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diff --git a/28627.txt b/28627.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c70597 --- /dev/null +++ b/28627.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1608 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Incentives to the Study of the Ancient +Period of American History, by Henry R. Schoolcraft + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Incentives to the Study of the Ancient Period of American History + An address, delivered before the New York Historical + Society, at its forty-second anniversary, 17th November 1846 + +Author: Henry R. Schoolcraft + +Release Date: April 27, 2009 [EBook #28627] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY *** + + + + +Produced by K Nordquist and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +INCENTIVES TO THE STUDY OF THE ANCIENT PERIOD +OF AMERICAN HISTORY. + + +AN ADDRESS, + +DELIVERED BEFORE THE + +NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, + +AT ITS FORTY-SECOND ANNIVERSARY, 17TH NOVEMBER, 1846. + +BY + +HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT. + +PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY. + + + + +NEW YORK: +PRESS OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. + +1847. + +NEW YORK: +WILLIAM VAN NORDEN, PRINTER, +NO. 39 WILLIAM STREET. + + + + +NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. + + +At a special meeting of the New York Historical Society, November 17th, +1846, being the Forty-Second Anniversary of the Society, Hon. LUTHER +BRADISH in the Chair, on motion of Mr. PHILIP HONE, it was unanimously + +_Resolved_, That the thanks of the Society are due to Mr. HENRY R. +SCHOOLCRAFT, for his learned and interesting Address, delivered this +evening, and that a copy be respectfully requested to be deposited in +the archives of the Society, and published. + +Extract from the Minutes. + +ANDREW WARNER, + +_Recording Secretary_. + + + + +AN ADDRESS. + + +To narrow the boundaries of historical mystery, which obscures the +early period of the American continent, is believed to be an object of +noble attainment. Can it be asserted, on the ground of accurate +inquiry, that man had not set his feet upon this continent, and +fabricated objects of art, long anterior to the utmost periods of the +monarchies of ancient Mexico and Peru? Were there not elements of +civilization prior to the landing of Coxcox, or the promulgation of the +gorgeous fiction of Manco Capac? What chain of connection existed +between the types of pseudo-civilization found respectively at Cuzco, +west of the Andes, and in the valley of Anahuac? Did this chain ever +link in its causes the pyramids of Mexico with the mounds of the +Mississippi valley? It is not proposed to enter into the details of +this discussion. Such an inquiry would far transcend the limits before +me. It is rather designed to show the amplitude of the field as a +subject of historical inquiry, than to gather its fruits. It will +entirely compass the object I have in view, if the suggestions I am to +make shall have the tendency, in any degree, to draw attention to the +topic, and to denote the strong incentives which exist, at the present +time, to study this ancient period of American history. This is the +object contemplated. + +Nations, in their separation from their original stocks, and dispersion +over the globe, are yet held together by the leading traits, physical +and intellectual, which had characterized them as groups. And in +spreading abroad, they are found to have left behind them a golden +clue, which we recognize in physiology, languages, arts, monuments, and +mental habitudes. These traits are so intimately interwoven in the woof +of the mind, and so firmly interlaced in the structure and tendencies +to action of the whole organization of the man, that they can be +detected and generalized after long eras of separation, and the most +severe mutations of history. Such is the judgment, at least, of modern +research. Ethnology bases its claims to confidence in the recognition +of the dispersed family of man, in these proofs. And when they have +been eliminated from the dust of antiquity, they are offered as +contributions to the body of well considered facts and inferences, +which are to compose the thread of antique history and critical +inquiry. + +And what, it may be inquired, are the evidences the study produces, +when these means of scrutiny come to be applied to the existing red +race of this continent? or to their predecessors in its occupancy? Do +their languages tell the story of their ancient affinities with Asia, +Africa, or Europe? Do we see, in their monuments and remains of art, +increments of a pre-existing state of advance, or refinement, in the +human family, in other parts of the globe? It is confessed, that in +order to answer these enquiries, we must first scrutinize the several +epochs of the nations with whom we are to compare them, and the changes +which they themselves have undergone. Without erecting these several +standards of comparison, no certainty can attend the labor. All nations +and tribes upon the face of the globe, whom we can make sponsors for +the American tribes, are thus constituted the field of study, and we +have opened to our investigations a theme at once noble and sublime. +Philosophy has no higher species of inquiry, beneath Infinitude, than +that which establishes the original affinities of man to man. + +We perceive, in casting our minds back on the track of nations from +whom we are ourselves sprung, a strong and clear chain of philological +testimony, running through the various nations of the great Thiudic[1] +type, until it terminates in the utmost regions of the north. This +chain of affiliation, though it had a totally diverse element in the +Celtic, to begin with, yet absorbed that element, without in the least +destroying the connection. It runs clearly from the Anglo Saxon to the +Frisic, or northern Dutch, and the Germanic, in all its recondite +phases, with the ancient Gothic, and its cognates, taking in very wide +accessions from the Latin, the Gallic, and other languages of southern +Europe; and it may be traced back, historically, till it quite +penetrates through these elementary masses of change, and reveals +itself in the Icelandic. Two thousand five hundred years, assuming no +longer period, have not obliterated these affinities of language. Even +at this day, the Anglo Saxon numerals, pronouns, most of the terms in +chronology, together with a large number of its adverbs, are well +preserved in the Icelandic. And had we no history to trace our national +origin, the body of philological testimony, which can be appealed to, +would be conclusive of the general question. + + [1] Forster. + +Does Asia offer similar proofs of the original identity, or parentage +of its languages with America? This cannot be positively asserted. But +while there is but little analogy in the sounds of the lexicography, so +far as known, it is in this quarter of the globe, that we perceive +resemblances in some words of the Shemitic group of languages, positive +coincidences in the features of its syntax, and in its unwieldy +personal and polysyllabical and aggregated forms; and the inquiry is +one, which may be expected to produce auspicious results. On the +assumption of their Asiatic origin, therefore, it is evident that the +Indian tribes are of far greater antiquity than the Anglo Saxon. Not +only so, but they appear on philological proofs to be older, in their +national phasis, if we except, perhaps, the Chinese, than the present +inhabitants of the north-eastern coasts of Asia, and the East India +Islands. But we are not to pursue this topic. The general facts are +merely thrown out, to denote the far reaching and imperious +requirements of philology. + +When we examine the American continent, with a view to its ancient +occupancy, we perceive its surface scarified with moats and walls--its +alluvial level plains and vallies bearing mounds, teocalli and +pyramids. Its high interior altitudes, in the tropical regions, are +covered with the ruins of temples and cities--and even in the temperate +latitudes of the north, its barrows and mounds are now found to yield +objects of exquisite sculpture, and many of its forests, beyond the +Alleghanies, exhibit the regularity of antique garden beds and +furrows,[2] amid the heaviest forest trees. Objects of art and +implements of war, and even of science, are turned up by the plough. +These are silent witnesses. With the single exception of the +inscription stone, found in the great tumulus of Grave Creek, in +Virginia, in the year 1838,[3] there is no monument of art on the +continent, yet discovered, which discloses an alphabet, and thus +promises to address posterity in an articulate voice. We must argue +chiefly from the character of the antique works of art. + + [2] MSS. of the Am. Ethn. Society. Vide Catalogue, Vol. I. + + [3] Trans. Am. Ethn. Society. Vol. I. + +But although the apparent hieroglyphics of Yucatan and Central America +have not been read, nor a history of much incident, or a remote +antiquity, deduced from the pictorial scrolls of Mexico, it is +impossible not to assign to the era of American antiquities, a degree +of arts, science, agriculture and general civilization, to which the +highest existing nomadic or hunter tribes had no pretence. It is a +period of obscurity, of which inquirers might perhaps say, that the +darkness itself is made to speak. It tells of the displacement of +light. All indeed beyond the era of Columbus, is shrouded in historical +gloom. We are thus confined within the short cycle of some three +hundred and fifty years. A little less than twelve generations of men. +Beyond this period, we have an ante-historical period, which is filled, +almost exclusively, with European claimants of prior discovery. We will +name them in their order. They are the Scandinavians, the Cimbri and +tribes of Celtic type, and the Venetians. Still prior, is the Asiatic +claim of a predatory nation, who, in the days of the Exodus, lived in +caves and dens of the earth, under the name of Horites,[4] and who +culminated at a later era, under the far-famed epithet of +Phoenicians--a people whose early nautical skill has, absolutely, no +cotemporary. + + [4] Forster. + +Scandinavian antiquities have recently assumed the highest interest, +which the press and the pencil can bestow. Danish art and research have +achieved high honors in disinterring facts from the dust of forgotten +ages. And we may look to the illustrated publications, which have been +put forth at Copenhagen, under royal auspices, as an example of what +literary costume and literary diligence, may do to revive and +re-construct the antiquarian periods of the world's history. The +publication of the ancient northern Sagas, and the ballads of the +Scandinavian Skalds, has revealed sufficient of the history of the +early and bold adventures, in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth +centuries, to show that these hardy adventurers not only searched the +shores of Iceland and Greenland, and founded settlements and built +churches there; but pushed their voyages west to the rocky shores of +Heluiland, the woody coasts of Markland, and the vine-yielding coasts +of ancient Vinland. These three names geography has exchanged in our +days, for Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Massachusetts. Perhaps some +other portions of New England may be embraced by the ancient name of +Vinland. + +The ancient songs and legends of a people may be appealed to, as these +Sagas and ballads have been, for historical proof, as it is known that +the early nations celebrated their heroic exploits, in this manner. +Authors tell us that Homer but recited the traditions of his +countrymen. The nautical and geographical proofs, by which portions of +the North Atlantic shores have been identified by the bold spirit of +northern research, are certainly inexact and to some extent +hypothetical. In extending the heretofore admitted points of discovery +and temporary settlement, south to Massachusetts and Rhode Island, they +carry with them sufficient general plausibility, as being of an early +and adventurous age, to secure assent. And they only cease to inspire a +high degree of historical respect, at the particular points where the +identification becomes extreme, where the pen and pencil have to some +extent distorted objects, and where localities and monuments are +insisted on, which we are by no means sure ever had any connection with +the acts of the early Scandinavian adventurers, and sea kings. This +period of the ante-Columbian era, is one of deep interest in American +history, and invites a careful and candid scrutiny, with a sole eye to +historical truth. + +We have also a Celtic period, falling within the same general era of +the Scandinavian, which, at least, deserves to be examined, if it be +only to clear away the rubbish that encumbers the threshold of the +ancient period of our Indian history. This claim to discovery, rests +chiefly upon a passage in old British history, which represents two +voyages of a Welsh Prince, who in the twelfth century, sailed west from +the coasts of Britain, and is thought by some writers, to have reached +this continent. The discovery of Columbus was of such an astounding +character and reflected so eminent a degree of honor, both on him and +the Court which had employed this noble mariner, that it is no wonder +other countries of maritime borders, should rake up the arcana of their +old traditions, to share in the glory. If these ancient traditions have +left but little worthy of the sober pen of history, they have imposed +on us, as cultivators of history, the literary obligation to examine +the facts and decide upon their probability. If Prince Madoc, as this +account asserts, sailed a little south of west, he is likely to have +reached and landed at the Azores. It is not incredible, indeed, that +small ships, such as the Britons, Danes and Northmen used, should have +crossed the entire Atlantic at the era, between the vernal and autumnal +equinoxes, although it is not probable. It is nearly certain, however, +that should such a feat have been performed in the twelfth century, the +natives of the American coasts, who were inimical to strangers, would, +in no long period, have annihilated them. With a full knowledge of the +warlike and suspicious elements of Indian character, such a result +might have been predicted in ordinary cases. But that these tribes, or +any one of them, should have adopted, as is contended, the _language_ +of a small and feeble colony of foreigners, either landing or stranded +on the coast; nay more, so fully adopted it as to be understood by any +countrymen of the Prince, five hundred years afterwards,[5] is a proof +of the national credulity of men, who are predetermined to find the +analogies which they ardently seek. + + [5] Vide Stoddart's Louisiana. + +Italy has likewise a claim to the discovery of this continent, prior to +the voyages of Columbus. This claim is made by an ancient family of the +highest rank in the city of Venice--once the mistress of the commerce +of the world. The voyages of the two Zenos, over the northern seas, in +the 14th century, extending to Greenland, appear to be well attested by +the archives of that ancient city. The episode of Estotiland, which is +apparently used as a synonyme for Vinland, has been generally deemed +apocryphal, or of a date posterior to the other incidents described. To +examine and set in order both the true and the intercalated parts of +these curious ancient voyages, would involve no little degree of +research, but would prove, if well executed, a useful and acceptable +service to historical letters. + +There is another period--we allude to the Horitic element--in the +obscurity of the early history of the continent, which may be here +mentioned, but from the diversity of the sub-elements which enter into +it, some hesitancy exists in giving it a name. In order to secure the +purposes of generalization, and include every element of which it is +composed, it may be called, provisionally, the MEDITERRANEAN PERIOD. It +is the earliest and most obscure of the whole, relying, as it does, +almost exclusively upon passages of the imaginative literature of +Greece. Yet it is a subject eminently worthy of the pen of original +investigation. It includes the consideration of the early maritime +power of the Phoenicians, the Etruscans, the Carthaginians, and other +celebrated nations and cities who, long before the Christian era, drew +the attention and governed the destinies of the world. It was in this +quarter of the globe, forming, as it does, the cementing point between +Europe and Asia, that an alphabet arose at a very early day, and prior +to that of Greece or Rome, which consisted almost exclusively of +straight or angular marks. From its use it has sometimes been called +the Rock Alphabet. It has its equivalents in the more full and exact +Hebrew and Greek characters, so far as the old alphabet extended. It +had, as these changes progressed and the family of man spread, the +various names of Phoenician, Ostic, Etruscan, Punic, ancient Greek and +Gallic, Celtiberic, Runic, Druidical and others. As a system of +notation, it appears to occupy an epoch between the hieroglyphic system +of Egypt and the Greek alphabet. But whatever may be said of its +origin, affinities, changes, or character, it is clear that this simple +alphabet spread westward among the barbaric nations of Europe, +changing, in some measure, in its forms of notation and the articulate +sounds it represented, until it reached the utmost limits of its +western and northern coasts and islands. Here it served as the means of +recording human utterance, until it was supplanted and obliterated by +the civilization of Rome and the Roman alphabet. To decypher the +ancient inscriptions in this simple character, found upon rocks and +monuments, is an object, at this day, of learned research; and its +importance may be judged of by observing, that, whenever successfully +effected, it is a literal restoration, to the present age, of the lost +sounds of those parts of the ancient world. I will no farther allude to +this period, so important in its means of research, than to add, that +the inscription, found in 1838, on opening the gigantic pile of earth, +or tumulus, heretofore referred to, on the alluvial plains of Grave +Creek in Western Virginia, was in one of the types of this ancient +character. This type of the alphabet may be called AONIC[6]--a term +derived from the aboriginal vocabulary. I visited the locality in +1843--carefully examined the facts, and having satisfied myself of the +authenticity of the discovery, took duplicate copies of the inscription +in wax, and transmitted them to Europe. The inscription consists of +twenty-three letters, together with a pictorial device, apparently a +man's head on a pike. It is made on a small hard stone, of an oval +shape, and was found in a vault along with human bones, sea shells, and +various ornaments of a rude age. Professor Charles Rafn, of Copenhagen, +deems the character Celtiberic. I have recently received a memoir from +M. Jomard, at Paris, (the sole survivor of Bonaparte's scientific corps +in Egypt,) who considers it as of Lybian origin, and compares it with +an inscription found on the African shores of the Mediterranean at +Dugga. It relieves, to some extent, the discrepancy existing between +these two learned men to remark that the Dugga inscription consists of +two parts, one of which is pronounced Celtiberic by Hamaker, and that +the generic character of the strokes in this alphabet are preserved to +some extent even in the true Libyan. Since the receipt of Mr. Rafn's +paper, the number of characters on the Grave Creek stone which are +identical with the Celtiberic, as published in the first volume of the +Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, has been shown to be +fifteen, leaving but eight to be accounted for. By comparison, ten of +our Aonic characters of Grave Creek correspond with the Phoenician; +four with the ancient Greek; four with the Etruscan; six with the +ancient Gallic; seven with the old Erse; five with the Runic proper, +and thirteen with the Druidical, or old British, as it existed before +the invasion of Julius Caesar. The latter are, however, almost +identical, so far as the comparison goes, with the Celtiberic. Six of +the characters, which are several times repeated, however, exist in the +right hand portion of the Lybian inscription at Dugga, but the +introduction, in other parts of the monumental text, of the Arabic +element of notation by curved lines, tends to lessen the probability of +the Lybian origin of our western inscription, while it adds additional +force to the suggestions of Mr. Rafn. It is also to be noticed that M. +Jomard employed an inaccurate copy of the inscription which was +furnished him some years ago by Mr. Vail. + + [6] Vide Notes on the Iroquois. + +This comprehends the European branch of the obscure period of our early +continental history, and includes all the nations known to have put in +claims to share, or to anticipate, the glory of the discovery of the +continent by Columbus. + +The discovery of the continent, was, indeed, a geographical wonder. It +was made contrary to the predictions of the times. Such a discovery was +not only opposed by popular opinion; but Columbus himself expected no +such thing. He sought only a new passage to the East Indies. He +insisted, with a noble constancy, that he should find land in sailing +west. But he did not expect to find, as if by the power of necromancy, +that a vast continent should rise up before his eyes. And it is +altogether questionable, whether the great navigator did not die +without a true knowledge of this fact. It will be recollected that it +was not until six years after his death, which happened in 1506, that +Balboa first discovered the Pacific from the heights of Panama, and +thus truly revealed the position of the Continent. + +Sages and Philosophers do not admire results which have fallen out +contrary to their expressed views; but, in this case, the discovery +proved so astounding that all Europe joined in extolling, what all +Europe had a little before, disbelieved. A continent stretching little +under 10,000 miles, from south to north, with a maximum breath of 2000 +miles, between sea and sea, rivers, such as the La Plata and the +Amazon--mountains like that of the Andes, whose highest peak rises +20,280 feet above the sea--Volcanoes, which cast their fires over +plains of interminable extent--tropical fruits of every kind--mines of +gold and silver the richest the world had ever known--these were some +of the features that America brought to light, while it added one-third +to the known area, and more than one-third to the commercial resources +of the world. + +But while men gazed at its lofty mountains, and geological +magnificence, the ancient race of men, who were found here, constituted +by far the most curious and thought-inspiring problem. Volcanoes and +vast plains and mountains were elements in the geography of the old +world, and their occurrence here, soon assimilated their discovery to +other features of the kind. But the red man continued to furnish a +theme for speculation and inquiry, which time has not satisfied. +Columbus, supposing himself to have found, what he had sailed for, and +judging from physical characteristics alone, called them _Indians_. +Usage has perpetuated the term. But if, by the term, it is designed to +consider them as of that part of India, which is filled with the Hindoo +race, there is but little resemblance beyond mere physical traits. Of +the leading idea of the multiform incarnations of the terrible, and +degraded Hindoo deities--of the burning of widows at the funereal +pile--of infanticide--of the gross idolatry rendered to images, like +those of Vishnoo and Juggernaut, there is nothing. The degraded forms +of superstition and human vice which are practised on the Ganges and +the Burrampooter, are unknown on the Mississippi and the Missouri. Nor +have we found, so far as I am aware, a single word in the American +languages, which exists in the Hindostanee. + +The philosophers and ecclesiastics of the sixteenth century, who +discussed the subject of the origin of the American Tribes, have left +scarcely a portion of the globe untouched by their researches, or from +which, they have not attempted, by some analogies, to deduce them. +Generalization, as soon as Columbus returned from his first voyage, +took an unlimited latitude; and theories were advanced with a degree of +confidence, which was, in some measure, proportioned to the remoteness +of the position of the writers, from both the stock of people found, +and those of nations with whom they were sought to be compared. +Scholars ransacked the archives of European archaeology. They found some +allusions in the Greek drama, to ancient discoveries beyond the pillars +of Hercules. They speculated on the story of Atlantis, and the +Fortunate Islands. They drew parallels between the hunter and corn +planting tribes of America, and the lost ten tribes of Israel, who were +graziers. They located ancient Ophir, where of all places it had +certainly never been, namely, in America. They were satisfied with +general resemblances in manners and customs, which mark uncivilized +nations, in distant parts of the world, who assimilate, in some traits, +from mere parity of circumstances, but between whom there are in +reality, no direct affinities of blood and lineage. And they left the +question, to all practical and satisfactory ends, precisely where they +found it. It was still to be answered, WHO ARE THE INDIANS? + +The present age is, in many respects, better prepared to undertake the +examination of the question. The time which has passed away since +Columbus dropped anchor at the island of Guanahani, has rendered +distant nations on the globe far better acquainted with each other. +This has, indeed, been the most remarkable period for its influence on +all the true elements of civilization, which the world has ever known. +The advance of general knowledge, the comity of national intercourse, +and the policy and friendship of nations, has certainly never before +reached its present state. China is no longer a sealed nation. British +arms have carried the influence of arts and letters, through Hindostan, +Abyssinia, Persia, and the valley of the Euphrates, have been visited +and explored. The deserts of the Holy Land have been trod by learned +men of Europe and America. The mouth of the Niger and the sources of +the Nile, are revealed. Even Arabia, the land where Abraham and his +descendants once trod, has sent an embassy of peace, to a government +18,000 miles distant, which has not had a national existence over +seventy years. Not only the rulers of Arabia and America have been thus +brought into the bonds of intercourse; but the age has exchanged the +arts, the science and the philosophy of the utmost parts of the earth. +Scientific discovery has reached its highest acme. The sites of many +ancient and long unknown, though not forgotten cities, are recovered. +Monuments and ruins have been disinterred in the ancient seats of human +power, in the oriental world, and inscriptions deciphered, which give +vitality to ancient history. Ethnology has arisen to hold up the light +of her resplendent lamp, amid these ruins, to guide the footsteps of +letters, science and piety. + +To these evidences of the inquisitive energy of the age, it has added +new and important means of study and investigation. The principles of +interpretation which originated in the study of Egyptian monuments, +have guided inquiries in other quarters of the globe, and the discovery +of a key to the hieroglyphics of the Nile has thus reflected light on +the progress of monumental researches throughout the world. The science +of philology, so important in considering the affinities of nations, +has been almost wholly created within fifty years. Franklin lived and +died without a knowledge of it. Astronomy has been employed to some +extent to detect the chronology of architectural ruins, and even the +antique history of America has been illustrated by the record of an +eclipse among the ancient Mexican picture-writings.[7] Geology, in her +labors to determine the character of the exhumed bones and shells of +extinct classes of the animal creation of former eras, has not failed +to impart the most important knowledge of the physical history of the +planet we occupy. Electricity and magnetism have also enlarged their +boundaries. Chemistry is in the process of fulfilling the highest +expectations. All these sources of knowledge have been poured into the +lap of geography and ethnography, and given us a far better and truer +knowledge of the character, resources, and position of the nations of +the world. And after making every allowance for the literary +complacency of the age, we are yet unable to point to a prior epoch of +the world when man had so fully recovered his position in the scale of +civilization, and in the knowledge of the various phenomena in science, +letters and arts, on which his true advance depends. + + [7] Vide Gallatin's paper--Trans. Am. Eth. Society, vol. I. + +With these evidences of intellectual progress and the increased power +of modern inquiry, there are redoubled incentives to investigate the +obscure period of American history. It has been said, prematurely, in +the arrogance of European criticism, that America has "no fallen +columns" to examine--"no inscriptions to decypher." We answer the +assertion by pointing to the enigmatical walls of Palenque and Chi Chen +Itza, and to the polished ruins of Cuzco, and the valley of Anahuac. +Researches in this field of observation have just commenced. Bigotry +and lust of conquest, led the early Spanish adventurers to sweep as +with the besom of destruction every object and monument of art which +stood in their way. Cortez razed the walls of ancient Mexico to the +ground as he entered it, and his zealous followers committed to the +flames whatever was light and combustible. This spirit marked the +entire conquest which was carried on under the triple mania of +religious bigotry, the lust of gold, and the unchastened spirit of +national robbery. We have to glean for facts among that which is left. +It is still an interesting field, but it has been hedged up since the +conquest, by the jealous spirit and narrow policy of by far the most +gloomy and non-progressive nation of Europe. Spanish chivalry has been +extolled to the skies, but it has ever been the chivalry of the dark +ages. She has fought for the antiquity of opinion, while she has +guarded the avenue to facts. There are immense districts of Central and +South America, which are yet a perfect terra incognita to the traveller +and the antiquarian. + +Entire tribes and nations in the gloomy ranges of the Andes and the +Cordilleras have never submitted to the Spanish yoke, and still enjoy +their original customs and institutions. So far as modern explorations +have been made, the results are, in a high degree, auspicious. Mr. +Stephens has opened vistas in our antiquarian history by his two +exploratory journies, which tend to show how little we yet know of the +ancient epochs of the country, and the field of inquiry is about to be +occupied at various points under the highest advantages. Some of the +figures and devices on the antique walls and temples of equinoctial +America, appear to contain information for a future Young or +Champollion to reveal. Time and scrutiny will do much to lift the veil +of mystery from these ancient ruins, and to form and regulate sound +opinion upon the ancient inhabitants of that quarter, and their state +of arts. There can be no doubt that evidences exist in buried +antiquities which will tend to connect the arts and religion, mythology +and astronomy of the eastern and western hemispheres--to unravel the +difficulties in the way of comparative philology, and to reconstruct +and connect the links in the broken chain of national affiliation. + +Even in our less attractive latitudes and longitudes, a more auspicious +and healthy tone has been given to the spirit of investigation. A voice +from one of our western mounds (which has been alluded to) promises to +restore the reading of an inscription in one of the earliest alphabets +of the world. Sculptures have recently been disclosed in some of the +minor mounds of the West, which are executed in a polished style of +art, and strongly connect the Mexican and American tribes. The figures +of animals and birds, taken from some barrows in the Scioto valley, are +executed in a manner quite equal to anything of the kind found in +Mexico or Peru. + +Mythological evidence is also assuming more distinctive grounds. An +imitative mound of a gigantic serpent swallowing an egg, has been +discovered in one of the forest counties of Ohio, while I have been +engaged in penning these remarks. The discovery of this curious +structure, which is coiled for the distance of a quarter of a mile +around a hill, transfers to our soil a striking and characteristic +portion of oriental mythology. Scarcely a season passes, indeed, which +does not add, by the extension of our settlements, or the direct agency +of exploration, to the number of monumental evidences of antique +occupancy. + +But were these, indeed, wanting--were there no mounds or pyramids of +sepulture or sacrifice--no remains of art--no inscriptive testimonies +to speak of by-gone centuries--we have before us one of the most +interesting of all monumental proofs in the lost and enigmatical race, +who yet rove the boundless forests of the West and South. Whether there +be evidences to separate the eras and nations of the most ancient +inhabitants from those whose descendants yet remain, is one of the very +points at issue. If the descendants of the mound and temple builders +yet exist, the traditions of the era have passed from them in the +process of their declension. But whoever the builders were, and whether +their blood still flows in the existing race or not, they clung, like +this race, so firmly to their ancient mythology and religion as to +impress it indelibly on the features of their architecture, and in +almost every work or labor which they attempted. + +Viewed in every age, the existing tribes have exhibited such a fixity +and peculiarity of character, as to have rendered them at once a +paradox and a bye-word. The Turk has not been more inflexible; nor the +Jew shown more individuality. We have hardly begun systematically to +examine this subject. If the ancient builders were nomads--mere hunters +of the bear, the deer, and the bison, who were too happy in the +Parthian attainments of the bow and arrow to need towns and +temples--certainly no such development arose in these more northern +latitudes. And yet, if we make some peculiar exceptions, it appears +difficult to suppose that the entire race, viewed in its generic and +ethnological aspect, did not present a unity. While the very amplitude +of the continent, and the variety of its soil, climate and productions, +would lead, inevitably, to divisions and sub-divisions of tribes and +languages, there are characteristics so deeply seated in their +organization and habits, physical and mental, as to mark them as a +peculiar family of the Red Type of man. Adopting this idea of unity as +a basis of study, there are, at least, fewer obstacles in grouping the +phenomena from which our deductions are to be drawn. The proof of +negation is not the strongest proof, but it is something to assert that +they are neither of Japhetic or Hamitic origin. In the traditions of +one of the most celebrated North American tribes, namely, the Iroquois, +the continent or "island," as it is termed, is called Aonio,[8] and we +may hence denominate the race Aonic, and the individuals Aonites. If we +do not advance by this term in the origin of the people, we at least +advance in the precision of discussion. + + [8] Notes on the Iroquois. + +But where shall we find a basis, on which to rest their Chronology? +Must we run back to the epoch of the original dispersion of man, or can +we rest at a subsequent point? Has the era of christianity any definite +relation to their migration? Was the migration designed, or accidental? +Did it consist of one tribe, or twenty tribes? Did it happen at one +epoch, or many epochs? Have they wandered here eighteen centuries, or +double that period? These are some of the inquiries that naturally +occur. + +The first great question to be decided in the history of the Red Race, +is, whether they were, as they have been vaguely called, the +_aborigines_, or were preceded, on the continent, by other races? The +second, whether the type of civilization, of which we behold evidences +in Mexico, Yucatan and South America, was an _indigenous development_ +of energies latent in the human mind, or derived its leading and +suggestive features from _foreign lands_? There is intermingled with +these inquiries, the scarcely less important one, whether or not, the +_antiquarian ruins of America_, denote an element or elements of +_European population_, in the later eras, whose fate became involved in +the hunter mass, and who may be supposed to have been completely +obliterated from the traditions of the existing tribes, prior to the +discovery by Columbus. + +Indian tradition has little or nothing to offer on this head. Time and +barbarism have blotted out all. The entire sum of the traditions of all +the various races of Red men, on the continent, when sifted from the +mass of fabulous and incongruous matter by which it is accompanied, and +when there is any allusion to it at all, amounts to this: that their +ancestors came from the east; a few tribes, assert that they had come +by water.[9] The land from whence they set out, the time devoted to the +purposes of their long migration, and the actual period of their +landing, and all such questions, are indefinite. And we must +re-construct their chronology, in the best way possible, from a careful +system of patient historical and antiquarian induction. Exactitude it +cannot have, but it may reach plausibility. Granting to the +Scandinavian, the Cimbrian and the Italian periods of adventure, which +have been named, the fullest limits, in point of antiquity, which have +under any circumstances been claimed, we cannot carry even this species +of history beyond the year A. D. 1001; leaving 999 years to be +accounted for, to the commencement of the Christian era. The Aztec +empire which had reached such a point of magnificence when Mexico was +first entered by Cortez, in 1519, did not, according to the picture +writings and Mexican chronologists, date back farther than 1038, or by +another authority, 958. The Toltecs, who preceded them in the career of +empire, and whom together with the Chichimecs and their allies they +overthrew, do not, allowing them the most liberal latitude of authors, +extend their reign beyond A. D. 667. Prior to this, Indian chronology +makes mention of the Olmecs--a people who are described as having +mechanical arts, and to whom even the Toltecs ascribed the erection of +some of their most antique and magnificent monuments. According to +Fernando D'Alva, himself of Aztec lineage, the most ancient date +assigned to the entire group of Mexican dynasties is A. D. 299. There +are monuments in those benignant latitudes of perpetual summer, +exempted as they are from the disintegrating effects of frosts, which +corroborate such a chronology, and denote even a more ancient +population, who were builders, agriculturists and worshippers of the +sun. But we require a far longer period than any thus denoted, to +account for those changes and subdivisions which have been found in the +American languages. + + [9] Such are the traditions of the Aztecs and of the Athapascas. + Nearly every Aonic tribe, on the contrary, affirm that their + ancestors came out of the ground. + +Language is itself so irrefragable a testimony of the mental affinities +of nations, and so slow in the periods of its mutations, that it offers +one of the most important means for studying the history of the people. +Grammars and vocabularies are required of all the tribes, whose history +and relations we seek to fathom, before we can successfully compare +them with each other, and with foreign languages. It is a study of high +interest, from the diversity and curious principles of the dialects. +There is a general agreement in the principles of Indian utterance, +while their vocabularies exhibit wide variances. Some of the concords +required, are anomalous to the occidental grammars, while there is a +manifest general resemblance to these ancient plans of thought. The +most curious features consist in the personal forms of the verbs, the +constant provision for limiting the action to specific objects, the +submergence of gender in many cases into two great organic and +inorganic classes of nature, marked by vitality or inertia, and the +extraordinary power of syllabical combination, by which Indian +lexicography is rendered so graphic and descriptive in the bestowal of +names. They are all, or nearly all, transpositive and polysynthetic; +yet although now found in a very concrete form, this appears to have +been not their original form, but rather the result of the progress of +syllabical accretion, from a few limited roots and particles, which are +yet when dissected found to be monosyllabic. That they have +incorporated some of the Hebrew pronouns, and while like this language, +wanting the auxiliary verb _to be_, have preserved its solemn causative +verb, for existence, are among the points of the philology to be +explained. But I have not time to pursue this subject. Even these +notices are made at the sacrifice of other and perhaps more generally +interesting traits of their antiquity. + +The _Astronomy_ of the American tribes, has been thought to merit +attention, in any attempts to compare them with foreign nations. The +evidences of the attainments of the ancient Mexicans in this science, +as well as the facts of their general history, chronology and +languages, have been examined by the venerable archaeologist and +ex-statesman, who presides over this society, in a critical +dissertation, published by the American Ethnological Society, which is +the ablest paper of the age. The results of Mr. Gallatin's labors, and +his reading of the ancient scrolls of Mexican picture writing, +preserved in the folios of Lord Kingsborough, while they limit the +amount of precise historical information in these unique records to +very narrow grounds, yet denote a degree of system and exactitude, both +in their chronology and astronomy, which are very remarkable. + +The simple astronomy of our Aonic tribes of the north, gave them a +lunar year, consisting of twelve moons. They consequently had a year of +about three hundred and sixty days. As they had no names for days, no +week and no subperiods of a moon, but noticed and relied simply on the +moon's phases, they did not become acquainted with the necessity of +intercalations for the true length of the year. The Aztecs of Mexico, +on the contrary, had a solar year, and had made an extraordinary +advance in computing the true time. Their year consisted of eighteen +months, of twenty days each, a perfectly arbitrary system. This +division would give but three hundred and sixty days to the year. The +remaining five were called _empty_ or superfluous days, and were added +to the last month of the eighteen. A tropical year is, however, about +six hours longer than three hundred and sixty-five days, and by +throwing away six hours annually, there would be an entire day lost +every four years. The Mexican astronomers were well aware of this fact; +but instead of supplying the deficiency every fourth year as we do, +they disregarded it entirely, till a whole cycle consisting of +fifty-two years was completed, and then they intercalated thirteen +days, to make up the time and complete their cycle. In this way they +came to the same result as the Egyptians, but by a different process, +since the Egyptian calendar was founded on a computation of twelve +lunar months of thirty days each. It was precisely the same in the old +Persian calendar, which consisted of a year of three hundred and sixty +days, made up of twelve months of thirty days each. + +The Aztecs divided their cycle of fifty two years, into four periods of +thirteen years; called TLALPILLI, and their month of twenty days, into +four sub-periods, or weeks, of five days. The cycle was called +XIUHMOLPILLI, which signifies, "the tying up of years." Each day of the +month had a separate _name_, derived from some animate, or inanimate +object, as _Tochtli_, a rabbit, _Calli_, a house, _Atl_, water, +_Tecpatl_, Silex, _Xochitl_, a flower, _Cohuatl_, a serpent. The fifth +day, was a fair or market day. The names of the days were represented +by hieroglyphic figures of the objects described. The divisions were +perfect and regular, and enabled them to denote, in their scrolls of +picture writing, the chronology of the month, and of the Tlalpilli, or +period of thirteen years.[10] + + [10] As to the market day or week of five days, Sir Wm. Jones and + Sir Stamford Raffles, tell us that the same period, existed, for + the same purpose, in India. In the symbols for days, we find four + to correspond exactly with the zodiacal signs of India, eight + with those of Thibet, six with those of Siam and Japan, and + others with those of the Chinese and Moguls. + +The scheme itself denotes, not only a very certain mode of keeping the +record of time, but a very exact knowledge of the tropical year. It is +now known that the length of the year is precisely three hundred and +sixty five days, five hours, forty eight minutes, and forty eight +seconds; and it is perfectly well ascertained, that the Aztecs computed +its length, at the period of their highest advance, at three hundred +and sixty five days, five hours, forty six minutes, and nine seconds, +differing only two minutes and thirty nine seconds from our own +computation.[11] There is evidence, indeed, that the ancient +inhabitants of this continent, had more science, than is generally +conceded. If we are to credit writers, the Aztecs understood the true +causes of eclipses, as well as we do. Diagrams exist, in their +pictorial records, in which the earth is represented as projecting its +disc upon the moon--thus indicating, clearly, a true knowledge of this +phenomenon. Mr. Gallatin remarks that the Indian astronomical system, +as developed in Mexico, is not one of _indigenous origin_, but that +they had, manifestly, received it, at least their calendar, from a +foreign source. Its results could not have been attained without long +and patient observations. Some of its methods of combination, in the +double use of names and figures, in their cycles, are thought to denote +an ancient primitive system of oriental astronomy, reaching back to the +earliest times. Here, then, we have one probable fact to serve as the +nucleus of antiquarian testimony. We begin it abroad. + + [11] With respect to intercalations, various periods have been + taken by ancient nations. And while we take the shortest possible + one, of four years; and the Aztecs took fifty two, the Chinese + took sixty, and the Persians one hundred and twenty. + +The _architecture_ of the ancient inhabitants of Mexico and Peru, has +been illustrated, within a few years, by several elaborate works; and +the subject may be deemed to have been brought, by these works, within +the scope of study and comparison. There are two features in this +unique order of architecture, which appear to denote great antiquity in +the principles developed, namely, the arch and the pyramid. These +nations appear to have had the use of squares and parallelograms, in +their geometry, without circles, or parabolic lines. The only form of +the arch observed, is that called the cyclopean arch, which is made by +one course of stones overlapping another, till the two walls meet, and +a flat stone covers the space. This is the earliest type of the arch +known among mankind, and is believed to be more ancient than the +foundation of any city in Europe. + +The pyramid, as developed in the temple of the sun at Tezcuco, the +Mexican teocalli, and the Aonic mounds of North America, compose a form +of architecture equally ancient; which can be traced back over the +plains of Asia, to the period of the original dispersion of mankind. +The temple of Belus, was but a vast pyramid, raised for the worship of +Bel. Originating in the Hamitic tribes, in the alluvial vallies and +flat-lands of Asia Minor, a perfect infatuation, on the subject, +appears to have possessed the early oriental nations, and they carried +the idea into the valley of the Nile, and, indeed, wherever they went. +It appeared to be the substitute of idolatrous nations, on alluvial +lands, for an isolated hill, or promontory. It was at such points that +Baal and Bel were worshipped, and hence the severe injunctions of the +sacred volume, on the worship established in the oriental world "on +high places." Such was the position of the pyramids in the vallies of +the Euphrates and the Nile, and the idea appears to have reached +America without any deviation whatever in its relative position, or its +general design. It was every were, throughout America, as we find it, +in the vallies of Mexico and the Mississippi, erected in rich and level +vallies, or plains, and dedicated to idolatrous worship. + +The mound builders of North America, north of the tropical latitudes, +appear like bad copyists of a sublime original. They retained the idea +of the oriental pyramid, but being no mechanics constructed piles of +earth to answer the ancient purpose, both of worship and interment. Our +largest structures of this kind, are the mound of Grave Creek in +Western Virginia, containing about three millions of cubic feet, and +the great group of the Monks of _La Trappe_ in Illinois, estimated at +seven millions of cubic feet.[12] Those of Saint Louis, mount Joliet, +and the Blue mounds respectively are now known to be of _geological_ +origin. + + [12] The central mound of this group has been cut through since + the date of my paper before the Ethnological Society, and proved + to be _artificial_. + +But the Mexican and South American tribes built more boldly, and have +left several specimens of the pyramids, which deserve to be mentioned, +as well from the evidences they afford of mechanical skill, as from +their magnificent proportions, and their Nilotic power of endurance. +The pyramid of Cholula, in the valley of Mexico, exists in three vast +steps, retreating as they ascend, the highest of which was crowned with +a temple, whose base was one hundred and seventy-seven feet above the +plain. This is nine feet higher than that of Myrcerinus, the third of +the great group of Ghiza on the Nile; but its base of one thousand four +hundred and twenty-three feet, exceeds that of any edifice of the kind +found by travellers in the old world, and is double that of Cheops. To +realize a clear idea of its magnitude, we may imagine a solid structure +of earth, bricks and stone, which would fill the Washington parade +ground, squared by its east and west lines, and rising seventy-five +feet above the turrets of the New York University. + +The pyramids of the empire of the Incas are not less remarkable. There +are at Saint Juan Teotihuacan, near lake Tezcuco, in the Mexican +valley, two very large antique pyramids, which were consecrated by the +ancient inhabitants to the Sun and Moon. The largest, called Tonatiuh +Ytzalqual, or the House of the Sun, has a base of two hundred and eight +metres, or six hundred and eighty-two English feet in length, and +fifty-five metres or one hundred and eighty feet perpendicular +elevation; being three feet higher than the great pyramid of Cholula. +The other, called Meztu Ytzaqual, or House of the Moon, is thirty-six +feet lower, and has a lesser base. These monuments, according to the +first accounts, were erected by the most ancient tribes, and were the +models of the Aztec Teocalli. The faces of these pyramids are within +fifty-two seconds, exactly north and south and east and west. Their +interior consists of massive clay and stone. This solid nucleus is +covered by a kind of porous amygdaloid, called tetzontli. They are +ascended by steps of hewn stone to their pinnacles, where tradition +affirms, there were anciently statues covered with thin lamina of gold. +And it was on these sublime heights, with the clear tropical skies of +Mexico above them, that the Toltec magi lit the sacred fire upon their +altars, offered up incense, and chanted hymns. + +One fact in connexion with these ancient structures is remarkable, on +account of its illustrative character of the use of our small mounds. +Around the base of these pyramids, there were found numerous smaller +pyramids, or cones of scarcely nine or ten metres--twenty-nine to +thirty feet elevation, which were dedicated to the STARS. These minor +elevations, were generally arranged at right angles. They furnished +also places of sepulture for their distinguished chiefs, and hence the +avenue leading through them, was called Micoatl, or Road of the Dead. +We have in this arrangement a hint of the object of the numerous small +mounds, which generally surround the large mounds in the Mississippi +valley--as may be witnessed in the remarkable group of La Trappe, in +Illinois. A similar arrangement, indeed, prevails in the smaller series +of the leading mound groups west of the Alleghanies. They may be called +Star-mounds. If this theory be correct, we have not only a satisfactory +explanation of the object of the smaller groups, which has heretofore +puzzled inquirers; but the presence of such groups may be taken as an +evidence of the wide spread worship of the Sun, at an early period in +these latitudes. + +Sun-worship existed extensively in North America as well as South. +There is reason to believe that the ancestors of all the principal +existing tribes in America, worshipped an ETERNAL FIRE. Both from their +records and traditions, as well as their existing monuments, this +deduction is irresistible. Not only the Olmecs and Toltecs, who built +the temples of the sun and moon, near the lake of Tezcuco--not only the +Auricaneans, who obeyed the voice of the First Inca, in erecting the +temple of the Sun at the foot of the Andes; but the Aztecs, even at the +later and more corrupted period of their rites, adhered strongly to +this fundamental rite. It is to be traced from the tropical latitudes +into the Mississippi valley, where the earth-mound it is apprehended, +rudely supplied the place of its more gorgeous, southern prototype. +When they had raised the pile of earth as high as their means and skill +dictated, facts denote that they erected temples and altars at its +apex. On these altars, tradition tells us, they burned the tobacco +plant, which maintains its sacred character unimpaired to the present +day. From the traditions which are yet extant in some of the tribes, +they regarded the sun as the symbol of _Divine Intelligence_. They paid +him no human sacrifices, but offered simply incense, and dances and +songs. They had an order of priesthood, resembling the ancient magi, +who possessed the highest influence and governed the destinies of the +tribes. It is past all doubt that Manco Capac, was himself one of these +magi: and it is equally apparent, that the order exists at this day, +although shorn of much of its ancient, external splendor, in the solemn +_metais_, and sacrificial _jossakeeds_, who sway the simple multitudes +in the North American forests. Among these tribes, the graphic +_Ke-ke-win_, which depicts the Sun, stands on their pictorial rolls, as +the symbol of the Great Spirit; and no important rite or ceremony is +undertaken without an offering of tobacco. This weed is lit with the +sacred element, generated anew on each occasion, from percussion. To +light and to put out this fire, is the symbolic language for the +opening and closing of every important civil or religious public +transaction, and it is the most sacred rite known to them. It is never +done without an appeal, which has the characteristics of prayer, to the +Great Spirit. To find in America, a system of worship which existed in +Mesopotamia, in the era of the patriarch Job, one thousand five hundred +and fifty years before the advent of Christ, is certainly remarkable, +and is suggestive both of the antiquity and origin of the tribes. + +Geology is not without its testimony in this connexion. The antiquity +of human occupancy in the Mississippi valley is so extreme, that it +appears to mingle its evidences with some of its more recent geological +phenomena. The gradual disintegration and replacement of strata in that +quarter of the country, involve facts which are quite in accordance +with evidences of ancient eras drawn from other sources. It is some +seven and twenty years since the earliest evidences of this kind +arrested my attention. I was then descending the valley of the UNICAU +or White river, in the present area of Arkansas. This is one of that +series of large streams which descends the great slope or +_Wassershied_, extending from the foot of the Rocky Mountains into the +lower Mississippi. These streams have carried down for ages the +loosened materials of the elevated and mountainous parts of that great +range into the delta of the Mississippi, filling up immense ancient +inlets and seas, and pushing its estuary into the Mexican gulf. They +are still to be regarded as the vast geological laboratory in which so +large a part of the plains, islands and shores of that great off-drain +of the continent have been prepared. The evidences referred to in the +descent of the Unicau, consisted of antique, coarse pottery, scoria and +ashes, together with a metallic alloy of a whitish hue, but capable of +being cut partially with a knife. There were also deposites of bones, +but so decayed and fragmentary as to make it impossible to determine +their specific character. All these were, geologically, beneath the +various strata of sand, loam and vegetable mould, supporting the heavy +primitive forest of that valley. At Little Rock, in the valley of the +Arkansas, vestiges of art have recently been found in similar beds of +denudation, at considerable depths below the surface of the wooded +plains. They consisted of a subterraneous furnace, together with broken +clay kettles. In other portions of this wide slope of territory, a +species of antique bricks have been disinterred.[13] It is in this +general area, and in strata of a similar age, that gigantic bones, +tusks and teeth of the mastodon, and other extinct quadrupeds, have +been so profusely found within a few years, particularly in the Osage +valley. + + [13] Arkansas paper. + +But the greatest scene of superficial disturbance of post-human +occupancy, appears in the great alluvial angle of territory which lies +between the Mississippi and Ohio, extending to their junction. This +area constitutes the grand prairie section of lower Illinois. The Big +Bone Lick of the Ohio, the original seat of the discovery of the bones +of the megalonyx and mastodon, announced by Mr. Jefferson to the +philosophers of Europe, connects itself with this element of +continental disturbance. Its western limits are cut through by the +Mississippi, which washes precipitous cliffs of rock, between a +promontory or natural pyramid of limestone, standing in its bed called +Grand Tower, and the city of St. Louis, extending even to a point +opposite the junction of the Missouri. Directly opposite these +secondary cliffs, on the Illinois shore, extends transversely for one +hundred miles, the noted alluvial tract called the American bottom. +This tract discloses, at great depths, buried trunks of trees, +fresh-water shells, animal bones and various wrecks of pre-existing +orders of the animal and vegetable creation. On the banks of the Sabine +river, which flows into the Ohio, there was found, some few years ago, +in the progress of excavations made for salt water, coarse clay kettles +of from eight to ten gallons capacity, and fragments of earthenware, +imbedded at the depth of eighty feet. The limestone rocks of the +Missouri coast, above noticed, which form the western verge of this +antique lacustrine sea, have produced some curious organic foot-tracks +of animals and other remains; and the faces of these cliffs exhibit +deep and well marked water lines, as if they had been acted on by a +vast body of water, standing for long and fixed periods, at a high +level, and subject to be acted on by winds and tempests. Indeed, it +requires but little examination of the various phenomena, offered at +this central point of the Mississippi valley, to suppose that the +southern boundary of this ancient oceanic-lake, ran in the direction of +the Grand Tower and Cave in rock groups, and that an arm of the sea or +gulf of Mexico, must have extended to the indicated foot of this +ancient lacustrine barrier. At this point, there appear evidences also +of the existence of mighty ancient cataracts. The topic is one which +has impressed me as being well entitled to investigation, and is +hastily introduced here among the branches of inquiry bearing on my +subject. But it cannot be dwelt upon, although it is connected with an +interesting class of kindred phenomena, in other parts of the west. + +I have already occupied the time, which I had prescribed to myself in +these remarks. It has been impossible to consider many topics, upon +which a true understanding of the antique period of our history +depends. But I cannot close them, without a brief allusion to the +leading traits and history of the Red Race, whose former advance in the +arts, and whose semi-civilization in the equinoctial latitudes of the +continent, we have been contemplating. + +That these tribes are a people of great antiquity, far greater than has +been assigned to them, is denoted by the considerations already +mentioned. Their languages, their astronomy, their architecture and +their very ancient religion and mythology, prove this. But a people who +live without letters, must expect their history to perish with them. +Tradition soon degenerates into fable, and fable has filled the oldest +histories of the world, with childish incongruities and recitals of +gross immoralities. In this respect, the Indian race have evinced less +imagination than the Greeks and Romans, who have filled the world with +their lewd philosophy of genealogy, but their myths are quite as +rational and often better founded than those of the latter. To restore +their history from the rubbish of their traditions, is a hopeless task. +We must rely on other data, the nature of which has been mentioned. To +seek among ruins, to decypher hieroglyphics, to unravel myths, to study +ancient systems of worship and astronomy, and to investigate +vocabularies and theories of language, are the chief methods before us; +and these call for the perseverance of Sysiphus and the clear inductive +powers of Bacon. Who shall touch the scattered bones of aboriginal +history with the spear of truth, and cause the skeleton of their +ancient society to arise and live? We may never see this; but we may +hold out incentives to the future scholar, to labor in this department. + +Of their origin, it is yet premature, on the basis of ethnology, to +decide. There is no evidence--not a particle, that the tribes came to +the continent after the opening of the Christian era. Their religion +bears far more the characteristics of Zoroaster, than of Christ. It has +also much more that assimilates it to the land of Chaldea, than to the +early days of the land of Palestine. The Cyclopean arch, and the form +of the pyramid, point back to very ancient periods. Their language is +constructed on a very antique plan of thought. Their symbolic system of +picture writing is positively the oldest and first form of recording +ideas the world ever knew. The worship of the sun is the earliest form +of human idolatry. Their calendar and system of astronomy reveal traits +common to that of China, Persia, or Hindostan. Mr. Gallatin, from the +consideration of the languages alone, is inclined to think that they +might have reached the continent within five hundred years after the +original dispersion. That they are of the Shemitic stock, cannot be +questioned. The only point to be settled, indeed, appears to be, from +what branch of that very widely dispersed, and intermingled race of +idolaters and warriors they broke loose, and how, and in what manner, +and during what era, or eras, they found their way to these shores? + +But, however these questions may be decided, this is certain, that +civilization, government and arts began to develope themselves first in +the tropical regions of Mexico and Central America. Mexico itself, in +the process of time, became to the ancient Indian tribes, the Rome of +America. Like its proud prototype in Europe, it was invaded by one +barbaric tribe after another, to riot and plunder, but who, in the end, +adopted the type of civilization, which they came to destroy. Such was +the origin of the Toltecs and the Aztecs, whom Cortez conquered. + +When we turn our view from this ancient centre of Indian power, to the +latitudes of the American Republic, we find the territory covered, at +the opening of the sixteenth century, with numerous tribes, of divers +languages, existing in the mere hunter state, or at most, with some +habits of horticulture superadded. They had neither cattle nor arts. +They were bowmen and spearmen--roving and predatory, with very little, +if any thing, in their traditions, to link them to these prior central +families of men, but with nearly every thing in their physical and +intellectual type, to favor such a generic affiliation. They erected +groups of mounds, to sacrifice to the sun, moon and stars. They were, +originally, fire-worshippers. They spoke ONE general class of +transpositive languages. They had implements of copper, as well as of +silex, and porphyries. They made cooking vessels of tempered clay. They +carved very beautiful and perfect models of birds and quadrupeds, out +of stone, as we see in some recently opened mounds. They cultivated the +most important of all the ancient Mexican grains, the zea mays. They +raised the tobacco plant, to be offered, to their Gods, as +frankincense. They used the Aztec drum in their religious ceremonies +and war dances. They employed the very ancient Asiatic art of recording +ideas, by means of representative devices. They believed in the +oriental doctrines of transformation, and the power of necromancy. +Their oral fictions on this head, are so replete with fancy, that they +might give scope to the lyre of some future western Ovid. They held, +with Pythagoras, the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. They +believed, indeed, in duplicate souls. They believed with Zoroaster, in +the two great creative and antagonistical principles of Ormusd and +Ahriman, and they had THEN, and have STILL, an influential and powerful +order of priests, who uphold the principles of a sacred fire. + +To these principles, they appeal _now_, as they did in the days of the +discovery. They believe in the sacred character of Fire, and regard it +as the mysterious element of the Universe, which typifies the Divinity. +They believe, and practice strictly, with the descendants of Abraham, +the law of separation, but not the practice of circumcision. With the +ancient Phoenicians, they attribute extraordinary powers, to the wisdom +and subtlety of the Serpent, and this reptile holds a high place in +their mythology. They regard the Tortoise, as the original increment, +and medium of the creation of the Earth, and view the Bear and the Wolf +as enchanted heroes of supernatural energies. And they have adopted the +devices of these three animals as the general Totemic types and bond of +their separation into clans. They are as observant as any of the +orientalists were, of the flight of birds. They draw, with the ancient +Chaldeans, prognostications from the clouds. They preserve the simple +music of the Arcadian pipe, which is dedicated to love. They people +their woods and mountains, and romantic water-falls, with various +classes of wood and water nymphs, fairies and genii. They had +anticipated the author of the "Rape of the Lock" in the creation of a +class of personal gnomes, who nimbly dance over the lineaments of the +human frame. They have a class of seers and prophets, who mutter from +the ground, the decisions of fate and Providence. They believe in the +idea of ghosts, witchcraft, and vampires. They place the utmost +reliance on dreams and night visions. A dream and a revelation, are +synonymous. Councils are called, and battles are fought on the +prognostications of a dream. They are astrologers and star-gazers, and +draw no small part of their mythology from the skies. They fast to +obtain the favor of the Deity, and they feast, at the return of the +first fruits. They have concentrated the wisdom and fancy of their +forefathers and sages, in allegories and fables. With the Arabs, they +are gifted in the relation of fictitious domestic tales, in which +necromancy and genii, constitute the machinery of thought. With the +ancient Mesopotamians, Persians and Copts, they practice the old art of +ideographic, or picture writing. They are excellent local geographers, +and practical naturalists. There is not an animal, fish, insect or +reptile in America, whose character and habitudes they do not +accurately and practically know. They believe the earth to be a plain, +with four corners, and the sky a hemisphere of material substance-like +brass, or metal, through which the planets shine, and around which the +sun and moon revolve. Over all, they install the power of an original +Deity, who is called the Great Spirit, who is worshipped by fire, who +is invoked by prayer, and who is regarded, from the cliffs of the +Monadnock,[14] to the waters of the Nebraska,[15] as omnipotent, +immaterial, and omnipresent. + + [14] A mountain in New Hampshire, seen from the sea. + + [15] The Indian name of the river La Plate. + +That this race has dwelt on the continent long centuries before the +Christian era, all facts testify. If they are not older as a people, +than most of the present nations on the Asiatic shores of the Indian +ocean, as has been suggested, they are certainly anterior in age, to +the various groups of the Polynesian islands. They have, it is +apprehended, taken the impress of their character and mental ideocracy +from the early tribes of Western Asia, which was originally peopled, to +a great extent, by the descendants of Shem. These fierce tribes crowded +each other, as one political wave trenches on another, till they have +apparently traversed its utmost bounds. How they have effected the +traject here, and by what process, or contingency, are merely curious +questions, and can never be satisfactorily answered. The theory of a +migration by Behring's straits, is untenable. If we could find adequate +motives for men to cross thence, we cannot deduce the tropical animals. +We cannot erect a history from materials so slender. It may yield one +element of population; but we require the origin of many. But while we +seek for times and nations, we have the indubitable evidences of the +general event or events in the people before us, and we are justified +by philology alone, in assigning to it an epoch or epochs, which are +sufficiently remote and conformable to the laws of climate, to account +for all the phenomena. No such epoch seems adequate this side of the +final overthrow of Babylon, or general dispersion of mankind, or the +period of the conquest of Palestine. One singular and extraordinary +result, in the fulfilment of a very ancient prophecy of the human +family, may be noticed. It is this. Assuming the Indian tribes to be of +Shemitic origin, which is generally conceded, they were met on this +continent, in 1492, by the Japhetic race, after the two stocks had +passed round the globe by directly different routes. Within a few years +subsequent to this event, as is well attested, the humane influence of +an eminent Spanish ecclesiastic, led to the calling over from the +coasts of Africa, of the Hamitic branch. As a mere historical question, +and without mingling it in the slightest degree with any other, the +result of three centuries of occupancy, has been a series of movements +in all the colonial stocks, south and north, by which Japhet has been +immeasurably enlarged on the continent, while the called and not +voluntary sons of Ham, have endured a servitude, in the wide stretching +vallies of the tents of Shem.[16] + + [16] Genesis, 9. 27. + +Such are the facts which lend their interest to the early epoch of our +history. They invite the deepest study. Every season brings to our +notice some new feature, in its antiquities, which acts as a stimulus +to thought and inquiry. It is evident that there is more aliment for +study and scrutiny in its obscure periods, than has heretofore been +supposed. Vestiges of art are found, which speak of elder and higher +states of civilization, than any known to the nomadic or hunter states. +And the great activity which marks the present state of antiquarian and +philological inquiry, in the leading nations of Europe, adds deeply to +our means and inducements to search out the American branch of the +subject. Man, as he views these results, gathers new hopes of his +ability to trace the wandering footsteps of early nations over the +globe. There is a hope of obtaining the ultimate principles of +languages and national affinities. Already science and exact +investigation have accomplished the most auspicious and valuable +results. The spirit of research has enabled us to unlock many secrets, +which have remained sealed up for centuries. History has gleaned +largely from the spirit of criticism; Ethnology has already reared a +permanent monument to her own intellectual labors, and promises in its +results, to unravel the intricate thread of ancient migration, and to +untie the gordian knot of nations. Shall we not follow in this path? +Shall we not emulate the labors of a Belzoni, a Humboldt, and a +Robinson? + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Incentives to the Study of the Ancient +Period of American History, by Henry R. 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