Perhaps the saddest chapter in the history of the sons of Adam is
furnished by the Red Man of America. His origin is unknown; no records
tell the tale of his ancient deeds. A foundling in the human family,
discovered by his stronger brethren wandering wild through the forests
and over the prairies of the western desert, no fraternal welcome
greeted this lost child of nature; no soothing voice of affection fell
upon his ear; no gentle kindness wooed him from his savage isolation.
The hand of irresistible power was stretched out, not to raise him from
his low estate and lead him into the brotherhood of civilized man, but
to thrust him away with cruel and unjust disdain.
Little more than three centuries and a half have elapsed since the
Indian first gazed with terror and admiration upon the white strangers,
and already three fourths of his inheritance are rent away, and three
fourths of his race have vanished from the earth; while the sad remnant,
few and feeble, faint and weary, "are fast traveling to the shades of
their fathers, toward the setting sun."[200] Year by year they wither
away; to them the close breath of civilized man is more destructive than
the deadliest blight.[202] The arts and appliances which the accumulated
ingenuity of ages has provided to aid the labor and enhance the
enjoyments of others, have been but a curse to these children of the
wilderness. That blessed light which shines to the miserable of this
world through the vista of the "shadowy valley," cheering the fainting
spirit with the earnest of a glorious future, sheds but a few dim and
distorted rays upon the outskirts of the Red Man's forest land.
All the relations of Europeans to the Indian have been alike fatal to
him, whether of peace or war; as tyrants or suppliants; as conquerors
armed with unknown weapons of destruction; as the insidious purchasers
of his hunting-grounds, betraying him into an accursed thirst for the
deadly fire-water; as the greedy gold-seekers, crushing his feeble frame
under the hated labors of the mine; as shipwrecked and hungry wanderers,
while receiving his simple alms, marking the fertility and
defenselessness of his lands; as sick men enjoying his hospitality,
and, at the same time, imparting that terrible disease[203] which has
swept off whole nations; as woodmen in his forest, and intrusive tillers
of his ground, scaring away to the far West those animals of the chase
given by the Great Spirit for his food: there is to him a terrible
monotony of result. In the delicious islands of the Caribbean Sea, and
in the stern and magnificent regions of the northeast, scarcely now
remains a mound, or stone, or trace even of tradition, to point out the
place where any among the departed millions sleep.
The discovery of the American Indians brought to light not only a new
race, but also a totally new condition of men. The rudest form of human
society known in the Old World was far advanced beyond that of the
mysterious children of the West, in arts, knowledge, and government.
Even among the simplest European and Asiatic nations the principle of
individual possession was established; the beasts of the field were
domesticated to supply the food and aid the labors of man, and large
bodies of people were united under the sway of hereditary chiefs. But
the Red Man roamed over the vast forests and prairies of his
undiscovered continent, accompanied by few of his fellows, unassisted by
beasts of burden,[204] and trusting alone to his skill and fortune in
the chase for a support. The first European visitors to the New World
were filled with such astonishment at the appearance and complexion of
the Red Man, that they hastily concluded he belonged to a different
species from themselves. As the native nations became better known,
their warriors, statesmen, and orators commanded the admiration of the
strangers. Especially in the northern people, every savage virtue was
conspicuous; they were gentle in peace, but terrible in war; of a proud
and noble bearing, honest, faithful, and hospitable, loving order though
without laws, and animated by the strongest and most devoted loyalty to
their tribe. At the same time, while willingly recording their high and
admirable qualities, pity for the devoted race must not blind us to
their ferocious and degrading vices.
It was not until the end of the seventeenth century that the manners and
characteristics of this strange race attracted to any considerable
degree the attention of philosophers and theorists; a chasm in human
history then seemed about to be filled. Eager to throw light upon the
subject, but too impatient to inquire into the facts necessary for the
formation of opinions, the conclusions formed were often unjust to the
native dignity of the Red Indian,[205] and have been proved erroneous by
subsequent and more perfect information. On the other hand, one of the
most gifted but dangerous of modern philosophers would exalt these
untutored children of nature to a higher degree of honor and excellence
than civilization and knowledge can confer. He deemed that the elevation
and independence of mind, resulting from the rude simplicity of savage
life, is sought in vain among the members of refined and organized
societies.[206]
Every thing tended to render inquiry into the state of the rude tribes
of America difficult and obscure. In the generality of cases they
presented characteristics of a native simplicity, elsewhere unknown; and
even in the more favored districts, where a degree of civilization
appeared, it had assumed a form and direction totally different from
that of the Old World.[207]
The origin of this mysterious people has been the subject of an immense
variety of speculations, and has involved the question, whether all men
are the sons of Adam, or whether the distinctions of the human race were
owing to the several sources from whence its members sprung? The skeptic
supposition that each portion of the globe gave its own original type of
man to the human family at once solves the difficulty of American
population; but as both Christianity and philosophy alike forbid
acceptance of this view,[208] it becomes necessary to consider the
relative probabilities in favor of the other different theories which
enthusiasm, ingenuity, and research have contributed to lay before the
world.
Without referring to the most sacred and ancient of authorities, we may
find existing natural evidence abundantly sufficient to establish the
belief of the common descent of our race. There are not in the human
form differences such as distinguish separate species of the brute
creation. All races of men are nearly of like stature and size, varying
only by the accidents of climate and food favorable or adverse to their
full development. The number, shape, and uses of limbs and extremities
are alike, and internal construction is invariably the same. These are
circumstances the least acted upon by situation and temperature, and
therefore the surest tests of a particular species. Color is the most
obvious and the principal indication of difference in the human
families, and is evidently influenced to a great extent by the action of
the sun,[209] as the swarthy cheek of the harvest laborer will witness.
Under the equator we find the jet black of the negro; then the
olive-colored Moors of the southern shores of the Mediterranean; again,
the bronzed face of the Spaniard and Italian; next, the Frenchman,
darker than those who dwell under the temperate skies of England; and,
last, the bleached and pallid visages of the north. Along the arctic
circle, indeed, a dusky tint again appears: that, however, may be fairly
attributed to the scorching power of the sun, constantly over the
horizon, through the brief and fiery summer. The natives remain
generally in the open air during this time, fishing, or in the chase;
and the effect of exposure stamps them with a complexion which even the
long-continued snows can not remove. In the rigorous winter season, the
people of those dreary countries pass most of their time in wretched
huts or subterranean dwellings, where they heap up large fires to warm
their shivering limbs. The smoke has no proper vent in these
ill-constructed abodes; it fills the confined air, and tends to darken
the complexions of those constantly exposed to its influence.
The difference of color in the human race is doubtless influenced by
many causes, modifying the effect of position with regard to the
tropics. The great elevation of a particular district, its proximity to
the sea, the shades of a vast forest, the exhalations from extensive
marshes, all tend to diminish materially the power of a southern
sun.[210] On the other hand, intensity of heat is aggravated by the
neighborhood of arid and sandy deserts, or rocky tracts. The action of
long-continued heat creates a more permanent effect than the mere
darkening of the outer skin: it alters the character of those subtile
juices that display their color through the almost transparent
covering.[211] We see that, from a constitutional peculiarity in
individuals, the painful variety of the albino is sometimes produced in
the hottest countries. Certain internal diseases, and different
medicines, change the beautiful bloom of the young and healthy into
repulsive and unnatural tints. A peculiar secretion of the carbon
abounding in the human frame produces the jet black of the negro's skin,
and enables him to bear without inconvenience the terrible sultriness of
his native land.[212] The dark races, inferior in animal and
intellectual powers to the white man, are yet nearly free from the
deformities he so often exhibits, perhaps on account of a less
susceptible and delicate structure. The Caucasian or European races,
born and matured under a temperate climate, manifestly enjoy the highest
gifts of man. Wherever they come in contact with their colored brother,
he ultimately yields to the irresistible superiority, and becomes,
according to the caprice of their haughty will, the victim, the
dependent, or the slave.[213]
There are other characteristics different from, but generally combined
with color, which are influenced by constitutional varieties. The hair
usually harmonizes with the complexion, and, like it, shows the
influence of climate. In cold countries, the natural covering of every
animal becomes rich and soft; the plentiful locks and manly beard of the
European show a marked contrast to the coarse and scanty hair of the
inhabitants of tropical countries. The development of mental power and
refined habits of life have also a strong but slow effect upon the
outward form.[214] Certain African nations of a higher intelligence and
civilization than their rude neighbors, show much less of the
peculiarities of the negro features. The refined Hindoo displays a
delicate form and expression under his dark complexion. The black color
and the negro features are accidentally not necessarily connected, and
it seems to require both climate and inferiority of intellect to unite
them in the same race.
When circumstances of climate or situation have effected peculiar
appearances in a nation or tribe, the results will long survive the
causes when people are removed to widely-different latitudes: a dark
color is not easily effaced, even under the influence of moderate
temperature and heightened civilization. For these reasons, there appear
many cases where the complexion of the inhabitants and the climate of
the country do not correspond, but the original characteristics will be
found undergoing the process of gradual change, ultimately adapting
themselves to their new country and situation.[215] The marked and
peculiar countenances of the once "chosen people" vary, in color at
least, wherever they are seen over the world, although uninfluenced by
any admixture of alien blood. In England the children of Israel and the
descendant of the Saxon are alike of a fair complexion, and on the banks
of the Nile the Jew and the Egyptian show the same swarthy hue.[216]
At first sight this American race would appear to offer evidence against
the supposed influence of climate upon color, as one general form and
complexion prevail in all latitudes of the New World, from the tropics
to the frozen regions of the north. Great varieties, however, exist in
the shade of the red or copper[217] color of the Indians. There are two
extremes of complexion among mankind--those of the northern European and
the African negro; between these there is a series of shades, that of
the American Indian being about midway. The structure of the New World,
and the circumstances of its inhabitants, may account for the generally
equal color of their skin. The western Indian never becomes black, even
when dwelling directly under the equator. He lives among stupendous
mountain ranges, where cool breezes from the snowy heights sweep
through the valleys and over the plains below. The vast rivers springing
from under those lofty peaks inundate a great extent of country, and
turn it into swamps, whence perpetual exhalations arise and lower the
temperature. There are no fiery deserts to heat the passing wind and
reflect the rays of the sun; a continual forest, with luxuriant foliage,
and a dense underwood, spreads a pleasant shade over the surface of the
earth. America, under the same latitudes, especially on the eastern
coast, is every where colder than the Old World. The nearest approach to
a black complexion is seen in the people of Brazil, a country
comparatively low, and immediately under the equator. The inhabitants of
the lofty Mexican table-land are also very dark, and on those arid
plains the sun pours down its scorching rays upon a surface almost
devoid of sheltering vegetation.
The habits of savage life, and the constant exposure to the elements,
seem sufficient to cause a dark tint upon the human skin even in the
temperate regions of America, where the cold is far greater than in the
same latitude in Europe. The inhabitants of those immense countries are
badly clothed, imperfectly defended against the weather, miserably
housed; wandering in war or in the chase, exposed for weeks at a time to
the mercy of the elements, they soon darken into the indelible red or
copper color of their race. On the northwest coasts, about latitude 50 deg.,
in Nootka Sound, and a number of other smaller bays, dwell a people more
numerous and better provided with food and shelter than their eastern
neighbors. They are free from a great part of the toils and hardships of
the hunter, and from the vicissitudes of the season. When cleansed from
their filthy and fantastic painting, it appears that their complexion
and features resemble those of the European.[218]
Modern discoveries have to a great extent dispelled the mystery of the
Indian origin, and proved the fallacy of the numerous and ingenious
theories formerly advanced with so much pertinacity and zeal. Since the
northwest coasts of America and the northeast of Asia have been
explored, little difficulty remains on this subject. The two continents
approach so nearly in that direction that they are almost within sight
of each other, and small boats can safely pass the narrow strait. Ten
degrees further south, the Aleutian and Fox Islands[219] form a
continuous chain between Kamtschatka and the peninsula of Alaska, in
such a manner as to leave the passage across a matter of no difficulty.
The rude and hardy Tschutchi, inhabiting the northeast of Asia,
frequently sail from one continent to the other.[220] From the remotest
antiquity, this ignorant people possessed the wonderful secret of the
existence of a world hidden from the wisest and most adventurous of
civilized nations. They were unconscious of the value of their vast
discovery; they passed over a stormy strait from one frozen shore to
another, as stern and desolate as that they had left behind, and knew
not that they had crossed one of the great boundaries of earth. When
they first entered upon the wilderness of America, probably the most
adventurous pushed down toward the genial regions of the south, and so
through the long ages of the past the stream of population flowed slowly
on, wave by wave, to the remotest limits of the east and south. The
Indians resemble the people of northeastern Asia in form and feature
more than any other of the human race. Their population is most dense
along the districts nearest to Asia; and among the Mexicans, whose
records of the past deserve credence, there is a constant tradition that
their Aztec and Toultec chiefs came from the northwest. Every where but
to the north, America is surrounded with a vast ocean unbroken by any
chain of islands that could connect it with the Old World. Most
probably no living man ever crossed this immense barrier before the time
of Columbus. It is certain that in no part of America have any authentic
traces been found of European civilization; the civilization of America,
such as it was, arose, as it flourished, in the fertile plains of
Mexico[221] and in the delightful valleys of Peru;[222] there, where the
bounty of nature supplied an abundance of the necessaries of life, the
population rapidly multiplied, and the arts became objects of
cultivation.
There is something almost mysterious in the total difference between
the languages of the Old and New World.[223] All the tongues of
civilized nations spring from a few original roots, somewhat analogous
to each other; but it would seem that, among wandering tribes, dispersed
over a vast extent of country, carrying on but little intercourse, and
having no written record or traditionary recital to preserve any fixed
standard, language undergoes a complete change in the course of ages.
The great varieties of tongues in America, and their dissimilarity to
each other, tend to confirm this supposition.
In various parts of America, remains are found which place beyond a
doubt the ancient existence of a people more numerous, powerful, and
civilized than the present race of Indians; but the indications of this
departed people are not such as to bespeak their having been of very
remote antiquity: the ruined cities of Central America, concealed by the
forest growth of centuries, and the huge mounds of earth[224] in the
Valley of the Mississippi and upon the table-lands of Mexico, their
dwellings and mausoleums, although long swept over by the storm of
savage conquest, afford no proofs of their having existed very far back
into those dark ages when the New World was unknown to Europe. The
history of these past races of men will probably forever remain a sealed
book, but there is no doubt that a great population once covered those
rich countries which the first English visitors found the wild
hunting-grounds for a few savage tribes.[225] Probably the existing race
of Red Men were the conquerors and exterminators of the feeble but
civilized aboriginal nations, and as soon as they possessed the land
they split into separate and hostile communities, waging perpetual war
with each other so as constantly to diminish their numbers.
Far up the Mississippi and the Missouri the exploration of the country
brings to light incontestable proofs of the existence of the mysterious
aboriginal race: wells artificially walled, and various other structures
for convenience or defense, are frequently seen; ornaments of silver,
copper, and even brass are found, together with various articles of
pottery and sculptured stone; sepulchers filled with vast numbers of
human bones have often been discovered, and human bodies in a state of
preservation are sometimes exhumed. On one of these the hair was yellow
or sandy, and it is well known that an unvarying characteristic of the
present red race is the lank black hair. A splendid robe of a kind of
linen, made apparently from nettle fibers, and interwoven with the
beautiful feathers of the wild turkey, encircled this long-buried mummy.
The number and the magnitude of the mounds bear evidence that the
concurrent labors of a vast assembly of men were employed in their
construction.[226]
In the progress of early discovery and settlement, striking views were
presented of savage life among the Red Men inhabiting the Atlantic
coast; but later researches along the banks of the Mississippi and its
tributaries, and by the great Canadian lakes, exhibited this people
under a still more remarkable aspect. The most prominent among the
natives of the interior for power, policy, and courage, were the
Iroquois or Five Nations.[227] Their territory extended westward from
Lake Champlain, to the farthest extremity of Ontario, along the southern
banks of the St. Lawrence, and of the Great Lake. Although formed by the
alliance of five independent tribes, they always presented a united
front to their foes, whether in defense or aggression. Their enemies,
the Algonquins, held an extensive domain on the northern bank of the St.
Lawrence; these last were at one time the masters of all that portion of
America, and were the most polished and mildest in manners of the
northern tribes. They depended altogether for subsistence on the produce
of the chase, and disdained those among their neighbors who attempted
the cultivation of the soil. The Hurons[228] were a numerous nation,
generally allied with the Algonquins, inhabiting the immense and
fertile territory extending westward to the Great Lake, from which they
take their name: they occupied themselves with a rude husbandry, which
the fertile soil of the west repaid, by affording them an abundant
subsistence; but they were more effeminate and luxurious than their
neighbors, and inferior in savage virtue and independence. The
above-named nations were those principally connected with the events of
Canadian history.
Man is less affected by climate in his bodily development than any other
animal; his frame is at the same time so hardy and flexible, that he
thrives and increases in every variety of temperature and situation,
from the tropic to the pole; nevertheless, in extremes such as these,
his complexion, size, and vigor usually undergo considerable
modifications.[229] Among the Red Men of America, however, there is a
remarkable similarity of countenance, form, manners, and habits, in
every part of the continent. No other race can show people speaking
different languages, inhabiting widely different climates, and
subsisting on different food, who are so wonderfully alike.[231] There
are, indeed, varieties of stature, strength, intellect, and self-respect
to be found among them; but the savage of the frozen north, and the
Indian of the tropics, have the same stamp of person, and the same
instincts.[232] There is a language of signs common to all, conveying
similar ideas, and providing a means of mutual intelligence to every Red
Man from north to south.
The North American Indians are generally of a fair height and
proportion. Deformities or personal defects[233] are rare among them;
and they are never seen to fall into corpulency. Their features,
naturally pleasing and regular, are often distorted by absurd attempts
to improve their beauty, or render their appearance more terrible. They
have high cheek bones, sharp and rather aquiline noses, and good teeth.
Their skin is generally described as red or copper-colored, approaching
to the tint of cinnamon bark, a complexion peculiar to the inhabitants
of the New World. The hair of the Americans, like that of their
Mongolian ancestors, is coarse, black, thin, but strong, and growing to
a great length. Many tribes of both these races remove it from every
part of the head except the crown, where a small tuft is left, and
cherished with care. It is a universal habit among the tribes of the New
World to eradicate every symptom of beard: hence the early travelers
were led to conclude that the smoothness of their faces resulted from a
natural deficiency. One reason for the adoption of this strange custom
was to enable them to paint themselves with greater ease. Among old men,
who have become indifferent to their appearance, the beard is again seen
to a small extent.[234]
On the continent, especially toward the north, the natives were of
robust and vigorous constitution. Their sole employment was the chase of
the numerous wild animals of the forest and prairies: from their
continual activity, their frame acquired firmness and strength;[235] but
in the islands, where game was rare, and the earth supplied
spontaneously an abundant subsistence, the Indians were comparatively
feeble, being neither inured to the exertions of the chase nor the
labors of cultivation. Generally, the Americans were more remarkable for
agility than strength, and are said to have been more like beasts of
prey than animals formed for labor. Toil was hateful, and even
destructive to them; they broke down and perished under tasks that would
not have wearied a European. Experience proves that the physical
strength of civilized man exceeds that of the savage.[236] Hand to hand
in war, in wrestling, leaping, and even in running for a short distance,
this superiority usually appears. In a long journey, however, the
endurance of the Indian has no parallel among Europeans. A Red Man has
been known to travel nearly eighty miles between sunrise and sunset,
without apparent fatigue. He performs a long journey, bearing a heavy
burden, and indulging in no refreshment or repose; an enemy can not
escape his persevering pursuit, even when mounted on a strong horse.
It has been already observed that the Americans are rarely or never
deformed, or defective in their senses, while in their wild state, but
in those districts where the restraints of law are felt, an
extraordinary number of blind, deaf, dwarfs, and cripples, are observed.
The terrible custom among the savage tribes of destroying those
children who do not promise a vigorous growth, accounts for this
apparent anomaly. Infancy is so long and helpless that it weighs as a
heavy burden upon a wandering people; food is scanty and uncertain of
supply, hunters and their families must range over extensive countries,
and often remove from place to place. Judging that children of feeble or
defective formation are not likely to survive the hardships of this
errant life, they destroy all such unpromising offspring,[237] or desert
them to a slower and more dreadful fate. The lot of all is so hard that
few born with any great constitutional defect could long survive, and
arrive at maturity.
In the simplicity of savage life, where labor does not oppress, nor
luxury enervate the human frame, and where harassing cares are unknown,
we are led to expect that disease and suffering should be comparatively
rare, and that the functions of nature should not reach the close of
their gradual decay till an extreme old age. The decrepit and shriveled
forms of many American Indians would seem to indicate that they had long
passed the ordinary time of life. But it is difficult or impossible to
ascertain their exact age, as the art of counting is generally unknown
among them, and they are strangely forgetful and indifferent to the
past. Their longevity, however, varies considerably, according to
differences of climate and habits of life. These children of nature are
naturally free from many of the diseases afflicting civilized nations;
they have not even names in their language to distinguish such ills, the
offspring of a luxury to them unknown. The diseases of the savage,
however, though few, are violent and fatal; the severe hardships of his
mode of life produce maladies of a dangerous description. From
improvidence they are often reduced for a considerable time to a state
bordering on starvation. When successful in the chase, or in the seasons
when earth supplies her bounty, they indulge in enormous excesses. These
extremes of want and abundance prove equally pernicious, for, although
habit and necessity enable them at the time to tolerate such sudden
transitions, the constitution is ultimately injured: disorders arising
from these causes strike down numbers in the prime and vigor of youth,
and are so common that they appear the necessary consequences of their
mode of life. The Indian is likewise peculiarly subject to consumption,
pleurisy, asthma, and paralysis, engendered by the fatigues and
hardships of the chase and war, and constant exposure to extremes of
heat and cold. Experience supports the conclusion that the average life
is greater among people in an advanced condition of society than among
those in a state of nature; among savages, all are affected by
circumstances of over-exertion, privation, and excess, but in civilized
societies the diseases of luxury only affect the few.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 200: "Driven by the European populations toward the northwest
of North America,[201] the savage tribes are returning, by a singular
destiny, to expire on the same shore where they landed, in unknown ages,
to take possession of America. In the Iroquois language, the Indians
gave themselves the appellation of _Men of Always_ (Ongoueonoue); these
_men of always_ have passed away, and the stranger will soon have left
to the lawful heirs of a whole world nothing but the mold of their
graves."--Chateaubriand's _Travels in America_ (Eng. trans.), vol. ii.,
p. 93.]
[Footnote 201: De Tocqueville calculated that along the borders of the
United States, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico, extending a
distance of more than 1200 miles, as the bird flies, the whites advance
every year at a mean rate of seventeen miles; and he truly observes that
there is a grandeur and solemnity in this gradual and continuous march
of the European race toward the Rocky Mountains. He compares it to "a
deluge of men rising, unabatedly, and daily driven onward by the hand of
God."--_Democracy in America_, vol. ii., cap. x., Sec.4; Lyell, vol. ii.,
p. 77.]
[Footnote 202: See Appendix, No. XLI. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 203: See Appendix, No. XLII. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 204: "Generally speaking, the American races of mankind were
characterized by a want of domestic animals, and this had considerable
influence on their domestic life." (_Cosmos_, note, vol. ii., p. 481.)
Contrasting the Bedouin with the Red Indian, Volney observes, "the
American savage is, on the contrary, a hunter and a butcher, who has had
daily occasion to kill and slay, and in every animal has beheld nothing
but a fugitive prey, which he must be quick to seize. He has thus
acquired a roaming, wasteful, and ferocious disposition; has become an
animal of the same kind with the wolf and tiger; has united in bands or
troops, but not into organized societies."]
[Footnote 205: On ne prit pas d'abord les Americains pour des hommes,
mais pour des orang-otangs, pour des grands singes, qu'on pouvoit
detruire sans remords et sans reproche. Un pape fit une Bulle originale
dans laquelle il declara qu' ayant envie de fonder des Eveches dans les
plus riches contrees de l'Amerique, il plaisoit a lui et au Saint Esprit
de reconnoitre les Americains pour des hommes veritables; de sorte que,
sans cette decision d'une Italien, les habitans du Nouveau Monde
seroient encore maintenant, aux yeux des fideles, une race d'animaux
equivoques.... Qui auroit cru que malgre cette sentence de Rome, on eut
agite violemment au conseil de Lima, 1583, si les Americains avoient
assez d'esprit pour etre admis aux sacrements de l'Eglise. Plusieurs
eveques persisterent a les leur refuser pendant que les Jesuites
faisoient communier tous les jours leurs Indiens esclaves au Paraquai,
afin de les accoutumer, disoient-ils, a la discipline, et pour les
detourner de l'horrible coutume de se nourrir de chair humain.--_Recherches
Philosophiques sur les Americains_, De Pauw, tom. i., p. 35.]
[Footnote 206: Rousseau, opposed by Buffon, Volney, &c.]
[Footnote 207: "Notwithstanding the striking analogies existing between the
nations of the New Continent and the Tartar tribes who have adopted the
religion of Bouddah, I think I discover in the mythology of the Americans,
in the style of their paintings, in their languages, and especially in
their external conformation, the descendants of a race of men, which, early
separated from the rest of mankind, has followed for a lengthened series of
years a peculiar road in the unfolding of its intellectual faculties, and
in its tendency toward civilization."--Humboldt's _Ancient Inhabitants of
America_, vol. i., p. 200.
"It can not be doubted that the greater part of the nations of America
belong to a race of men who, isolated ever since the infancy of the
world from the rest of mankind, exhibit in the nature and diversity of
language, in their features, and the conformation of their skull,
incontestable proofs of an early and complete civilization."--_Ibid._,
vol. i., p. 250.
On the American races in general, Humboldt refers to the beautiful work
of Samuel George Morton, _Craniae Americanae_, 1839, p. 62-86; and an
account of the skulls brought by Pentland from the Highlands of
Titicaca, in the '_Dublin Journal of Medical and Chemical Science_,'
vol. v., p. 475, 1834; also, Alcide d'Orbigny, _L'Homme Americain
considere sous ses Rapports Physiol. et Mor._, p. 221, 1839; and,
further, the work, so full of delicate ethnographical observations, of
Prinz Maximilian of Wied, _Reise in das Innere von Nordamerika_, 1839.]
[Footnote 208: "With regard to their origin, I have no doubt,
independent of theological considerations, but that it is the same with
ours. The resemblance of the North American savages to the Oriental
Tartars renders it probable that they originally sprang from the same
stock."--Buffon, Eng. trans., vol. iii., p. 193.]
[Footnote 209: "The Ethiopians," sings the old tragedian, Theodectes of
Phaselis, "are dyed by the near sun-god in his course with a dark and
sooty luster; the sun's heat crisps and dries up their hair." The
expeditions of Alexander, which were so influential in exciting ideas of
the physical cosmography, first fanned the dispute on the uncertain
influence of climate upon races of men. Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i., p.
386. Volney, p. 506, and Oldmixon, vol. i., p. 286, assert that the
savages are born white, and in their infancy continue so. An intelligent
Indian said to Volney, "Why should there be any difference of color
between us and them? (some Spaniards who had been bronzed in America).
In them, as in us, it is the work of _the father of colors_, the sun,
that burns us. You whites yourselves compare the skin of your faces with
that of your bodies." This brought to my remembrance that, on my return
from Turkey, when I quitted the turban, half my forehead above the
eyebrows was almost like bronze, while the other half next the hair was
as white as paper. If, as natural philosophy demonstrates, there be no
color but what originates from light, it is evident that the different
complexions of people are owing entirely to the various modifications of
this fluid with other elements that act on our skin, and even compose
its substance. Sooner or later it will be proved that the blackness of
the African has no other source.--P. 408.
"Vespuce decrit les indigenes du Nouveau Continent dans sa premiere
lettre comme des hommes a face large et a physionomie _tartare_, dont la
couleur rougeatre n'etoit due qu'a l'habitude de ne pas etre vetus. Il
revient a cette meme opinion en examinant les Bresiliens." (Canovai, p.
87, 90.) "Leur teint, dit il, est rougeatre, ce qui vient de leur nudite
absolue et de l'ardeur du soleil auquel ils sont constamment exposes.
Cette erreur a ete partagee par un des voyageurs modernes les plus
spirituels, mais des plus systematiques, par Volney." (_Essai Politique
sur la Mexique._) Humboldt's _Geog. du Nouv. Continent_, vol. v., p.
25.]
[Footnote 210: On the influence of humidity much stress has been laid by
M. D'Orbigny and Sir R. Schomburgh, each of whom has made the remark as
the result of personal and independent observation on the inhabitants of
the New World, that people who live under the damp shade of dense and
lofty forests are comparatively fair.]
[Footnote 211: See Appendix, No. XLI. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 212: Mr. Jarrold asserts that the negro becomes the most
perfect specimen of the human species, in consequence of his possessing
the coarsest and most impassive integument.--_Anthropologia._]
[Footnote 213: See Appendix, No. XLII. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 214: "It is intellectual culture which contributes most to
diversify the features. Barbarous nations have rather a physiognomy of
tribe or horde than one peculiar to such or such an individual. The
savage and civilized man are like those animals of the same species,
several of which rove in the forest, while others connected with us
share in the benefits and evils that accompany civilization. The
varieties of form and color are frequent only in domestic animals. How
great is the difference with respect to mobility of feature and variety
of physiognomy between dogs again become savage in the New World, and
those whose slightest caprices are indulged in the houses of the
opulent. Both in men and animals the emotions of the soul are reflected
in the features; and the features acquire the habit of mobility in
proportion as the emotions of the mind are more frequent, more varied,
and more durable. In every condition of man, it is not the energy or the
transient burst of the passions which give expression to the features;
it is rather that sensibility of the soul which brings us continually
into contact with the external world, multiplies our sufferings and our
pleasures, and reacts at once on the physiognomy, the manners, and the
language. If the variety and mobility of the features embellish the
domain of animated nature, we must admit also that both increase by
civilization without being produced by it alone. In the great family of
nations, no other race unites these advantages to a higher degree than
that of Caucasus or the European. It must be admitted that this
insensibility of the features is not peculiar to every race of men of a
very dark complexion: it is much less apparent in the African than in
the natives of America."--Humboldt's _Personal Narrative_, vol. iii., p.
230.]
[Footnote 215: Tacitus, in his speculations on the peopling of Britain,
distinguishes very beautifully between what may belong to the ultimate
influences of the country, and what may pertain to an old, unalterable
type in the immigrated race. "Britanniam qui mortales initio coluerunt,
indigenae an advecti, ut inter barbaros, parum compertum. Habitus
corporis varii, atque ex eo argumenta; namque rutilae Caledoniam
habitantium comae, magni artus Germanicam originem adseverant. Silurum
colorati vultus et torti plerumque crines, et posita contra Hispania,
Iberos veteres trajecisse, easque sedes occupasse fidem faciunt: proximi
Gallis et similes sunt, seu durante originis vi; seu, procurrentibus in
divisa terris, positio coeli corporibus habitum dedit."--_Agricola_,
cap. ii.
"No ancient author has so clearly stated the two forms of reasoning by
which we still explain in our days the differences of color and figure
among neighboring nations as Tacitus. He makes a just distinction
between the influence of climate and hereditary dispositions, and, like
a philosopher persuaded of our profound ignorance of the origin of
things, leaves the question undecided."--Humboldt's _Personal
Narrative_.]
[Footnote 216: See Smith on _The Variety of Complexion of the Human
Species_.]
[Footnote 217: Mr. Lawrence's precise definition is "an obscure orange
or rusty-iron color, not unlike the bark of the cinnamon-tree." Among
the early discoverers, Vespucius applies to them the epithet
"rougeatre." Verazzano says, "sono di color berrettini e non molto dalli
Saracini differenti."]
[Footnote 218: Cook's Narrative calls their color an _effete_ white,
like that of the southern nations of Europe. Meares expressly says that
some of the females, when cleaned, were found to have the fair
complexions of Europe.
Somewhat further north, at Cloak Bay, in lat. 54 deg. 10', Humboldt remarks,
that "in the midst of copper-colored Indians, with small, long eyes,
there is a tribe with large eyes, European features, and a skin less
dark than that of our peasantry."--_New Spain_, vol. i., p. 145.
Humboldt considers this as the strongest argument of an original
diversity of race which has remained unaffected by climate.]
[Footnote 219: See Appendix. No. XLV. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 220: Cochrane's _Pedestrian Journey_.]
[Footnote 221: Prescott remarks, that the progress made by the Mexicans
in astronomy, and especially the fact of their having a general board
for education and the fine arts, proves more in favor of their
advancement than the noble architectural monuments which they and their
kindred tribes erected. "Architecture," he observes, "is a sensual
gratification, and addresses itself to the eye; it is the form in which
the resources of a semi-civilized people are most likely to be
lavished."--_Conquest of Mexico_, vol. i., p. 155; Lyell's _America_,
vol. i., p. 115.]
[Footnote 222: Dans les regions anciennement agricoles de l'Amerique
meridionale les conquerans Europeens n'ont fait que suivre les traces
d'une culture indigene. Les Indiens sont restes attaches au sol qu'ils
ont defriche depuis des siecles. Le Mexique seul compte un million sept
cent mille indigenes de race pure, dont le nonbre augmente avec la meme
rapidite que celui des autres castes. Au Mexique, a Guatemala, a Quito,
au Perou, a Bolivia, la physionomie du pays, a l'exception de quelques
grandes villes, est essentiellement Indienne; dans les campagnes la
variete des langues s'est conservee avec les moeurs, le costume et les
habitudes de la vie domestiqne. Il n'y a de plus que des troupeaux de
vaches et de brebis, quelques cereales nouvelles et les ceremonies d'une
culte qui se mele a d'antiques superstitions locales. Il faut avoir vecu
dans les hautes plaines de l'Amerique Espagnole ou dans la confederation
Anglo-Americain pour sentir vivement combien ce contraste entre des
peuples chasseurs et des peuples agricoles, entre des pays longtemps
barbares ou des pays offrant d'anciennes institutions politiques et une
legislation indigene tres developpee, a facilite ou entrave la conquete,
influe sur les formes des premiers etablissement europeens, conserve
meme de nos jours aux differentes parties de l'Amerique independante, un
caractere ineffacable. Deja le pere Joseph Acosta qui a etudie sur les
lieux memes les suites du grand drame sanguinaire de la conquete a bien
saisi ces differences frappantes de civilisation progressive et
d'absence entiere d'ordre social qu'offrait le nouveau-monde a l'epoque
de Christopher Colomb, ou peu de tems apres la colonisation par les
Espagnols.--_Hist. Nat. y Moral._ lib. vi., cap. ii.; Humboldt's
_Geographie du Nouveau Continent_, tom. i., p. 130.]
[Footnote 223: See Appendix, No. XLVI. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 224: "In both Americas it is a matter of inquiry what was the
intention of the natives when they raised so many artificial hills,
several of which appear to have served neither as mounds, nor
watch-towers, nor the base of a temple. A custom established in Eastern
Asia may throw some light on this important question. Two thousand three
hundred years before our era, sacrifices were offered in China to the
Supreme Being, Chan-Ty, on four great mountains called the Four Yo. The
sovereigns, finding it inconvenient to go thither in person, caused
eminences representing these mountains to be erected by the hands of men
near their habitations."--_Voyage of Lord Macartney_, vol. i., p. 58;
Hager, _Monument of Yu_, p. 10, 1802.]
[Footnote 225: Mr. Flint asserts, "that the greatest population clearly
has been in those positions where the most dense future population will
be."--P. 166.]
[Footnote 226: "The bones of animals and snakes have sometimes been
found mixed with human bones in these tumuli, and out of one near
Cincinnati were dug two large marine shells, one of which was the
_Cassis cornulus_ of the Asiatic islands, the other the _Fulgur
perversus_ of the coast of Georgia and East Florida; and this is an
additional argument used in favor of the alleged intercourse existing
anciently between the Indians of this part of North America and the
inhabitants of Asia, and between them and those of the Atlantic. Many
circumstances still existing give probability to the popular belief that
the American Indians had their origin in Asia. In their persons, color,
and reserved disposition, they have a strong resemblance to the Malays
of the Oriental Archipelago--that is to say, to some of the Tartar
tribes of Upper Asia; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that, like
those, they shave the head, leaving only a single lock of hair. The
picture language of the Mexicans, as corresponding with the ancient
picture language of China, and the quipos of Peru with the knotted and
party-colored cords which the Chinese history informs us were in use in
the early period of the empire, may also be adduced as corroborative
evidence. The high cheek bones and the elongated eye of the two people,
besides other personal resemblances, suggest the probability of a common
origin."--_Quarterly Review_, No. LVII., p. 13.
"The Iroquois and Hurons made hieroglyphic paintings on wood, which bear
a striking resemblance to those of the Mexicans."--Lafitau, vol. ii., p.
43, 225; La Houtan, p. 193.
"A long struggle between two religious sects, the Brahmans and the
Buddhists, terminated by the emigration of the Chamans to Thibet.
Mongolia, China, and Japan. If tribes of the Tartar race have passed
over to the northwest coast of America, and thence to the south and the
east, toward the banks of Gila, and those of the Missouri, as
etymological researches serve to indicate, we should be less surprised
at finding among the semi-barbarous nations of the New Continent idols
and monuments of architecture, a hieroglyphical writing, and exact
knowledge of the duration of the year, and traditions respecting the
first state of the world, recalling to our minds the arts, the sciences,
and religious opinions of the Asiatic nations."--Humboldt's
_Researches_.
In his description of a Mexican painting, Humboldt observes, "The slave
on the left is like the figure of those saints which we see frequently
in Hindoo paintings, and which the navigator Roblet found on the
northwest coast of America, among the hieroglyphical paintings of the
natives of Cox's Channel."--Merchant's _Voyage_, vol. i., p. 312.
"It is probably by philosophical and antiquarian researches in Tartary
that the history of those civilized nations of North America, of whose
great works only the wreck remains, will alone be elucidated."--See
Bancroft's _History of the United States_, vol. iii., chap. xxii.; and
Stephens's _Central America_, vol. i., p. 96; vol. ii., chap, xxvi., p.
186, 357, 413, 433. See Appendix, No. XLVII. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 227: "The five nations were the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the
Cayugas, the Onondagas, and the Senecas. The Dutch called them Maquas,
the French Iroquois; their appellation at home was the Mingoes, and
sometimes the Aganuschion, or United People."--Governor Clinton's
_Discourse before New York Historical Society_, 1811.
The Iroquois have often, among Europeans, been termed the Romans of the
West. "Le nom d'Iroquois est purement francois, et a ete forme du terme
_Hiro_, qui signifie, _J'ai dit_, par lequel ces sauvages finissent tout
leur discours, comme les Latins faisaient autrefois par leur _Dixi_; et
_de Koue_, qui est un cri, tantot de tristesse, lorsqu' on le prononce
en trainant, et tantot de joie, lorsqu'on le prononce plus court. Leur
nom propre est Agonnonsionni, qui veut dire, _Faiseurs de Cabannes_;
parcequ'ils les batissent beaucoup plus solides, que la plupart des
autres sauvages."--Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 421.
Lafitau gives the Iroquois the same name of Agonnonsionni; they used to
say of themselves that the five nations of which they were composed
formed but one "Cabane."]
[Footnote 228: "Le Pere Brebeuf comptoit environ trente mille ames de
vrais Hurons, distribues en vingt villages de la nation. Il y avoit
outre cela, douze nations sedentaires et nombreuses, qui parloient leur
langue. La plupart de ces nations ne subsistent plus, les Iroquois ces
ont detruites. Les vrais Hurons sont reduits aujourd'hui a la petite
mission de Lorette, qui est pres de Quebec, ou l'on voit le
Christianisme fleurir avec l'edification de tous les Francais, a la
nation des Tionnontates qui sont etablis au Detroit, et a une autre
nation qui s'est refugiee a la Carolina."--Charlevoix, 1721.
"The Tionnontates mentioned above now bear the name of Wyandots, and are
a striking exception to the degeneracy which usually attends the
intercourse of Indians with Europeans. The Wyandots have all the energy
of the savage warrior, with the intelligence and docility of civilized
troops. They are Christians, and remarkable for orderly and inoffensive
conduct; but as enemies, they are among the most dreadful of their race.
They were all mounted (in the war of 1812-13), fearless, active,
enterprising; to contend with them in the forest was hopeless, and to
avoid their pursuit, impossible.
"It is worthy of remark, that the Wyandots are the only part of the
Huron nation who ever joined in alliance with the English. The mass of
the Hurons were always the faithful friends of the French during the
times of the early settlement of Canada."--_Quarterly Review_.]
[Footnote 229: The extremes of heat and cold are as unfavorable to
intellectual as to physical superiority,[230] a fact which may be easily
traced throughout the vast and varied extent of the two Americas. "As
far as the parallel of 53 deg., the temperature of the northwest coast of
America is milder than that of the eastern coasts: we are led to expect,
therefore, that civilization had anciently made some progress in this
climate, and even in higher latitudes. Even in our own times, we
perceive that in the 59th degree of latitude, in Cox's Channel and
Norfolk Sound, the natives have a decided taste for hieroglyphical
paintings on wood."--Humboldt _on the Ancient Inhabitants of America_.
It has been ascertained that this western coast is populous, and the
race somewhat superior to the other Indians in arts and
civilization.--Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 297-303; Venegas's _California_,
Part ii., Sec.ii.
"From the happy coincidence of various circumstances, man raises himself
to a certain degree of cultivation, even in climates the least favorable
to the development of organized beings. Near the polar circle, in
Iceland, in the twelfth century, we know the Scandinavians cultivated
literature and the arts with more success than the inhabitants of
Denmark and Prussia."--Humboldt.]
[Footnote 230: The most temperate climate lies between the 40th and 50th
degree of latitude, and it produces the most handsome and beautiful
people. It is from this climate that the ideas of the genuine color of
mankind and of the various degrees of beauty ought to be derived. The
two extremes are equally remote from truth and from beauty. The
civilized countries situated under this zone are Georgia, Circassia, the
Ukraine, Turkey in Europe, Hungary, the south of Germany, Italy,
Switzerland, France, and the northern parts of Spain. The natives of
these territories are the most handsome and most beautiful people in the
world.--Buffon, English trans., vol. iii., p. 205.]
[Footnote 231: Mr. Flint says. "I have inspected the northern, middle,
and southern Indians for a length of ten years; my opportunities of
observation have, therefore, been considerable, and I do not undertake
to form a judgment of their character without, at least, having seen
much of it. I have been forcibly struck by a general resemblance in
their countenance, make, conformation, manners, and habits. I believe
that no race of men can show people who speak different languages,
inhabit different climes, and subsist on different food, and who are yet
so wonderfully alike."--(1831.)
Don Antonio Ulloa, who had extensive opportunities of forming an opinion
on the natives of both the continents of America, asserts that "If we
have seen one American, we may be said to have seen all, their color and
make are so nearly the same."--_Notic. Americanas_, p. 308. See,
likewise, Garcia, _Origin de los Indios_, p. 55-242; Torquemada,
_Monarch. Indiana_, vol. ii., p. 571.
"If we except the northern regions, where we find men similar to the
Laplanders, all the rest of America is peopled with inhabitants among
whom there is little or no diversity. This great uniformity among the
natives of America seems to proceed from their living all in the same
manner. All the Americans were, or still are, savages; the Mexicans and
Peruvians were so recently polished that they ought not to be regarded
as an exception. Whatever, therefore, was the origin of those savages,
it seems to have been common to the whole. All the Americans have sprung
from the same source, and have preserved, with little variation, the
characters of their race; for they have all continued in a savage state,
and have followed nearly the same mode of life. Their climates are not
so unequal with regard to heat and cold as those of the ancient
continent, and their establishment in America has been too recent to
allow those causes which produce varieties sufficient time to operate so
as to render their effects conspicuous."--Buffon, Eng. trans., vol.
iii., p. 188.]
[Footnote 232: See Appendix, No. XLVIII. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 233: See Appendix, No. XLIX. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 234: There would never have been any difference of opinion
between physiologists, as to the existence of the beard among the
Americans, if they had paid attention to what the first historians of
the conquest of their country have said on this subject; for example,
Pigafetta, in 1519, in his Journal preserved in the Ambrosian library at
Milan, and published (in 1800) by Amoretti, p. 18.--Benzoni, _Hist. del
Mundo Nuovo_, p. 35, 1572; Bembo, _Hist. Venet._, p. 86, 1557;
Humboldt's _Personal Narrative_, vol. iii., p. 235.
"The Indians have no beard, because they use certain receipts to
extirpate it, which they will not communicate."--Oldmixon, vol. i., p.
286.
"Experience has made known that these receipts were little shells which
they used as tweezers; since they have become acquainted with metals,
they have invented an instrument consisting of a piece of brass wire
rolled round a piece of wood the size of the finger, so as to form a
special spring; this grasps the hairs within its turns, and pulls out
several at once. No wonder if this practice, continued for several
generations, should enfeeble the roots of the beard. Did the practice of
eradicating the beard, originate from the design of depriving the enemy
of such a dangerous hold on the face? This seems to me probable."--Volney,
p. 412.]
[Footnote 235: When the statue of Apollo Belvedere was shown to Benjamin
West on his first arrival at Rome, he exclaimed, "It is a model from a
young North American Indian."--_Ancient America._]
[Footnote 236: "It is a notorious fact, that every European who has
embraced the savage life has become stronger and better inured to every
excess than the savages themselves. The superiority of the people of
Virginia and Kentucky over them has been confirmed, not only in troop
opposed to troop, but man to man, in all their wars."--Volney, p. 417.]
[Footnote 237: Yet infanticide is condemned among the Red Indians both
by their theology and their feelings. Dr. Richardson relates that those
tribes who hold the idea that "the souls of the departed have to
scramble up a great mountain, at whose top they receive the reward of
their good or bad deeds, declare that women who have been guilty of
infanticide never reach the top of this mountain at all. They are
compelled instead to travel around the scenes of their crimes with
branches of trees tied to their legs. The melancholy sounds which are
heard in the still summer evenings, and which the ignorance of the white
people looks upon as the screams of the goat-suckers, are really,
according to my informant, the moanings of these unhappy
beings"--Franklin's _Journey to the Polar Seas_, p. 77, 78.]