. Their 
 darts were fastened to leathern thongs, and used like 
 the old Roman spear. 
 
 Their stone hatchets, we have the authority of the 
 
162 
 
 Archselogia, vol. IX. 97, to assert, are similar to 
 those frequently found in Great Britain, and which 
 are known by the name of Celts. 
 
 Baron Humboldt observes, that hatchets of jade, 
 covered with Azteck hieroglyphicks, have 
 been brought from Mexico, resembling in 
 their form and nature those made use of by 
 the Gauls, and those we find among the Is 
 landers of the Pacific ocean. (Humboldfs 
 Pers. Nar. i. 217 J 
 
 The copper with which the Mexican pikes were 
 pointed, appears to have been hardened by 
 an amalgam of tin. Baron Humboldt car 
 ried to Europe a Peruvian chisel, found near 
 a silver mine, worked in the time of the In- 
 cas ; the metal of which it was composed 
 having been analysed, was found to contain 
 0.94 of copper, and 0.6 of tin ; this copper 
 is almost identical with that used in the an 
 cient Gallic axes, which cut wood as if they 
 had been made of steel. (See Hwnboldtfs 
 Researches, i. 260.^ 
 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CEREMONIES USED AT BIRTH, MARRIAGE, AND BURIAL, 
 
 THE Mexicans used a variety of ceremonies on the 
 birth of a child, and there is no slight resemblance be 
 tween them and some nations in the old world on si 
 milar occasions ; but as there are circumstances of 
 greater importance to relate, we forbear to enumerate 
 them. 
 
 The rites and ceremonies of marriage and burial, 
 are too remarkable to be passed over in a cursory 
 manner, we shall therefore relate them at length. 
 
 As to their marriages, when a young man arrived 
 at a suitable age, a wife was looked out for him, and 
 diviners consulted on the subject. If they augured 
 ill, the match was given over entirely ; but if the 
 omens were interpreted favourably, the oldest and 
 most respectable of the man's female relations went at 
 midnight to the girl's parents with a present, and de 
 manded her ; which demand was infallibly refused. 
 After a few days, these women went again and used 
 every mean and entreaty to obtain the girl : the pa 
 rents then asked time to consider on it, to consult 
 their daughter's inclinations and the wishes of friends. 
 
164 
 
 * 
 
 The man's relations after this went no more, and 
 the girl's parents returned an answer by elderly wo 
 men chosen from among their own kindred ; apd if 
 favourable, a day was appointed for the nuptials ; on 
 which day she was conducted to her father-in-law's 
 house, with numerous company and musick : if she 
 was noble they carried her in a litter. The bride 
 groom and his friends, received her at the gate of the 
 house ; he then takes her by the hand and leads her 
 into the chamber prepared for the nuptials ; they were 
 sat down upon a new and curiously wrought mat, 
 spread in the middle of the chamber, and near a fire. 
 The priest then tied the mantle of the bridegroom to 
 the gown of the bride ; and in this ceremony, the ma 
 trimonial contract chiefly consisted. The wife now 
 made several turns about the fire, and then returning 
 to the mat, she along with her husband offered copal 
 to their gods, and exchanged presents to one another, 
 repast followed next; the married couple eat upon 
 the mat, giving mouthfuls to one another, and to the 
 guests : after the feast, and when the guests had be 
 come exhilirated with wine, they went out into the 
 yard to dance, but the new married pair never stirred 
 from the chamber for four days ! They passed these 
 four days in prayers, and fasting, dressed in new ha 
 bits, and adorned with the ensigns of the gods of their 
 devotions, and drawing blood from different parts of 
 their bodies. These austerities were observed with 
 the greatest exactness, for they feared the heaviest 
 punishments of their gods, if the marriage was con 
 summated before the end of these four days* 
 
165 
 
 The first part of the Mexican marriage ceremony, 
 coincides very much with that of the Ceylo- 
 nese ; see Asiatic Researches, vol. vii. 427. 
 
 The family of the man sends a friend to those of 
 the woman, to sound their inclinations, &c. 
 and generally the girl's family receive notice 
 of it, and accordingly give a feast to their 
 guest : a few days afterwards, the nearest and 
 most aged relation of the man, pays a visit 
 to the girl's family, and informs himself of 
 her fortune and circumstances ; and if they 
 are satisfactory, he proposes an alliance. To 
 this he receives no answer, but they treat 
 him with a much greater feast than before, 
 and which is usually a sign of consent. The 
 next day a relation of the girl visits the fa 
 mily of the young man, and receives a con 
 siderable entertainment in his turn ; he 
 makes the necessary inquiries, and then says, 
 if the young couple are satisfied, it would be 
 well to marry them. A magician is then 
 consulted as to the most lucky day, hour, 
 &c. 
 
 The marriages of the Hindoos are remarkably si 
 milar to the Mexicans. See Mr. Colbrook's 
 account in the Asiat. Research, vol. vii. 
 509. The ceremonies are thus recapitu 
 lated. 
 
 The bridegroom goes in procession to the house 
 of the bride's father, and is there welcomed 
 as a guest ; the bride is then given in the 
 
 22 
 
166 
 
 usual form of any solemn donation, and their 
 hands bound together with grass; the bride 
 groom then clothes the bride with an upper 
 and lower garment ; then the skirts of their 
 mantles are tied together ! the bridegroom 
 makes oblations to the fire, and tjie bride 
 drops rice upon it, and after several in 
 considerable ceremonies, the company is dis 
 missed, the marriage being now complete, 
 and irrevocable. In the evening of the same 
 day the bridegroom points out to her the 
 pole star, as an emblem or figure of con 
 stancy; during the three subsequent days, 
 the married couple must live chastely and aus 
 terely ; and after these three days, which is 
 the fourth from the celebration of the mar 
 riage ceremony r , the bridegroom conducts the 
 bride to his own house.* 
 
 BURIAL. 
 
 At the burial of common persons, the Mexicans 
 employed elderly persons to officiate as mourners. 
 The body was dressed in the habit of the god, who 
 was patron to the occupation the deceased had follow 
 ed, and a number of pieces of paper were placed by 
 him as passports through a variety of dangers to 
 which they believed the soul was exposed. If he had 
 died by dropsy, or had been drowned, they buried the 
 
 *The marriages of the people of Thibet, are celebrated by three days 
 of festivity ; at the end of which time, the nuptials are completed 
 Pink. Geog. ii. 109. 
 
167 
 
 body entire, with provision and water for his long jour 
 ney, and tied a string round the neck of a little animal 
 resembling a dog, which had been killed for the pur 
 pose of accompanying and guiding the departed soul ; 
 this animal was burned or buried, according to the 
 particular funeral rites of his deceased master. 
 
 If they burned the corpse, the ashes were collected 
 in an earthen pot, and along with them they put a 
 gem, which was to serve as a heart in the next world. 
 This urn, was buried in a deep ditch ; and eighty 
 days afterwards, they made oblations of bread and 
 wine over it. 
 
 Those who were buried entire, were placed in a 
 sitting position, with arms, or the instruments of the 
 trade they had followed when alive. 
 
 On the death of the king, or of a great lord or; 
 chief, some other forms were used. When the king 
 fell sick, they put a mask on the idol Huitzilipochtli, 
 and one also on the image of Tezcaetlipoca, which 
 they never removed until the king either died, or re 
 covered. If he died, notice was given of it in great 
 form, that those residing at a distance might be pre 
 sent at the funeral. The corpse was laid on rich mats, 
 and watched until the fourth or fifth day, when the 
 lords arrived, bringing with them rich dresses, orna 
 mental feathers, slaves, &c. They then dressed the 
 corpse with fifteen or more fine cotton habits, dyed 
 with various colours, and ornamented with gold, 
 gems, &c. An emerald was hung at the upper lip, 
 to serve as a heart in the future world. The face 
 was covered with a mask, and over the dresses they 
 
168 
 
 placed the ensign of the god, in whose temple he was 
 to be interred. Some of his hair was then cut off, 
 and put in a little box along with a portion that had been 
 taken off in his infancy ; upon this box was laid an 
 image of the deceased king, made of wood or stone. 
 They killed his private priest or chaplain, and some 
 slaves, as well as the little dog : the corpse, &c. was 
 then laid on the fire and burned. The day following, 
 the ashes were gathered, and the gem was particularly 
 looked for. These remains were then inclosed in the 
 box along with the hair, and deposited in the place 
 destined for his sepulchre ; oblations and sacrifices 
 were made at different stated periods, over the grave, 
 until eighty days had elapsed. 
 
 There was no fixed place for interring the dead. 
 Many ordered their bodies to be buried near some 
 temple or akar ; some again wished to be interred in 
 the fields, mountains, &c. 
 
 Some ceremonies used at the Mexican burials, 
 have been very general over the world ; par 
 ticularly in that superstition, where a gem or 
 stone is placed along with the remains of the 
 dead, to answer the purpose of a heart in a 
 future world. The Hindoos to this day, (see 
 Asiat. Research.) enclose a stone with the 
 ashes of the dead, apparently with this same 
 intention. 
 
 Mr. Pegge, in his observations on the Staunton 
 Moor Urns, see Archaelogia, vol. viii. 58, 
 says that in these druidical monuments which 
 
169 
 
 all contain burned human bones, is found a 
 substance which is supposed to be mountain 
 pitch, and which is cut into the shape of a 
 heart ! clearly an identical practice with the 
 Mexican superstition. 
 
 It is very remarkable, that vases should be found 
 in some parts of America, of the same com 
 position with the Etruscan Urns, and with 
 their very scrolls and ornaments ; see Archae- 
 logia, vol. v. 318. These urns, in Tho 
 mas's History of Printing, are further said, 
 like the Etruscan, to be only found in se 
 pulchres. 
 
170 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 AFTER having thus examined and reviewed the 
 most prominent parts of American institutions and 
 arts, there yet remain several facts and circumstances 
 to be noticed, these subjects are too insignificant to 
 merit a separate head, and we have therefore brought 
 them all together in this last chapter. 
 
 The Chinese, Hindoos, and Old Irish, have been 
 by many authors complimented with the honour of 
 having discovered the game of chess ; but it appears 
 that the original invention of this amusement is lost 
 in the darkness of antiquity, for the Araucanians, a 
 people of Chili, in South America, play chess, which 
 has been known to them from time immemorial; 
 they call it Comican. (See Hist. Chili, voL ii. 108, 
 by Abbe Molina.) 
 
 The Game of the Flyers^ we notice in this place, 
 as M. Denon in the plates to his Travels in Egypt, 
 has given the copy of some figures taken from the 
 
171 
 
 Egyptian hicroglyphicks, which have every appear 
 ance of a similar design with this Mexican amuse 
 ment or ceremony. The similarity of device will be 
 best seen, by comparing the plate given by Clavi- 
 gero, with the (Ixiii. plate) of Denon's Atlas, &c. 
 
 " The Intendancy of Oaxaca contains the walls 
 of the palace of Mitla, which are decorated with 
 Grecques, and labyrinths in Mosaic, of small porphy 
 ry stones. We perceive in them the same design, 
 which we admire in the vases falsely called Tuscan, 
 or in the frieze of the old temple of Deus Redicolus, 
 near the grotto of the nymph Egeria at Rome," 
 (Humboldt's Polit. Essay, ii. 155 J 
 
 " But what distinguishes the ruins of Mitla from 
 all other remains of Mexican architecture, is six por 
 phyry columns, which are placed in the midst of a 
 vast hall, and supports the ceiling, they have nei 
 ther base nor capital. 
 
 " The distribution of the apartments of this singu 
 lar edifice, bears a striking analogy to what has been 
 remarked in the monuments of Upper Egypt, drawn 
 by M. Denon, and the savans who compose the in 
 stitute of Cairo." (Ibid, 157 J 
 
 Though pillars appear to have been very little used 
 by the American Indians, yet there are other instan 
 ces of their erection as see the following : 
 
 " Between the hills of Mendoza and La Punta, 
 upon a low range of hills, is a pillar of stone one hun 
 dred and fifty feet high, and twelve in diameter it 
 
172 
 
 has marks or inscriptions upon it resembling Chi* 
 nese." (Molina's Hist. Chili, i. notes 169. J 
 
 This very much reminds us of the pillar and obe 
 lisks of ancient Egypt. 
 
 I do not know how to account for the following 
 superstition having such an universal credence. 
 
 " The ancient inhabitants of Europe, during eclip 
 ses of the moon, believed that it was occasioned by 
 the attacks of a dragon who wished to devour her, 
 to prevent this misfortune they made great noises, 
 and encouraged the moon to an effectual resistance ; 
 the same belief, and the same superstitious prac 
 tices, still exists in Japan, in China, Siam, India, Tar- 
 tary, among the Curdes, Laplanders, the negroes who 
 dwell on the banks of the Senegal, and in Peru." * 
 (See Des Cultes Anterieur a Uldolatrie, 273. J 
 
 The Mexicans had sacred animals, of whom they 
 appear to have entertained a respect and veneration 
 similar to that shewn by the ancient Egyptians; by 
 the following account it will be seen that the Mexi 
 cans embalmed and buried with care and respect, 
 these quadruped deities. 
 
 In volume second of Humboldt's Researches, men 
 tion is made of the discovery of a tomb, filled with 
 fine sand, and containing a well preserved skeleton 
 of a carniverous animal, which he thought was the 
 coyote or Mexican wolf; clay vases and small well 
 
173 
 
 cast brass bells, were placed near the bones. The 
 writers of the 16th century inform us, that the Mexi 
 cans erected small chapels to the wolf, the tiger, the 
 eagle, and the snake. 
 
 The following facts show a singular similarity to 
 have once existed between the old and new world, 
 and the great antiquity of the Indians or Aborigines 
 of America. 
 
 There was a rock at Berkely Springs, Virginia, of se 
 veral tons weight, which was so exactly balanced upon 
 another, that a trifling force applied to it would cause 
 it to vibrate, and yet a considerable power was inca 
 pable to remove it ; on the top, which would hold 
 eight or ten persons, was a bason excavated. 
 
 This curious monument has been generally over 
 looked, and considered as a fortuitous arrangement 
 of nature ; but to those conversant with the antiqui 
 ties of Great Britain, it must be evident that it is pre 
 cisely similar to those Druidical monuments called 
 Rocking Stones. The circumstance of a bason being 
 excavated confirms the character of the rock, for thus 
 are most of the rocking stones in England described. 
 
 Mr. Bryant says, "that wherever those monuments 
 occur, we may esteem them of the highest antiquity. 
 Such works are generally referred to the Celts and 
 Druids ; but they were the operations of a very remote 
 age, probably before the time when the Druids and 
 Celts were first known. There is reason to believe 
 that these monuments and Stonehenge were erected 
 
 23 
 
174 
 
 by one of the first colonies that ever arrived here," 
 (England.) (See Bryant's Anal, voL Hi. 533J* 
 
 I have seen an account of several similar rocking 
 stones, in Kendall's travels through the northern parts 
 of America; he very justly calls them the same as 
 those in England. (See vol. ii. p. 49, of his Tra 
 vels. J 
 
 A gentleman, and relation, presented me with a 
 phallus, or priapus, which was found in or near Chi- 
 licothe, Ohio; it is the only one I have ever heard of 
 being found here. This stone figure is now in the 
 Hall of the American Philosophical Society. 
 
 To this day, the phallus is worshipped in Hindostan, 
 and was once an object of adoration generally over the 
 world. f It adds another argument in favour of that 
 ancient connexion of our Aborigines with the old 
 continent, which we have so often mentioned in pre 
 ceding pages. 
 
 * Bryant also observes, that the Egyptians venerated rocking- stones, 
 that on some of these stones they merely placed an hieroglyphick, and 
 others they shaped into different figures. ('Bryant's Analysis, Hi. 531. J 
 
 The Rock of Inti-guacu engraved with the figure of the sun, appears 
 to be of this kind. ("See Humboldfs Researches, octavo, i. 247 .J 
 
 f Traces of the worship of Priapus was observed in 'the Sandwick 
 Islands. fSee Cook's Voyage, vi. 206 3. J 
 
175 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 JLT must be evident, from the analysis which we have 
 just finished, that the Mexicans, &c. were not a rude 
 and barbarously ignorant people, but on the contrary, 
 that they possessed a very considerable degree of 
 knowledge, not only of the arts, but also of some 
 sciences. This knowledge they have correctly pre 
 served through so many centuries, that the sources 
 whence it was derived have long since been forgot 
 ten. It is, however, radically and positively the same 
 with much of the learning of ancient Egypt, Hindos- 
 tan, Chaldea, &c. ; yet under these circumstances, 
 we find the language and character of the American 
 Indians, totally dissimilar to any nation or people 
 whom history has preserved records of. The de 
 duction from this is evident, namely, that this know 
 ledge must have been obtained at that time, when all 
 mankind used one language and had an equal oppor 
 tunity of receiving information. 
 
 That the Mexicans and other Americans cannot be 
 derived from any nation or people of the old world, is 
 clear, else we should find them using the same cycles, 
 years, months, emblems, deities, traditions, &c. We 
 ought to find a pointed similarity in language, man- 
 
176 
 
 ners, dress, &c. But can this be done ? No; ana 
 logies, similarities, or parallels, may be brought for 
 ward like we have done, which show a connexion to 
 have existed once between the Aborigines of Ame 
 rica and the nations of the old world ; but in no man 
 ner can it be shown, that any nation of the globe has 
 such an individual and unique resemblance to the 
 Americans, as could induce us to believe them colo 
 nies, or emigrants from such a people : else would 
 not learning, talent, and genius, have shown their 
 origin, when the Egyptians, Hebrews, Phoenicians, 
 Welsh, Norwegians, Tartars, and in short every na 
 tion of Kurope or Asia, with few exceptions, have 
 been supposed by different writers to have colonized 
 America. 
 
 We find our Indians have very correct traditions 
 of the flood and confusion of languages ; but after 
 this latter event, the chain which connected them 
 with the old world is broken. Cush, Belus, Nim- 
 rod, and others, may be found in most of the mytho 
 logies of the old world when carefully analysed ; but 
 our Indians relate nothing of these mighty persona 
 ges, a proof of their very early separation from the 
 old world, before the greatness of these men had 
 spread over the different parts of the earth. 
 
 This antiquity of the Mexicans and other Ameri 
 cans, is apparent from all their institutions, rites, &c. 
 being of the most ancient invention and discovery, as 
 we have proved by the earliest writings of the old 
 world, and from nations widely separated. 
 
 Now had they migrated much later than the time 
 
177 
 
 we have supposed, we should find them using many 
 inventions, See. which have been known from great 
 antiquity, to have existed in the old world. 
 
 Baron Humboldt has made an observation in his 
 writings, which shews he entertained a similar opi 
 nion of the great antiquity of the South American 
 people ; and though he does not fix the date as we 
 have done, yet his observations must, of necessity, 
 resolve themselves into the very same period. 
 
 " It has been impossible hitherto to mark the 
 epocha at which time there was a communication be 
 tween the inhabitants of the old and new worlds, and 
 it would be useless to attempt designating what par 
 ticular people of the ancient world offer the greater 
 number of analogies, with the Toltecas, the Azticas, 
 (Mexicans,) the Muyscas, or the Peruvians, since 
 these similarities or resemblances are manifested in 
 traditions, monuments and usages, which perhaps are 
 anteriour to the actual division of the Asiaticks into 
 Mongols, Hindoos, Toungouse or Chinese." (Hum- 
 bolt's Introd. to Mon of America.} 
 
 Sir William Jones says, that the Hindoos, old Per 
 sians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, 
 Tuscans, Scythians or Goths, Celts, Chinese, Japan 
 ese, and Peruvians, had an immemorial connexion 
 with one another ; and as there appears no reason for 
 believing that they were a colony from any one of 
 those nations, or any one of those nations from them, 
 we may fairly conclude that they all proceeded from 
 the same common central country. ( See Asiat. Re 
 search, vol. i. p. 540.^ 
 
178 
 
 Thus has this great and learned writer supported 
 our hypothesis ; and with his weighty opinion we con 
 clude an essay which has in many other passages been 
 entirely supported by the deserved greatness of his 
 illustrious name. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 BRYANT'S OPINION ON PELEG. 
 
 IT was mentioned in a former part of this essay, 
 that the celebrated Bryant had given an opinion as to 
 the meaning of the verse relative to Peleg : see Gen. 
 chap. x. ver. 25. And unto Heber -were bom two sons; 
 the name of one was Peleg, for in his days was the 
 earth divided. As the authority of his name is so de 
 servedly great, his opinion will be here considered, in 
 order to show that we have sacrificed nothing to theo 
 ry ; and also, in what points his opinion appears to be 
 faulty. 
 
 His belief is, that in Peleg's days mankind had 
 been ordered by God to disperse and settle the differ 
 ent parts of the earth ; and that all but the children of 
 Cush had obeyed this injunction. They, wishing to 
 found a great and mighty kingdom among them- 
 
180 
 
 selves, refused to obey that command ; and from fear 
 of being scattered, they built the tower and city of 
 Babel, as a mark or beacon ; and that then the Al 
 mighty, to oblige them to separate, confounded their 
 language, and thus forced them to scatter through the 
 earth : thus making the confusion of language, &c. 
 only among the Cushites ; being of a partial and not 
 a universal effect. 
 
 If, according to Mr. Bryant's supposition, the Ark 
 rested on Mount Baris, and that in the country around 
 it mankind settled after the deluge, and that from that 
 place they were ordered to disperse over the world, 
 most certainly the Cushites had fulfilled the command 
 by going 1200 miles, which is about the distance 
 from Mount Baris to Babel. 
 
 But there are greater objections to Mr. Bryant's 
 opinion : for it is the earth which is said to have been 
 divided in Peleg's days : nor has it any reference to 
 man individually considered. The name or word 
 Peleg, according to Mr. Bryant himself, means to se 
 ver and divide. Now in Peleg's days, he says that all 
 mankind but the Cushites separated in obedience to 
 the will of God. If so, how can we associate the 
 strong forcible expression sever and divide, to a sepa 
 ration which he says was done in an obedient and 
 peaceable manner. 
 
 This opinion of Mr. Bryant, though maintained by 
 him with great erudition, has had very few defenders 
 among latter writers. As to his opinion that the event 
 related of Peleg took place before the confusion at 
 
181 
 
 Shinar, it is, as we have formerly shown, most pro- 
 ble, that it did not take place until long after. 
 
 With respect to the confusion- at Babel, it is suffi 
 cient to read the account in Genesis, to be satisfied 
 that Mr. Bryant was incorrect in supposing it partial 
 and confined to the Cushites. 
 
 The principal argument used by this celebrated 
 writer is, that the Hebrew word col aretz, which is 
 rendered whole earth in the history of the confusion, 
 is frequently used whole land or province. This he 
 thinks confirms his idea that the confusion of lan 
 guage was only among the Cushites, &c. That the 
 confusion was partial and only in the land of Shinar, 
 Moses gives us every reason so to believe ; for all 
 mankind were there assembled. But there does not 
 appear in that narration, any ground for believing it 
 partial in its influence on man. 
 
 24 
 
182 
 
 A REMARKABLE AVATAR. 
 
 \ 
 
 AMONG the Avatars or Incarnations of Veshnu, 
 the Hindoo preserver of the world, is the remarkable 
 one of his descending from Heaven under the form of 
 a tortoise, to support the earth labouring under some 
 violent convulsion. 
 
 Mr. Hastings presented a book concerning the 
 Avatars to the society of Antiquarians, where this the 
 third One is designated, representing Veshnu's descent 
 in the form of a tortoise to support the Earth, sinking 
 in the sea. See vol. 1, Anc. Hist. Hind. 
 
 The explanation of this Avatar, given by the Hin 
 doos, is, that the earth was assaulted by the evil genii 
 and demons, who churned the ocean with a vast 
 mountain, the effect of which is thus described in 
 their extravagant mythology : " The roaring of the 
 ocean, whilst violently agitated with the whirling of 
 the mountain, was like the bellowing of a mighty 
 cloud ; thousands of the various productions of the 
 waters were torn to pieces and confounded with the 
 briny flood ; and every specifick'being of the deep and 
 all the inhabitants of the great abyss which is below 
 the earth, were annihilated; whilst from the violent 
 agitation of the mountain, the forest trees were dashed 
 
183 N 
 
 against each other and precipitated from their heights, 
 with all the birds thereon, from the violent con fric 
 tion of all which a raging volcanick fire was produced, 
 involving the whole mountain in smoke and fire. 
 (See vol. L 569, Indian Antiq.J 
 
 Mr. Maurice thinks this Avatar alludes to the uni 
 versal deluge ; but perhaps there is more reason in 
 connecting it with the submersion of land, as we have 
 formerly discussed ; for the two preceding Avatars 
 very accurately describe the Noachic flood and de 
 struction of mankind all to seven or eight persons ; 
 but. in this Avatar, the convulsion is partial tmd cir- 
 cu inscribed. Also, the volcanick fires, confirming the 
 account of earthquakes, &c. related by the Egyptian 
 priest to Solon in his story of Aialantis, and 'their pre 
 sence remarkable in many islands of the Atlantick, 
 Pa :ifick and Indian oceans. 
 
 Major Wilford observes, that this story of the 
 churning of the sea, "owes perhaps its origin to some 
 strange convulsion of nature in that part of the world, 
 (which he thinks was around the British Islands,) ac 
 companied with dreadful storms, and some irruption 
 of the sea ; in consequence of which, the shores of 
 the cauldron-like sea, were strewed with the wrecks 
 of nature, in that part of the country ; such as plants 
 and trees, torn from the adjacent country, with large 
 masses of amber and ambergris, which are only the 
 coarser parts of the celestial amrit or ambrosia ; there 
 are certainly obvious vestiges remaining of such a 
 
184 
 
 dreadful catastrophe ; such as the Giant's Causeway, 
 on the Irish coast, and other remains of volcanick con 
 vulsions on the adjacent shores of Scotland." (Asi. 
 Researches, xi. 140.^ 
 
185 
 
 THE tradition of the separation of England from 
 France is mentioned in a manner so consonant to our 
 theory, by the poet Collins, that I cannot forbear in 
 serting the extract : 
 
 Beyond the measure vast of thought, 
 The works the wizard time has wrought, 
 The Gaul) 'tis held of ancient story, 
 
 Saw Britain linked to his now adverse strand, 
 No sea between, nor cliff sublime and hoary, 
 
 He pass'd with unwet feet through all our land. 
 To the blown Baltic then they say, 
 The wild waves found another way 
 Where Orcas howls his wolfish mountains rounding, 
 
 Till all the banded west at once *gan rise, 
 A wide wild storm e'en nature's self confounding, 
 
 Withering her giant sons with strange uncouth surprize. 
 This pillared earth, so firm and -wide, 
 
 By -winds and inward labours torn, 
 In thunders dread was push' d aside, 
 
 And do-wn the shouldering' billo-ws borne. 
 And see like gems her laughing train, 
 
 The little isles on every side t Me. 
 
 Collins' Ode to Liberty. 
 
186 
 
 ON THE SEPTUAGINT. 
 
 JL HE following extract from an introductory lecture 
 of Thomas Cooper, Esq. delivered at Carlisle in 
 1812, fully answers my object in defending this ver 
 sion. 
 
 " Without adopting the fabulous account of Aris- 
 tceus, and his seventy-two interpreters, it appears most 
 likely, that the most authentick copy of the Jewish 
 scriptures would have been furnished or sought out 
 for the purpose of that version, whether undertaken 
 at royal instigation or by private persons from private 
 motives. It would naturally be the interest equally 
 of the Jewish nation, and of the learned men of that 
 day, that this should be the case. 
 
 " Neither does there seem to be any adequate as 
 signable reason, why genealogical or chronological 
 mutilations or interpolations should have passed with 
 out observation, under the circumstances of a version 
 that must have attracted much notice at the time. 
 
 " The quotations out of the Old Testament, made 
 not only by our Saviour and his apostles, but by the 
 more ancient fathers also, are allowed to be from the 
 Septuagint version or its original, being in many 
 places conformable to this copy, and differing from 
 the Hebrew text. I refer generally for proofs of this 
 
187 
 
 to Pezron's Antiquite de Terns Retablie ; and the 
 second chapter of Carponius, page 526, et seq. 
 
 " It is notorious that the Christians of the three first 
 centuries, universally counted 5500 years from the 
 creation to the birth of Christ. This is distinctly 
 admitted by Joseph Scaliger, in his Prolegomena in 
 Chron. Eusebii. 
 
 " The best qualified among the moderns as well ag 
 among the ancients, to judge of this question, hav# 
 preferred this version, or the Samaritan. Was not 
 Josephus capable of adopting the most authentick chro 
 nology of his own country, himself a Jew ? 
 
 " And lastly, I confess myself prejudiced in favour 
 of that copy, which harmonizes most easily with au 
 thenticated facts of profane history." (See intro 
 ductory lecture of Thomas Cooper -, Esq. delivered at 
 Carhsle, 1812J 
 
 To this I will only add the two following authori 
 ties. 
 
 " The Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, which 
 contain the opinions of the most ancient Rabbis, give 
 the highest commendation to the version of the Sep- 
 tuagint. ( Jackson'' s Chron. Antiq. i. 82 et seq.) 
 
 The book of the patriarch Enoch, which is as an 
 cient as the Christian era, at the least, gives its autho 
 rity in favour of the Septuagint, by their dates agree 
 ing. ( Jackson* s Chron. Antiq. i. 59 to 63. } 
 
188 
 
 ON THE SIMILARITIES THAT EXIST BETWEEN NATIONS. 
 
 N attempt to explain the similarities existing 
 among the different nations of the earth, has been 
 made on the principle, " that men under similar cir 
 cumstances will act similarly." (See Decline and 
 Fall of the Roman Empire.) This theory sounds 
 very well, but we see that men do not act thus in 
 reality ; we find that all mankind want clothing, 
 food, and comforts of various kinds ; now how will 
 this principle account for the difference existing be- 
 tween nations ; we find the Europeans well clothed, 
 fed, and housed; this improvement, or civilization, 
 is said to have originated from their wants, how is 
 it, then, that the savages of Asia, Africa, and Ameri 
 ca, have not universally civilized themselves too ? they 
 have to this day the very same wants, they daily ex 
 perience hunger, and privations of many different 
 kinds. O but it is said, they, knowing no better, 
 absolutely are ignorant that they are in want: Well 
 then, how did the Europeans first discover that they 
 were in want of the comforts, which we find they now 
 enjoy ? 
 
 For my part, I believe, that unless man had been 
 created civilized, he would never have risen to it by 
 
189 
 
 his own exertions ; we see, when left to ourselves, 
 how degraded we are. Look at the Esquimaux, or 
 New Hollanders; these men have experienced wants 
 for ages, yet are they in the least improved ? has 
 an Ourang-Outang less comfort than an inhabitant of 
 Terra Del Fuego ? or is a beaver worse fed, or 
 lodged, than a Kamtschadale ? 1 think not. 
 
 25 
 
190 
 
 ON THE GALY YOUG. 
 
 " JLN the year 1687, when M. La Loubere returned 
 from his embassy to the king of Siam, he brought 
 along with him a Siamese manuscript, containing 
 astronomical tables, and the method of employing 
 them in calculating the places of the sun and moon. 
 These tables were explained by the celebrated Cas- 
 sini, who found that their epoch corresponds to the 
 21st of March, 638 of our era, and that they are 
 founded on the supposition that the tropical year is 
 365 days, 5 hours, 50 minutes and 40 seconds, a de 
 termination which differs only 1 minute and 53 se 
 conds from that employed in the new solar tables of 
 Delambre. These tables involve also the equation 
 of the sun's centre, the two chief equations of the 
 moon, and the metonick cycle of 19 years. Two 
 other sets of astronomical tables, one from Chrishna- 
 bouram, and the other from Narsapour, were sent to 
 Paris by the missionaries in Hindostan ; but they did 
 not excite the notice of astronomers till M. Gentii 
 returned from India,, possessed of the new tables of 
 Tirvalore, and instructed by the Brahmins in their 
 methods of calculation. These precious remains of 
 antiquity have been diligently examined and compar- 
 
191 
 
 ed by the celebrated Mr. Bailli, in his Traite de 
 1^ Astronomic Indienne et Onentale, with that saga 
 city and eloquence which characterize all the writings 
 of that illustrious, but unfortunate, astronomer. He 
 has found that the epoch of the Tirvalore tables co 
 incides with the year 3 102 before the Christian era ; 
 and has shewn, by a train of sound and convincing 
 argument, that this epoch is not fictitious, but found 
 ed on real observations, which must have been made 
 even before the commencement of the Caly Youg. 
 These high pretensions to antiquity, which M. Bailli 
 has claimed for the Indian astronomy, have been ad 
 mitted by many distinguished philosophers, and have 
 been recently defended by professor Playfair of Edin 
 burgh, with an acuteness of reasoning, and a clear 
 ness of illustration peculiar to that eloquent writer. 
 On this subject, however, a difference of opinion still 
 exists among astronomers. La Place has endeavour 
 ed to prove, though not with his usual success, that 
 the epoch of 3102 was invented for the purpose of 
 giving a common origin in the zodiack to all the 
 motions of the heavenly bodies, and that the tables 
 have either been constructed or corrected in modern 
 times ; but he, at the same time, allows that the re 
 markable accuracy of the mean motions assumed in 
 their construction, could have arisen only from very 
 ancient observations, Other astronomers, less can 
 did than La Place, and less entitled to pronounce a 
 decided opinion, have ascribed the astronomy of the 
 Indians to the instructions which they received from 
 Pythagoras, while another class has maintained, that 
 
192 
 
 astronomy was carried to India by the Arabs, about 
 the middle of the ninth century ; the merits of these 
 different opinions our readers will be able to appreci 
 ate from a general view of the reasoning employed by 
 Bailli and professor Play fair. 
 
 If the epoch of 3 102 is fictitious, and has been de 
 termined by calculation from observations of a mo 
 dern date, the mean places of the sun and moon, as 
 sumed at that period, the inequalities in the motions 
 of those luminaries, the obliquity of the ecliptick, the 
 length of the tropical year, and the places of the fixed 
 stars, must all differ from their real values, or those 
 which would have been ascertained from actual ob 
 servation; by quantities depending, in some measure, 
 on the errours of the modern epoch, but chiefly on 
 those minute variations arising from the theory of 
 gravity, which the elements themselves have under 
 gone, and which were discovered only towards the 
 close of the 18th century. If we should therefore 
 find, that all these elements as assumed at the epoch 
 of 3102, are nearly the same as if they had been then 
 determined by observation ; or, as if they had been 
 deduced from a modern epoch by calculations in 
 volving the acceleration of the moon, the variation in 
 the precession of the equinoxes, the change of the 
 obliquity of the ecliptick, &c. -we have only two al 
 ternatives, either to believe that the epoch of 3102 is 
 real, and the Indian astronomy of high antiquity, or 
 that the Brahmins at the period of the modern epoch, 
 were completely acquainted with the theory of gra 
 vity, and with all the refinements of modern analysis. 
 
193 
 
 From the delineation of the zodiack, for example, 
 which La Gentil brought from India, it appears, that 
 the star Aldebaran was 40 minutes before the vernal 
 equinox in 3102 ; now if we take the precession of 
 the equinoxes at 50 1 seconds, and employ the ine 
 quality in the precession discovered by La Grange, 
 we shall find by calculating from the place of Alde 
 baran in 1750, that in the year 3102, this star was 13 
 minutes beyond the vernal equinox, a result differing 
 only 53 minutes from the Indian zodiack. But the 
 force of this argument does not terminate here ; even 
 if the Brahmins had been acquainted with the ine 
 quality of precession, and had applied it to the mo 
 dern epoch of 1491 B. C. the 3 seconds of excess 
 which they gave to the precession itself, would have 
 produced an errour of 3" x 3102 + 1491 = 5, 49', 
 39", at the epoch of 3102. 
 
 The mean longitude of the sun, according to the 
 Brahmins at the epoch of the tables of Tirvalore, is 
 10 S. 3, 38', 13", and according to the modern ta 
 bles corrected by the inequality of precession disco 
 vered by La Grange, and amounting in the present 
 case to 1, 45', 22", the longitude of that luminary is 
 10 S. 2, 51', 19", differing only about 47 minutes 
 from the determination of the Indians. The longi 
 tude of the moon at the same epoch by the Tirva 
 lore tables, is 10 S. 6, 0' ; and the same computed 
 from the tables of Mayer, and corrected by the 
 moon's acceleration, is 10 S. 6, 37', a coincidence 
 so remarkable that it eould arise only from actual ob 
 servation. Now if we compute the places of the sun 
 
194 
 
 and moon at the commencement of the Caly Youg> 
 from the tables of the Greek and Arabian astrono 
 mers, or from those of Ulugh-Beigh, which werfc 
 constructed at Samarcand in 1437; we shall find, that 
 the tables of Ptolomy give an errour of ll p in the 
 place of the sun and moon, while the tables of the 
 Tartar prince produce an errour of 1, 30', in the 
 place of the sun, and of 6 in that of the moon. 
 These results give additional strength to the former 
 argument, and completely prove that the Indian astro 
 nomy is not the offspring of Greece or Arabia, and 
 that the epochs of the Tirvalore tables were not de 
 duced from modern observations. Arguments of a 
 similar nature, and equally strong with the preceding, 
 might be deduced from the obliquity of the ecliptick, 
 the length of the solar year, the aphelion and mean 
 taotion of Jupiter, and the mean motion of Saturn, 
 and the equation of his centre, as contained in the 
 Indian tables ; for this information we must refer 
 our readers to the writings of Bailli and professor 
 Playfair. 
 
 From the general view which we have now given 
 of the astronomy of the ancients, the mind is neces 
 sarily led to the conclusion which Bailli has drawn, 
 that the rules and facts of the Egyptian, Chaldean > 
 Indian, and Chinese astronomy, are the wrecks of a 
 great system of astronomical science, which has been 
 carried to a high perfection in -the early ages of the 
 world. After those mighty revolutions in human 
 affairs, amid which the principles of the science have 
 been Iqst, -the study of astronomy seems to have 
 
195 
 
 revived about the year 3102, when the loose materi 
 als which time had spared, were carefully collected 
 and diffused through the different kingdoms of Asia. 
 Hence the striking connexion that subsists between 
 the various systems which prevailed among the east 
 ern nations, and hence the numerous fragments of the 
 science which have been transmitted to the present 
 day. 
 
 In examining these wrecks of the human mind, 
 we every where find methods of calculation without 
 the principles on which they are founded ; rules 
 blindly followed, without being understood ; phe 
 nomena without their explanation, and elements care 
 fully determined, while others more important, and 
 equally obvious, are altogether unknown. We can 
 not, therefore, regard these unconnected facts, as the 
 highest efforts of the ancients in the science of astro 
 nomy, or as results which they have reached without 
 the light of theory, or without the aid of long conti 
 nued observation. When the traveller contemplates 
 the remains of ancient cities, and examines the bro 
 ken statues, the shafts, and capitals, and pediments, 
 which are dug from their ruins ; does he consider 
 these fragments as the highest effort of the sculptor, 
 and the architect, in the arts which they cultivated ? 
 Does he not rather turn in imagination to the co 
 lumns, and statues, which the^ composed to the 
 temple, which they supported or adorned, and to the 
 living being swhich worshipped within its walls ? 
 
 Whatever objections may be urged against these 
 opinions, let it not be said that they are inconsistent 
 
196 
 
 with the truths of revealed religion. The sucred 
 scriptures are not to be affected by any variations in 
 chronological dates, or by any opinions, however ex 
 travagant, respecting the age of the world ; and surely 
 those men are the greatest enemies of their faith, who 
 fix it on such a slender basis. It is as foreign from 
 the object of revelation to instruct us in chronology 
 and astronomy, as it is from that of science to teach 
 us how we should act, and what we should believe. 
 The speculations of philosophy, will not be confined 
 within the limits of vulgar theory, nor will the human 
 mind suffer itself to be chained down from its noble 
 flight. The attempts which have been made to check 
 its progress, are, we hope, the last efforts ef expiring 
 bigotry ; and we trust the hazardous experiment will 
 never be repeated among a civilized people, of at 
 tempting to raise an altar to their God, upon the ruins 
 of the temple of science." 
 
 The foregoing elegant dissertation has been extract 
 ed from the article Astronomy, of the Edinburgh 
 Encyclopaedia, and appears to completely establish the 
 epoch of the Galy Youg, being derived from actual 
 observation ; the limits of the article, prevent the de 
 tail of the other proofs, equally strong and conclu 
 sive. The inquisitive reader, however, may see the 
 arguments of professor Playfair, at length, in the se 
 cond volume of the Edinburgh Transactions. 
 
 A very decided opposition to' this epoch of the Caly 
 Youg, has arisen with some persons from the be 
 lief, that it opposes the Books of Moses. This ob- 
 
197 
 
 jection, though hardly deserving consideration, is ea 
 sily shewn to be very futile. 
 
 The fact is, thac the whole controversy has pro 
 ceeded from the defective chronology, which the 
 clergy have chose to support, namely, the system of 
 Archbishop Usher, which is founded on the Hebrew 
 computation. The Septuagint chronology, support 
 ed by so many arguments, and by the opinion of al 
 most every antiquarian and historian of real learning, 
 solves the difficulty completely. 
 
 The next source of errour is, from believing and 
 upholding the idea, that the first postdeluvian ages 
 were ignorant and barbarous. This errour we hope 
 we have demonstrated in Chap. VII. of this work. 
 
 The third cause of errour arises from not consider- 
 ing the very great effect, that the confusion of speech, 
 and dispersion from Babel, would have upon man 
 kind ; an event which on the least consideration, 
 would shew the reason for the ignorance and barba 
 rity, which the first postdeluvian history inform us 
 was the state of the world. 
 
 If to these arguments are added the great catas 
 trophe of dividing the world, and the formation of 
 islands, the imperfect communications between na 
 tions, such as we have advanced in this essay, there 
 cannot be a single circumstance in the remarks made 
 by Bailli and Playfair, irreconcilable to the Pente- 
 teuch. To exhibit this, I shall add the following 
 chronological table. 
 
198 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF THE SEPTUAGINT, ACCORDING TO JACKSON- 
 
 A.M. 
 
 B. C. 
 
 2257 
 
 3169 
 
 2324 
 
 3102 
 
 2805 
 
 2623 
 
 3103 
 
 2323 
 
 3329 
 
 2097 
 
 Creation of Man. 
 DELUGE. 
 Era of the Caly Youg. 
 Dispersion from BABEL. 
 Division of the Earth in Peleg's days- 
 Birth of Abraham, &c. &c. 
 
 Among other objections made to the Caly Youg. 
 is the following one, used by Dr. Marsden and Mr. 
 Bentley : That there could not have been, at the 
 moment indicated by the tables of Tirvalore, a con 
 junction of all the planets ; for there was no less than 
 73, at that time, between the places of Venus and 
 Mercury; which is not compensated by shewing, 
 that when the Sun and Moon were in opposition, 15 
 days after, all the planets but Venus, being compre 
 hended in the space of 17, might be visible : this ar 
 gument is also confirmed by La Place. The learned 
 Judge Cooper, in his Introductory Lecture, observes: 
 that the expression of the Tables is general ; that 
 there was a conjunction of the planets, without say 
 ing of all of them. 
 
 In the course of reading, I have met with an ex 
 traordinary narration ; which, perhaps, may be suffi 
 cient to prove, that Venus was 'in conjunction, at the 
 era of the Caly Youg. No collusion can be sus 
 pected ; and the tradition most exactly explains the 
 difficulty. 
 
199 
 
 " Est in Marci Varronis libris, quorum inscriptio 
 est, De gente populi Romani, quod cisdem verbis, 
 quibus ibi legitur, and hie ponam : In coelo, inquit, 
 mirabile extitit portentum : nam in Stella Veneris no- 
 biiissima, quam Plautus Vesperuginem Homerus 
 Hesperon appellut, pulcherrimam dicens, Castor scri- 
 bit tantum portentum extitisse ut nuitaret colorem, 
 magnitudmem, figuram cur sum ; quod factuni ita nc- 
 que antea, neque postea sit. Hoc factum Og}-ge 
 rege dicebant Adrastus Cyzicenus & Dion Neapo- 
 iites, mathematici nobiles. (St. Augustin, Civit : 
 Dei. Lib. 21. cap. viii. 
 
 Mr. Gibbon remarks, in his history of the Decline 
 and Fall of the Roman Empire, that this story of Ve 
 nus, changing her orbit, is erroneous; and that a co 
 met, moving in that part of the heavens, has mislead 
 the observer, and gave rise to the tradition, that the 
 planet Venus had exhibited such appearances ; he 
 was convinced of this by the arguments of M. Freret, 
 in the Me moires of L'Acadamie des Inscriptions ; 
 which I suppose is, by an errour of the printer, in 
 correctly quoted, as I could not find the communica 
 tion; hence, I am unaware of the arguments that may 
 have convinced Mr. Gibbon. But it seems very ex 
 traordinary, how any one could mistake a comet for 
 the planet Venus, the most remarkable of our planets, 
 and utterly unlike a comet. Such a mistake appears 
 impossible.* 
 
 * If etymology be allowed as argument, we may, perhaps, infer the 
 truth of St. Augustine's tradition from that source. According to Cos 
 tard, see his Astronomy, 196 : " Aphrodite, the Greek name of th,s 
 
200 
 
 As to the argument that such a phenomenon is ano 
 malous, it may be doubted whether that is a fact ; 
 We know that fixed stars have sometimes shone with 
 extraordinary lustre for many months, and then to 
 have disappeared ; such as the one in Cassiopea, in 
 the year 1572, and the one discovered by Kepler, in 
 Serpentarius, in 1604. A considerable number of 
 fixed stars have disappeared altogether.* 
 
 Nor is our own solar system without certain histo 
 ries that may tend to countenance this phenomenon. 
 The history of Joshua, and the dial of Ahaz, are fa 
 miliar to every one. 
 
 The theory of Dr. Oelbers, respecting the planets, 
 between Mars and Jupiter, bears every appearance of 
 being correct and true ; and is, I believe, pretty ge 
 nerally approved of by astronomers. All these cir 
 cumstances, taken together, certainly shew that there 
 is nothing improbable in the tradition, related along 
 with the names of mathematicians, by St. Augustine. 
 
 planet Venus, is derived from the Chaldeac word pharad, separavit ; dis- 
 junxit ; and signifies separata in general ; whether on account of lustre, 
 beauty, or any thing else" 
 
 *Dr. Herschel enumerates no less than thirteen. 
 
201 
 
 ON THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE WESTERN COUNTRY. 
 
 JL REVIOUS to closing our Essay, it appears proper 
 to touch upon a subject of some interest, which dark 
 ly glimmers amid the obscurity of those ages, which 
 preceded the discovery of America by the Europe* 
 ans. 
 
 There exists in the Western States of the Union, 
 many traces of a people imperfectly civilized, who 
 have been, by some of those revolutions to which 
 human affairs are so liable, swept from the stage, 
 leaving us ignorant of their misfortunes and name. 
 
 The monuments and remains of their labours, 
 which have resisted the hand of time, are chiefly 
 found in the great valleys along the Ohio and Mis 
 sissippi, in one of the most beautiful and fertile parts 
 of America. 
 
 The most striking of these antiquities are, the py 
 ramids, the fortifications, and the mounds ; which we 
 shall briefly describe, and proceed to examine the 
 question, What people erected them ? 
 
 The most accurate and interesting account of the 
 pyramids, may be seen in Mr. Brackenridge's Views 
 of Louisiana ; from which I have extracted the fol 
 lowing recital. 
 
202 
 
 " I crossed the Mississippi at St. Louis," says Mr. 
 B., " and after passing through the wood which bor 
 ders the river, about half a mile in breadth, entered 
 an extensive open plain, In fifteen minutes I found 
 myself in the midst of a group of mounds, mostly of 
 a circular shape, and at a distance resembling enor 
 mous haycocks, scattered through a meadow. One 
 of the largest, which I ascended, was about two hun 
 dred paces in circumference at the bottom, the form 
 nearly square, though it had evidently undergone 
 considerable alteration from the washing of the rains ; 
 the top was level, with an area sufficient to contain 
 several hundred men. 
 
 From the top of this mound I counted twenty 
 mounds or pyramids, besides a great number of small 
 artificial elevations ; these mounds form something 
 more than a semicircle, about a mile in extent; its 
 diameter formed by the river. 
 
 Pursuing my walk along the Cohokia, I passed 
 eight others, in the distance of three miles, before I 
 arrived at the principal assemblage. When I reached 
 the foot of the largest mound, I was struck with the 
 degree of astonishment not unlike that which is expe 
 rienced in contemplating the Egyptian pyramids; and 
 could not help exclaiming, what a stupendous pile of 
 earth. To heap up such a mass must have required 
 years, and the labours of thousands. It stands im 
 mediately on the bank of the Cohokia, and on the 
 side next it, is covered with lofty trees. Were it not 
 for the regularity and design which it manifests, the 
 circumstance of its being an alluvial ground, and the 
 
203 
 
 other mounds scattered around it, we could scarcely 
 believe it the work of human hands, in a country 
 which we generally believe never to have been inha 
 bited by any but a few lazy Indians. The shape is 
 that of a parallellogram, standing from north to south; 
 on the south side, there is a broad aprdn or step, about 
 half way down, and from this another projection into 
 the plain about fifteen feet wide, which was probably 
 intended as an ascent to the mound. By stepping 
 round the base I computed trie circumference to be 
 at least six hundred yards, and the height of the 
 mound about ninety feet. The step or apron has 
 been used as a kitchen garden by the monks of La 
 Trappe, and the top is sowed with wheat. Nearly 
 west is one of smaller size, and fifteen others scatter 
 ed through the plain two are also seen on the blufts 
 at the distance of three miles. Several of these 
 mounds are almost conical. As the sward had been 
 burnt, the earth was perfectly naked, and I could trace 
 with ease any unevenness of surface, so as to disco 
 ver whether it was artificial or accidental. I everv 
 
 V 
 
 where observed a great number of small elevations 
 of earth, to the height of a few feet, at regular dis 
 tances from each other, and which appeared to ob 
 serve some order. Near them I also observed pieces 
 of flint and fragments of earthen vessels. 
 
 I was perfectly satisfied, that here once existed a 
 city similar to those of Mexico, described by the first 
 conquerors. Although it might not have been a Li- 
 copolis, Persepolis, or Thebes, it is not improbable 
 th ; at it contained manv thousand inhabitants. This' 
 
204 
 
 plain, now reposing in the stillness of death, was once 
 the scene of a busy and crouded population ; those 
 temples, now devoted to the idolaters of silence, once 
 resounded with shouts of war or songs of peace. 
 The mounds, were sites of temples, or monuments to 
 the great men. It is evident, this could never have 
 been the work of thinly scattered tribes. If the hu 
 man species had any time been permitted in this 
 country to have increased freely, and there is every 
 probability of the fact, it must, as in Mexico, have 
 become astonishingly numerous. The same space of 
 ground would have sufficed to maintain fifty times 
 the number of the present inhabitants with ease ; 
 their agriculture having no other object than mere 
 sustenance. Amongst a numerous population, the 
 power of the chief must necessarily be more absolute ; 
 and where there are no laws, degenerate into despot 
 ism. This was the case in Mexico, and in the na 
 tions of South America ; a great number of individu 
 als were at the disposal of the chief, who treated them 
 little better than slaves. Hence, there would not be 
 wanting a sufficient number of hands to erect mounds 
 or pyramids. 
 
 Hunter and D unbar, describe a mound at the junc 
 tion of the Catahoula, Washita and Tensa rivers, very 
 similar in shape to the large one on the Cohokia. 
 This I have also visited. It has a step, or apron, and 
 is surrounded by a group of 'ten or twelve other 
 mounds of a smaller size. In the vicinity of New 
 Madrid, there are a number. One on the bank of a 
 lake, is at least four hundred yards in circumference, 
 
2'05 
 
 and surrounded by a ditch at least ten feet wide, and 
 at present five feet deep ; it is about forty feet in height, 
 and level on the top. I have frequently examined the 
 mounds at St. Louis ; they are situated on the se 
 cond bank, just above the town, and disposed in 
 a singular manner ; they are nine in all, and form 
 three sides of a parallelogram ; the open side towards 
 the country, being protected, however, by three 
 smaller mounds, placed in a circular manner. The 
 space enclosed, is about four hundred yarcL in length, 
 and two hundred in breadth. About six hundred 
 yards above, there is a single mound, with a broad 
 stage, on the river side ; it is thirty feet in height, and 
 one hundred and fifty in length ; the top is a mere 
 ridge, of five or six feet wide. Below the first 
 mounds, there is a curious work called the Falling 
 Garden. Advantage is taken of the second bank, 
 nearly fifty feet in height at this place, and three re 
 gular stages or steps, are formed by earth brought 
 from a distance. This work is much admired ; it 
 suggests the idea of a place of assembly, for the pur 
 pose of counselling, on publick occasions." (See 
 Brackenridges* Views of Louisiana ^ 173.^ 
 
 The Fortifications are extensive lines of ramparts, 
 generally irregular ; bending in various directions, 
 either to enclose a spring, or take the bend of a river 
 or hill. These works rarely have a ditch, and there 
 are no appearances of towers, bastions, or glacis, con- 
 
206 
 
 necied with them. In some instances, these works 
 are square, or circular, and very regularly laid out.* 
 
 Up the river Miami is a very strong fortification ; 
 the walls of which, are from ten and twelve, to eigh 
 teen feet in height. In this work, are many salient 
 and re-entering angles ; the area of the whole enclo 
 sure is almost one hundred acres. From this work, 
 runs two roads or elevations, sixteen feet in width, 
 and three in height ; they are nearly parallel for a 
 quarter of a mile, when they diverge, but at length 
 unite on the further side of a small and irregular 
 mound. 
 
 The walls of these fortifications are generally made 
 of earth, though in many other instances they are con- 
 structed of rough stones, put together without mor 
 tar. In some instances, this kind of wall have ex 
 tended a mile and a half. (See Dr. Drake^s Pic- 
 ture of Cincinnati.) 
 
 Dr. Drake also mentions the discovery of a road, 
 which can be traced for two miles. This road is at 
 present from one to two feet high ; its width appears 
 to have varied from twenty to thirty feet; its surface 
 is convex. In several places, strata of limestone and 
 pebbles have been discovered, but in other parts it 
 seems to be composed of earth only. 
 
 We are now to speak of the Barrows or Tumuli, 
 which are only mounds on a small scale. I agree 
 with Dr. Drake and Mr. Brackenridge, that these 
 
 * Baron Humboldt has remarked, that the fortifications of America, 
 resemble those found in Eastern Asia. Similar works are found in 
 Great Britain, and are evidently of great antiquity. 
 
207 
 
 erections are generally the burying places of distin 
 guished men, and sometimes of families ; some oth 
 ers, however, such as the one described by Mr. Jef 
 ferson, in his Notes on Virginia, presents the appear 
 ance of having been the general place of interment to 
 a village. 
 
 A line of distinction must be drawn between these 
 barrows or tumuli, and the pyramids, and fortifica 
 tions ; for whilst the latter are peculiar to one dis 
 trict of country, the tumuli may be found in every 
 other part of America.* 
 
 However imperfect and unskilful the works which 
 we have just described may appear, they still are 
 much superiour to any thing which we know the In 
 dians around to have ever attempted ; and a very 
 slight view must satisfy us, that these works owe their 
 erection to the combined exertions of a numerous and 
 organized population ; a state of society altogether 
 incompatible with the habits of any of the Indian na 
 tions, with whom we are acquainted. And these re 
 mains, found only in one district, seems to point them 
 out as the production of nation or people. 
 
 * And in fact all over the world. The mounds on the plain of Troy 
 are of this kind. They are also found in Eastern Asia and even among- 
 the natives of Southern Africa. 
 
 Similar mounds are common in Ireland, see Archaelogia, vol. xvi. p. 
 268 : " It is still the custom there with the natives, in passing such a 
 place, to cast thereon a stone, to increase the monumental pile, which is 
 obviously the remains of a very ancient custom ; at the time of throw 
 ing this stone, the pious passenger, bareheaded, repeats a prayer for the 
 repose of the soul of the dead." 
 
 The ceremonies observed by the Irish, &c. are individually the same 
 with those of our Indians- 
 
208 
 
 On digging in the ground, in the neighbourhood 
 of these monuments, are found pieces of pottery of 
 various shapes ; this species of manufacture appears 
 to have been formed out of pounded shells and clay, 
 and then subjected to a strong heat ; but there are no 
 appearances of glazing upon any of these vessels. 
 The Indians around are unacquainted with this ma 
 nufacture, though Dr. Drake thinks it is known to 
 some of the Indians of Louisiana. 
 
 But a decided proof of civilization superiour to our 
 Indians, may be derived from the fact ; that among 
 these ruins, are found pieces of copper, beat out into 
 thin sheets, and cut into various shapes; copper 
 beads have been found and other metaiick figures, 
 whose use and purpose seem to defy conjecture. Had 
 any of our Indians possessed the art of rendering cop- 
 per malleable, it can hardly be supposed that they 
 would forget, or lay aside an art, which rendered their 
 wars or hunting so efficient ; for the tedious prepara 
 tion, and imperfect substitution of flint.* 
 
 * Great scepticism should be entertained respecting newspaper ac 
 counts of antiquities and curiosities, found in America. 1 have seen re 
 lations of coins having been found in Ohio, engraved with unknown cha 
 racters, and yet having the year expressed by Arabian figures. 
 
 In the same manner much curiosity has been excited by the discovery 
 of glass beads, in certain parts of the United States, and under circum 
 stances which almost preclude the belief of their being European manu 
 factures. Some persons have, from these circumstances, hastily sup- 
 posed that the ancient inhabitants of America manufactured glass. But 
 it is well known to mineralogists, thai glass is a natur.il production, 
 and is not very uncommon. Obsidian, on volcanick glass, known to the 
 Mexicans by the nunie of Itzh, was much used by several American na 
 tions; and beads, mirrors and bracelets, formed from it. Baron Hum- 
 boldt, has given a plate of some Mexican ornaments, of Obsidian. 
 . Chrystalized quariz, also approaches so nearly to glass, that few but 
 mineralogists could distinguish the difference. 
 
209 
 
 It is much to be regretted, that so little exertion has 
 been made by our countrymen to investigate these 
 curious antiquities. The few specimens that are seen, 
 are only such as chance and accident have thrown in 
 the way ; and even when thus brought to light, the 
 ignorance or carelessness of the possessors, either 
 wantonly destroy, or suffer these interesting curiosi 
 ties to be lost. 
 
 Rude and ungraceful as these ruins are, they ne 
 vertheless excite our sympathy, and that concern 
 which arises in every feeling mind, on viewing the 
 overthrow of human labours or institutions. 
 
 When we contemplate the ruins of Ilium, of Car 
 thage, or of Palmyra, amid all our regret and concern 
 for their fate, yet there are incidents connected with 
 their histories which we reflect on with enthusiasm. 
 Though they have fallen, their fame yet lives. The 
 genius and talents of antiquity still shine with origi 
 nal splendour, and the triumph of time and desola 
 tion, over the labours of man, is incomplete. 
 
 Nee, si quid olim lusit Anacreon 
 Delevit setas. Spiral adhuc amor, 
 
 Vivuntque commissi calores 
 
 CEolia fidibus puelloe. 
 
 But with the mounds and fortifications of Ameri 
 ca, we have no agreeable, no inspiring associations. 
 We see " The bones of men in some forgotten battle 
 slam," we see the labours of their hands desolated, 
 
210 
 
 their rude works overgrown by the trees of the fo 
 rest ; whilst the nation that raised these works, to 
 gether with her patriots and her heroes, has disappear 
 ed, and has not left even a name behind. And the 
 last and only remembrance of them which has reach 
 ed our time, has been only preserved by a recollec 
 tion of their ruin and extermination, and the terrible 
 effusion of their blood. 
 
 Until very lately, it was believed, that the Indians 
 in the neighbourhood of these remains, were entirely 
 ignorant of the erectors of these works and which 
 they almost universally referred to an age anteriour 
 to their earliest traditions. Fortunately, however, 
 some gentlemen of curiosity have attended to this 
 subject scarcely in time ; but who have preserved 
 some traditions which throw a light upon the dark 
 inquiry; and by means of which, we may be able 
 to pierce the mysteries which shroud other, and 
 equally interesting subjects. 
 
 These important traditions have been extracted 
 from the PORT FOLIO, of Philadelphia; and were 
 originally taken from some manuscripts in the pos 
 session of the editor of that periodical work ; they 
 are as follows : 
 
 " Mr. Thomas Bodely was informed by Indians of 
 different tribes, north west of the Ohio, that they had 
 understood from their old men, and that it had been 
 a tradition among their several' nations, that Ken 
 tucky had been settled by whites, and that they had 
 been exterminated by war. They were of opinion 
 that the old fortifications now to be seen in Kentucky 
 
211 
 
 and Ohio, were the productions of those white inha 
 bitants. Wappockanita, a Shawnee chief, near a hun 
 dred and twenty years old, living on the Anglase ri 
 ver, confirmed the above tradition. 
 
 An old Indian, in conversation with Colonel Jas. 
 F. Moore, of Kentucky, informed him, that the 
 western country, and particularly Kentucky, had 
 once been inhabited by -white people -, but that they 
 were exterminated by the Indians. That the last 
 battle was fought at the Falls of Ohio, and that the 
 Indians succeeded in driving the Aborigines into a 
 small island (Sandy Island,) below the rapids, where 
 the whole of them were cut to pieces. 
 
 The Indian chief called Tobacco, told Gen. Clark, 
 of Louisville, that the battle of Sandy Island, decided 
 finally the fall of Kentucky, with its ancient inhabit- 
 ants. Kentuckee, in the Indian language, signifies 
 the River vf Blood. tSancroft Library 
 
 Colonel Joseph Davis, when at St. Louis in 1800, 
 saw the remains of an ancient tribe of the Sacs, who 
 expressed some astonishment that any person should 
 live in Kentucky ; they said the country had been 
 the scene of much blood, and was filled with the 
 manes of its butchered inhabitants. They stated 
 also, that the people who inhabited this country were 
 whites, and possessed such arts as were unknown to 
 the Indians. 
 
 Colonel M'Kee, who commanded on the Kenhawa 
 when Cornstalk w r as inhumanly murdered, had fre 
 quent conversation with that chief, respecting the 
 people who had constructed the ancient forts. He 
 
212 
 
 stated, that it was a current and assured tradition 
 among the Indians, that Ohio and Kentucky had 
 been once settled by white people ; who were pos 
 sessed of arts which the Indians did not know, and 
 that after many sanguinary contests they were exter 
 minated. (Port Folio, number for June, 1816.^ 
 
 From these traditions, and from the testimony of 
 three South American nations, who ascribe their ci 
 vilization and religion to three white men, whom we 
 shall presently notice, it appears very reasonable to 
 believe, that a race of white men, imperfectly civil 
 ized, were the centre from whence the civilization, 
 observable in America, has emanated ; and to this 
 population must we refer the pyramids and fortifica 
 tions of the Western country.* 
 
 It can be but little more than guess work to state 
 more of this aboriginal white people for the few 
 scattered, unconnected facts and circumstances that 
 remain concerning them, can only serve to give a to 
 lerable plausibility to what we will say on this sub 
 ject. 
 
 How great, or how extended their population may 
 have been, is impossible to tell ; perhaps we may 
 with safety say, that their influence pervaded all that 
 country where we find the fortifications and pyra- 
 
 * We have already shewn, (in page 52) that white men are found in 
 several parts of America, who have never had any connexion with Euro 
 peans. Bearded men may be seen among the ancient Mexican figures 
 and hieroglyphicks as see Humboldt's Atlas Pittoresque Planches, 21, 
 47, and 4*. 
 
213 
 
 rnids*, and which, I am disposed to believe, embrac 
 ed several of the copper coloured tribes also. 
 
 A cruel and bloody war appears to have taken place 
 between the rude and barbarous natives, perhaps un 
 der some Attilla or Genseric, and their more refined 
 and civilized neighbours, which ended nearly in the 
 total destruction of the latter. The few that survived 
 this catastrophe, fled their country, and sought happier 
 and more peaceful climes. The Toltecas and Mexi 
 cans, copper coloured people, who appear to owe the 
 knowledge and refinement they possessed to these 
 aboriginal whites, avoided a cruel fate in this manner, 
 though they appear to have also suffered before leav 
 ing their original country. 
 
 The arguments supporting the opinion, that the 
 Western States of the Union were the original coun 
 tries of the Mexicans and Toltecas, may perhaps be 
 plausibly demonstrated f, and under the peculiar cir 
 cumstances of the bloody war which we have just 
 mentioned, may be found the reasons that enforced 
 their migration. 
 
 Referring to the accounts we have given from Cla- 
 vigero, of the arrival and history of the Mexicans, 
 &.c. page 90, we will find these nations stating, they 
 
 * I am not able to state the exact extent of country over which these 
 remains are found. They appear from a short distance above Pittsburgh 
 to some heighth up the Missouri, but are found especially on the bor 
 ders of the Ohio and Mississippi ; and only extend a few miles, perhaps 
 not more than 30 or 40 from their banks. 
 
 f This is an old opinion, and has been supported by many writers, 
 Charles Cullen, Esq. Translator of the Abbe Clavigero's History of Mex 
 ico, is the first one, I know of, who published the opinion. 
 
 28 
 
214 
 
 were forced to leave their original country Huehue- 
 tapallan, which they said was north from Mexico. 
 They do not state why they were forced, or on 
 what account ; they simply say, they were banished. 
 It must strike every one who considers this subject, 
 diat the cause which could force so many different 
 tribes or people from their native country, could have 
 been nothing of a very common kind ; and nothing 
 that I can see, agrees in so many points as the opinion 
 we have just given, as to this cause. 
 
 It can be also shewn, that the works and labours of 
 the Mexicans, bear striking analogies to the ruins 
 found along the Mississippi and Ohio. The pyra 
 mids of Anahuac, and temples of Mexico, are deci 
 dedly of the same style, design and arrangement, with 
 the ancient remains,* The Mexicans also raised pla 
 ces of defence similar to the ancient fortifications ; 
 this may be seen in Clavigero, ii. 389 ; and this is 
 also evident by the account given by Cortez, of the 
 conquest of Mexico. 
 
 Clavigero has given a drawing of the defence to the 
 Tlascalan territories, not materially different from the 
 figure of one given in the Columbian Magazine, iii. 
 and fig. 1st. which is situated on the Huron river. 
 
 From some human bodies found in the western 
 country, there appears considerable reason to think 
 the Mexicans once lived there. 
 
 These bodies were found in a* copperas cave, near 
 the Cany Fork of Cumberland river, Ten. See Me- 
 
 * Compare Mr. Brackenridge's narration, page 203, with the note at 
 the foot of page 133, 
 
215 
 
 dical Repository, vol. iii. Hcxacle, iii. p. 147. One 
 of these bodies was a male, the other a female ; they 
 were buried separately, and according to the Medical 
 Repository, in the following manner : The male had 
 on a fine linen shirt; and then, five dressed deer skins 
 were closely wrapped around the body, then a twilled 
 blanket, and a cane mat sixty feet long. The body 
 of the female lay three feet from the male, and in the 
 same position ; she was enveloped in two undressed 
 deer skins, under which, upon the face, was found a 
 small cane mat ; then four dressed deer skins were 
 wrapped around, over which was folded a cane mat, 
 long enough to cover the whole ; then were five 
 sheets wrapped round, supposed to have been made 
 of nettle lint, wrought very curiously along the edges 
 with feathers, of various kinds and colours ; two fea 
 ther fans were found next, upon the breast : the bo 
 dy, with all the wrappings, was found on what was be 
 lieved to be a hair trunk or box, with a cane cover ; 
 which was wound up in two well dressed deer skins 
 of the largest size ; and the whole girted with straps. 
 
 This account is very loose and undeterminate ; and 
 the language of the gentleman who wrote it would 
 lead us to suppose, that the fine linen shirt and twilled 
 blanket were of European manufacture ; but this is 
 not the case ; what is called a shirt is only something 
 like one, and so also the twilled blankets are totally 
 dissimilar to any thing made in Europe or the United 
 States. 
 
 This correction to the statement given in the Me 
 dical Repository, I am entitled to do, from the infor- 
 
216 
 
 mation given me by a gentleman who saw the bodies 
 and their envelops, &c. and who deposited an arm 
 and specimens of the mats, feathers, &c. found with 
 them in Peale's Museum, Philadelphia, where I have 
 seen them. Another important circumstance incor 
 rectly stated in the Medical Repository is, that the 
 legs were cut off and laid upon the belly ; the fact is, 
 that they were only bent up, perhaps not more than is 
 done when we ourselves sit on a low seat. 
 
 The manufactured mats, &c. around these bodies, 
 agree very well with those of the Mexicans, &c. thus 
 Clavigero : " The Mexicans made of cotton, large 
 webs, as delicate and fine as those of Holland ; they 
 wove these cloths with different figures and colours ; 
 they interwove feathers with cotton, cc. ; from the 
 leaves of two species of plants they obtained a fine 
 thread, of which they made cloths equal to those made 
 of lint" (flax.) (See Clavigero, vol. ii. 425 J 
 
 By this extract, it appears that the wrappings found 
 around these bodies are very similar to the manufac 
 tures of the Mexicans and other nations first found in 
 Anahuac. And the singular flexure of the knees over 
 the belly, may be owing to their having been buried 
 in a sitting position, which was a Mexican ceremony. 
 
 The feather fans were a badge of nobility among 
 the people of Mexico and Anahuac generally. 
 
 In a work entitled Nature and Art, edited by Dr. 
 Mease, of Philadelphia, is a circumstance related 
 which perhaps strengthens this opinion, that our wes 
 tern country was once the seat of the Mexicans, Tol- 
 tecas, &c. A mound in or near the town of Tom- 
 
217 
 
 linson, in Ohio, was opened, and among many bones 
 and stone tools, was found a kind of stone signet, of 
 an oval shap~, two inches in length, with a figure in 
 relievo resembling the note of admiration, (!) sur 
 rounded by two raised rims. A captain Wilson, who 
 \vas present, observed that it was exactly the figure 
 of the brand with which the Mexican horses were 
 marked, &c. (See Nature and Art ', vol. xw. 199.^ 
 
 I have also been informed, that our late president, 
 Jefferson, has in his possession many masks, &c. 
 made of baked clay, and which were found in differ 
 ent parts of the western country. This circumstance 
 also coincides with the habit of the Mexicans ; see 
 our notice of burial. In the Archaslogia, vol. vi. 107, 
 a Mr. Charles Rogers, mentions a great number of si 
 milar masks being found on the Musquito shore. He 
 was told by his Indian guides, that they were like 
 nesses of chiefs, 
 
 We come now to speak of those three extraordi 
 nary persons Quetzalcoatl, Inca-mancu Capac, and 
 Bochica ; men who appeared on a sudden, with 
 white skins, long beards, and flowing garments, 
 From what has been already said of the ancient white 
 aborigines of America, it will be at once perceived, 
 that their origin may be very reasonably referred to 
 that source ; and their appearance among the nations, 
 may be described to the ruin of their country, which 
 forced them to emigrate. 
 
 It was between the years 544 and 648 of our era, 
 that the Tokecs emigrated from the North, and arrived 
 in Anahuac. During this time, or as Baron Hum- 
 
boldt observes perhaps anteriour to that age, Quet- 
 zalcoatl made his appearance ; a white man, bearded, 
 and accompanied by other strangers, who wore black 
 garments, in the form of cassocks. He came a kind 
 of missionary and lawgiver to the Toltecas, and 
 greatly civilized' them. 
 
 It appears to me, that there are two personages 
 blended under the. name of Quetzalcoatl ; one may 
 with great probability, be referred to the god of that 
 name, who we have described in page 120, and 
 whose history affords strong analogies with that of the 
 Patriarch Noah. The other Quetzalcoatl, was, I 
 think, a priest from the white Americans ; and who, 
 perhaps, was a priest of the god Quetzalcoatl ; he 
 appears to have arrived among the Toltecs about the 
 times we have stated. In a like manner, is the god 
 Wooden or Odin, confounded with the hero or priest 
 Odin; and history, in other places, offers analagous 
 illustrations. 
 
 Bochica, who appeared to the Muyscas, and Mancu 
 Capac, the first Inca, and instructor of the Peruvians, 
 also were white, and bearded men. They appeared 
 on a sudden to these South American people, as mi 
 nisters from Heaven. It is my opinion, that these 
 two personages, were priests of the white Americans, 
 who were fortunate enough to escape the ruin and de 
 solation of their country, and to reach South Ameri 
 ca; where, by superiour knowledge, and usual artifi 
 ces, they acquired an influence over the minds of the 
 
219 
 
 Peruvians and Muyscas ; which, perhaps, was bene 
 ficial to those nations.* 
 
 I do not know how far we ought to depend upon 
 the traditionary chronologies which are given, as to 
 the appearance of these lawgivers of America. Ac 
 cording to the Mexicans, Quetzalcoatl appeared to 
 the Toltecas, either about the five hundred and forti 
 eth year of the Christian era, or in the ages anteriour ; 
 and whilst the Mexicans were living in Huehuetapal- 
 lan. 
 
 There are no particular accounts given of the time 
 Bochica first made his appearance to the Muyscas. 
 
 I must acknowledge, previous to concluding this 
 inquiry, that I am not satisfied in every point with my 
 conjectures upon these American antiquities. Indeed, 
 the credulity of any one must be uncommonly great, 
 who could believe, he had thoroughly investigated and 
 explained such ancient and mysterious difficulties. 
 We are without records, or traditions, or in fact any 
 other help than a plausible theory ; and other theories 
 may perhaps explain and reconcile the difficulties un 
 der which the subject lies, just as well ; and I am afraid, 
 
 * There are some difficulties involved in the opinion, that Mancu Ca- 
 pac, Quetzalcoatl, and Bochica, were of the same nation of whites as 
 the religions and policy of these lawgivers, were different. These diffi 
 culties, however, may be reconciled, by supposing some sectarian dif 
 ferences to have existed among the white Americans ; which may have 
 been further altered by the crafty policy of the priests, to suit the ge 
 nius of the different nations they afterwards civilized. 
 
 The Seevites and Bhuddists of India, offer a good illustration to the 
 sectarian differences, I have supposed may have existed among the 
 whites of America; and which may be supposed to be exemplified by 
 the religions of Mexico and Peru. 
 
220 
 
 that all the light which will be ever thrown upon the 
 subject, will be through the uncertain medium of con 
 jecture. 
 
 I am induced to make these observations, among 
 many other reasons, by finding that Garcilazo de la 
 Vega relates enormous stone buildings, pyramids, 
 and gigantick stone statues, are found on the frontiers 
 of Peru whose founders or builders were unknown. 
 Perhaps it would be carrying our theory too far, to 
 attribute these last works to the ancient whites of 
 America, or to the Toltecas ; all that can be said, is, 
 that such an opinion is not attended with impossible 
 circumstances. Time, philosophical research and 
 examination, may perhaps give us a knowledge of 
 these remains ; but at present we must be silent, and 
 leave them in almost cimerian darkness. 
 
 FINIB,