diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/51881-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51881-0.txt | 16108 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 16108 deletions
diff --git a/old/51881-0.txt b/old/51881-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e8f44dd..0000000 --- a/old/51881-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,16108 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Atlantis and Other Ethnographic -Studies, by Daniel Wilson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Lost Atlantis and Other Ethnographic Studies - -Author: Daniel Wilson - -Release Date: April 28, 2016 [EBook #51881] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOST ATLANTIS, OTHER ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDIES *** - - - - -Produced by Larry Harrison, Cindy Beyer and the online -Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at -http://www.pgdpcanada.net with images provided by The -Internet Archives-US - - - - - - E T H N O G R A P H I C S T U D I E S - - - - - _Printed by R. & R. Clark_ - FOR - DAVID DOUGLAS, EDINBURGH - - - - - T H E L O S T A T L A N T I S - - AND OTHER - - ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDIES - - BY - SIR DANIEL WILSON, LL.D., F.R.S.E. - PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO - AUTHOR OF ‘THE PREHISTORIC ANNALS OF SCOTLAND’ - ‘PREHISTORIC MAN: THE ORIGIN OF CIVILISATION,’ ETC. ETC. - - NEW YORK - MACMILLAN AND CO. - 1892 - - _All rights reserved_ - - - - - P R E F A C E - -“THE Preface is the most troublesome part of a book,” I have often heard -my dear Father say; and now it falls to my unaccustomed pen to write a -preface for him. - -I cannot undertake to define the aim of this book; I can only tell how -the last work on it was done. In my Father’s note-book I find it -described as “A few carefully studied monographs, linked together by a -slender thread of ethnographic relationship.” - -Returning in June last from a brief visit to Montreal, with the first -signs of illness beginning to show, he found a bundle of proofs waiting -for him, and with the characteristic promptness which never let any duty -wait, he set to work at once to correct them. “It is my last book,” he -said, conscious that his busy brain had nearly fulfilled all its tasks; -and so through days of rapidly increasing weakness and pain he lay on -the sofa correcting proofs till the pen dropped from the hand no longer -able to hold it. His mind turned to the book in his _wandering_ thoughts -from illness, and on one of these occasions he murmured: “Sybil will -write the Preface”; and so I try to fulfil his wish. “Ask Mr. Douglas to -correct the proofs himself, and to be sure to make an index,” was one of -his last requests, thus providing for the finishing of the work which he -could not himself finish. He has passed now from this world whose -prehistoric story he so lovingly tried to decipher, and where he was -ever finding traces of the hand of God, into that other world, “where -toil shall cease and rest begin”; but where I doubt not he still goes on -learning more and more, no longer seeing through a glass darkly but in -perfect light. - -The silent lips seem to speak once more in this volume—his last words -to the public; and I commit it very tenderly to those who are interested -in his favourite study of Ethnology. - - SYBIL WILSON. - BENCOSIE, TORONTO, - _August 1892_. - - - - - C O N T E N T S - - PAGE - 1. THE LOST ATLANTIS 1 - - 2. THE VINLAND OF THE NORTHMEN 37 - - 3. TRADE AND COMMERCE IN THE STONE AGE 81 - - 4. PRE-ARYAN AMERICAN MAN 130 - - 5. THE ÆSTHETIC FACULTY IN ABORIGINAL RACES 185 - - 6. THE HURON-IROQUOIS; A TYPICAL RACE 246 - - 7. HYBRIDITY AND HEREDITY 307 - - 8. RELATIVE RACIAL BRAIN-WEIGHT AND SIZE 339 - - - INDEX 403 - - - - - THE LOST ATLANTIS - I - EARLY IDEAS - - -THE legend of Atlantis, an island-continent lying in the Atlantic Ocean -over against the Pillars of Hercules, which, after being long the seat -of a powerful empire, was engulfed in the sea, has been made the basis -of many extravagant speculations; and anew awakens keenest interest with -the revolving centuries. The 12th of October 1892 has been proclaimed a -World’s holiday, to celebrate its accomplished cycle of four centuries -since Columbus set foot on the shores of the West. The voyage has been -characterised as the most memorable in the annals of our race; and the -century thus completed is richer than all before it in the -transformations that the birth of time has disclosed since the wedding -of the New World to the Old. The story of the Lost Atlantis is recorded -in the _Timæus_ and, with many fanciful amplifications, in the _Critias_ -of Plato. According to the dialogues, as reproduced there, Critias -repeats to Socrates a story told him by his grandfather, then an old man -of ninety, when he himself was not more than ten years of age. According -to this narrative, Solon visited the city of Sais, at the head of the -Egyptian delta, and there learned from the priests of the ancient empire -of Atlantis, and of its overthrow by a convulsion of nature. “No one,” -says Professor Jowett, in his critical edition of _The Dialogues of -Plato_, “knew better than Plato how to invent ‘a noble lie’”; and he, -unhesitatingly, pronounces the whole narrative a fabrication. “The -world, like a child, has readily, and for the most part, unhesitatingly -accepted the tale of the Island of Atlantis.” To the critical editor, -this reception furnishes only an illustration of popular credulity, -showing how the chance word of a poet or philosopher may give rise to -endless historical or religious speculation. In the _Critias_, the -legendary tale is unquestionably expanded into details of no possible -historical significance or genuine antiquity. But it is not without -reason, that men like Humboldt have recognised in the original legend -the possible vestige of a widely-spread tradition of earliest times. In -this respect, at any rate, I purpose here to review it. - -It is to be noted that even in the time of Socrates, and indeed of the -elder Critias, this Atlantis was referred to as the vague and -inconsistent tradition of a remote past; though not more inconsistent -than much else which the cultured Greeks were accustomed to receive. Mr. -Hyde Clarke, in an “Examination of the Legend,” printed in the -_Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_, arrives at the -conclusion that Atlantis was the name of the king rather than of the -dominion. But king and kingdom have ever been liable to be referred to -under a common designation. According to the account in the _Timæus_, -Atlantis was a continent lying over against the Pillars of Hercules, -greater in extent than Libya and Asia combined; the highway to other -islands and to a great ocean, of which the Mediterranean Sea was a mere -harbour. But in the vagueness of all geographical knowledge in the days -of Socrates and of Plato, this Atlantic domain is confused with some -Iberian or western African power, which is stated to have been arrayed -against Egypt, Hellas, and all the countries bordering on the -Mediterranean Sea. The knowledge even of the western Mediterranean was -then very imperfect; and, to the ancient Greek, the West was a region of -vague mystery which sufficed for the localisation of all his fondest -imaginings. There, on the far horizon, Homer pictured the Elysian plain, -where, under a serene sky, the favourites of Zeus enjoyed eternal -felicity; Hesiod assigned the abode of departed heroes to the Happy -Isles beyond the western waters that engirdled Europe; and Seneca -foretold that that mysterious ocean would yet disclose an unknown world -which it then kept concealed. To the ancients, Elysium ever lay beyond -the setting sun; and the Hesperia of the Greeks, as their geographical -knowledge increased, continued to recede before them into the unexplored -west. - -In the youth of all nations, the poet and historian are one; and, -according to the tale of the elder Critias, the legend of Atlantis was -derived from a poetic chronicle of Solon, whom he pronounced to have -been one of the best of poets, as well as the wisest of men. The -elements of oral tradition are aptly set forth in the dialogue which -Plato puts into the mouth of Timæus of Locris, a Pythagorean -philosopher. Solon is affirmed to have told the tale to his personal -friend, Dropidas, the great-grandfather of Critias, who repeated it to -his son; and he, eighty years thereafter, in extreme old age, told it to -his grandson, a boy of ten, whose narrative, reproduced in mature years, -we are supposed to read in the dialogue of the _Timæus_. Even those are -but the later links in the traditionary catena. Solon himself visited -Sais, a city of the Egyptian delta, under the protection of the goddess, -Neith or Athene. There, when in converse with the Egyptian priests, he -learned, for the first time, rightly to appreciate how ignorant of -antiquity he and his countrymen were. “O Solon, Solon,” said an aged -priest to him, “you Hellenes are ever young, and there is no old man who -is a Hellene; there is no opinion or tradition of knowledge among you -which is white with age.” Solon had told them the mythical tales of -Phoroneus and Niobe, and of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and had attempted to -reckon the interval by generations since the great deluge. But the -priest of Sais replied to this that such Hellenic annals were children’s -stories. Their memory went back but a little way, and recalled only the -latest of the great convulsions of nature, by which revolutions in past -ages had been wrought: “The memory of them is lost, because there was no -written voice among you.” And so the venerable priest undertook to tell -him of the social life and condition of the primitive Athenians 9000 -years before. It is among the events of this older era that the -overthrow of Atlantis is told: a story already “white with age” in the -time of Socrates, 3400 years ago. The warriors of Athens, in that elder -time, were a distinct caste; and when the vast power of Atlantis was -marshalled against the Mediterranean nations, Athens bravely repelled -the invader, and gave liberty to the nations whose safety had been -imperilled; but in the convulsion that followed, in which the -island-continent was engulfed in the ocean, the warrior race of Athens -also perished. - -The story, as it thus reaches us, is one of the vaguest of popular -legends, and has been transmitted to modern times in the most obscure of -all the writings of Plato. Nevertheless, there is nothing improbable in -the idea that it rests on some historic basis, in which the tradition of -the fall of an Iberian, or other aggressive power in the western -Mediterranean, is mingled with other and equally vague traditions of -intercourse with a vast continent lying beyond the Pillars of Hercules. -Mr. Hyde Clarke, in his _Khita and Khita-Peruvian Epoch_, draws -attention to the ancient system of geography, alluded to by various -early writers, and notably mentioned by Crates of Pergamos, B.C. 160, -which treated of the Four Worlds. This he connects with the statement by -Mr. George Smith, derived from the cuneiform interpretations, that Agu, -an ancient king of Babylonia, called himself “King of the Four Races.” -He also assigns to it a relation with others, including its Inca -equivalent of _Tavintinsuzu_, the Empire of the Four Quarters of the -World. But the extravagance of regal titles has been the same in widely -diverse ages; so that much caution is necessary before they can be made -a safe basis for comprehensive generalisations. Four kings made war -against five in the vale of Siddim; and when Lot was despoiled and taken -captive by Chederlaomer, King of Elam, Tidal, King of Nations, and other -regal allies, Abraham, with no further aid than that of his trained -servants, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen in all, smote -their combined hosts, and recovered the captives and the spoil. Here, at -least, it is obvious that “the King of Nations” was somewhat on a par -with one of the six vassal kings who rowed King Edgar on the River Dee. -Certainly, within any early period of authentic history, the conceptions -of the known world were reduced within narrow bounds; and it would be a -very comprehensive deduction from such slight premises as the legend -supplies, to refer it to an age of accurate geographical knowledge in -which the western hemisphere was known as one of four worlds, or -continents. When the Scottish poet, Dunbar, wrote of America, twenty -years after the voyage of Columbus, he only knew of it as “the new-found -isle.” - -The opinion, universally favoured in the infancy of physical science, of -the recurrence of convulsions of nature, whereby nations were -revolutionised, and vast empires destroyed by fire, or engulfed in the -ocean, revived with the theories of cataclysmic phenomena in the earlier -speculations of modern geology; and has even now its advocates among -writers who have given little heed to the concurrent opinion of later -scientific authorities. Among the most zealous advocates of the idea of -a submerged Atlantic continent, the seat of a civilisation older than -that of Europe, or of the old East, was the late Abbé Brasseur de -Bourbourg. As an indefatigable and enthusiastic investigator, he -occupies a place in the history of American archæology somewhat akin to -that of his fellow-countryman, M. Boucher de Perthes, in relation to the -palæontological disclosures of Europe. He had the undoubted merit of -first drawing the attention of the learned world to the native -transcripts of Maya records, the full value of which is only now being -adequately recognised. His _Histoire des Nations Civilisées_ aims at -demonstrating from their religious myths and historical traditions the -existence of a self-originated civilisation. In his subsequent _Quatre -Lettres sur le Mexique_, the Abbé adopted, in the most literal form, the -venerable legend of Atlantis, giving free rein to his imagination in -some very fanciful speculations. He calls into being, “from the vasty -deep,” a submerged continent, or, rather, extension of the present -America, stretching eastward, and including, as he deems probable, the -Canary Islands, and other insular survivals of the imaginary Atlantis. -Such speculations of unregulated zeal are unworthy of serious -consideration. But it is not to be wondered at that the vague legend, so -temptingly set forth in the _Timæus_, should have kindled the -imaginations of a class of theorists, who, like the enthusiastic Abbé, -are restrained by no doubts suggested by scientific indications. So far -from geology lending the slightest confirmation to the idea of an -engulfed Atlantis, Professor Wyville Thomson has shown, in his _Depths -of the Sea_, that while oscillations of the land have considerably -modified the boundaries of the Atlantic Ocean, the geological age of its -basin dates as far back, at least, as the later Secondary period. The -study of its animal life, as revealed in dredging, strongly confirms -this, disclosing an unbroken continuity of life on the Atlantic sea-bed -from the Cretaceous period to the present time; and, as Sir Charles -Lyell has pointed out, in his _Principles of Geology_, the entire -evidence is adverse to the idea that the Canaries, the Madeiras, and the -Azores, are surviving fragments of a vast submerged island, or -continuous area of the adjacent continent. There are, indeed, undoubted -indications of volcanic action; but they furnish evidence of local -upheaval, not of the submergence of extensive continental areas. - -But it is an easy, as well as a pleasant pastime, to evolve either a -camel or a continent out of the depths of one’s own inner consciousness. -To such fanciful speculators, the lost Atlantis will ever offer a -tempting basis on which to found their unsubstantial creations. Mr. H. -H. Bancroft, when alluding to the subject in his _Native Races of the -Pacific States_, refers to forty-two different works for notices and -speculations concerning Atlantis. The latest advocacy of the idea of an -actual island-continent of the mid-Atlantic, literally engulfed in the -ocean, within a period authentically embraced by historical tradition, -is to be found in its most popular form in Mr. Ignatius Donnelly’s -_Atlantis, the Antediluvian World_. By him, as by Abbé Brasseur, the -concurrent opinions of the highest authorities in science, that the main -features of the Atlantic basin have undergone no change within any -recent geological period, are wholly ignored. To those, therefore, who -attach any value to scientific evidence, such speculations present no -serious claims on their study. There is, indeed, an idea favoured by -certain students of science, who carry the spirit of nationality into -regions ordinarily regarded as lying outside of any sectional pride, -that, geologically speaking, America is the older continent. It may at -least be accepted as beyond dispute, that that continent and the great -Atlantic basin intervening between it and Europe are alike of a -geological antiquity which places the age of either entirely apart from -all speculations affecting human history. But such fancies are wholly -superfluous. The idea of intercourse between the Old and the New World -prior to the fifteenth century, passed from the region of speculation to -the domain of historical fact, when the publication of the _Antiquitates -Americanæ_ and the _Grönland’s Historiske Mindesmærker_, by the -antiquaries of Copenhagen, adduced contemporary authorities, and -indisputably genuine runic inscriptions, in proof of the visits of the -Northmen to Greenland and the mainland of North America, before the -close of the tenth century. - -The idea of pre-Columbian intercourse between Europe and America, is -thus no novelty. What we have anew to consider is: whether, in its wider -aspect, it is more consistent with probability than the revived notion -of a continent engulfed in the Atlantic Ocean? The earliest students of -American antiquities turned to Phœnicia, Egypt, or other old-world -centres of early civilisation, for the source of Mexican, Peruvian, and -Central American art or letters; and, indeed, so long as the unity of -the human race remained unquestioned, some theory of a common source for -the races of the Old and the New World was inevitable. The idea, -therefore, that the new world which Columbus revealed, was none other -than the long-lost Atlantis, is one that has probably suggested itself -independently to many minds. References to America have, in like manner, -been sought for in obscure allusions of Herodotus, Seneca, Pliny, and -other classical writers, to islands or continents in the ocean which -extended beyond the western verge of the world as known to them. That -such allusions should be vague, was inevitable. If they had any -foundation in a knowledge by elder generations of this western -hemisphere, the tradition had come down to them by the oral -transmissions of centuries; while their knowledge of their own eastern -hemisphere was limited and very imperfect. “The Cassiterides, from which -tin is brought”—assumed to be the British Isles,—were known to -Herodotus only as uncertainly located islands of the Atlantic of which -he had no direct information. When Assuryuchurabal, the founder of the -palace at Nimrud, conquered the people who lived on the banks of the -Orontes from the confines of Hamath to the sea, the spoils obtained from -them included one hundred talents of _anna_, or tin; and the same prized -metal is repeatedly named in cuneiform inscriptions. The people trading -in tin, supposed to be identical with the Shirutana, were the merchants -of the world before Tyre assumed her place as chief among the merchant -princes of the sea. Yet already, in the time of Joshua, she was known as -“the strong city, Tyre.” “Great Zidon” also is so named, along with her, -when Joshua defines the bounds of the tribe of Asher, extending to the -sea coast; and is celebrated by Homer for its works of art. The -Seleucia, or Cilicia, of the Greeks was an attempted restoration of the -ancient seaport of the Shirutana, which may have been an emporium of -Khita merchandise; as it was, undoubtedly, an important place of -shipment for the Phœnicians in their overland trade from the valley of -the Euphrates. One favoured etymology of Britain, as the name of the -islands whence tin was brought, is _barat-anna_, assumed to have been -applied to them by that ancient race of merchant princes: the -Cassiterides being the later Aryan equivalent, Gr. κασσίτεροϛ, Sansk. -_kastira_. - -In primitive centuries, when ancient maritime races thus held supremacy -in the Mediterranean Sea, voyages were undoubtedly made far into the -Atlantic Ocean. The Phœnicians, who of all the nations settled on its -shores lay among the remotest from the outlying ocean, habitually traded -with settlements on the Atlantic. They colonised the western shores of -the Mediterranean at a remote period; occupied numerous favourable -trading-posts on the bays and headlands of the Euxine, as well as of -Sicily and others of the larger islands; and passing beyond the straits, -effected settlements along the coasts of Europe and Africa. According to -Strabo (i. 48), they had factories beyond the Pillars of Hercules in the -period immediately succeeding the Trojan war: an era which yearly -becomes for us less mythical, and to which may be assigned the great -development of the commercial prosperity of Tyre. The Phœnicians were -then expanding their trading enterprise, and extending explorations so -as to command the remotest available sources of wealth. The trade of -Tarshish was for Phœnicia what that of the East has been to England in -modern centuries. The Tartessus, on which the Arabs of Spain -subsequently conferred the name of the Guadalquivir, afforded ready -access to a rich mining district; and also formed the centre of valuable -fisheries of tunny and muræna. By means of its navigable waters, along -with those of the Guadina, Phœnician traders were able to penetrate far -inland; and the colonies established at their mouths furnished fresh -starting points for adventurous exploration along the Atlantic seaboard. -They derived much at least of the tin, which was an important object of -traffic, from the mines of north-west Spain, and from Cornwall; though, -doubtless, both the tin of the Cassiterides and amber from the Baltic -were also transported by overland routes to the Adriatic and the mouth -of the Rhone. It was a Phœnician expedition which, in the reign of -Pharaoh Necho, B.C. 611-605, after the decline of that great maritime -power, accomplished the feat of circumnavigating Africa by way of the -Red Sea. Hanno, a Carthaginian, not only guided the Punic fleet round -the parts of Libya which border on the Atlantic, but has been credited -with reaching the Indian Ocean by the same route as that which Vasco de -Gama successfully followed in 1497. The object of Hanno’s expedition, as -stated in the _Periplus_, was to found Liby-Phœnician cities beyond the -Pillars of Hercules. How far south his voyage actually extended along -the African coast is matter of conjecture, or of disputed -interpretation; for the original work is lost. It is sufficient for our -purpose to know that he did pursue the same route which led in a later -century to the discovery of Brazil. Aristotle applies the name of -“Antilla” to a Carthaginian discovery; and Diodorus Siculus assigns to -the Carthaginians the knowledge of an island in the ocean, the secret of -which they reserved to themselves, as a refuge to which they could -withdraw, should fate ever compel them to desert their African homes. It -is far from improbable that we may identify this obscure island with one -of the Azores, which lie 800 miles from the coast of Portugal. Neither -Greek nor Roman writers make other reference to them; but the discovery -of numerous Carthaginian coins at Corvo, the extreme north-westerly -island of the group, leaves little room to doubt that they were visited -by Punic voyagers. There is therefore nothing extravagant in the -assumption that we have here the “Antilla” mentioned by Aristotle. While -the Carthaginian oligarchy ruled, naval adventure was still encouraged; -but the maritime era of the Mediterranean belongs to more ancient -centuries. The Greeks were inferior in enterprise to the Phœnicians; -while the Romans were essentially unmaritime; and the revival of the old -adventurous spirit with the rise of the Venetian and Genoese republics -was due to the infusion of fresh blood from the great northern home of -the sea-kings of the Baltic. - -The history of the ancient world is, for us, to a large extent, the -history of civilisation among the nations around the Mediterranean Sea. -Its name perpetuates the recognition of it from remote times as the -great inland sea which kept apart and yet united, in intercourse and -exchange of experience and culture, the diverse branches of the human -family settled on its shores. Of the history of those nations, we only -know some later chapters. Disclosures of recent years have startled us -with recovered glimpses of the Khita, or Hittites, as a great power -centred between the Euphrates and the Orontes, but extending into Asia -Minor, and about B.C. 1200 reaching westward to the Ægean Sea. All but -their name seemed to have perished; and they were known only as one -among diverse Canaanitish tribes, believed to have been displaced by the -Hebrew inheritors of Palestine. Yet now, as Professor Curtius has -pointed out, we begin to recognise that “one of the paths by which the -art and civilisation of Babylonia and Assyria made their way to Greece, -was along the great high-road which runs across Asia Minor”; and which -the projected railway route through the valley of the Euphrates seeks to -revive. For, as compared with Egypt, and the earliest nations of Eastern -Asia, the Greeks were, indeed, children. It was to the Phœnicians that -the ancients assigned the origin of navigation. Their skill as seamen -was the subject of admiration even by the later Greeks, who owned -themselves to be their pupils in seamanship, and called the pole-star, -the Phœnician star. Their naval commerce is set forth in glowing -rhetoric by the prophet Ezekiel. “O Tyrus, thou that art situate at the -entry of the sea, a merchant of the people of many isles. Thy borders -are in the midst of the seas. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were -thy mariners. Thy wise men, O Tyrus, were thy pilots. All the ships of -the sea, with their mariners, were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.” -But this was spoken at the close of Phœnician history, in the last days -of Tyre’s supremacy. - -Looking back then into the dim dawn of actual history, with whatever -fresh light recent discoveries have thrown upon it: this, at least, -seems to claim recognition from us, that in that remote era the eastern -Mediterranean was a centre of maritime enterprise, such as had no equal -among the nations of antiquity. Even in the decadence of Phœnicia, her -maritime skill remained unmatched. Egypt and Palestine, under their -greatest rulers, recognised her as mistress of the sea; and, as has been -already noted, the circumnavigation of Africa—which, when it was -repeated in the fifteenth century, was considered an achievement fully -equalling that of Columbus,—had long before been accomplished by -Phœnician mariners. Carthage inherited the enterprise of the mother -country, but never equalled her achievements. With the fall of Carthage, -the Mediterranean became a mere Roman lake, over which the galleys of -Rome sailed reluctantly with her armed hosts; or coasting along shore, -they “committed themselves to the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and -hoisted up the mainsail to the winds”; or again, “strake sail, and so -were driven,” after the blundering fashion described in the voyage of -St. Paul. To such a people, the memories of Punic exploration or -Phœnician enterprise, or the vague legends of an Atlantis beyond the -engirdling ocean, were equally unavailing. The narrow sea between Gaul -and Britain was barrier enough to daunt the boldest of them from -willingly encountering the dangers of an expedition to what seemed to -them literally another world. - -Seeing then that the first steps in navigation were taken in an age -lying beyond all memory, and that the oldest traditions assign its -origin to the remarkable people who figure alike in early sacred and -profane history—in Joshua and Ezekiel, in Dius and Menander of Ephesus, -in the Homeric poems and in later Greek writings,—as unequalled in -their enterprise on the sea: what impediments existed in B.C. 1400 or -any earlier century that did not still exist in A.D. 1400, to render -intercourse between the eastern and the western hemisphere impossible? -America was no further off from Tarshish in the golden age of Tyre than -in that of Henry the Navigator. With the aid of literary memorials of -the race of sea-rovers who carved out for themselves the Duchy of -Normandy from the domain of Charlemagne’s heir, and spoiled the Angles -and Saxons in their island home, we glean sufficient evidence to place -the fact beyond all doubt that, after discovering and colonising Iceland -and Greenland, they made their way southward to Labrador, and so, some -way along the American coast. How far south their explorations actually -extended, after being long assigned to the locality of Rhode Island, has -anew excited interest, and is still a matter of controversy. The -question is reviewed on a subsequent page; but its final settlement does -not, in any degree, affect the present question. Certain it is that, -about A.D. 1000, when St. Olaf was introducing Christianity by a -sufficiently high-handed process into the Norse fatherland, Leif, the -son of Eric, the founder of the first Greenland colony, sailed from -Ericsfiord, or other Greenland port, in quest of southern lands already -reported to have been seen, and did land on more than one point of the -North American coast. We know what the ships of those Norse rovers were: -mere galleys, not larger than a good fishing smack, and far inferior to -it in deck and rigging. For compass they had only the same old -“Phœnician star,” which, from the birth of navigation, had guided the -mariners of the ancient world over the pathless deep. The track pursued -by the Northmen, from Norway to Iceland, and so to Greenland and the -Labrador coast, was, doubtless, then as now, beset by fogs, so that -“neither sun nor stars in many days appeared”; and they stood much more -in need of compass than the sailors of the “Santa Maria,” the “Pinta,” -and the “Nina,” the little fleet with which Columbus sailed from the -Andalusian port of Palos, to his first discovered land of “Guanahani,” -variously identified among the islands of the American Archipelago. Yet, -notwithstanding all the advantages of a southern latitude, with its -clearer skies, we have to remember that the “Santa Maria,” the only -decked vessel of the expedition, was stranded; and the “Pinta” and -“Nina,” on which Columbus and his party had to depend for their homeward -voyage, were mere coasting craft, the one with a crew of thirty, and the -other with twenty-four men, with only _latine_ sails. As to the compass, -we perceive how little that availed, on recalling the fact that the -Portuguese admiral, Pedro Alvares de Cabral, only eight years later, -when following on the route of Vasco de Gama, was carried by the -equatorial current so far out of his intended course that he found -himself in sight of a strange land, in 10° S. lat., and so accidentally -discovered Brazil and the new world of the west, not by means of the -mariner’s compass, but in spite of its guidance. It is thus obvious that -the discovery of America would have followed as a result of the voyage -of Vasco de Gama round the Cape, wholly independent of that of Columbus. -What befell the Portuguese admiral of King Manoel, in A.D. 1500, was an -experience that might just as readily have fallen to the lot of the -Phœnician admiral of Pharaoh Necho in B.C. 600, to the Punic Hanno, or -other early navigators; and may have repeatedly occurred to -Mediterranean adventurers on the Atlantic in older centuries. On the -news of de Cabral’s discovery reaching Portugal, the King despatched the -Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci, who explored the coast of South America, -prepared a map of the new-found world, and thereby wrested from Columbus -the honour of giving his name to the continent which he discovered. - -When we turn from the myths and traditions of the Old World to those of -the New, we find there traces that seem not unfairly interpretable into -the American counterpart of the legend of Atlantis. The chief seat of -the highest native American civilisation, is neither Mexico nor Peru, -but Central America. The nations of the Maya stock, who inhabit Yucatan, -Guatemala, and the neighbouring region, were peculiarly favourably -situated; and they appear to have achieved the greatest progress among -the communities of Central America. They may not unfitly compare with -the ancient dwellers in the valley of the Euphrates, from the grave -mounds of whose buried cities we are now recovering the history of ages -that had passed into oblivion before the Father of History assumed the -pen. Tested indeed by intervening centuries their monuments are not so -venerable; but, for America’s chroniclings, they are more prehistoric -than the disclosures of Assyrian mounds. The cities of Central America -were large and populous, and adorned with edifices, even now magnificent -in their ruins. Still more, the Mayas were a lettered people, who, like -the Egyptians, recorded in elaborate sculptured hieroglyphics the -formulæ of history and creed. Like them, too, they wrote and ciphered; -and appear, indeed, to have employed a comprehensive system of computing -time and recording dates, which, it cannot be doubted, will be -sufficiently mastered to admit of the decipherment of their ancient -records. The Mayas appear, soon after the Spanish Conquest, to have -adopted the Roman alphabet, and employed it in recording their own -historical traditions and religious myths, as well as in rendering into -such written characters some of the ancient national documents. Those -versions of native myth and history survive, and attention is now being -directed to them. The most recent contribution from this source is _The -Annals of the Cakchiquels_, by Dr. D. G. Brinton, a carefully edited and -annotated translation of a native legal document or _titulo_, in which, -soon after the Conquest, the heir of an ancient Maya family set forth -the evidence of his claim to the inheritance. Along with this may be -noted another work of the same class: _Titre Généalogique des Seigneurs -de Totonicapan. Traduit de l’Espagnol par M. de Charencey._ These two -works independently illustrate the same great national event. In one, a -prince of the Cakchiquel nation, tells of the overthrow of the Quiché -power by his people; and in the other a Quiché seignior, one of the -“Lords of Totonicapan,” describes it from his own point of view. Both -were of the same Maya stock, in what is now the State of Guatemala. Each -nation had a capital adorned with temples and palaces, the splendour of -which excited the wonder of the Spaniards; and both preserved traditions -of the migration of their ancestors from Tula, a mythical land from -which they came across the water. - -Such traditions of migration meet us on many sides. Captain Cook found -among the mythological traditions of Tahiti, a vague legend of a ship -that came out of the ocean, and seemed to be the dim record of ancestral -intercourse with the outer world. So also, the Aztecs had the tradition -of the golden age of Anahuac; and of Quetzalcoatl, their instructor in -agriculture, metallurgy and the arts of government. He was of fair -complexion, with long dark hair, and flowing beard: all, characteristics -foreign to their race. When his mission was completed, he set sail for -the mysterious shores of Tlapallan; and on the appearance of the ships -of Cortes, the Spaniards were believed to have returned with the divine -instructor of their forefathers, from the source of the rising sun. - -What tradition hints at, physiology confirms. The races of America -differ less in physical character from those of Asia, than do the races -either of Africa or Europe. The American Indian is a Mongol; and though -marked diversities are traceable throughout the American continent, the -range of variation is much less than in the eastern hemisphere. The -western continent appears to have been peopled by repeated migrations -and by diverse routes; but when we attempt to estimate any probable date -for its primeval settlement, evidence wholly fails. Language proves -elsewhere a safe guide. It has established beyond question some -long-forgotten relationship between the Aryans of India and Persia and -those of Europe; it connects the Finn and Lapp with their Asiatic -forefathers; it marks the independent origin of the Basques and their -priority to the oldest Aryan intruders; it links together widely diverse -branches of the great Semitic family. Can language tell us of any such -American affinities, or of traces of Old World congeners, in relation to -either civilised Mayas and Peruvians, or to the forest and prairie races -of the northern continent? - -With the millions of America’s coloured population, of African blood and -yet speaking Aryan languages, the American comparative philologist can -scarcely miss the significance of the warning that linguistic and -ethnical classifications by no means necessarily imply the same thing. -Nevertheless, without overlooking this distinction, the ethnical -significance of the evidence which comparative philology supplies cannot -be slighted in any question relative to prehistoric relations between -the Old World and the New. What then can philology tell us? There is one -answer, at the least, which the languages of America give, that fully -accords with the legend, “white with age,” that told of an -island-continent in the Atlantic Ocean with which the nations around the -Mediterranean once held intercourse. None of them indicates any trace of -immigration within the period of earliest authentic history. Those who -attach significance to the references in the _Timæus_ to political -relations common to Atlantis and parts of Libya and Europe; or who, on -other grounds, look with favour on the idea of early intercourse between -the Mediterranean and the western continent, have naturally turned to -the Eskuara of the Basques. It is invariably recognised as the surviving -representative of languages spoken by the Allophyliæ of Europe before -the intrusion of Aryans. The forms of its grammar differ widely from -those of any Semitic, or Indo-European tongue, placing it in the same -class with Mongol, East African, and American languages. Here, -therefore, is a tempting glimpse of possible affinities; and Professor -Whitney, accordingly, remarks in his _Life and Growth of Languages_, -that the Basque “forms a suitable stepping-stone from which to enter the -peculiar linguistic domain of the New World, since there is no other -dialect of the Old World which so much resembles in structure the -American languages.” But this glimpse of possible relationship has -proved, thus far, illusory. In their morphological character, certain -American and Asiatic languages have a common agglutinative structure, -which in the former is developed into their characteristic polysynthetic -attribute. With this, the Eskuarian system of affixes corresponds. But -beyond the general structure, there is no such evidence of affinity, -either in the vocabularies or grammar, as direct affiliation might be -expected to show. Elements common to the Anglo-American of the -nineteenth century and the Sanskrit-speaking race beyond the Indus, in -the era of Alexander of Macedon, are suggested at once by the -grammatical structure of their languages; whereas there is nothing in -the resemblance between the Basque and any of the North American -languages that is not compatible with a “stepping-stone” from Asia to -America by the islands of the Pacific. The most important of all the -native American languages in their bearing on this interesting -inquiry—those of Central America,—are only now receiving adequate -attention. Startling evidence may yet reward the diligence of students; -but, so far as language furnishes any clue to affinity of race, no -American language thus far discloses such a relationship, as, for -example, enabled Dr. Pritchard to suggest that the western people of -Europe, to whom the Greeks gave the collective name of Kέλται, and whose -languages had been assumed by all previous ethnologists as furnishing -evidence that they were precursors of the Aryan immigrants, in reality -justified their classification in the same stock. - -But while thus far, the evidence of language is, at best, vague and -indefinite in its response to the inquiry for proofs of relationship of -the races of America to those of the Old World; physiological -comparisons lend no confirmation to the idea of an indigenous native -race, with special affinities and adaptation to its peculiar -environment, and with languages all of one class, the ramifications from -a single native stem. So far as physical affinities can be relied upon, -the man of America, in all his most characteristic racial diversities, -is of Asiatic origin. His near approximation to the Asiatic Mongol is so -manifest as to have led observers of widely different opinions in all -other respects, to concur in classing both under the same great -division: the Mongolian of Pickering, the American Mongolidæ of Latham, -the Mongoloid of Huxley. Professor Flower, in an able discussion of the -varieties of the human species, addressed to the Anthropological -Institute of Great Britain in 1885, unhesitatingly classes the Eskimo as -the typical North Asiatic Mongol. In other American races he notes as -distinctive features the characteristic form of the nasal bones, the -well-developed superciliary ridge, and retreating forehead; but the -resemblance is so obvious in many other respects, that he finally -includes them all among the members of the Mongolian type. If, then, the -American Mongol came originally from Asia, or sprung from the common -stock of which the Asiatic Mongol is the typical representative, within -any such period as even earliest Phœnician history would embrace, much -more definite traces of affinity are to be looked for in his language -than mere correspondence in the agglutination characteristic of a very -widely diffused class of speech. But we, thus far, look in vain for -traces of a common genealogy such as those which, on the one hand, -correlate the Semitic and Aryan families of Asia and Europe with parent -stocks of times anterior to history, and on the other, with -ramifications of modern centuries. We have, moreover, to deal mainly -with the languages of uncivilised races. To the continent north of the -Gulf of Mexico, the grand civilising art of the metallurgist remained to -the last unknown; and in Mexico, it appears as a gift of recent origin, -derived from Central America. The Asiatic origin of the art of -Tubal-cain has, indeed, been pretty generally assumed, both for Central -and Southern America; but by mere inference. In doing so, we are carried -back to some mythic Quetzalcoatl: for neither the metallurgist nor his -art was introduced in recent centuries. Assuming, for the sake of -argument, the dispersion of a common population of Asia and America, -already familiar with the working of metals, and with architecture, -sculpture and other kindred arts, at a date coeval with the founding of -Tyre, “the daughter of Sidon,” what help does language give us in favour -of such a postulate? We have great language groups, such as the -Huron-Iroquois, extending of old from the St. Lawrence to North -Carolina; the Algonkin, from Hudson Bay to South Carolina; the Dakotan, -from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains; the Athabascan, from the -Eskimo frontier, within the Arctic circle, to New Mexico; and the Tinné -family of languages west of the Rocky Mountains, from the Youkon and -Mackenzie rivers, far south on the Pacific slope. With those, as with -the more cultured languages, or rather languages of the more cultured -races, of Central and Southern America, elaborate comparisons have been -made with vocabularies of Asiatic languages; but the results are, at -best, vague. Curious points of agreement have, indeed, been -demonstrated, inviting to further research; but as yet the evidence of -relationship mainly rests on correspondence in structure. The -agglutinative suffixes are common to the Eskimo and many American Indian -tongues. Dr. H. Rink describes the polysynthetic process in the Eskimo -language as founded on radical words, to which additional or imperfect -words, or affixes, are attached; and on the inflexion, which, for -transitive verbs, indicates subject as well as object, likewise by -addition. But, while Professor Flower unhesitatingly characterises the -Eskimo as belonging to the typical North Asiatic Mongols; he, at the -same time, speaks of them as almost as perfectly isolated in their -Arctic home “as an island population.” Nevertheless, the same structure -is common to their language and to those of the great North American -families already named. All alike present, in an exaggerated form, the -characteristic structure of the Ural-Altaic or Turanian group of Asiatic -languages. - -Race-type corresponds in the Old and New World. A comparison of -languages by means of the vocabularies of the two continents, yields no -such correspondence. All the more, therefore, is the American student of -comparative philology stimulated to investigate the significance of the -polysynthetic characteristic found to pertain to so many—though by no -means to all—of the languages of this continent. The relationship which -it suggests to the agglutinative languages of Asia, furnishes a subject -of investigation not less interesting to American students, alike of the -science of language, and of the whole comprehensive questions which -anthropology embraces, than the relations of the Romance languages of -Europe to the parent Latin; or of Latin itself, and all the Aryan -languages, ancient and modern, not only to Sanskrit and Zend, but to the -indeterminate stock which furnished the parent roots, the grammatical -forms, and that whole class of words still recognisable as the common -property of the whole Aryan family. Sanskrit was a dead language three -thousand years ago; the English language, as such, cannot claim to have -endured much more than fourteen centuries, yet both partake of the same -common property of numerals and familiar terms existing under certain -modifications in Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Slavonic, Celtic, German, -Anglo-Saxon, and in all the Romance languages. Thus far the American -philologist has been unable to show any such genealogical relationship -pervading the native languages; or to recover specific evidence of -affinities to languages, and so to races of other continents. There are, -indeed, linguistic families, such as some already referred to, -indicating a common descent among widely dispersed tribes; but this has -its chief interest in relation to another aspect of the question. - -Professor Max Müller has drawn attention to the tendency of the -languages of America towards an endless multiplication of distinct -dialects. Those again have been grouped by the synthetic process of -Hervas into eleven families: seven for the northern continent, and four -for South America. But we are as yet only on the threshold of this -important branch of research. In two papers contributed by M. Lucien -Adam to the _Congrès International des Americanistes_, he gives the -results of a careful examination of sixteen languages of North and South -America; and arrives at the conclusion that they belong to a number of -independent families as essentially distinct as they would have been -“had there been primitively several human pairs.” Dr. Brinton, one of -the highest authorities on any question connected with native American -languages, contributed a paper to the _American Antiquarian_ (Jan. -1886), “On the Study of the Nahuatl Language.” This language, which is -popularly known as Aztec, he strongly commends to the study of American -philologists. It is one of the most completely organised of Indian -languages, has a literature of considerable extent and variety, and is -still in use by upwards of half a million of people. It is from this -area, southward through Central America, and in the great seat of native -South American civilisation, that we can alone hope to recover direct -evidence of ancient intercourse between the Old and the New World. But, -here again, the complexities of language seem to grow apace. In Dr. -Brinton’s _Notes on the Mangue, an extinct Language formerly spoken in -Nicaragua_, he states, as a result of his later studies, that the belief -which he once entertained of some possible connection between this -dialect and the Aymara of Peru, has not been confirmed on further -examination. This, therefore, tends to sustain the prevailing opinion of -scholars that there is no direct affiliation between the languages of -North and South America. All this is suggestive either of an idea, such -as that which Agassiz favoured in his system of natural provinces of the -animal world, in relation to different types of man, on which he based -the conclusion that the diverse varieties of American man originated in -various centres, and had been distributed from them over the entire -continent; or we must assume immigration from different foreign centres. -Accepting the latter as the more tenable proposition, I long ago -sketched a scheme of immigration such as seemed to harmonise with the -suggestive, though imperfect evidence. This assumed the earliest current -of population, in its progress from a supposed Asiatic cradleland, to -have spread through the islands of the Pacific, and reached the South -American continent before any excess of population had diffused itself -into the inhospitable northern steppes of Asia. By an Atlantic oceanic -migration, another wave of population occupied the Canaries, Madeiras, -and the Azores, and so passed to the Antilles, Central America, and -probably by the Cape Verdes, or, guided by the more southern equatorial -current, to Brazil. Latest of all, Behring Strait and the North Pacific -Islands may have become the highway for a migration by which certain -striking diversities among nations of the northern continent, including -the conquerors of the Mexican plateau, are most easily accounted for. - -It is not necessary to include in the question here discussed, the more -comprehensive one of the existence of man in America contemporary with -the great extinct animals of the Quaternary Period; though the -acknowledged affinities of Asiatic and American anthropology, taken in -connection with the remoteness of any assignable period for migration -from Asia to the American continent, renders it far from improbable that -the latest oscillations of land may here also have exercised an -influence. The present soundings of Behring Strait, and the bed of the -sea extending southward to the Aleutian Islands, entirely accord with -the assumption of a former continuity of land between Asia and America. -The idea to which the speculations of Darwin, founded on his -observations during the voyage of the ‘Beagle’ gave rise, of a -continuous subsidence of the Pacific Ocean, also favoured the -probability of greater insular facilities for trans-oceanic migration at -the supposed period of the peopling of America from Asia. But more -recent explorations, and especially those connected with the -‘Challenger’ expedition, fail to confirm the old theory of the origin of -the coral islands of the Pacific; and in any view of the case, we must -be content to study the history of existing races, alike of Europe and -America, apart from questions relating to palæocosmic man. If the vague -legend of the lost Atlantis embodies any trace of remotest historical -tradition, it belongs to a modern era compared with the men either of -the European drift, or of the post-glacial deposits of the Delaware and -the auriferous gravels of California. When resort is had to comparative -philology, it is manifest that we must be content to deal with a more -recent era than contemporaries of the Mastodon, and their congeners of -Europe’s Mammoth and Reindeer periods, notwithstanding the fact that the -modern representatives of the latter have been sought within the -American Arctic circle. - -Such evidence as a comparison of languages thus far supplies, lends more -countenance to the idea of migration through the islands of the Pacific, -than to such a route from the Mediterranean as is implied in any -significance attached to the legend of Atlantis. As to the Behring -Strait route, present ethnology and philology point rather to an -overflow of Arctic American population into Asia. Gallatin was the first -to draw attention to certain analogies in the structure of Polynesian -and American languages, as deserving of investigation; and pointed out -the peculiar mode of expressing the tense, mood, and voice of the verb, -by affixed particles, and the value given to place over time, as -indicated in the predominant locative verbal form. Such are to be looked -for with greater probability among the languages of South America; but -the substitution of affixed particles for inflections, especially in -expressing the direction of action in relation to the speaker, is common -to the Polynesian and the Oregon languages, and has analogies in the -Cherokee. The distinction between the inclusive and exclusive pronoun -_we_, according as it means “you and I,” or “they and I,” etc., is as -characteristic of the Maori as of the Ojibway. Other observations of -more recent date have still further tended to countenance the -recognition of elements common to the languages of Polynesia and -America; and so to point to migration by the Pacific to the western -continent. - -But this idea of a migration through the islands of the Pacific receives -curious confirmation from another source. In an ingenious paper on “The -Origin of Primitive Money,”[1] originally read at the meeting of the -British Association at Montreal in 1884, Mr. Horatio Hale shows that -there is good reason for believing that the most ancient currency in -China consisted of disks and slips of tortoise shell. The fact is stated -in the great Chinese encyclopædia of the Emperor Kang-he, who reigned in -the early years of the eighteenth century; and the Chinese annalists -assert that metal coins have been in use from the time of Fuh-he, about -B.C. 2950. Without attempting to determine the specific accuracy of -Chinese chronology, it is sufficient to note here that the most ancient -form of Chinese copper cash is the disk, perforated with a square hole, -so as to admit of the coins being strung together. This, which -corresponds in form to the large perforated shell-disks, or native -currency of the Indians of California, and with specimens recovered from -ancient mounds, Mr. Hale regards as the later imitation in metal of the -original Chinese shell money. A similar shell-currency, as he shows, is -in use among many islanders of the Pacific; and he traces it from the -Loo-Choo Islands, across the vast archipelago, through many island -groups, to California; and then overland, with the aid of numerous -disclosures from ancient mounds, to the Atlantic coast, where the -Indians of Long Island were long noted for its manufacture in the later -form of wampum. “The natives of Micronesia,” says Mr. Hale, who, it will -be remembered, records the results of personal observation, “in -character, usages, and language, resemble to a certain extent the -nations of the southern and eastern Pacific groups, which are included -in the designation of Polynesia, but with some striking differences, -which careful observers have ascribed, with great probability, to -influences from north-eastern Asia. They are noted for their skill in -navigation. They have well-rigged vessels, exceeding sixty feet in -length. They sail by the stars, and are accustomed to take long -voyages.” To such voyagers, the Pacific presents no more formidable -impediments to oceanic enterprise than did the Atlantic to the Northmen -of the tenth century. - -Throughout the same archipelago, modern exploration is rendering us -familiar with examples of remarkable stone structures and colossal -sculptured figures, such as those from Easter Island now in the British -Museum. Rude as they undoubtedly are, they are highly suggestive of an -affinity to the megalithic sculptures and cyclopean masonry of Peru. -Monuments of this class were noted long ago by Captain Beechy on some of -the islands nearest the coasts of Chili and Peru. Since then the -megalithic area has been extended by their discovery in other island -groups lying towards the continent of Asia. - -Another subsidiary class of evidence of a different kind, long since -noted by me, gives additional confirmation to this recovered trail of -ancient migration through the islands of the Pacific to the American -continent. The practice to which the Flathead Indians of Oregon and -British Columbia owe their name, the compressed skulls from Peruvian -cemeteries, and the widely diffused evidence of the prevalence of such -artificial malformation among many American tribes, combine to indicate -it as one of the most characteristic American customs. Yet the evidence -is abundant which shows it not only as a practice among rude Asiatic -Mongol tribes of primitive centuries; but proves that it was still in -use among the Huns and Avars who contended with the Barbarians from the -Baltic for the spoils of the decaying Roman empire. Nor was it merely -common to tribes of both continents. It furnishes another link in the -chain of evidence of ancient migration from Asia to America; as is -proved by its practice in some of the islands of the Pacific, as -described by Dr. Pickering,[2] and since abundantly confirmed by the -forms of Kanaka skulls. By following up the traces of this strange -custom, perpetuated among the tribes on the Pacific coasts both of -Northern and Southern America to our own day, we thus once more retrace -the steps of ancient wanderers, and are carried back to centuries when -the Macrocephali of the Euxine attracted the observant eye of -Hippocrates, and became familiar to Strabo, Pliny, and Pomponius Mela. - -But the wanderings among the insular races of the Pacific are not -limited to such remote eras. Later changes are also recorded by other -evidence. The direct relationship of existing Polynesian languages is -not Mongol but Malay; but this is the intrusive element of a time long -subsequent to the growth of characteristic features which still -perpetuate traces of Polynesian and American affinities. The number and -diversity of the languages of the continent of America, and their -essentially native vocabularies, prove that the latter have been in -prolonged process of development, free from contact with languages which -appear to have been still modelling themselves according to the same -plan of thought in many scattered islands of the Pacific. - -The remarkable amount of culture in the languages of some of the -barbarous nations of North America, traceable, apparently, to the -important part which the orator played in their deliberative assemblies, -has not unnaturally excited surprise: but in any attempt to recover the -history of the New World by the aid of philology we must deal with the -languages of its civilised races. Among those the Nahuatl or Aztec has -been appealed to; and the Mayas have been noted as a lettered people -whose hieroglyphic records, and later transcripts of written documents, -are now the object of intelligent investigation both by European and -American philologists. The Maya language strikingly contrasts, in its -soft, vocalic forms, with the languages of nations immediately to the -north of its native area. It is that which, according to Stephens, was -affirmed to be still spoken by a living race in a region beyond the -Great Sierra, extending to Yucatan and the Mexican Gulf. Others among -the cultured native languages which seem to invite special study are the -Aymara and the Quichua. Of these, the latter was the classical language -of South America, wherein, according to its native historians, the -Peruvian chroniclers and poets incorporated the national legends. It may -be described as having occupied a place under Inca rule analogous to -that of the Norman French in England from the eleventh to the thirteenth -century. To those ancient, cultured languages of the seats of an -indigenous civilisation, and with a literature of their own, attention -is now happily directed. The students of American ethnology begin to -realise that the buried mounds of Assyria are not richer in discoveries -relative to the ancient history of Asia than are the monuments, the -hieroglyphic records, and the languages of Central America and Peru, in -relation to a native social life which long flourished as a product of -their own West. To this occidental Assyria we have to look for an answer -to many inquiries, especially interesting to the intrusive occupants of -the western continent. If its architecture and sculpture, and the -hieroglyphic records with which they are enriched, are modifications of -a prehistoric Asiatic civilisation, it is here that the evidence is to -be looked for; and if the arts of the sculptor and architect were -brought to the continent of America by wanderers from an Asiatic -fatherland, then those of the potter and of the metallurgist will also -prove to be an inheritance from the old Asiatic hive of the nations. - -From the evidence thus far adduced it appears that ethnically the -American is Mongol, and by the agglutinative element in many of the -native languages may be classed as Turanian. The Finnic hypothesis of -Rask, however much modified by later reconsideration of the question of -the origin of the Aryans, as well as the European melanochroic Metis of -Huxley, pertains to a prehistoric era of which the Finns and the Basques -are assumed to be survivals; and to that elder era, rather than to any -date within the remotest limits of authentic history, the languages of -America seem to refer us in the search for any common origin with those -of the eastern hemisphere. But a zealous comparative philologist, -already referred to, has sought for linguistic traces of relationship -between the Old and the New World which, if confirmed, would better -harmonise with the traditions of intercourse between the maritime -nations of the eastern Mediterranean and a continent lying outside of -the Pillars of Hercules. In his investigations he aims at determining -the relations of the Aztec or Nahuatl culture and language to those of -Asia. Humboldt long ago claimed for much of the former an Old World -derivation. It seems premature to attempt to deduce any comprehensive -results from the meagre data thus far gathered. But the author of _The -Khita and Khita-Peruvian Epoch_, in tracing the progress of his Sumerian -race, assigns an interval of 4000 years since their settlement in -Babylonia and India. In like manner, on the assumption of their -migration from a common Asiatic centre, which the division of Western -and Eastern Sumerian in pronouns and other details is thought to -indicate, Peru, it is conceived, may have been reached by a migratory -wave of earlier movement, from 4000 to 5000 years ago. Mr. Hyde Clarke -indeed conceives that it is quite within compass that the same great -wave of migration which passed over India and Babylonia, continued to -propagate its centrifugal force, and that by its means Peru was reached -within the last 3000 years. But, whatever intercourse may possibly have -then been carried on between the Old and the New World, it must be -obvious, on mature reflection, that so recent a date for the peopling of -South America from Asia is as little reconcilable with the very remote -traces of linguistic affinity thus far adduced, as it is with any -fancied relationship with a lost Atlantis of the elder world. The -enduring affinities of long-parted languages of the Old World tell a -very different tale. With the comparative philologist, as with the -archæologist, time is more and more coming to be recognised as an -all-important factor. - -But, leaving the estimate of centuries out of consideration, in the -researches into the origin of the peculiar native civilisation of -America here referred to, the recently deciphered Akkad is accepted as -the typical language of the Sumerian class. This is assumed to have -started from High Asia, and to have passed on to Babylonia; while -another branch diffused itself by India and Indo-China, and thence, by -way of the islands of the Pacific, reached America. Hence, in an -illustrative table of Sumerian words arranged under four heads, as -Western, Indo-Chinese, Peruvian, and Mexican, etc., it is noted that -“while in some cases a root may be traced throughout, it will be seen -that more commonly the western and American roots or types, cross in the -Indo-Chinese region.” But another and older influence, related to the -Agaw of the Nile region, is also traced in the Guarani, Omagua, and -other languages of South America, indicating evidences of more remote -relations with the Old World, and with the African continent. This is -supposed to have been displaced by a Sumerian migration by which the -Aymara domination was established in Peru, and the Maya element -introduced into Yucatan. Those movements are assumed to belong to an era -of civilisation, during which the maritime enterprise of the Pacific may -have been carried on upon a scale unknown to the most adventurous of -modern Malay navigators, notwithstanding the essentially maritime -character by which the race is still distinguished. All this implies -that the highway to the Pacific was familiar to both continents; and -hence a second migration is recognised, in certain linguistic relations, -between the Siamese and other languages of Indo-China, and the Quichua -and Aztec of Peru and Mexico. But the problem of the origin of the races -of the western continent, and of the sources of its native civilisation, -is still in that preliminary stage in which the accumulation of -materials on which future induction may be based is of more value than -the most comprehensive generalisations. - -The vastness of the American twin continents, with their Atlantic and -Pacific seaboard reaching from the Arctic well-nigh to the Antarctic -circle, furnishes a tempting stimulus to theories of migration on the -grandest scale, and to the assumption of comprehensive schemes of -international relation in prehistoric centuries. But they are not more -substantial than the old legend of Atlantis. The best that can be said -of them is that here, at any rate, are lines of research in the -prosecution of which American ethnologists may employ their learning and -acumen encouraged by the hope of yet revealing a past not less -marvellous, and possessing a more personal interest, than all which -geology has recovered from the testimony of the rocks. But before such -can be more than dimly guessed at, the patient diligence of many -students will be needed to accumulate the needful materials. Nor can we -afford to delay the task. The Narraganset Bible, the work of Eliot, the -apostle of the Indians, is the memorial of a race that has perished; -while other nations and languages have disappeared since his day, with -no such invaluable record of their character. Mr. Horatio Hale published -in the _Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society_, in 1883, a -paper on the “Tutelo Tribe and Language,” derived from Nikonha, the last -survivor of a once powerful tribe of North Carolina. To Dr. Brinton, we -owe the recent valuable notes on the Mangue, another extinct language. -On the North-western Canadian prairies the buffalo has disappeared, and -the Indian must follow. On all hands, we are called upon to work -diligently while it is yet time, in order to accumulate the materials -out of which the history of the western hemisphere is to be evolved. - -It accords with the idea of Polynesian genealogy, that indications -suggestive of grammatical affinity have been noted in languages of South -America, in their mode of expressing the tense of the verb; in the -formation of causative, reciprocal, potential, and locative verbs by -affixes; and in the general system of compound word structure. The -incorporation of the particle with the verbal root, appears to embody -the germ of the more comprehensive American holophrasms. Such affinities -point to others more markedly Asiatic; for analogies recognised between -the languages of the Deccan and those of the Polynesian group in -relation to the determinative significance of the formative particles on -the verbal root, reappear in some of the characteristic peculiarities of -American languages. On this subject, the Rev. Richard Garnett remarked, -in a communication to the Philological Society, that most of the native -American languages of which we have definite information, bear a general -analogy alike to the Polynesian family and to the languages of the -Deccan, in their methods of distinguishing the various modifications of -time; and he adds: “We may venture to affirm, in general terms, that a -South American verb is constructed precisely as those in the Tamil and -other languages of Southern India; consisting, like them, of a verbal -root, a second element defining the time of the action, and a third -denoting the subject or person.” - -So far it becomes apparent that the evidence, derived alike from -language and from other sources, points to the isolation of the American -continent through unnumbered ages. The legend of the lost Atlantis is -true in this, if in nothing else, that it relegates the knowledge of the -world beyond the Atlantic, by the maritime races of the Mediterranean, -to a time already of hoar antiquity in the age of Socrates, or even of -Solon. But at a greatly later date the Caribbean Sea was scarcely more a -mystery to the dwellers on the shores of the Ægean, than was the Baltic -or the North Sea. Herodotus, indeed, expressly affirms his disbelief in -“a river, called by the barbarians, Eridanus, which flows into a -northern sea, and from which there is a report that amber is wont to -come.” Nevertheless, we learn from him of Greek traders exchanging -personal ornaments and woven stuffs for the furs and amber of the North. -They ascended the Dneiper as far as Gerrhos, a trading-post, forty days’ -journey inland; and the tokens of their presence there have been -recovered in modern times. Not only hoards of Greek coins, minted in the -fifth century B.C., but older golden gryphons of Assyrian workmanship -have been recovered during the present century, near Bromberg in Posen, -and at Kiev on the Dneiper. As also, afar on the most northern island of -the Azores, hoards of Carthaginian coins have revealed traces of the old -Punic voyager there; if still more ancient voyagers from Sidon, Tyre, or -Seleucia, did find their way in some forgotten century to lands that lay -beyond the waste of waters which seemed to engirdle their world: similar -evidence may yet be forthcoming among the traces of ancient native -civilisation in Central or Southern America. - -But also the carving of names and dates, and other graphic memorials of -the passing wayfarer, is no mere modern custom. When the sites of -Greenland settlements of the Northmen of the tenth century were -discovered in our own day, the runic inscriptions left no room for doubt -as to their former presence there. By like evidence we learn of them in -southern lands, from their runes still legible on the marble lion of the -Piræus, since transported to its later site in the arsenal of Venice. At -Maeshowe in Orkney, in St. Molio’s Cave on the Clyde, at Kirk Michael in -the Isle of Man, and on many a rock and stone by the Baltic, the -sea-rovers from the north have left enduring evidence of their -wanderings. So was it with the Roman. From the Moray Firth to the Libyan -desert, and from the Iberian shore to the Syrian valleys, sepulchral, -legionary, and mythological inscriptions, as well as coins, medals, -pottery, and works of art, mark the footprints of the masters of the -world. In Italy itself Perusinian, Eugubine, Etruscan, and Greek -inscriptions tell the story of a succession of races in that beautiful -peninsula. It was the same, through all the centuries of Hellenic -intellectual rule, back to the unrivalled inscription at Abbu Simbel. -This was cut, says Dr. Isaac Taylor,[3] “when what we call Greek history -can hardly be said to have commenced: two hundred years before -Herodotus, the Father of History, had composed his work; a century -before Athens began to rise to power. More ancient even than the epoch -assigned to Solon, Thales, and the seven wise men of Greece: it must be -placed in the half-legendary period at which the laws of Dracon are said -to have been enacted”;—the period, in fact, from which the legend of -Atlantis was professedly derived. Yet there the graven characters -perpetuate their authentic bit of history, legible to this day, of the -son of Theokles, sailing with his company up the Nile, when King -Psamatichos came to Elephantina. So it is with Egyptians, Assyrians, -Phœnicians, and with the strange forgotten Hittites, whose vast empire -has vanished out of the world’s memory. The lion of the Piræus, with its -graven runes, is a thing of yesterday, compared with the inscribed lion -from Marash, with its Hittite hieroglyphs, now in the museum at -Constantinople; for the Hittite capital, Ketesh, was captured by the -Egyptian Sethos, B.C. 1340. All but the name of this once powerful -people seemed to have perished. Yet the inscribed stones, by which they -were to be restored to their place in history, remained, awaiting the -interpretation of an enlightened age. - -If then, traces of the lost Atlantis are ever to be recovered in the New -World, it must be by some indubitable memorial of a like kind. Old as -the legend may be, it is seen that literal graphic memorials—Assyrian, -Phœnician, Khita, Egyptian, and Greek,—still remain to tell of times -even beyond the epoch assigned to Solon. The antiquaries of New England -have sought in vain for runic memorials of the Northmen of the tenth -century; and the diligence of less trustworthy explorers for traces of -ancient records has been stimulated to excess, throughout the North -American continent, with results little more creditable to their honesty -than their judgment. What some chance disclosure may yet reveal, who can -presume to guess? But thus far it appears to be improbable that within -the area north of the Gulf of Mexico, evidences of the presence of -Phœnician, Greek, or other ancient historic race will now be found. -Certain it is that, whatever transient visits may have been paid to -North America by representatives of Old World progress, no long-matured -civilisation, whether of native or foreign origin, has existed there. -Through all the centuries of which definite history has anything to -tell, it has remained a world apart, secure in its isolation, with -languages, arts, and customs essentially native in character. The -nations of the Maya stock appear to have made the greatest progress in -civilisation of all the communities of Central America. They dwelt in -cities adorned with costly structures dedicated to the purposes of -religion and the state; and had political government, and forms of -social organisation, to all appearance, the slow growth of many -generations. They had, also, a well-matured system of chronology; and -have left behind them graven and written records, analogous to those of -ancient Egypt, which still await decipherment. Whether this culture was -purely of native growth, or had its origin from the germs of an Old -World civilisation, can only be determined when its secrets have been -fully mastered. The region is even now very partially explored. The -students of American ethnology and archæology are only awakening to some -adequate sense of its importance. But there appears to have been the -centre of a native American civilisation whence light was slowly -radiating on either hand, before the vandals of the Spanish Conquest -quenched it in blood. The civilisation of Mexico was but a borrowed -reflex of that of Central America; and its picture-writing is a very -inferior imitation of the ideography of the Maya hieroglyphics. - -A tendency manifests itself anew to trace the metallurgy, the letters, -the astronomical science, and whatever else marks the quickening into -intellectual life of this American leading race, to an Asiatic or other -Old World origin. The point, however, is by no means established; nor -can any reason be shown why the human intellect might not be started on -the same course in Central America, as in Mesopotamia or the valley of -the Nile. If we assume the primary settlement of Central America by -expeditions systematically carried on under the auspices of some ancient -maritime power of the Mediterranean, or of an early seat of Iberian or -Libyan civilisation, then they would, undoubtedly, transplant the arts -of their old home to the New World. But, on the more probable -supposition of wanderers, either by the Atlantic or the Pacific, being -landed on its shores, and becoming the undesigned settlers of the -continent, it is otherwise; and the probabilities are still further -diminished if we conceive of ocean wanderers from island to island of -the Pacific, at length reaching the shores of the remote continent after -the traditions of their Asiatic fatherland had faded from the memory of -later generations. The condition of metallurgy as practised by the -Mexicans and Peruvians exhibited none of the matured phases of an -inheritance from remote generations, but partook rather of the tentative -characteristics of immature native art. - -We are prone to overestimate the facilities by which the arts of -civilisation may be transplanted to remote regions. It is not greatly -more difficult to conceive of the rediscovery of some of the essential -elements of human progress than to believe in the transference of them -from the eastern to the western hemisphere by wanderers from either -Europe or Asia. Take the average type of emigrants, such as are annually -landed by thousands at New York. They come from the most civilised -countries of Europe. Yet, how few among them all could be relied upon -for any such intelligent comprehension of metallurgy, if left entirely -to their own resources, as to be found able to turn the mineral wealth -of their new home to practical account; or for astronomical science, -such as would enable them to construct a calendar, and start afresh a -systematic chronology. As to letters, the picture-writing of the Aztecs -was the same in principle as the rude art of the northern Indians; and I -cannot conceive of any reason for rejecting the assumption of its native -origin as an intellectual triumph achieved by the labours of many -generations. Every step is still traceable, from the rude picturings on -the Indian’s grave-post or rock inscription, to the systematic -ideographs of Palenque or Copan. Hieroglyphics, as the natural outgrowth -of pictorial representation, must always have a general family likeness; -but all attempts to connect the civilisation of Central and Southern -America with that of Egypt fail, so soon as a comparison is instituted -between the Egyptian calendar and any of the native American systems of -recording dates and computing time. The vague year of 365 days, and the -corrected solar year, with the great Sothic Cycle of 1460 years, so -intimately interwoven with the religious system and historical -chronology of the Egyptians, abundantly prove the correction of the -Egyptian calendar by accumulated experience, at a date long anterior to -the resort of the Greek astronomer, Thales, to Egypt. At the close of -the fifteenth century, the Aztecs had learned to correct their calendar -to solar time; but their cycle was one of only fifty-two years. The -Peruvians also had their recurrent religious festivals, connected with -the adjustment of their sacred calendar to solar time; but the -geographical position of Peru, with Quito, its holy city, lying -immediately under the equator, greatly simplified the process by which -they regulated their religious festivals by the solstices and equinoxes. -The facilities which their equatorial position afforded for determining -the few indispensable periods in their calendar were, indeed, a doubtful -advantage, for they removed all stimulus to progress. The Mexican -calendar is the most remarkable evidence of the civilisation attained by -that people. Humboldt unhesitatingly connected it with the ancient -science of south-eastern Asia. But instead of its exhibiting any such -inevitable accumulation of error as that which gave so peculiar a -character to the historical chronology of the Egyptians, its computation -differed less from true solar time than the unreformed Julian calendar -which the Spaniards had inherited from pagan Rome. But though this -suffices to show that the civilisation of Mexico was of no great -antiquity, it only accords with other evidence of its borrowed -character. The Mexicans stood in the same relation to Central America as -the Northern Barbarians of the third and fourth century did to Italy; -and the intruding Spaniard nipped their germ of borrowed civilisation in -the bud. So long as the search for evidences either of a native or -intruded civilisation is limited to the northern continent of America, -it is equivalent to an attempt to recover the traces of Greek and Roman -civilisation in transalpine Europe. The Mexican calendar stone is no -more than the counterpart of some stray Greek or Roman tablet beyond the -Alps; or rather, perhaps, of some Mæsogothic product of borrowed art. - -We must await, then, the intelligent exploration of Central America, -before any certain conclusion can be arrived at relative to the story of -the New World’s unknown past. On the sculptured tablets of Palenque, -Quiriqua, Chichenitza, and Uxmal, and on the colossal statues at Copan -and other ancient sites, are numerous inscriptions awaiting the -decipherment of the future Young or Champolion of American palæography. -The whole region was once in occupation by a lettered race, having the -same written characters and a common civilisation. If they owed to some -apostle from the Mediterranean the grand invention of letters, which, as -Bacon says, “as ships, pass through the vast seas of time, and make ages -so distant to participate of the wisdom, illuminations and inventions, -the one of the other:” then, we may confidently anticipate the recovery -of some graphic memorial of the messenger, confirming the oft-recurring -traditions of bearded white men who came from beyond the sea, introduced -the arts of civilisation, and were reverenced as divine benefactors. It -cannot be that Egyptian, Assyrian, Hittite, Phœnician, and other most -ancient races, are still perpetuated by so many traces of their -wanderings in the Old World; that the Northmen’s graphic runes have -placed beyond all question their pre-Columbian explorations; and yet -that not a single trace of Mediterranean wanderers to the lost Atlantis -survives. In Humboldt’s _Researches_, a fragment of a reputed Phœnician -inscription is engraved. It was copied by Ranson Bueno, a Franciscan -monk, from a block of granite which he discovered in a cavern in the -mountain chain, between the Orinoco and the Amazon. Humboldt recognised -in it some resemblance to the Phœnician alphabet. We must remember, -however, what rudely traced Phœnician characters are; and as to their -transcriber, it may be presumed that he had no knowledge of Phœnician. -Humboldt says of him: “The good monk seemed to be but little interested -about this pretended inscription,” though, he adds, he had copied it -very carefully. - - * * * * * - -The lost Atlantis, then, lies still in the future. The earlier studies -of the monuments and prehistoric remains of the American continent -seemed to point conclusively to a native source for its civilisation. -From quipu and wampum, pictured grave-post and buffalo robe, to the most -finished hieroglyphs of Copan or Palenque, continuous steps appear to be -traceable whereby American man developed for himself the same wondrous -invention of letters which ancient legend ascribed to Thoth or Mercury; -or, in less mythic form, to the Phœnician Cadmus. Nor has the generally -accepted assumption of a foreign origin for American metallurgy been -placed as yet on any substantial basis. Gold, as I believe, was -everywhere the first metal wrought. The bright nugget tempted the -savage, with whom personal ornaments precede dress. It was readily -fashioned into any desired shape. The same is true, though in a less -degree, of copper; and wherever, as on the American continent, native -copper abounds, the next step in metallurgy is to be anticipated. With -the discovery of the economic use of the metals, an all-important step -had been achieved, leading to the fashioning of useful tools, to -architecture, sculpture, pictorial ornamentation, and so to ideography. -The facilities for all this were, at least, as abundant in Central and -Southern America as in Egypt. The progress was, doubtless, slow; but -when the Neolithic age began to yield to that of the metallurgist, the -all-important step had been taken. The history of this first step is -embodied in myths of the New World, no less than of the Old. Tubal-cain, -Dædalus, Hephæstus, Vulcan, Vœlund, Galant, and Wayland the Saxon -smith-god, are all legendary variations of the first mastery of the use -of the metals; and so, too, the New World has Quetzalcoatl, its divine -instructor in the same priceless art. - -It forms one of the indisputable facts of ancient history that, long -before Greece became the world’s intellectual leader, the eastern -Mediterranean was settled by maritime races whose adventurous enterprise -led them to navigate the Atlantic. There was no greater impediment to -such adventurous mariners crossing that ocean in earliest centuries -before Christ, than at any subsequent date prior to the revival of -navigation in the fifteenth century. It would not, therefore, in any -degree, surprise me to learn of the discovery of a genuine Phœnician, or -other inscription; or, of some hoard of Assyrian gryphons, or shekels of -the merchant princes of Tyre “that had knowledge of the sea,” being -recovered among the still unexplored treasures of the buried empire of -Montezuma, or the long-deserted ruins of Central America. Such a -discovery would scarcely be more surprising than that of the Punic -hoards found at Corvo, the most westerly island of the Azores. Yet it -would furnish a substantial basis for the legend of Atlantis, akin to -that which the runic monuments of Kingiktorsoak and Igalikko supplied in -confirmation of the fabled charms of a Hesperian region lying within the -Arctic circle; and of the first actual glimpses of the American mainland -by Norse voyagers of the tenth century, as told in more than one of -their old Sagas. But until such evidence is forthcoming, the legendary -Atlantis must remain a myth, and pre-Columbian America be still credited -with a self-achieved progress. - ------ - -[1] _Popular Science Monthly_, xxviii. 296. - -[2] _Races of Man_ (Bohn), p. 445. - -[3] _The Alphabet_, ii. 10. - - - - - II - THE VINLAND OF THE NORTHMEN - - -THE idea that the western hemisphere was known to the Old World, prior -to the ever-memorable voyage of Columbus four centuries ago, has -reproduced itself in varying phases, not only in the venerable Greek -legend of the lost Atlantis; and the still vaguer myth of the Garden of -the Hesperides on the far ocean horizon, the region of the setting sun; -but in mediæval fancies and mythical epics. The Breton, in _The Earthly -Paradise_ of William Morris— - - Spoke of gardens ever blossoming - Across the western sea, where none grew old, - E’en as the books at Micklegarth had told; - And said moreover that an English knight - Had had the Earthly Paradise in sight; - And heard the songs of those that dwelt therein; - But entered not; being hindered by his sin. - -A legend of mediæval hagiology tells of the Island of St. Brandon, the -retreat of an Irish hermit of the sixth century. Another tale comes down -to us from the time of the Caliph Walid, and the invincible Musa, of the -“Seven Islands” whither the Christians of Gothic Spain fled under the -guidance of their seven bishops, when, in the eighth century, the -peninsula passed under the yoke of the victorious Saracens. The -Eyrbyggja Saga has a romantic story of Biorn Ashbrandsson, who narrowly -escapes in a tempest raised by his enemy, with the aid of one skilled in -the black art. After undergoing many surprising adventures, he is -finally discovered by voyagers, “in the latter days of Olaf the Saint,” -in a strange land beyond the ocean, the chief of a warlike race speaking -a language that seemed to be Irish. Biorn warned the voyagers to depart, -for the people had evil designs against them. But before they sailed, he -took a gold ring from his hand, and gave it to Gudleif, their leader, -along with a goodly sword; and commissioned him to give the sword to -Kiartan, the son of Thurid, wife of an Iceland thane at Froda, of whom -he had been enamoured; and the gold ring to his mother. This done, he -warned them that no man venture to renew the search for what later -commentators refer to as White Man’s Land. In equally vague form the -fancy of lands beyond the ocean perpetuated itself in an imaginary -island of Brazil that flitted about the charts of the fourteenth and -fifteenth centuries with ever-varying site and proportions, till it -vanished in the light of modern exploration. - -A more definite character has been given to the tale of Madoc, a Welsh -prince of the twelfth century. Southey wove into an elaborate epic this -legend of the son of Owen Gwyneth, king of North Wales, who, _circa_ -A.D. 1170, sailed into the unknown west in search of a resting-place -beyond reach of his brother Yorwerth, then ridding himself of all rivals -to the throne. He found a home in the New World, returned to Wales for -additional colonists to join the pioneer band; and setting sail with -them, vanished beyond the western horizon, and was heard of no more. The -poet, while adapting it to the purpose of his art, was not without faith -in the genuineness of the legend which he amplified into his epic; and -notes in the preface appended to it: “Strong evidence has been adduced -that he (Prince Madoc) reached America; and that his posterity exist -there to this day on the southern branch of the Missouri, retaining -their complexion, their language, and in some degree, their arts.” But -later explorations have failed to discover any “Welsh Indians” on the -Missouri or its tributaries. - -A small grain of fact will suffice at times for the crystallisation of -vague and visionary fancies into a well-credited tradition. Before the -printing-press came into play, with its perpetuation of definite -records, and prosaic sifting of evidence, this was no uncommon -occurrence; but even in recent times fancy may be seen transmuted into -accepted fact. - -When exploring the great earthworks of the Ohio valley, in 1874, I found -myself on one occasion in a large Welsh settlement, a few miles from -Newark, where a generation of native-born Americans still perpetuate the -language of their Cymric forefathers, and conduct their religious -services in the Welsh tongue. My attention was first called to this by -the farmer, who had invited me to an early dinner after a morning’s -digging in a mound on “The Evan’s Farm,” preceding our repast with a -long Welsh grace. From him I learned that the district had been settled -in 1802 by a Welsh colony; and that in two churches in neighbouring -valleys—one Calvinistic Congregational and another Methodist,—the -entire services are still conducted in their mother tongue. Such a -perpetuation of the language and traditions of the race, in a quiet -rural district, only required time and the confusion of dates and -genealogies by younger generations, to have engrafted the story of -Prince Madoc on the substantial basis of a genuine Welsh settlement. -Southey’s epic was published in 1805, within three years after this -Welsh immigration to the Ohio valley. The subject of the poem naturally -gave it a special attraction for American readers; and it was speedily -reprinted in the United States, doubtless with the same indifference to -the author’s claim of copyright as long continued to characterise the -ideas of literary ethics beyond the Atlantic. But the idea of a Welsh -Columbus of the twelfth century was by no means received with universal -favour there. Southey quoted at a long-subsequent date a critical -pamphleteer who denounced the author of _Madoc_ as having “meditated a -most serious injury against the reputation of the New World by -attributing its discovery and colonisation to a vagabond Welsh prince; -this being a most insidious attempt against the honour of America, and -the reputation of Columbus!” - -It is inevitable that America should look back to the Old World when in -search of some elements of civilisation, and for the diversities of race -and language traceable throughout the western hemisphere. The early -students of the sculptured monuments and hieroglyphic records of Mexico, -Central America, and Peru, naturally turned to Egypt as their probable -source; though mature reflection has dissipated much of the reasoning -based on superficial analogies. The gradations from the most primitive -picture-writing of the Indian savage to ideography and abbreviated -symbolism, are so clearly traceable in the various stages of progress, -from the rude forest tribes to the native centres of civilisation in -Central and Southern America, that no necessity remains for assuming any -foreign source for their origin. - -That the world beyond the Atlantic had remained through unnumbered -centuries apart from Europe and the old East, until that memorable year -1492, is indisputable; and there was at one time a disposition to resent -any rivalry with the grand triumph of Columbus; as though patriotic -spirit and national pride demanded an unquestioning faith in that as the -sole link that bound America to the Old World. But the same spirit -stimulated other nations to claim precedence of Spain and the great -Genoese; and for this the Scandinavian colonists of Iceland had every -probability in their favour. They had navigated the Arctic Ocean with no -other compass than the stars; and the publication in 1845, by the Danish -antiquaries, of the _Grenlands Historiske Mindesmærker_ recalled minute -details of their settlements in the inhospitable region of the western -hemisphere to which they gave the strange misnomer of Greenland. But the -year 1837 may be regarded as marking an epoch in the history of -ante-Columbian research. The issue in that earlier year of the -_Antiquitates Americanæ, sive scriptores septentrionales rerum -ante-Columbiarum in America_, by the Royal Society of Northern -Antiquaries, under the editorship of Professor Charles Christian Rafn, -produced a revolution, alike in the form and the reception of -illustrations of ante-Columbian American history. The publication of -that work gave a fresh interest to the vaguest intimations of a dubious -past; while it superseded them by tangible disclosures, which, though -modern in comparison with such mythic antiquities as the Atlantis of -Plato’s _Dialogues_, nevertheless added some five centuries to the -history of the New World. From its appearance, accordingly, may be dated -the systematic aim of American antiquaries and historians to find -evidence of intercourse with the ancient world prior to the fifteenth -century. - -This influence became manifest in all ways; and abundant traces of the -novel idea are to be found in the popular literature of the time. It -seemed as though the adventurous spirit of the early Greenland explorers -had revived, as in the days of the first Vinlanders, as told in the Saga -of Eric the Red: “About this time there began to be much talk at -Brattahlid, to the effect that Vinland the Good should be explored; for -it was said that country must be possessed of many good qualities. And -so it came to pass that Karlsefne and Snorri fitted out their ship for -the purpose of going in search of that country.” Only the modern -Vinlanders who follow in their wake have had for their problem to— - - Sail up the current of departed time - And seek along its banks that vanished clime - By ancient Scalds in Runic verse renowned, - Now like old Babylon no longer found.[4] - -The indomitable race that emerged from the Scandinavian peninsula, and -the islands and shores of the Baltic, and overran and conquered the -deserted Roman world, supplied the maritime energy of Europe from the -fifth to the tenth century; and colonised northern Italy with the -element to which we must assign the rise of its great maritime -republics, including the one that was to furnish the discoverer of -America in the fifteenth century. Genoese and Spaniards could not have -made for themselves a home either in Greenland or Iceland. Had the -Northmen of the tenth century been less hardy, they would probably have -prosecuted their discoveries, and found more genial settlements, such as -have since then proved the centres of colonisation for the -Anglo-American race. But of their actual discovery of some portion of -the mainland of North America, prior to the eleventh century, there can -be no reasonable doubt. The wonder rather is that after establishing -permanent settlements both in Iceland and Greenland, their southern -explorations were prosecuted with such partial and transient results. -The indomitable Vikings were conquering fresh territories on the coasts -and islands of the North Sea, and giving a new name to the fairest -region of northern Gaul wrested by the Northmen from its Frank -conquerors. The same hardy supplanters were following up such -acquisitions by expeditions to the Mediterranean that resulted in the -establishment of their supremacy over ancient historic races there, and -training leaders for later crusading adventure. - -The voyage from Greenland, or even from Iceland, to the New England -shores was not more difficult than from the native fiords of the -Northmen to the Atlantic seaboard, or to the coasts and islands of the -Mediterranean. Everywhere they left their record in graven runes. At -Maeshowe in the Orkneys, on Holy Island in the Firth of Clyde, and at -Kirk Michael, Kirk Andreas, and Kirk Braddon, on the Isle of Man; or as -the relic of a more ancient past, on the marble lion of the Piræus, now -at the arsenal of Venice: their runic records are to be seen graven in -the same characters as those which have been recovered during the -present century from their early settlements beyond the Atlantic. -Numerous similar inscriptions from the homes of the Northmen are -furnished in Professor George Stephens’ _Old Northern Runic Monuments_, -which perpetuate memorials of the love of adventure of those daring -rovers, and the pride they took in their expeditions to remote and -strange lands. Intensified at a later stage by religious fervour, the -same spirit emboldened them as leaders in the Crusades; and some of -their runic inscriptions tell of adventurous pilgrimages to the Holy -Land. An Icelandic rover is designated on his rune-stone _Rafn -Hlmrckfari_ as a successful voyager to Ireland. Norwegian and Danish -bautastein frequently preserve the epithet of _Englandsfari_ for the -leaders of expeditions to the British Isles, or more vaguely refer to -their adventures in “the western parts.” King Sigurd of Norway proudly -blazoned the title of _Jórsolafari_ as one who had achieved the -pilgrimage to Jerusalem; and the literate memorials of the Northmen of -Orkney, recovered in 1861, on the opening of the famous Maeshowe -Tumulus, include those of a band of Crusaders, or Jerusalem-farers, who, -in 1153, followed Earl Ragnvald to the Holy Land. - -The inscribed rune-stones brought from the sites of the ancient Norse -colonies in Greenland, and now deposited in the Royal Museum of Northern -Antiquities, at Copenhagen, are simple personal or sepulchral -inscriptions. But they are graven in the northern runes, and as such -constitute monuments of great historical value: furnishing indisputable -evidence of the presence of European colonists beyond the Atlantic -centuries before that memorable 12th of October 1492, on which the eyes -of the wistful gazers from the deck of the “Santa Maria” were gladdened -with their first glimpse of what they believed to be the India of the -far east: the Cipango in search of which they had entered on their -adventurous voyage. - -The colonies of Greenland, after being occupied, according to Norwegian -and Danish tradition, from the tenth to the fifteenth century, were -entirely forgotten. The colonists are believed to have been exterminated -by the native Eskimo. The very locality chosen for their settlements was -so completely lost sight of that, when an interest in their history -revived, and expeditions were sent out to revisit the scene of early -Norse colonisation beyond the Atlantic, much time was lost in a -fruitless search on the coast lying directly west from Iceland. Towards -the middle of the seventeenth century, an oar drifted to the Iceland -coast, a relic, as was believed, of the long-lost colony of Greenland, -bearing this inscription in runic characters: OFT VAR EK DASA DUR EK DRO -THICK—_Oft was I weary when I drew thee_; but it was not till the close -of the century that the traditions of the old Greenlanders began to -excite attention. Many a Norse legend pictured the enviable delights of -the fabled Hesperian region discovered within the Arctic circle, yet -meriting by the luxuriance of its fertile valleys its name of Greenland; -and the fancies and legendary traditions that gradually displaced the -history of the old colony, had been interwoven by the poet Montgomery -with the tale of self-sacrificing labours of Moravian Missionaries, in -the cantos of his _Greenland_ epic, long before the _Antiquitates -Americanæ_ issued from the Copenhagen press. - -The narrations of ancient voyagers, and their explorations in the New -World, as brought to light in 1835 by the Copenhagen volume on -pre-Columbian America, were too truthful in their aspect to be slighted; -and too fascinating in their revelations of a long-forgotten intercourse -between the Old World and the New, to be willingly subjected to -incredulous analysis. From the genuine literary memorials of older -centuries, sufficient evidence could be gleaned to place beyond -question, not only the discovery and colonisation of Greenland by Eric -the Red,—apparently in the year 985,—but also the exploration of -southern lands, some of which must have formed part of the American -continent. The manuscripts whence those narratives are derived are of -various dates, and differ widely in value; but of the genuineness and -historical significance of the oldest of them, no doubt can be -entertained. The accounts which some of them furnish are so simple, and -devoid of anything extravagant or improbable, that the internal evidence -of truthfulness is worthy of great consideration. The exuberant fancy of -the Northmen, which revels in their mythology and songs, would have -constructed a very different tale had it been employed in the invention -of a southern continent, or earthly Paradise fashioned from the dreams -of Icelandic and Greenland rovers. - -The narrative attaches itself to genuine Icelandic history; and -furnishes a coherent, and seemingly unexaggerated account of a voyage -characterised by nothing that is supernatural; and little that is even -romantic. Eric Thorvaldsson, more commonly referred to as Erikr Rauthi, -or Eric the Red, a banished Icelandic jarl, made his way to the -Greenland coast and effected a settlement at Igalikko, or Brattalid, as -it was at first called, from whence one of the runic inscriptions now in -the Copenhagen museum was taken. Before the close of the century, if not -in the very year A.D. 1000, in which St. Olaf was introducing -Christianity into Norway, Leif, or Leiv Ericson, a son of the first -coloniser of Greenland, appears to have accidentally discovered the -American mainland. The story, current in Norwegian and Icelandic -tradition, and repeated with additions and variations in successive -Sagas, most frequently ascribes to Leif an actual exploratory voyage in -quest of southern lands already reported to have been seen by Bjarni -Herjulfson. But the Sagas from whence the revived story of Vinland is -derived are of different dates, and very varying degrees of credibility. -Of those, the narrative in which the name of Bjarni Herjulfson first -appears occurs in a manuscript of the latter part of the fourteenth -century; and exhibits both amplifications and inconsistencies abundantly -justifying its rejection as an authority for depriving Leif Ericson of -the honour of the discovery of the North American continent. He was on -his way from Norway to Greenland when he was driven out of his course, -and so reached the mainland of the New World in that early century; even -as, five centuries later, the Portuguese admiral, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, -when on his way to the Cape, was driven westward to the coast of Brazil, -and so to the discovery of the southern continent. For later generations -the tale of the old Vinland explorers—whose goodly land of the vine, -and of fertile meads of grain, had faded away as a dream,—naturally -gathered around it exaggerations and legendary fable; but such terms are -wholly inapplicable to the original Saga. The story of Thorfinn’s -expedition to effect a settlement on the new-found land, within three or -four years after Leif Ericson’s reported discovery, is a simple, -consistent narrative, rendered attractive by natural and highly -suggestive incidents, but entirely free from mythical or legendary -features. This is obviously the basis of the varying and inconsistent -tales of later Sagas. The year 1003 is the date assigned to the -expedition in which Thorfinn set out, with three ships and a -considerable company of adventurers, and effected a temporary settlement -of Vinland. Voyaging southward, he first landed on a barren coast where -a great plain covered with flat stones stretched from the sea to a lofty -range of ice-clad mountains. To this he gave the name of Helluland, from -_hella_, a flat stone. The earlier editor, having the requirements of -his main theory in view, found in its characteristics evidence -sufficient to identify it with Newfoundland; but Professor Gustav Storm -assigns reasons for preferring Labrador as more probable.[5] The next -point touched presented a low shore of white sand, and beyond it a level -country covered with forest, to which the name of Markland, or woodland, -was given. This, which, so far as the description can guide us, might be -anywhere on the American coast, was assumed by the editor of the -_Antiquitates Americanæ_ to be Nova Scotia; but, according to Professor -Storm, can have been no other country than Newfoundland. The voyagers, -after two more days at sea, again saw land; and of this the -characteristic that the dew upon the grass tasted sweet, was accepted as -sufficient evidence that Nantucket, where honey-dew abounds, is the -place referred to. Their further course shoreward, and up a river into -the lake from which it flowed, has been assumed to have been up the -Pacasset River to Mount Hope Bay. There the voyagers passed the winter. -After erecting temporary booths, their leader divided them into two -parties, which alternately proceeded on exploring excursions. One of his -followers, a southerner,—_sudrmadr_, or German, as he is assumed to -have been,—having wandered, he reported on his return the discovery of -wine-trees and grapes; and hence the name of Vineland, given to the -locality. - -This land of the vine, discovered by ancient voyagers on the shores of -the New World, naturally awakened the liveliest interest in the minds of -American antiquaries and historical students; nor is that interest even -now wholly a thing of the past. Is this “Vinland the Good” a reality? -Can it be located on any definite site? Montgomery’s _Greenland_ epic -was published in 1819; and the poet, with no American or Canadian pride -of locality to beguile him in his interpretation of the evidence, -observes in one of the notes to his poem: “Leif and his party wintered -there, and observed that on the shortest day the sun rose about eight -o’clock, which may correspond with the forty-ninth degree of latitude, -and denotes the situation of Newfoundland, or the River St. Lawrence.” -The reference here is to the sole data on which all subsequent attempts -to determine the geographical location of Vinland have been based; and -after upwards of sixty years of speculation and conjecture, Professor -Gustav Storm in his _Studier over Vinlandsreiserne_, arrives at a nearly -similar conclusion. Vinland cannot have lain farther north than 49°. How -far southward of this its site may be sought for is matter of -conjecture; but all probabilities are opposed to its discovery so far -south as Rhode Island. - -Professor Rafn, however, arrived at very different results; and found -abundant confirmation in the sympathetic responses of the Rhode Island -antiquaries. The famous Dighton Rock was produced, with its assumed -runic inscription. The Newport Round Tower was a still more satisfactory -indication of permanent settlement by its supposed Norse builders; and -“The Skeleton in Armour,” on which Longfellow founded his ballad -romance, was accepted without hesitation as a glimpse of one of the -actual colonists of Vinland in the eleventh century. Professor Rafn -accordingly summed up the inquiry, and set forth the conclusions arrived -at, in this definite fashion. “It is the total result of the nautical, -geographical, and astronomical evidence in the original documents, which -places the situations of the countries discovered beyond all doubt. The -number of days’ sail between the several newly-found lands, the striking -description of the coasts, especially the sand-banks of Nova Scotia; and -the long beaches and downs of a peculiar appearance on Cape Cod (the -_Kialarnes_ and _Furdustrandir_ of the Northmen,) are not to be -mistaken. In addition hereto we have the astronomical remark that the -shortest day in Vinland was nine hours long, which fixes the latitude of -41° 24′ 10″, or just that of the promontories which limit the entrance -to Mount Hope Bay, where Leif’s booths were built, and in the district -around which the old Northmen had their head establishment, which was -named by them _Hóp_, or the Creek.” - -The Dighton Rock runes erelong fell into woeful discredit; and as for -the Newport Round Tower, it has been identified as “The Old Stone Mill” -built there by Governor Benedict Arnold, who removed from Providence to -Newport in 1653. Though therefore no longer to be accredited to the -Northmen, it is of very respectable architectural antiquity, according -to New World reckoning. Nevertheless, in spite of such failure of all -confirmatory evidence, the general summary of results was presented by -Professor Rafn in such absolute terms, and the geographical details of -the assumed localities were so confidently accredited by the members of -the Rhode Island Historical Society, that his conclusions were accepted -as a whole without cavil. In reality, however, when we revert to the -evidence from which such definite results were derived, it proves vague, -if not illusory. The voyagers crossed over from Greenland to Helluland, -which we may assume without hesitation to have been the inhospitable -coast of Labrador. They then pursued a south-western course, in a voyage -in all of four days, subdivided into two nearly equal parts, until they -landed on a coast where wild grapes grew, and which accordingly they -named the Land of the Vine. To Icelandic or Greenland voyagers, the -vine, with its clusters of grapes, however unpalatable, could not fail -to prove an object of special note. But there is no need to prolong the -four days’ run, and land the explorers beyond Cape Cod, in order to find -the wild grape. It grows in sheltered localities in Nova Scotia; and so -in no degree conflicts with the later deductions based on the same -astronomical evidence of the length of the shortest day, which have -induced subsequent investigators to adopt conclusions much more nearly -approximating to those suggested by the poet Montgomery fully sixteen -years before the issue of Professor Rafn’s learned quarto from the -Copenhagen press. - -The topographical details which have to be relied upon in any attempt to -identify the precise locality are little less vague than those of the -astronomical data from which the editor of the _Antiquitates Americanæ_ -assumed to compute his assigned latitude. The voyagers, after their -first wintering, pursued their course southward; and again approaching -the shore, made their way up a river, to a lake from whence it flowed. -The land was wooded, with wild “wheat” in the low meadows, and on the -high banks grape-bearing vines. The aspect of this strange land was -tempting to voyagers from the north, so they erected booths, and -wintered there. From the mouth of the St. Lawrence southward to Rhode -Island, the coast is indented with many an estuary, up any of which the -old voyagers may have found their way into lake or expanded basin, with -overhanging forest trees, meadow flats, and other features sufficiently -corresponding to all that we learn from the old Saga of the temporary -settlement of Thorfinn and his fellow-voyagers. Fresh claimants -accordingly enter the lists to contend for the honours that pertain to -the landing-place of those first Pilgrim Fathers. New Englanders above -all not unnaturally cherish the pleasant fancy that they had for their -precursors the hardy Vikings, who, resenting the oppression of King -Harold the fair-haired, sailed into the unknown west to find a free home -for themselves. The fancy had a double claim on the gifted musician Ole -Bull. Himself a wanderer from the Scandinavian fatherland, he started -the proposition which was to give an air of indisputable reality to the -old legend; and which culminated in the erection, on Boston Common, in -1888, of a fine statue of Leif Ericson. - -“South of Greenland is Helluland; next is Markland; from thence is not -far to Vinland the Good.” So reads the old Saga; and with the rearing of -the statue of its finder, it seemed incumbent on some loyal son of the -Commonwealth to demonstrate the site of the good land within the area of -Massachusetts. In the following year, accordingly, Professor Eben Norton -Horsford, of Cambridge, undertook the search, and was able to identify -to his entire satisfaction the site of Leif’s, or Karlsefne’s booths, in -his own neighbourhood on the Charles river. First appeared in 1889 _The -Problem of the Northmen_; and in the following year, in choicest -typography, and amplitude of attractive illustrations, _The Discovery of -the Ancient City of Norumbega, at Watertown on the River Charles_. There -the ephemeral booths of the old winterers in Vinland had left enduring -traces after a lapse of more than eight centuries. The discoverer, -resolved to arrest “Time’s decaying fingers,” which had thus far been -laid with such unwonted gentleness on the pioneer relics, has marked the -spot with a memorial tower, and an elaborately inscribed tablet, one -clause of which runs thus: “=River, The Charles, discovered by Leif -Erikson 1000 a.d. Explored by Thorwald, Leif’s Brother, 1003 a.d. -Colonised by Thorfinn Karlsefni 1007 a.d. First Bishop Erik Gnupson 1121 -a.d.=” - -The entire evidence has been readduced with minutest critical accuracy -in _The Finding of Wineland the Good: the History of the Icelandic -Discovery of America_, by the late gifted Arthur Middleton Reeves. His -verdict is thus briefly stated: “There is no suggestion in Icelandic -records of a permanent occupation of the county; and after the -exploration at the beginning of the eleventh century, it is not known -that Wineland was ever again visited by Icelanders, although it would -appear that a voyage thither was attempted in the year 1121, but with -what result is not known.”[6] In the Codex Frisianus is an apt heading -which might, better than a more lengthy inscription, have given -expression to the pleasant fancy that the footprints of Leif Ericson’s -followers had been recovered on the banks of the Charles river, “FUNDIT -VINLAND GOTHA”—Vineland the Good found! Maps old and new illustrate the -topography of the newly-assigned site; and among the rest, one which -specially aims at reproducing the most definite feature of the old -narrative is thus titled:—“River flowing through a lake into the sea; -Vinland of the Northmen; site of Leif’s houses.” To his own -satisfaction, at least, it is manifest that the author has identified -the site. - -But a great deal more than Leif’s booths is involved. It is the -discovery of the ancient city of Norumbega, of which also the inscribed -tablet makes due record; including the statement, set forth more fully -in the printed text, that the name is only an Indian transmutation of -“Norbega, the ancient form of Norvega, Norway, to which Vinland was -subject!” The name, though probably unfamiliar to most modern readers, -was once as well known as that of Utopia, or El Dorado. One of Sir John -Hawkins’ fellow-voyagers claimed to have seen the city of Norumbega -still standing in 1568: a gorgeous Indian town outvying the capital of -Montezuma, and resplendent in pearls and gold. Hakluyt proposed its -recolonisation; Sir Humphrey Gilbert went in search of it; and it -figures both as a city and a country on maps familiar to older -generations than the founders of New England. Above all, Milton has -given it a place in the Tenth Book of his _Paradise Lost_. When the -Divine Creator is represented as readapting this world to a fallen -race— - - Some say he bid his Angels turn askance - The poles of Earth twice ten degrees and more - From the sun’s axle. . . . . . . . . - . . . . . Now from the north - Of Norumbega, and the Samoed shore, - Bursting their brazen dungeon, arm’d with ice, - And snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw, - Boreas . . . - -which seems to imply very Icelandic and Arctic associations of the -Miltonic muse. But the gentle New England poet, Whittier, who had sung -of his Christian knight in vain quest of the marvellous city, thus -writes in sober prose to its modern discoverer: “I had supposed that the -famed city of Norumbega was on the Penobscot when I wrote my poem some -years ago; but I am glad to think of it as on the Charles, in our own -Massachusetts.” This work of rearing anew on the banks of the river -Charles the metropolis of Vinland the Good may be best entrusted to the -poets of New England. - -All praise is due to the enthusiastic editors of the _Antiquitates -Americanæ_ for their reproduction of the original records on which the -history and the legends of Vinland rest. They found only too willing -recipients of the theories and assumptions with which they supplemented -the genuine narrative; nor has the uncritical spirit of credulous -deduction wholly ceased. In the untimely death of Professor Munch, the -historian of Norway, the University of Christiana lost a ripe and -acutely critical scholar in the very flower of his years. But in Dr. -Gustav Storm a successor has been found not unworthy to fill his place, -and represent the younger generation of Northern antiquaries, who have -now taken in hand, in a more critical spirit, yet with no less -enthusiasm, the work so well begun by Rafn, Finn Magnusen, and -Sveinbiorn Egilsson. In the same year in which Leif Ericson’s statue was -set up in Boston, and all the old enthusiasm for the identification of -the lost Vinland was revived, there appeared in the _Mémoires de la -Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord_ a series of _Studies on the -Vineland Voyages_, from the pen of Professor Storm, embodying a critical -analysis of the evidence relating to the Vinland voyages, which is -treated still more fully in his _Studier over Vinlandsreiserne, Vinlands -Geografi og Ethnographi_. The whole is now available, along with -valuable additions, including photographic facsimiles illustrative of -the original MSS., in Reeves’ _Finding of Wineland the Good_.[7] The -evidence has to be gleaned from two independent series of narratives: -the one the Icelandic Sagas and other embodiments of the Vinland -tradition; the other the more amplified, but less reliable narratives of -Norwegian chroniclers. The earliest Icelandic accounts are derived -directly or indirectly from Ari froði, more particularly referred to on -a later page, whose date as an author is given as about 1120; thereby -marking the transmission of the narrative to a younger generation before -it was committed to writing. Ari froði, _i.e._ the learned, derived the -story from his paternal uncle Thorkell Gellisson of Helgufell, who lived -in the latter half of the eleventh century; and so was a contemporary of -Adam of Bremen, who, when resident at the Danish Court, about the year -1070, obtained the information relating to the Northern regions which he -embodied in his _Descriptio insularum aquilonis_. Ari’s uncle, Thorkell, -is said to have spoken, when in Greenland, with a man who, in the year -985, had accompanied Erik the Red on his expedition from Iceland; so -that the authority is good, if the narrative were sufficiently ample; -but unfortunately, though Ari’s notes of what he learned from his uncle -are still extant in the _Libellus Islandorum_, they are exceedingly -meagre. The Vinland explorations had no such importance for the men of -that age as they possess for us, and are accordingly dealt with as a -very secondary matter. Professor Gustav Storm, in his _Studies on the -Vineland Voyages_, notes that Thorkell seems to have told his nephew -most about the colonisation of Greenland. In Professor Storm’s -_Studies_, and in the exhaustive _Finding of Wineland the Good_, by -Arthur Middleton Reeves, the entire bearings of the evidence, and the -relative value of the various ancient authorities, are discussed with -minute care; and lead alike to the inevitable conclusion that any -assignment of a site for the lost Vinland, either on Rhode Island, or on -any part of the New England coast, is untenable. The deductions of -Professor Rafn from the same evidence were accepted as a final verdict, -until the too eager confirmation of his Rhode Island correspondents -brought them into discredit. Now when we undertake an unbiassed review -of them, it is manifest that too much weight has been attached to his -estimate of distances measured by the vague standard of a day’s sail of -a rude galley dependent on wind and tide. This Professor Rafn assumed as -equivalent to twenty-four geographical miles. But very slight -consideration suffices to show that, with an indefinite starting-point, -and only a vague indication of the direction of sailing, with the -unknown influences of wind and tide, any such arbitrary deduction of a -definite measurement from the log of the old Northmen is not only -valueless, but misleading. - -A reconsideration of the evidence furnished by the references to the -fauna and flora of the different points touched at, shows that others of -Professor Rafn’s deductions are equally open to correction. Helluland, a -barren region, of large stone slabs, with no other trace of life than -the Arctic fox, presented the same aspect as Labrador still offers to -the eye of the voyager. But there is no need to traverse the entire -Canadian and New England coasts before a region can be found answering -to the descriptions of a forest-clad country, of numerous deer, or even -of the vine, as noted by the old explorers from Greenland. To the eye of -the Greenlander, the Markland, or forest-clad land, lay within sight no -farther south than Newfoundland or Cape Breton. To those who are -accustomed to associate the vine with the Rhine land, or the plains of -Champagne, it sounds equally extravagant to speak of the Maritime -Provinces, or of the New England States, as “Vinland the Good.” But -numerous allusions of voyagers and travellers of the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries refer with commendation to the wild grapes of -North America. Jacques Cartier on making his way up the St. Lawrence, in -his second voyage, gave to the Isle of Orleans the name of the Isle de -Bacchus, because of the many wild vines found there; though he notes -that, “not being cultivated nor pruned, the grapes are neither so large -nor so sweet as ours”—that is, those of France. Lescarbot, in like -manner, in 1606, records the grape vine as growing at Chuakouet, or -Saco, in Maine, and in the following year they are noted as abundant -along the banks of the river St. John in New Brunswick. - -To voyagers from Iceland or Greenland many portions of the coast of Nova -Scotia would present the aspect of a region clothed with forest, and, as -such, “extremely beautiful.” Deer are still abundant both there and in -Newfoundland; and as for the grapes gathered by Leif Ericson, or those -brought back to Thorvald by Hake and Hekia, the swift runners, at their -more northern place of landing, the wild vine is well known at the -present time in sheltered localities of Nova Scotia. Having therefore -carefully studied the earliest maps and charts, of which reduced copies -are furnished in the _Mémoires_, and reviewed the whole evidence with -minute care, Professor Storm thus unhesitatingly states the results: -“Kjalarnes, the northern extremity of Vinland, becomes Cape Breton -Island, specially described as low-lying and sandy. The fiord into which -the Northmen steered, on the country becoming _fjorthskorit_, _i.e._ -‘fiord-indented,’ may have been one of the bays of Guysborough, the -county of Nova Scotia lying farthest to the north-east; possibly indeed -Canso Bay, or some one of the bays south of it. Therefore much further -to the south in Nova Scotia must we seek the mouth of the river where -Karlsefn made his abortive attempt at colonisation. . . . The west coast -of northern Vinland is characterised as a region of uninhabited forest -tracks, with few open spots, a statement admirably agreeing with the -topographical conditions distinguishing the west coast of Cape Breton -Island, which in a modern book of travels is spoken of as ‘an unexplored -and trackless land of forests and mountains.’ Hence to the south of this -region search has to be made for the mouth of the streamlet where -Thorvald Eriksson was killed.” Various points, accordingly, such as -Salmon river, or one of the rivers flowing into Pictou harbour, are -suggested as furnishing features of resemblance and inviting to further -research. - -Here, then, is the same problem submitted to the historical antiquaries -of Nova Scotia which those of Rhode Island took up upwards of half a -century ago, with unbounded zeal, and very surprising results. Nor is -there a “Dighton Rock” wanting; for Nova Scotia has its inscribed stone, -already interpreted as graphic runes, replete with equally suggestive -traces of the Northmen of the tenth century. The inscribed rock at -Yarmouth has long been an object of curious interest. So far back as -1857 I received from Dr. J. G. Farish a full-sized copy of the -inscription, with the following account of it: “The inscription, of -which the accompanying sketch is an exact copy, - -[Illustration: Inscription, Yarmouth Rock, Nova Scotia.] - -was discovered forty-five years ago, at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The rock -on which the characters are engraved is about two feet in diameter, of -an irregular hemispherical shape, with one naturally smooth surface. It -lies on the shore of a small inlet, at high-water mark, and close to the -bank, on which it may formerly have rested. The stone has been split -where a very thin vein of quartz once traversed it, but the -corresponding half could never be found. The tracing has been done with -a sharp-pointed instrument carried onward, by successive blows of a -hammer or mallet, the effect of which is plainly visible. The point of -the instrument barely penetrated the layer of quartz, which is almost as -thin as the black marks of the sketch. The inscription has been shown to -several learned gentlemen,—one intimately acquainted with the -characters of the Micmac and Millicet Indians who once inhabited this -country; another, familiar with the Icelandic and other Scandinavian -languages; but no person has yet been able to decipher it.” Again, in -1880, I received from Mr. J. Y. Bulmer, Secretary of the Nova Scotia -Historical Society, a photograph of the Yarmouth rock, with an -accompanying letter, in which he remarks: “I am directed by the council -of the Nova Scotia Historical Society to forward to you a photographic -view of a stone found near the ocean, in Yarmouth county, N.S., and -having an inscription which, if not runic or Phœnician, is supposed by -many to be the work of man. As ancient remains are most likely to be -preserved by calling attention to all such works and inscriptions, we -thought it best to forward it to you, where it could be examined by -yourself and others likely to detect a fraud, or translate an -inscription. The stone is now—or was one hundred years ago,—near, or -in fact on, the edge of the sea. It has since been removed to Yarmouth -for preservation. It was found near Cape Sable, a cape that must have -been visited by nearly every navigator, whether ancient or modern.” - -The earlier description of Dr. Farish is valuable, as it preserves an -account of the rock while it still occupied its original site. He -speaks, moreover, definitely as to the period when it first attracted -attention; and which, though more recent than the “one hundred years” of -my later correspondent, or a nearly equivalent statement in the -_Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society_, that “it has been -known for nearly an hundred years,” is sufficiently remote to remove all -idea of fraud, at least by any person of the present generation. The -description given by Dr. Farish of the apparent execution of the -inscription by means of a sharp-pointed instrument—meaning thereby no -doubt a metallic tool,—and a hammer or mallet, clearly points to other -than native Indian workmanship, whatever may have been the date of its -execution. As will be seen from the accompanying copy, it is in -arbitrary linear characters bearing no resemblance to the abbreviated -symbols familiar to us in Indian epigraphy; and at the same time it may -be described as unique in character. Having been known to people -resident in its vicinity for many years before the attention of students -of the early monuments of the continent was invited to it, it appears to -be beyond suspicion of purposed fraud. I did not attempt any solution of -the enigma thus repeatedly submitted to my consideration; but it was -this graven stone that was referred to when, in the inaugural address to -the section of History and Archæology of the Royal Society of Canada, in -1882, the remark was made: “I know of but one inscription in Canada -which seems to suggest the possibility of a genuine native record.” - -On nearly every recurrence of an inscription in any linear form of -alphabetic character brought to light in the western hemisphere, the -first idea has been to suggest a Phœnician origin; and this is, no -doubt, implied in the statement of its runic decipherer, in the -_Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society_, that “the glyphs -have been at various times copied and sent abroad to men of learning who -have made more or less attempts at deciphering them, more than one -savant seeing traces of Semitic origin.” But latterly with the reported -discovery of any linear inscription on the eastern seaboard, the -temptation has been to refer it to the Northmen of the eleventh century. -To this accordingly the allusions of both of my Nova-Scotian -correspondents pointed. But the characters of the Scandinavian futhork -are sufficiently definite to satisfy any one familiar with Scottish and -Manx runic inscriptions, or with Professor George Stephens’ ample -illustrations of them as they are found in the native home of the -Northmen, that it is vain to look to either for a key to the graven -legend on the Yarmouth rock. The presence of the Northmen, not only in -Iceland and Greenland, but as transient visitors on some portion of the -North American mainland, now rests on satisfactory historical evidence. -In Greenland they left indisputable literate records of their -colonisation of the region to which they gave the inapt name it still -retains. The runic inscriptions brought to Copenhagen in 1831 not only -determine the sites of settlements effected by the companions and -successors of Eric, but they serve to show the kind of evidence to be -looked for, alike to the north and the south of the St. Lawrence, if any -traces yet survive of their having attempted to colonise the old -Markland and Vinland, whether the latter is recovered in Nova Scotia or -New England. Their genuine memorials are not less definite than those -left by the Romans in Gaul or Britain; and corresponding traces of them -in the assumed Vinland, and elsewhere in the United States, have been -perseveringly, but vainly, sought for. One unmistakably definite -Scandinavian inscription, that of the “Huidœrk,” professedly found on -the river Potomac, does not lay claim to serious criticism. It was -affirmed to have been discovered in 1867 graven on a rock on the banks -of the Potomac; but to any student familiar with the genuine examples -figured in the _Antiquitates Americanæ_, it will be readily recognised -as a clever hoax, fabricated by the correspondent of the _Washington -Union_ out of genuine Greenland inscriptions. It reads thus: =hir -huilir syasy fagrharrdr avstfirthingr iki a kildi systr thorg samfethra -halfthritgr gleda gvd sal henar=. To this are added certain -symbols, suggested it may be presumed by the Kingiktorsoak inscription, -from which the translator professes to derive the date A.D. 1051. - -In the interval between the dates of the two communications previously -referred to, a rubbing of the inscription on the Yarmouth rock was -forwarded to Mr. Henry Phillips jr., of Philadelphia. It appears to have -been under consideration by him at intervals for nine years, when at -length it was made the subject of a paper read before the American -Philosophical Society, and printed in its _Proceedings_ in 1884. After a -description of the locality, and the discovery of the inscribed stone on -its original site, “about the end of the last century, by a man named -Fletcher,” Mr. Phillips states the reasons which sufficed to satisfy him -that the inscription is a genuine one. He then proceeds thus: “Having -become imbued with a belief that no deception was intended, or -practised, I entered upon the study of the markings with a mind totally -and entirely free from prejudice. So far from believing that the -inscription was a relic of the pre-Columbian discovery of America, I had -never given any credence to that theory.” Thus, not only entirely -unbiassed, but, as he says, “somewhat prejudiced against the -authenticity of any inscription on this continent purporting to emanate -from the hardy and intrepid Norsemen,” he proceeded to grapple with the -strange characters. “As in a kaleidoscope, word after word appeared in -disjointed form, and each was in turn rejected, until at last an -intelligible word came forth, followed by another and another, until a -real sentence with a meaning stood forth to my astonished gaze: -_Harkussen men varu_—Hako’s son addressed the men.” On reverting to the -old Vinland narrative this seemed all unexpectedly to tally with it, for -Mr. Phillips found that in the expedition of Thorfinn Karlsefne, in -1007, one named Haki occurs among those who accompanied him. Still more -noteworthy, as it appears, though overlooked by him, this oldest record -of a European visitor to the Nova-Scotian shores, if actually referable -to Hake, the fellow-voyager of Thorfinn, was no Northman, but a Scot! -For Thorfinn himself, the old Saga, as reproduced in the _Antiquitates -Americanæ_, claims a comprehensive genealogy in which his own Scottish -ancestry is not overlooked. In the summer of 1006, according to the -narrative of the “settlement effected in Vinland by Thorfinn,” “there -arrived in Greenland two ships from Iceland; the one was commanded by -Thorfinn, having the very significant surname of Karlsefn (_i.e._ who -promises, or is destined to be an able or great man), a wealthy and -powerful man, of illustrious lineage, and sprung from Danish, Norwegian, -Swedish, Irish and Scottish ancestors, some of whom were kings of royal -descent. He was accompanied by Snorre Thorbrandson, who was also a man -of distinguished lineage. The other ship was commanded by Bjarne -Grimolfson, of Breidefiord, and Thorhall Gamlison, of Austfiord. They -kept the festival of Yule at Brattalid. Thorfinn became enamoured of -Gudrida, and obtained the consent of her brother-in-law, Leif, and their -marriage was celebrated during the winter. On this, as on former -occasions, the voyage to Vinland formed a favourite theme of -conversation, and Thorfinn was urged both by his wife and others to -undertake such a voyage. It was accordingly resolved on in the spring of -1007.” This later narrative distinctly sets forth an organised scheme of -permanent settlement in the tempting land of the vine. Thorvald, who was -in command of one of the three ships fitted out for the expedition, was -married to Freydisa, a natural daughter of Eric the Red. “On board this -ship was also a man of the name of Thorhall, who had long served Eric as -a huntsman in summer, and as house-steward in winter, and who had much -acquaintance with the uncolonised parts of Greenland. They had in all -160 men. They took with them all kinds of live stock, it being their -intention to establish a colony, if possible.” Then follows the notice -of their observations of the characteristic features, and of the fauna -and flora of Helluland, Markland, and subsequent points; to the last of -which, characterised by “trackless deserts and long beaches with sands,” -they gave the name of Furdustrandir. After passing this, the -characteristic feature is noted that the land began to be indented by -inlets, or bays. Then follows the notice of Hake, the Scot, to whom Mr. -Phillips conceives the Yarmouth inscription may be due. The reference, -accordingly, with its accompanying description of the country, has a -special claim to notice here. “They had,” says the Saga, “two Scots with -them, Haki and Hekia, whom Leif had formerly received from the Norwegian -King, Olaf Tryggvason,” it may be assumed as slaves carried off in some -marauding expedition to the British Islands. The two Scots, man and -woman, it is added, “were very swift of foot. They put them on shore -recommending them to proceed in a south-west direction, and explore the -country. After the lapse of three days they returned, bringing with them -some grapes and ears of wheat, which grew wild in that region. They -continued their course until they came to a place where the firth -penetrated far into the country. Off the mouth of it was an island past -which there ran strong currents, which was also the case further up the -firth. On the island there was an immense number of eider ducks, so that -it was scarcely possible to walk without treading on their eggs. They -called the island Straumey (Stream Isle), and the firth Straumfiordr -(Stream Firth). They landed on the shore of this firth, and made -preparations for their winter residence. The country was extremely -beautiful,” as we may readily imagine a sheltered nook of Nova Scotia to -have appeared to voyagers fresh from Iceland and the Greenland shores. -It may be well to note here that the incident of the discovery of the -vine and the gathering of grapes reappears in different narratives under -varying forms. It was a feature to be specially looked for by all later -voyagers in search of the Vinland of the first expedition, that set out -in search for the southern lands of which Bjarni Herjulfson is reported -to have brought back an account to Greenland. Nor is the discovery of -the vine by successive explorers along the American seaboard in any -degree improbable, though it can scarcely be doubted that some of the -later accounts are mere amplifications of the original narrative. It is, -at any rate, to be noted that the scene of Haki the Scot’s discovery, -was not the Hóp, identified by the Rhode Island Historical Society with -their own Mount Hope Bay. As for Thorhall and his shipmates, they turned -back, northward, in search of Vinland, and so deserted their -fellow-voyagers before the scene of attempted colonisation was reached, -and were ultimately reported to have been wrecked on the Irish coast. - -Such is the episode in the narrative of ancient explorations of the -North American shores by voyagers from Greenland, in which Mr. Phillips -was gratified by the startling conformity, as it seemed to him, of the -name of Haki, with the Harkussen of his runes; though, it must be -admitted, the identity is far from complete. If, however, there were no -doubt as to the inscription being a genuine example of Northern runes, -the failure to refer them to Hake, or any other specific member of an -exploring party, would be of little moment. Here, at any rate, was -evidence which, if rightly interpreted, was calculated to suggest a -reconsideration of the old localisation of Vinland in the state of Rhode -Island; and to this other evidence pointed even more clearly. Reassured, -accordingly, by a study of the map, which shows the comparatively -trifling distance traversed by the assumed voyagers from Greenland, when -compared with that from their remote European fatherland, Mr. Phillips -submitted his interpretation to the American Philosophical Society “as -worthy of consideration, if not absolutely convincing.” To the -topographer of the maritime coasts of Canada, a genuine runic -inscription which proved that Norse voyagers from Greenland did actually -land on the shores of Nova Scotia, in A.D. 1007, and leave there a -literate record of their visit, would be peculiarly acceptable. But -whatever be the significance of the Yarmouth inscription, it fails to -satisfy such requirements. It neither accords with the style, or usual -formula of runic inscriptions; nor, as will be seen from the -accompanying facsimile, is it graven in any variation of the familiar -characters of the Scandinavian futhork. The fascinating temptation has -to be set aside; and the Hake or Harkussen of its modern interpreter -must take rank with the illusory Thorfinn discovered by the Rhode Island -antiquaries on their famed Dighton Rock, which still stands by the banks -of the Taunton river. - -It is indeed vain for us to hope for evidence of the same definite kind -as that which establishes beyond question the presence of the Northmen -on the sites of their long-settled colonies in Greenland. Their visits -to the Canadian seaboard were transitory; and any attempt at settlement -there failed. Yet without the definite memorials of the old Norse -colonists recovered in the present century on the sites of their -Greenland settlements, it would probably have proved vain to identify -them now. The coast of Nova Scotia is indented with inlets, and -estuaries of creeks and rivers, suggesting some vague resemblance to the -Hóp, or creek of the old Sagas. Whether any one of them presents -adequate features for identification with the descriptions furnished in -their accounts has yet to be ascertained. But there is every motive to -stimulate us to a careful survey of the coast in search of any probable -site of the Vinland of the old Northmen. Slight as are the details -available for such a purpose, they are not without some specific -definiteness, which the Rhode Island antiquaries turned to account, not -without a warning to us in their too confident assumption of results. -Dr. E. B. Tylor, in his address to the section of anthropology at the -Montreal meeting of the British Association, after referring to the -Icelandic records of the explorations of the hardy sea-rovers from -Greenland, as too consistent to be refused belief as to the main facts, -thus proceeded: “They sailed some way down the American coast. But where -are we to look for the most southerly points which the Sagas mention as -reached in Vineland? Where was Keel-ness where Thorvald’s ship ran -aground, and Cross-ness where he was buried when he died by the -Skræling’s arrow? Rafn, in the _Antiquitates Americanæ_, confidently -maps out these places about the promontory of Cape Cod, in -Massachusetts, and this has been repeated since from book to book. I -must plead guilty to having cited Rafn’s map before now, but when with -reference to the present meeting I consulted our learned editor of -Scandinavian records at Oxford, Mr. Gudbrand Vigfusson, and afterwards -went through the original passages in the Sagas with Mr. York Powell, I -am bound to say that the voyages of the Northmen ought to be reduced to -more moderate limits. It appears that they crossed from Greenland to -Labrador (Helluland), and thence sailing more or less south and west, in -two stretches of two days each, they came to a place near where wild -grapes grew, whence they called the country Vineland. This would, -therefore, seem to have been somewhere about the Gulf of St. Lawrence, -and it would be an interesting object for a yachting cruise to try down -from the east coast of Labrador a fair four days’ sail of a Viking ship, -and identify, if possible, the sound between the island and the ness, -the river running out of the lake into the sea, the long stretches of -sand, and the other local features mentioned in the Sagas.” A fresh -stimulus is thus furnished to Canadian yachtsmen to combine historical -exploration with a summer’s coasting trip, and go in search of the lost -Vinland. The description of the locality that furnished the data from -which the members of the Rhode Island Historical Society satisfied -themselves as to the identity of their more southern site on the -Pacasset river, has to be kept in view in any renewed inquiry. At the -same time it must not be overlooked that the oldest and most trustworthy -narrative, in the Saga of Eric the Red, with the credited, and probably -genuine story of the voyage of Karlsefne, are expanded, in the -Grænlendingathàttr, into five voyages, with their incidents recast with -modifications and additions. The expedition of Leif Ericson, and his -accidental discovery of Vinland, and the subsequent attempt at -colonisation of Karlsefne, in company with Thorvald and Freydisa, are -the only adventures accredited by the oldest tradition. In the latter -narrative it is stated that “they sailed for a long time, until they -came at last to a river which flowed down from the land into a lake, and -so into the sea. There were great bars at the mouth of the river, so -that it could only be entered at the height of the flood tide. Karlsefn -and his men sailed into the mouth of the river, and called it Hóp,” -_i.e._ a land-locked bay. “They found self-sown wheat fields wherever -there were hollows, and where there was hilly ground there were vines.” -Subsequent descriptions are obviously based on this account. But to -whatever extent the description of the locality where Thorvald, the -brother of Leif Ericson, was killed by a Skræling may have been -suggested by that narrative, the localities are different. It was -apparently in the spring of A.D. 1004 that Karlsefne set out on his -colonising expedition. The voyagers sailed along Furdustrandir, a long, -low sandy coast, till they came to where the land was indented with -creeks and inlets. There they steered into the Straumsfjord, to a spot -where Karlsefne and his companions spent the winter of A.D. 1005; and -where, therefore, we may assume the observations to have been made that -determined the length of the day in Vinland at the winter solstice. The -narrative of noteworthy incidents is accompanied with topographical -details that have to be kept in view in any attempt at recovering traces -of the locality. There, if it could be identified, we have to look for a -promontory answering to the Krossanes, or promontory of the crosses: the -spot where Thorvald was buried; and as would seem to be implied, where a -cross was set up at the grave mound. The style of such a sepulchral -memorial of the Northmen at a little later date is very familiar to us. -The discovery on some hitherto unheeded spot of the Nova-Scotian coast -of a bautastein, graven like those recovered on the sites of the old -Greenland colony, would be an invaluable historical record. It might be -expected to read somewhat in this fashion: _Leif sunr Erikr rautha -raisti krus thana eftir Thorvald brothur sina_. But there is slight -ground for imagining that the transient visitors from Greenland to the -Canadian shores left any more lasting memorial of the tragic event that -reappears in successive versions of the narrative of their presence -there, than a wooden grave-post, or uninscribed headstone. - -One other element in the characteristic features of the strange land -visited by the Greenland explorers is the native population, and this -has a specific interest in other respects, in addition to its bearing on -the determination of a Nova-Scotian site for “Vineland the Good.” They -are designated Skrælings (Skrælingjar), and as in this the Greenland -voyagers applied the same name to the natives of Vinland as to the -Greenland Eskimo, it has been assumed that both were of the same race. -But the term “skræling” is still used in Norway to express the idea of -decrepitude, or physical inferiority; and probably was used with no more -definite significance than our own word “savage.” The account given in -the Saga of the approach of the Skrælings would sufficiently accord with -that of a Micmac flotilla of canoes. Their first appearance is thus -described: “While looking about one morning, they observed a great -number of canoes. On exhibiting friendly signals the canoes approached -nearer to them, and the natives in them looked with astonishment at -those they met there. These people were sallow-coloured and ill-looking, -had ugly heads of hair, large eyes and broad cheeks.” The term -_skræling_ has usually been interpreted “dwarf,” and so seemed to -confirm the idea of the natives having been Eskimo; but, as already -stated, the word, as still used in Norway, might mean no more than the -inferiority of any savage race. As to the description of their features -and complexion, that would apply equally well to the red Indian or the -Eskimo, and so far as the eyes are spoken of, rather to the former than -the latter. More importance may be attached to the term _hudhkeipr_ -applied to their canoes, which is more applicable to the kayak, or -skin-boat, than to the birch-bark canoe of the Indian; but the word was -probably loosely used as applicable to any savage substitute for a keel, -or built boat. - -This question of the identification of the Skrælings, or natives, -whether of Nova Scotia or New England, is one of considerable -ethnographic significance. The speculations relative to the possible -relationship of the Eskimo to the post-glacial cave-dwellers of the -Dordogne valley, and their consequent direct descent from palæolithic -European man, confer a value on any definite evidence bearing on their -movements in intermediate centuries. On the other hand, the approximate -correspondence of the Huron-Iroquois of Canada and the state of New York -to the Eskimo in the dolichocephalic type of skull common to both, gives -an interest to any evidence of the early presence of the latter to the -south of the St. Lawrence. In their western migrations the Eskimo -attract the attention of the ethnographer as the one definite ethnic -link between America and Asia. They are met with, as detached and -wandering tribes, across the whole continent, from Greenland to Behring -Strait. Nevertheless, they appear to be the occupants of a diminishing -rather than an expanding area. This would accord with the idea of their -area extending over the Canadian maritime provinces, and along the New -England coast, in the eleventh century; and possibly as indicating the -early home, from which they were being driven northward by the -Huron-Iroquois or other assailants, rather than implying an overflow -from their Arctic habitat. Seal hunting on the coast of Newfoundland, -and fishing on its banks and along the shores of Nova Scotia, would even -now involve no radical change in the habits of the Eskimo. It was with -this hyperborean race that the Scandinavian colonists of Greenland came -in contact 800 years ago, and by them that they were exterminated at a -later date. If it could be proved that the Skrælings of the eleventh -century, found by the Northmen on the American mainland, were Eskimo, it -would furnish the most conclusive evidence that the red Indians—whether -Micmac, Millicet, or Hurons,—are recent intruders there. - -In any process of aggression of the native American race on the older -area of the Eskimo, some intermixture of blood would naturally follow. -The slaughter of the males in battle, and the capture of women and -children, everywhere leads to a like result; and this seems the simplest -solution of the problem of the southern brachycephalic, and the northern -dolichocephalic type of head among native American races. When the sites -of the ancient colonies of Greenland were rediscovered and visited by -the Danes, they imagined they could recognise in the physiognomy of some -of the Eskimo who still people the shores of Davis Straits, traces of -admixture between the old native and the Scandinavian or Icelandic -blood. Of the Greenland colonies the Eskimo had perpetuated many -traditions, referring to the colonists under the native name of -_Kablunet_. But of the language that had been spoken among them for -centuries, the fact is highly significant that the word _Kona_, used by -them as a synonym for woman, is the only clearly recognised trace. This -is worthy of note, in considering the distinctive character of the -Eskimo language, and its comparison with the Indian languages of the -North American continent. It has the feature common to nearly all the -native languages of the continent north of the Mexican Gulf in the -composite character of its words; so that an Eskimo verb may furnish the -equivalent to a whole sentence in other tongues. But what is specially -noteworthy is that, while the Huron-Iroquois, the Algonkin, and other -Indian families of languages have multiplied widely dissimilar dialects, -Dr. Henry Rink has shown that the Eskimo dialects of Greenland or -Labrador differ slightly from those of Behring Strait; and the congeners -of the American Eskimo, who have overflowed into the Aleutian Islands, -and taken possession of the north-eastern region of Asia, perpetuate -there nearly allied dialects of the parent tongue.[8] The Alaskan and -the Tshugazzi peninsulas are in part peopled by Eskimo; the Konegan of -Kudjak Island belong to the same stock; and all the dialects spoken in -the Aleutian Islands, the supposed highway from Asia to America, betray -in like manner the closest affinities to the Arctic Mongolidæ of the New -World. They thus appear not only to be contributions from the New World -to the Old, but to be of recent introduction there. If the cave-dwellers -of Europe’s palæolithic era found their way as has been suggested, in -some vastly remote age, either by an eastern or a western route to the -later home of the Arctic Eskimo, it is in comparatively modern centuries -that the tide of migration has set westward across the Behring Strait, -and by the Aleutian Islands, into Asia. - -The reference to the Skrælings in the first friendly intercourse of -Thorfinn Karlsefne and his companions with the natives, and their -subsequent hostile attitude, ending in the death of Thorvald Ericson, -has given occasion to this digression. But the question thus suggested -is one of no secondary interest. If we could certainly determine their -ethnical character the fact would be of great significance; and coupled -with any well-grounded determination of the locality where the fatal -incident occurred, would have important bearings on American ethnology. -The description of the sallow, or more correctly, swarthy coloured, -natives with large eyes, broad cheek-bones, shaggy hair, and forbidding -countenances is furnished in the Saga, and then the narrative thus -proceeds: “After the Skrælings had gazed at them for a while, they rowed -away again to the south-west past the cape. Karlsefne and his company -had erected their dwelling-houses a little above the bay, and there they -spent the winter. No snow fell, and the cattle found their food in the -open field. One morning early, in the beginning of 1008, they descried a -number of canoes coming from the south-west past the cape. Karlsefne -having held up the white shield as a friendly signal, they drew nigh and -immediately commenced bartering. These people chose in preference red -cloth, and gave furs and squirrel skins in exchange. They would fain -also have bought swords and spears, but these Karlsefne and Snorre -prohibited their people from selling to them. In exchange for a skin -entirely gray the Skrælings took a piece of cloth of a span in breadth, -and bound it round their heads. Their barter was carried on in this way -for some time. The Northmen then found that their cloth was beginning to -grow scarce, whereupon they cut it up in smaller pieces, not broader -than a finger’s breadth, yet the Skrælings gave as much for these -smaller pieces as they had formerly given for the larger ones, or even -more. Karlsefne also caused the women to bear out milk soup, and the -Skrælings relishing the taste of it, they desired to buy it in -preference to everything else, so they wound up their traffic by -carrying away their bargains in their bellies. Whilst this traffic was -going on it happened that a bull, which Karlsefne had brought along with -him, came out of the wood and bellowed loudly. At this the Skrælings got -terrified and rushed to their canoes, and rowed away southwards. About -this time Gudrida, Karlsefne’s wife, gave birth to a son, who received -the name of Snorre. In the beginning of the following winter the -Skrælings came again in much greater numbers; they showed symptoms of -hostility, setting up loud yells. Karlsefne caused the red shield to be -borne against them, whereupon they advanced against each other, and a -battle commenced. There was a galling discharge of missiles. The -Skrælings had a sort of war sling. They elevated on a pole a -tremendously large ball, almost the size of a sheep’s stomach, and of a -bluish colour; this they swung from the pole over Karlsefne’s people, -and it descended with a fearful crash. This struck terror into the -Northmen, and they fled along the river.” - -It was thus apparent that in spite of the attractions of the forest-clad -land, with its tempting vines, there was little prospect of peaceful -possession. The experience of these first colonisers differed in no -degree from that of the later pioneers of Nova Scotia or New England. -Freydisa, the natural daughter of Eric, whom Thorvald had wedded, is -described as taunting the men for their cowardice in giving way before -such miserable caitiffs as the Skrælings or savage natives, and vowing, -if she had only a weapon, she would show better fight. “She accordingly -followed them into the wood. There she encountered a dead body. It was -Thorbrand Snorrason. A flat stone was sticking fast in his head. His -naked sword lay by his side. This she took up, and prepared to defend -herself. She uncovered her breasts and dashed them against the naked -sword. At this sight the Skrælings became terrified, and ran off to -their canoes. Karlsefne and the rest now came up to her and praised her -courage. But Karlsefne and his people became aware that, although the -country held out many advantages, still the life that they would have to -lead here would be one of constant alarm from the hostile attacks of the -natives. They therefore made preparations for departure with the -resolution of returning to their own country.” To us the attractions of -a Nova-Scotian settlement might seem worth encountering a good many such -assaults rather than retreat to the ice-bound shores of Greenland. But -it was “their own country”; their relatives were there. Nor to the hardy -Northmen did its climate, or that of Iceland, present the forbidding -aspect which it would to us. So they returned to Brattalid, carrying -back with them an evil report of the land; and, as it seems, also -bringing with them specimens of its natives. For, on their homeward -voyage, they proceeded round Kialarnes, and then were driven to the -nort-west. “The land lay to larboard of them. There were thick forests -in all directions as far as they could see, with scarcely any open -space. They considered the hills at Hope and those which they now saw as -forming part of one continuous range. They spent the third winter at -Streamfirth. Karlsefne’s son Snorre was now three years of age. When -they sailed from Vinland they had southerly wind, and came to Markland, -where they met with five Skrælings. They caught two of them (two boys), -whom they carried away along with them, and taught them the Norse -language, and baptized them; these children said that their mother was -called Vethilldi and their father Uvaege. They said that the Skrælings -were ruled by chieftains (kings), one of whom was called Avalldamon, and -the other Valdidida; that there were no houses in the country, but that -the people dwelled in holes and caverns.” - -Thus ended the abortive enterprise of Thorfinn and his company to found, -in the eleventh century, a colony of Northmen on the American mainland. -The account the survivors brought back told indeed of umbrageous -woodland and the tempting vine. But the forest was haunted by the fierce -Skrælings, and its coasts open to assault from their canoes. To the race -that wrested Normandy from the Carlovingian Frank, and established its -jarldoms in Orkney, Caithness, and Northumbria, such a foe might well be -deemed contemptible. But the degenerate Franks, and the Angles of -Northumbria, tempted the Norse marauder with costly spoils; and only -after repeated successful expeditions awakened the desire to settle in -the land and make there new homes. Alike to explorers seeking for -themselves a home, and to adventurers coveting the victors’ spoils, the -Vinland of the Northmen offered no adequate temptation, and so its -traditions faded out of memory, or were recalled only as the legend of a -fabulous age. At the meeting of the British Association at Montreal in -1884 Mr. R. G. Halliburton read a paper entitled “A Search in British -North America for lost Colonies of Northmen and Portuguese.” Documents -were quoted by him showing that from A.D. 1500 to 1570 commissions were -regularly issued to the Corte Reals and their successors. Cape Breton -was colonised by them in 1521; and when Portugal became annexed to Spain -in 1680, and Terra Nova passed with it to her rule, she sent colonists -to settle there. The site which they occupied, Mr. Halliburton traced to -Spanish Harbour (Sydney), Cape Breton, and this he claimed to be the -earliest European settlement in North America. For, as for the -Northmen’s reputed explorations and attempt at settlement, his verdict -is thus briefly summed up: “When we can discover Greenland’s verdant -mountains we can also hope to find the vine-clad hills of Vineland the -Good.” That, however, is too summary a dismissal of evidence which, if -vague, is to every appearance based on authorities as seemingly -authentic and trustworthy as those on which many details of the history -of early centuries rest. It would manifestly be unwise to discountenance -further inquiry by any such sweeping scepticism, or to discourage the -hope that local research may yet be rewarded by evidence confirmatory of -the reputed visit of Thorfinn and his fellow-explorers to some -recognisable point on the Nova-Scotian coast. - -The diligent research of scholars familiar with the Old Norse, in which -the Sagas are written, is now clearing this inquiry into reputed -pre-Columbian discovery and colonisation of much misapprehension. The -extravagant assumptions alike of earlier Danish and New England -antiquaries in dealing with the question were provocative of an undue -bias of critical scepticism. The American historian Bancroft gave form -to this tendency when he affirmed that “the story of the colonisation of -America by Northmen rests on narratives mythological in form and obscure -in meaning; ancient, yet not contemporary.” If the historian had adduced -in evidence of this the story of the Eyrbyggja Saga, and the later -amplifications of reputed voyages to “White Man’s Land,” and to -“Newland,” his language would have been pardonable. Of the later -fictitious Sagas are the Landvætta-sögur; Stories of the -guardian-spirits of the land; and the Saga of Halfdan Eysteinsson, from -which we learn that “Raknar brought the deserts of Heluland under his -rule, and destroyed all the giants there”; or again we have the Saga of -“Barthar Snæfellsass,” or the Snow-fell God, and the King Dumbr of -Dumbshaf. But all such mythical Sagas belong to later Icelandic and -Norwegian literature, and have no claim to historical value. - -The genuine documentary evidence of Vinland is recoverable from -manuscripts of earlier date, and a widely different character. Had -Bancroft been familiar with the early Icelandic Sagas he could never -have spoken of them as mythological. They are, on the contrary, -distinguished by their presentation of events in an extremely simple and -literal manner; equally free from rhetorical embellishment and the -extravagances of the romancer. But the occupation of the new-found land -was brief; and as the tale of its explorers faded from the memory of -younger generations, fancy toyed with the legend of a sunny land of the -Vine, with its self-sown fields of ripened grain. At a later date -Greenland itself vanished from the ken of living men; and romance -sported with the fancies suggested by its name as a fertile oasis of -green pastures walled in by the ice and snows of its Arctic zone. - -The first authentic reference, now recoverable, to Vinland the Good has -already been referred to. It occurs in a passage in the _Iselandinga -Vók_, by Ari Thorgilsson, the oldest Icelandic historiographer. Ari, -surnamed froði, or the learned, was born A.D. 1067, and survived till -1148. The earliest manuscript of the Saga of Eric the Red dates as late -as A.D. 1330. It is contained in the Arna Magnæan Codex, commonly known -as _Hauks Vók_. Hauk Erlendsson, to whom the preservation of this copy -of the original Saga is due, and by whom part of it appears to have been -written, has appended to the manuscript a genealogy, in which he traces -his descent from the son of Karlsefne, born in Vinland. Two versions of -the narrative have been preserved, differing only in slight details; and -of those Reeves says: “They afford the most graphic and succinct -exposition of the discovery; and, supported as they are throughout by -contemporary history, appear in every respect most worthy of -credence.”[9] The simple, unadorned narrative bears out the idea that it -is a manuscript of information derived from the statements of the actual -explorers. The later story of Barni Herjulfson,—an obvious -amplification of the original narrative, with a change of names, and -many spurious additions,—occurs in the Flatey Book, a manuscript -written before the close of the fourteenth century, when the Northmen of -the Scandinavian fatherland were reawakening to an interest in the -memories or traditions of early voyages to strange lands beyond the -Atlantic Ocean, and fashioning them into legend and romance. - -The poet, William Morris, represents the Vikings of the fourteenth -century following the old leadings of Leif Ericson in search of the -earthly paradise:— - - That desired gate - To immortality and blessed rest - Within the landless waters of the West. - -The time chosen is that of England’s Edward III., and, still more, of -England’s Chaucer. But in reality all memory of the land which lay -beyond the waters of the Atlantic had faded as utterly from the minds of -Europe’s mariners, in that fourteenth century, as in the older days when -Plato restored a lost Atlantis to give local habitation to his ideal -Republic. When the idea revived in the closing years of the fifteenth -century, not as a philosophic dream, but as a legitimate induction of -science, the reception which it met with from the embodied wisdom of -that age, curiously illustrates the common experience of the pioneers in -every path of novel discovery. - -To Columbus, with his well-defined faith in the form of the earth which -gave him confidence to steer boldly westward in search of the Asiatic -Cipango: the existence of a continent beyond the Atlantic was no mere -possibility. So early, at least, as 1474 he had conceived the design of -reaching Asia by sailing to the West; and in that year he is known to -have expounded his plans to Paolo Toscanelli, the learned Florentine -physician and cosmographer, and to have received from him hearty -encouragement. Assuming the world to be a sphere, he fortunately erred -alike in under-estimating its size, and in over-estimating the extent to -which the continent of Asia stretched eastward. In this way he -diminished the distance between the coasts of Europe and Asia; and so, -when at length he sighted the new-found land of the West, so far from -dreaming of another ocean wider than the Atlantic between him and the -object of his quest, he unhesitatingly designated the natives of -Guanahani, or San Salvador, “Indians,” in the confident belief that this -was an outlying coast of Asiatic India. Nor was his reasoning unsound. -He sought, and would have found, a western route to that old east by the -very track he followed, had no American continent intervened. It was not -till his third voyage that the great Admiral for the first time beheld -the new continent,—not indeed the Asiatic mainland, nor even the -northern continent,—but the embouchures of the Orinoco river, with its -mighty volume of fresh water, proving beyond dispute that it drained an -area of vast extent, and opened up access far into the interior of a new -world. - -Columbus had realised his utmost anticipations, and died in the belief -that he had reached the eastern shores of Asia. Nor is the triumph in -any degree lessened by this assumption. The dauntless navigator, pushing -on ever westward into the mysterious waters of the unexplored Atlantic -in search of the old East, presents one of the most marvellous examples -of intelligent faith that science can adduce. To estimate all that it -implied, we have to turn back to a period when his unaccomplished -purpose rested solely on that sure and well-grounded faith in the -demonstrations of science. - -In the city of Salamanca there assembled in the Dominican convent of San -Esteban, in the year 1487, a learned and orthodox conclave, summoned by -Prior Fernando de Talavera, to pronounce judgment on the theory -propounded by Columbus; and to decide whether in that most catholic of -Christian kingdoms, on the very eve of its final triumph over the -infidel, it was a permissible belief that the Western World had even a -possible existence. Columbus set before them the scientific -demonstration which constituted for himself indisputable evidence of an -ocean highway across the Atlantic to the continent beyond. The clerical -council included professors of mathematics, astronomy, and geography, as -well as other learned friars and dignitaries of the Church: probably as -respectable an assemblage of cloister-bred pedantry and orthodox -conservatism as that fifteenth century could produce. Philosophical -deductions were parried by a quotation from St. Jerome or St. Augustine; -and mathematical demonstrations by a figurative text of Scripture; and -in spite alike of the science and the devout religious spirit of -Columbus, the divines of Salamanca pronounced the idea of the earth’s -spherical form to be heterodox; and declared a belief in antipodes -incompatible with the historical traditions of the Christian faith: -since to assert that there were inhabited lands on the opposite side of -the globe would be to maintain that there were nations not descended -from Adam, it being impossible for them to have passed the intervening -ocean. - -It may naturally excite a smile to thus find the very ethnological -problem of this nineteenth century thus dogmatically produced four -centuries earlier to prove that America was an impossibility. But in -reality this ethnological problem long continued in all ways to affect -the question. Among the various evidences which Columbus adduced in -confirmation of his belief in the existence of a continent beyond the -Atlantic, was the report brought to him by his own brother-in-law, Pedro -Correa, that the bodies of two dead men had been cast ashore on the -island of Flores, differing essentially from any known race, “very -broad-faced, and diverse in aspect from Christians”; and, in truth, the -more widely they differed from all familiar Christian humanity, the more -probable did their existence appear to the men of that fifteenth -century. Hence Shakespeare’s marvellous creation of his Caliban. Upwards -of a century and half had then elapsed since Columbus returned with the -news of a world beyond the Western Ocean; yet still to the men of -Shakespeare’s day, the strange regions of which Columbus, Amerigo -Vespucci, Gomara, Lane, Harriot, and Raleigh wrote, seemed more fitly -occupied by Calibans, and the like rude approximations to humanity, than -by men and women in any degree akin to ourselves. Othello indeed only -literally reproduces Raleigh’s account of a strange people on the Caoro, -in Guiana. He had not, indeed, himself got sight of those marvellous -Ewaipanoma, though anxious enough to do so. Their eyes, as reported, -were in their shoulders, and their mouths in the middle of their -breasts. But the truth could not be doubted, since every child in the -provinces of Arromaia and Canuri affirmed the same. The founder of -Virginia, assuredly one of the most sagacious men of that wise -Elizabethan era, and with all the experience which travel supplies, -reverts again and again to this strange new-world race, as to a thing of -which he entertained no doubt. The designation of Shakespeare’s Caliban, -is but an anagram of the epithet which Raleigh couples with the specific -designation of those monstrous dwellers on the Caoro. “To the west of -Caroli,” he says, “are divers nations of Cannibals, and of those -Ewaipanoma without heads.” Of “such men, whose head stood in their -breasts,” Gonsalo, in _The Tempest_, reminds his companions, as a tale -which every voyager brings back “good warrant of”; and so it was in all -honesty that Othello entertained Desdemona with the story of his -adventures:— - - Of moving accidents by flood and field . . . - And of the Cannibals that each other eat, - The Anthropophagi and men whose heads - Do grow beneath their shoulders. - -The idea of an island-world lying in some unexplored ocean, apart from -the influences which affect humanity at large, with beings, -institutions, and a civilisation of its own, had been the dream of very -diverse minds. When indeed we recall what the rude Norse galley of Eric -the Red must have been; and what the little “Pinta” and the “Nina” of -Columbus—the latter with a crew of only twenty-four men,—actually -were; and remember, moreover, that the pole-star was the sole compass of -the earlier explorer; there seems nothing improbable in the assumption -that the more ancient voyagers from the Mediterranean, who claimed to -have circumnavigated Africa, and were familiar with the islands of the -Atlantic, may have found their way to the great continent which lay -beyond. Vague intimations, derived seemingly from Egypt, encouraged the -belief in a submerged island or continent, once the seat of arts and -learning, afar on the Atlantic main. The most definite narrative of this -vanished continent is that already referred to as recorded in the -_Timæus_ of Plato, on the authority of an account which Solon had -received from an Egyptian priest. According to the latter the -temple-records of the Nile preserved the traditions of times reaching -back far beyond the infantile fables of the Greeks. Yet, even these -preserved some memory of deluges and convulsions by which the earth had -been revolutionised. In one of them the vast Island of Atlantis—a -continent larger than Libya and Asia conjoined,—had been engulfed in -the ocean which bears its name. This ocean-world of fancy or tradition, -Plato revived as the seat of his imaginary commonwealth; and it had not -long become a world of fact when Sir Thomas More made it anew the seat -of his famous Utopia, the exemplar of “the best state and form of a -public weale.” “Unfortunately,” as the author quaintly puts it, “neither -we remembered to inquire of Raphael, the companion of Amerike Vespuce on -his third voyage, nor he to tell us in what part of the new world Utopia -is situate”: and so there is no reason why we should not locate the seat -of this perfect commonwealth within the young Canadian Dominion, so soon -as it shall have merited this by the attainment of such Utopian -perfectibility in its polity. - -But it is not less curious to note the tardiness with which, after the -discovery of the New World had been placed beyond question, its true -significance was comprehended even by men of culture, and abreast of the -general knowledge of their time. Peter Giles, indeed, citizen of -Antwerp, and assumed confidant of “Master More,” writes with -well-simulated grief to the Right Hon. Counsellor Hierome Buslyde, “as -touching the situation of the island, that is to say, in what part of -the world Utopia standeth, the ignorance and lack whereof not a little -troubleth and grieveth Master More”; but as he had allowed the -opportunity of ascertaining this important fact to slip by, so the like -uncertainty long after mystified current ideas regarding the new-found -world. Ere the “Flowers of the Forest” had been weeded away on Flodden -Hill, the philosophers and poets of the liberal court of James IV. of -Scotland had learned in some vague way of the recent discovery; and so -the Scottish poet, Dunbar, reflecting on the King’s promise of a -benefice still unfulfilled, hints in his poem “Of the world’s -instabilitie,” that even had it come “fra Calicut and the new-found -Isle” that lies beyond “the great sea-ocean, it might have comen in -shorter while.” Upwards of twenty years had passed since the return of -the great discoverer from his adventurous voyage; but the _Novus Orbis_ -was then, and long afterwards continued to be, an insubstantial fancy; -for after nearly another twenty years had elapsed, Sir David Lindsay, in -his _Dreme_, represents Dame Remembrance as his guide and instructor in -all heavenly and earthly knowledge; and among the rest, he says:— - - She gart me clearly understand - How that the Earth tripartite was in three; - In Afric, Europe, and Asie; - -the latter being in the Orient, while Africa and Europe still -constituted the Occident, or western world. Many famous isles situated -in “the ocean-sea” also attract his notice; but “the new-found isle” of -the elder poet had obviously faded from the memory of that younger -generation. - -Another century had nearly run its course since the eye of Columbus -beheld the long-expected land, when, in 1590, Edmund Spenser crossed the -Irish Channel, bringing with him the first three books of his _Faerie -Queen_; in the introduction to the second of which he thus defends the -verisimilitude of that land of fancy in which the scenes of his “famous -antique history” are laid:— - - Who ever heard of th’ Indian Peru? - Or who in venturous vessel measured - The Amazon, huge river, now found true? - Or fruitfullest Virginia who did ever view? - - Yet all these were, when no man did them know, - Yet have from wisest ages hidden been; - And later times things more unknowne shall show. - Why then should witless man so much misween - That nothing is but that which he hath seen? - What if within the moon’s fair shining sphere; - What if in every other star unseen, - Of other worlds he happily should hear? - He wonder would much more; yet such to some appear. - -Raleigh, the discoverer of Virginia, was Spenser’s special friend, his -“Shepherd of the Ocean,” the patron under whose advice the poet visited -England with the first instalment of the Epic, which he dedicated to -Queen Elizabeth, “to live with the eternity of her Fame.” Yet it is -obvious that to Spenser’s fancy this western continent was then scarcely -more substantial than his own Faerie land. In truth it was still almost -as much a world apart as if Raleigh and his adventurous crew had sailed -up the blue vault of heaven, and brought back the story of another -planet on which it had been their fortune to alight. - -Nor had such fancies wholly vanished long after the voyage across the -Atlantic had become a familiar thing. It was in 1723 that the -philosophical idealist, Berkeley,—afterwards Bishop of -Cloyne,—formulated a more definite and yet not less visionary Utopia -than that of Sir Thomas More. He was about to organise “among the -English in our Western plantations” a seminary which was designed to -train the young American savages, make them Masters of Arts, and fit -instruments for the regeneration of their own people; while the new -Academy was to accomplish no less for the reformation of manners and -morals among his own race. In his fancy’s choice he gave a preference, -at first for Bermuda, or the Summer Islands, as the site of his college; -and “presents the bright vision of an academic home in those fair lands -of the West, whose idyllic bliss poets had sung, from which Christian -civilisation might be made to radiate over this vast continent with its -magnificent possibilities in the future history of the race of man.” It -was while his mind was preoccupied with this fine ideal “of planting -Arts and Learning in America” that he wrote the well-known lines:— - - There shall be sung another golden age, - The rise of empire and of arts; - The good and great inspiring epic rage, - The wisest heads and noblest hearts. - - Not such as Europe breeds in her decay: - Such as she bred when fresh and young, - When heavenly flame did animate her clay, - By future poets shall be sung. - - Westward the course of empire takes its way; - The four first acts already past, - A fifth shall close the drama with the day; - Time’s noblest offspring is the last. - -The visionary philosopher followed up his project so far as to transport -himself—not to the Summer Islands of which Waller had sung,—but to -that same Rhode Island which Danish and New England antiquaries were at -a later date to identify, whether rightly or not, as the Vinland of the -Icelandic Sagas. One of these ancient chroniclers had chanced to note -that, on the shortest day of the year in Vinland, they had the sun above -the horizon at _eykt_ and _dagmat_; that is at their regular evening and -morning meal. Like our own term breakfast, the names were significant -and allusive. The old Icelandic poet, Snorro Sturluson, author of the -Edda and the Sagas of the Norwegian Kings, has left on record that at -his Icelandic home eykt occurred at sunset on the first day of winter. -Professor Rafn hailed this old record as the key to the latitude of -Vinland. The Danish King, Frederick VI., sympathising in researches that -reflected back honour on their Norse ancestry, called in the aid of the -Astronomer Royal; and Professor Rafn felt authorised forthwith to -instruct the Rhode Island antiquaries that the latitude of the long-lost -Vinland was near Newport, in Narragansett Bay. Their response, with the -authenticating engravings of the world-famous Newport stone mill, and -the runes of Thorfinn on Dighton Rock, in Rafn’s learned quarto volume, -have been the source of many a later comment, both in prose and rhyme. - -But all this lay in a still remote future when, in 1728, Berkeley landed -at Rhode Island with projects not unsuited to the dream of a Vinland the -Good, where a university was to be reared as a centre of culture and -regeneration for the aborigines of the New World. The indispensable -prerequisite of needful funds had been promised him by the English -Government; but the promised grant was never realised. Meanwhile he -bought a farm, the purposed site perhaps of his beneficent centre of -intellectual life for the Island state, and sojourned there for three -years in pleasant seclusion, leaving behind him kindly memories that -endeared him to many friends. He planned, if he did not realise many -goodly Utopias; speculated on space and time, and objective idealism; -and then bade farewell to Rhode Island, and to his romantic dream of -regenerated savages and a renovated world. Soon after his return home -the practical fruits of his quiet sojourn beyond the Atlantic appeared -in the form of his _Alciphron: or the Minute Philosopher_; in which, in -the form of a dialogue, he discusses the varied forms of speculative -scepticism, at the very period when Pope was embodying in his _Essay on -Man_ the brilliant, but superficial philosophy which constituted the -essence of thought for men of the world in his age. It is in antithesis -to such speculations that Berkeley there advances his own theory, -designed to show that all nature is the language of God, everywhere -giving expressive utterance to the Divine thought. - -So long as the American continent lay half revealed in its vague -obscurity, as a new world lying beyond the Atlantic, and wholly apart -from the old, it seemed the fitting site for imaginary Vinlands, -Utopias, Summer Islands, and earthly paradises of all sorts: the scenes -of a realised perfectibility beyond the reach of Europe “in her decay.” -Nor was the refined metaphysical idealist the latest dreamer of such -dreams. In our own century, Southey, Coleridge, and the little band of -Bristol enthusiasts who planned their grand pantisocratic scheme of -intellectual communism, created for themselves, with like fertile fancy, -a Utopia of their own, “where Susquehana pours his untamed stream”; and -many a later dreamer has striven after like ideal perfectibility in -“peaceful Freedom’s undivided dale.” - ------ - -[4] Montgomery, James, _Greenland_, Canto IV. - -[5] _Mem. des Antiq. du Nord_, N.S., 1888, p. 341. - -[6] _The Finding of Wineland the Good_, p. 6. - -[7] _The Finding of Wineland the Good: the History of the Icelandic -Discovery of America_, edited and translated from the earliest records, -by Arthur Middleton Reeves. - -[8] _Vide_ Dr. Brinton, _Races and Peoples_, p. 215 note. - -[9] Arthur Middleton Reeves, _Finding of Wineland the Good_, p. 28. - - - - - III - TRADE AND COMMERCE IN THE STONE AGE - - -THE term “Stone Period” or “Stone Age” was suggested in the early years -of the present century by the antiquaries of Denmark as the fitting -designation of that primitive era in western Europe—with its -corresponding stage among diverse peoples in widely severed regions and -ages,—when the use of metals was unknown. That there was a period in -the history of the human race, before its Tubal-cains, Vulcans, Vœlands, -or other Smith-gods appeared, when man depended on stone, bone, ivory, -shells, and wood, for the raw material out of which to manufacture his -implements and weapons, is now universally admitted; and is confirmed by -the abundant disclosures of the drift and the caves. The simple, yet -highly suggestive classification, due to Thomsen of Copenhagen, was the -first scientific recognition of the fact, now established by evidence -derived from periods of vastly greater antiquity than the Neolithic age -of Denmark. The accumulated experience of many generations was required -before men mastered the useful service of fire in the smelting of ores -and the casting of metals. Nevertheless it seems probable that the -knowledge of fire, and its useful service on the domestic hearth, are -coeval with the existence of man as a rational being. The evidence of -its practical application to the requirements for warmth and cooking -carry us back to the age of cave implements, including some among the -earliest known examples of man’s tool-making industry. In connection -with this subject, Sir John Evans draws attention to some curious -indications of the antiquity of the use of flint by the -fire-producer.[10] He refers to the ingenious derivation of the word -_silex_ as given by Vincent of Beauvais, in the _Speculum Naturæ_, -“Silex est lapis durus, sic dictus eo quod ex eo ignis exsiliat,” and he -recalls a more remarkable reminiscence of the evoking of fire in the -Neolithic if not in the Palæolithic period. Pliny informs us (lib. vii. -cap. 56), that it was Pyrodes, the son of Cilix, who first devised the -way to strike fire out of flint; “A myth,” says Sir John Evans, “which -seems to point to the use of silex and pyrites (from πῦρ) rather than of -steel.” In reality the flint and pyrites lie together in the same lower -strata of the chalk. As the ancient flint-miners sunk their pits in -search of the levels where the flint abounds they would meet with -frequent nodules of pyrites. The first grand discovery of the -fire-producer may have resulted from the use of the pyrites as a mere -hammer-stone to break up the larger flints. - -But whatever was the source of this all-important discovery, it dates -among the earliest manifestations of human intelligence. Nodules of iron -pyrites have been found in the caves of France and Belgium, among -remains pertaining to the Palæolithic age, and are among the most -interesting disclosures of the greatly more modern, though still -prehistoric age of the barrows and cairns of the Allophylian period of -Britain, and of Western Europe generally. Sir R. C. Hoare records the -finding, among the contents of a cinerary urn, in a Wiltshire barrow, -“chipped flints prepared for arrow heads, a long piece of flint, and a -_pyrites_, both evidently smoothed by usage.”[11] More recent explorers, -apprised of the significance of such discoveries, have noted the -presence of nodules of pyrites, accompanying the personal ornaments and -weapons occurring in graves of the same age: deposited there either as -tokens of regard, or more probably with a vague idea of their utility to -the dead in the life beyond the grave. In a communication to the Society -of Antiquaries of Scotland on a group of stone cists disclosed, in 1879, -on the farm of Teinside, Teviotdale, Lord Rosehill thus describes part -of the contents of one of them. “It was filled with dark-coloured earth, -mixed with charcoal; and closely intermingled in every part with -fragments of bones which had been exposed to the action of fire.” A -broken urn lay about ten inches from the top. “Close to the urn was a -rounded piece of metallic-looking substance, which appears to be -‘radiated iron pyrites,’ and which,” adds Lord Rosehill, “I have myself -discovered in several interments.”[12] More recently, in 1883, Major -Colin Mackenzie reported to the same Society the discovery of a cist and -urn in the Black Isle, Ross-shire.[13] He thus proceeds: “Whilst -gathering together the broken pieces of the urn, a round-nosed -flint-flake or scraper, chipped at the edges, was found amongst the -debris, and proved to have a bluish tinge, as if it had been subjected -to the action of fire. Close beside it there was found a round piece of -iron pyrites, flat on one side, in shape somewhat like the half of an -egg, divided lengthways, only smaller. Dr. Joseph Anderson at once -recognised this as forming, along with the solitary flint, nothing less -than a prehistoric ‘strike-light’ apparatus.”[14] No flint is procurable -in the locality; and after the closest search, no other flint implement -or flake was found on the site. In communicating this interesting -discovery to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Major Mackenzie -reviewed the disclosures of this class in Great Britain, so far as they -had been noted by Hoare, Borlase, Bateman, Greenwell and Evans, -furnishing a tabulated statement of eleven examples, chiefly found in -barrows, and ranging over an area extending from Cornwall to Ross-shire; -and to those additions have since been made. He draws attention to their -occurrence in localities which produce neither pyrites nor flint. But -with the former, at least, this need not surprise us. The prized and -easily transported pyrites may be looked for in any ancient barrow or -sepulchral deposit, and has probably in many cases passed unnoted before -its significance was understood. Now that this is fully appreciated, it -is seen to have been in use from the early stages of primitive art: the -very dawn of science; and doubtless the pyrites and flint found in -localities remote from those where they occur as natural products are in -most cases due to primitive barter. - -The old Promethean myth represents the fire-bringer interposing on -behalf of a degraded race of beings whose helpless lot had been preceded -by the Hesiodic Golden, Silver, and Bronze ages, as well as by an Heroic -age of such demigods as the Titan son of Iapetus. By a reverse process -of evolution from the lower to higher stages, the anthropoid, or Caliban -of archæological science, becomes the tool-maker, the tool-user, and in -the same primitive stage, the fire-maker. But the service of fire is -required by man under the most varied conditions of life. The stone lamp -with its moss wick, and the stone kettle, are important implements in -the snow-hut of the Eskimo. On those he depends, not only for cooking, -but for his supply of water from melted snow; and without the lighted -taper of his stone lamp the indoor life of the long, unbroken Arctic -night would be passed in a rayless dungeon. He has inherited the -knowledge of the palæolithic fire-maker, from whom, indeed, some have -claimed for him direct genealogical descent; and he generally treasures -among his most useful appliances a piece of quartz, and a nodule of -pyrites, which constitute his flint and steel. At the remote extreme of -the southern continent the same precious bequest is in use by the -Fuegians and Patagonians of Tierra del Fuego, the name of which is a -memorial of its fire-using savages. The Fuegian makes a hearth of clay -in the bottom of his rudely constructed bark canoe, on which he -habitually keeps a fire burning. He prepares a tinder of dried moss or -fungus, which is readily ignited by the spark struck from a flinty stone -by means of a pyrites. The invaluable discovery is shared by the lowest -races. The Australian, the Andaman Islander, and other rudest tribes of -the Old and the New World, have mastered the same great secret, and turn -it to useful account. - -The tradition may have been perpetuated from generation to generation -from the remotest dawn of human reason, or it may have been rediscovered -independently among diverse races. But wherever the value of the pyrites -in evoking the latent spark of the flint was known, it would be a -coveted prize and a valuable object of barter. The story of the old -fire-makers is recorded still in the charcoal ashes of many an ancient -hearth; for charcoal is one of the most indestructible of substances -when buried. In the famous Kent’s Hole limestone cavern at Torbay, -Devonshire, explorers have systematically pursued research backward from -the specifically dated stalagmitic record of “Robert Hodges, of Ireland, -Feb. 20, 1688,” through Saxon, Roman, British, and Neolithic strata, to -the deposit where human remains lay embedded alongside of those of the -woolly rhinoceros, the mammoth, the fossil horse, the hyæna and -cave-bear. There also lay, not only the finished implements, but the -flakes and flint cores that revealed the workshop of the primitive -tool-maker, and the charcoal that preserved the traces of his ancient -fire. So, too, in the Cromagnon rock-shelter of the Perigord, in an -upper valley of the Garonne, repeated layers of charcoal, interspersed -with broken bones and other culinary remains of the ancient -cave-dwellers, tell of the knowledge and use of fire in western Europe’s -Reindeer and Mammoth ages by palæolithic man. Compared with such -disclosures of primeval arts, the discoveries on which the Danish -archæologists based their systematising of prehistoric remains belong, -geologically speaking, to modern eras. Denmark is underlaid essentially -by Upper Cretaceous rocks, the _Etage Danien_ of most French writers, -and the _Faxoe Kelke_ of German geologists. Drift clays and gravels -overlie the cretaceous rocks in many places, with more recent deposits -of sands, gravels, etc. These latter are of Neolithic age, containing -bones only of existing mammals. Palæolithic deposits, with bones of -extinct species, do not appear to have been recognised in Denmark; nor -is there any trace of the presence of palæolithic man. Hence the field -alike of Danish antiquarian research and of archæological speculation -was greatly circumscribed. But thus precluded from the study of -primitive arts in that vague palæolithic dawn which lies outside of the -speculations of the historian, and beyond resort to classical -authorities for evidence in the interpretation of local disclosures, the -Danish antiquary escaped the temptation to many misleading assumptions -which long perplexed the archæologists of France and England; and so his -limited range has tended to facilitate the investigations into -subsequent disclosures relative to an ampler antiquity of man and his -arts. - -Within the old Roman provinces of Western Europe, the Latin conquerors -were not only accredited with whatever showed any trace of Hellenic or -Roman art, but with the sole skill in working in iron. The Dane and -Northman were assumed to have followed in their wake with bronze, as -with runes and other essentially non-classical products; though still -the beautiful leaf-shaped sword and other choicest relics of the Bronze -age were not infrequently ascribed to the Romans. But philologists had -not yet assigned a place to the Celtic in the Aryan family of languages. -The Celt was not only assumed to be the barbarous precursor, alike of -Roman and Dane, but to be the primeval man of Western Europe. Hence when -the first hoards of palæolithic flint implements were accidentally -discovered in Sussex and Kent, their Celtic or British origin was -assumed without question. But the known historic position of the -Northman on Scandinavian soil prevented the crude application of the -term “Danish” to every bronze relic found there; and as no Roman -conqueror had trodden the soil of Denmark, the ethnology as well as the -archæology of the region was left unaffected by misleading complexities -that resulted from the presence of the Romans in Gaul and Britain. The -absence of remains of palæolithic man still further simplified the -problem; while the geology of the Danish peninsula favoured the -neolithic tool-maker. Flint abounds there in amorphous nodules or -blocks, and the nuclei, or cores, from which a succession of flakes have -been struck, are of frequent occurrence among the relics of the Danish -Stone age. Flint is no less abundant throughout the regions of France -and England on either side of the English Channel; and there, -accordingly, alike in the caves and the river-drift, the rude, massive -flint implements of the Palæolithic era abound. - -The natural cleavage of flint, as also of the obsidian found in volcanic -localities in the Old and New World, so readily adapts both materials to -the manufacture of knives, lances, and arrow heads, that they appear to -have been turned to account by the tool-maker from the dawn of rudest -art. But it must not be overlooked that obsidian is limited to volcanic -regions, and flint is no more universally available than bronze or iron. -In some countries it is rare; in still more it is entirely wanting; and -yet its peculiar aptitude for tool-making appears to have been -recognised at the earliest period; so that implements and weapons of -flint, alike of the Palæolithic and the Neolithic age, abound in many -localities where the raw material of the tool-maker is unknown. - -It was only natural that the systematic study and classification of the -manufactures of the ancient workers in flint should be first carried out -in regions such as the Danish peninsula, geologically related to the -Cretaceous period, and abounding in the material which most readily -adapts itself to the requirements of an implement-maker ignorant of the -arts of metallurgy. But the same inexhaustible store of raw material was -available to the “Flint-folk,” whose implements have become so familiar -by reason of more recent disclosures, of France and England, belonging -to a period when the climate, the physical geography, and the whole -animal life of Western Europe, contrasted in every respect with anything -we have knowledge of in remotest historic times. Those rude examples of -primitive art lie alongside of the unwrought flint in such profusion -that the examples of them already accumulated in the museums of Europe -and America amount to many thousands. But now that attention has been -thus widely drawn to their character and significance, it is found that -implements of the same class not only abound in regions geologically -favourable to their production, but they occur in nearly every country -in Europe, and on widely scattered localities in Asia and Africa, where -no such natural resources were available for their manufacture. - -The earliest known type of primitive flint implements, illustrative of a -class now very familiar to archæologists, was accidentally recovered -from the quaternary gravel beds of the Thames valley, in the heart of -Old London, before the close of the seventeenth century. It is a -well-made spear-pointed implement, with an unusually tapering point, -while the butt-end is broad and roughly fashioned, so that it could be -used in the hand without any haft as a spade or hoe. The deposit in -which it lay would now be accepted as unquestionable evidence of its -Palæocosmic age; but at the date of its discovery, the Celtic era was -regarded as that to which all oldest traces of European man pertained. -This interesting relic is accordingly described in the Sloane Catalogue -of the British Museum as “a British weapon, found with elephant’s tooth, -opposite to Black Mary’s, near Gray’s Inn Lane.” In 1797, another and -highly interesting discovery of the same class was communicated to the -Society of Antiquaries of London by one of its members, Mr. John -Frere.[15] In this case a large number of palæoliths were found lying at -a depth of twelve feet from the surface, in a gravelly soil containing -fresh-water shells and bones of great size. Subsequent excavations in -the same locality, at Hoxne, Suffolk, confirm the presence there of the -bones of the mammoth, as well as of the fossil horse and the deer. Mr. -Frere was so strongly impressed with the evidence of antiquity that he -inclined to assign the implements to a remote age, “even beyond that of -the present world.” By this, however, he probably meant no more than M. -Boucher de Perthes, when, so recently as 1847, he entitled his volume -devoted to the corresponding discoveries in the valley of the Somme, -_Antiquités Celtiques et Antédiluviennes_. The antiquity of man, as now -understood, was then unthought of; and the word “antediluvian” sufficed -as a vague expression of remote indefinite antiquity for which -pre-Celtic would then have been accepted as an equivalent. Mr. Frere -speaks of the flint implements as “evidently weapons of war fabricated -and used by a people who had not the use of metals.” He further adds: -“The manner in which they lie would lead to the persuasion that it was a -place of their manufacture, and not of their accidental deposit; and the -numbers of them were so great that the man who carried on the brick-work -told me that before he was aware of their being objects of curiosity he -had emptied baskets full of them into the ruts of the adjoining -road.”[16] - -When, in December 1886, Mr. J. Allan Brown communicated to the same -Society an analogous discovery near Ealing, Middlesex, English -archæologists had become so familiar with the idea of the antiquity of -palæolithic man, and the arts of his epoch, that the existence of -pre-Celtic races in Britain was accepted as a mere truism. It was not, -therefore, any matter of surprise to be told of the discovery of a -palæolithic workshop floor of the Drift period, near Ealing. It lay -about a hundred feet above the present bed of the Thames; and here, six -feet below the surface, on an ancient sloping bank of the river, an area -of about forty feet square disclosed nearly six hundred unabraded worked -flints, including neatly finished spear heads from five to six inches in -length. Alongside of these lay roughly wrought axes, chipped on one or -both sides to a cutting edge, and some of them unfinished. There were -also flint flakes, some with serrated edges, and well-finished knives, -borers, drills, chisels, etc. Waste flakes and chippings, as well as -cores, or partially worked blocks of flint, were also observed in -sufficient numbers to leave no doubt that here, in the place of their -manufacture, lay buried beneath the accumulations of unnumbered -centuries industrial products of the skilled artizans of the British -Islands contemporary with the long-extinct quaternary fauna.[17] - -The types of flint implements, found at Hoxne in 1797, correspond to -other palæoliths recovered from rolled gravel and clay of the glacial -drift in the valleys of the Thames, the Somme, and the Seine. In their -massive and artless rudeness they seem to realise for us some fit ideal -of the primitive fabricator in his first efforts at tool-making. But the -Ealing find accords with the more extended discoveries of this class. In -reality, the manufactures of palæolithic man, as a whole, are less -artless than many examples of modern Indian flint-work. Not a few of the -stone axes have had their shape determined by that of the water-worn -stones out of which they were fashioned, and so required much less skill -than was necessarily expended in chipping the flint nodule into the -rudest of pointed implements. Any close-grained rock, admitting of -grinding and polish, was available for fashioning the larger weapons and -domestic implements, alike among the men of the Neolithic age and the -native races of the American continent in modern centuries. For many of -the simpler requirements of the tool-user, any apt stone chip or -water-worn pebble sufficed; and scarcely anything can be conceived of -more rude or artless than some of the stone weapons and implements in -use among savage tribes at the present day. Professor Joseph Leidy -describes a scraper employed by the Shoshone Indians in dressing -buffalo-skins, consisting of a thin segment of quartzite, so devoid of -manipulative skill that, he says, had he noticed it among the strata of -indurated clays and sandstone, instead of seeing it in actual use, he -would have regarded it as an accidental spawl.[18] Dr. Charles C. -Abbott, in his _Primitive Industry of the Native Races_, furnishes -illustrations of pointed flakes, or arrow tips, triangular arrow heads, -spear heads, and other stone implements, only a little less rude and -shapeless.[19] Of a similar character is the blade of a war-club in use -among the Indians of the Rio Frio, in Texas.[20] Nothing so rude has -been ascribed to artificial origin among the disclosures of the drift, -though corresponding implements may have escaped notice; for were it not -that the chipped piece of trachyte of the Texas war-club is inserted in -a wooden haft of unmistakable human workmanship, the blade would -scarcely suggest the idea of artificial origin. Mere rudeness, -therefore, is no certain evidence of the first artless efforts of man to -furnish himself with tools. - -Until we arrive at the period of neolithic art, with its perforated -hammers, grooved axes, net-sinkers, gouges, adzes, and numerous other -ground and polished implements, fashioned of granite, diorite, trap, and -other igneous rocks, the forms of implements are few and simple, -dependent to a large extent on the natural cleavage of the flint. The -commoner examples of neolithic art, recovered in thousands from ancient -Scandinavian, Gaulish, and British graves, from the lake-dwellings of -Switzerland, the Danish and British shell mounds, the peat mosses of -Denmark and Ireland, and from numerous other depositories of prehistoric -industrial art, are scarcely distinguishable from the flint knives, -scrapers, spears, and arrow heads, or the chisels and axes, manufactured -by the American Indians at the present day. The material available in -certain localities, such as the claystone of the Haida and Babeen -Indians, and the argillite of the old implement-makers of New Jersey, -the obsidian of Mexico, or the quartz, jasper, and greenstone of many -Canadian centres, give a specific character to the implements of the -various regions; but, on the whole, the arts of the Stone period of the -most diverse races and eras present striking analogies, scarcely less -suggestive of the operation of a tool-making instinct than the work of -the nest-builders, or the ingenious art of the beaver. But the massive -and extremely rude implements of the river-drift and caves present -essentially different types, controlled indeed, like the productions of -later artificers, by the natural cleavage and other essential properties -of the material in which the flint-worker wrought, but with some -characteristic differences, suggestive of habits and conditions of life -in which the artificer of the Mammoth or Reindeer period differed from -the tool-maker of Europe’s Neolithic age, or the Indian savage of modern -centuries. - -The tool-bearing drift-gravel of France and England presents its relics -of primitive art intermingled with countless amorphous unwrought flints. -Both have been subjected to the violent action of floods, to which the -present condition of such geological deposits is due; and many contents -of the caves, though subjected to less violence, are the results of -similar causes. But, along with numerous implements of the rude drift -type, the sheltered recesses of the caves have preserved, not only the -smaller and more delicate flint implements, but carefully wrought tools -and weapons of bone, horn, and ivory. Some, at least, of those -undoubtedly belong to the Palæolithic age, and therefore tend to verify -conclusions, not only as to the mechanical ingenuity, but also as to the -intellectual capacity of the earliest tool-makers. The large almond and -tongue-shaped flint implements are so massive as to have effectually -resisted the violence to which they, along with other contents of the -rolled gravels in which they occur, were subjected; whereas it is only -in the favouring shelter of the caves, or in rare primitive sepulchral -deposits, that delicate trimmed flakes and the more perishable -implements of bone and ivory, or horn, have escaped destruction. - -The palæolithic implements to which Boucher de Perthes directed -attention so early as 1840, were recovered from drift-gravel beds, where -amorphous flint nodules, both whole and fractured, abound in countless -numbers; and this tended to suggest very reasonable doubts as to the -artificial origin of the rude implements lying in close proximity to -them. Nor was this incredulity lessened by the significance assigned by -him to other contents of the same drift-gravel. For so far was Boucher -de Perthes from overlooking the endless variety of fractured pieces of -flint recoverable from the drift beds, that his narrative is -supplemented by a series of plates of _L’Industrie Primitive_, the -larger number of which present chipped flints so obviously the mere -products of accidental fracture or of weathering, that they contributed -in no slight degree to discredit the book on its first appearance. -Others of them, however, show true flakes, scrapers, and fragments -probably referable to smaller implements of the same class, such as -would be recognised without hesitation as of artificial origin if found -alongside of undoubted flint implements in a cave deposit, or in any -barrow, cist, or sepulchral urn. In so far as they belong to the true -Drift, and not to the Neolithic or the Gallo-Roman period, they tend to -confirm the idea that the large almond and tongue-shaped implements are -not the sole relics of palæolithic art. - -But now that adequate attention has been given to the stone implements -of the Drift-folk, or the men of the Mammoth and Reindeer ages, it -becomes apparent that they are by no means limited to such localities. -On the contrary, sites of native manufactories of flint implements, with -abundant remains of the fractured debris of the ancient tool-makers’ -workshop, some of which are described on a later page, have been -discovered remote from any locality where the raw material could be -procured. Until the gun flint was superseded by the percussion cap, the -material for its manufacture was procured by sinking shafts through the -chalk until the beds of flint suited for the purpose were reached. In -this the modern flint-worker only repeated the practice of the primitive -tool-maker. A group of ancient flint pits at Cissbury, near Worthing, -has been brought into prominent notice by the systematic explorations of -Colonel A. Lane Fox. They occur in and around one of the aboriginal -hill-forts of Sussex, the name of which has been connected with Cissa, -the son of Ella, who is referred to by Camden as “Saxon king of those -parts.” But any occupation of the old hill-fort as a Saxon stronghold -belongs to very recent times when compared with that of the -flint-workers, whose pits have attracted the notice of modern explorers. -Colonel Lane Fox describes Cissbury Hill Fort as a great flint arsenal. -Here within its earthen ramparts the workmen who fashioned the arms of -the Stone age excavated for the beds of native flint in the underlying -chalk, and industriously worked it into every variety of weapon. “In one -place a collection of large flakes might be seen, where evidently the -first rough outline of a flint implement had been formed. In another -place a quantity of small flakes showed where a celt had been brought to -perfection by minute and careful chipping.”[21] In other excavations the -pounders, or stone hammers, were found, with a smooth rounded end by -which they were held in the hand, and the other bruised and fractured in -the manufacture of the flint implements that abound on the same -site.[22] Twenty-five pits were explored; and from these hundreds of -worked flints were recovered in every stage of workmanship: chips, -flakes, cores, balls, and finished knives; drills, scrapers, spear -heads, and axes or celts. In fact, Colonel Lane Fox sums up his general -statement of details with the remark that “Cissbury has produced -specimens of nearly every type known to have been found among flint -implements, from the Drift and Cave up to the Surface period.”[23] But -this “Woolwich” of the flint age occupied an altogether exceptional -position, with the raw material immediately underlying the military -enclosure, not improbably constructed on purpose to defend the primitive -arsenal and workshop, and so render its garrison independent of all -foreign supplies. - -Other flint pits point to the labours of the industrious miner, and the -probable transport of the raw material to distant localities where the -prized flint could only be procured from traders, who bartered it for -other needful supplies. An interesting group of flint pits of this -latter class has been subjected to careful exploration by the Rev. Canon -Greenwell, with the ingenious inference already noted, of the traces of -a left-handed workman among the flint-miners of the Neolithic age. This -was based on the relative position and markings of two picks fashioned -from the antlers of the red deer, corresponding to others of the ancient -miners’ tools found scattered through the long-deserted shafts and -galleries of the flint pits. - -The shallow depressions on the surface, which guide the explorer to -those shafts of the ancient workmen, are analogous to others that reveal -the funnel-shaped excavations hereafter described, on Flint Ridge, the -sites of ancient flint pits of the American arrow-makers. In France, -Germany, and Switzerland, as well as in Great Britain, many localities -are no less familiar, on which the refuse flakes, and chippings of flint -and other available material, show where they have been systematically -fashioned into implements. The Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of -Scotland has acquired numerous interesting additions to its collections -of objects of this class by encouraging systematic research. From the -sands at Colvin and Findhorn, Morayshire; Little Ferry, Sutherlandshire; -and from Burghhead, Drainie, and Culbin sands, Elginshire, nearly seven -thousand specimens have been recovered, consisting chiefly of flint -flakes and chippings; but also including several hundred arrow heads, -knives, and scrapers, many of them unfinished or broken. - -Thus, in various localities, remote from native sources of flint, a -systematic manufacture of implements appears to have been carried on. -There can, therefore, be scarcely any hesitation in inferring, from the -evidence adduced, first a trade in the raw material brought from the -distant localities of the flint mines; and then a local traffic in the -manufactured implements, as was undoubtedly the case among the American -aborigines at no remote date. This aspect of primitive interchange, both -of the raw material and the products of industrial skill, in so far as -it is illustrated in the practice of the American Indian tribes, merits -the most careful study, as a help to the interpretation of the -archæological evidence pertaining to prehistoric times. To the -superficial observer, stone is of universal occurrence; and it seems, -therefore, needless to inquire where the implement-maker of any Stone -age procured the rough block out of which he fashioned his weapon or -tool. Only when copper, bronze, and iron superseded the crude material -of the Stone age has it been supposed to be needful to determine the -sources of supply. But that is a hasty and wholly incorrect surmise. The -untutored savage is indeed greatly limited in his choice of materials. -We are familiar with the shell-workers of the Caribbees and the Pacific -Islands, and the horn and ivory workers of Arctic regions; but where the -resources of an ample range could be turned to account, the primitive -workman learned at a very early date to select by preference such stones -as break with a conchoidal fracture. Only where such could not be had, -the most available chance-fractured chip or the apt water-worn stone was -turned to account. Rude implements are accordingly met with fashioned of -trap, sienite, diorite, granite, and other igneous rocks, as well as -from quartzite, agate, jasper, serpentine, and slate. Some of those -materials were specially favoured by the neolithic workmen for certain -classes of their carefully finished weapons and implements, such as -perforated hammers, large axes, gouges, and chisels. But the natural -cleavage of the flint, and the sharp edge exposed by every fracture, -adapt it for fashioning the smaller knives, lance and arrow heads, in a -way no other material except obsidian equals. Hence flint appears to -have been no less in request among ancient tool-makers than copper, tin, -and iron in the later periods of metallurgic art. - -The fact that tin is a metal of rare occurrence, though found in nearly -inexhaustible quantities in some regions, has given a peculiar -significance to certain historical researches, apart from the special -interest involved in the processes of the primitive metallurgist, and -the widely diffused traces of workers in bronze. The comparative rarity -of flint, and its total absence in many localities, suggest a like -inquiry into the probable sources of its supply in regions remote from -its native deposits. The flint lance or arrow head, thrown by an enemy, -or wrested from the grasp of a vanquished foe, would, as in the case of -improved weapons of war in many a later age, first introduce the prized -material to the notice of less favoured tribes. As the primitive -tool-maker learned by experience the greater adaptability of flint than -of most other stones for the manufacture of his weapons and implements, -it may be assumed that it became an object of barter in localities -remote from those where it abounds; and thus, by its diffusion, it may -have constituted a recognised form of _pecunia_ ages before the barter -of pastoral tribes gave rise to the peculiar significance attached to -that term. - -One piece of confirmatory evidence of trade in unwrought flint is the -frequent occurrence of numerous flint flakes among the prized gifts -deposited with the dead. Canon Greenwell describes, among the contents -of a Yorkshire barrow in the parish of Ganton, a deposit of flint flakes -and chippings numbering one hundred and eighteen, along with a few -finished scrapers and arrow heads;[24] and smaller deposits of like kind -are repeatedly noted by him. Still more, he describes their occurrence -under circumstances which suggest the probability of the scattering of -flint flakes, like an offering of current coin, by the mourners, as the -primitive grave was covered in and the memorial mound piled over the -sacred spot. Flints and potsherds, he says, occur more constantly, and -even more abundantly than bones; and this presents to his mind a -difficult problem, in considering which he refers to an analogous -practice of a very diverse age. The maimed rites at poor Ophelia’s grave -are familiar to the reader of _Hamlet_. The priest replies to the demand -of Laertes for more ample ceremony at his sister’s burial:— - - But that great command o’ersways the order, - She should in ground unsanctified have lodged - Till the last trumpet; for charitable prayers, - Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her. - -The flints and potsherds, Canon Green well remarks, “occur at times in -very large quantities, the flints generally in the shape of mere -chippings and waste pieces, but often as manufactured articles, such as -arrow points, knives, saws, drills and scrapers, etc.” He further notes -that they are found distributed throughout the sepulchral mound, “in -some instances in such quantities as to suggest the idea that the -persons who were engaged in throwing up the barrow, scattered them from -time to time during the process.” Assuredly whatever motive actuated -those who contributed such objects while the sepulchral mound was in -progress of erection, they were not designed as any slight to the manes -of the dead. In districts remote from those where the flint abounds, -flakes and chips of the prized material must have been in constant -demand to replenish the sheaf of arrows, and replace the lost or broken -lance, knife, and scraper. The trader would barter the raw material for -furs and other equivalents, or the industrious miner would carry off an -adequate supply for his own future use. Such small objects, possessing a -universally appreciable value, would be as available for current change -as the African cowrie, the Ioqua shells of the Pacific coast, or the -wampum-beads of the tribes to the east of the Rocky Mountains. If this -assumption be correct, the scattering of flint flakes, while the mound -was being piled over the grave, was a form of largess not less -significant than any later tribute of reverence to the dead. - -The sources whence such supplies of raw material of the old flint-worker -were derived, have been sufficiently explored to furnish confirmatory -evidence of some, at least, of the deductions suggested by other -indications thus far noted. The archæologists of Europe are now familiar -with many localities which have been the quarries and workshops, as well -as the settled abodes, of palæolithic and neolithic man; nor are such -unknown in America, though research has to be greatly extended before -definite conclusions can be accepted relative to the earliest presence -of man on the western continent. Flint and stone implements of every -variety of form, and nearly every degree of rudeness, abound in the soil -of the New World. But in estimating the true significance of such -evidence, it has to be borne in remembrance that its indigenous -population has not even now abandoned the arts of their Stone period. -Implements have already been referred to still in use among the -Shoshone, Texas, and other living tribes, ruder than any yet recovered -from the river-drift of France or England; whilst others, more nearly -resembling the palæolithic types of Europe, have been met with, some of -them imbedded in the rolled gravels, or glacial drift, and associated -with bones of the mastodon and other fossil mammals. But the evidence as -to palæolithic origin has been, at best, doubtful. An imperfect flint -knife, now in the Museum of the University of Toronto, was recovered -from a depth of upwards of fourteen feet, among rolled gravel and -gold-bearing quartz of the Grinnel Leads in Kansas Territory. Flint -implements from the auriferous gravel of California were produced at the -Paris Exposition of 1855. According to the Geological Survey of Illinois -for 1866, stone axes and flint spear heads were obtained from a bed of -local drift near Alton, underlying the loess, and at the same depth as -bones of the mastodon. Similar discoveries have been repeatedly noted in -Southern States. The river Chattahoochee, in Georgia, in its course down -the Nacoochee valley, flows through a rich auriferous region. Explorers -in search for gold have made extensive cuttings through the underlying -drift-gravel, down to the slate rock upon which it rests; and during one -of these excavations, at a depth of nine feet, intermingled with the -gravel and boulders of the drift, three large implements were found, -nearly resembling the rude flint hatchets of the drift type. Examples of -this class, however, though repeatedly noted, have been too isolated to -admit of their use for any such comprehensive inductions as the -disclosures of the glacial drift of north-western Europe have justified. -The evidence hitherto adduced, when implements of this class have been -of flint, has failed to establish their palæolithic age, notwithstanding -their recovery from ancient gravels. Implements of flint occur in great -abundance throughout vast areas of the American continent. With the fact -before us that even now the Stone period of its aborigines has not -wholly passed away, careful observation is required in determining the -probable age of stray specimens buried even at considerable depths. - -But disclosures of an actual American implement-bearing drift appear at -length to have been met with in the valley of the Delaware. These show -the primitive tool-maker resorting to a granular argillite, the cleavage -of which adapted itself to the requirements of his rude art. Professor -Shaler, in a report on the age of the Delaware gravel beds, describes -this formation as occurring from Virginia northward to Labrador, though -it is only in New Jersey and Delaware that the accompanying evidences of -human art have been thus far recovered. The New Jersey drift is made up -of transported material, including boulders and smaller fragments of -granitic, hypogene, sandstone, and limestone rocks, along with -water-worn pebbles of the same granular argillite as the characteristic -stone implements recovered from it, to which, from their peculiar shape, -the name of “turtle-back celts” has been given. There is little true -clay in the deposit to give coherence to the mass. The type of pebble is -subovate, or discoidal, suggesting its form to be due to the action of -running water; and it seems probable that the stone was not quarried out -of the living rock, but that the pebbles thus reduced to a convenient -form were turned to account by the tool-maker. The researches of Dr. -Abbott have been rewarded by the discovery in the drift-gravel of -numerous examples of this peculiar type of implement, for which the one -material appears to have been used, notwithstanding the varied contents -of the drift-gravel in which they occur. As in the case of the French -and English river-drift, the fractured material is found in every stage -of disintegration. Professor Shaler says: “Along with the -perfect-looking implements figured by Dr. Abbott, which are apparently -as clearly artificial as the well-known remains of the valley of the -Somme, there are all grades of imperfect fragments, down to the pebbles -that are without a trace of chipping.” But more recent discoveries in -the Delaware valley point to remains of a still earlier age than those -described by Dr. Abbott. These naturally attracted attention to the -region; for there, for the first time, the American archæologist saw a -promise of disclosures corresponding in character to those of the -European drift-gravels. A systematic and prolonged series of -investigations accordingly carried out by Mr. Hilborne T. Cresson, under -the direction of the Peabody Museum, have resulted in fresh disclosures -of early American man. The Naaman’s Creek rock-shelter, carefully -explored by him, is situated in the State of Delaware, immediately to -the south of Mason and Dixon’s line. There in underlying deposits, -claimed to be of Post-Glacial age, rudely chipped points and other -implements, all of argillite, were found; and at a higher level, others -of argillite, but intermingled with bone implements, and fragments of -rude pottery, and alongside of these, implements fashioned of quartzite -and jasper. The antiquity assigned to the Delaware implements, as -determined by the age of the tool-bearing gravel, is much greater than -that of the Trenton gravels previously referred to; but though remains -of fifteen different species of animals, including fragments of a human -skull, were recovered from the cave or rock-shelter, they include none -but existing fauna. But the evidence of antiquity is based most -confidently on the discovery of palæoliths _in situ_ in the true -Philadelphia red gravel. Professor G. F. Wright remarks, in discussing -the relative ages of the Trenton and Philadelphia red gravel, that both -he and Professor Lewis came to the same conclusion: assigning the -deposition of the red gravel to a period when the ice had its greatest -extension, and when there was considerable local depression of the land. -“During this period of greatest ice-extension and depression, the -Philadelphia Red Gravel and Brick Clay were deposited by the ice-laden -floods which annually poured down the valley in the summer season. As -the ice retreated towards the headwaters of the valley, the period was -marked also by a re-elevation of the land to about its present height, -when the later deposits of gravel at Trenton took place. Dr. Abbott’s -discoveries at Trenton prove the presence of man on the continent at -that stage of the Glacial epoch. Mr. Cresson’s discoveries prove the -presence of man at a far earlier stage. How much earlier will depend -upon our interpretation of the general facts bearing on the question of -the duality of the Glacial epoch,”[25]—a branch of the inquiry which it -is not necessary to discuss here. It is sufficient to note that this -argillite—an altogether inferior material to the flint, or hornstone of -later tool-makers,—appears, thus far, to be a characteristic feature of -American palæolithic art. The locality of the native rock is still -undetermined; but implements fashioned of it have been found in great -numbers along the escarpments facing the river Delaware. Professor -Shaler describes the material as a curious granular argillite, the like -of which, he says, “I do not know in place.” Should the native rock be -hereafter identified, with traces of the manufactured celts in its -vicinity, it may help to throw light on the age and history of the -primitive American implement-makers. - -The flint of the cretaceous deposits does not occur in America. True -chalk is all but unknown among the cretaceous strata of the continent, -although it has been found in the form of a somewhat extensive bed in -Western Kansas. In Texas, the cretaceous limestones contain in places -hornstone nodules distributed through them, like the flint nodules in -the upper chalk beds of Europe. But though, so far, differing in origin, -the hornstone and flint are practically identical; and the chert, or -hornstone, which abounds in the chert-layers of the corniferous -formation, of common occurrence in Canada, is simply a variety of flint, -consisting essentially, like the substance to which that name is -specifically applied, of amorphous silica, and with a similar cleavage. -This Devonian formation is made up chiefly of limestone strata, parted -in many places by layers of chert which vary in thickness from half an -inch to three or four inches. The limestones are more or less -bituminous, and frequently contain chert nodules. Most of their fossils -are silicified. The formation underlies a considerable portion of -South-western Ontario. Out-crops occur at Port Dover, Port Colborne, -Kincardine, Woodstock, St. Mary’s, and other localities. At a point -which I have explored more than once near Port Dover, implements occur -in considerable numbers, along with fractured or imperfect specimens, -mingled with flakes and chippings, evidently indicative of a spot where -their manufacture was carried on. At this, and some others of the -localities here named, Canadian flint pits may be looked for. Among -other objects illustrative of primitive native arts in the Museum of the -University of Toronto, is a block of flint or brown chert, from which -flakes have been struck off for the use of the native arrow-maker. This -flint core was found in a field on Paisley Block, in Guelph Township, -along with a large flake, a scraper, and fourteen arrow heads of various -sizes, all made from the same material. Alongside of them lay a flint -hammer-stone bearing marks of long use. All of those objects are now in -the University Museum, and appear to indicate the site of an aboriginal -workshop, with one of the tools of the ancient arrow-maker, who there -fashioned his implements and weapons, and traded with them to supply the -need of the old Huron or Petun Indians of Western Canada. The Spider -Islands in Lake Winnipeg, near its outlet, have been noted by Dr. Robert -Bell, as a favourite resort of the old workers in flint, where they -could trade the products of their industry with parties of Indians -passing in their canoes. “I have found,” he says, “a considerable number -of new flint implements, all of one pattern, in a grave near one of -those sites of an old factory”; the body of a man—presumably the old -arrow-maker,—had been buried there in a sitting posture, surrounded -with the latest products of his industrious skill. - -In 1875 I devoted several weeks to a careful study of some of the -principal groups of ancient earthworks in the Ohio valley, and visited -Flint Ridge to examine a group of native flint pits in the old Shawnee -territory. The Shawnees were formerly a numerous and powerful tribe of -Indians; but they took part, in 1763, in the conspiracy of Pontiac, and -were nearly exterminated in a battle fought in the vicinity of their old -quarries. From these it is probable that the older race of -Mound-Builders of the Ohio valley procured the material from which they -manufactured many of their implements, including some of those used in -the construction of their great earthworks. - -Flint Ridge, as the locality is called, a siliceous deposit of the -Carboniferous age, extends through the State of Ohio, from Newark to New -Lexington. It has been worked at various points in search of the prized -material; and the ancient pits can still be recognised over an extensive -area by the funnel-shaped hollows, or slighter depressions where the -accumulated vegetable mould of many winters has nearly effaced the -traces of the old miners. The chert, or hornstone, of this locality -accords with that from which the implements recovered from the mounds -appear to have been chiefly made. One fact which such disclosures place -beyond doubt, namely, that the so-called Mound-Builders had not advanced -beyond the stage of flint or stone implements, is of great significance. -Their numbers are proved by the extent of their earthworks in many -localities in the Ohio valley; and the consequent supply of implements -needed by them as builders must have involved a constant demand for the -flint-miners and tool-makers. The great earthworks at Newark are among -the most extensive structures of this class, covering an area of several -miles, and characterised by the perplexing element of elaborate -geometrical figures, executed on a gigantic scale by a people still in -the primitive stage of stone implements, and yet giving proof of skill -fully equalling, in the execution of their geometrical designs, that of -the scientific land-surveyor. On this special aspect of the question, it -may be well to revert to notes written immediately after a careful -survey of the Newark earthworks, so as to suggest more clearly their -extent and the consequent number of workmen and of tools in demand for -their execution. The sacred enclosures have to be classed apart from the -military works of the Mound-Builders. Their elaborate fortifications -occupy isolated heights specially adapted for defence, whereas the broad -river-terraces have been selected for their religious works. There, on -the great unbroken levels, they form groups of symmetrical enclosures, -square, circular, elliptical, and octagonal, connected by long parallel -avenues, suggesting analogies with the British Avebury, the Breton -Carnac, or even with the temples and sphinx-avenues of the Egyptian -Karnak and Luxor; but all wrought of earth, with the simple tools made -from quartzite, chert, or hornstone, derived from quarries and flint -pits, such as those of Flint Ridge, the localities of which have been -identified. - -For a time the tendency among American archæologists was to exaggerate -the antiquity of those works, and to overestimate the artistic skill of -their builders. But it now appears that some vague memories of the race -have been perpetuated. The traditions of the Delawares preserved the -remembrance of the Talligew or Tallegewi, a powerful nation whose -western borders extended to the Mississippi, over whom they, in -conjunction with the fierce warrior race of Wyandots or Iroquois, -triumphed. The old name of the Mound-Builders is believed to survive, in -modified form, in that of the Alleghany Mountains and River; and the -Chatta-Muskogee tribes, including the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and -other southern Indians of the same stock, are supposed to represent the -ancient race. The broad fertile region stretching southward from the -Appalachian Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico must have attracted settlers -from earliest times. It was latterly occupied by various tribes of this -Chatta-Muskogee stock; but intermingled with others speaking essentially -different languages, and supposed to be the descendants of the older -occupants of the region on whom the Tallegewi intruded when driven out -of the Ohio valley. The Cherokees preserved a tradition of having come -from the upper Ohio. They have been classed by the Washington -ethnologists as a distant branch of the Iroquois stock; but Mr. Hale, -finding their grammar mainly Huron-Iroquois, while their vocabulary is -largely derived from another source, ingeniously infers that one portion -of the despairing Talligewi may have cast in their lot with the -conquering race, as the Tlascalans did with the Spaniards in their war -against the Aztecs. Driven down the Mississippi till they reached the -country of the Choctaws, they, mingling with friendly tribes, became the -founders of the Cherokee nation. Among the older native tribes were the -Catawbas and the Natchez. They were sun-worshippers, maintained a -perpetual fire, and regarded the great luminary as a goddess, and the -mother of their race. It is probable that in their religious rites some -memory survived of the more elaborate worship of the old occupants of -the Ohio valley; for the Natchez claimed that in their prosperity they -numbered five hundred towns, and their northern borders extended to the -Ohio. - -De Soto traversed the Chatta-Muskogee region, when, in 1540, he -discovered the Mississippi. He found there a numerous population lodged -in well-constructed dwellings, and with their council-houses surmounting -lofty mounds. De Soto and later travellers noted their extensive fields -of maize, beans, squashes, and tobacco, and their well-finished flint -implements. They were Mound-Builders; and though no longer manifesting -in extended geometrical earthworks the special characteristic of the old -race, it is assumed that in them we recover traces of the vanished -people of the Ohio valley. - -With this assignment of the Mound-Builders to an affinity with Indian -nations still represented by existing tribes, the vague idea of some -strange prehistoric American race of remote antiquity vanishes; and the -latter tendency has been rather to underestimate their distinctive -peculiarities. Some of these seem to separate them from any Indian tribe -of which definite accounts have been preserved; and foremost among them -is the evidence of comprehensive design, and of scientific skill in the -construction of their sacred enclosures. The predominant impression -suggested by the great military earthworks of the Mound-Builders is that -of a people co-operating under the guidance of approved leaders, with a -view to the defence of large communities. Elaborate fortifications are -erected on well-chosen hills or bluffs, and strengthened by ditches, -mounds, and complicated approaches; but the lines of earthwork are -everywhere adapted to the natural features of the site. The sacred -enclosures are, on the contrary, constructed on the level river-terraces -with elaborate artificiality of design, but on a scale of magnitude not -less imposing than that of the largest hill-forts. On first entering the -great circle at Newark, and looking across its broad trench at the lofty -embankment overshadowed with tall forest trees, my thoughts reverted to -the Antonine vallum, which by like evidence still records the presence -of the Roman masters of the world in North Britain 1700 years ago. But -after driving over a circuit of several miles, embracing the remarkable -earthworks of which that is only a single feature, and satisfying myself -by personal observation of the existence of parallel avenues which have -been traced for nearly two miles and of the grand oval, circles, and -octagon, the smallest of which measures upwards of half a mile in -circumference, all idea of mere combined labour is lost in the higher -conviction of manifest skill, and even science. The octagon indeed is -not a perfect figure. Its angles are not coincident, but the sides are -very nearly equal; and the enclosure approaches so closely to an -accurate figure that its error is only demonstrated by actual survey. -Connected with it by parallel embankments 350 feet long, is a true -circle, measuring 2880 feet in circumference; and distant nearly a mile -from this, but connected with it by an elaborate series of earthworks, -is the great circular structure previously referred to. Its actual form -is an ellipse; the different diameters of which are 1250 feet and 1150 -feet respectively; and it encloses an area of upwards of 30 acres. At -the entrance the enclosing embankment curves outward on either side for -a distance of 100 feet, leaving a level way between the ditches, 80 feet -wide, and at this point it measures about 30 feet from the bottom of the -ditch to the summit. The area of the enclosure is almost perfectly -level, so that during rain-floods the water stands at a uniform height -nearly to the edge of the ditch. - -The skulls of the Mound-Builders have been appealed to for indications -of the intellectual capacity of the ancient race; but mounds and -earthworks were habitually resorted to at long subsequent dates as -favourite places of interment; so that skulls derived from modern graves -are ascribed to the ancient race; and much difficulty has been found in -agreeing on a typical mound skull. Even after making allowance for -modifications due to artificial malformation, and eliminating those -derived from superficial interments, a very noticeable diversity is -found in the comparatively few undoubtedly genuine mound skulls, which -may lend some countenance to the idea of the presence of two essentially -distinct races among the ancient settlers in the Ohio valley.[26] It -seems to accord with the unmistakable traces of intellectual progress of -a kind foreign to the attainments of any known race of the North -American continent, thus found in association with arts and methods of -work not greatly in advance of those of the Indian savage. The only -satisfactory solution of the problem seems to present itself in the -assumption of the existence among them of a theocratic order, like the -priests of ancient Egypt, the Brahmins of India, or the Incas of Peru, -under whom the vanished race of the Ohio valley—Tallegewi, Muskogees, -Natchez, Alleghans, or other American aborigines,—executed their vast -geometrical earthworks with such mathematical accuracy. - -The contents of the earthworks of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys show -that the copper, found in a pure metallic condition at various points -around Lake Superior, was not unknown to their constructors. But in this -they had little advantage over the Iroquois and Algonkin tribes, in -whose grave mounds copper axes and spear heads occasionally occur. It is -even possible that working parties were despatched from time to time to -the ancient copper mines on the Kewenaw peninsula, on Lake Superior, to -bring back supplies of the prized malleable rock, which could be bent -and hammered into shape in a way that no other stone was susceptible of. -But the labours of the native miners were inadequate to provide supplies -that could in any degree suffice to displace the flint or quartzite of -the implement-maker. One use, however, has been suggested for the -copper, in relation to the labours of the flint-workers. Mr. George -Ercol Sellers, whose researches among the workshops of the ancient -tool-makers have thrown much light on their processes, was led, from -careful observation of some of their unfinished work, to the opinion -that copper was in special request in the operations of the -flint-flaker. After referring to the well-known use of horn or -bone-flakers, he thus proceeds: “From the narrowness of the cuts in some -of the specimens, and the thickness of the stone where they terminate, I -have inclined to the belief that, at the period they were made, the -aborigines had something stronger than bone to operate with, as I have -never been able to imitate some of their deep heavy cuts with it; but I -have succeeded by using a copper point, which possesses all the -properties of the bone, in holding to its work without slipping, and has -the strength for direct thrust required.”[27] No copper tool, however, -was recovered by Mr. Sellers among the vast accumulations of implements -and waste chips, hereafter described, on the sites of the ancient -workers’ industrious operations, though some of those found elsewhere -may have been used for such a purpose. - -The evidence that the ancient dwellers in the Ohio valley were still in -their Stone age is indisputable. But to a people apparently under the -guidance of an order or cast far in advance of themselves in some -important branches of knowledge, and by whom the utility of the metals -was beginning to be discerned—though they had not yet mastered the -first step in metallurgy by the use of fire,—their speedy advance -beyond the neolithic stage was inevitable. But an open valley, -accessible on all sides, was peculiarly unfavourable for the first -transitional stage of a people just emerging from barbarism. Their -numbers, it is obvious, were considerable; and agriculture must have -been carried out on a large scale to furnish the means of subsistence -for a settled community. They had entered on a course which, if -unimpeded, must have inevitably tended to develop the higher elements of -social life and political organisation. But their duration as a settled -community appears to have been brief. Some faint tradition of the -irruption of the northern barbarians of the New World survives. The -Iroquois, that indomitable race of savage warriors, swept through the -valley with desolating fury; the dawn of civilisation on the northern -continent of America was abruptly arrested; and the present name of the -great river along the banks and on the tributaries of which the -memorials of the Tallegewi abound, is one conferred on it by their -supplanters, who were equally successful in thwarting the aims of France -to introduce the higher forms of European civilisation there. - -Some singularly interesting information relative to the traces of the -ancient flint-workers in the Ohio valley, is furnished by Mr. Sellers. -His observations were made when that region still remained, to a large -extent, undisturbed by civilised intruders on the deserted Indian -settlements. He notes many places along the banks of the Ohio and its -tributaries, at an elevation above the spring floods except at rare -intervals of violent freshets, where the flaking process of the old -flint-workers had been extensively carried on, and where cores and waste -chips abound. “At one of those places, on the Kentucky side of the -river,” he says, “I found a number of chert blocks, as when first -brought from the quarry, from which no regular flakes had been split; -some had a single corner broken off as a starting-point. On the sharp -right-angled edge of several I found the indentations left by small -flakes having been knocked off, evidently by blows, as a preparation for -seating the flaking tool. Most of the localities referred to are now -under cultivation. Before being cleared of the timber and subjected to -the plough, no surface relics were found, but on the caving and wearing -away of the river banks, many spear and arrow heads and other stone -relics were left on the shore. After the land had been cleared, and the -plough had loosened the soil, one of the great floods that occur at -intervals of some fifteen or twenty years, would wash away the loose -soil, leaving the great flint workshops exposed.” There, accordingly, he -notes among the materials thus brought to light, the cores or nuclei -thrown aside, caches stored with finished and unfinished implements and -flakes, the tools and wastage, vast accumulations of splinters, etc., -all serving to illustrate the processes of the ancient flint-workers. - -The depth at which some accumulations occur, overlaid by the growth of -the so-called primeval forest, points to them as contemporary with, if -not in some cases older than, the earthworks of the Mound-Builders. The -extent, indeed, to which some are overlaid by subsequent accumulations -suggests a remote era. In 1853 Mr. Sellers first visited the site of one -of those ancient work-yards, on the northern bank of the Saline river, -about three miles above its junction with the Ohio. The region was then -covered with dense forest, with the exception of a narrow strip along -the bank of the river, which had been cleared in connection with -recently opened coal works. But at a later date, in sinking a cistern, -about 200 yards from the river bank, the excavation was made through a -mass of flint chips. Subsequently heavy rains, after ploughing, exposed -some spears and arrow points. “But it was not until the great flood of -the winter of 1862 and 1863 that overflowed this ridge three or four -feet with a rapid current, that the portion under cultivation on the -river bank was denuded, exposing over six acres of what at first -appeared to be a mass of chips or stone rubbish, but amongst it were -found many hammer-stones, celts, grooved axes, cores, flakes, almost -innumerable scrapers and other implements, and many tynes from the buck -or stag, all of which bore evidence of having been scraped to a point. -On exposure to the air they fell to pieces.” The actual site of the -quarry appears to have been subsequently identified. “The greater number -of cores, scattered flakes, finished and unfinished implements, are of -the chert from a depression in a ridge three miles to the south-east, -where there are abundant indications of large quantities having been -quarried.” But the same great work-yard of the ancient Mound-Builders -furnished evidence of other sources of supply. Mr. Sellers noted the -finding “a few cores of the white chert from Missouri, and the red and -yellow jasper of Kentucky and Tennessee,” but he adds, “the flakes of -these have mostly been found in nests or small caches, many of which -have been exposed; and in every case the flakes they contained were more -or less worked on their edges; whereas the flakes from the neighbouring -chert preserved their sharp edges as when split from the mass. These -cache specimens with their worked serrated edges would, if found singly, -be classed as saws or cutting implements. But here where found in mass, -evidently brought from a distance, to a place where harder chert of a -much better character for cutting implements abounds, they tell a -different story.” The material was better adapted for the manufacture of -certain classes of small implements much in demand, and the serrated -edge is simply the natural result of the mode of working of this species -of chert and of the jasper. - -The fine-grained quartzite was also in request, especially for the -manufacture of the largest class of implements, including hoes and -spades, equally needed by the primitive agriculturist, and by the -navvies to whose industrious toil the vast earthworks of the Ohio valley -are due. The site of the old quartzite quarry appears to be about eight -miles from the banks of Saline river; but there are many other -localities scattered over the region extending from southern Illinois to -the Mississippi, where the same substitute for chert or hornstone -occurs. Some of the quartzite hoes or spades measure sixteen inches in -length, with a breadth of from six to seven inches, and evince -remarkable dexterity and skill in their manufacture. Here, accordingly, -it becomes apparent that there was a time in the history of this -continent, before its existence was revealed to the race that now -peoples the Ohio valley, when that region was the scene of busy native -industry; and its manufacturers quarried and wrought the chert, jasper, -and quartzite, and traded the products of their skill over an extensive -region. But the germs of an incipient native civilisation were trodden -out by the inroads of savage warriors from the north; and the towns and -villages of the industrious community were replaced by what appeared to -La Salle, the discoverer and first explorer of Ohio river, as the -primeval forest. - -It throws an interesting light on the industrial processes of the -ancient flint-workers to learn that, even in a region where the useful -chert abounded, they went far afield in search of other materials -specially adapted for some classes of implements. They were -unquestionably a settled community, in a higher stage than any of the -tribes found in occupation of that or any neighbouring region when first -visited by Europeans. But many tribes, both of the Northern and Southern -States, habitually travelled far distances to the sea coast, where still -the ancient shell mounds attest their presence. The routes thus annually -pursued by the Indians of the interior of Pennsylvania, for example, -were familiar to the early surveyors, and some of their trails -undoubtedly marked the footprints of many generations. In traversing -those routes, as well as in their autumnal encampments on the coast, -opportunities were afforded of selecting suitable materials for their -implements from localities remote from their homes. The lines of those -old trails have accordingly yielded numerous examples of the wayfarers’ -weapons and tools, as well as of unfinished implements. We are apt to -think of a people in their Stone period as merely turning to account -materials lying as accessible to all as the loose stones employed as -missiles by the vagrant schoolboy. But such an idea is manifestly -inapplicable, not only to the arts of communities like those by whom the -earthworks of the Ohio valley were constructed, but to many far older -workers in flint or stone. The Indian arrow-maker and the pipe-maker, it -is manifest, often travelled great distances for the material best -suited to their manufactures; and the use of flint or hornstone for -slingstones, lance and arrow heads, as well as for knives, scrapers, -axes, and other domestic and agricultural tools, must have involved a -constant demand for fresh supplies. It might be assumed, therefore, -apart from all direct evidence, that a regular system of quarrying for -the raw material both of the pipe and the implement-maker was pursued; -and that by trade or barter the pipestone of divers qualities, and the -chert or hornstone, the quartzite, jasper, and other useful minerals, -were thus furnished to tribes whose homesteads and hunting-grounds -yielded no such needful supplies. But the same region which abounds in -such remarkable evidences of the ingenious arts of a vanished race, also -furnishes traces of the old miners, by whose industry the flint was -quarried and roughly chipped into available forms for transport to -distant localities, or for barter among the Mound-Builders in the region -traversed by the great river. At various points on Flint Ridge, Ohio, -and localities far beyond the limits of that state, as at Leavenworth, -300 miles south of Cincinnati, where the gray flint abounds, evidences -of systematic quarrying illustrate the character and extent of this -primitive commerce. Funnel-shaped pits occur, in many cases filled up -with the accumulated vegetable mould of centuries, or only traceable by -a slight depression in the surface of the ground. When cleared out, they -extend to a depth of from four or five, to nearly twenty feet. On -removing the mould, the sloping sides of the pit are found to be covered -with pieces of fractured flint, intermingled with unfinished or broken -implements, and with others partially reduced to shape. The largest hoes -and spades hitherto noted appear to have been fashioned of quartzite, -but those of most common occurrence in Ohio and Kentucky are made of the -gray flint or chert, which abounds in the Flint Ridge pits in blocks -amply sufficing for the manufacture of tools upwards of a foot in -length, such as may be assumed to have been employed in the construction -of the great earthworks. But the transportation of the unwrought blocks -of hornstone to the work-yards in the valley would have involved great -labour in the construction of roads, as well as of sledges or waggons -suited to such traffic. In lieu of this, the accumulated waste chips in -the quarries show the amount of labour that was expended there in order -to facilitate the transport of the useful material. Suitable flakes and -chips were no doubt also carried off to be turned to account for -scrapers, knives, and other small implements. Partially shaped disks and -other pieces of all sizes abound in the pits, but the finer -manipulation, by means of which small arrow heads, lances, drills, -scrapers, etc., were fashioned, was reserved for leisure hours at home, -and for the patient labour of the skilled tool-maker, for whose use the -raw material was chiefly quarried. - -In the tool-bearing drift of France and England the large characteristic -flint implements occur in beds of gravel and clay abounding in flakes -and chips in every stage of accidental fracture, to some of which M. -Boucher de Perthes assigned an artificial origin and very fanciful -significance. But if the palæolithic flint-worker in any case quarried -for his material before the latest geological reconstruction of the beds -of rolled gravel, the fractured flints may include traces of primeval -quarrying as well as of the tool-maker’s labours; for the rolled gravel -beds occur in river-valleys best adapted to the habitat of post-glacial -man. - -In a report furnished to the Peabody Museum of Archæology, by Mr. Paul -Schumacher, he contributes some interesting evidence relative to the -stone-workers of Southern California. The Indians of the Pacific coast, -south of San Francisco, not only furnished themselves with chisels, -axes, and the like class of implements, but with pots for culinary -purposes, made of steatite, usually of a greenish-gray colour. In 1876, -Mr. Schumacher discovered various quarries of the old pot-manufacturers, -with their tools and unfinished articles lying there. The softer stone -had been used for pots, while the close-grained darker serpentine was -chiefly employed in making the weights for digging sticks, cups, pipes, -and ornaments. “I was struck,” he says, “on examining the locality -through a field-glass, by the discovery of so many silver-hued mounds, -the debris of pits, the rock quarries and open-air workshops, so that I -believed I had found the main factory of the ollas of the California -aborigines.”[28] He also discovered the slate quarry, where the rock had -been broken off in irregular blocks, from which pieces best adapted for -chisels were selected and fashioned into the forms specially useful in -making the steatite pots. A venerable Spanish lady told Mr. Schumacher -that she recollected her mother telling her how the Indians had brought -_ollas_ in canoe-loads from the islands in Santa Barbara Channel to the -mainland, and there exchanged them for such necessities as the islanders -were in need of. This tradition was subsequently confirmed by an old -Mexican guide. Similar evidence of systematic industry with the -accompanying trade, or barter, meets the explorer at many points from -the Gulf of Mexico northward to beyond the Canadian lakes. The pyrulæ -from the Mexican Gulf are of frequent occurrence in northern ossuaries -and grave mounds, while corresponding southern sepulchral deposits -disclose the catlinite of the Couteau des Prairies and the native copper -of the Lake Superior mines. Obsidian is another prized material only to -be found _in situ_ in volcanic regions, but met with in manufactured -forms in many diverse regions, remote from the obsidian quarries. - -The routes of ancient traffic, determined in part by the geographical -contour of the regions through which they pass, are familiar to the -historical students in the Old World. The ancient lines traversed by the -traders between the Persian Gulf and the Levant; the routes of caravans -by way of the oases, across the centre of the Arabian peninsula to the -Red Sea; the lines of access by road and river from the Baltic to the -Danube; and from the British Isles and the North Sea, by the valley of -the Rhone, to the Mediterranean: are all indicated by a variety of -evidence. The geography of Central Africa appears to have been familiar -to the Arabian traders from remote ages. Similar well-trodden routes, -and traverses by lake and river, are well known to the investigators of -American antiquity. The great trail across Pennsylvania to the -Mississippi; the route by the great lakes and by portage to the Hudson -valley, and so to the Atlantic; from Lake Ontario, by the Humber and -Lake Simcoe, to the Georgian Bay; from Lake Superior, by the -Mitchipicotten river, to the Hudson Bay; and by the Mississippi and its -tributaries to the Gulf of Mexico: are all demonstrated by abundant -traces of the interchange of the products of widely severed regions, as -disclosed in ancient burial mounds, and deposits assignable to remote -periods and to long-extinct races. West of the Rocky Mountains the -trails from the Pacific coast to the interior, and through the passes of -that lofty range, have been recovered. Owing to the bold contours of the -region, in the abrupt descent from the western slope of the Rocky -Mountains to the Pacific, the routes of travel are more strictly defined -by the physical geography of the country than in the long stretches of -the continent to the east of that mountain range. An interchange of -commodities between the tribes of the coast and the interior appears to -have been carried on from remote times. Dr. Dawson’s own personal -observations in British Columbia have satisfied him that trading -intercourse was prosecuted by the coast tribes with those of the -interior, along the Fraser River Valley; Bella Coola Valley, from head -of Benetinck Arm; Skeena River; Stiking River; and Chilkoot Pass, from -the head of Lynn Canal. By the second of the above routes oolacten oil -was carried far into the interior; and the old trail leading from Bella -Coola and Fraser river is chiefly associated by the inland Indians with -this traffic. The habitual traffic engendered by the local advantages of -some of the tribes on the northern Pacific coast has manifestly -developed some peculiarities which distinguish them from other Indians -of the northern continent. The Bilqula, a people inhabiting a limited -tract in the vicinity of Dean Inlet and Benetinck Arms, by reason of -their geographical position have held command of the most important -natural pass and trade route from the ocean to the interior between the -Skeena and the Fraser rivers, a distance of upwards of 400 miles. From -remotest times embraced in the native traditions a route has been -traversed by way of the Bella Coola river, thence northward to the -Salmon river, and then along the north side of the Blackwater river to -the Upper Fraser. Dentalium shells and other prized objects of barter -were carried over this route; but the article of chief value brought -from the coast was the oil of the Oolacten or Candle Fish; and hence -this thoroughfare is commonly known among the Tinné of the interior as -the “Grease Trail.” - -Along this and other long-frequented trails the broken implements, flint -and obsidian chips, and other traces of the natives by whom they have -been traversed, not only afford proof of their presence there, but at -times disclose indications of the regions they have visited in going to -or returning from the interior. Dr. G. M. Dawson informs me that, while -travelling along various Indian trails and routes in British Columbia, -west of Fraser river, and between lats. 52° and 54°, chips and flakes of -obsidian were not unfrequently observed. The Tinné Indians stated that -the material was obtained from a mountain near the headwaters of the -Salmon river (about long. 125° 40′, lat. 52° 40′), which was formerly -resorted to for the purpose of procuring this prized material. The -Indian name of this mountain is _Bece_, and Dr. Dawson further notes the -suggestive fact that this word is the same with the Mexican (Aztec?) -name for “knife.” Mr. T. C. Weston, of the Geological Survey, also -noted, in 1883, the finding of a flake of obsidian in connection with a -layer of buffalo-bones, occurring in alluvium, and evidently of -considerable antiquity, near Fort M’Leod, Alberta. The nearest source of -such a material is the Yellowstone Park region. Those regions, it is -obvious, were visited by native explorers, not merely to supply their -own wants, but for the purpose of securing coveted objects available for -trade or barter. Dr. Dawson reports to me as the result of observations -founded on repeated visits to the region, in the work of the Geological -Survey: That all the coast tribes of British Columbia are born traders, -and possess in a high degree the mental characteristics generally -attributed to the Jews. Those holding possession of the above routes -regarded trade with the neighbouring inland tribes as a valuable -monopoly, and were ready to fight for it. They also traded among -themselves, and certain localities were well known as the source of -commodities. Thus the Haida Indians regularly purchased oolacten oil -from the Tshimsians, who caught the oolacten at the mouth of the Nass -and Stiking rivers, giving in exchange cedar canoes, for the manufacture -of which they were celebrated. Through the agency of the Tshimsians they -also procured from the inland Indians the large mountain sheep horns, -from which they executed elaborately carved spoons and other implements. -Cumshewa, in Queen Charlotte Islands, was, again, noted for Indian -tobacco, an undetermined native plant, which was an article of trade all -along the coast. - -Copper was not unknown to the native tribes on the Pacific coast, and -rich supplies of the native metal appear to have been partially worked, -by the tribes along the shores of Lake Superior from a remote date. The -ancient mines have been disclosed, in the process of turning their -resources to account by the enterprise of civilised settlers; and -abundant evidence has been recovered to show that the native copper of -the Keweenaw peninsula, Ontonagon, Isle Royale, and other points on Lake -Superior, was worked extensively by its ancient miners, and undoubtedly -formed a valuable object of traffic throughout the region watered by the -Mississippi and its tributaries, and along the whole eastern routes to -the seaboard. But, with the imperfect resources of the native miners, it -was a costly rarity, procurable only in small quantities by barter with -the tribes settled on the shores of Lake Superior. Axe blades, spear -heads, knives, gorgets, armlets, tubes and beads, all fashioned out of -the native copper solely with the hammer, have been recovered from -ancient grave mounds and ossuaries in the valleys of the St Lawrence, -the Hudson, the Ohio, the Mississippi, and their tributaries; and to the -west of the Rocky Mountains, copper implements again occur manufactured -from metal derived from some native source on the Pacific slope. The -copper was, no doubt, recognised as a malleable rock, differing from all -others in its ductility, so that it could be fashioned, with the aid of -a hammer-stone, to any desired form. By this means the ancient miners of -Lake Superior provided themselves with the most suitable tools for their -mining operations, and were probably the manufacturers of most of the -widely diffused copper implements. But for general purposes, both of -industry and war, American man had to be content with the more abundant -chert, hornstone, and quartzite. - -The source from whence the tribes on the Pacific obtained the coveted -metal has not yet been ascertained; but it was obviously procured only -in small quantities, insufficient to be turned to account for economic -uses. Among a curious collection of objects illustrative of the arts of -the Haida Indians, now in the Museum of the Geological Survey at Ottawa, -is a large copper ring, or torque, which appears to have been handed -down for successive generations, from chief to chief, as a prized -heirloom; and, it may be assumed, as a symbol of official rank. The -ring, or necklet, is composed of three twisted bars, or strands of -hammered copper, each tapering at both ends, and is fashioned with -remarkable skill, if due allowance be made for the imperfect tools of -the native artificer. This unique relic seems to show the accumulated -metallic wealth of the tribe fashioned into a symbol of official rank; -not improbably with mysterious virtues ascribed to it, which passed with -it to its official custodian. A block of native copper now in the -National Museum at Washington is described by the Père Charlevoix as a -sacred object of veneration by the Indians of Lake Superior, on which a -young maiden had been offered in sacrifice.[29] But it is beyond -question that throughout the region north of the Mexican Gulf the native -manufacturer resorted mainly to the abundant hornstone, chert, -quartzite, and the like materials of the Stone period. These were in -universal demand, and must have been industriously collected in the -localities where they abound, and disposed of by a regular system of -exchange for furs, wampum, or other objects of barter. Mr W. H. Dall, in -his report on _The Tribes of the Extreme North-West_, notes the absence -in the Aleutian Islands of any stone, such as serpentine, fit for making -the celts or adzes, recovered by him from the shell mounds. “They were,” -he says, “probably imported from the continental Innuit at great cost, -and very highly valued”; and on a subsequent page he adds: “The -intertribal traffic I have referred to is universal among the -Innuit.”[30] - -The occurrence of well-stored caches in some of the ancient mounds of -the Ohio valley, as well as their repeated discovery in other -localities, accords with the idea of systematised industrial labour, and -the storing away of the needful supplies for agricultural and domestic -operations, and for war. Messrs. Squier and Davis, in their _Ancient -Monuments of the Mississippi Valley_, describe one of the mounds opened -by them within the great earthwork on the North Fork of Point Creek, in -which, according to their estimate, about four thousand hornstone disks -were disposed in regular order, in successive rows overlapping each -other. In 1864, I had an opportunity of examining some specimens -retained in the possession of Dr. Davis. They were mostly disks -measuring about six inches long and four wide, more or less oval, or -broad spear-shaped, and fashioned out of a fine gray flint with -considerable uniformity of character. Mr. Squier assumed that the -deposit was a religious offering; but subsequent disclosures of a like -character confirm the probability that it was a hoard of material stored -for the tool-maker.[31] - -In other, though rarer cases, the cache has been found containing -finished implements. In digging a cellar at Trenton, New Jersey, a -deposit of one hundred and twenty finished stone axes was brought to -light, at a depth of about three feet below the surface. Another -discovery of a like character was made when digging for the construction -of a receiving vault of the Riverview Cemetery, near Taunton; and -similar deposits are recorded as repeatedly occurring in the same -state.[32] In two instances all the specimens were grooved axes. In -another, fifty porphyry celts were found deposited in systematic order. -Mr. Charles Rau has given the subject special attention, and in a paper -entitled “Ancient Aboriginal Trade in North America,” he furnishes -evidence of addiction to certain manufactures, such as arrow heads, hoes -and other digging tools, spear heads, chisels, etc., by skilled native -craftsmen.[33] Deposits closely corresponding to the one reported by Mr. -Squier as the sole contents of one of the mounds, in “Clark’s Work,” -Ohio, have been subsequently discovered in Illinois, Wisconsin, and -Kentucky. One of the Illinois deposits contained about fifteen hundred -leaf-shaped or rounded disks of flint arranged in five horizontal -layers. Another, said to have contained three thousand five hundred -specimens, was discovered at Fredericksburg, in the same state. A -smaller, but more interesting hoard was accidentally brought to light in -1868, when some labourers in opening up a new street, at East St. Louis, -in the same State of Illinois, came upon a collection of large flint -tools all of the hoe and shovel type. There were about fifty of the -former and twenty of the latter, made of a yellowish-brown flint, and -betraying no traces of their having been used. Near by them lay several -large unworked blocks of flint and greenstone, and many chippings and -fragments of flint.[34] Deposits of a like character, but varying both -in the number and diversity of their contents, and, in general, showing -no traces of use, have been discovered in other states to the east of -the Mississippi. In the _Smithsonian Report_ for 1877, Mr Rau prints a -curious account of “The Stock in Trade of an Aboriginal Lapidary.” In -the spring of the previous year Mr. Keenan presented to the National -Museum at Washington a collection of jasper ornaments, mostly -unfinished, which had been found in Lawrence County, Mississippi. They -were brought to light in ploughing a cotton field, where a deposit was -exposed, lying about two and a half feet below the natural surface. It -included four hundred and sixty-nine objects, of which twenty-two were -unwrought jasper pebbles; one hundred and one were beads of an elongated -cylindrical shape, and a few of them partially perforated. Others were -ornaments of various forms, including two animal-shaped objects. The -whole were made of jasper of a red or reddish colour, occasionally -variegated with spots or streaks of pale yellow, but nearly all were in -an unfinished state, and so fully bore out the idea of their being the -stock in trade of some old native workman, who finished them in -sufficient numbers to meet the demands of his customers.[35] - -From time to time fresh disclosures prove the extent to which such -systematic industry was carried on. The various collections thus brought -to light were unquestionably the result of prolonged labour, and were, -for the most part, undoubtedly stored for purposes of trade. In some -cases they may have been accumulated in the arsenal of the tribe in -readiness for war. But whether we recognise in such discoveries the -store of the trader, or the military arsenal, they indicate ideas of -provident foresight altogether distinct from the desultory labours of -the Indian savage in the preparation of his own indispensable supply of -implements for the chase or for war. - -But there were also, no doubt, home-made weapons and implements, -fashioned with patient industry out of the large rolled serpentine, -chalcedony, jasper, and agate pebbles, gathered from the sea coast and -river beds, or picked up wherever they chanced to occur. When camping -out on the Neepigon river, with Indian guides from the Saskatchewan, I -observed them carefully collecting pieces of a metamorphic rock, -underlying the syenite cliffs, which, I learned from one of them, was -specially adapted for pipes. This they would carry a distance of fully -800 miles before reaching their lodges on the prairie. Dr. Robert Bell -described to me a pipe made of fine green serpentine, of a favourite -Chipewyan pattern, which he saw in the possession of an Indian on Nelson -river. Its owner resisted all attempts to induce him to part with it, -assigning as a reason of its special value that it had been brought from -Reindeer Lake distant several hundred miles north of Frog Portage, on -Churchill river. The diverse forms in which various tribes shape the -tobacco pipe are highly characteristic. In some cases this is partly due -to the texture and degrees of hardness of the material employed; but the -recovery of pipes of nearly all the very diverse tribal patterns, made -from the beautiful catlinite, or red pipestone of the Couteau des -Prairies, leaves little room for doubt that the stone was transported in -rough blocks and bartered by its quarriers to distant tribes. This -flesh-coloured rock has suggested the Sioux legend of its origin in the -flesh of the antediluvian red men, who perished there in the great -deluge. It is soft, of fine texture, and easily wrought into minutely -varied forms of Indian art, and so was coveted by the pipe-makers of -widely severed tribes. Hence red pipestone pipes of many ingenious forms -of sculpture have been recovered from grave mounds down the Mississippi, -eastward to the Atlantic seaboard, and westward beyond the Rocky -Mountains. This prized material appears to have circulated among all the -Plain tribes. Pipes made of it were to be found in recent years -preserved as cherished possessions among both the Sioux and the -Blackfoot tribes. Dr. George M. Dawson found in 1874 part of an ancient -catlinite pipe on Pyramid Creek, about lat. 49°, long. 105°. - -A very different material was in use among the Assiniboin Indians, -limiting the art of the pipe sculptor to the simplest forms. It is a -fine marble, much too hard to admit of minute carving, but susceptible -of a high polish. This is cut into pipes of graceful form, and made so -extremely thin as to be nearly transparent, so that when lighted the -glowing tobacco presents a singular appearance in a dark lodge. Another -favourite stone is a coarse species of jasper, also too hard for any -elaborate ornamentation. But the choice of materials is by no means -limited to those of the locality of the tribe. I have already referred -to my Indian guides carrying away with them pieces of the pipestone rock -on Neepigon river; and Paul Kane, the artist, during his travels, when -on Athabaska river, near its source in the Rocky Mountains, observed his -Assiniboin guides select a favourite bluish jasper from among the -water-worn stones in the bed of the river, to carry home for the purpose -of pipe manufacture, although they were then fully 500 miles from their -lodges. - -The favourite material of the Chippewas was a dark, close-grained schist -obtained at some points on Lake Huron. It is easily carved, and many of -their pipes are decorated with groups of human figures and animals, -executed with much spirit. Pabahmesad, an old Chippewa pipe-maker of -unusual skill, pursued his craft on Great Manitoulin Island, on Lake -Huron, in comparatively recent years. The peculiar style of his -ingenious carvings may be detected on pipes recovered from widely -scattered localities, for his fame as a pipe sculptor was great. He was -generally known among his people as _Pwahguneka_, the pipe-maker. He -obtained his materials from the favourite resorts of different tribes, -using the black pipestone of Lake Huron, the white pipestone procured on -St. Joseph’s Island, and the catlinite or red pipestone of the Couteau -des Prairies. But the most varied and elaborate in device of all the -peculiar native types of pipe sculpture are those executed by the -Chimpseyan or Babeen and the Clalam Indians, of Vancouver Island and the -neighbouring shores along Charlotte Sound. They are carved out of a soft -blue claystone or slate, from which also bowls, platters, and other -utensils are made, decorated with native legendary symbols and other -devices. But the most elaborate carving is reserved for their pipes, -which are not less varied and fanciful in design than the details of -Norman ecclesiastical sculpture. The same easily carved claystone was in -great request among the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands for -their idols, and for ornamental gorgets and utensils of various kinds. -Thus the available materials of different localities are seen to modify -the forms alike of implements, weapons, and articles designed for -personal ornament or domestic use, and were sought for and transported -to many distant points, with the same object as the tin and copper which -played so important a part in the commercial exchanges of nations at the -dawn of history. - -In regions where flint or hornstone is not available, the quartzite -appears to have been most commonly resorted to. I have in my possession -some spear heads measuring from seven to nine inches long, which were -dug up on an old Indian trail at Point Oken, lying to the north of Lake -St. John, Quebec; and implements of the like material are common -throughout eastern Canada. The same widely diffused material was no less -freely resorted to by the tribes on the Pacific coast. The arrow heads -found throughout the Salish country of southern British Columbia are -chiefly formed of quartzite, though chert is also used. The quartzite -occurs in so many localities that it is difficult to trace its special -source. But near the east end of Marble Cañon, and at the Big Bock -Slide, about six miles above Spence’s Bridge, on Thompson river, chips -occur in considerable quantities, suggestive of one of the chosen -localities resorted to for quarrying and manufacture. - -The old arrow-makers evidently derived pleasure from the selection of -attractive materials for some of their choicest specimens of handiwork. -The true crystalline quartz was prized for small arrow heads, some of -which are equally pleasing in material, form, and delicacy of finish. -But the material most usually employed in eastern Canada, as well as -that previously referred to as in request by the old workers of the Ohio -valley for their largest implements, is a gneissoid rock of -comparatively common occurrence, which chips off with a broad facet when -sharply struck, and leaves an acute edge and point. Mr. Seller’s -valuable paper on the ancient workshops of Ohio and Pennsylvania also -contains an account of his own experience relative to the flaking and -chipping of flint implements.[36] In this communication he remarks: -“Most of the arrow points found within my reach in Philadelphia, -Delaware, and Chester Counties, Pennsylvania, were chipped from massive -quartz, from the opaque white to semi-transparent, and occasionally -transparent.” He further describes his first chance discovery of one of -the native work-places. He was in company with two scientific -mineralogists, when, as he writes, “we came to a place where (judging -from the quantities of flakes and chips) arrow points had been made. -After much diligent search, only one perfect point was found. There were -many broken ones, showing the difficulty in working the material. Mr. -Lukins, a scientific mineralogist, collected a quantity of the best -flakes to experiment with, and, by the strokes of a light hammer, -roughed out one or two very rude imitations.” Major J. H. Long traversed -the continent westward to the Rocky Mountains, as head of the United -States Military Topographical Department; and from him Mr. Sellers -derived information of the habits of the rude western tribes long before -they had been brought into direct contact with any civilised settlers. -“He said that flakes prepared for points and other implements seemed to -be an object of trade or commerce among the Indian tribes that he came -in contact with; that there were but few places where chert or quartzite -was found of sufficient hardness, and close and even grain, to flake -well, and at those places there were men very expert at flaking.”[37] - -Mr. Sellers had known Catlin, the artist and traveller, in his youth, -while he was still an expert worker in wood and ivory in the service of -the elder Catlin, a musical instrument maker in Philadelphia; and from -him he learned much relative to the modes of operation and the sources -of material of the Indian workers in stone. “He considered making flakes -much more of an art than the shaping them into arrow or spear points, -for a thorough knowledge of the nature of the stone to be flaked was -essential, as a slight difference in its quality necessitated a totally -different mode of treatment. The principal source of supply for what he -termed home-made flakes was the coarse gravel bars of the rivers, where -large pebbles are found. Those most easily worked into flakes for small -arrow points were chalcedony, jasper, and agate. Most of the tribes had -men who were expert at flaking, and who could decide at sight the best -mode of working. Some of these pebbles would split into tolerably good -flakes by quick and sharp blows, striking on the same point. Others -would break by a cross fracture into two or more pieces. These were -preferred, as good flakes could be split from their clean fractured -surface, by what Mr. Catlin called ‘impulsive pressure,’ the tool used -being a shaft or stick of between two and three inches in diameter, -varying in length from thirty inches to four feet, according to the -manner of using them. These were pointed with bone or buckhorn.” It is -thus apparent that among rude tribes of modern centuries, as in the -prehistoric dawn, exceptional aptitude and skill found recognition as -readily as in any civilised community. There were the quarriers and the -skilled workmen, on whose joint labours the whole community largely -depended for the indispensable supply of all needful tools. - -In the summer of 1854, when civilisation had made very slight inroads on -the western wilderness, I visited a group of Chippewa lodges on the -south-west shore of Lake Superior, where they still maintained many of -their genuine habits. Their aged chief, Buffalo, was a fine specimen of -the uncorrupted savage, dressed in native attire, and wearing the collar -of grizzly bear’s claws as proof of his triumph over the fiercest object -of the chase. Their weapons were partly of iron, derived from the -traders. But they had also their stone-tipped arrows; and one Indian was -an object of interest to a group of Indian boys as he busied himself in -fashioning a water-worn pebble into an edged tool. He held an oval -pebble between the finger and thumb, and used it with quick strokes as a -hammer. But he was only engaged on the first rough process, and I did -not see the completion of his work. No doubt, the leisure of all was -turned more or less to account in supplying themselves with their -ordinary weapons and missiles. But Catlin’s free intercourse with the -wild western tribes familiarised him with the regular sources of general -supply. “The best flakes,” he said, “outside of the homemade, were a -subject of commerce, and came from certain localities where the chert of -the best quality was quarried in sheets or blocks, as it occurs in -almost continuous seams in the intercalated limestones of the coal -measures. These seams are mostly cracked or broken into blocks that show -the nature of the cross fracture, which is taken advantage of by the -operators, who seemed to have reduced the art of flaking to almost an -absolute science, with division of labour; one set of men being expert -in quarrying and selecting the stone, others in preparing the blocks for -the flakers.”[38] But suitable and specially prized material were -sometimes sought on different sites, and disseminated from them by the -primitive trader. Along eastern Labrador and in Newfoundland arrow heads -are mostly fashioned out of a peculiar light-gray translucent quartzite. -Dr. Bell informs me that near Chimo, south of Ungava Bay, is a spot -resorted to by the Indians from time immemorial for this favourite -material; and arrows made of it are not uncommon even in Nova Scotia. -Among the tribes remote from the sea coast, where no exposed rock -furnished available material for the manufacture of their stone -implements, the chief source of supply was the larger pebbles of the -river beds. From these the most suitable stones were carefully selected, -and often carried great distances. Those most easily worked into flakes -for small arrow heads are chalcedony, jasper, agate, and quartz; and the -finer specimens of such weapons are now greatly prized by collectors. -The coast tribes both of the Atlantic and the Pacific found similar -sources of supply of the stones best suited for their implements in the -rolled gravel of the beach, and this appears to have been the most -frequent resort of the Micmacs and other tribes of the Canadian Maritime -Provinces. - -I have already referred to information derived from Dr. G. M. Dawson and -Dr. Robert Bell, to both of whom I have been indebted for interesting -results of their own personal observations as members of the Canadian -Geological Survey. Collectors are familiar with the elongated flat -stones, with two or more holes bored through them, variously styled -gorgets, implements for fashioning sinew into cord, etc. They are made -of a grayish-green clay slate, with dark streaks; and the same material -is used in the manufacture of personal ornaments, ceremonial objects, -and occasionally for smooth spear heads and knives. Relics fashioned of -this peculiar clay slate are found throughout Ontario, from Lakes Huron -and Erie to the Ottawa valley. A somewhat similar stone occurs in situ -at various points, but Dr. Bell believes he has satisfactorily -identified the ancient quarry at the outlet of Lake Temagamic, nearly -100 miles north of Lake Nipissing. No clay slate procured from any other -locality corresponds so exactly to the favourite material. The site is -accessible by more than one canoe route; and quantities of the rock from -different beds lie broken up in blocks of a size ready for -transportation. Dr. Bell found on the shore of Lake Temissaming a large -unfinished spear head, chipped out of this clay slate, and ready for -grinding. When the region is settled and the land cleared, sites will -probably be discovered where the aboriginal exporters reduced the rough -blocks to forms convenient for transport. - -Dr. Bell has described to me specimens of narrow and somewhat long spear -points, of local manufacture, made from smoky chert found on or near the -Athabaska, in Mackenzie river basin; and an arrow head of brown flint -from the mouth of Churchill river, Hudson Bay. The flint implements of -Rainy river and Lake of the Woods are of brownish flint and chert, such -as are found in the drift all over the region to the south-westward of -Hudson Bay; and are mostly derived from the Devonian rocks. Worn pebbles -of this kind occur in the drift as far south as Lake Superior. A branch -of Kinogami river is called by the Indians Flint river (_Pewona sipi_) -from the abundance of the favourite material they find in the river -gravel and shingle. The finest flint implements of Canada are those of -the north shore of Lake Huron, made from material corresponding to a -very fine-grained quartzite, approximating to chalcedony, found among -the Huronian rocks of that region. - -Along the western coast of the Province of Nova Scotia a high ridge of -trap rock extends, with slight interruption, from Briar Island to Cape -Blomidon. Here the strong tidal rush of the sea undermines the cliff, -and the winter frosts split it up, so that every year the shore is -strewn with broken fragments from the cliff, exposing a variety of -crystalline minerals, such as jasper, agate, etc. The beach gravel is -also interspersed with numerous rounded pebbles derived originally from -the same source. I am indebted to Mr. George Patterson, of New Glasgow, -N.S., for some interesting notes on this subject. The pebbles of this -beach seem to have been one of the chief sources of supply for the -Indian implement-makers of Nova Scotia. Few localities have hitherto -been noticed in the Maritime Provinces marked by any such large -accumulation of chips as would suggest the probability of manufacture -for the purpose of trade; though chips and finished implements -occasionally occur together on the sites of Indian villages or -encampments, suggestive of individual industry and home manufacture. But -Mr. Patterson informs me that one place at Bauchman’s Beach, in the -county of Lunenburg, furnishes abundant traces of an old native -workshop. There, until recently, could be gathered agate, jasper, and -other varieties of the fine-grained crystalline minerals from the trap, -sometimes in nodules, rounded and worn, as they occur at the base of the -ocean-washed cliffs. At times they showed partial traces of working; but -more frequently they were split and broken, bearing the unmistakable -marks of the hammer. Along with those were cores and large quantities of -flakes, or chips, with arrow heads, more or less perfectly formed. At -one time they might have been gathered in large quantities; but recent -inroads of the sea have swept away much of the old beach, and strewed -the products of the Indian stone-workers where they may be stored for -the wonder of men of other centuries. It is curious, indeed, to reflect -on the memorials of ages so diverse from those with which the -palæontologist deals, that are now accumulating in the submarine strata -in process of formation, for the instruction of coming generations, -should our earth last so long. The world will, doubtless, have grown -wiser before that epoch is reached. But it will require some -discrimination, even in so enlightened an age, to read aright the -significance of this mingling of relics of rudest barbarism with all the -products of modern civilisation that are being strewn along the great -ocean highways between the Old and the New World. - -A curious illustration of the possible confusion of evidence is shown by -the discovery in 1884 of a large stone lance head of the Eskimo type, -deeply imbedded in the tissues of a whale taken at the whaling station -on Ballast Point, near the harbour of San Diego, California.[39] In the -Museum of the University of Edinburgh is the skeleton of a whale, -stranded in the ancient estuary of the Forth in a prehistoric age, when -the ocean tides reached the site which had been elevated into dry land -long ages before the Roman invaders of Caledonia made their way over it. -Alongside of the buried whale lay a rude deerhorn implement of the old -Caledonian whaler; and had the San Diego whale sunk in deep waters off -the Pacific coast, it would have perpetuated a similar memorial of -rudest savage life, in close proximity, doubtless, to evidences of -modern civilisation. Such, though in less striking form, is the process -of intermingling the arts of the American Stone age with products of -modern skill and refinement, that is now in progress off the Lunenburg -coast of Nova Scotia. The inroads of the sea have not, however, even now -effaced all traces of the old arrow-makers of Bauchman’s Beach. -Specimens of their handiwork may still be gathered along the shore. To -this locality it is obvious that the inland tribes resorted from remote -Indian villages for some of their most indispensable supplies. -Implements of the same materials also occur at sites on the northern -coast; but the larger number found there are made of quartzite, felsite, -or of hard, slaty stone, such as occurs in the metamorphic rocks of the -mountain ranges in the interior of the Province. - -From what has thus been set forth, some general inferences of a -comprehensive character are suggested. It is scarcely open to doubt that -at a very early stage in the development of primitive mechanical art, -the exceptional aptitude of skilled workmen was recognised and brought -into use for the general benefit. Co-operation and some division of -labour in the industrial arts, necessary to meet the universal demand -for tools and weapons, appear also to have been recognised from a very -remote period in the social life of the race. There were the quarriers -for the flint, the obsidian, the shale, the pipestones, the favourite -minerals, and the close-grained igneous rocks, adapted for the variety -of implements in general use. There were also the traders by whom the -raw material was transported to regions where it could only be procured -by barter; as appears to be demonstrated by the repeated discovery, not -only of flint and stone implements, alike in stray examples, and in -well-furnished caches; but also of work-places, remote from any -flint-producing formation, strewn with the chips, flakes, and imperfect -or unfinished implements of the tool-makers. It thus becomes obvious -that the men of the earliest Stone age transported suitable material for -their simple arts from many remote localities, and purchased the -services of the skilled workman with the produce of the chase, or -whatever other equivalent they could offer in exchange. The further -archæological search is extended, the evidence of social co-operation -and systematised industry among the men of the Palæolithic era, as well -as among those of later periods prior to the dawn of metallurgic skill, -becomes more apparent. Nor is it less interesting to note that there was -no more equality among the men of those primitive ages, than in later -civilised stages of social progress. Diversities in capacity and -consequent moral force asserted themselves in the skilled handicraftsmen -of the Palæolithic dawn, much as they do in the most artificial states -of modern society. As a natural concomitant to this, and an invaluable -element of co-operation, the prized flint flakes appear to have -furnished a primitive medium of exchange, more generally available as a -currency of recognised value than any other substitute for coined money. -The principles on which the wealth of nations and the whole social -fabric of human society depend, were thus already in operation ages -before the merchants of Tyre, or the traders of Massala, had learned to -turn to account the mineral resources of the Cassiterides; or that -vaguer and still more remote era before the ancient Atlantis had -vanished from the ken of the civilised dwellers around the Mediterranean -Sea. - ------ - -[10] _Ancient Stone Implements_, p. 14. - -[11] Hoare’s _South Wilts_, p. 195. - -[12] _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, viii. 137. - -[13] _Ibid._ N.S. vii. 356. - -[14] _Ibid._ N.S. xii. 436. - -[15] _Archæologia_, xiii. 204. - -[16] _Archæologia_, xiii. 224, 225; pl. xiv. xv. - -[17] _Athenæum_, Dec. 18, 1886. - -[18] _U.S. Geological Survey_, 1872, p. 652. - -[19] _Primitive Industry_, Figs. 241, 254, 292, 295, etc. - -[20] Evans’ _Stone Implements_, Fig. 94. - -[21] _Archæologia_, xlii. 72. - -[22] _Ibid._ p. 68. - -[23] _Ibid._ p. 68. - -[24] _British Barrows_, p. 166. - -[25] _Palæolithic Man in Eastern and Central North America_, pp. 152, -153. - -[26] Vide _Prehistoric Man_, 3rd ed. ii. 132. - -[27] _Smithsonian Reports_, Part I. 1885, p. 880. - -[28] _Report of the Peabody Museum_, ii. 262. - -[29] _Prehistoric Man_, 3d ed. vol. ii. p. 223. - -[30] _Tribes of the Extreme North-West_, pp. 81, 82. - -[31] _Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge_, 158. - -[32] Abbott’s _Primitive Industry_, p. 33. - -[33] _Smithsonian Report_, 1872. - -[34] _Ibid._ 1868, p. 402. - -[35] _Smithsonian Report_, 1877, p. 293. - -[36] _Smithsonian Report_, 1885, Part I. p. 873. - -[37] _Smithsonian Report_, 1885, Part I. p. 873. - -[38] _Smithsonian Report_, Part I. 1885, p. 874. - -[39] _Science_, iii. 342. - - - - - IV - PRE-ARYAN AMERICAN MAN - - -THE department of American ethnology, notwithstanding its many -indefatigable workers, is still to a large extent a virgin soil. The -western hemisphere is rich in materials for ethnical study, but there is -urgent demand for diligent labourers to rescue them for future use. On -all hands we see ancient nations passing away. The prairie tribes are -vanishing with the buffalo; the Flathead Indians of diverse types and -stranger tongues; and, more interesting than either, the ingenious -Haidahs of the Queen Charlotte Islands: are all diminishing in numbers, -giving up their distinctive customs, and confusing their mythic and -legendary traditions with foreign admixtures; while some are destined to -speedy extinction. - -When, in 1846, the artist, Paul Kane, entered on his exploratory travels -among the tribes of the North-West, the Flathead Indians of Oregon and -British Columbia embraced populous settlements of Cowlitz, Chinook, -Newatee, and other nations. Now the researches of the American Bureau of -Ethnology are stimulated by the disclosure that of the Clatsop and -Chinook tribes there are only three survivors who speak the former -language, and only one with a knowledge of the latter. Of the Klaskanes, -in like manner, only one is known to survive; and from a like solitary -representative of the Tuteloes the language of a vanished race has -recently been rescued. With all the native tribes who have been brought -into near relations with the intruding white race their languages and -customs are undergoing important modifications. Other elements of -confusion and erasure are also at work. A large influx of Chinese -complicates the ethnological problem; and it cannot be wisely left to -the efforts of individuals, carried on without concert, and on no -comprehensive or systematic plan, to rescue for future study the -invaluable materials of American ethnology. To the native languages -especially the inquirer into some of the curious problems involved in -the peopling of this continent must look for a key to the mystery. - -The intelligent inquirer cannot fail to be rewarded for any time he may -devote to a consideration of the condition and relative status of the -aborigines, north of the Gulf of Mexico, not only as studied from -existing native tribes, or from those known since the discovery of -America in 1492, but in so far as we can determine their earlier -condition with the aid of archæological evidence. The student of the -history of the North American nations cannot indeed altogether overlook -the undoubted fact that Columbus was not the first of European voyagers -within the Christian era to enter on the colonisation of the western -hemisphere; whatever value he may attach to the legends and traditions -of more ancient explorers. - -The part played by the Scandinavian stock in European history proves -their abundant aptitude to have been the organisers of a Northland of -their own in the New World. The Northmen lingered behind, in their first -home in the Scandinavian peninsula, while Goth, Longobard, Vandal, -Suevi, Frank, Burgundian, and other tribes from the Baltic first wasted -and then revolutionised the Roman world. But they were nursing a -vigorous youth, which ere long, as pagan Dane, and then as Norman, -stamped a new character on mediæval Europe. Their presence in the New -World rests on indubitable evidence; but the very definiteness of its -character in their inhospitable northern retreat helps to destroy all -faith in any mere conjectural fancies relative to their settlement on -points along the Atlantic seaboard which they are supposed to have -visited. - -Runic inscriptions on the Canadian and New England seaboard would, if -genuine, give an entirely novel aspect to our study of Pre-Columbian -American history, with all its possibilities of older intercourse with -the eastern hemisphere. But it is the same whether we seek for traces of -colonisation in the tenth or the fifteenth century, in so far as all -native history is concerned. They equally little suffice to furnish -evidence of relationship, in blood, language, arts or customs, between -any people of the eastern hemisphere and the native American races. We -are indeed invited from time to time to review indications suggestive of -an Asiatic or other old-world source for the American aborigines; and in -nearly every system of ethnical classification they are, with good -reason, ranked as Mongolidæ; but if their pedigree is derived from an -Asiatic stock, the evidence has yet to be marshalled which shall place -on any well-established basis the proofs of direct ethnical affinity -between them and races of the eastern hemisphere. The ethnological -problem is, here as elsewhere, beset by many obscuring elements. -Language, at best, yields only remote analogies, and thus far American -archæology, though studied with unflagging zeal, has been able to render -very partial aid. - -It cannot admit of question that the compass of American -archæology,—including that of the semi-civilised and lettered races of -Central and Southern America,—is greatly circumscribed in comparison -with that of Europe. But the simplicity which results from this has some -compensating elements in its direct adaptation to the study of man, as -he appears on the continent unaffected by the artificialities of a -forced civilisation, and with so little that can lend countenance to any -theory of degeneracy from a higher condition of life. In the modern -alliance between archæology and geology, and the novel views which have -resulted as to the antiquity of man, the characteristic disclosures of -primitive art, alike among ancient and modern races, have given a -significance to familiar phases of savage life undreamt of till very -recently. The student who has by such means formed a definite conception -of primeval art, and realised some idea of the condition and -acquirements of the savage of Europe’s Post-Pliocene era, turns with -renewed interest to living races seemingly perpetuating in arts and -habits of our own day what gave character to the social life of the -prehistoric dawn. This phase of primitive art can still be studied on -more than one continent, and in many an island of the Pacific and the -Indian ocean; but nowhere is the apparent reproduction of such initial -phases of the history of our race presented in so comprehensive an -aspect as on the American continent. There man is to be found in no -degree superior in arts or habits to the Australian savage; while -evidence of ingenious skill and of considerable artistic taste occur -among nomads exposed to the extremest privations of an Arctic climate; -and with no more knowledge of metallurgy than is implied in occasionally -turning to account the malleable native copper, by hammering it into the -desired shape; or, in their intercourse with Arctic voyagers and -Hudson’s Bay trappers, acquiring by barter some few implements and -weapons of European manufacture. The arts of the patient Eskimo, -exercised under the stimulus of their constant struggle for existence -amid all the hardships of a polar climate, have, indeed, not only -suggested comparisons between them and the artistic cave-dwellers of -Central Europe in its prehistoric dawn; but have been assumed to prove -an ethnical affinity, and direct descent, altogether startling when we -fully realise the remote antiquity thereby assigned to those Arctic -nomads, and the unchanging condition ascribed to them through all the -intervening ages of geographical and social revolution. - -But whatever may be the value ultimately assigned to the Eskimo -pedigree, a like phenomenon of unprogressive humanity, perpetuating -through countless generations the same rudimentary arts, everywhere -presents itself, and seems to me to constitute the really remarkable -feature in North American ethnology and archæology. We find, not only in -Canada but throughout the whole region northward from the Gulf of -Mexico, diversified illustrations of savage life; but nearly all of them -unaffected by traces of contact with earlier civilisation. From the -northern frontiers of Canada the explorer may travel through widely -diversified regions till he reach the cañons of Mexico and the ruined -cities of Central America; and all that he finds of race and art, of -language or native tradition, is in contrast to the diversities of the -European record of manifold successions of races and of arts. There -within the Arctic circle the Eskimo constructs his lodge of snow, and -successfully maintains the battle for life under conditions which -determine to a large extent the character of his ingenious arts and -manufacture. Immediately to the south are found the nomad tribes of -forest and prairie, with their téepees of buffalo-skin, or their -birch-bark wigwams and canoes: wandering hunter tribes of the great -North-West; type of the red Indian of the whole northern continent. The -Ohio and Mississippi valleys abound with earthworks and other remains of -the vanished race of the Mound-Builders: of old the dwellers there in -fortified towns, agriculturalists, ingenious potters, devoted to the use -of tobacco, expending laborious art on their sculptured pipes, and with -some exceptionally curious skill in practical geometry; yet, they too, -ignorant of almost the very rudiments of metallurgy, and only in the -first stage of the organised life of a settled community. The modifying -influences of circumstances must be recognised in the migratory or -settled habits of different tribes. The Eskimo are of necessity hunters -and fishers, yet they are not, strictly speaking, nomads. In summer they -live in tents, constantly moving from place to place, as the exigencies -of the reindeer-hunting, seal-hunting, or fishing impel them. But they -generally winter in the same place for successive generations, and -manifest as strong an attachment to their native home as the dwellers in -more favoured lands. Their dwelling-houses accommodate from three or -four to ten families; and the same tendency to gather in communities -under one roof is worthy of notice wherever other wandering tribes -settle even temporarily. A drawing, made by me in 1866, of a birch-bark -dwelling which stood among a group of ordinary wigwams on the banks of -the Kaministiquia, shows a lodge of sufficiently large dimensions to -accommodate several families of a band of Chippewas, who had come from -the far West to trade their furs with the Hudson’s Bay factor there. The -Haidahs, the Chinooks, the Nootkas, the Columbian and other Indian -tribes to the west of the Rocky Mountains, all use temporary tents or -huts in their frequent summer wanderings; but their permanent dwellings -are huge structures sufficient to accommodate many families, and -sometimes the whole tribe. They are constructed of logs or split planks, -and in some cases, as among the Haidahs of Queen Charlotte Islands, they -are elaborately decorated with carving and painting. - -The gregarious habits thus manifested by many wandering tribes, whenever -circumstances admit of their settling down in a permanent home, may be -due mainly to the economy of labour which experience has taught them in -the construction of one common dwelling, instead of the multiplication -of single huts or lodges. But far to the southward are the ancient -pueblos, the casas grandes, the cliff dwellings, of a race not yet -extinct: timid, unaggressive, living wholly on the defensive, gathered -in large communities like ants or bees; industrious, frugal, and -manifesting ingenious skill in their pottery and other useful arts; but, -they too, in no greatly advanced stage. Still farther to the south we -come at length to the seats of an undoubted native American -civilisation. The comparative isolation of Central America, and the -character of its climate and productions, all favoured a more settled -life; with, as genuine results, its architecture, sculpture, metallurgy, -hieroglyphics, writing, and all else that gives so novel a character to -the memorials of the Central American nations. But great as is their -contrast with the wild tribes of the continent, the highest phases of -native civilisation will not compare with the arts of Egypt, in -centuries before Cadmus taught letters to the rude shepherds of Attica, -or the wolf still suckled her cubs on the Palatine hill. - -If this is a correct reading of American archæology, its bearings are -significant in reference to the whole history of American man. In Europe -the student of primitive antiquity is habitually required to -discriminate between products of ingenious skill belonging to periods -and races widely separated alike by time and by essentially diverse -stages of progress in art. For not only do its Palæolithic and Neolithic -periods long precede the oldest written chronicles; but even its Aryan -colonisation lies beyond any record of historic beginnings. The -civilisation which had already grown up around the Mediterranean Sea -while the classic nations were in their infancy, extended its influences -not only to what was strictly regarded as transalpine Europe, but beyond -the English Channel and the Baltic, centuries before the Rhine and -Danube formed the boundary of the Roman world. Voltaire, when treating -of the morals and spirit of nations, says: “It is not in the nature of -man to desire that which he does not know.” But it is certainly in his -nature, at any rate, to desire much that he does not possess; and the -cravings of the rudest outlying tribes of ancient Europe must have been -stimulated by many desires of which those of the New World were -unconscious till the advent of Europeans in the fifteenth century -brought them into contact with a long-matured civilisation. - -The archæology of the American continent is, in this respect, at least, -simple. Its student is nowhere exposed to misleading or obscuring -elements such as baffle the European explorer from the intermingling of -relics of widely diverse eras, or even such a succession of arts of the -most dissimilar character as Dr. Schliemann found on the site of the -classic Ilium. The history of America cannot repeat that of Europe. Its -great river-valleys and vast prairies present a totally different -condition of things from that in which the distinctive arts, languages, -and nationalities of Europe have been matured. The physical geography of -the latter with its great central Alpine chain, its highlands, its -dividing seas, its peninsulas, and islands, has necessarily fostered -isolation; and so has tended to develop the peculiarities of national -character, as well as to protect incipient civilisation and immature -arts from the constant erasures of barbarism. The steppes of Asia in -older centuries proved the nurseries of hordes of rude warriors, -powerful only for spoliation. The evidence of the isolation of the -nations of Europe in early centuries is unmistakable. Scarcely any -feature in the history of the ancient world is more strange to us now -than the absence of all direct intercourse between countries separated -only by the Alps, or even by the Danube or the Rhine. “The geography of -Greek experience, as exhibited by Homer, is limited, speaking generally, -to the Ægean and its coasts, with the Propontis as its limit in the -north-east; with Crete for a southern boundary; and with the addition of -the western coast of the peninsula and its islands as far northwards as -the Leucadian rock. The key to the great contrast between the outer -geography and the facts of nature lies in the belief of Homer that a -great sea occupied the space where we know the heart of the European -continent to lie.”[40] To the early Romans the Celtic nations were known -only as warlike nomads whose incursions from beyond the Alpine frontier -of their little world were perpetuated in the half-legendary tales of -their own national childhood. To the Greek even of the days of Herodotus -no more was known of the Gauls or Germans than the rumours brought by -seamen and traders whose farthest voyage was to the mouth of the Rhone. - -It is, indeed, difficult for us now, amid the intimate relations of the -modern world, and the interchange of products of the remotest east and -west, to realise a condition of things when the region beyond the Alps -was a mystery to the Greek historian, and the very existence of the -river Rhine was questioned; or when, four centuries later, the nations -around the Baltic, which were before long to supplant the masters of the -Roman world, were so entirely unknown to them that, as Dr. Arnold -remarks, in one of his letters: “The Roman colonies along the Rhine and -the Danube looked out on the country beyond those rivers as we look up -at the stars, and actually see with our own eyes a world of which we -know nothing.” Yet such ignorance was not incompatible with indirect -intercourse; and was so far from excluding the barbarians beyond the -Alps or the Baltic from all the fruits of the civilisation which grew up -around the Mediterranean Sea, that the elements of the oldest runic -epigraphy of the Goths and Scandinavians are traced to that source; and -the stamp of Hellenic influence is apparent in the later runic writing. -Moreover the elucidation of European archæology has owed its chief -impediment to the difficulty of discriminating between arts of diverse -eras and races of northern Europe, intermingled with those of its -Neolithic and Bronze periods; or of separating them from the true -products of Celtic and classic workmanship. - -It is altogether different with American archæology. Were there any -traces there of Celtic, Roman, or mediæval European art, the whole -tendency of the American mind would be to give even an exaggerated value -to their influence. Superficial students of the ruins of Mexico and -Central America have misinterpreted characteristics pertaining to what -may not inaptly be designated instincts common to the human mind in its -first efforts at visible expression of its ideas; and have recognised in -them fancied analogies with ancient Egyptian art, or with the mythology -and astronomical science of the East. Had, indeed, the more advanced -nations of the New World borrowed the arts of Egypt, India, or Greece, -the great river highways and the vast unbroken levels of the northern -continent presented abundant facilities for their diffusion, with no -greater aid than the birch-bark canoe of the northern savage. The copper -of Lake Superior was familiar to nations on the banks of the -Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, the Hudson, and the Delaware. Nor was the -influence of southern civilisation wholly inoperative. Reflex traces of -the prolific fancy of the Peruvian potter may be detected in the rude -ware of the mounds of Georgia and Tennessee; and the conventional art of -Yucatan reappears in the ornamentation of the lodges of the Haidahs of -Queen Charlotte’s Islands, and in the wood and ivory carvings of the -Tawatin and other tribes of British Columbia. Already, moreover, the -elaborate native devices which give such distinctive character to the -ivory and claystone carvings of the Chimpseyan and Clalam Indians, have -been largely superseded by reproductions of European ornamentation, or -literal representations of houses, shipping, horses, fire-arms, and -other objects brought under the notice of the native artist in his -intercourse with white men. We are justified, therefore, in assuming -that no long-matured civilisation could have existed in any part of the -American continent without leaving, not only abundant evidence of its -presence within its own area, but also many traces of its influence far -beyond. Yet it cannot be said of the vanished races of the North -American continent that they died and made no sign. Their memorials are -abundant, and some of their earthworks and burial mounds are on a -gigantic scale. But they perpetuate no evidence of a native civilisation -of elder times bearing the slightest analogy to that of Europe through -all its historic centuries. The western hemisphere stands a world apart, -with languages and customs essentially its own; and with man and his -arts embraced within greatly narrower limits of development than in any -other quarter of the globe, if we except Australia. The evolutionist -may, indeed, be tempted by the absence not only of the anthropoid apes, -but by all but the lowest families of the _Primates_, to regard man as a -recent intruder on the American continent. But in this, as in the -archæologist’s deductions, the term “recent” is a relative one. To -whatever source American man may be referred, his relations to the -old-world races are sufficiently remote to preclude any theory of -geographical distribution within the historic period. - -It is not, therefore, adequate time that is wanting for the growth of a -native American civilisation. The only satisfactory indication of the -affiliation of the American races to those of Asia or Europe, or of -Africa, must be sought for in their languages. But any trace of this -kind, thus far observed, is at best obscure and remote. The resemblance -in physical traits points to affinity with the Asiatic Mongol, and the -agglutinate characteristics common to many languages of the continent, -otherwise essentially dissimilar, is in harmony with this. But Asiatic -affinities are only traceable remotely, not demonstrable on any definite -line of descent; and all the evidence that language supplies points to a -greatly prolonged period of isolation. The number of languages spoken -throughout the whole of North and South America has been estimated to -considerably exceed twelve hundred; and on the northern continent alone, -more than five hundred distinct languages are spoken, which admit of -classification among seventy-five ethnical groups, each with essential -linguistic distinctions, pointing to its own parent stock. Some of those -languages are merely well-marked dialects, with fully developed -vocabularies. Others have more recently acquired a dialectic character -in the breaking up and scattering of dismembered tribes, and present a -very limited range of vocabulary, suited to the intellectual -requirements of a small tribe, or band of nomads. The prevailing -condition of life throughout the whole North American continent was -peculiarly favourable to the multiplication of such dialects, and their -growth into new languages, owing to the constant dismemberment of -tribes, and the frequent adoption into their numbers of the refugees -from other fugitive broken tribes, leading to an intermingling of -vocabularies and fresh modifications of speech. - -But, by whatever means we seek to account for the great diversity of -speech among the communities of the New World, it is manifest that -language furnishes no evidence of recent intrusion, or of contact for -many generations with Asiatic or other races. On any theory of origin -either of race or language, a greatly prolonged period is indispensable -to account for the actual condition of things which presents such a -tempting field for the study of the ethnologist. Among the various races -brought under notice, the Huron-Iroquois of Canada and the neighbouring -states most fitly represent the North American race east of the Rocky -Mountains. Their language, subdivided into many dialects, furnishes -indications of migrations throughout the greater portion of that area -eastward between the Mississippi and the Atlantic seaboard, and its -affinities have been sought for beyond the American continent. Mr. -Horatio Hale, an experienced philologist familiar with the races and -languages most nearly akin to those of the New World, in his _Indian -Migrations, as evidenced by Language_, after remarking that there is -nothing in the languages of the American Indians to favour the -conjecture of an origin from Eastern Asia, thus proceeds: “But in -Western Europe one community is known to exist, speaking a language -which in its general structure manifests a near likeness to the Indian -tongues. Alone of all the races of the old continent the Basques or -Euskarians, of northern Spain and south-western France, have a speech of -that highly complex and polysynthetic character which distinguishes the -American languages.” But to this he has to add the statement that “there -is not, indeed, any such positive similarity in words or grammar as -would prove a direct affiliation. The likeness is merely in the general -cast and mould of speech, but this likeness is so marked as to have -awakened much attention.”[41] - -Assuming the affinity thus based on a general likeness in cast and mould -of speech to be well founded, there need be no surprise at the lack of -any positive similarity in words or grammar; for, used only as a test of -the intervening time since Basque and Red Indian parted, it points to -representatives of a prehistoric race that occupied Europe before the -advent of Celtic or other Aryan pioneer, long prior to the historic -dawn. And if the intervening centuries between that undetermined date -and the close of the fifteenth century, when intercourse was once more -renewed between the Iberian peninsula and the transatlantic continent, -sufficed for the evolution of all the classic, mediæval, and renaissance -phases of civilisation in Europe, what was man doing through all those -centuries in this New World? A period of time would appear to have -transpired ample enough for the development of a native civilisation; -but neither the languages nor the arts of the Indian nations found in -occupation of the northern continent reveal traces of it; nor does -archæology disclose to us evidence of civilised precursors. Whatever -their origin may have been, the Red Indian appears to have remained for -unnumbered centuries excluded by ocean barriers from all influence of -the historic races. But on this very account an inquiry into the history -of the nations of the American continent, in so far as this may be -recoverable from archæological or other evidence, may simplify important -ethnical problems, and contribute results of some value in reference to -the condition and progress of primeval man elsewhere. - -In Europe man can be studied only as he has been moulded by a thousand -external influences, and by the intermixture of many dissimilar races. -The most recent terms of ethnological classification, the Xanthocroi and -Melanochroi, are based on the assumed interblending of widely dissimilar -races in times long anterior to any definite chronology. There was a -time, as is assumed, when the sparsely peopled areas of Europe were -occupied by a population still imperfectly represented by the Finns, the -Lapps, and the Basques. Those are supposed to be surviving fragments of -a once homogeneous population in prehistoric centuries. On this the -great Aryan migration intruded in successive waves of Celtic, Slavic, -Hellenic and Teutonic invaders, not without considerable intermixture of -blood. Such is the great ethnical revolution by which it is assumed that -Europe was recolonised from the same source from whence India and Persia -derived their ancient civilised and lettered races. The Finnic -hypothesis, and the once favoured idea of an Asiatic cradleland for the -whole so-called Aryan races, have been greatly modified by later -research. Community of language is no longer accepted as necessarily -involving a common ethnic origin. But the results in no way affect the -general conclusion as to the displacement of a succession of barbarous -races by the historic races of Europe long before the Christian era. - -The year 1492 marks the beginning of an analogous ethnical revolution by -which the Aryan, or Indo-European stock intruded, in ever-increasing -numbers, on the aboriginal populations of the New World. The disparity -between the first Celtic or other Aryan immigrants into Europe and the -aborigines whom they encountered there was probably less than that which -separated the first American colonists from the Red Indian savages whom -they displaced. In both cases it was the meeting of cultured races with -rude nomads whom they were prone to regard with an aversion or contempt -very different from the repellent elements between conquering and -subject nations in near equality to each other. The disparity, for -example, between the native Briton and the intruding Saxon, or between -the later Anglo-Saxon and the intruding Dane or Northman, was -sufficiently slight to admit of ready intermixture, ultimately, in spite -of their bitter antagonism. Nor was even the civilised Roman separated -by any such gulf from the Gaul or German who bowed to the Imperial yoke, -and exchanged their independence for Roman citizenship. But other -elements have also to be kept in view. The pioneers of emigration are -not, as a rule, the most cultured members of the intruding race; while -the disparity in the relative numbers of the sexes inevitably resulting -from the conditions under which any extensive migration takes place -forms an effective counterpoise to very wide ethnical differences. In -every case of extensive immigration, with the excess of males and -chiefly of hardy young adventurers, the same result is inevitable. On -the American continent it has already produced a numerous race of -half-breeds, descendants of white and Indian parentage, apart from that -other and not less interesting “coloured race,” now numbering upwards of -six millions in the United States alone, the descendants of European and -African parentage. In the older provinces of Canada, the remnants of the -aboriginal Indian tribes have been gathered on suitable reserves; and on -many of these, so far are they from hastening to extinction, that during -the last quarter of a century the returns of the Indian Department show -a steady numerical increase. In the United States, under less favourable -circumstances, similar results are beginning to be recognised. In a -report on “Indian Civilisation and Education,” dated Washington, -November 24, 1877, it is set forth as more and more tending to assume -the aspect of an established fact, “that the Indians, instead of being -doomed to extinction within a limited period, are, as a rule, not -decreasing in numbers; and are, in all probability, destined to form a -permanent factor; an enduring element of our population.” Wherever the -aborigines have been gathered together upon suitable reserves, and -trained to industrious habits, as among the Six Nation Indians, settled -on the Grand river, in the Province of Ontario; or where they have -mingled on terms of equality with the white settlers, as within the old -Hudson’s Bay territory on the Red river, they have after a time showed -indications of endurance. It is not a mere intermingling of white and -Indian settlers, but the increase of the community by the growth of a -half-breed population; and when this takes place under favourable -circumstances, as was notably the case so long as the hunter tribes of -the prairies and the trappers of the Hudson’s Bay Company shared the -great North-West as a common hunting-ground, the results are altogether -favourable to the endurance of the mixed race. On a nearly similar -footing we may conceive of the admixture of the earliest Aryans with the -Allophylians of Europe, resulting in some of the most noticeable types -of modern European nationalities. The growth in the territory of the -Hudson’s Bay Company of a numerous half-breed population, assuming the -status of farming hunters, distinct alike from the Indians and the -Whites, is a fact of singular interest to the ethnologist. It has been -the result of alliances, chiefly with Indian Cree women, by the fur -trappers of the region. But these included two distinct elements: the -one a Scottish immigration, chiefly from the Orkney Islands; the other -that of the French Canadians, who long preceded the English as hunters -and trappers in the North-West. The contrasting Scottish and French -paternity reveals itself in the hybrid offspring; but in both cases the -half-breeds are a large and robust race, with greater powers of -endurance than the pure-blood Indian. They have been described to me by -more than one trustworthy observer as “superior in every respect, both -mentally and physically,” and this is confirmed by my own experience. -The same opinion has been expressed by nearly all who have paid special -attention to the hybrid races of the New World. D’Orbigny, when -referring to the general result of this intermingling of races says: -“Among the nations in America the product is always superior to the two -types that are mixed.” Henry, a traveller of the last century, who spent -six years among the North American Indians, notes the confirmatory -assurance given to him by a Cristineaux chief, that “the children borne -by their women to Europeans were bolder warriors and better hunters than -themselves.” Finally, of the hardy race of the Arctic circle Dr. Kane -says: “The half-breeds of the coast rival the Esquimaux in their powers -of endurance.” There is also a fine race in Greenland, half Danes; and -Dr. Rae informs me that numerous half-breed Eskimo are to be met with on -the Labrador coast. They are taller and more hardy than the pure-blooded -Eskimo; so that he always gave the preference to them as his guides. The -Danish half-breeds are described by Dr. Henry Rink, in his _Tales and -Traditions of the Eskimo_, as dating back to the earliest times of the -colonisation of Greenland. The mixed marriages, he says, “have generally -been rich in offspring. The children for the most part grow up as -complete Greenlanders”; but the distinction between them and the native -Eskimo is unmistakable, although individuals of the hybrid offspring -represent the mixture of European and native blood in almost every -possible proportion. - -From the conquest of Mexico in 1520, and of Peru in 1534, this admixture -of races of the Old and the New World has been going on in varying ratio -according to the relative circumstances under which they meet. In Mexico -and in the more civilised portions of South America the half-breeds are -estimated to constitute fully one-fifth of the whole population, while -the so-called “coloured people,” the descendants of European and African -parentage, now number not less than fifteen millions throughout the -mainland and the Islands of North and South America. - -Throughout the northern, southern, and western states of America, on the -Pacific slope, and in Canada, the growth of a mixed race of White and -Indian blood has everywhere taken place in the first period of -settlement, when the frontier backwoodsman and the hunter were brought -into contact with the native tribes. Along the borders of every frontier -state a nearly exclusive male population is compelled to accept the -services of the Indian women in any attempt at domestic life. The -children grow up to share in perfect equality the rude life of their -fathers. The new generation presents a mixed race of hardy trappers, -mingling the aptitudes of both races in the wild life of the frontier. -With the increase of population, and the more settled life of the -clearing, the traces of mixed blood are lost sight of; but it is to a -large extent only a repetition of what appears to have marked the advent -of the Aryan immigrants into Europe. The new, but more civilised race -predominated. Literal extermination, no doubt, did its work, and the -aborigines to a large extent perished. But no inconsiderable remnant -finally disappeared by absorption into the general stock; not without -leaving enduring evidence of the process in the Melanochroi, or dark -whites—the Iberians, or Black Celts, as they are sometimes styled,—of -Western Europe; as well as in the allied type, not only of the -Mediterranean shores, but of Western Asia and Persia. A process has thus -been going on on the American continent for four centuries, which cannot -fail to beget new types in the future; even as a like process is seen to -have produced them under analogous conditions in ancient Europe. - -Viewed in this aspect, the archæology and ethnology of the New World -presents in some important respects a startling analogy to pre-Aryan -Europe. Assuredly the status of the Allophylian races of Europe can -scarcely have been inferior to that of some, at least, of the aborigines -of America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Probably the -Aryan pioneers were fully equal to its first European immigrants. But if -the ethnical characteristics of American man are simple, and the aspect -of his social life appears to realise for us a living analogy to that of -Europe’s Neolithic, if not in some respects to that of its Palæolithic -era, the question of his antiquity acquires a new interest; for it thus -becomes apparent that man may remain through countless ages in the wild -hunter stage, as unprogressive as any other denizen of the wilderness -propagating its species and hunting for its prey. But the whole question -of the antiquity of man has undergone a marvellous revolution. The -literature of modern geology curiously illustrates its progress, from -the date of the publication of Dean Buckland’s _Reliquiæ Diluvianæ_, in -1823, to the final edition of Sir Charles Lyell’s _Principles of -Geology_, in 1872, and the latest embodiment of his conclusions on the -special question involved in his _Antiquity of Man_. - -The determination of a Palæolithic period for Europe, with its rude -implements of flint or stone, chipped into shape without the aid of any -grinding or polishing process, and belonging to an era when man was -associated with animals either extinct or known only throughout the -historic period in extreme northern latitudes, has naturally stimulated -the research of American archæologists for corresponding traces on this -continent. Nor is the anticipation of the possible recovery of the -traces of man’s presence in post-glacial, or still earlier epochs in -unhistoric areas, limited to either continent. If it be accepted as an -established fact that man has existed in Europe for unnumbered ages, -during which enormous physical changes have been wrought; upheaval and -denudation have revolutionised the face of the continent; the deposition -of the whole drift formation has been effected; the river-valleys of -Southern England and the north of France have been excavated, and the -British Islands detached from the neighbouring continent: it cannot be -regarded as improbable that evidence may yet be found of the early -presence of man in any region of the globe. Nevertheless some of the -elements already referred to tend to mark with a character of their own -the investigations alike of the archæologist and the geologist into the -earliest traces of human art in what we have learned habitually to speak -of as a New World. In Europe the antiquary, familiar already with -ancient historic remains, had passed by a natural transition to the -study of ruder examples of primitive art in stone and bronze, as well as -to the physical characteristics of races which appeared to have -preceeded the earliest historic nations. The occupation of the British -Islands, for example, successively by Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, -Danes, and Normans, was so familiar to the popular mind that the problem -of a sequence of neolithic, bronze, and the ruder iron implements with -their correlated personal ornaments, pottery, etc., was universally -solved by referring them to Celtic, Roman, and Scandinavian art. -Erroneous as this interpretation of the evidence proves to have been, it -had, nevertheless, sufficient accordance with truth to prepare the way -for the ultimate reception of more accurate inductions. The fact of the -occurrence of successive phases of art, and their indication of a -succession of races, were undoubted; and researches directed to the -solution of the problem of European archæology were unhesitatingly -followed up through mediæval, classical, Assyrian and Egyptian remains, -to the very threshold of that prehistoric dawn which forms the -transitional stage between geological and historical epochs. A -significant fact, in its bearing on the recent disclosures of the -river-drift in France and England, is that some of the most -characteristic flint implements, such as a large spear head found along -with the remains of a fossil elephant in Gray’s Inn Lane, London, and -implements of the same type obtained from the drift of the Waveney -Valley, in Surrey, underlying similar fossil remains, had been brought -under the notice of archæologists upwards of a century before the idea -of the contemporaneous existence of man and the mammals of the Drift -found any favour; and they were unhesitatingly assigned to a Celtic -origin. The first known discovery of any flint implement in the -quaternary gravels of Europe is the one already noted which stands -recorded in the Sloane catalogue as “A British weapon found, with -elephant’s tooth, opposite to black Mary’s, near Grayes Inn Lane.” - -A just conception of the comprehensiveness even of historical antiquity -was long retarded in Europe by an exclusive devotion to classical -studies; but the relations of America to the Old World are so recent, -and all else is so nearly a blank, that for it the fifteenth century is -the historic dawn, and everything dating before the landing of Columbus -has been habitually assigned to the same vague antiquity. Hence -historical research has been occupied for the most part on very modern -remains, and the supreme triumph long aimed at has been to associate the -hieroglyphics of Central America, and the architectural monuments of -Peru, with those of Egypt. But we have entered on a new era of -archæological and historical inquiry. The palæolithic implements of the -French Drift have only been brought to light in our own day; and, though -upwards of half a century has elapsed since the researches of Mr. J. -MacEnery were rewarded by the discovery of flint implements of the -earliest type in the same red loam of the Devonshire limestone caves -which embedded bones of the mammoth, tichorhine rhinoceros, cave-bear -and other extinct mammals, it is only recently that the full -significance of such disclosures has been recognised. - -America was indeed little behind Europe in the earlier stages of cavern -research. A cabinet of the British Museum is filled with fossil bones -obtained by Dr. Lund and M. Claussen from limestone caverns in Brazil, -embedded in a reddish-coloured loam, under a thick stalagmitic flooring, -and including, along with remains of genera still inhabiting the -American continent, those of extinct monkeys. Human bones were also -found in the same caves, but superficially, and seemingly of the present -Indian race. But a fresh interest and significance have been given to -such researches by the novel aspect of prehistoric archæology in Europe. -The relations now established between the earliest traces of European -man and the geological aspects of the great Drift formation, have -naturally led to the diligent examination of corresponding deposits of -the continent of America, in the hope of recovering similar traces -there. Until recently, however, any supposed examples of American -palæolithic art have been isolated and unsatisfactory. Colonel Charles -C. Jones, in his _Antiquities of the Southern Indians_, notes the -discovery in the Nacoochee valley, in the State of Georgia, of flint -implements from the gravel and boulders of the drift, and in material, -manner of construction, and appearance closely resembling the rough -hatchets belonging to the Drift type. Other more or less trustworthy -examples of a like kind have been reported; among which may be noted a -large specimen, now in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of -Scotland, found at Lewiston, in the State of New York, at a great depth, -when sinking a well. Implements of neolithic character, and even of -modern type, have been produced, not only from Kansas and California -gold-diggings, but from the volcanic tufa of the Pacific coast, overlaid -by repeated volcanic deposits. In a terrace of modified drift, near -Little Falls, Minnesota, an accumulation of quartz chips have been -found; the supposed refuse of an ancient workshop. More definitely, -Professor Aughey reports the discovery of rudely chipped flint arrow -heads in the loess of the Missouri valley, beneath the bones of the -mastodon; and the loess gravels of Ohio and Indiana, belonging -unquestionably to the last glacial age, have disclosed what seem to be -genuine palæoliths, pointing to the presence of the rational tool-maker -during the close of the quaternary epoch of the North American -continent. - -Some of those assumed illustrations of American palæolithic art cannot -be accepted. One implement, for example, from the Californian -gravel-drift, is a polished stone plummet perforated at one end, and not -only modern in character, but as a genuine discovery in the gold-bearing -gravels, tending to discredit the palæolithic origin assigned to ruder -implements found under similar circumstances. But the most startling -examples of this class are of minor importance when compared with -reported discoveries of human remains in the Californian drift. In 1857, -Dr. C. F. Winslow produced a fragment of a human skull found eighteen -feet below the surface in the “pay drift” at Table Mountain, associated -with remains of the mastodon and fossil elephant. From beds underlying -the lava and volcanic tufa of California, from time to time other -evidences of the assumed ancient presence of man and traces of his art -are produced. But the manifestly recent character of some of the latter -prove the disturbance of these deposits by subsequent influences. In -1869 Professor J. D. Whitney exhibited, at the Chicago meeting of the -American Association for the Advancement of Science, a complete human -skull, recovered at a depth of 130 feet in the auriferous gravel of -Calaveras County, California, underlying five successive beds of lava -and volcanic tufa, and vouched for its geological antiquity. The gravel -which adhered to the relic found imbedded in it is referred by him to -the Pliocene age; and Dr. J. W. Foster remarks of it, in his -_Prehistoric Races of the United States_: “This skull, admitting its -authenticity, carries back the advent of man to the Pliocene epoch, and -is therefore older than the stone implements of the drift-gravel of -Abbeville and Amiens, or the relics furnished by the cave-dirt of -Belgium and France.” In reality, however, the authenticity of the skull -as a pliocene relic cannot be admitted. Like that of Guadaloupe, those -found by Dr. Lund in the Brazil caves, and other fossil skulls of the -American continent, it proved, according to the trustworthy report of -Dr. Wyman, to be of the ordinary Indian type; though to some minds that -only confirms the genuineness of the discovery. A human skull recovered -from the delta of the Mississippi at New Orleans, and estimated by Dr. -Dowler—on what, “to avoid all cavil,” he claimed to be extremely -moderate assumptions,—as not less than 57,000 years old, is grouped -with others found by Dr. Lund in one of the Brazil caves, at Logoa -Santa, and thus commented on: “Numerous species of animals have been -blotted from creation since American humanity’s first appearance. The -form of these crania, moreover, proves that the general type of races -inhabiting America at that inconceivably remote era was the same which -prevailed at the Columbian discovery”;[42] and so the authors of _Types -of Mankind_ arrived at the conclusion that with such evidence of the -native American type having occupied the continent in geological times, -before the formation of the Mississippi alluvia, science may spare -itself the trouble of looking elsewhere for the origin of the American -race! The high authority of Professor Agassiz was adduced at the time in -support of this and other equally crude assumptions; but they have -ceased to receive the countenance of men of science. - -Meanwhile the progress of European discovery has familiarised us with -the idea of the rude primeval race of its Palæolithic era, so designated -in reference to their characteristic implements recovered from the -river-drift of France and England, and from the sedimentary -accumulations of their rock shelters and limestone caves. That flint and -stone implements of every variety of form abound in the soil of the New -World, has been established by ample proof; and if mere rudeness could -be accepted as evidence of antiquity, many of them rival in this respect -the rudest implements of the European drift. But it has to be kept in -view that the indigenous tribes of America have scarcely even now -abandoned the manufacture of implements of obsidian, flint, and stone, -or of bone and ivory. So striking, indeed, is the analogy between the -simple arts of the palæolithic cave-men of Southern France, and those -still practised by the Eskimo, that Professor Boyd Dawkins inferred from -this conclusive evidence of a pedigree for the Arctic aborigines little -less ancient than that which Dr. Dowler long ago deduced from his -discovery in the delta of the Mississippi. The implements and -accumulated debris of the ancient hunters of the Garonne, the -contemporaries of the mammoth and other extinct mammals, and of the -reindeer, musk-sheep, cave-bear, and other species known only within the -historic period in extreme northern latitudes, undoubtedly suggest -interesting analogies with the modern Eskimo. Only under similar -climatic conditions to those in which they now live, could such -accumulations of animal remains as have been found in the caves of the -valley of the Vésère be possible in places habitually resorted to by -man. But such analogies form a very slender basis on which to found the -hypothesis that the race of the Mammoth and Reindeer period in the -remote Post-Pliocene era of Southern France has its living -representatives within the Arctic circle of the American continent. - -The students of modern archæology have become familiar with startling -disclosures; and the supposed identification of living representatives -of the race of the pleistocene river beds or cave deposits is too -fascinating a one to be readily abandoned by its originator. The men of -the River-Drift era are assumed to have been a race of still older and -ruder savages than the palæolithic cave-men, who were more restricted in -their range, and considerably in advance of them in the variety and -workmanship of their weapons and implements. The elder ruder race has -vanished; but the cave-race of that indefinite but vastly remote era of -pliocene, or post-pliocene Europe, is imagined to still survive within -the Arctic frontiers of Canada. - -In discussing the plausible hypothesis which thus aims at recovering in -the hyperboreans of America the race that before the close of Europe’s -Pleistocene age, hunted the mammoth, the musk-sheep, and the reindeer in -the valleys of the Garonne, Professor Dawkins reviewed the manners and -habits of the Eskimo as a race of hunters, fishers, and fowlers, -accumulating round their dwellings vast refuse heaps similar to those of -the ancient cave-men. Both were ignorant of the metallurgic arts, were -excluded to a large extent by a like rigorous climate from access to -stone or flint; while they habitually turned to account the available -material, resulting from the spoils of the chase: bone, ivory, and -deer’s horn, in the manufacture of all needful tools. The implements and -weapons thus common to both do unquestionably prove that their manner of -life was in many respects similar. Professor Dawkins also notes, what -can scarcely seem surprising in any people familiar with the working in -bone, namely, the use at times by the Eskimo of fossil mammoth ivory for -the handles of their stone scrapers, and adds: “It is very possible that -this habit of the Eskimos may have been handed down from the late -pleistocene times.” But what strikes him as “the most astonishing bond -of union between the cave-men and the Eskimo is the art of representing -animals”; and, after noting those familiar to both, along with the -correspondence in their weapons, and habits as hunters, he says: “All -these points of connection between the cave-men and the Eskimos can, in -my opinion, be explained only on the hypothesis that they belong to the -same race.”[43] - -As to the ingenious imitative art of the Cro-Magnon cave-dwellers, it is -by no means peculiar to them and the modern Eskimo; but, on the -contrary, is common to many savage races; though by no modern savage -people has a like degree of artistic ability been shown. Professor -Dawkins says truly of the cave-man: “He possessed a singular talent for -representing the animals he hunted; and his sketches reveal to us that -he had a capacity for seeing the beauty and grace of natural form not -much inferior to that which is the result of long-continued civilisation -in ourselves, and very much higher than that of his successors in Europe -in the Neolithic age. The hunter who was both artist and sculptor, who -reproduced, with his imperfect means, at one time foliage, at another -the quiet repose of a reindeer feeding, has left behind him the proof of -a decided advance in culture, such as might be expected to result from -the long continuance of man on the earth in the hunter state of -civilisation.”[44] All this is correct in reference to the art of the -Vézère carvers and draughtsmen; but it would be gross exaggeration if -applied to such conventional art as the Eskimo arrow-straightener which -Professor Dawkins figures, with its formal row of reindeer and their -grotesque accessories. The same criticism is equally applicable to -numerous other specimens of Eskimo art, and to similar Innuit, or -western Eskimo representations of hunting scenes, such as those figured -by Mr. William H. Dall, in his _Alaska_, which he describes as “drawings -analogous to those discovered in France in the caves of Dordogne.”[45] - -The identity, or near resemblance between harpoons, fowling spears, -marrow spoons, and scrapers, of the ancient cave-race of pleistocene -France, and implements of the modern Eskimo, is full of interest; as is -much also of a like kind between savage races of our own day in the most -widely severed regions of the globe; but it is a slender basis on which -to found such far-reaching deductions. The old race that lived on the -verge of the great glaciers in Southern France gave the preference to -bone and ivory over flint or stone, because the climatic conditions -under which they lived rendered those most accessible to them; and we -see in the familiar types of flint arrow heads, stone hammers, and the -like primitive tools of savage man, both in ancient and modern times, -how naturally the workman, with the same materials and similar -necessities, shapes his few and simple weapons and implements into like -form. As to the absence of pottery, alike among the ancient -cave-dwellers and the modern Eskimo, in which another element of -resemblance is traced, it proves no more than that both had to work -under climatic conditions which rendered clay, adequate fuel, and nearly -all other appliances of the potter, even less available than flint and -stone. - -But the caves of the Vézère have furnished examples not only of skulls, -but of complete skeletons of an ancient race of cave-dwellers, whether -that of the ingenious draughtsmen and reindeer hunters or not; and had -those, or the underlying debris, yielded traces of the Eskimo type of -head, there would then be good reason for attaching an exceptional value -to any evidence of correspondence in arts and habits. But the cerebral -capacity of this Cro-Magnon race amply accords with the artistic skill, -and the sense of beauty and grace of natural form, ascribed to the -ancient draughtsmen; and their well-developed skulls and large bones -present the most striking contrast to the stunted Eskimo. The strongly -marked physiognomy of the former bears no resemblance to the debased -Mongolian type of the latter. No doubt it may be argued with sufficient -plausibility that in the slow retreat of the palæolithic race, whether -eastward by the river-valleys of Europe, and across the steppes of Asia, -to Behring Strait; or over submerging continents, since engulfed in the -ocean; and in the vast æons of their retreat to their latest home in -another hemisphere, on the verge of the pole, any amount of change may -have modified the physical characteristics of the race. But if so, the -evidence of their pedigree is no longer producible. The Eskimo may be -related by descent to the men of the French Reindeer period, as we -ourselves may be descendants of palæolithic man; but, as Professor -Geikie has justly remarked: “When anthropologists produce from some of -the caves occupied by the reindeer hunters a cranium resembling that of -the living Eskimo, it will be time enough to admit that the latter has -descended from the former. But, unfortunately for the view here referred -to, none of the skulls hitherto found affords it any support.”[46] In -truth, the plausible fancy that the discoveries of the last twenty-five -years have tended to confirm the identification of the cave-men with the -Eskimo, only requires the full appreciation of all that it involves, in -order that it shall take its place with that other identification with -the red man of the present day of “Dr. Dowler’s sub-cypress Indian who -dwelt on the site of New Orleans 57,000 years ago.” - -The received interpretation of the imperfect record which remains to us -of the successive eras of geological change with the accompanying -modifications of animal life, down to the appearance of man, and the -deciphering of geological chroniclings as a coherent disclosure of the -past history of the earth, are largely due to Sir Charles Lyell. In 1841 -he visited America, and then estimated with cautious conservatism some -of the evidences adduced for the assumed antiquity of American man. But -subsequent observations led him to modify his views; and at length, in -1863, he “read his recantation” of earlier opinions; and—so far at -least as Europe is concerned,—gave the full weight of his authority to -the conclusions relative to the antiquity of man based on the discovery -of flint implements associated with bones of extinct mammalia at -Abbeville and in the valley of the Thames. The peculiar geological -conditions accompanying the earliest evidence of the presence of -palæolithic man in Europe proved, when rightly interpreted, to be no -less convincing than the long-familiar sequence of more recent -archæological indices by which antiquarian speculation has proceeded -step by step back towards that prehistoric dawn in which geology and -archæology meet on common ground. The chalk and the overlying -river-drift, abounding with flint nodules, left no room for question as -to the source of the raw material from which the primitive implements -were manufactured. The flint is still abundant as ever, in nodules of a -size amply sufficient for furnishing the largest palæoliths, in the -localities both of France and England where such specimens of primitive -art have been recovered by thousands. But there also other disclosures -tell no less conclusively of many subsequent stages of progress, alike -in prehistoric and historic times. - -Sir John Evans, in his _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_, -purposely begins with the more recent implements, including those of the -Australian and other modern savage races, and traces his way backward, -“ascending the stream of time,” and noting the diverse examples of -ingeniously fashioned and polished tools of the Neolithic age which -preceded that palæolithic class, of vast antiquity and rudest -workmanship, which now constitute the earliest known works of man; if -they are not, indeed, examples of the first infantile efforts of human -skill. But alike in Britain, and on the neighbouring continent, a -chronological sequence of implements in stone and metal, with pottery, -personal ornaments, and other illustrations of progressive art, supplies -the evidence by means of which we are led backward—not without some -prolonged interruptions, as we approach the Palæolithic age,—from -historic to the remotest prehistoric times. - -The relative chronology of the European drift may be thus stated: first, -and most modern, the superficial deposits of recent centuries with their -mediæval traces of Frank and Gaul; and along with those, the tombs, the -pottery, and other remains of the Roman period, scarcely perceptibly -affected in their geological relations by nearly the whole interval of -the Christian era; next, in the alluvium, seemingly embedded by natural -accumulation at an average depth of fifteen feet, occur remains of a -European Stone period, corresponding in many respects to those of the -pfahlbauten, or pile villages of the Swiss Lakes; and, underlying such -accumulations exceeding in their duration the whole historical period, -we come at length to the tool-bearing drift, imbedding, along with the -fossil remains of many extinct mammals, the implements of palæolithic -man, fashioned seemingly when the rivers were only beginning the work of -excavating the valleys which give their present contour to the -landscapes of France and England. - -There, as elsewhere, we recognise progression from the most artless -rudeness of tool manufacture, belonging to an epoch when the process of -grinding flint or stone to an edge appears to have been unknown; through -various stages of the primitive worker in stone, bone, ivory, and the -like natural products; and then the discovery and gradual development of -the metallurgic arts. Yet at the same time it must not be lost sight of -that mere rudeness of workmanship is no evidence of antiquity. Nothing -can well be conceived of more artless than some of the stone implements -still in use among savage tribes of America. Moreover, it is to be noted -that it is not amid the privations of an Arctic winter, with its -analogies so suggestive of a condition of life corresponding to that of -the men of Europe’s Palæolithic age, but in southern latitudes, with a -climate which furnishes abundant resources for savage man, that the -crudest efforts at tool-making now occur. In a report of the _United -States Geological Survey_ for 1872, Professor Joseph Leidy furnishes an -interesting account of numerous implements, rude as any in the Drift, -observed by him while engaged on a survey at the base of the Unitah -Mountains in Southern Wyoming. “In some places,” he remarks, “the stone -implements are so numerous, and at the same time are so rudely -constructed, that one is constantly in doubt when to consider them as -natural or accidental, and when to view them as artificial.”[47] But -with these, others are mingled of fine finish. The Shoshones who haunt -the region seem to be incapable of such skill as the latter imply; and -express the belief that they were a gift of the Great Spirit to their -ancestors. Yet many are fresh in appearance; though others are worn and -decomposed on the surface, and may, as Professor Leidy assumes, have -lain there for centuries. The tendency is now, even among experienced -archæologists, to assume that they are actually palæolithic. Mr. Thomas -Wilson remarks, in his _Report_ of 1887: “Dr. Leidy did not know these -implements to be what they really were, that is implements of the -Palæolithic period.”[48] But in view of Dr. Leidy’s whole narrative, his -assumption seems to be more consistent with the observed data. In the -same narrative he describes a stone scraper, or _teshoa_, as the -Shoshones call it, employed by them in the dressing of buffalo-skins, -but of so simple a character that he says, “had I not observed it in -actual use, and had noticed it among the materials of the buttes, or -horizontal strata of indurated clays and sandstone, I would have viewed -it as an accidental spawl.” When illustrating the characteristics of a -like class of stone implements and weapons of Great Britain, Sir John -Evans figures and describes an axe, or war-club, procured from the -Indians of Rio Frio in Texas. Its blade is a piece of trachyte, so -rudely chipped that it would scarcely attract attention as of artificial -working, but for the club-like haft, evidently chopped into shape with -stone tools, into which it is inserted. Nothing ruder has been brought -to light in any drift or cave deposit.[49] Another modern Texas -implement, in the Smithonnia collections at Washington,[50] is a -rudely-fashioned flint blade, presenting considerable resemblance to a -familiar class of oval implements of the river-drift. - -So far, therefore, as unskilled art and the mere rudeness of workmanship -are concerned, it might be assumed that the aborigines of America are -thus presented to our study in their most primitive stage. They had -advanced in no degree beyond the condition of the European savage of the -River-Drift period, when, at the close of the fifteenth century, they -were brought into contact with modern European culture; and nothing in -their rude arts seemed to offer a clue to their origin, or any evidence -of progression. So far as anything could be learned from their work, -they might have entered on the occupation of the northern continent, -subsequent to the visits of the Northmen in the tenth century; and, -indeed, American archæologists generally favour the opinion that the -_Skrælings_, as the Northmen designated the New England natives whom -they encountered, were not Red Indians but Eskimo. But whatever may have -been the local distribution of races at that date, geological evidence, -which has proved so conclusive in relation to European ethnology, has at -length been appealed to by American investigators, with results which -seem to establish for their continent also its primeval Stone period, -and remote prehistoric dawn. - -The _Report of the Peabody Museum of American Archæology and Ethnology_ -for 1877, gave the first publicity to a communication from Dr. Charles -C. Abbott, setting forth the data from which he was led to assume that -man existed on the American continent during the formation of the great -glacial deposit which extends from Labrador as far south as Virginia. -The scene of his successful research is in the valley of the Delaware, -near Trenton, New Jersey. Though the relative antiquity of the Trenton -gravel beds is modern compared with some subsequent disclosures, his -discoveries have a special interest as foremost among those of -implement-bearing gravels in the New World. In the gravel, deposited by -the Delaware river in the process of excavating the valley through which -its course now lies, Dr. Abbott’s diligent search has been rewarded by -finding numerous specimens of rudely chipped implements of a peculiar -type, to which he has given the name of “turtle-back celts.” They are -fashioned of a highly indurated argillite, with a conchoidal fracture, -and have been recovered at depths varying from five to upwards of twenty -feet below the overlying soil, in the undisturbed gravel of the bluff -facing the Delaware river, as well as in railway cuttings and other -excavations. - -Here, to all appearance, intelligent research had at length been -rewarded by the discovery of undoubted traces of the American -palæolithic man; and Dr. Abbott, not unnaturally, gave free scope to his -fancy, as he realised to himself the preoccupation of the river valley -with “the village sites of pre-glacial man.” There is a fascination in -such disclosures which, especially in the case of the original -discoverer, tempts to extreme views; and both in France and England, at -the present time, the more eager among the geologists and archæologists -devoted to this inquiry are reluctantly restrained from assuming as a -scientific fact the existence of man in Southern England and in France -under more genial climatic influences, prior to the great Ice age which -wrought such enormous changes there. The theory which Dr. Abbott formed -on the basis of the evidence first presented to him by the disclosures -of the Trenton gravel may be thus stated. Towards the close of the great -Ice age, the locality which has rewarded his search for specimens of -palæolithic art marked the termination of the glacier on the Atlantic -coast. Here, at the foot of the glacier, a primitive people, in a -condition closely analogous to that of the Eskimo of the present day, -made their home, and wandered over the open sea in the vicinity, during -the accumulation of the deposit from the melting glacier. But this -drift-gravel was modified by subsequent action. According to Dr. -Abbott’s conclusions, it was deposited in open water, on the bed of a -shallow sea. But the position of the large boulders, and the absence of -true clay in the mass, suggest that it has undergone great changes since -its original deposition as glacial debris; and if this is to be -accounted for by subsequent action of water, the unpolished surfaces of -the chipped implements are inconsistent with such a theory of their -origin. Huge boulders, of the same character as those which abound in -the underlying gravel, occur on the surface; and their presence there -was referred to by Dr. Abbott as throwing light upon “the occurrence of -rude implements identical with those found in the underlying gravels, -inasmuch as the same ice-raft that bore the one, with its accompanying -sand and gravel, might well gather up also stray relics of this -primitive people, and re-deposit them where they are now found.” -Accordingly, seeking in fancy to recall this ancient past, he says in -his first report: “In times preceding the formation of this gravel bed, -now in part facing the Delaware river, there were doubtless localities, -once the village sites of pre-glacial man, where these rude stone -implements would necessarily be abundant,” and he accordingly asks “May -not the ice in its onward march, gathering in bulk every loose fragment -of rock and particle of soil, have held them loosely together, and, -hundreds of miles from their original site, left them in some one -locality such as this, where the river has again brought to light rude -implements that characterise an almost primitive people? But, assuming -that the various implements fashioned by a strictly pre-glacial people -have been totally destroyed by the crushing forces of the glacier, and -that the specimens now produced were not brought from a distance, may -they not be referred to an early race that, driven southward by the -encroaching ice, dwelt at the foot of the glacier, and during their -sojourn here these implements were lost?”[51] - -The opinions thus set forth in the first published account of Dr. -Abbott’s discoveries, have since been considerably modified, in so far -as the geological age of the tool-bearing gravel of the Delaware valley -is concerned. In his earlier publications he assumed, as no longer -questionable, the existence of inter-glacial, if not pre-glacial, man on -the continent. In his more matured views, as set forth in his _Primitive -Industry_, he speaks of “having been seriously misled by the various -geological reports that purport to give, in proper sequence, the -respective ages of the several strata of clay, gravel, boulders, and -sand, through which the river has finally worn its channel to the ocean -level”;[52] so that he has probably ascribed too great an antiquity to -the peculiar class of stone implements brought to light in the -river-gravels of New Jersey. Dr. Abbott, accordingly, states as his more -matured conclusion, confirmed by the reports of some of the most -experienced geological observers, on whose judgment he relies, that the -Trenton gravel, in which alone the turtle-back celts have thus far been -found, is a post-glacial river deposit, made at a time when the river -was larger than at present; and is the most recent of all the formations -of the Delaware.[53] Here, however, the term “recent” is employed -altogether relatively; and although Dr. Abbott no longer claims in the -discovery of the stone implements of the gravel beds near Trenton, New -Jersey, evidence of the existence of man on the American continent -before the close of the Glacial period, he still refers the Trenton -gravel tool-makers to an era which, at the lowest computation, precedes -by thousands of years the earliest historical glimpses of Assyria, -Egypt, or wherever among the most ancient nations of the Old World the -beginnings of history can be traced. - -The disclosures of Dr. Abbott claim a special importance among the -fruits of archæological investigation on the American continent, not -only from the fact that they furnish the first well-authenticated -results of systematic research based on the scientific analogies of -European archæology, but these later results have included the remains -of man himself. When Dr. Usher of Mobile contributed to _The Types of -Mankind_ an account of the discovery of a human skeleton at New Orleans, -found under circumstances from which the existence of man in the delta -of the Mississippi was deduced well nigh sixty thousand years ago, it -was scarcely calculated to win the reader’s acceptance of that -assumption when it was added that “the type of the cranium was, as might -have been expected, that of the aboriginal American race.” Nor is this -the only example of skull of a strictly modern Indian type from which -the inference has been drawn that the same unchanging form has prevailed -from the era of pre-glacial American man till now. Three human crania -found in the Trenton gravel are now in the Peabody Museum at Cambridge -(Harvard). All are of the same type, but it differs essentially from -that of the Red Indian skull. They are of small size, oval, and present -a striking contrast to all other skulls in the Peabody collection. Their -value is due to the fact of their discovery in the implement-bearing -gravel, in proximity to the characteristic examples of what are assumed -to be palæolithic celts. For it is well for us to bear in remembrance -that the evidences of the antiquity of man in Europe do not rest on any -number of chance disclosures. It is a simple procedure to dig into a -Celtic or Saxon barrow, and find there the implements and pottery of its -builders lying alongside of their buried remains. But archæologists have -learned to recognise the palæolithic implements as not less -characteristic of certain post-pliocene deposits than the palæontology -of the same geological formation. The river-drift and cave deposits are -characterised by traces of contemporaneous life, as shown in the -examples of primitive art from which they receive the name of the -tool-bearing drift or gravel; just as older geological formations have -their characteristic animal and vegetable fossils. The specific -character of the tool-bearing gravel of the French Drift having been -determined, geologists and archæologists have sought for flint -implements in corresponding English strata, as they would seek for the -fossils of the same period, and with like success. Palæolithic -implements have been recovered in this manner in Suffolk, Bedford, -Hartford, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, and other districts in the south of -England. So entirely indeed has the man of the Drift passed beyond the -province of the archæologist, that in 1861 Professor Prestwich followed -up his _Notes on Further Discoveries of Flint Implements in Beds of -Post-Pleiocene Gravel and Clay_, with a list of forty-one localities -where gravel and clay pits or gravel beds occur, as some of the places -in the south of England where he thought flint implements might also by -diligent search possibly be found; and subsequent discoveries confirmed -his anticipations. It has been by the application of the same principle -to the drift and river-valley gravels of the New World that a like -success has been achieved. The result of a careful study of the -tool-bearing gravel of the Delaware may be thus summarised from recent -reports of trustworthy scientific observers. The Trenton gravel is a -post-glacial river deposit, made at a time when the river was larger -than its present volume. It represents apparently the latest of the -surface deposits of the upper Delaware valley;[54] and Dr. Abbott -remarks of it: “The melting of a local glacier in the Cattskill -Mountains would probably result, at the headwaters of the Delaware, in a -continued flood of sufficient volume, if supplemented by the action of -floating ice, to form the Trenton gravels.”[55] But these gravels are -now recognised as the youngest of the series of ancient -implement-bearing deposits. Underneath lies the older Columbia gravel, -which has also yielded—though in much fewer numbers,—palæoliths of -primitive types. The researches of Mr. Hilborne T. Cresson in the State -of Delaware have already been referred to; and from those results, as -well as from similar disclosures in Ohio and Indiana, it is no longer -doubted that reliable traces have been recovered of American man -contemporary with the mammoth and the mastodon; and—like the old -cave-dwellers of Cro-Magnon,—a hunter of the reindeer in the valley of -the Delaware. - -American archæologists have undoubtedly been repeatedly deceived by the -misleading traces of comparatively modern remains in deposits of some -geological antiquity; as in instances already referred to in the -California gravel beds. In these, indeed, ground and polished -instruments of stone, including a “plummet” of highly polished syenite, -“an exhibition of the lapidary’s skill superior to anything yet -furnished by the Stone age of either continent,”[56] are produced from -time to time from the same post-pliocene formation where the remains of -the elephant and mastodon abound. Dr. Abbott did not overlook the danger -to which the archæologist is thus exposed on a continent which, so far -as its aborigines are concerned, has scarcely yet emerged from its Stone -age. He accordingly remarked in his original report: “The chance -occurrence of single specimens of the ordinary forms of Indian relics, -at depths somewhat greater than they have usually reached, even in -constantly cultivated soils, induced me, several years since, to -carefully examine the underlying gravels, to determine if the common -surface-found stone implements of Indian origin were ever found therein, -except in such manner as might easily be explained, as in the case of -deep burials by the uprooting of large trees, whereby an implement lying -on the surface, or immediately below it, might fall into the gravel -beneath, and subsequently become buried several feet in depth; and -lastly, by the action of the water, as where a spring, swollen by spring -freshets, cuts for itself a new channel, and carrying away a large body -of earth, leaves its larger pebbles, and possibly stone implements of -late origin, upon the gravel of the new bed of the stream.” But there is -little difficulty in separating chance-buried neolithic or modern -implements from the genuine palæolithic celts or hatchets abundantly -present in the undisturbed gravel beds, from which they have been taken -on their first exposure. - -Professor Henry C. Lewis, of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, states -that “at the localities on the Pennsylvania Railroad, where extensive -exposures of these gravels have been made, the deposit is undoubtedly -undisturbed. No implement could have come into this gravel except at a -time when the river flowed upon it, and when they might have sunk -through the loose and shifting material. All the evidence points to the -conclusion that at the time of the Trenton gravel flood, Man, in a rude -state, with habits similar to those of the river-drift hunter of Europe, -and probably under a climate similar to that of more northern regions, -lived upon the banks of the ancient Delaware, and lost his stone -implements in the shifting sands and gravel of the bed of that -stream.”[57] To this Dr. Abbott adds: “At just such a locality as -Trenton, where the river widens out, traces of man, had he existed -during the accumulation of the gravel, would be most likely to occur. -This is true not only because there is here the greatest mass of the -gravel, and the best opportunities for examining it in section, but the -locality would be one most favourable for the existence of man at the -time. The higher ground in the immediate vicinity was sufficiently -elevated to be free from the encroachments of the ice and water, and the -climate, soil, and fauna are all such as to make it possible for man to -exist at this time in this locality.”[58] In 1878 the tusk of a mastodon -was found under partially stratified gravel at a depth of fourteen feet; -and Dr. Abbott states that, within a few yards of this, palæolithic -implements have been gathered, one at the same and three at greater -depths. Now that an intelligent interest has been awakened in the -subject, numerous labourers are enlisted in its elucidation. To this a -coherent unity has been given by the archæologists of the Peabody Museum -at Harvard, and the curators of the National Museum at Washington. The -results of a systematic inquiry by the latter into the localities and -numbers of examples of supposed palæolithic works of art already -recovered, have disclosed abundant confirmatory evidence. Special -attention was invited to the occurrence of surface-finds, as well as to -the depth and the geological indications of age in those recovered from -excavations or chance exposures under the surface. Of the superficial -examples the proof of the occurrence of stone implements of palæolithic -types over widely diffused areas, from New England to Texas, is -abundant. Much caution is required in the conclusions derived from such -implements found exposed, or in superficial deposits, on a continent -where weapons and implements of stone are still in frequent use. But -after the elimination of all doubtful examples, abundant evidence -remains of the presence of man on the American continent in a -Palæolithic as well as an early Neolithic age. An interesting _résumé_ -of recent evidence is embodied in the “Results of an Inquiry as to the -Existence of Man in North America during the Palæolithic Period of the -Stone Age,” by Mr. Thomas Wilson of the National Museum at -Washington.[59] - -It may still be a question whether the Palæolithic age of the New World -is equally remote with that of the eastern hemisphere. The date -approximately assigned thus far to the American Palæolithic era is, -geologically speaking, recent; and on that very account adapts itself to -other favoured assumptions, such as the supposed Eskimo pedigree derived -from the race of Europe’s Reindeer period. This chimes in with the old -idea of the American antiquary that the _Skrælings_ referred to in the -Eric Saga were Eskimo, as is far from improbable, though the assumption -rests on no definite evidence. Dr. Abbott accordingly reproduces the -statement of Professor Dawkins, in confirmation of the revived belief. -“We are without a clue to the ethnology of the river-drift man, who most -probably is as completely extinct at the present time as the woolly -rhinoceros or the cave-bear; but the discoveries of the last twenty -years have tended to confirm the identification of the cave-man with the -Eskimo.” Such a fanciful hypothesis once accepted as fact, its -application to American ethnology is easy; and so Dr. Abbott proceeds to -appeal unhesitatingly to evidence sufficient “to warrant the assertion -that the palæolithic man on the one hand, and the makers of the -argillite spear points on the other, stand in the relationship of -ancestor and descendant; and if the latter, as is probable, is in turn -the ancestor of the modern Eskimo: then does it not follow that the -River-drift and Cave-man of Europe, supposing the relationship of the -latter to the Eskimo to be correct, bear the same close relationship to -each other as do the American representatives of these earliest of -people?”[60] - -Such an appeal to European archæology can scarcely fail to suggest some -very striking contrasts thereby involved. As the thoughtful student -dwells on all the phenomena of change and geological revolution which he -has to encounter in seeking to assign to the man of the European Drift -his place in vanished centuries, his mind is lost in amazement at the -vista of that long-forgotten past. Yet inadequate as the intermediate -steps may appear, there are progressive stages. Amid all the -overwhelming sense of the vastness of the period embraced in the changes -which he reviews, the mind rests from time to time at well-defined -stations, in tracking the way backward, through ages of historical -antiquity, into the night of time, and so to that dim dawn of mechanical -skill and rational industry in which the first tool-makers plied their -ingenious arts. But, so far as yet appears, it is wholly otherwise -throughout the whole western continent, from the Gulf of Mexico -northward to the pole. North America has indeed a Copper age of its own -very markedly defined; for the shores and islands of Lake Superior are -rich in pure native copper, available for industrial resources without -even the most rudimentary knowledge of metallurgic arts. But the tools -and personal ornaments fashioned out of this more workable material are -little, if at all, in advance of the implements of stone; and, with this -exception, the primitive industry of North America manifests wondrously -slight traces of progression through all the ages now assigned to man’s -presence on the continent. - -The means available for forming some just estimate of the character of -native American art are now abundant. In the National Museum at -Washington; the Peabody Museum at Cambridge, Mass.; the Peabody Academy -at Salem; the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia; the American -Antiquarian Society at Worcester, Mass.; and in various Historical -Societies and University Museums throughout the States; the student of -American archæology has the means of obtaining a comprehensive view of -the native arts. At the Centennial Exposition of Philadelphia in 1876, -the various States vied with one another in producing an adequate -representation of the antiquities specially characteristic of their own -localities; and numerous valuable reports, of the Smithsonian -Institution, the United States Geographical Surveys, the Geological -Survey of Canada, and the Geological Surveys of various States, have -furnished data for determining the prehistoric chroniclings of the -northern continent. - -One of the latest publications of this class is Dr. Abbott’s own volume, -entitled _Primitive Industry: or Illustrations of the Handiwork in -Stone, Bone, and Clay of the native Races of the Northern Atlantic -Seaboard of America_. It is a most instructive epitome of North American -archæology. Notwithstanding the limits set in the title, works in metal -as well as in stone are included; and what are the results? Twenty-one -out of its twenty-three chapters are devoted to the detailed -illustrations of stone and flint axes, celts, hammers, chisels, -scrapers, drills, knives, etc. Fish-hooks, fish-spears, awls or bodkins, -and other implements of bone, pottery, pipes both in stone and clay, and -personal ornaments, receive the like detailed illustration; but nearly -all are in the rudest stage of rudimentary art. An advance upon this is -seen in the pottery of some southern states. That of the Mound-Builders -appears to have shown both more artistic design and better finish. The -carving in bone, ivory, and slate-stone of various western tribes, as -well as of the extinct Mound-Builders, was also of a higher character. -But taking them at their highest, they cannot compare in practical skill -or variety of application with the industrial arts of Europe’s Neolithic -age; and we look in vain for any traces of higher progress. For well -nigh four centuries, this continent has been familiar to European -explorers and settlers. During some considerable portion of that time, -by means of agricultural operations, and all the incidents consequent on -urban settlement, its virgin soil has been turned up over -ever-increasing areas. For nearly forty years I have myself watched, -with the curious interest of one previously familiar with the minute -incidents of archæological research in Britain, the urban excavations, -railway cuttings, and other undesigned explorations of Canadian soil. -Within the same period, both in Canada and the United States, extensive -canal, railway, and road-works have afforded abundant opportunities for -research; and a widespread interest in American antiquities has tended -to confer an even exaggerated importance on every novel discovery. And -with what result? Dr. Abbott, in crowning such explorations with his -interesting and valuable discovery of the turtle-back celts and other -implements of the Delaware gravel, has epitomised the prehistoric record -of the northern continent. The further back we date the presence of man -in America, the more marvellous must his unprogressive condition appear. -Whatever may be the ampler disclosures relative to the palæolithic or -primeval race, it does not seem probable that this northern continent -will now yield any antiquities suggestive of an extinct era of native -art and civilisation. Here we cannot hope to find a buried Ilium, or -Tadmor in the Wilderness. Everywhere the explorer wanders, and the -agriculturist follows, turning up the soil, or digging deeper as he -drains and builds; but only to disturb the grave of the savage hunter. -The Mound-Builders of its great river-valleys have indeed left there -their enduring earthworks, wrought at times in regular geometrical -configuration on a gigantic scale, strangely suggestive of some -overruling and informing mind guiding the hand of the earthworker. But -their mounds and earthworks disclose only implements of bone and flint -or stone, with here and there an equally rude tool of hammered native -copper. The crudest metallurgy of Europe’s Copper age was unknown to -their builders. The art of Tubal-cain, the primitive worker in brass and -iron, had not dawned on the mind of any native artificer. Only the -ingeniously carved tobacco pipe, or the better-fashioned pottery, gives -the slightest hint of even such progress beyond the first infantile -stage of the tool-maker as is shown in the artistic carvings of the -cave-men contemporary with the mammoth and the reindeer of post-glacial -France. - -The civilisation of Central and Southern America is a wholly distinct -thing; and, as I think, not without some suggestive traces of Asiatic -origin; but the attempts to connect it with that of ancient Egypt, -suggested mainly by the hieroglyphic sculpturing on their columns and -temples, find their confutation the moment we attempt to compare the -Egyptian calendar with that either of Mexico or Peru. Traces of worship -of the sun, the earliest of all forms of natural religion, have -undoubtedly been recovered among widely scattered tribes of North -America; but there is no evidence that it was accompanied with any -definite mensuration of the solar year, or the construction of a -calendar. The changes of the seasons sufficed for the division of the -year, not only into summer and winter, but into the diverse aspects of -the seasons from month to month; as is shown in the names given to the -“moons” in various native vocabularies. It was otherwise on the southern -continent, and among the civilised nations of Central America. But the -interblending of the science of astronomy with the religious rites of -the State produced the wonted results; and this was peculiarly the case -in Peru, with its equatorial site for the temple of the Sun-God; and his -seeming literal presence on his altar at recurrent festivals. There -accordingly, even as in ancient Egypt, the divine honours paid to the -heavenly bodies was an impediment to the progress of astronomical -observation. Eclipses were regarded with the same superstitious dread as -among the rudest savage nations; and the conservatism of an established -national creed must have proved peculiarly unfavourable to astronomical -science. The impediments to Galileo’s observations were trifling -compared with those which must have beset the Inca priest who ventured -to question the diurnal revolution of the sun round the earth, or to -solve the awful mystery of an eclipse by so simple an explanation as the -interposition of the moon between the sun and the earth. The Mexican -Calendar Stone, which embodies evidence of greater knowledge, was -believed by Humboldt to indicate unmistakable relations to the ancient -science of South-Eastern Asia. It is of more importance here to note the -shortness of the Mexican cycle, and the small amount of error in their -deviation from true solar time, as compared with the European calendar -at the time when the Spaniards first intruded on Montezuma’s rule. That -the Spaniards were ten days in error, as compared with the Aztec -reckoning, only demonstrates the length of time during which error had -been accumulating in the reformed Julian calendar of Europe; and so -tends to confirm the idea that the civilisation of the Mexicans was of -no very great antiquity. - -The whole evidence supplied by Northern archæology proves that in so far -as it had any civilisation of foreign origin, it must have been derived -from the South, where alike in Central and in Southern America, diverse -races, and a native civilisation replete with elements of progress, have -left behind them many enduring memorials of skill and ingenuity. But the -extremely slight and very partial traces of its influence on any people -of the northern continent would of itself suffice to awaken doubts as to -its long duration. The civilisation of Greece and Rome did indeed -exercise no direct influence on transalpine Europe; but long centuries -before the Romans crossed the Alps, as the disclosures of the lake -villages, the crannoges, the kitchen middens, and the sepulchral mounds -of Central and Northern Europe prove, the nations beyond their ken were -familiar with weaving, and with the ceramic and metallurgic arts; were -far advanced as agriculturists, had domesticated animals, acquired -systems of phonetic writing, and learned the value of a currency of the -precious metals. - -Midway between North America with its unredeemed barbarism, and the -southern seats of a native American civilisation, Mexico represents, as -I believe, the first contact of the latter with the former. A gleam of -light was just beginning to dawn on the horizon of the northern -continent. The long night of its Dark Ages was coming to a close, when -the intrusion of the Spaniards abruptly arrested the incipient -civilisation, and began the displacement of its aborigines and the -repetition of the Aryan ethnical revolution, which had already -supplanted the autochthones of prehistoric Europe. - -The publication in 1848 of the first volume of the _Smithsonian -Contributions to Knowledge_, devoted to the history and explorations of -the ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley, gave a wonderful -stimulus to archæological research in the United States. For a time, -indeed, much credulous zeal was devoted to the search for buried cities, -inscribed records, and the fancied recovery, in more or less modified -form, in northern areas, of the civilisation of the Aztecs; not -unmingled with dreams of Phœnician, Hebrew, Scandinavian, and Welsh -remains. The history of some of its spurious productions is not without -interest; but its true fruits are seen in numerous works which have -since issued from the American press, devoted to an accurate record of -local antiquities. So thoroughly has this already been carried out, that -it may now be affirmed that, to all appearance, the condition of the -Indian tribes to the north of Mexico, as shown in the rude arts of a -Stone age, scarcely at all affected in its character by their use of the -native copper of Lake Superior, represents what prevailed throughout the -whole northern continent in all the centuries—however prolonged,—since -the hunters in the Delaware valley fashioned and employed their -turtle-back celts. - -The condition of the nations of North America at the period of its -discovery, at the close of the fifteenth century, may be described as -one of unstable equilibrium; and nothing in its archæological records -points to an older period of any prolonged duration of settled progress. -The physical geography of the continent presents in many respects such a -contrast to that of Europe, as is seen in the steppes of Northern Asia, -though with great navigable rivers, which only needed the appliances of -modern civilisation to make them for the New World what the Euphrates -and the Tigris were to Southern Asia, and the Nile to Africa, in ancient -centuries. Those vast tablelands, the great steppes of Mongolia and -Independent Tartary, have ever been the haunts of predatory tribes by -whom the civilisation of Southern Asia has been repeatedly overthrown; -and from the same barbarian hive came the Huns who ravaged the Roman -world in its decline. Europe, on the contrary, nursed its youthful -civilisation among detached communities of its southern peninsulas on -the Mediterranean Sea; and in later ages has repeatedly experienced the -advantages of geographical isolation in the valleys of the Alps, in -Norway and Denmark, in Portugal, the Netherlands, and the British -Islands: where nations protected in their youth from predatory hordes, -and sheltered during critical periods of change, have safely passed -through their earlier stages of progress. - -All that we know or can surmise of the nations of North America, -presents a total contrast to this. In so far as the mystery of its -prehistoric Mound-Builders has been solved, we see there a people who -had attained to a grade of civilisation not greatly dissimilar to that -of the village communities of New Mexico and Arizona; and who had -settled down in the Ohio valley, perhaps while feudal Europe was still -only emerging from mediæval rudeness, if not at an earlier date. The -great river-valley was occupied by populous urban centres of an -industrious community. Agriculture, though prosecuted only with the -simplest implements, chiefly of wood and stone, must have been practised -on an extensive scale. The primitive arts of the potter were improved; -the copper abounding in the remote region on the shores of Lake Superior -was prized as a rarity; though metallurgy in its practical applications -had scarcely entered on its first stage. The nation was in its infancy; -but it had passed beyond the rude hunter state, and was entering on a -settled life, with all possibilities of progress in the future, when the -fierce nomads of the north swept down on the populous valley, and left -it a desolate waste. If so, it was but a type of the whole native -history of the continent. - -From all that can be gleaned, alike from archæological chroniclings, -Indian tradition, and the actual facts of history in the seventeenth and -eighteenth centuries, the condition of the whole population of the -northern continent has ever been the same. It might not inaptly be -compared to an ever-recurring springtide, followed by frosts that nipped -the young germ, and rendered the promised fruitage abortive. Throughout -the whole period of French and English colonial history, the influence -of one or two savage but warlike tribes is traceable from the St. -Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico; and the rival nations were exposed to -such constant warfare that it is more than doubtful if the natural -increase of population was latterly equal to the waste of war. Almost -the sole memorials of vanished nations are the names of some of their -mountain ranges and rivers. It is surmised, as already noted, that the -Allighewi, or Tallegwi, to whom the name common to the Alleghany -Mountains and river is traced, were the actual Mound-Builders.[61] If -so, the history of their overthrow is not wholly a matter of surmise. -The traditions of the Delawares told that the Alleghans were a powerful -nation reaching to the eastern shores of the Mississippi, where their -palisaded towns occupied all the choicest sites in the Ohio valley; but -the Wyandots, or Iroquois, including perhaps the Eries, who had -established themselves on the headwaters of the chief rivers that rise -immediately to the south of the great lakes, combined with the -Delawares, or Lenape nation, to crush that ancient people; and the -decimated Alleghans were driven down the Mississippi, and dispersed. -Some surviving remnant, such as even a war of extermination spares, may -have been absorbed into the conquering nation, after the fashion -systematically pursued by the Huron-Iroquois in the seventeenth and -eighteenth centuries. Nor is this a mere conjecture. Mr. Horatio Hale, -recognising the evident traces in the Cherokee language of a grammar -mainly Huron-Iroquois, while the vocabulary is largely recruited from -some foreign source, thinks it not improbable that the origin of the -Cherokee nation may have been due to a union of the survivors of the old -Mound-Builder stock with some branch of the conquering race; just as in -1649 a fugitive remnant of the Hurons from the Georgian Bay were adopted -into the Seneca nation;[62] and a few years later such of the captive -Eries as escaped torture and the stake were admitted into affiliation -with their conquerors.[63] - -The whole region to the east of the Mississippi, from the fifty-second -to the thirty-sixth degree of north latitude, appears to have been -occupied by the two great Indian stocks, the Algonquin-Lenape and the -Iroquois. But Gallatin, who directed special attention to the -determination of the elements of philological affinity between them, -recognised to the south of their region the existence of at least three -essentially distinct languages of extensive use: the Catawba, the -Cherokee, and that which he assumed to include in a common origin, both -the Muskhogee and the Choctaw.[64] But besides those, six -well-ascertained languages of smaller tribes, including those of the -Uchees and the Natchez, appear to demand separate recognition. Their -region differs essentially from those over which the Algonquin and -Iroquois war-parties ranged at will. It is broken up by broad river -channels, and intersected by impenetrable swamps; and has thus afforded -refuge for the remnants of conquered tribes, and for the preservation of -distinct languages among small bands of refugees. The Timucuas were the -ancient occupants of Florida; but they appear to have been displaced by -the Chatta-Muskogee nations; driven forth, as is surmised, from their -homes in the Ohio valley; and the older race is only known now by the -preservation of its language in works of the Spanish missionaries.[65] - -When the Ohio valley was first explored it was uninhabited; and in the -latter part of the seventeenth century the whole region extending from -Lake Erie to the Tennessee river was an unpeopled desert. But the -Cherokees were in the occupation of their territory when first visited -by De Soto in 1540; and they are described by Bertram in 1773, with -their great council-house, capable of accommodating several hundreds, -erected on the summit of one of the large mounds, in their town of Cowe, -on the Tanase river, in Florida. But Bertram adds: “This mound on which -the rotunda stands, is of a much ancienter date than the building, and -perhaps was raised for another purpose. The Cherokees themselves are as -ignorant as we are by what people, or for what purpose, these artificial -hills were raised.”[66] It would, indeed, no more occur to those -wanderers into the deserted regions of the Mound-Builders to inquire -into the origin of their mounds, than into that of the Alleghany -Mountains. - -If then it is probable that we thus recover some clue to the identity of -the vanished race of the Ohio valley, the very designation of the river -is a memorial of their supplanters. The Ohio is an Iroquois name given -to the river of the Alleghans by that indomitable race of savage -warriors who effectually counteracted the plans of France, under her -greatest monarchs, for the settlement of the New World. Their historian, -the late Hon. L. H. Morgan, remarks of the Iroquois: “They achieved for -themselves a more remarkable civil organisation, and acquired a higher -degree of influence, than any other race of Indian lineage except those -of Mexico and Peru. In the drama of European colonisation, they stood, -for nearly two centuries, with an unshaken front, against the -devastations of war, the blighting influence of foreign intercourse, and -the still more fatal encroachments of a restless and advancing border -population. Under their federal system, the Iroquois flourished in -independence, and capable of self-protection, long after the New England -and Virginia races had surrendered their jurisdictions, and fallen into -the condition of dependent nations; and they now stand forth upon the -canvas of Indian history, prominent alike for the wisdom of their civil -institutions, their sagacity in the administration of the league, and -their courage in its defence.”[67] But to characterise the elements of -combined action among the Six Nation Indians as wise civil institutions; -or to use such terms as league and federal system in the sense in which -they are employed by the historian of the Iroquois; is to suggest -associations that are illusory. With all the romance attached to the -League of the Hodenosauneega, they were to the last mere savages. When -the treaty which initiated the great league was entered into by its two -oldest members, the Mohawks and the Oneidas, the former claimed the name -of Kanienga, or “People of the Flint.” Whatever may have been the -precise idea they attached to the designation, they were, as they -remained to the last, but in their Stone period. Their arts were of the -rudest character, and their wars had no higher aim than the -gratification of an inextinguishable hatred. All that we know of them -only serves to illustrate a condition of life such as may have sufficed -through countless generations to perpetuate the barbarism which -everywhere reveals itself in the traces of man throughout the northern -continent of America. One nation after another perished by the fury of -this race, powerful only to destroy. The Susquehannocks, whose name -still clings to the beautiful river on the banks of which they once -dwelt, are believed to have been of the same lineage as the Alleghans; -but they incurred the wrath of the Iroquois, and perished. At a later -date the Delawares provoked a like vengeance; and the remnant of that -nation quitted for ever the shores of the river which perpetuates their -name. Such in like manner was the fate of the Shawnees, Nanticokes, -Unamis, Minsi, and Illinois. All alike were vanquished, reduced to the -condition of serfs, or driven out and exterminated. - -The tribes that lived to the west of the Mississippi appear to have been -for the most part more strictly nomad. The open character of the -country, with its vast tracts of prairie, and its herds of buffalo and -other game, no doubt helped to encourage a wandering life. The Crees, -the Blackfeet, the Sioux, Cheyennes, Comanches, and Apaches were all of -this class, and with their interminable feuds and perpetual migrations -rendered all settled life impossible. The Mandans, the most civilised -among the tribes of the North-West, abandoned village after village -under the continual attacks of the Sioux, until they disappeared as a -nation; and the little handful of survivors found shelter with another -tribe. - -All this was the work of Indians. The Spaniards, indeed, wasted and -destroyed with no less merciless indiscrimination. Not only nations -perished, but a singularly interesting phase of native civilisation was -abruptly arrested in Mexico, Central America, and Peru. The intrusion of -French, Dutch, and English colonists was, no doubt, fatal to the -aborigines whom they supplanted. Nevertheless their record is not one of -indiscriminate massacre. The relations of the French, especially with -the tribes with whom they were brought into immediate contact, were on -the whole kindly and protective. But as we recover the history of the -native tribes whose lands are now occupied by the representatives of -those old colonists, we find the Indians everywhere engaged in the same -exterminating warfare; and whether we look at the earlier maps, or -attempt to reconstruct the traditionary history of older tribes, we -learn only the same tale of aimless strife and extinction. When Cartier -first explored the St. Lawrence in 1535 he found large Indian -settlements at Quebec and on the island of Montreal; but on the return -of the French under Champlain, little more than half a century later, -there were none left to dispute their settlement. At the later date, and -throughout the entire period of French occupation, the country to the -south of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario was occupied by the Iroquois, -or Six Nation Indians, as they were latterly called. Westward of the -river Ottawa the whole region was deserted until near the shores of the -Georgian Bay; though its early explorers found everywhere the traces of -recent occupation by the Wyandot or other tribes, who had withdrawn to -the shores of Lake Huron to escape the fury of their implacable foes. - -At the period when the Hurons were first brought under the notice of the -French Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century they were -established along the Georgian Bay and around Lake Simcoe; and in so far -as the wild virtues of the savage warrior are concerned, they fully -equalled the Iroquois by whom they were at length driven out and nearly -exterminated. When Locke visited Paris in 1679 the narratives of the -Jesuit fathers had rendered familiar the unflinching endurance of this -race under the frightful tortures to which they were subjected by their -Iroquois captors; and which they, in turn, not only inflicted on their -captive foes, but on one after another of the missionaries whose devoted -zeal exposed them to their fury. We now read with interest this -reflection noted in Locke’s Journal, in which he recognises in these -savages the common motives of humanity; the same desire to win credit -and reputation, and to avoid shame and disgrace, which animates all men: -“This makes the Hurons and other people of Canada with such constancy -endure inexpressible torments; this makes merchants in one country and -soldiers in another; this puts men upon school divinity in one country -and physics and mathematics in another; this cuts out the dresses for -the women, and makes the fashions for the men, and makes them endure the -inconveniences of all.” The great English philosopher manifestly -entertained no doubt that the latent elements on which all civilisation -depends were equally shared by Indian and European. But the Hurons -perished—all but a little remnant of Christianised half-breeds now -settled on the St. Charles river below Quebec—in their very hour of -contact with European civilisation. - -Father Sagard estimated the Huron tribes at the close of their national -history, when they had been greatly reduced in numbers, as still between -thirty and forty thousand. But besides these there lay between them and -the shores of Lake Erie and the Niagara river the Tiontonones and the -Attiwendaronks, and to the south of the Great Lake the Eries, all of the -same stock, and all sharers in the same fate. Tradition points to the -kindling of the council-fire of peace among the Attiwendaronks before -the organisation of the Iroquois confederacy. Father Joseph de la Roche -d’Allyon, who passed through their country when seeking to discover the -source of the Niagara river, speaks of twenty-eight towns and villages -under the rule of its chief Sachem, and of their extensive cultivation -of maize, beans, and tobacco. They had won, moreover, the strange -character of being lovers of peace, and were styled by the French the -Neuters, from the desire they manifested to maintain a friendly -neutrality alike with the Hurons and the Iroquois. Of the Eries we know -less. In the French maps of the seventeenth century the very existence -of the great lake which perpetuates their name was unknown; but the -French fur-traders were aware of a tribe existing to the west of the -Iroquois, whose country abounded with the lynx or wild cat, the fur of -which was specially prized, and they designated it “La Nation du Chat.” -To their artistic skill are ascribed several remains of aboriginal art, -among which a pictorial inscription on Cunningham’s Island is described -as by far the most elaborate work of its class hitherto found on the -continent.[68] From the partial glimpses thus recovered of both nations -we are tempted to ascribe to them an aptitude for civilisation fully -equal to that of which the boasted federal league of the Iroquois gave -evidence. But they perished by the violence of kindred nations before -either the French or English could establish intercourse with them; and -their fate doubtless reveals to us glimpses of history such as must have -found frequent repetition in older centuries throughout the whole North -American continent. - -The legend of the peace-pipe, Longfellow’s poetic version of the Red -Indian Edda, founded on traditions of the Iroquois narrated by an -Onondaga chief, represents Gitche Manito, the Master of Life, descending -on the crag of the red pipestone quarry at the Côteau des Prairies, and -calling all the tribes together:— - - And they stood there on the meadow - With their weapons and their war gear, - Wildly glaring at each other. - In their faces stern defiance, - In their hearts the feuds of ages, - The hereditary hatred, - The ancestral thirst of vengeance. - -So far the picture is true to nature; but no dream of a millennial era -for the Red Man, in which all were thenceforth to live together as -brothers, can have fashioned itself in the mind of Indian seer. The -Sioux, the Crees, and the Blackfeet, still continued to nurse the same -feud of ages, and thirsted for each other’s blood, while European -emigrants crowd in to take possession of their vast prairies, destined -to become the granaries of the world. The buffalo, on which they mainly -depended for their food, and their téepees or tents, have vanished from -their prairies, and will ere long be as extinct as the fossil urus or -mastodon. The Red Man of the North-West exhibits no change from his -precursors of the fifteenth century; and for aught that appears in him -of a capacity for self-development, the forests and prairies of the -American continent may have sheltered hunting and warring tribes of -Indians, just as they have sheltered and pastured its wild herds of -buffaloes, for countless centuries since the continent rose from its -ocean bed. - -Only by prolonged hereditary feuds, more insatiable, and therefore more -destructive in their results than the ravages of tigers or wolves, is it -possible to account for such an unprogressive condition of humanity as -the archæological disclosures of the northern continent seem to reveal? -Its numerous rivers and lakes, and its boundless forests and prairies, -afforded inexhaustible resources for the hunter, and both soil and -climate have proved admirably adapted for agriculture. Still more, the -great copper region of Lake Superior provided advantages such as have -existed in few other countries of the known world for developing the -first stages of metallurgic art on which civilisation so largely -depends. Whether brought with them from Asia, or discovered for -themselves, the grand secret of the mastery of the ores by fire was -already familiar to Peruvian metallurgists, and not unknown to those of -Mexico. Unalloyed copper, such as that which abounds in the igneous -rocks of the Keweenaw peninsula on Lake Superior, is extremely difficult -to cast; and the addition of a small percentage of tin not only produces -the useful bronze alloy, but renders the copper more readily fusible. -This all-important secret of science the metallurgists of Peru had -discovered for themselves, and turned largely to practical account. The -pictured chronicles of the Mexicans throw an interesting light on the -value they attached to the products of this novel art. It appears from -some of their paintings that the tribute due by certain provinces was -paid in wedges of copper. The forms of these, as well as of chisels and -other tools of bronze, are simple, and indicate no great ingenuity in -adapting the moulded metal to the artificer’s or the combatant’s -requirements. The methods of hafting the axe-blade appear to have been -of nearly the same rude description as are in use by modern savages in -fitting the handle to a hatchet of flint or stone; and the whole -characteristics of their implements suggest the probability that their -metallurgy was a recently acquired art, derived from the civilised races -on whom they had intruded as conquerors. - -Such knowledge, partial as it was, must have been derived from the -south. Everywhere to the north of the Mexican Gulf we look in vain for -anything more than the mere hammered native copper, untouched by fire. -Dr. J. W. Foster does indeed quote Mr. Perkins, who himself possesses -sixty copper implements, including knives, spear heads, chisels, and -objects of anomalous form, as having arrived at the conclusion “that, by -reason of certain markings, it was evident that the Mound-Builders -possessed the art of smelting copper,”[69] but the illustrations -produced in proof of it scarcely bear out the opinion. The same idea has -been repeatedly advanced; but the contents of the Mounds amply prove -that if such a knowledge had dawned on their builders it was turned to -no practical account. Mr. Charles Rau, in his _Ancient Aboriginal Trade -in North America_, says: “Although the fire on the hearths or altars now -enclosed by the sacrificial mounds was sometimes sufficiently strong to -melt the deposited copper articles, it does not seem that this -proceeding induced the ancient inhabitants to avail themselves of fire -in working copper; they persisted in the tedious practice of hammering. -Yet one copper axe, evidently cast, and resembling those taken from the -mounds of Ohio, has been ploughed up near Auburn, in Cayuga, in the -State of New York. This specimen, which bears no trace of use, may date -from the earlier times of European colonisation. It certainly would be -wrong to place much stress on such an isolated case.”[70] The well-known -volume of Messrs. Squier and Davis furnishes illustrations of copper and -other metallic relics from the mounds of Ohio.[71] Mr. J. T. Short -engraves a variety of similar relics from Wisconsin, where they appear -to have been found in unusual abundance.[72] In the Annual Report of the -Historical Society of Wisconsin for 1878 the copper implements in their -collection are stated to number one hundred and ninety implements, -classified as spear or dirk heads, knives, chisels, axes, augurs, gads, -and drills, in addition to beads, tubes, and other personal ornaments -made out of thin sheets of hammered copper. Dr. J. W. Foster has -furnished illustrations of the various types from the valuable -collection of Mr. Perkins.[73] Colonel Charles C. Jones engraves a -specimen of the rarely known copper implements of Georgia;[74] and Dr. -Abbott shows the prevailing forms of the same class of relics found -along the whole northern Atlantic seaboard.[75] All tell the same tale -of rudest manipulation by a people ignorant of the working of metals -with the use of fire. - -And yet the native copper was ready to hand in a form and in quantity -unknown elsewhere. No such supplies of the pure metal invited the -industry of the first Asiatic or European metallurgists. The -Cassiterides yielded in abundance the ores of copper and tin, but these -had to be smelted and worked with all the accumulated results of -tentative skill before they yielded the copper or more useful bronze. By -whom or where this first knowledge was mastered is unknown: the tendency -is still to look to Asia, perhaps to Phœnicia, or to the still -undetermined cradle of the Aryans, wherever that may prove to have been, -for the birth of this phase of metallurgic art which constituted so -important a stage in early civilisation. Yet if the ancient American -missed it, it was not for want of opportunity. Examples of the -accidental fusion of copper by the sacrificial fires of the -Mound-Builders repeatedly occur in the mounds of the Ohio valley. But no -gifted native alchymist was prompt to read the lesson and turn it to -practical account. - -Asia and Europe appear to have passed by a natural transition, step by -step, from their rudest stages of lithic art to polished stone, and then -to implements of metal. Some of the steps were doubtless very slow. -Worsaae believed that the use of bronze prevailed in Denmark “five or -six hundred years before the birth of Christ.”[76] In Egypt it -undoubtedly was known at a greatly earlier date. I still incline to my -early formed opinion, that gold was the first metal worked. Found in -nuggets, it could scarcely fail to attract attention. It was easy to -fashion into shape; and some of the small, highly polished stone hammers -seem fitter for this than any other work.[77] The abundant gold -ornaments of the New World at the time of the discovery of Mexico and -Peru accord with this idea. The like attraction of the bright native -copper, is proved by its employment among the southern Indians for -personal ornaments; and in this way the economic use of the metals may -have been first suggested. - -From the working of gold nuggets, or of virgin copper, with the hammer, -to the smelting of the ores, was no trifling step; but that knowledge -once gained, the threshold of civilisation and true progress had been -reached. The history of the grand achievement is embodied in the -earliest myths both of the Old and the New World. Tubal-cain, Dædalus, -Hephæstus, Vulcan, Vœlund, Galant, the Luno or the Celtic Fingal, and -Wayland, the Saxon smith-god, are but legendary variations of the first -worker by whom the gift of metallurgy was communicated to man; and so -too the New World has its Quetzalcoatl, or Vœlund of the Aztecs, the -divine instructor of their ancestors in the use of the metals. But -whatever be the date of this wise instructor, no share of the knowledge -communicated by him to that favoured race appears to have ever -penetrated northward of the Mexican Gulf. - -It is vain to urge such dubious evidence as the fancied traces of a -mould-ridge, or the solitary example of a casting of uncertain age, in -proof of a knowledge of the furnace and the crucible among any North -American tribe. Everywhere in Europe the soil yields not only its buried -relics of gold, copper, and bronze, but also stone and bronze moulds in -which implements and personal ornaments were cast. When the ingenious -systematising of Danish archæologists had familiarised the students of -antiquity with the idea of a succession of Stone, Bronze, and Iron -periods in the history of Europe, the question naturally followed, -whether metallurgy did not begin, there, as elsewhere, in the easy -working of virgin copper. Dr. Latham accordingly remarked, in his -_Ethnology of the British Islands_, on the supposition that no unalloyed -copper relics had been found in Britain: “Stone and bone first; then -bronze, or copper and tin combined; but no copper alone. I cannot get -over this hiatus; cannot imagine a metallurgic industry beginning with -the use of alloys.” It was a mistake, however, to assume that no copper -relics had ever been found. At first it had been taken for granted that -all such implements were of the familiar alloy. But so soon as the -importance of the distinction was recognised, examples of pure copper -were forthcoming. So early as 1822, Sir David Brewster described a large -axe of peculiar shape, and formed of copper, which was found in the hard -black till-clay at a depth of twenty feet under Ratho Bog, near -Edinburgh. This is no solitary example. The Scottish Museum of -Antiquities has other implements of pure copper; and Sir William Wilde -states in reference to the collections of the Royal Irish Academy: “upon -careful examination, it has been found that thirty of the rudest, and -apparently the very oldest celts, are of red, almost unalloyed copper”; -as is also the case with some other rudely formed tools in the same -collection. - -It was a temporary advantage, doubtless, but a real loss, to the Indian -miners of Lake Superior that they found the native copper there ready to -hand, a pure ductile metal, probably regarded by them as only a variety -of stone which—unlike its rocky matrix,—they could bend, or hammer -into shape, without fracture. Its value as such was widely appreciated. -Copper tools, everywhere retaining the specs, or larger crystals of -silver, characteristic of the Lake Superior veins, tell of the diffusion -of the metal from that single source throughout all the vast regions -watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries, and eastward by lake and -river to the gulf of the St. Lawrence and the mouth of the Hudson. - -There was a time when this traffic must have been systematically carried -on; when the ancient miners of Lake Superior worked its rich copper -veins with industrious zeal; and when, probably as part of the same -aggressive energy, the valley of the Ohio was filling with a settled -population; its great earthworks were in process of construction, and a -native race entered on a course that gave promise of social progress. -But, from whatever cause, the work of the old miners was abruptly -terminated;[78] the race of the Mounds vanished from the scenes of their -ingenious toil; and rudest barbarism resumed its sway over the whole -northern continent. The same Aryan race that, before the dawn of -history, before the Sanskrit-speaking people of India, or the Zends of -Persia, entered on their southern homes, spoke in its own cradleland the -mother tongue of Sanskrit, Greek, Celtic, and German, at length broke up -and went forth on its long wanderings. Whatever peoples it found there; -they were replaced by Celts, Romans, Greeks, Slavs, and Teutons, who -broke in upon the barbarism of prehistoric Europe; displaced the older -races, Allophylian, Neolithic, Iberian, Finnic, or by whatever other -name we may find it convenient to designate them; but not without a -considerable intermingling of the old blood with that of the intruders. -The sparsely settled continent gradually filled up. Forests were -cleared, swamps drained, rivers confined by artificial banks and levées -to their channels; and there grew up in their new homes the Celtic, -Classic, Slavic, and Teutonic tongues, with all the varied culture and -civilisation which they represent. Agriculture, the special -characteristic of the whole Aryan race, flourished. They brought with -them the cereals; and, with plenty, the favoured race multiplied, till -at length it has grown straitened within the bounds of the old continent -which it had made its own. - -With the close of the fifteenth century one great cycle, that of -Europe’s mediæval era, came to an end; and then we trace the first -beginnings of that fresh scattering of the Aryan clan, and its new -western movement across the Ocean. It seems in a very striking manner -once more to repeat itself under our own eyes, as we look abroad on the -millions crowding from Europe and filling up the western wilderness; -hewing down the forests, cultivating the waste prairies, and everywhere -displacing the rude aborigines: yet here also not without some -interblending of the races; though the two types, Aryan and pre-Aryan, -meet under all the repellent influences of high civilisation and the -lowest barbarism. In the Canadian North-West alone, the young province -of Manitoba began its political existence with a population of between -10,000 and 12,000 half-breeds; in part at least, a hardy race of hunters -and farmers; the representatives of what is as certainly destined to -constitute an element in the new phases which the Aryan race already -begins to assume, under the diverse conditions of a new continent, as -that curious trace of Europe’s pre-Aryan people which attracted the -observant attention of Tacitus among the ancient Britons; and which we -are learning to recognise, with a new significance, as the Melanochroi: -the representatives of the old half-breed of Europe’s prehistoric dawn. - ------ - -[40] Gladstone, _Juventus Mundi_, pp. 474, 479. - -[41] _Indian Migrations_, p. 24. - -[42] _Types of Mankind_, p. 351. - -[43] _Early Man in Britain_, p. 241. - -[44] _Ibid._ p. 244. - -[45] _Alaska and its Resources_, p. 237. - -[46] _Prehistoric Europe_, p. 550. - -[47] _U.S. Geological Survey_, 1872, p. 652. _Report of National -Museum_, 1887, p. 683, Fig. 11535. - -[48] _Report of National Museum_, 1887, p. 678. - -[49] _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_, p. 140. - -[50] Vide _Prehistoric Man_, 3d ed. vol. i. p. 180, Fig. 54. - -[51] _Report of the Peabody Museum_, vol. ii., p. 38. - -[52] _Primitive Industry_, p. 471. - -[53] _Ibid._, p. 542. - -[54] _Primitive Industry_, p. 547. - -[55] _Ibid._, p. 545. - -[56] Foster’s _Prehistoric Races_, p. 55. - -[57] _The Antiquity and Origin of the Trenton Gravel_, p. 547. - -[58] _Primitive Industry_, p. 481. - -[59] _Report of Washington National Museum_, 1887-88, pp. 677-702. - -[60] _Primitive Industry_, p. 517. - -[61] _Indian Migrations as Evidence of Language_ (Horatio Hale), p. 21. - -[62] _Indian Migrations_, p. 22. - -[63] _Relations des Jésuites_, 1660, p. 7. Quebec ed. - -[64] _Archæologia Americana_, vol. ii. - -[65] Brinton, _Races and Peoples_, p. 254. - -[66] _Bertram’s Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, -etc._, 1791, p. 367. - -[67] _The League of the Iroquois_, p. 2. - -[68] Schoolcraft, _History of the Indian Tribes_, vol. ii., p. 78. - -[69] _Prehistoric Races of the United States_, p. 259. - -[70] _Smithsonian Report_, 1572, p. 353. The important word _not_ -supplied here, it is obvious from the context is absent by a mere -typographical error. - -[71] _Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley_, vol. i., pp. -196-207. - -[72] _The North Americans of Antiquity_, p. 95. - -[73] _Prehistoric Races of the United States_, pp. 251-259. - -[74] _Antiquities of the Southern Indians_, p. 225. - -[75] _Primitive Industry_, pp. 411-422. - -[76] _Primæval Antiquities_, p. 135. - -[77] _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, 1st ed. 1851, p. 214; 2d ed. vol. -i. - -[78] _Prehistoric Man_, 3rd ed. vol. i., pp. 203-228. - - - - - V - THE ÆSTHETIC FACULTY IN ABORIGINAL RACES - - -THE ingenious arts of the palæolithic cave-dwellers of the Vézère -abundantly prove that it needed no wanderers from the cradlelands of Old -World civilisation to that strange Atlantis lying in the engirdling -ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules, to engraft their artistic -capacities on the “Achoriens” by whom it was peopled. The innate faculty -for art has manifested itself in individuals and in nations, among -widely diverse Assyrian, Egyptian, Hellenic, Arabian, and mediæval -races, as in later Frank, Fleming, and Dane, with unaccountable -partiality. For its absence, or very subordinate manifestation, is seen -to be compatible with the highest intellectual triumphs in other -directions. The arts of Britain’s Allophyliæ manifest no instinctive aim -at a reproduction of familiar natural objects, such as is characteristic -of some races at a very primitive stage. Nor was it till a recent -generation that the stock from which Shakespeare and Newton sprung put -forth its first efforts at rivalling the great masters of the -Renaissance, or entering into competition with the skilled painters of -the Low Countries. It is otherwise with the nations of the New World. -The highest stage of civilisation attained there is a very partial one. -But among the various characteristics of the American aborigines which -invite attention, the very wide diffusion of an aptitude for imitative -art is one that merits careful study as typical of American man. It is -not, indeed, to be overlooked that if due allowance be made for the -narrow range in degrees of civilisation among the races of the New -World, the same diversity of racial characteristics is observable there -as elsewhere. The tendency, moreover, of civilisation is to efface, or -greatly to modify, such distinctions. Civilised nations habitually -borrow the arts and imitate the social habits of neighbouring races, or -accept some common standard of intellectual and moral pre-eminence. -Nevertheless, while the capacity for imitative art is neither peculiar -to the New World, nor characteristic of all its diverse nationalities, -it appears to be more generally diffused among the races of America than -elsewhere. It is prevalent among tribes in nearly every condition, from -the rude Indian nomad, or the Eskimo, to the semi-civilised Zuñi, and -the skilled metallurgists and architects of Central America and Peru. - -This development of a feeling for art in savage races is at all times -interesting as indicative of intellectual capacity and powers of -observation, even when manifested, as it frequently is, within a very -narrow range. It is by no means a general characteristic either of -savage or civilised man. Yet recent archæological discoveries prove it -to have been one of the earliest forms of intellectual activity among -the cave-dwellers of Europe’s palæolithic dawn. The most civilised -nations have differed widely in the manifestations of this æsthetic -faculty. The city of Dante was the Athens of the Middle Ages in art as -well as letters; while the land which gave birth to Shakespeare can -scarcely be said to have had a native school of painting or sculpture -till late in the eighteenth century. The like differences are observable -among barbarous nations. Races are met with, to whom the drawing of a -familiar object suggests no idea of the original; while others, in -nearly the same stage of savage life, habitually practise the -representation of natural objects in the decorative details of their -implements and articles of dress, and in the carvings which furnish -occupation for many leisure hours. - -A special interest attaches to the disclosures of archæology relative to -the prehistoric races of Europe, owing to the evidence thereby furnished -of striking resemblances in their arts and conditions of life to those -of uncultured races of our own day. In many respects it seems as though -the present condition of some existing races of America only repeats -that of Europe’s infancy. But so far as imitative art is concerned, the -analogy fails when the more recent contents of the barrows, cairns, and -grave mounds of prehistoric Europe are brought into comparison with -those of the New World. If, indeed, we leave behind us the age of -cromlechs, kistvaens, cairns, and barrows, and seek to estimate aright -the disclosures of artistic ability pertaining to the far more ancient -men of Europe’s Mammoth and Reindeer periods, it is otherwise. But, -before reviewing the wonderfully definite glimpses thereby furnished of -tribes of rude yet skilful hunters of that post-glacial world, it may be -of some help, in the comparisons which they suggest, to recall -impressions derived from a study of that Stone period in which the -natives of the British Islands appear to have approximated, in many -respects, to the Red Indian nomad of the American forest. - -One little-heeded point of evidence of this correspondence, to which I -long since drew attention, is to be found in the traces of artificial -modification of the head-form in ancient British crania; a comparison of -which with skulls recovered from Indian grave mounds helps to throw -light on the habits and social life of the British Islands in -prehistoric times. In illustration of this I may refer to an -exploration, now of old date. In the early summer of 1851, I learned of -the accidental exposure of a stone cist, in trenching a garden at -Juniper Green, a few miles distant from Edinburgh, and immediately -proceeded to the spot. There, under a slightly elevated knoll—the -remains, in all probability, of the ancient barrow,—lay a rude -sarcophagus of unhewn sandstone, within which was a male skeleton, still -in good preservation. The body had been laid on its left side, with the -arms folded over the breast, and the knees drawn up so as to touch the -elbows. A flat water-worn stone formed the pillow, from which the skull -had rolled to the bottom of the cist. Above the right shoulder stood a -gracefully formed clay vase, containing only a little sand and black -dust, the remains, it may be presumed, of food which it originally -contained when deposited there by affectionate hands, in some -long-forgotten century. It was recovered uninjured, and is now -deposited, along with the skull, in the Archæological Museum of -Edinburgh. - -The primitive grave, thus discovered within sight of the Scottish -capital, has a curious interest as a link connecting the present with a -remote past. But the special point which throws light on the habits of -the ancient race, is a parieto-occipital flattening, such as is of -common occurrence in skulls recovered from American ossuaries and grave -mounds. This feature is clearly traceable to the use of the cradle-board -in infancy. The mode of nursing the Indian papoose, by bandaging it on a -cradle-board, is specially adapted to the vicissitudes of a nomad forest -life. The infant is carried safely, slung on the mother’s back, leaving -her hands free; and in the pauses of her journey, or when engaged in -field work, it can be laid aside, or suspended from the branch of a -tree, without risk of injury. But one result of this custom is that the -soft bones of the skull are subjected to a continuous pressure in one -direction during the whole term of suckling, which is necessarily -protracted, among a nomad people, much longer than is usual in settled -communities; and to this cause is undoubtedly traceable the occipital -flattening of many skulls recovered from European cists and barrows. Dr. -L. A. Gosse, after discussing in his _Essai sur les déformations -artificielles du Crâne_ certain artificial modifications of the skull, -of common occurrence among the aborigines of the New World, thus -proceeds: “Passant dans l’ancient continent, ne tardons-nous pas à -reconnaître que ce berceau plat et solide y a produit des effets -analogues. Les anciens habitants de la Scandinavie et de la Calédonie -devaient s’en servir, si l’on en juge par la forme de leurs crânes.”[79] - -Full-sized representations of the Juniper Green skull, and others of the -same type, are given in _Crania Britannica_.[80] Bateman also, in his -_Ten Years’ Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Gravehills_, concurs with -earlier writers in ascribing to the use of the cradle-board the -flattened occiput observed in skulls recovered from British barrows. The -employment, indeed, of the cradle-board among prehistoric races of -Northern Europe, and their nomad life of which it is so characteristic a -feature, may now be considered as generally recognised. The implements -and pottery recovered from graves of the period show their constructors -to have been, for the most part, devoid of any knowledge of metals; or, -at best, in the mere rudimentary stage of metallurgic arts. But the -Juniper Green cist, that of the large Staffordshire barrow of Wotton -Hill, that of Roundway Hill, North Wilts, another of Green Lowe, -Derbyshire, and others described in the works above referred to, while -all disclosing evidence of correspondence in habits and social condition -between ancient races of the British Isles and the Indians of the New -World, also furnished characteristic examples of their fictile ware; and -here the analogy fails. There are, indeed, abundant specimens of broken -Indian pottery on many of their deserted village sites, which might be -mingled with the fragments of a like kind from early European grave -mounds without attracting special attention. Simple chevron and saltier -or herring-bone patterns, scratched with a pointed bone on the soft -clay, are common to both; and many of the more elaborate linear and bead -patterns of the primitive British potters reappear with slight variation -on the Indian ware. But besides those, few ancient Indian village sites -fail to yield fragments of pottery, including clay tobacco pipes, -ornamented with more or less rude imitations of the human face and of -familiar animals, such as the beaver, the bear, the lynx, and the deer. -Before my first visit to the American continent, while still preoccupied -with the arts of the ancient British savage, and the more graceful -devices of the metallurgists of Europe’s Bronze period, I noted the -prevalence of a conventional ornamentation, consisting mainly of -improvements on what may be called the accidents of manufacture, or -possibly of linear decorations borrowed from patterns of the plaiter or -knitter.[81] No attempt appears to have been made by the old European -decorator at such imitations of familiar natural objects as are now -known to have been practised among the far more ancient cave-dwellers of -Europe, the contemporaries of the mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros, and -which are familiar to us in the primitive arts of the New World. Objects -recovered from the mounds of the Ohio and the Mississippi valleys, as -well as the diversified products of the native artificers of Mexico and -Peru, attract special attention by their endless variety of imitative -design; and similar skill and ingenuity are apparent in the pottery, the -plaited manufactures, the stone and bone carvings, and even in many of -the great animal mounds and other earthworks of the North American -continent. An observant recognition of analogies, traceable in the -rhetorical construction of many American Indian holophrasms, appears to -be only another phase of this widely prevalent imitative faculty. At the -same time, whether we study the physical form or the intellectual -characteristics of native American races, it becomes more and more -apparent that the New World has been peopled from different centres, and -still presents essentially distinct types of race. It had its ferocious -Caribs, its Mexicans, with their revolting human sacrifices and other -bloody rites, and its stealthy, treacherous nomads, less courageous but -not less cruel. But it has also gentler races, in whom, as in the -Peruvians, the Zuñis, and others of the Pueblo Indians, the æsthetic -faculty predominates, and overlays with many a graceful concomitant the -utilitarian products of their industrial arts. - -Whether barbarous or civilised nations are classified in accordance with -their linguistic affinities, both are found to manifest other -specialties according with the diverse families of speech. The -differences which separate the Aryan from the Semitic races are not more -marked than the intellectual and moral divergencies among barbarous -tribes. But while this is apparent on the American continent, its -diverse races appear to be characterised by a more general aptitude for -artistic imitation than is observable elsewhere, except among the -long-civilised nations of the Old World, whose composite vocabularies -reveal the sources of many borrowed arts. The Peruvian potter sketched -and modelled endless quaint devices in clay; the Zuñian decorated his -gracefully fashioned ware with highly effective parti-coloured designs; -and the old Mound-Builder wrought in intaglio on his domestic and -sepulchral vessels conventional flower patterns; and in his miniature -sculptures reproduced the fauna of an area extending from the Ohio to -the Gulf of Mexico. Native artificers of widely different American races -manifest this imitative faculty. Not only is the Indian pipe sculptor -found copying animate and inanimate objects with an observant eye and a -ready hand, but even the linear patterns on pottery and straw -basket-work are frequently made to assume combinations obviously -suggested by flowers and other familiar objects of nature. The -perception of such analogies, and even the capacity for appreciating the -linear or pictorial representation of objects on a flat surface, varies -greatly in different races. Travellers have repeatedly described the -manifestation by savage races of an utter incapacity to comprehend -pictured representations. Mr. Oldfield, for example, tells how a large -coloured engraving of a native of New Holland was shown to some -Australians. “One declared it to be a ship, another a kangaroo, and so -on, not one of a dozen identifying the portrait as having any connection -with himself.”[82] The artistic faculty is unquestionably hereditary. -There are artistic families and artistic races. But if so, the pictorial -skill of the palæolithic cave-dwellers of Western Europe was not -transmitted to their successors. Guided not only by a comparison of -their tools and weapons with those of the Neolithic period, but also by -cranial and other physical evidence, we are led to assume the absence of -affinity between the men of the Perigord caves and the greatly more -modern races of Europe’s later Stone period; and their lack of the -imitative faculty, so characteristic of the elder race, adds -confirmation to this opinion. - -Artistic sympathies, and a capacity for high achievements in painting -and sculpture, are neither the direct results of civilisation, nor in -many cases the product of culture and training. From the days of Giotto, -the shepherd boy, to those of Thorwaldsen, Wilkie, and Turner, art-power -is not only seen to be a direct and exceptional gift of nature, but it -is frequently the product of a singularly partial intellectual -development. Leonardo da Vinci and Michael Angelo are examples of men of -rare and comprehensive genius, who sought in art the form in which to -give expression to their many-sided powers. But, on the other hand, -instances are not rare of artists like Thorwaldsen or Turner, who, -except within the range of their own special art, seemed exceptionally -defective in the exercise of ordinary mental powers. The same is true of -races as of individuals. Some show an aptitude for art wholly wanting in -others, who nevertheless equal or surpass them in more important -qualities. The æsthetic faculty may, indeed, be described as curiously -capricious in its manifestations. The Papuans of New Guinea and of New -Caledonia, a race of Negrillos, in some points presenting analogies to -the Australian, are nevertheless remarkable for a seemingly instinctive -ingenuity and aptitude for art. Mr. Wallace describes them as -contrasting with the Malay race in the habitual decoration of their -canoes, houses, and almost every domestic utensil, with elaborate -carving. The Fijians, who are allied to this Negrillo race, present in -many respects an unfavourable contrast to the true Polynesian. In their -physiognomy and whole physical aspect they are inferior to other island -races of the Pacific; and are further notable for repulsive habits and a -general condition of social and moral degradation. But their ferocity -and the cruel customs in which they so strikingly differ from the Malays -are vices of a vigorous race. They have frequently been observed to -indicate energy capable of being directed to useful ends, as has been -the case with the Maori cannibals of New Zealand, and was seen of old in -the Huns and the Northmen, whose descendants are now among the most -civilised races of the world. It is obvious, at any rate, that the -savage vices of the Fijians are compatible with considerable skill in -such arts as pertain to their primitive condition. Their musical -instruments are superior to those of the Polynesians, and include the -pan-pipe and others unknown in the islands beyond their range. Their -pottery exhibits great variety of form; and some of the vessels combined -in groups present a curious correspondence to familiar examples of -Peruvian art. Their fishing-nets and lines are remarkable for neat and -skilful workmanship, and they carry on agriculture to a considerable -extent. “Indeed,” remarked the ethnologist of the United States -Expedition, in summing up the characteristics of the Fijians, “we soon -began to perceive that the people were in possession of almost every art -known to the Polynesians, and of many others besides. The -highly-finished workmanship was unexpected, everything being executed -until recently, and even now for the most part, without the use of iron. -In the collection of implements and manufactures brought home by the -Expedition, the observer will distinguish in the Fijian division -something like a school of arts for the other Pacific islands.” - -All this has to be kept in view, in any attempt to gauge the -intellectual development, or determine the degree of civilisation, of -the palæolithic draughtsmen and carvers of the Garonne. One of the -scenes introduced by M. Figuier, in the fanciful illustrations of his -_L’Homme primitif_, represents a group of artists, such as, except for -their costume, might have been sketched from the students of the École -des Beaux Arts. Their mode of work was probably much more akin to the -intermittent labours of the Indian, whose elaborately sculptured pipe is -laid aside, and resumed again—often after prolonged intervals,—before -it receives the finishing touch. But though the drawings and the -carvings of those primitive artists alike manifest remarkable skill and -observant imitation, the former are the objects of special interest. -Their carvings appear to have been executed, with rare exceptions, for -the decoration of favourite implements and weapons, in accordance with a -practice common to many diverse races and conditions of society. But the -drawings have no such motive. They more nearly correspond to the sketch -or drawing from nature of the modern artist; and furnish evidence of -peculiar attributes, strikingly distinguishing the race of that remote -age from most others that have succeeded them. - -Certain it is that, so far as present evidence goes, the greatly -prolonged Neolithic period was characterised by no such artistic feeling -or imitative skill. Specimens of the ingenious handiwork of the -artificers of Europe’s later Stone age abound. We have numerous relics -from the kitchen middens of Denmark, the pile villages of Switzerland, -the crannoges of Scotland and Ireland, as well as the varied contents of -cromlechs, cists, cairns, and barrows, diligently explored throughout -Europe. But no such examples of carvings, or graven representations of -animals or other natural objects, have been found. The “clay in the -hands of the potter” is a familiar symbol of plastic response to the -will of the designer. It is, indeed, easier for the practised modeller -to fashion the clay into any desired form, than to draw it, subject to -rules of perspective, on a flat surface. Linear devices and the -representation of objects in intaglio, or in low relief, are also -accomplished with great facility on the soft clay. Hence the art of -diverse races, periods, and stages of progress, finds its aptest -illustration in fictile ware; and the imitative faculty of widely -different American races may be studied in their pottery. In Mexico, -apparently, we have to look for the northern school of ceramic art. -There, the aggressive races of the North first came in contact with the -civilisation of Central America; and the native aptitude for imitative -representation received a fresh impulse. The Indian modeller learned to -work skilfully in clay; and the variety of design, combined with the -quaint humour of the caricaturist, displayed in many of the Mexican -terra-cottas, serves to indicate this class of work as specially -significant in relation to the present inquiry. The inventive fancy and -skill of the Peruvian potter illustrates in ampler variety the progress -achieved by the races of the southern continent. But this will more -fitly come under review along with other examples of modern native art. -For no analogous traces of contemporary modelling in clay furnish -material for comparison with the art of the Palæolithic era; though the -skill of its bone and ivory carvers was in no degree inferior to that of -the Mexican or Peruvian modeller. But the æsthetic aptitude of that old -race of Europe’s intellectual dawn is in some respects unique. In so far -as their ingenious arts furnish any evidence of true racial -characteristics, the men of the Neolithic era inherited none of their -æsthetic feelings; nor did the imitative faculty manifest itself with -exceptional power until the advent of the Aryan races brought with it -the potentialities of Hellenic inspiration. - -The absence of nearly every trace of imitative art in the prehistoric -remains of Britain has already been noted. It made a strong impression -on my mind at an early stage of my archæological researches; for this -characteristic of European art extends over a period of greatly -prolonged duration, marked by the advent and disappearance of races, -dissimilar alike in physical and mental characteristics. We have the -laboriously finished implements of neolithic art, the pottery of at -least two distinct races seemingly prior to the Celts, and then the -graceful artistic productions of the Bronze period, but still only the -rarest traces of any effort at imitation. Long before the imitative arts -of the American continent were known to me otherwise than from -description, I remarked, of the archaic art of the first British -metallurgists: “The ornamentation consists, almost without exception, -only of improvements on the accidents of manufacture. The incised -decorations of the pottery appear, in many cases, to have been produced -simply by passing twisted cords round the soft clay. More complicated -designs, most frequently consisting of chevron, saltire, or herring-bone -patterns, where they are not merely the results of a combination of such -lines, have been suggested, as I conceive, by the few and -half-accidental patterns of the industrious female knitter. In no single -case is any attempt made at the imitation of a leaf or flower, of -animals, or any other simple objects.”[83] At the date of those remarks -the art of Europe’s Palæolithic era was unknown; but with the arts of -other primitive races, and especially those of the American continent, -in view, I then added: “It is curious, indeed, and noteworthy, to find -how entirely every trace of imitative art is absent in British archaic -relics; for it is by no means an invariable characteristic of primitive -arts.” Dr. Hoffman, when commenting on aboriginal American art among the -Indians of California, adds: “I have not met with any attempts at -objective drawings or etchings which may be attributed to the Tshuma -Indians, who were the former occupants of the island;[84] but -ornamentations upon shells and bone beads, soap-stone pipes, shell -pendants, and other ornaments, seem to consist entirely of straight or -zigzag lines, cross-lines, circles,” etc. The earliest examples of -native metallurgy in Britain are to be found in the works of the -primitive goldsmith; but the same conventional ornamentation which -occurs on early pottery, is characteristic of the beautiful personal -ornaments of gold belonging, for the most part, to the first period of -working in metals. It is not till a late stage of the European Bronze -period that imitative art reappears, and zoomorphic decorations become -common. - -The discovery in 1868, and subsequent years, of numerous specimens of -the artistic ability of the cave-men of palæolithic Europe, revealed a -singularly interesting phase of primitive history. Remains of the -so-called “Reindeer period” are now familiar to us from many localities; -for the range of this animal in palæolithic times appears to have -extended from the Baltic to the Pyrenees. But a special interest was -conferred on the first disclosures by the locality itself, where the -Vézère, an affluent of the river Dordogne, winds its way through the -cretaceous limestone, in which occur numerous caves and rock-shelters, -rich in remains of primitive art. In this region of South-western -France, where many historical and legendary associations carry the fancy -back to elder centuries, the Dordogne unites with the Garonne at its -estuary below Bordeaux. The upper waters of the Dordogne form the -boundary between Limousin and Auvergne, and the Vézère is one of its -highest tributaries in Limousin. There, nearly in the latitude of -Montreal, but with the genial climate which, throughout the whole -historic period, has characterised Southern France, lie the caves of -Cro-Magnon, La Moustier, Gorge d’Enfer, Laugerie Haute and Basse, and La -Madelaine: the long-sealed art galleries of prehistoric Gaul. The -reindeer and the aurochs haunted its forests; the woolly rhinoceros and -the mammoth still frequented its glades; and the long-extinct fossil -horse was not only an object of the chase, but was possibly already -subdued to the companionship and service of man. Such, at least, is the -idea suggested by a scene graven on the portion of a baton or staff, -found by M. Lartet and Mr. Christy in La Madelaine cave, which -represents a man between two horses’ heads, apparently walking past, -with a staff or spear over his shoulder. Nor were those man’s sole -contemporaries. - -The drawings of the ancient cave-men are of varying degrees of merit, -showing the efforts of the unskilled tyro as well as of the practised -artist. Some of the examples found at Laugerie Basse—as, for instance, -the assumed representation of an ibex, with its legs folded as if -sitting,—are the crude efforts of unpractised draughtsmen, and would -compare unfavourably with many examples of graphic art, the work of -modern Eskimo and Indian gravers and draughtsmen. But other -specimens—such as the mammoth from La Madelaine cave, and the Alpine -ibex and reindeers from Laugerie Basse, in Southern France, and, still -more, the remarkably spirited drawing of the reindeer grazing, from the -Kesserloch, near Thayingen, sketched on a piece of reindeer -horn,—evince powers of observation, and a freedom of hand in sketching -from nature, such as would be found exceptional among pupils of our best -training schools of art. On this point my friend, Sir Noel Paton, writes -me: “I entirely concur in your view as to the immense superiority as -works of art of the engravings on horn and ivory found in the -prehistoric caves, over any modern work of the same kind which I have -seen, executed by the Eskimos or other savage, tribes of our own day. As -compared with the latter, the prehistoric productions are like the swift -and direct studies from nature of Landseer, compared with the laboured -scrawlings from memory of a rather dull schoolboy.” - -I have elsewhere drawn attention to the fact that some of the drawings -of the Perigord cave-men and their palæolithic contemporaries, -especially, among the latter, the Kesserloch sketch of a reindeer -grazing, are left-hand drawings.[85] So far as this class of evidence is -of value, the examples from the caves in the valley of the Vézère are -exceptionally numerous. There, it may be, a family, or possibly a tribe, -dwelt, among whom left-handedness prevailed to an unusual extent, along -with a degree of skill and dexterity, such as is frequently found to -accompany the instinctive use of the left hand. - -In this, as in other respects, the recovery of evidences of a -well-developed æsthetic faculty among the men of Europe’s Mammoth and -Reindeer period, furnishes materials for many suggestive inferences; for -we shall very imperfectly estimate the significance of the primitive -drawings so unexpectedly discovered, if we regard them as no more than -the pastimes of those ancient cave-men, whose artistic ability they so -unmistakably reveal. They are rather to be classed with the -picture-writing of the American aborigines—including its most advanced -Mexican stage abundantly illustrated in Lord Kingsborough’s folios,—as -one of the primitive supplements of language among uncultured races. As -such it is a form of visible speech, and an important step in advance of -the stage of gesture-language. The historical value of the palæolithic -drawings is indisputable. They furnish a record, more trustworthy than -any written chronicle, of the strange conditions of life in a region -familiar to us throughout the whole historic period for its genial -climate and social civilisation. It is in this aspect, as a contemporary -chronicling of current events, that palæolithic art has its chief value. -It furnishes a graphic picturing of the habits of life, and of many of -the attendant circumstances of that remote period, recorded with such -vivid truthfulness, that we realise very definitely the character of its -long-extinct fauna, and, to some considerable extent, the occupations -and modes of life of the cave-men by whom they were hunted, and in -leisure hours were reproduced graven or carved, on bone, horn, or ivory, -or traced in free outline on slabs of schist or other soft stone. - -Viewed simply as examples of imitative art among a people still in the -rudest Stone age, the drawings are significant and instructive. They -furnish evidence of observation and artistic capacity, and consequently -of intellectual powers capable of very different results from anything -that could be realised in the absence of all knowledge of metallurgy, or -of anything beyond the crudest appliances for developing mechanical -skill. The conditions of climate probably forbade any attempt at -agriculture. They were hunters, fowlers, fishers, subsisting mainly, if -not wholly, by the chase. They not only successfully pursued the wild -horse, the reindeer, and other swift-footed herbivora, but assailed the -cave-bear, the cave-lion, and other formidable carnivora, as well as the -huge rhinoceros and the mammoth. They also made excursions to the -sea-shore, and no doubt left there shell mounds similar to those which -have been explored with such interesting results on the Danish coast; -and which have their New World equivalents on the seaboards of -Massachusetts, Georgia, and Florida, where at certain seasons the -Indians resorted to feast on the shell-fish. From their drawings and -carvings we not only learn this, but also that they were not unfamiliar -with the whale, the seal, and other marine fauna. The presence of the -whale and seal in the same latitude as the reindeer need not surprise -us. The occupation of Europe by palæolithic man contemporary with the -_Elephas primigenius_ and other extinct mammalia, belongs to an era when -the relative levels of sea and land, and the relations of the Atlantic -coast-line to the ancient continent, differed widely from their present -conditions. If the genial current of the Gulf Stream then reached the -shores of Europe, its influence extended over areas very diverse from -those now affected by it. But the range of the fauna of that Palæolithic -era was a wide one. Tusks of the mammoth and antlers of the reindeer -occur in the Scottish boulder-clay; and the discovery of skeletons of -the whale far inland in the carse of Stirling, accompanied in more than -one case by implements made of perforated stag’s horn, tells of the -presence of the Greenland whale on the ancient Scottish sea coast, while -the stag haunted its forests, and the Allophylian savage paddled his -canoe in estuaries marked for us now by old sea-margins that preceded -the last great rise of the land. Skulls and horns of the elk occur in -the Scottish peat-bogs, seemingly indistinguishable from those of the -_Cervus alces_, or North American moose.[86] As to the reindeer, not -only are its remains found in Scottish mosses and the underlying marl, -but they have been dug up in the ruined brochs, as at Cill-Trolla, -Sutherlandshire, and Keiss in Caithness. The favourite haunts of the -Greenland whale are in seas encumbered with floating ice; and when they -were stranded in the estuary of the Forth by a tide rising on a -shore-line now nearly thirty feet above the tide-mark of the present -day, the highlands of Scotland were capped with perpetual snow, and -great changes of level had still to occur. But neither the whale nor the -Eskimo retreated within the Arctic circle because they could only be at -home among polar ice and snow. Remains of the whale in Scottish kitchen -middens of greatly more modern date show that it must have haunted the -Scottish shores when the temperature of the surrounding ocean differed -little from that of the present day. There is preserved in the Museum of -the Scottish Antiquaries a drinking-cup fashioned from the vertebra of a -whale, which was found in a weem, or subterranean dwelling, on the Isle -of Eday, Orkney, along with implements of stone, horn, bone, bronze, and -iron; and other evidences of the presence of the whale in the Scottish -seas are of frequent occurrence. - -As to the ivory of the narwhal and the rostungr, or walrus, it was in -use by Scoto-Scandinavian carvers after the disappearance of the -reindeer from Scotland. A curious large sword, probably of the -fourteenth century, at Hawthornden, near Edinburgh, has the hilt made of -the narwhal’s tusk; and the famous Lewis chessmen, found at Uig in the -Isle of Lewis, as well as examples of chess and tablemen recovered from -time to time in other Scottish localities, are all made of the walrus -ivory, the “huel-bone” of Chaucer. But when the whale haunted the shores -to which the hunters of the Perigord resorted, it is doubtful if Britain -was an island. In that age of the mammoth and the reindeer of the -Pyrenees, when art flourished in the valley of the Vézère, and men, -scarcely less strange than the long-extinct fauna on which they preyed, -sheltered in their rock-dwellings from the ice and snow, the relative -levels of sea and land, and the lines of the Atlantic coast, bore no -relation to their present aspect; for the old region of ice and snow was -what is now familiar to us as the vine-clad sunny land of France. All -this we learn from the archæological remains of those old times, and -especially from the carvings and gravings which, happily for us, were -then executed, whether for pastime or as actual records. Like many of -the native races of the American continent at the present day, the old -cave-dwellers employed their leisure time in carving in bone, horn, or -ivory; and like them too, as we believe, they applied their skill in -graphic art as a means of recording events and communicating facts to -others. The broad palinated antlers of the reindeer, prepared sections -of mammoth ivory, and slabs of schist, all furnished tablets on which -they not only delineated the objects of the chase, but incidents and -observations of daily experience. And if so, we have in such drawings -the germ of ideographic symbolism, and of hieroglyphic writing. By just -such a process of recording facts in a form readily intelligible to -others, the early dwellers in the Nile valley originated the mode of -object-drawing and ideographic chronicling, from which hieroglyphic, -demotic, and ultimately, phonetic writing were evolved. - -It is not solely by inference that we are led to surmise that the -ingenious draughtsmen of Southern France had a higher aim than mere -pastime in some, at least, of their graphic devices. The relics -recovered from the ancient caves include what appear to be tallies and -numerical records, unmistakably indicative, not only of a method of -numeration, but of the growth of a system of mnemonic symbolism, and -distinctive graven characters, not greatly inferior to the primitive -alphabets of Celtic or Scandinavian lithology. It is curious, indeed, to -find in use in Europe’s early Post-Glacial period symbols which, but for -their undoubted execution by the ancient cave-men of Aquitania, might be -assigned with every probability to some Druid scribe, familiar with the -ogham characters of the Gauls and British Celts. Among the objects -recovered from the Dordogne caves, including tallies and inscribed -tablets of horn and ivory, with their enumeration in simple units, M. -Broca specially noted a deer’s tyne, marked with a series of notches, -which he assumed to be a hunter’s memoranda of the produce of the chase. -A more complex record, found in the rock-shelter of Gorge d’Enfer, is -inscribed on a plate of ivory. Its groups of horizontal and oblique -lines along the edges, and symmetrical rows of dots on the flat surface, -combine to furnish a record graven in characters as well-defined as many -a runic or ogham inscription. If it be no more than the memoranda of a -successful hunt, with a classification of the different kinds of game -secured for distribution among the members of the tribe, it is not -greatly inferior to the early system of numeration among the Egyptians. -But when such a piece of arithmetic was supplemented by a pictorial -record of the hunt; or by the incident, so acceptable to a bevy of -hunters over their camp-fire, of the fight of the male deer in the -rutting season; or the charge of the enraged elephant with elevated -trunk, trumpeting wrath and defiance: much had been accomplished that -admits of comparison with records of the modern penman.[87] - -It is difficult for the men of a lettered age, with all the facilities -of the printing-press in fullest use, to realise the condition of -intellectual activity, or the natural modes of its expression, among an -unlettered people. The transmission of Homeric or Ossianic poems, of a -Niebelungen Lied or an Albanic Duan, from generation to generation, by -the mere aid of memory, is scarcely conceivable to us now. Yet I recall -the account given by Ozahwahguaquzuebe, an Ojibway Indian, who told of -his habitually accumulating his tobacco till he saved enough to bribe an -aged chief of the tribe to repeat to him, again and again, in all its -marvellous details, the legend of Nanaboozo and the post-diluvial -creation, in order that he might be able, in his turn, to recount it in -full, as it had come down from elder generations of his people. - -There are some results of the introduction of the printing-press still -very partially appreciated. Its direct influence on social and -intellectual progress receives ample recognition; but not so all -indirect influences traceable to its operations. In elder centuries, -before Gutenberg and Faust superseded the labours of the scribe, not a -few ballad-epics and lyrics were consigned to the wandering minstrels, -to whose tenacious memories we are so largely indebted. But there were -other avenues in those old centuries for fancy and passion, not greatly -dissimilar to those by which the observation and descriptive powers of -the post-glacial Troglodytes found vent. It is vain for a Pugin or a -Ruskin to bewail the mechanical character of modern art. It was easier -for the mediæval satirist to find free scope for his humour in a -sculptured corbel, or on a boss of the beautiful groined ceiling, or to -carve his grosser caricature within easy access under the _miserere_ in -the choir, than to spend long hours at his lectern in the scriptorium, -committing his fancies with laborious pains to less accessible -parchments. And so, both satires and sermons were then graven in stone, -which now find utterance in ways more suited to the age in which we -live:— - - For nature brings not back the Mastodon, - Nor we those times. - -Taste and fancy have now a thousand avenues at their command for the -humour and satire which mingled, in quaint incongruity with the devout -aspirations inwrought into mediæval architecture. With the revival of -learning, and the introduction of the printing-press, came the -Renaissance. Europe renounced mediæval art as “Gothic.” Classic, or what -passed for classic art, ruled for the next three centuries. Architecture -became more and more mechanical; while æsthetic taste sought elsewhere, -and more especially in the novel arena of the printing-press, for -avenues where it could sport in unrestrained freedom. - -The ingenious skill of the palæolithic artists and tool-makers, who -wrought in their rock-shelters and limestone caves, in that remote era -when the climate along the northern slope of the Pyrenees resembled that -of Labrador at the present day, has naturally awakened a lively -interest. The rigour of the climate during a greatly prolonged winter -prevented their obtaining stone or flint for purposes of manufacture. -They wrought, accordingly, in bone, in mammoth ivory, and in the horn of -the reindeer, fashioning from such materials their lances, fish-spears, -knives, daggers, and bodkins; turning to account the deer’s tynes for -tallies; and carving out of the larger bones what are assumed to have -been maces or official batons, elaborately ornamented with symbolic -devices designed for other purposes than mere decoration. - -The Eskimo are recognised as presenting the nearest type to the cave-men -of Europe’s Post-Glacial era. It is even possible that, like the natives -of Labrador, the latter may have occupied winter snow-huts, and only -resorted to their cave-shelters during the brief heat of a semi-arctic -summer. This, however, is rendered doubtful by the occurrence of -reindeer horns and bones of young fawns, along with others of such -varying age as to indicate the presence of the hunter during nearly -every season of the year. Among a people so situated the industrial arts -are called into constant requisition, alike for clothing and tools; and -the experience of the hunter directs him to the products of the chase -for the easiest supply of both. The pointed horn of the deer furnished -the ready-made dagger, lance head, and harpoon; the incisor tooth of the -larger rodents supplied a more delicately edged chisel than primitive -art could devise; and the very process of fracturing the bones of the -larger mammalia, in order to obtain the prized marrow, produced the -splinters and pointed fragments which an easy manipulation converted -into daggers, bodkins, and needles. The ivory of walrus, narwhal, or -elephant is readily wrought into many desirable forms, and is less -liable to fracture than flint or stone; and all those materials are -abundant in the most rigorous winters, when the latter are sealed up -under the frozen soil. Implements of horn or bone may therefore be -assumed to have preceded all but the rudest flint celts and -hammer-stones or unwrought missiles; and although, owing to the nearly -indestructible nature of their material, it is from the latter that our -ideas of primeval tool-making are chiefly derived, enough has been -recovered from contemporary cave deposits to confirm the analogy of -their arts to those of the hyperborean workmen of the North American -continent. - -The necessity which, to a large extent, determined the material of the -ancient workers in bone and ivory, was favourable to the development of -the imitative faculty. The ingenious ivory and bone carvings of the -Tawatins and other tribes of British Columbia, of the Thlinkets of -Alaska, and the Eskimo, equally suffice, with the examples of European -palæolithic art, to show how favourable such material was to the -development of artistic feeling, which must have lain dormant had the -artificers been limited to flint and stone. The same influence may be -seen in operation in many stages of art: as in massive but bald Gothic -structures, such as St. Machar’s Cathedral on the Dee, where the -builders were limited to granite, while contemporary architecture in -localities where good sandstone or limestone abounds is rich in -elaborate details; and, where the soft and easily wrought Caen stone is -available, runs to excess in the florid exuberance of its carvings. - -The ingenious artist of the Palæolithic era not only ornamented the -hafts of his tools and weapons with representations of familiar objects -of the chase, but is also accredited with carving, on his mace or baton, -symbolic emblems expressing the rank and official duties of the owner. -The analogous practice of the Haidahs of the Queen Charlotte Islands at -the present day shows that there is nothing inconsistent with primitive -thought in the symbolic, significance assigned to some of the carved -batons; and, if so, we have there examples of imitative art employed in -a way which involved the germ of ideographic graving or picture-writing. -The mere fact of pictorial imitation implies the interpretation of its -representations. Eskimo implements are to be seen in various -collections, as at Copenhagen and Stockholm, in the British Museum, in -those of San Francisco and the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, -ornamented with representations of adventures incident to their habits -of life. An Arctic collection, presented by Captain Beechy to the -Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, furnishes interesting illustrations of the -skill of the Eskimo draughtsman. The carvings and linear drawings -represent, for the most part, incidents in the life of the polar hunter; -and this is so effectively done that, as Captain Beechy says: “By -comparing one with another, a little history was obtained which gave us -a better insight into their habits than could be elicited from any signs -or intimations.”[88] Mr. W. H. Dall figures in his _Alaska and its -Resources_, analogous examples of Innuit or Western Eskimo art; and in -an interesting communication by Dr J. W. Hoffman to the Anthropological -Society of Washington, on Eskimo pictographs as compared with those of -other American aborigines, he figures and interprets similar -examples.[89] One of these, copied from an ivory bow used in making -fire, which he examined in the Museum of the Alaska Commercial Company -of San Francisco, depicts three incidents in the Innuit hunter’s -experience. In one, the hunter supplicates the _Shaman_, or native -medicine-man, for success in the chase; another group represents the -results of the chase; while the third records the incidents of an -unsuccessful appeal to another shaman. Another graving from the same -locality embodies the incidents of success and failure in a prolonged -hunting expedition. In their interpretation, Dr. Hoffman was assisted by -a Kadiack half-breed who happened to visit San Francisco at the time. A -design of the same class copied from a piece of walrus ivory, carved by -a Kiatégamut Indian of Southern Alaska, records a successful feat of the -shaman in curing two patients. He is represented in the act of -exorcising the demons, who are seen just cast out from the men restored -to health by his agency. From the interpretations thus given, it may be -inferred that such drawings as those described by Captain Beechy -represent in nearly every case actual incidents. The hunter celebrates -his return from a successful chase, his experience in the attempt to -propitiate the supernatural powers on his behalf, or any other notable -event, by recording the impressive incidents on the handle of his -hunting knife or his ivory bow, or even in some cases on a tablet of -walrus ivory; just as the enthusiastic sportsman will at times enter in -his journal the special occurrences of the fox-hunt, or the more -adventurous feats of deer-stalking, or commission an artist to -perpetuate them on canvas. Incidents of exceptional skill or daring are -no doubt recalled, and listened to with eager interest by the home -circle in the Arctic snow-hut; and are confirmed in their most thrilling -details by appeals to such graven records. - -The more durable material employed alike by the ancient cave-dwellers of -Europe and by the modern Innuit and Eskimo, has secured their -preservation in a form best calculated to command attention. But similar -graphic representations of incidents and ideas are common to various -tribes of North American Indians. Throughout the wide region of the old -Algonkin tribes rock-carvings, such as that of the famous Dighton Bock, -abound. The same are no less frequent in the South-West from New Mexico -to California; while similar pictographs are executed by the Ojibways in -less durable fashion on their grave-posts, or even on strips of -birch-bark. In like fashion, the Crees and Blackfeet of the Canadian -North-West adorn their buffalo-skin tents with incidents of war and the -chase, and blazon on their buffalo robes their personal feats of daring, -and the discomfiture of their foes. In this way, the aboriginal -draughtsman is seen in his pictorial devices to aim at the like result -with that achieved by the old minstrel chronicler or the courtly herald. - -Of the ornamented handles of implements recovered from the abodes of the -ancient cave-dwellers of Europe, the most notable examples are far in -advance of any Eskimo carvings. One of those, from the cave at Laugerie -Basse, has been repeatedly engraved. It is fashioned from a piece of -reindeer’s horn. The carver has so modified his design, and availed -himself of the natural contour of his material, as to adapt it admirably -to its purpose as the handle of a poignard. It was apparently intended -to include both handle and blade; but probably broke in the process of -manufacture, and was flung aside unfinished. The design is a spirited -adaptation to the special requirements. The horns are thrown back on the -neck, the fore legs doubled up, and the hind legs stretched out, as if -in the act of leaping. Another finely finished example of a -dagger-handle, from Montastrue, Peccadeau de l’Isle, figured by -Professor de Quatrefages in his _Hommes fossiles_, also represents the -deer with its horns thrown back; but from its fractured condition the -position of the limbs can only be surmised to have corresponded to the -example from Laugerie Basse. With those may be classed such carvings as -the pike, so characteristically represented on a tooth of the cave-bear, -recovered from a refuse heap in the cave of Durntly in the Western -Pyrenees, and other similar sports of primitive artistic skill. - -Such carvings had no other aim, we may presume, than the decoration of a -favourite weapon, or the beguiling of a leisure hour. But they show the -fruits of skill, and the observation of a practised eye, by the -ingenious workmen whose drawings and etchings merit our careful study. -Considerable taste and still more ingenuity are exhibited by many of the -American aborigines, in their decorative carvings, and the ornamentation -both of their weapons and dress. The characteristics of Eskimo art have -been noted. The Thlinkets of Alaska, lying on their western border, -manifest a like skill, making ladles and spoons from the horns of the -deer, the mountain sheep, and goat, and carving them with elaborate -ingenuity. They also work in walrus ivory, fashioning their bodkins, -combs, and personal ornaments with varied ornamentation; decorate their -knife-handles of bone, their paddles, and other implements; and carve -grotesque masks, with much inventive ingenuity in the variety of the -design, though scarcely in a style of high art. But it is interesting to -note the different phases of this imitative faculty. Some tribes, such -as the Algonkins, confine their art mainly to literal reproductions of -natural objects; while others, such as the Chimpseyans or Babeens, the -Tawatins, and the Clalam Indians of Vancouver Island, have developed a -conventional style of art, often exhibiting much ingenious fancy in its -grotesque ornamentation. This is specially apparent in the claystone -pipes of the Chimpseyans, in carving which they rival the ingenious -Haidahs of the Queen Charlotte Islands in exuberance of detail. But -while the art has become conventional, where it is not displaced by -imitations of the novel objects brought under their notice in their -intercourse with Europeans its combinations are in most cases referable -to native myths. - -In many of the elaborately carved Chimpseyan pipes, their special -purpose seems to be lost sight of in the whimsical profusion of -ornament, embracing every native or foreign object that has chanced to -attract the notice of the sculptor. Nevertheless, it may help us to do -justice to the true aim of the Indian artist, if we call to remembrance -how much of Christian symbolism was embodied in many a mediæval -sculpturing of what, to the unsympathetic observer, seem now only -conventional vines and lilies, or a mere fanciful grouping of dragons -and snakes, with apples, figs, grapes, and thorns. This has to be kept -in view while noting in the pipe sculptures human figures in strangest -varieties of posture, intertwined with zoomorphic devices, in which the -bear and the frog have a prominent place; and, as will be seen, a mythic -significance. It is no less suggestive to note, alike in the Chimpseyan -and in the Tawatin and Haidah carvings, curious analogies to the -sculptures of Mexico, Yucatan, and Central America. This resemblance has -been noticed, independently, by many observers. - -Marchand, a French navigator who visited the Queen Charlotte Islands in -1791, after having recently seen the Mexican sculpture and paintings, -formed the opinion that the Haidah works of art could be distinctly -traced to Aztec origin.[90] He remarks of their paintings and carvings: -“The taste for ornament prevails in all the works of their hands; their -canoes, their chests, and different little articles of furniture in use -among them, are covered with figures which might be taken for a species -of hieroglyphics; fishes and other animals, heads of men, and various -whimsical designs, are mingled and confounded in order to compose a -subject. It undoubtedly will not be expected that these figures should -be perfectly regular and the proportions in them exactly observed, for -here every man is a painter and sculptor; yet they are not deficient in -a sort of elegance and perfection.” - -The imitative faculty thus manifested so generally among a people still -in the condition of savage life, shows itself no less strikingly in the -modern claystone carvings of objects of foreign introduction. The -collection formed by the United States Exploring Expedition, and largely -augmented since, includes numerous carvings in which representations of -log and frame houses, forts, boats, horses, and fire-arms, are -introduced; and where cords, pulleys, anchors, and other details copied -from the shipping which frequent the coasts, furnish evidence of a -practised eye, and considerable powers of imitation. To the unfamiliar -observer, the result presents, in many cases, a very arbitrary and even -incongruous jumble of miscellaneous details. But, most probably, the -native designer had, in every case, a special meaning, and even some -specific incident in view. - -The interest awakened by such manifestations of observant accuracy and -artistic skill among savage tribes is not diminished by the fact that in -nearly all other respects they are devoid of culture. Notwithstanding -the absence in most of them of the very rudiments of civilisation, -experience proves that among the tribes to the west of the Rocky -Mountains distinguished by artistic capacity, there is an aptitude for -industrious and settled habits, the want of which is so noticeable in -the nomad tribes of the prairies. Their linear patterns are often -singularly graceful; and they employ colour lavishly, and with some -degree of taste, in decorating their masks, boats, and dwellings. This -is specially noticeable among the Haidahs, in the different dialects of -whose language we find not only names for nearly all the primary -colours, but also the word _kigunijago_, “a picture.” The symbolical and -mythological significance of many of their carvings is indisputable; -while the affinities, traceable at times to the ornamentation most -characteristic of the architectural remains in the principal seats of -native American civilisation in Central America, confer on them a -peculiar interest and value. - -The curiously conventional style of ornamentation of the Haidahs of -Queen Charlotte Islands is lavishly expended on their idols, or -manitous, carved in black argillaceous stone, and on their -council-houses and lodges. In front of each Haidah dwelling stands an -ornamented column, formed of the trunk of a tree, large enough, in many -cases, to admit of the doorway being cut through it. These columns, or -“totem-poles” as they have been called, are, in some cases, sixty or -seventy feet high, elaborately carved with the symbols or totems of -their owners. The height of the pole indicates the rank of the inmate, -and any attempt at undue assumption in this respect is jealously -resented by rival chiefs. The symbols of their four clans—the eagle, -beaver, dog-fish, and black duck,—are represented in conventional style -on the carved house-pole, along with their individual or family totems. -In some cases boxes are attached to the poles containing the remains of -their dead. Dr. Hoffman, whose previous studies in native symbolism and -ideography specially prepared him for the intelligent observation of -such monuments, has furnished an interpretation of their most familiar -devices. “When the posts are the property of some individual, the -personal totemic sign is carved at the top. Other animate and grotesque -figures follow in rapid succession, down to the base, so that unless one -is familiar with the mythology and folk-lore of the tribe, the subject -would be utterly unintelligible. A drawing was made of one post with -only seven pronounced carvings, but which related to three distinct -myths. The bear, in the act of devouring a hunter, or tearing out his -heart, is met with on many of the posts, and appears to form an -interesting theme for the native artists. The story connected with this -is as follows:—Toivats, an Indian, had occasion to visit the lodge of -the King of the Bears, but found him out. The latter’s wife, however, -was at home, and Toivats made love to her. Upon the return of the Bear, -everything seemed to be in confusion. He charged his wife with -infidelity, which she denied. The Bear pretended to be satisfied, but -his suspicions caused him to watch his wife very closely, and he soon -found that her visits away from the lodge for wood and water occurred -each day at precisely the same hour. Then the Bear tied a magic thread -to her dress, and when his wife again left the lodge, he followed the -magic thread, and soon came upon his wife, finding her in the arms of -Toivats. The Bear was so enraged at this that he tore out the heart of -the destroyer of his happiness.”[91] Dr. Hoffman found this myth, with -the corresponding carvings in walrus ivory, among the Thlinkit Indians, -who, as he conceives, obtained both the story and the design for their -ivory carvings from the Haidahs. This appears to receive confirmation -from the peculiar style of art common to both. - -But the decorations of the Haidah lodge-poles admit at times of a much -more homely interpretation. Mr. James G. Swan, the author of an article -on “The Haidah Indians,” in Vol. XXI. of the _Smithsonian Contributions -to Knowledge_, in a communication to the _West Shore_, an Oregon -journal, thus describes an Indian lodge and house-pole which attracted -his notice, owing to its carved figures, in round hat and other European -costume, surmounting the two corner-posts of the lodge. He accordingly -made a careful drawing of the whole, which, as he says, “is interesting -as illustrative of the grim humour of an Indian in trying to be avenged -for what he considered an act of injustice a number of years ago. Bear -Skin, a somewhat noted Haidah chief, belonging to Skidegate village, -Queen Charlotte Islands, was in Victoria, when for some offence he was -fined and imprisoned by Judge Pemberton, the police magistrate. Bear -Skin felt very much insulted; and in order to get even with the -magistrate he carved the two figures, which are said to be good -likenesses of the Judge, who in this dual capacity mounts guard at each -corner of the front of the chiefs residence. The gigantic face on the -front of the house, and the two bears on the two mortuary columns, seem -to be grinning with fiendish delight, while the raven on top of one of -the columns has cocked his eye so as to have a fair look at the effigies -beneath him. Bear Skin is dead, but the images still remain. It has been -suggested that they be removed to Victoria, and be placed over the -entrance to the police barracks, to keep watch and ward like Gog and -Magog at the gates of old London city.” But, on the other hand, a -symbolical meaning appears to be most frequently embodied in the Haidah -devices; of which Mr. Swan reproduces various illustrations, accompanied -with native interpretations of them. One drawing, for example, -represents a grouping of conventional patterns such as are common on the -Haidah blankets of goats’ hair, and in which the untutored student can -discern little more than confused scroll-work, with here and there an -enormous eye, rows of teeth, and a symmetrical repetition of the design -on either side of the central device. Yet, according to Kitelswa, the -native Haidah interpreter, “it represents cirrus clouds, or, as sailors -term them, ‘mares’ tails and ‘mackerel sky,’ the sure precursors of a -change of weather. The centre figure is T’kul, the wind spirit. On the -right and left are his feet, which are indicated by long streaming -clouds; above are his wings, and on each side are the different winds, -each designated by an eye, and represented by the patches of cirrus -clouds. When T’kul determines which wind is to blow, he gives the word -and the other winds retire. The change in the weather is usually -followed by rain, which is indicated by the tears which stream from the -eyes of T’kul.” The difficulty with which the inexperienced observer has -to contend, in any attempt to interpret such native conventional art, -finds apt illustration in Mr. Swan’s account of an elaborately -sculptured lodge-pole of which he made a drawing at Kioosta village, on -Graham Island, one of the Queen Charlotte group. When describing it in -minute detail, he says: “I could make out all the figures but the -butterfly, which I thought at first was an elephant with its trunk -coiled up; but on inquiry of old Edinso, the chief who was conveying me -in his canoe from Massett to Skidegate, he told me it was a butterfly, -and pointed out one which had just lit near by on a flower.” The same -characteristics have already been referred to in describing the -claystone carvings of the Chimpseyans. They also mark the Haidah -sculptures executed in the soft argillaceous slate which abounds in -their vicinity. But the Haidahs work with no less ability in other -materials; and were familiar of old with the native copper, which is -brought from some still unascertained locality, it is believed, in -Alaska. The collections of the Geological Survey at Ottawa include some -of their beautifully wrought copper daggers and a massive and finely -finished copper neck-collar. They have now learned to work with equal -skill in iron. Their bracelets, rings, and ear ornaments of gold and -silver; their copper shields and richly carved emblematic weapons, bows -and arrows, iron daggers and war knives; as well as their wooden and -horn dishes, spoons, masks, and toys, are eagerly sought after. The -carvings on them, when properly explained, are of great interest; for -every device has a meaning, and each illustrates a story or a legend, -readily understood by the Indian, but by no means willingly interpreted -to strangers. - -A knowledge of the myths of the Haidahs and other coast tribes is -indispensable to any interpretation of their carvings; and to those, -accordingly, Dr. Hoffman has directed his attention. “A very common -object,” as he says, “found carved upon various household vessels, -handles of wooden spoons, etc., is the head of a human being in the act -of eating a toad; or, as it frequently occurs, the toad placed a short -distance below the mouth. This refers to the evil spirit, supposed to -live in the wooded country, who has great power of committing evil by -means of poison, supposed to be extracted from the toad”; but, as Dr. -Hoffman adds, it is a difficult matter to get an Indian to acknowledge -the common belief in the mythic being, even when aware that the inquirer -is in possession of the main facts. - -The interpretations thus furnished by a careful study of the carvings of -the Haidahs and other artistic native tribes of British Columbia, and -the evidence of a specific meaning and application discoverable in their -most conventional designs, have a significant hearing on the study of -analogous productions of the cave-men of Europe’s palæolithic dawn. The -manifestations of an active imitative faculty and some degree of -artistic skill, among different rude native tribes of this continent, -present some striking parallels to the æsthetic aptitudes of the -primeval draughtsmen and carvers of Europe. There are, moreover, -undoubted resemblances in style and mode of representation of the -objects, as depicted on some of the ancient and the modern bone and -ivory carvings and drawings of the two continents; but the latter -exhibit no evidence of progress. The Innuit and Eskimo designs do, -indeed, more nearly approximate to those of the primitive draughtsmen -than other aboriginal efforts; but their inferiority in all respects is -equally striking and indisputable. - -The evidence of artistic ability in the native races both of Central and -Southern America is abundant; nor is the northern continent lacking in -its specially artistic race. But the achievements of the ancient Mayas, -Peruvians, or Mound-Builders, are of very recent date, compared with the -palæolithic, or even the neolithic productions of Europe. It need not, -therefore, excite our wonder to find American antiquaries welcoming a -disclosure, only too strikingly analogous to the famous mammoth drawing -of the La Madeleine cave. There recently issued from the American press -a tastefully printed volume, in which its author, Mr. H. C. Mercer, -gives an account of the discovery, near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, of a -“gorget stone” of soft shale, on which is graven what the author -describes as “unquestionably a picture of a combat between savages and -the hairy mammoth. The monster, angry, and with erect tail, approaches -the forest, in which through the pine-trunks are seen the wigwams of an -Indian village.” The sun, moon, and the forked lightning overhead, -complete a design which could scarcely deserve serious notice, so -palpable is the evidence of the fabrication, were it not for the -unmistakable sincerity with which the author sets forth the narration, -and assures us that after the most careful inquiry “nothing has occurred -to shake his faith in the unimpeachable evidence of an honest -discovery.”[92] The figure of the mammoth has a suspiciously near -resemblance, in all but one respect, to the La Madeleine graving on -mammoth ivory. It charges its assailants with lowered trunk and erect -tail; but instead of presenting, as in the ancient cave-dweller’s -drawing, evidence of aptitude in the free use of the pencil or graving -tool, the scratchings on the Lenape Stone are crude and inartistic, even -if tried by the rudest standard of Indian art. It may, perhaps, be worth -noting that—if the design has not been purposely reversed in order to -evade comparison with the genuine European example,—it is a left-handed -drawing. The forgery of palæolithic implements has become a systematic -branch of manufacture in Europe; and the “Grave Creek Stone,” the “Ohio -Holy Stone,” and other similar productions of perverted American -ingenuity are familiar to us. It need not, therefore, excite any special -wonder to find a like activity in the production of fictitious examples -of pictorial art. - -But North America has its own ancient artistic race, which, though -claiming no such antiquity as that of Aquitaine, is, in the primary -sense of the term, essentially prehistoric. Among the æsthetic -productions of older races of the continent, the carvings and sculptures -of the ancient Mound-Builders of Ohio not only admit of comparison with -those of Europe’s primitive workers in bone and ivory, but even, in one -respect, surpass them. For it is curious to observe that the palæolithic -artists, whose carvings and drawings manifest such a capacity for -appreciating the grace of animal form, and for reproducing with such -truthfulness objects and scenes familiar to them in the chase, seem to -have invariably failed, or at least shown a surprising lack of skill, in -their attempts to delineate the human face and figure. Professor de -Quatrefages notes of one such carving: “M. Massénat has brought from -Laugerie Basse a fragment of reindeer’s horn, on which is graven a male -aurochs fleeing before a man armed with a lance or javelin. The animal -is magnificent; the man, on the contrary, is detestable, devoid alike of -proportion and true portraiture.”[93] Some beautiful Mexican terra-cotta -human masks have been preserved; and, amid the endless varieties of -quaint and whimsical device in Peruvian pottery, singularly graceful -portrait-vases occur. But, as a rule, even among the civilised Mexicans, -imitations of the human face and figure seldom passed beyond the -grotesque; and although the sculptors of Central America and Yucatan -manifested an artistic power which accords with the civilisation of a -lettered people, yet, in the majority of their statues and reliefs, the -human form and features are subordinated to the symbolism of their -mythology, or to mere decorative requirements. In the carvings of the -old Mound-Builders, as in those of the vastly more ancient artists of -palæolithic Europe, we have to deal with miniature works of art; but -both include productions meriting the designation. The variety and -expressiveness of many of the mound sculptures, their careful execution, -and the evidence of imitative skill which they furnish, all combine to -render them objects of interest. But foremost in every trait of value -are the human heads. In view of the accuracy of many of the miniature -sculptures of animals, it has been reasonably assumed that they -perpetuate no less trustworthy representations of the workmen by whom -they were carved. Equally well-executed examples of contemporary -portraiture, recovered from palæolithic caves of Europe, would be prized -above all other relics of its Mammoth or Reindeer period. Nevertheless, -striking as is the character of the art of the Aligéwi, it differs only -in degree of merit from that of many modern Indian races; and in some of -the Algonkin stone-pipes the human figure is carved with -well-proportioned symmetry. In such carvings, moreover, even when -expended on the decoration of the pipe,—which was employed among so -many native tribes in their most important ceremonial and religious -observances,—there is rarely anything to suggest a higher aim of the -artist than mere decoration. The same may be assumed of the ancient -carvers, in such work as they expended on the hafts of the daggers found -at Montastrue or Laugerie Basse. But when a carefully executed linear -drawing occurs on a rough slab of schist, with its fractured edges left -untrimmed, as is the case in examples from the caves of Les Eysies and -Massat, the artist manifestly had some other purpose in view; and this I -conceive to have been the earliest stage of ideography or -picture-writing. He was communicating facts in detail by means of his -pencil which his best attempts at verbal description would have failed -to convey. - -Language is even now a very inadequate means of communicating to others -specific ideas of form; and some of the most fluent lecturers in those -departments of science, such as geology, biology, and anthropology, in -which there is a frequent demand for the appreciation of details in form -and structure, habitually resort to the chalk and blackboard. Students -of my own earlier days will recall, as among their most pleasant -memories, the facile pencil with which the gifted naturalist, Edward -Forbes, seemed equally eloquent with hand and tongue; and no one who -enjoyed the lucid demonstrations of Agassiz in the same fields of -scientific research can think of him otherwise than with chalk in hand. -To the uncultured, yet strangely gifted Troglodyte of the primeval dawn, -language was still more inadequate for his requirements; and hence, as I -imagine, the facile pencil was in frequent requisition for purposes of -demonstration, with ever-growing skill to the practised hand. Professor -de Quatrefages, who has enjoyed unusually favourable opportunities for -the study of those productions, thus directs attention to their artistic -merits: “The art of the draughtsman, or rather of the engraver, almost -constantly applied to the representation of animals, was first tried on -bone or horn. They have attempted it on stone. The burin must have been -almost always a mere pointed flint. With this instrument, imperfect -though it was, the Troglodytes of the Reindeer age succeeded by degrees -in producing results altogether remarkable. The first lines are simple -and more or less vague. At a later stage they become more defined, and -acquire a singular firmness and precision; the principal lines become -deeper; details, such as the fur and mane, are indicated by lighter -lines, and even the shading is expressed by delicate hatching. But what -is nearly always apparent is a sense of truthful realisation, and the -exact copying of characteristics which enable us often to recognise not -only the order, but the precise species, which the artist wished to -represent. The bear, engraved on a piece of schist which was found by M. -Garrigou in the lower cave at Massat, with the characteristic projecting -forehead, can be no other than the cave-bear, the bones of which were -recovered by that observer in the same place. When we compare the -drawings and anatomical details of the Siberian mammoth with the -engraving on ivory discovered by M. Lartet at La Madeleine, it is -impossible to avoid recognising the _Elephas primigenius_ which existed -throughout the Glacial period, and which has been recovered entire in -the frozen soil of Northern Asia. Oxen, wild goats, the stag, the -antelope, the otter, the beaver, the horse, the aurochs, whales, certain -species of fish, etc., have been found recognisable with the like -certainty. The reindeer especially is frequently represented with -remarkable skill. This may be seen by the engraving found near -Thayingen, in Switzerland.”[94] - -M. de Quatrefages is disposed to estimate the artistic merit of the -carvings in ivory as even greater than that of the drawings or etchings. -But specific form and contour are more easily realisable than their -indication on a plane surface. To do full justice to the wonderful skill -of the Troglodyte draughtsman, we must compare the most highly-finished -paintings on Egyptian temples and tombs with the works of their -sculptors; or even the perfect realisations of the Greek sculptors’ -chisel, with drawings on the most beautiful Hellenic vases. The mastery -of perspective, as shown in some of the works of those palæolithic -artists is remarkable when compared, for example, with the Assyrian -bas-reliefs; not to speak of the infantile efforts of the Chinese on -their otherwise justly prized ceramic ware. - -The potter’s art is at all times an interesting study to the -archæologist. We owe to Etruscan and Hellenic fictile ware our sole -knowledge of painting, contemporary with the most gifted masters of the -sculptor’s art. But it is in the form, rather than the decoration, that -the chief excellency of the art of the potter consists. It is one of the -plastic arts. The clay in the hands of the skilled modeller is even more -facile than the pencil of the draughtsman; and the distinction between -the purely decorative sports of an exuberant fancy, and the purposed -symbolism of the carver or painter, is nowhere more strikingly manifest -than in the modellings of the ingenious worker in clay. But fictile art -belongs, for the most part, to periods greatly more recent than that of -the ancient Stone age. Not that the work of the primitive potter -involved such laboriously accumulated skill as lay beyond reach of the -palæolithic carver and draughtsman; for clay cylinders from the banks of -the Euphrates, and the terra-cottas from the Nile valley, carry us back -to times that long antedate definite history. But alike among the -ancient cave-dwellers of Aquitaine, and the modern Eskimo, the -prevailing conditions of an Arctic or semi-Arctic climate rendered clay, -fuel, and other needful appliances so rarely available, that among the -latter, their pots and lamps are fashioned for the most part of the -_Lapis ollaris_, or potstone. But traces of the pottery of many periods -and races abound, and furnish interesting materials for comparison. The -aptitude of the potter’s clay for a display of skill, alike in modelling -and in tracing on the surface imitative designs and ornamental patterns, -renders the fictile ware of widely different eras a ready test of -æsthetic feeling, as well as a trustworthy guide to the age and race of -its artificers. To the ancient cave-men, to whose skill such carvings as -the reindeer from Laugerie Basse, or Montastrue, are due, modelling in -clay would have been as easy and natural as to the modern sculptor; and -pottery, if well-burnt, when not exposed to violence, is little less -durable than flint or stone. The rarity, or total absence, of pottery -among the contents of the palæolithic caves accords with other -indications of a rigorous climate. A piece of plain earthenware was, -indeed, recovered from the Belgian cave of Trou de Frontal; and Sir W. -Dawson, in his _Fossil Men_, calls attention to the discovery, recorded -by Fournal and Christie, of fragments of pottery in the mud and breccia -of caverns in the south of France, along with bones of man and animals, -including those of the hyæna and rhinoceros. Those, however, whatever be -their true epoch, are mere potsherds, valuable in so far as they -indicate the practice of the potter’s art at such a time, but furnishing -no illustration of skill in modelling. - -The pottery found in graves of the Neolithic period is mostly so -imperfectly burned, that, however abundant it may have been, it could -scarcely leave a trace in the breccia, or river gravel, from which the -larger number of relics of palæolithic man have been recovered. But the -pottery and terra-cottas which abound on the sites of Indian villages in -North America everywhere exhibit traces of imitative art, in the efforts -at modelling the human form, and the more or less successful -reproduction of familiar natural objects. Squier remarks in his -“Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York,” that “upon the site of -every Indian town, as also within all of the ancient enclosures, -fragments of pottery occur in great abundance. It is rare, however, that -any entire vessels are recovered. . . . In general there was no attempt -at ornament; but sometimes the exteriors of the pots and vases were -elaborately, if not tastefully, ornamented with dots and lines, which -seem to have been formed in a very rude manner with a pointed stick or -sharpened bone. Bones which appear to have been adapted for the purpose -are often found.”[95] Ornamentation of a more artistic kind appears to -have been most frequently reserved by the native workers in clay for -their pipes, to which at times a sacred character was attached, and on -which accordingly they lavished their highest skill as modellers and -carvers. Some of the smaller articles of burnt clay, however, which -Squier denominates terra-cottas, were probably fragments of domestic -pottery similar to those hereafter described among the relics of the -ancient Indian town of Hochelaga. One example of an ingeniously modelled -pipe, found within an enclosure in Jefferson County, New York, is -specially selected as a good illustration of Indian art. It is of fine -red clay, smoothly moulded, with two serpents coiling round the bowl. -“Bushels of fragments of pipes,” he adds, “have been found within the -same enclosure.” A carved stone pipe, from a grave in Cayuga County, is -described as fashioned in the form of a bird with eyes made of silver -inserted in the head, and Mr. Squier notes of another specimen: “The -most beautiful terra-cotta which I found in the State, and which in -point of accuracy and delicacy of finish is unsurpassed by any similar -article which I have seen of aboriginal origin, is the head of a fox. -The engraving fails to convey the spirit of the original, which is -composed of fine clay slightly burned. It seems to have been once -attached to a body, or perhaps to a vessel of some kind. It closely -resembles some of the terra-cottas from the mounds of the west and -south-west. It was found upon the site of an ancient enclosure in -Jefferson County, in the town of Ellisburg.” Again, in describing some -similar relics from the site of an old Seneca village in Munroe County, -he adds: “The spot is remarkable for the number and variety of its -ancient relics. Vast quantities of these have been removed from time to -time. Some of the miniature representations of animals found here are -remarkable for their accuracy.”[96] - -The descriptions thus furnished of the traces of aboriginal art in the -State of New York closely correspond to the remains recovered on the -sites of ancient Indian villages in Canada. A finely modelled clay-pipe, -with a serpent twined round it, and holding a human head in its jaws, -now in my possession, was dug up, along with numerous other clay-pipes, -bone pins, and other relics, in Norfolk County, on the north shore of -Lake Erie. I also possess casts of some ingeniously modelled clay-pipes -found a few years since in an ossuary at Lake Medad, near Watertown, -about ten miles west from Hamilton, Ontario. This no doubt marks the -site of an ancient town of the Attiwendaronks, or Neuter Nation, who -were finally conquered and driven out by the Iroquois in 1635, when the -little remnant that survived was adopted into the Seneca nation. Mr. B. -E. Charlton, who explored the Lake Medad ossuaries, after describing the -human remains, along with large tropical shells, shell-beads and other -relics, adds: “With these were found antique pipes of stone and clay, -many of them bearing extraordinary devices, figures of animals, and of -human heads wearing the conical cap noticed on similar relics in Mexico -and Peru.”[97] Similar discoveries rewarded the researches of Dr. Taché -in the Huron ossuaries on the Georgian Bay, examples of which are now in -the museum of Laval University. - -On the site of the famous Indian town of Hochelaga, the precursor of the -city of Montreal, detached fragments, in well-burnt clay, including -modellings of the human head and neck, had been repeatedly found, before -the recovery of larger portions of the Hochelaga pottery showed that -projections modelled in this form within the mouths of their earthern -pots or kettles were designed to admit of their suspension over the -fire. Any projection within the mouth of the pot would have answered the -purpose of protecting the cord or withe from the risk of burning; so -that the moulding of it into the human form furnishes an illustration of -the play of the imitative faculty under circumstances little calculated -to call it forth. - -The decoration of domestic pottery by the American Indian workers in -clay is greatly developed among the more southern tribes. The -ornamentation of a few prominent points, moulded more or less rudely -into human or animal heads, gives place with them to the modelling of -the vessel itself into animal forms, or to its decoration, chiefly with -human or animal figures. Among the examples of native art in the -National Museum at Washington are two large vases, remarkable for their -elaborate workmanship, which were brought from Mexico, by General Alfred -Gibbs. They are figured, along with other specimens of Mexican pottery -and terra-cottas, in Mr. Charles Rau’s account of the Archæological -Collection of the United States National Museum. They are there spoken -of as “two large vases of exquisite workmanship,” and one of them is not -only described as an admirable specimen of Mexican pottery, but it is -added: “As far as the general outline is concerned, it might readily be -taken for a vessel of Etruscan or Greek origin. The peculiar -ornamentation, however, stamps it at once as a Mexican product of -art:”[98] and, it may be added, in doing so, places it in very marked -contrast to any example of Etruscan or Greek workmanship. Its modelling, -both in general form and in all its curious zoomorphic details, is -essentially barbarous, yet manifesting ingenious skill in the -workmanship, and exuberant fancy in design. The influence of Mexican art -extended northward; and its characteristics may be traced in much of the -native pottery of the Southern States. But throughout Mexico, Central -America, and the Isthmus, the modeller in clay appears to have revelled -in feats of skill. Clay masks and caricatures, and heads of men and -animals, in endless variety of dress and fashioning, abound. Utility is -in many cases rendered altogether subsidiary to the sports of fancy. -Musical instruments are made in the form of animals; and vases and -earthenware vessels of every kind are modelled in imitation of -vegetables, fruit, and shells, or decorated with familiar natural -objects. This is still more apparent in Peruvian pottery, where an -unrestrained exuberance of fancy sports with the pliant clay. Animal and -vegetable forms are combined. Men and women are represented in their -daily avocations, as porters, water-carriers, etc. Portrait-vases -represent the human head, characterised at times by grace and beauty; -but more frequently grotesquely caricatured. The human head surmounts -the lithe body of the monkey, sporting in ape-like antics; melons and -gourds have animal heads for spouts; while the duck, parrot, toucan, -pelican, turkey, crane, land-turtle, lynx, otter, deer, llama, cayman, -shark, toad, etc., are ingeniously reproduced, singly or in groups, as -models for bottles, jars, or pitchers. The double or triple goblets, and -two-necked bottles or jugs, acquire a fresh interest from resemblances -traceable between some of them and others belonging to distant -localities and remote ages. The Fijians, on the extreme western verge of -the Polynesian archipelago, have already been referred to for their -skill in the finished workmanship of their implements, and of their -pottery, some of which suggest curious analogies to Peruvian types. But -it is more interesting to note the apparent reproduction of Egyptian, -Etruscan, and other antique forms in Peruvian fictile ware; and to -recognise on the latter the Vitruvian scroll, the Grecian fret and other -ancient classic and Assyrian patterns—not as evidence of common origin, -but as originating independently from the ornamentation naturally -produced in the work of the straw-plaiter and weaver. Still more curious -are their analogies to ancient Asiatic art, as disclosed in a comparison -with many of the objects recovered by Dr. Schliemann on Homeric sites. -Among the relics which rewarded his exploration of the site of the -classic Ilios, are examples of double-necked jugs, terra-cotta groups of -goblets united as single vessels, along with others terminating with -mouthpieces in the forms of human or animal heads; or modelled with such -quaint ingenuity to represent the hippopotamus, horse, pig, hedgehog, -mole, and other animals, that, were it not for the strange fauna -selected for imitation, they would seem little out of place in any -collection of Peruvian pottery. - -The same exuberant sportiveness of the imitative faculty, so -characteristic of the races of the New World, reappears in productions -of the native metallurgists of Mexico and Central America. Casting, -engraving, chasing, and carving in metal, were all practised by the -Mexicans with a lavish expenditure of misspent labour. Ingenious toys, -birds and beasts with moveable wings and limbs, fish with alternate -scales of gold and silver, and personal ornaments in many fanciful -forms, were wrought by the Mexican goldsmiths with such skill that the -Spaniards acknowledged the superiority of the native workmanship over -any product of European art. The ancient graves of the Isthmus of Panama -have yielded immense numbers of gold relics of the same class, though -inferior to the finest examples described above. They include beasts, -birds, and fishes, frogs and other natural objects, wrought in gold with -much skill and ingenuity. The frog is made with sockets for the eyes, an -oval slit in front, and within each a detached ball of gold, executed -apparently in a single casting. Balls of clay are also frequently found -enclosed in detached chambers in the pottery of the Isthmus. Human -figures wrought in gold, and monstrous or grotesque hybrids, with the -head of the cayman, eagle, vulture, and other animals, attached to the -human form, are also of frequent occurrence; though in this class of -works the modelling of the human form is generally inferior to that of -other animate designs. All of those curious relics are found in graves, -which, judging from the condition of the human remains, are of great -antiquity; if, indeed, they do not point to the central cradle and -common source of Aztec and Peruvian art. - -It is thus apparent that the imitative faculty, which manifests itself -in very different degrees among diverse races, was widely diffused -throughout the native tribes of the American continent. But, while a -certain aptitude for art is seen to be prevalent among some of the -rudest tribes, there were, no doubt, among all of them exceptional -examples of artistic ability. There were the Jossakeeds and the Wabenos, -skilled in picturing on bark and deer-skin; and the official annalists -or “Wampum-keepers,” who perpetuated the national traditions. Among the -arrow-makers were some famed for their dexterity in fashioning the -hornstone or jasper into arrow heads; and, while the art of the potter -proved no less easy to female hands than that of the baker, there were, -doubtless, among them some few rarely-gifted modellers, whose skill in -fashioning clay into favourite forms of imitative art won them a name -among the ceramic artists of their tribe. Pabahmesad, the old Chippewa, -of the Great Manitoulin Island, in Lake Huron, famed for his skill in -pipe carving, has been referred to in illustrating the trade and -manufacture of the Stone age. - -The little remnant of the once-powerful Huron race now settled on the -river St. Charles, near Quebec, expend their ingenious art on the -manufacture of bark canoes, snow-shoes, la-crosse clubs, basket-work, -and moccasins. In this they show much skill and dexterity; but among -their most adroit workers in recent years was Zacharee Thelariolin, who -claimed to be the last full-blood Indian belonging to the band. He -manifested considerable ability as an artist, had an apt faculty for -sketching from nature, and painted successfully in oil. A portrait of -himself, in full Indian costume, now in the possession of Mr. Clint of -Quebec, is a relic of much interest as the work of an untaught native -Indian, in whom the hereditary imitative faculty thus manifested itself -under circumstances little calculated to favour its development. He was -sixty-six years of age when he executed this portrait. Had it been his -fortune to attract the attention of some appreciative patron in early -years he might have made a name for himself and his people. - -Another curious and exceptional example of native artistic ability may -be noted here. The studio of Edmonia Lewis, the sculptor, has long been -known to tourists visiting Rome. Her history is a curious one. Her -father was a Negro, and her mother a Chippewa Indian. She was born at -Greenbush, on the Hudson river, and reared among the Indians till the -age of fourteen, both of her parents having died in her childhood. Her -Indian name was _Suhkuhegarequa_, or Wildfire; but she changed it to -that by which she is now known on being admitted to the Moravian school -at Oberlin, Ohio. After three years schooling she went to Boston, where, -it is said, the sight of the fine statue of Franklin awoke in her the -ambition to be a sculptor. She sought out William Lloyd Garrison, and in -simple directness told him she wanted to do something like the statue of -the printer-statesman. The great abolitionist befriended her. She -received needful training in a local studio, started an _atelier_ of her -own, and when I saw her in Boston, in 1864, she was modelling a -life-size statue emblematic of the emancipation of the race to which -she, in part, belonged. Africa was impersonated, raising herself from a -prostrate attitude, and, with her hand shading her eyes, was looking at -the dawn. Soon after the sculptor went to Rome, and she has there -executed works of considerable merit. Her most successful productions -may be assumed to reflect the artistic aptitudes of her mother’s race. -Her two best works in marble are “Hiawatha’s Wooing” and “Hiawatha’s -Wedding.” A Boston critic, in reviewing her works, says: “She has always -had remarkable power of manipulation, beginning with beads and wampum, -and rising to clay. She has fine artistic feeling and talent, a sort of -instinct for form and beauty demanding outward expression.” - -The wide diffusion of this imitative faculty and feeling for form was no -doubt stimulated by its employment for representative and symbolic -purposes. The relation of imitative drawing to written language is -equally manifest in the graven records of the Nile valley and the -analogous inscriptions of Yucatan or Peru. Quipus, wampum, and all other -mnemonic systems, dependent on the transmission of images and ideas from -one generation to another, literally, by word of mouth, have within -themselves no such germ of higher development as the picture-writing or -sculpturing of the early Egyptians, from which all the alphabets of -Europe have been evolved. The phonetic signs, inherited by us directly -from the Romans, seem so simple, and yet are of such priceless value in -their application, that it seems natural to think of the letters of -Cadmus as a gift not less wonderful than speech; since, by their -instrumentality, the wise of all ages speak to us still. Plutarch tells, -in his _De Iside et Osiride_, that when Thoth, the god of letters, first -appeared on the earth, the inhabitants of Egypt had no language, but -only uttered the cries of animals. They had, at least, no language with -which to speak to other generations; nor any common speech to supersede -the confusion of tongues which characterised their great river valley, -bordering on Asia, and forming the highway from Ethiopia to the -Mediterranean Sea. The light thrown for us on the climate, the fauna, -the people, and the whole social life of Europe’s Palæolithic era, by a -few graphic delineations of its primitive artists, suffices to show how -the northern Thoth may have manifested his advent among them. - -The condition of the Indian tribes in the North-West, in British -Columbia, and in the territories of the United States, abundantly -illustrates the effect of a multiplicity of languages among nomad -savages. The Blackfeet are in reality a political and not an ethnical -confederation, with at least three distinct languages, and numerous -dialects spoken among their dispersed tribes. The same condition is -found among the Kiawakaskaia Indians, beyond the Rocky Mountains. In the -confluence of the nomad hunters to common centres of trade, speech -accordingly fails them for all purposes of intercommunication; and -travellers and fur-traders have long been familiar with the growth of a -common language at more than one of the chief meeting-places of diverse -tribes and races on the Pacific coast. The Clatsop, in so far as it is -native, is a dialect of the Cowlitz language; but, as now in use, it is -one of the jargons or “trade languages” of the Pacific. But Fort -Vancouver, long one of the largest trading-posts of the Hudson Bay -Company, has been the special Babel where, out of the strangest -confusion of tongues, a new language has been evolved. - -The organisation of part of the territory west of the Rocky Mountains -into the province of British Columbia is rapidly modifying the character -of its native population. But in recent years there were frequently to -be found at Fort Vancouver upwards of two hundred _voyageurs_ with their -Indian wives and families, in addition to the factors and clerks. -Thither also resorted for trading purposes, Chinook, Nootka, Nisqually, -Walla-walla, Klikatat, Kalapurgas, Klackamuss, Cowlitz, and other -Indians. A discordant Babel of languages accordingly prevailed; and -hence the growth of a _patois_ by which all could hold intercourse -together. The principal native tribe of the locality is the Chinook, a -branch of the Flathead Indians on the Columbia river. They speak a -language rivalling that of the Hottentots in its seemingly inarticulate -character. Some of its sounds, according to Dr. Charles Pickering, could -scarcely be represented by any combination of known letters; and Paul -Kane, who travelled as an artist among them, described it to me as -consisting of harsh spluttering sounds proceeding from the throat, -apparently unguided either by the tongue or lips. This language -accordingly repelled every attempt at its mastery by others. The Cree is -the native language most familiar to the traders, many of their wives -being Cree women. Both French and English are spoken among themselves; -while, in addition to the tribes already named, natives of the Sandwich -Islands, Chinese, and other foreigners, add to the strange character and -speech of this miscellaneous community. Out of all those elements the -“Chinook jargon” or trade-language of the locality has fashioned itself. - -Vocabularies of the Oregon or Chinook jargon have been repeatedly -published since 1838, when the Rev. Samuel Parker made the first attempt -to reduce it to writing. But it is necessarily in an unstable condition, -with local variations and a changing vocabulary. The latest _Dictionary -of the Chinook Jargon, or Trade Language of Oregon_, is that of Mr. -George Gibbs, published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1863, and -includes nearly five hundred words. When studied in all its bearings, it -is a singularly interesting example of the effort at the development of -a means of intercommunication among such a strange gathering of -heterogeneous races. In an analysis of the various sources of its -vocabulary, Mr. Gibbs assigns about two-fifths of the words to the -Chinook and Clatsop languages. But in this he includes one of the most -characteristic elements of the jargon. The representatives of so many -widely dissimilar peoples, in their efforts at mutual communication, -naturally resorted to diverse forms of imitation; foremost among which -was onomatopœia. There are such mimetic words as _he-he_, “laughter”; -_hoh-hoh_, “to cough”; _tish-tish_, “to drive”; _lip-lip_, “to boil”; -_poh_, “to blow out”; _tik-tik_, “a watch”; _tin-lin_ or _ting-ling_, “a -bell”; _tum-tum_, “the heart,” from its pulsation; and hence a number of -modifications in which the heart is used as equivalent to mind or will, -etc. Again, varying intonations are resorted to in order to express -different shades of meaning, as _sey-yaw_, “far off,” in which the first -syllable is lengthened out according to the idea of greater or less -distance indicated. Many of their words, as in all interjectional -utterances, depend for their specific meaning on the intonations of the -speaker. Such utterances play so small a part in our own speech, that we -are apt to overlook the force of the interrogative, affirmative, and -negative tones, and even the change of meaning that is often produced by -the transfer of emphasis from one to another word.[99] But with such an -imperfect means of intercommunication as the trade jargon, there is a -constant motive not only to help out the meaning by expressive -intonation, but also by signs or gesture-language. “A horse” for -example, is _kuatan_; but “riding” or “on horseback” is expressed by -accompanying the word with the gesture of two fingers placed astride -over the other hand. _Tenas_ is “little” or “a child,”—in the latter -case, accompanied by the gesture suggestive of its size,—or it may mean -“an infant,” by the first syllable being prolonged to indicate that it -is very small. In addition to all this, words are borrowed from all -sources; and the miscellaneous vocabulary is completed from English, -French, Cree, Ojibway, Nootka, Chihalis, Nisqually, Kalapuy, and other -tongues. - -The late Paul Kane is my authority for some of the details of intonation -and gesture-language. He brought back with him a valuable collection of -studies of the different races in British North America; and, by means -of the jargon, he learned in a short time to converse without difficulty -with the chiefs of most of the tribes around Fort Vancouver. But as an -artist he was in constant use of his pencil; and, as he told me, he -frequently appealed to it, sketching himself, or at times putting his -pencil and note-book into their hands, with considerable success in thus -supplementing less definite signs. The gesture-language furnishes -Cheyenne, Dakota, Apache, and other signs for “paint, colour, draw,” and -“write”; the act of writing or drawing being expressed by holding up the -palm of one hand and moving the forefinger of the other over it, as if -drawing. The jargon has also its word _pent_, “paint,” transformed to a -verb by prefixing the word _mamook_, “to do, to make”; and its _tzum_, -“painting,” or “mixed colours”; _mamooktzum_, “to paint.” In the -gesture-language of the Dakotas and Apaches the equivalent sign is -primarily indicative of daubing the face with colour; but the tribes of -the Pacific coast paint their masks, boats, and houses in diverse -coloured devices, with some degree of taste. There is, therefore, reason -to look for terms expressive of the art in any language in use among -them; though the habitual employment of signs may in some cases check -the evolution of phonetic equivalents. But among many tribes -gesture-language has been systematised into universally recognised -pictographs, and so developed into a native system of hieroglyphics. - -Among the Algonkin, Lenape, Iroquois, and other northern tribes, and in -the region comprising New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and other -south-western territory, rock-carvings and pictographs abound. Wherever -large surfaces of rock, or slabs of stone, offer a favourable -opportunity for such records, they are found, at times executed with -great elaboration of detail. But less durable records are in use, -dependent on the materials most available to the scribe. The Algonkins -and Iroquois ordinarily resort to birch-bark; the Crees, Blackfeet, and -other prairie Indians, substitute the dressed skins of the buffalo; -while, as already noted, the tribes on the Pacific coast, as well as the -Innuit and Eskimo, employ deerhorn and ivory. In the South-West, in the -Sierra Nevada and Southern California, the sculptured pictograph, after -being incised on the surface of a rock, or the wall of a cave, is -frequently finished by colouring in much the same way as was the custom -with the ancient Egyptian chroniclers. - -Among a series of reports to the Topographical Bureau, issued from the -War Department at Washington, in 1850, is the journal of a military -reconnaissance from Santa Fé, New Mexico, to the Navajo Country, by -Lieutenant James K. Simpson of the Corps of Topographical Engineers. His -narrative is accompanied with a map and illustrations of a remarkable -series of inscriptions, engraved on the smooth surface of a rock called -the Moro. They are of two classes, the native pictographs, and also -numerous Spanish inscriptions and devices; one of which records the -hasty visit of an old Spanish explorer to the Moro Rock in 1606. The -route of Lieutenant Simpson lay up the valley of the Rio de Zuñi, where -he met an old trader among the Navajos, who was waiting to offer his -services as guide to a rock, upon the face of which were, according to -his repeated assertions, “half an acre of inscriptions.” After -travelling about eight miles, through a country diversified by cliffs of -basalt and red and white sandstone, in every variety of bold and -fantastic form, they came in sight of a quadrangular mass of white -sandstone rock, from 200 feet to 250 feet in height. This was the Moro, -or Inscription Rock, on ascending a low mound at the base of which, the -journalist states, “sure enough here were inscriptions, and some of them -very beautiful; and although, with those we afterwards examined on the -south face of the rock, there could not be said to be half an acre of -them, yet the hyperbole was not near so extravagant as I was prepared to -find it.” The inscriptions, some in Spanish, and others in, Latin, -apparently include examples nearly coeval with the conquest of this -region, by Juan de Onate, in 1595; and from their historical interest -they naturally received greater attention from the Topographical Corps -than the Indian hieroglyphics. But the same locality was visited at a -later date by surveyors appointed to ascertain the most practicable -route for a railroad to the Pacific coast; and in a Report of -explorations and surveys, published by the Senate of the United States -in 1856, Lieutenant Whipple furnishes an interesting series of Indian -hieroglyphics or pictographs seen on his route. “The first of the Indian -hieroglyphics,” he remarks, “were at Rocky Dell Creek, between the edge -of the Llano Estacado and the Canadian. The stream flows through a -gorge, upon one side of which a shelving sandstone rock forms a sort of -cave. The roof is covered with paintings, some evidently ancient; and -beneath are innumerable carvings of footprints, animals, and symmetrical -lines.”[100] Examples of these are given; but of one series, the -sketches of which had been lost, Lieutenant Whipple remarks: “This -series, more than the others, seems to represent a chain of historical -events, being embraced by serpentine lines. First is a rude sketch, -resembling a ship with sails; then comes a horse with gay trappings, a -man with a long speaking-trumpet being mounted upon him, while a little -bare-legged Indian stands in wonder behind. Below this group are several -singular-looking figures: men with the horns of an ox, with arms, hands, -and fingers extended as if in astonishment, and with clawed feet. -Following the curved line we come to the circle, enclosing a Spanish -caballero, who extends his hands in amity to the naked Indian standing -without. Next appears a group with an officer, and a priest bearing the -emblem of Christianity.” The Pueblo Indians, who still worship the sun, -recognised in those picturings records of the thoughts and deeds of -their ancestors. They pointed to representations of Montezuma, whom they -still expect to return, and who is regarded as a divine power; and -recognised in the horned men a representation of the buffalo-dance, from -time immemorial a national festival, at which they crowned themselves -with horns and corn-shucks. The drawing is in all probability an -historical record executed at a date not long subsequent to the first -intrusion of the Spaniards. - -Lieutenant Whipple next describes the carvings found at El Moro -inscription rock where, he says, “Spanish adventurers and explorers, -from as early a period as the first settlement of Plymouth, have been in -the habit of recording their expeditions to and from Zuñi.” He refers -for those to Captain Simpson’s report upon the Navajo expedition; but -specimens of the Indian drawings are given, which, he says, “are -evidently more ancient than the oldest of the Spanish -inscriptions.”[101] The latter are, for the most part, regular literal -records in the Spanish or Latin language, with names, and, in a few -instances, the date of their engraving. But the European epigraphists -appear at times to have borrowed the ideographic art of their Indian -guides, from the way several of their inscriptions are accompanied with -pictorial devices, or rebuses, somewhat after the native fashion of -writing. One, for example, which reads _Pito Vaca ye Jarde_, has also -the symbol of the _Vaca_, or “cow.” Another group, consisting of certain -initials interwoven into a monogram, accompanied by an open hand with a -double thumb, all enclosed in cartouche-fashion, is supposed by the -transcriber to be, even more than the previous bit of pictorial -symbolism, a pictured pun. “The characters,” he remarks, “in the double -rectangle seem to be literally a sign-_manual_, and may possibly be -symbolical of Francisco Manuel, though the double thumb would seem to -indicate something more.” The Provincial Secretary, Donaciano Vigil, -after noting for Lieutenant Simpson some data relative to the Spanish -inscriptions, adds: “The other signs or characters are traditional -remembrances, by means of which the Indians transmit historical accounts -of all their remarkable successes. To discover (or interpret) these sets -by themselves, is very difficult. Some of the Indians make trifling -indications, which divulge, with a great deal of reserve, something of -the history, to persons in whom they have entire confidence.” - -On the summit of the cliff the ruins of a pueblo of bold native masonry -formed a rectangle of 206 feet by 307 feet, around which lay an immense -accumulation of broken pottery of novel and curious patterns. At Los -Ojos Calientes, Lieutenant Simpson visited the _estuffas_, buildings one -story high, called the churches of Montezuma. “On the walls were -representations of plants, birds, and animals; the turkey, the deer, the -wolf, the fox, and the dog, being plainly depicted; none of them, -however, approaching to exactness except the deer, the outline of which -showed certainly a good eye for proportion.” These are the work of the -Jemez Indians, who worshipped the sun, moon, and fire; representations -of which in circular form, and with zigzag barbed lines for lightning, -also occur on the walls.[102] Lieutenant Simpson remarks that he asked a -Jemez Indian “Whether they still worshipped the Sun, as God, with -contrition of heart.” His reply was: “Why not? He governs the World!” - -Dr. Hoffman figures and interprets a curious rock-painting, copied by -him from a granite boulder at Tulare river, California. It covers an -area of about twelve feet by eight; and the largest figure is about six -feet in length, and appears to be the work of an advanced party of -native explorers, intended for the guidance of those who followed on -their trail.[103] Dr. Hoffman also furnishes some interesting -illustrations of the reproduction of gesture-language in native -pictographs preserved in the Museum of San Francisco. Certain symbols -are in very general use. But the description of an Innuit drawing on a -slat of wood, as interpreted by a native, partly in his own dialect, but -largely supplemented by gestures, will best illustrate this development -of a system of picture-writing among a savage people. A human figure -directs his right hand to his own side, while, with his left, he points -away from him. This is the _Ego_, the personal pronoun _I_. Again, a -simple tracing of the like figure, successively with a boat-paddle over -his head; his right hand to the side of his head; one finger elevated; -his hand stretched out in the direction indicated, with his harpoon, or -his bow and arrow, expresses his various actions. A spot enclosed in a -circle, and again a blank circle, mark the islands—inhabited or -uninhabited,—to which he is bound. A canoe, with two persons in it, -defines the number going and the mode of transport; a phoca, or other -animal, indicates the prey; and the record closes with an outline of the -house, or tent, towards which the canoe is directed. The whole is -equivalent to a written memorandum left behind, to inform the members of -his family that he has gone in his boat to a particular island, where he -will pass the night,—the right hand to the side of the head being a -symbol of sleep. From thence he will proceed to another island, where he -purposes to catch a seal or sea-lion, and then he will return home. It -is in no degree surprising to find that nearly the same symbols are in -use by widely different tribes; for, alike in their pictographs and -gestures, they naturally aim at the most familiar and literal -representations. The Eskimo and Alaskans represent death, in their -drawings and bone carvings, by the symbol of a headless body, in nearly -the same way as the Iroquois, the Algonkins, and the Blackfeet. To this -is added the spear, the bow and arrow, or the gun, to indicate the mode -of death by violence. The ordinary symbol of sepulchral memorial is the -reversing of the totem and other objects pictured on the grave-post. A -succession of lines in rows or columns is the simplest mode of primitive -numeration, perpetuated among the Egyptians even so late as the -Ptolemaic dynasty. It appears to have been in use among the cave-men of -the Vézère in palæolithic times, and is common to all such records. But -in the Eskimo and Indian pictographs the elevated hand, with one or more -fingers extended, serves for numeration; and where the extended fingers -and thumbs of both hands are represented on an exaggerated scale, it -signifies _multitude_. The native gestures, drawings, and spoken -languages, have indeed to be studied together to understand fully the -processes resorted to for the expression and interchange of ideas. - -To the philologist, the efforts at supplying equivalent terms for -objects and ideas common to the many diverse races furnish a study full -of interest. A Chinook or Clatsop word modified to _saghalie_, -signifying “above,” or “high,” is compounded with the Nootka _tyee_, as -the name of the High Chief, or God. _Elip_, a Chihalis word, signifies -“first,” or “before”; _tilikum_, Chinook, is “people, a tribe,” or -“band”; but the two words conjoined, _elip-tilikum_, lit. “the first -people,” is employed in reference to a race of beings who preceded the -Indians as inhabitants of the world, just as we speak of the -Antediluvians. _Ipsoot_ is the Chinook word for “to hide,” _ipsoot -wau-wau_ is “to hide one’s speech,” _i.e._ “to whisper.” Or, again, -_opitsah_ is a modification of the Chinook for “a knife”; -_opitsah-yakka-sikha_, literally, “the knife’s friend,” is “a fork.” The -same word is also applied to a sweetheart. Such economic use of words is -indeed by no means rare. But this branch of the subject lies apart from -the aim of the present paper. It may be noted, however, in passing, that -many of the jargon words, according to Mr. Gibbs, “have been adopted -into ordinary conversation in Oregon, and threaten to become permanently -incorporated as a local addition to the English.” Mr. Horatio Hale, long -ago, stated as a result of his own observations, at an earlier date: -“There are Canadians and half-breeds married to Chinook women, who can -only converse with their wives in this speech; and it is the fact, -strange as it may seem, that many young children are growing up to whom -this factitious language is really the mother-tongue, and who speak it -with more readiness and perfection than any other.”[104] As to grammar, -the jargon has no more than the inevitable rudiments involved in the -necessity for expressing in some way ideas relating to time and number; -and in these directions there is frequent resort to signs. But this, -which accords with the first stage of picture-writing, is true of the -speech of many Indian tribes. Their gesture-language is being reduced to -the equivalent of a vocabulary, and is much more copious than that of -the Oregon jargon. In 1880 the United States Bureau of Ethnology issued -“A Collection of the gesture-signs and signals of the North American -Indians”; and although this was only designed as a preliminary step -towards the complete elucidation of the subject, it suffices to show how -important a part signs and gestures play in the dialogue of many rude -tribes. The Arapahoes, for example, according to Burton, “possess a very -scanty vocabulary, and can hardly converse with one another in the dark. -To make a stranger understand them they must always repair to the -camp-fire for pow-wow.”[105] We are not without some due appreciation, -even now, of the eloquence of action, as well as of speech, in the -effective orator; and Charles Lamb, in one of the _Essays of Elia_, -aptly reminds us how much even ordinary dialogue owes to expression for -its full effect. Candle-light, “our peculiar and household planet,” is -the theme of the quaint humorist. “Wanting it,” he says, “what savage -unsocial nights must our ancestors have spent, wintering in caves and -unillumined fastnesses! . . . What repartees could have passed, when you -must have felt about for a smile, and handled a neighbour’s cheek to be -sure that he understood it?” And so the grave humorist goes on to -picture the privations of a supper party in “those unlanterned nights.” - -But the Indian, in many cases, resorts to the pencil, or its equivalent, -for the elucidation of subjects in which language fails him. He will -take a burnt stick and draw a map indicating the route that has to be -taken, the portages on a river, or the trail through the forest, after -he has failed by signs and gestures to convey his meaning; and he can -interpret with ease the drawings of Indians of other tribes. When -camping out on the Nepigon River in 1866, with Indian guides from the -Saskatchewan, who were strangers to the locality, they interpreted the -drawings or carvings on a soft metamorphic rock overlaid by the syenite -of that district; and were able thereby to tell us who had preceded -them, and to determine the route we should take. Lieutenant Whipple in -the narration of his route near the thirty-fifth parallel, remarks: -“Near the Llano Extacado were seen Pueblo Indians from San Domingo. -After an introductory smoke they became quite communicative, furnishing -curious information as to their traditions and peculiar faith. When -questioned regarding the numbers and positions of the Pueblos in New -Mexico, they rudely traced upon the ground a sketch from which a map of -the country is reproduced in the Government Reports.”[106] The Rev. Dr. -O’Meara, for many years a missionary among the Ojibway Indians of Lake -Superior, thus writes to me: “The Indians were always pictorial, even in -common conversation, _i.e._ they liked to explain what they meant by -making figures; and always, if you asked one of them for information as -to the route to any place, he would make a rough map of it, either on -the sand or on a piece of birch-bark.” This fully accords with my own -experience. I have repeatedly seen Indian guides take a piece of -birch-bark and indicate on it some idea otherwise inexpressible from our -ignorance of any common language. Their map-making must be familiar to -all who have travelled much with Indian guides. They delineate with much -accuracy the leading geographical features of any familiar locality. I -have in my note-books sketches made by Indians, when I have placed the -pencil in their hand, and indicated by signs some information I desired -to obtain, about game, fishing, or other matters familiar to them; or -about their own tribal relationships, which they generally express in -totemic fashion by their symbolic bear, deer, beaver, eagle, turtle, or -other animal. Such signs of the clan, tribe, or nation are familiar to -every Indian, as well as the ideographs of his own and others’ names; -and when represented on the roll of birch-bark, painted on the chiefs -buffalo robe, or inverted on his grave-post, they can be interpreted -with the same facility with which an heraldic student discerns the -family history on the painted hatchment or the sculptured shields of -some noble mausoleum. - -By an alphabet, strictly so called, we understand a series of symbols -which have become the conventional equivalents to the eye of the sounds -which combine to form the speech of a people. But _alpha_, _beta_, etc., -were undoubtedly, in their first stage, pictures, and not arbitrary -signs; though they passed undesignedly into the demotic characters of -the Egyptian current hand, and were then transformed, from ideographic -and syllabic characters, into the true phonetics out of which have come -the later alphabets of the civilised world. Egypt is justly credited -with the origination of a system of writing which lies at the foundation -of all our inherited knowledge, and which, as Bacon says, “makes ages so -distant to participate of the wisdom, illuminations and inventions, the -one of the other.” Yet the germ of all this lay in the graphic records -of the palæolithic cave-men; and the very same process of evolution from -pure pictorial representation to picture-writing or ideography, and so -to arbitrary hieroglyphic signs, or word-writing, is seen in the graven -records of Copan or Palenque, and on the ancient monuments of the Nile. - -It is replete with interest thus to turn aside from the Old World, with -all its wealth of intellectual progress associated with the letters of -Cadmus, and find that in the western hemisphere the human mind has -followed the very same path in its struggle towards the light. -Longfellow, in his “Song of Hiawatha,” has interwoven Algonkin and -Iroquois legends into a national epic, in which the elements of Indian -progress are all traced to this mythic benefactor, subsequently -identified by Mr. Horatio Hale, in his _Book of Iroquois Rites_, with a -wise Onondaga chief of the fifteenth century. But, tracing in legendary -fashion the early steps of Indian progress, the poet represents the -mythic reformer mourning how all things perish and pass into oblivion. -Even the great achievements and the traditions of their people fade away -from the memory of the old men. And so he inaugurates the method of -recording events, which in reality we recognise as the natural product -of the human mind in the exercise of that imitative faculty which the -discoveries of comparatively recent years have revealed to us as in full -activity among the men of Europe’s remote Post-Glacial era. With his -paints of diverse colours he depicts on the smooth birch-bark simple -figures and symbols, such as are to be seen graven on hundreds of rocks -throughout the North American continent, and are in constant use by the -Indian in chronicling his own deeds on his buffalo robe, or recording -those of the deceased chief on his grave-post. The result is a simple -process of picture-writing, readily translatable, with nearly equal -facility, into the language of every tribe. Deeds of daring against -Indians or white men are set forth by the native chronicler, and the -rivals are clearly indicated by means of their characteristic costume -and weapons. Headless figures are the symbols of the dead; scalps -represent his own special victims; and in like manner incidents of the -chase, or feats against the buffalo or grizzly bear, are recorded in -graphic picturings, which are as intelligible as any monumental -inscription of ancient or modern times. The description in Longfellow’s -Indian epic of the celestial and terrestrial symbols, in actual use as -Algonkin and other aboriginal hieroglyphics, would answer, with slight -modification, for those still to be seen on the walls of Egyptian -temples and catacombs:— - - For the earth he drew a straight line, - For the sky a bow above it; - White the span between for day-time, - Filled with little stars for night-time; - On the left a point for sunrise, - On the right a point for sunset, - On the top a point for noontide; - And for rain and cloudy weather - Waving lines descending from it. - -The picture-writing of the Aztecs, though greatly improved in execution, -and simplified by abbreviations, was the same in principle as that of -the rude northern tribes. The recognised signs of the months and days of -their calendar are not greatly in advance of Indian symbolism; while -some of their pictorial records are as definite pieces of literal -representation as the battle of the reindeer from the Dordogne cave, or -the peaceful grazing scene recovered from a Swiss grotto near Thayingen. -One example of such a pictorial chronicling of an important event has -been repeatedly described, and aptly illustrates its practical -application. When Cortez held his first interview with the emissaries of -Montezuma, one of the attendants of Teuhtlile, the chief Aztec noble, -was observed sketching the novel visitors, their peculiar costumes and -arms, their horses and ships; and by such means a report of all that -pertained to the strange invaders of his dominion was transmitted to the -Aztec sovereign. The skill with which every object was delineated -excited the admiration of the Spaniards. But however superior this may -have been as a piece of art, it was manifestly no advance on the -principle of Indian picture-writing; nor can we be in much doubt as to -its style of execution, since Lord Kingsborough’s elaborate work -furnishes many facsimiles of nearly contemporary Mexican drawings. In -the majority of these, the totemic symbols, and the representations of -individuals by means of their animal or other cognomens, are abundantly -apparent. The specific aim of the artist has to be kept in view. The -figures are for the most part grotesque, from the necessity of giving -predominance to the special feature in which the symbol is embodied. To -the generation for which such were produced, the connection between the -sign, and the person or thing signified, would be manifest; and as a -mnemonic aid, supplemented by verbal descriptions of the trained -official registrars, the record would be ample. But a brief interval -suffices to render such abbreviated symbols obscure, if not wholly -unintelligible; and within less than a century after the Conquest, De -Alva could not find more than two surviving Mexicans, both very aged, -who were able to interpret the native pictorial records. Nevertheless a -system of picture-writing, originating among the rude forest tribes with -the simple employment of the imitative faculty in the representation of -familiar objects, with their associated ideas, had advanced on this -continent to the very same stage from which, in ancient Egypt, the next -step was taken, resulting in the evolution of a phonetic alphabet, and -so of all that is implied in letters in the largest sense. - -To this grand aim of ideography, or an equivalent of written speech, -may, as it appears to me, be traced the earliest efforts at drawing and -painting, reaching back to that strange dawn of intellectual vigour -revealed to us in the graphic art of the men of Europe’s Palæolithic -age. The same effort at written speech underlies all the manifestations -of the artistic faculty, common alike to the semi-civilised and to the -barbarous native races of this continent; and in the terms by which they -express the graphic art in their various dialects, the common -significance of drawing and writing is generally apparent. But the -æsthetic faculty was thus stimulated into activity with results which -tended to develop art in all its forms of carving, modelling, sculpture, -and painting. An appreciation of colour, not merely for personal -adornment, but in its artistic application—alike as a decorative art, -and as the means whereby natural objects can be presented with vivid -truthfulness to the eye,—is widely diffused; though the mastery of form -by the modeller or sculptor long precedes that of chiaroscuro, or aerial -perspective. Aboriginal painting is crude, consisting mainly of colour -without tone or shading, even where the drawing is correct. But paints -and dyes, both of mineral and vegetable origin, are largely in use by -many Indian tribes. The Eskimo execute tasteful patterns on their skin -robes in diverse colours; and the northern tribes both to the east and -west of the Rocky Mountains dye porcupine quills and grasses, and with -them work ornamental patterns on their dresses and in basket-work. The -pottery of the Pueblo Indians is elaborately decorated in colours; and -in various other ways—as in the colouring of their masks, and the -painting of their boats and houses, by the Indians of Oregon and British -Columbia,—the native taste for colour is manifested. Mr. Hugh Martin, -in a communication of an early date to the American Philosophical -Society, gives an account of the principal dyes employed by the North -American Indians.[107] The Shawnees obtained a vegetable red, which they -called _hau-ta-the-caugh_, from the root of a marsh plant, and largely -used it in dyeing wool, porcupine quills, and the white hair of deers’ -tails. From another root, the _Radix_ _flava_, a bright yellow was -obtained, by mixing which with the red an orange tint is made. But they -also extracted a rich orange colour from the Poccon root. A fine -vegetable blue is also easily procured, and this was transformed to -green by means of a yellow liquor of the smooth hickory bark. Black, -which is much in demand, was obtained both from the sumack and from the -bark of the white walnut. All the colours thus far named are vegetable -dyes, but mineral colours are in general use for painting, and -especially for personal decoration, which is no doubt the primary idea -associated in the Indian mind with the verb “to paint.” The Lenapes, Dr. -Brinton remarks, “obtained red, white, and blue clays, which were in -such extensive demand that the vicinity of those streams in Newcastle -County, Delaware, which are now called White Clay Creek and Red Clay -Creek, are widely known to the natives as _Walamink_, ‘the place of -paint.’”[108] The Shawnees applied the name _Alamonee-sepee_, “Paint -Creek,” to the stream which falls into the Scioto close to Chilicothe. -The word _walamen_, signifying “to paint,” is the Shawnee _alamon_, and -the Abnaki _wramann_, the _r_ being substituted for the _l_. Roger -Williams, describing the New England Indians, speaks of “_wunnam_, their -red painting, which they most delight in,—both the bark of the pine, as -also a red earth.” The word is derived from Narr. _wunne_, Del. _wulit_, -Chip. _gwanatseh_: “beautiful, handsome, good, pretty,” etc. “The Indian -who had bedaubed his skin with red ochreous clay, was esteemed in full -dress, and delightful to look upon. Hence the term _wulit_, ‘fine, -pretty,’ came to be applied to the paint itself.”[109] - -A review of the terms of art in the diverse aboriginal vocabularies -would furnish an interesting supplement to the general question of the -manifestation of an artistic faculty, and the evidences of appreciation -of art among savage races. I note a few illustrations, which the -languages of some Northern Indian tribes supply, of the ideas associated -in the native mind with terms of art. The Algonkin languages generally -have no distinctive words clearly discriminating between painting, -drawing, and writing in the sense of ideography; though the inevitable -tendency to invent or appropriate words, as equivalents expressive of -any novel object or idea, is in operation in those as in other -languages. The Ojibways have no generic term for painting the body or -face, but express it by some word connected with the specific colour in -use. For example, the painting the face black, as is done to a youth on -attaining puberty, is _muhkuhdaekawin_. This consists of _muh-kuh-da_, -meaning “black,” _eka_, the form which gives it the verbal significance, -“he makes himself black,” with the termination _win_, constituting the -whole a noun. So _misquah_, “red,” is the root of _misquah-ne-ga-zoo_, -“he is painted red”; _misquah-ne-gah-da_, “it is painted red.” -_Oozahwah_, “yellow,” gives _oo-zah-we-ne-gah-zoo_, “he is painted -yellow”; with the corresponding terminal change for the neuter. But the -word _oozahnamahne_, from _oonah_, “the cheek,” is also used for -painting the face either red or yellow. _Quahnaiy_, or _gwanai_, the -word for “beautiful,” is applied to moral as well as physical beauty, -_e.g._ _gwanaienene_ would be used of a fair, honourable dealing man, as -well as of one who was handsome or good-looking. But such rhetorical -tropes are common to many languages. - -I was indebted to the late Silas T. Rand, for upwards of thirty years a -missionary among the Micmac Indians of Nova Scotia, for the following -illustrative details: “The Micmac is rich in words relating to art, the -making and ornamenting of garments, moccasins, snow-shoes, etc., of -weapons and implements for domestic use, making pottery and modelling in -clay. For building and managing a canoe there are at least seventy-six -words. They have words for carving on stone, and also on wood, for -marking dressed skins with flower patterns, for carving flowers in -stone, for scraping them on birch-bark dishes, for drawing a likeness, -making models and patterns, and for working after them. When I was -engaged in translating Exodus, and largely dependent on my Indian -teacher for the words to express all the parts of the Tabernacle, its -coverings and furniture, mortices, tenons, hooks, fillets, loops, bars, -pins, sockets, etc., I fully expected to be baffled. What was my -surprise to find that there were words in the language by which to -express all I needed. Boards, bars, bolts, pillars, poles, rings, -everything was made, put together, and my ‘pundit’ an excellent -mechanic, when he returned next day to go on with our work, assured me -that he had been dreaming about that ‘wigwam’ we had been erecting the -previous day, and he was sure he could make such a one. He had the -pattern in his head as clearly as Moses had it, after he had seen it up -the mountain.” In the Micmac, _aweekum_ is “a drawing,” lit. “I write -it,” “I draw it”; _essum_, “I colour it”; _elapskudaaga_, “I am -carving,” or “cutting stone”; _elapskudaam_, “I am carving it in stone”; -_apsk_, which here denotes “stone,” is only used in composition; -_coondow_ is the word for “stone”; _eloksowa_, “I am carving in wood”; -_noojeweekuga_, “a painter,” “drawer,” “writer,” lit. “a maker of -marks”; _aweegasik_, “a picture,” lit. “it is marked down,” etc. - -The Algonkin root _walam_, “red,” is the term employed in the _Walum -Olum_, or “Red Score of the Lenape,” which was brought under the notice -of the New York Historical Society, in 1848, by Mr. E. G. Squier, as -_The Bark Record of the Lenni-Lenape_. His narrative has been more than -once reprinted; but the carefully edited version of this curious Indian -ideograph given by Dr. Brinton, in his _Lenape and their Legends_, will -supersede earlier and less accurate versions. The full translation with -which the pictographic record of the _Walum Olum_ is accompanied, -abundantly suffices to prove that it may be most correctly described as -a series of mnemonic signs employed for the purpose of keeping in memory -a national chant, of a class very familiar to the students of primitive -history. The ballad-epics of the ancient Germans, and the still earlier -lays of ancient Rome, the Abanic Duan, and others of the genealogical -and historical poems of the Celtic nations, were all of this class; and -analogous traditionary chants have been perpetuated among the Maoris of -New Zealand. The system of pictography corresponds to that in use among -the Ojibways and other Algonkin tribes, including the totems, or -sign-names; but it falls far short of true picture-writing. Section IV. -records the conquest by the Lenape tribe, of the northern country, which -they call “The Snake Land.” Bald Eagle, Beautiful Head, White Owl, -Keeping Guard, Snow Bird, and a succession of other chiefs are named, -all of whom are more or less graphically indicated by their totems; but -a paraphrastic interpretation accompanies them setting forth ideas that -have no pictorial representation. Then comes a horizontal line with ten -oblique lines rising from it, and three cross-lines below, with the -interpretation: “After the Seizer there were ten chiefs and there was -much warfare south and north.” Next follows another succession of -chiefs, each symbolised with some associated idea. Thus a group of six -small circles, arranged upright in two columns, is surmounted by a -larger circle, with three oblique lines rising from the top. This is -paraphrased: “After him, Corn-Breaker was chief, who brought about the -planting of corn.” It is not difficult to imagine in the drawing the -conventional representation of an ear of corn; but the major idea can be -no more than one suggested to the memory by association. In some -instances the picture-writing is more manifest. A horizontal line -surmounted by two _téepees_, or buffalo-skin tents, is “the buffalo -land.” In one group, a semicircle with radiating lines, placed on a -straight line, is translated: “Let us go together to the east, to the -sunrise.” In another case, nearly the same symbol—assumed, no doubt, to -represent the sun setting in the ocean,—is rendered, “at the great -sea.” It is, indeed, a system of picture-writing; but instead of being -abbreviated into word-symbols, it is reduced to mere catch-words or -mnemonic signs. Their value would be unquestionable as an aid to memory -in the perpetuation of a mythic or historical poem; but, if the -tradition were lost, they embody no sufficient record from which to -recover it. - -Neither the Iroquois nor the Algonkin nation can be pointed to as -specially gifted with imitative powers, or in other ways furnishing -evidence of any highly developed artistic faculty. They cannot compare -in this respect with the Zuñi, or others of the Pueblo Indians, among -whom the arts of long-settled, agricultural communities have been -developed for purposes of ornament as well as utility; nor is their -inferiority less questionable when we compare them with some of the -barbarous tribes of the north-west coast, and the neighbouring islands. -Their languages confirm this; for while, as Mr. Cushing has shown, the -Zuñi language possesses many words relating to art-processes, the -Iroquois and Algonkin dialects supply such terms, for the most part, in -descriptive holophrasms, and not in primitive roots. Nevertheless, alike -in their pottery and carvings, and in their picture-writing, they show a -degree of artistic capacity of which few traces are found in Europe’s -Neolithic age. - -In the Ojibway, _oozhebegawin_ is used indiscriminately for “writing, -drawing, painting,” _wazhebeegad_, for “a man who writes, draws.” In -combination with _muh-ze-ne_, “figure, form,” such words are in use as -_muhzenebeégawin_, “a painting, drawing”; _muhzenebeégawenene_ (M.), -_muhzenebeégawequa_ (F.), “a painter, an artist”; _muhzenebeégun_, “a -picture.” “To carve,” or “engrave on a rock,” is _muhzeneko_; -_muhzenekojegun_, “a sculptor’s chisel”; _muhzenekoda_, “it is carved,” -etc. Again with _wahbegun_, “clay,” such holophrasms are obtained as -_wahbegunoonahgunekawenene_, “a man who makes earthen vessels, a -potter,” _wahbeguhega_, “a worker in clay,” lit. “I work with -clay.”[110] - -In previous remarks on the main subject of this paper, the development -of the artistic faculty has been noted as, in many cases, an exceptional -manifestation of intellectual activity, alike in ancient and modern -barbarous races. The striking contrast between the richly fluent forms -of the language, and the infantile condition of this people in relation -to so much else, including metallurgy, and the application of the arts -generally to the practical requirements of life, furnishes a no less -interesting illustration of intellectual development fostered by special -influences in another direction. The habitual practice of oratory made -the Iroquois acute reasoners; and their language abounds in abstract -terms to a degree altogether surprising in an uncivilised race. The -purposes of the rhetorician also encouraged the tropical use of literal -terms. It is not, therefore, difficult to understand how the primary -sense of the verb “to track” or “trace out” should ultimately yield the -meaning of “drawing” or “sketching,” and so finally of “painting.” On -the other hand, it abundantly coincides with the instinctive use of the -imitative faculty as a means of conveying definite ideas to others, that -in the Iroquois, as in other languages, the same terms are used to -express the idea of making a mark, drawing, or writing. The primitive -hieroglyphics, from whence our phonetic alphabets have come, were first -literal drawings, and then their abbreviations employed to express -associated ideas. An ideographic purpose appears to underlie the -earliest efforts of imitative art. - ------ - -[79] _Essai sur les déformations artificielles du Crâne_, p. 74. - -[80] _Crania Britannica_, vi. Pl. 15; xiv. Pl. 12; xxxii. Pl. 42. - -[81] Vide _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, 2d ed. i. 495. - -[82] _Trans. Ethnol. Soc._, N.S. iii. 227. - -[83] _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, i. 495. - -[84] _I.e._ the Island of Santa Barbara. See “Remarks on Aboriginal -Art,” in _Proc. Davenport Acad. Nat. Science_, iv. 121. - -[85] “The Right Hand:” _Left-handedness_, pp. 35, 37. - -[86] _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, ix. 297, 301. - -[87] Vide _Prehistoric Man_, 3rd ed. ii. 54. - -[88] _Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific_, i. 241. - -[89] _Trans. Anthropol. Soc. Washington_, ii. 140. - -[90] _Marchand’s Voyages_, ii. 282. - -[91] _Remarks on Aboriginal Art in California and Queen Charlotte -Islands_, p. 118. - -[92] _The Lenape Stone: or the Indian and the Mammoth_, by H. C. Mercer. -New York, 1885, pp. 5, 17. - -[93] _Hommes fossiles et Hommes sauvages_, p. 49. - -[94] _Hommes fossiles_, etc., p. 46. - -[95] _Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge_, ii. 75. - -[96] “Aboriginal Monuments,” etc., p. 76. - -[97] _Proceedings of Hamilton Association_, i. 54. - -[98] _Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge_, xxii. 82. - -[99] The Rev. Mark Pattison, according to one biographer, Mr. Althaus, -had cultivated a habit of reticence, till it became one of his most -marked characteristics. His usual response to any remark was “Ah”; but -his biographer adds: “It was interesting to observe of what a variety of -shades of meaning that characteristic ejaculation ‘Ah’ was capable. Many -times it was his sole answer. Mostly it signified that something had -aroused his interest; sometimes it conveyed approval, sometimes -surprise, sometimes doubt; sometimes it was said in a way that indicated -he did not wish to express himself on the point in question.” - -[100] _Reports of Explorations and Surveys for Route for a Railroad to -Pacific Ocean_, 1885. Part iii. p. 39. - -[101] _Reports of Explorations and Surveys for Route for a Railroad to -Pacific Ocean_, 1885. Part iii. p. 39. - -[102] _Reports of Secretary of War, U.S._, 1850, p. 67. - -[103] _Transactions of Anthropol. Soc., Washington_, ii. 130. - -[104] _United States Exploring Expedition_, vii. 644. - -[105] _Burton’s City of the Saints_, p. 157. - -[106] _Explorations and Surveys, Washington_, 1856, iii. 10, 36. - -[107] _Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc._ iii. 222. - -[108] _The Lenape and their Legends_, p. 53. - -[109] _Ibid._, pp. 60, 104. - -[110] See pp. 300, 301 for examples in Iroquois. - - - - - VI - THE HURON-IROQUOIS: A TYPICAL RACE - - -IT has already been noted in treating of pre-Aryan American men that -throughout the northern continent, from the Arctic circle to the Mexican -Gulf, no trace has been recovered of the previous existence of anything -that properly admits of the term “native civilisation.” The rude arts of -Europe’s Stone age belong to a period lying far behind its remotest -traditions; unless we appeal to the mythic allusions of Hesiod, or to -such poetic imaginings as the _Prometheus_ of Æschylus. But all -available evidence serves to show that the condition of the native -tribes throughout the northern continent has never advanced beyond the -stage which finds its aptest illustration in the arts of their Stone -period, including the rudimentary efforts at turning to account their -ample resources of native copper without the use of fire. - -But this uniformity in the condition of the aborigines, and the -consequent resemblance in their arts, habits, and mode of life, has been -the fruitful source of misleading assumptions. Everywhere the European -explorer met only rude hunting and warring tribes, exhibiting such -slight variations in all that first attracts the eye of the most -observant traveller, that an exaggerated idea of their ethnical -uniformity was the natural result. In the systematisings of the -ethnologist, the American type was classed apart as at once uniform and -distinctive; and, strange as it may now seem, this idea found nowhere -such ready favour as among those who had the fullest access to the -evidence by which its truth could be tested. It was the most -comprehensive induction of the author of _Crania Americana_, as the -fruit of his conscientious researches in American craniology. The -authors of _Indigenous Races of the Earth_ and _Types of Mankind_, no -less unhesitatingly affirmed that “identical characters pervade all the -American races, ancient and modern, over the whole continent.”[111] In -this they were sustained by the high authority of Agassiz, who, after -discussing in his _Provinces of the Animal World, and their relation to -Types of Man_, the fauna peculiar to the American continent, and -pointing out the much greater uniformity of its natural productions, -when its twin continents are compared with those of the eastern -hemisphere, thus summed up the result of his investigations: “With these -facts before us, we may expect that there should be no great diversity -among the tribes of man inhabiting this continent; and indeed the most -extensive investigation of their peculiarities has led Dr. Morton to -consider them as constituting but a single race, from the confines of -the Esquimaux down to the southernmost extremity of the continent. But, -at the same time, it should be remembered that, in accordance with the -zoological character of the whole realm, this race is divided into an -infinite number of small tribes, presenting more or less difference one -from another.” It was natural and reasonable that the men of the -sixteenth century should believe in Calibans, or Ewaipanoma, “the -Anthropophagi, and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders.” -America was to them, in the most literal sense, another world; and it -was easier for them to think of it as peopled with such monstrosities -than with human beings like ourselves. But it is curious to note in this -nineteenth century the lingering traces of the old sentiment; and to see -men of science still finding it difficult to emancipate themselves from -the idea that this continent is so essentially another world, that it is -inconceivable to them that the races by which it is peopled should bear -any affinity to themselves or to others of the Old World. American -ethnologists long clung to the idea of an essentially distinct -indigenous race; and Dr. Nott, Dr. Meigs, and other investigators -welcomed every confirmation of the view of Dr. Morton as to the -occupation of the whole American continent by one peculiar type from -which alone the Eskimo were to be excepted, as an immigrant element, -possibly—according to the ingenious speculations of one distinguished -student of science,—of remotest European antiquity. Professor Huxley in -an address to the Ethnological Society in 1869, suggests hypothetically, -that the old Mexican and South American races represent the true -American stock; and that the Red Indians of North America may be the -product of an intermixture of the indigenous native race with the -Eskimo. It is noticeable, at any rate, that nearly all writers, however -widely differing on other points, follow Humboldt in classing the Eskimo -apart as a distinct type. He remarks in his preface to his _American -Researches_, that, “except those which border the polar circle, the -nations of America form a single race characterised by the formation of -the skull, the colour of the skin, the extreme thinness of the beard, -and the straight glossy hair.” Some of the characteristics thus noted -are undoubtedly widely prevalent; but the head-form, or “formation of -the skull,” is the most important; and a careful comparison of the -skulls of different tribes has long since modified the opinion, -expressed by the great traveller and reasserted by distinguished -American ethnologists. - -In reality, were the typical feature most insisted on as universal as it -was assumed to be, it would furnish the strongest argument for -classifying the predominant Asiatic and American types as one. All the -points appealed to suggest affinity to the Asiatic Mongol. But so far -from the Eskimo standing apart as a markedly exceptional type, if due -allowance be made for the prolonged influence of an Arctic climate, the -Huron-Iroquois approximate to them in some very notable ethnical -features. The dolichocephalic head-form, especially, is common to them, -and to the Algonkin and other Northern Indians. Of those Dr. Latham -remarks: “The Iroquois and Algonkins exhibit in the most typical form -the characteristics of the North American Indians as exhibited in the -earliest descriptions, and are the two families upon which the current -notions respecting the physiognomy, habits, and moral and intellectual -powers of the so-called Red Race are chiefly founded.” Of the former, -Mr. Parkman, who has studied their later history with the minutest care, -says: “In this remarkable family of tribes occur the fullest -developments of Indian character, and the most conspicuous examples of -Indian intelligence. If the higher traits popularly ascribed to the race -are not to be found here, they are to be found nowhere.”[112] To this -typical American race, accordingly, and to some of its peculiarly -distinctive usages, special attention is here directed. - - * * * * * - -The Iroquois were an important branch of the great stock which included -also the Hurons, or Wyandots, the native historical race of Canada. But -divided as the two were throughout the whole period of French Canadian -history by the bitterest antagonism, it is convenient to speak of them -under the term of Huron-Iroquois. In reviewing the history of this -indigenous stock, with the suggestions prompted by their peculiar -characteristics, it is desirable not only to note the physical geography -of the country which they occupied, as a region of forest and lakes, -but, still more, to keep in view this fact as a predominant -characteristic of the continent, and as one important factor in the -evolution of whatever may seem to be peculiar in the forest tribes of -North America. - -The effects resulting from the physical features of a country on the -development and intermingling of its races can nowhere be wisely -overlooked. Even within the limits of the British Islands the influences -of mountain and lowlands: of the fertile stretches of Kent and the -valley of the Thames, the fens of Lincolnshire, the moorlands of -Northumbria, and the Welsh and Scottish Highlands, have largely -contributed to the perpetuation, if not in some degree to the -development, of ethnical distinctions and the diversities in language. - -In this respect Britain is an epitome of Europe, with its great mountain -ranges and detached peninsulas, by means of which races have been -isolated within well-defined areas, and their languages and other -distinctive peculiarities preserved. Russia alone, of all European -countries, presents analogies to Northern Asia as a region favourable to -nomadic life; and in so far as its history differs from that of the -continent at large, it accords with such physical conditions. Throughout -the whole historic period, as doubtless in prehistoric times, the great -chain of mountains reaching from the western spur of the Pyrenees to the -Balkans has influenced European progress; while the chief navigable -river, the Danube, traversing the continent through one uniform -temperate zone, has tended still further to the perpetuation of certain -distinctive ethnical characteristics in Central Europe. In all its most -important geographical features, the northern continent of America -presents a striking contrast to this. An isosceles triangle with its -base within the Arctic circle, it tapers to a narrow isthmus towards the -equator. Its great mountain chain runs from north to south, and in near -proximity to the Pacific coast; and its chief navigable river, rising -within the Canadian Dominion, and receiving as its tributaries rivers -draining vast regions on either hand, traverses twenty degrees of -latitude before it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. A lower range of -highlands towards the Atlantic seaboard forms the eastern boundary of -the great interior plain. But the Alleghanies or Appalachian system of -mountains, though they may be said to extend from the St. Lawrence to -the Mexican Gulf, rise only at a few points, as in the White Mountains -of New Hampshire, to any great elevation. They form rather a long -plateau, intersected by wide valleys, diversifying the landscape, -without constituting strongly defined barriers or lines of demarcation. -As a whole, the continent of North America, eastward from the Rocky -Mountains, may be described as a level area, so slightly modified by any -elevated regions throughout its whole extent, from the Arctic circle to -the Gulf of Mexico, as to present no other impediment except its forests -to the wanderings of nomadic tribes. It is interlaced with rivers, and -diversified everywhere with lakes, alike available for navigation and -for fishing; and, until the intrusion of European immigrants, its -forests and prairies abounded with game far in excess of the wants of -its population. Everything thus tended to perpetuate the condition of -nomadic hunter tribes. This stage of native American history inevitably -drew to a close under the influence of European institutions and -civilisation; but it is interesting to note, that the same absence of -any well-defined geographical limitations of area, which tended to -perpetuate the nomadic habits of the savage, has aided in consolidating -the great confederacy of the United States, and maintaining an ethnical -and political conformity throughout the northern continent in striking -contrast to the diversities in race and political institutions in -Europe. - -History and native traditions alike confirm the idea that the valley of -the St. Lawrence was the habitat of the Huron-Iroquois stock as far back -as evidence can be appealed to. The Huron traditions tell of a time when -the Province of Quebec was the home of the race eastward to the sea; -while those of three at least of the members of the Iroquois confederacy -in legendary fashion claimed their birth from the soil south of the -great river. When the French explorers, under the leadership of Jacques -Cartier, first entered the St. Lawrence, in 1535, they found at -Stadaconé and Hochelaga—the old native sites now occupied by the cities -of Quebec and Montreal,—a population apparently of the Huron-Iroquois -stock; and, in so far as reliance may be placed on their traditions, -Canada was then populous throughout the whole valley of the St. Lawrence -with industrious native tribes, the representatives of a race that had -occupied the same region for unnumbered centuries. “Some fanciful tales -of a supernatural origin from the heart of a mountain; of a migration to -the eastern seaboard; and of a subsequent return to the country of the -lakes and rivers, where they finally settled, comprise,” says -Brownell,[113] “most that is noticeable in the native traditions of the -Six Nations prior to the grand confederation.” But the value of such -traditionary transmission of national history among unlettered tribes -has received repeated confirmation; and incidents in the history of -their famous league, perpetuated with circumstantial minuteness in the -traditions of the Iroquois, are assignable apparently to the fifteenth -century. The older event of the overthrow of the Alligéwi, in the Ohio -valley, of which independent traditional records have been handed down -by the Lenni-Lenape, or Delawares, and by the Iroquois, is now believed -to be correctly assignable to a date nearly contemporaneous with the -assumption of the authority of Bretwalda of the Heptarchy by Egbert of -Wessex,—that memorable step in the fusion of “nations” not greatly more -important than those of the Iroquois league, until their divisions in -speech and polity were effaced in the unity of the English people. As to -“the fanciful tale of a supernatural origin from the heart of a -mountain,” it is simply a literal rendering of the old Greek metaphor of -the autochthones, or children of the soil, symbolised by the Athenians -wearing the grasshopper in their hair; and is by no means peculiar to -the Iroquois. Mr. Horatio Hale derived from Manderong, an old Wyandot -chief, the story, as narrated to him by the Hurons of Lorette. They took -him, he said, to a mountain, and showed him the opening in its side from -whence the progenitors of the people emerged, when they “first came out -of the ground.”[114] The late Huron chief, Tahourenché, or -François-Xavier Picard, communicated to me the same legendary tradition -of the indigenous origin of his people; telling me, though with a smile, -that they came out of the side of a mountain between Quebec and the -great sea. He connected this with other incidents, all pointing to a -traditional belief that the northern shores of the lower St. Lawrence -were the original home of the race; and he spoke of certain ancient -events in the history of his people as having occurred when they lived -beside the big sea. The earliest authentic reference to this tradition -occurs in the _Relations_ for 1636, where Brebeuf, after a brief -allusion to certain of their magical songs and dances, says: “The origin -of all such mysteries is assigned by them to a being of superhuman -stature, who was wounded in the forehead by one of their nation, at the -time when they lived near the sea.” The references to a migration from -the seaboard obviously point to one of those incidents in the life of -the nation which marked for them an epoch like the Hegira of the Arabs. -When Champlain followed Cartier nearly seventy years later he found only -a few Algonkins in their birch-bark wigwams, where the palisaded towns -of the Huron-Iroquois had stood. But no Algonkin legend claims this as -their early home. The invariable tradition of the Ojibways points to the -Lake Superior region and the country stretching towards Hudson Bay as -the ancestral home of the Algonkin tribes. - -Such information as can thus be gleaned from a variety of independent -sources, as from the somewhat confused yet trustworthy narrative of -David Cusick, the Tuscarora historian, and from Peter Dooyentate, the -Wyandot historian, all leads to the same conclusion. From remote and -altogether pre-Columbian centuries, the Hurons and other allied -tribes—the occupants in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of -various detached portions of the country north of the St. Lawrence and -eastward of the Georgian Bay,—appear to have been in possession of the -whole region to which their oldest traditions pointed as the cradle of -the race; while nations of the Algonkin stock lay beyond them to the -north-west. The great river and the lakes from whence it flows into the -lower valley formed a well-defined southern boundary for affiliated -tribes; but the first Dutch and English explorers of the Hudson, and of -the tract of country which now constitutes the western part of the State -of New York, found the river-valleys and lake shores in occupation of -the Iroquois confederacy, then consisting of Mohawks, Oneidas, -Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas. These constituted the five nations of -the famous Iroquois league. But the Hurons of Canada, with whom they -were latterly at deadly feud, appear to have been the oldest -representatives of the common race, and were still in occupation of -their ancestral home when Cartier first explored the St. Lawrence. The -same race had spread far to the south; and its representatives, in -detached groups, long continued to perpetuate its influence. These -included the Conestogas or Andastes, the Andastogues, the Carantouans, -the Cherohakahs or Nottoways, the Tuscaroras, and others, under various -names. It is not always easy to recognise the same tribe under its -widely dissimilar designations. The Susquehannocks of the English and -the Minquas of the Dutch, appear to be the Andastes under other -designations, and Champlain’s Carantouans may have been the Eries. Under -those and other names the Huron-Iroquois stock extended to the country -of the Tuscaroras in North Carolina. Still farther south Gallatin -surmised, from linguistic evidence, a connection between the Cherokees -and the Iroquois.[115] This fact Mr. Hale has placed beyond doubt; and -having detected in the language of the former a grammatical structure -mainly Huron-Iroquois, while the vocabulary is to a great extent -foreign, he is inclined to think that we thus recover traces of a -people, far south in Alabama and Georgia, the descendants of refugees of -the conquered Alligéwi, adopted into one of the nations of their -Iroquois conquerors.[116] - -From one after another of the outlying southern offshoots of the common -stock, additions were made from time to time, to restore the numbers of -the decimated Iroquois. Westward of the confederacy was the country of -the Eries, an offshoot of the Seneca nation, occupying the southern -shore of the great lake which perpetuates their name. Immediately to the -north of the Eries, within the Canadian frontier, the Attiwendaronks, or -Neuters, occupied the peninsula of Niagara, while the Tiontates or -Petuns, and other tribes of the same stock, were settled in the fertile -region between Lakes Erie and Huron. In 1714, the Tuscaroras, when -driven by the English out of North Carolina, were welcomed by their -Iroquois kinsmen, and received into the league which thenceforth bore -the name of the Six Nations. Towards the middle of the same century the -waste of war made them ready to welcome any additions to their numbers; -and the Tuteloes and Nanticokes, both apparently Algonkin, furnished -fresh accessions to the diminished numbers of the confederacy, but -without taking their place as distinct nations. - -But of all the nations of the stock thus widely spread westward and -southward, the Hurons are the native historical race of Canada, -intimately identified with incidents of its early settlement and of -friendly intercourse with _La Nouvelle France_. Their language is now -recognised as the oldest form of the common speech of the -Huron-Iroquois, and it is not creditable to Canadian philologists that -its grammar still remains unrepresented in any accurate printed form. -The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec did, indeed, publish in -its _Transactions_, in 1831, the translation of a Latin MS., compiled -with much industry by a missionary who had laboured among the Hurons of -Lorette, and whose anonymous work was found amongst the papers of the -mission. But it is the production of one ignorant of the science of -language, and gives no adequate idea either of the grammatical structure -or of the variety and richness of the Huron tongue. - -The languages or dialects spoken by many native Indian tribes have -undoubtedly perished with the races to which they pertained; but the -numerous Huron-Iroquois dialects still existing, not only in written -form, but as living tongues, afford valuable materials for ethnical -study. The history of other Indian tribes abundantly accounts for the -multiplication of a minute diversity of languages so specially -characteristic of the American continent, with the endless subdivisions -of its indigenous population into petty tribes, kept apart by -internecine feuds. The number of native American languages is estimated -by Vater, in his _Linguarum Totius Orbis Index_, at about five hundred. -But the question forthwith arises: What shall be regarded as -constituting a language? For, in the wanderings of little bands of -Indian nomads, and the adoption of refugees from disbanded tribes, -dialects multiply indefinitely. Nearly six hundred of such are -catalogued by Mr. Bancroft, in his _Native Races of the Pacific States_, -as spoken between Alaska and the Isthmus of Panama. - -Until recently the tendency has been to assume an underlying unity of -speech for the whole American languages, based on the polysynthetic or -holophrastic characteristic ascribed to the whole; just as by an -exaggerated estimate of the prevalence of a predominant head-form, one -physical type was long assumed to characterise the American race from -Hudson Bay to Tierra del Fuego. Perhaps, so far as language is -concerned, the present tendency is towards the opposite extreme. Major -Powell, the chief of the Ethnographical Bureau at Washington, recognises -eighty groups of languages in North America, between which no affinity -is thus far apparent. Fifty-five of those he believes to be -satisfactorily determined as distinct stocks. On the other hand, -Professor Whitney, after noticing the complexity of the inquiry when -directed to the native American languages, thus proceeds: “Yet it is the -confident opinion of linguistic scholars that a fundamental unity lies -at the base of all these infinitely varying forms of speech; that they -may be, and probably are, all descended from a single parent -language.”[117] - -Here then is a field for much useful research, with the promise of -valuable results. The subject is rendered more important owing to the -fact that, of nearly all the nations of the North American continent, -their languages are the only surviving memorials of the race. Already, -under the efficient supervision of the Ethnographic Bureau of the United -States, systematic contributions are being secured for this important -branch of knowledge, so far as their own geographical area is concerned. -A no less important area is embraced in the Dominion of Canada, and the -attention of the Government is now directed to the necessity for timely -action in this matter. In the North-West, and in British Columbia, -languages are disappearing and races becoming extinct. Mr. Hale has -contributed to the American Philosophical Society’s _Transactions_ a -valuable monogram on the Tutelo tribe and language, derived mainly from -Nikonha, the last full-blood Tutelo, who survived till upwards of a -hundred years of age. He was married to a Cayuga woman, and lived among -her people on their Grand river reserve. “My only knowledge of the -Tuteloes,” says Mr. Hale, “had been derived from the few notices -comprised in Gallatin’s _Synopsis of the Indian Tribes_, where they are -classed with the nations of the Huron-Iroquois stock. At the same time -the distinguished author, with the scientific caution which marked all -his writings, is careful to mention that no vocabulary of the language -was known. That which was now obtained showed, beyond question, that the -language was totally distinct from the Huron-Iroquois tongues, and that -it was closely allied to the language of the Dakota family.”[118] But -for the timely exertion of a philological student, this interesting link -in the history of the Huron-Iroquois relations with affiliated tribes -would have been lost beyond recall. - -The history of the Huron-Iroquois race, and especially of the Six Nation -Indians, since the settlement of the main body for the past century on -their reserves on the Grand river, in the Province of Ontario, curiously -illustrates the pertinacity with which they have cherished the dialectic -varieties of a common tongue. But while the essential differences of -language everywhere constitute one of the most obvious distinctions of -race, it is interesting to note the recognition by the Indians of -affinities of dialects, and even remote kinship based on such evidence; -as in the readmission of the Tuscaroras to the Iroquois family of -nations. According to Brebeuf, the kinship of the Attiwendaronks of the -Niagara peninsula was recognised by the Hurons in that designation which -classed them as a “people of a language a little different.”[119] Peter -Jones Kahkewaquonaby, a civilised Ojibway, adopted into the Mohawk -nation, in speaking of the traditions of the Indians as to their own -origin, says: “All the information I have been able to gain in relation -to the question amounts to the following. Many, many winters ago the -Great Spirit, Keche-Manedoo, created the Indians. Every nation speaking -a different language is a second creation, but all were made by the same -Supreme Being.”[120] - -Among the races of the northern continent, none east of the Rocky -Mountains more fitly represent their special characteristics than the -great Huron-Iroquois family. Their language is remarkable for its -compass and elaborate grammatical structure; and the numerous dialects -of the common mother tongue furnish evidence of migration and conquest -over a wide region eastward of the Mississippi. To such philological -evidence many inquirers are now turning for a clue to the origin of the -races of the New World, and for the recovery of proofs of their affinity -to one or other of the Old World stocks. Professor Whitney, after -dwelling on the “exaggeratedly agglutinative type” of the ancient -Iberian language, and its isolation among the essentially dissimilar -languages of Aryan Europe, thus proceeds: “The Basque forms a suitable -stepping-stone from which to enter the peculiar linguistic domain of the -New World, since there is no other dialect of the Old World which so -much resembles in structure the American languages”[121]; not indeed, as -he adds, that they are all of accordant form; for he pronounces the -grouping of them in a single great family as “a classification of -ignorance.” The possibilities of ancient communication between the -opposite shores of the Atlantic, and the migration of colonists of the -New World from the Mediterranean Sea, have already been discussed in -dealing with the legend of the Lost Atlantis. Great indeed as is the -interval of time therein implied, it would not suffice to erase all -traces of affinity of languages. But it would be vain to hope for any -historical guidance recoverable from the oldest of Iroquois legends. If, -moreover, Iberian, Hittite, Egyptian, Phœnician, or other of the world’s -gray fathers, transplanted to America the germs of its long indigenous -stock, we look in vain for any traces of their Old World civilisation -north of the Mexican Gulf. Nor is it by any means an established truth -that the arts of Central America or Peru are of any very great -antiquity. Their metallurgy was at a crude, yet suggestive, stage at -which it was not likely to be long arrested. The same may be said of -their hieroglyphic records; though they certainly present some highly -significant analogies to the Chinese phase of word-writing, calculated, -along with other aspects of resemblance to that stage of partial, yet -long-enduring, civilisation of which China is the Asiatic exemplar, to -modify our estimate of the possible duration of Central and Southern -American civilisation. Nevertheless the assumption of an antiquity in -any degree approximating to that of Egypt seems wholly irreconcilable -with the evidence. Their architecture was barbaric, though imposing from -the scale on which their great temples and palaces were built. In -Central America especially, the aggregation of numerous ill-lighted -little chambers, like honey-comb cells excavated out of the huge pile, -is strongly suggestive of affinity to the Casas Grandes, and the Pueblos -of the Zuñi; and this is confirmed by the correspondence traceable -between many of their architectural details and the ornamentation of the -Pueblo pottery. - -The astronomy and the calendars, both of Mexico and Peru, with their -detailed methods of recording their divisions of time, are all -suggestive of an immature phase of civilisation in the very stage of its -emergence from barbarism, modified, in some cases, by the recent -acquisition of certain arts. As to the peculiar phase of Mexican art, -and whatever other evidence of progress Mexico supplies, they appear to -me no more than natural products of the first successful intrusion of -the barbarians of the northern continent on the seats of tropical -civilisation. Certain it seems, at least, that if an earlier -civilisation had ever existed in the north, or if the representatives of -any Old World type were present there in numbers for any length of time, -some traces of their lost arts must long since have come to light. - -But the conservative power of language is indisputable; and if the -kinship now claimed for the polysynthetic languages of both hemispheres -be correct, we are on the threshold of significant disclosures. The -Huron-Iroquois tongue, in its numerous ramifications, as well as some of -the native languages that have outlived the last of the races to which -they belonged, may preserve traces of affinities as yet unrecognised. -But in no respect are the Huron-Iroquois more correctly adducible as a -typical race of American aborigines than in the absence of all evidence -of their ever having acquired any of the arts upon which civilisation -depends. We look in vain in their vocabularies for terms of science, or -for names adapted to the arts and manufactures on which social progress -depends. But they had developed a gift of oratory, for which their -language amply sufficed, and from which we may infer the presence in -this race of savages of latent powers, capable of wondrous development. -“Their languages show, in their elaborate mechanism, as well as in their -fulness of expression and grasp of thought, the evidence of the mental -capacity of those who speak them. Scholars who admire the inflections of -the Greek and Sanscrit verb, with their expressive force and clearness, -will not be less impressed with the ingenious structure of the verb in -Iroquois. It comprises nine tenses, three moods, the active and passive -voices, and at least, twenty of those forms which in the Semitic -grammars are styled conjugations. The very names of these forms will -suffice to give evidence of the care and minuteness with which the -framers of this remarkable language have endeavoured to express every -shade of meaning. We have the diminutive and augmentative forms, the -cis-locative and trans-locative, the duplicative, reiterative, motional, -causative, progressive, attributive, frequentative, and many -others.”[122] To speak, indeed, of the Iroquois as, in a consciously -active sense, the framers of all this would be misleading. But it -unquestionably grew up in the deliberations around the council fire, -where the conflicting aims of confederate tribes were swayed by the -eloquence of some commanding orator, until the fiercest warrior of this -forest race learned to value more the successful wielding of the tongue -in the _Kanonsionni_, or figurative Long House of the League, even than -the wielding of the tomahawk in the field. At the organisation of the -confederacy, the Canyengas or Mohawks were figuratively said to have -“built a house,” _rodinonsonnih_, or rather to have “built the long -house” in which the council fire of the Five Nations was kindled. Of -this the Senecas, lying on the extreme west, were styled the -“door-keepers,” and the Onondagas, whose territory was central, were the -custodians. The whole usage is rhetorical and figurative. Under such -influences the language of the Huron-Iroquois was framed, and it grew -rich in emotional and persuasive forms. It only needed the evolution of -a true alphabet out of the pictorial symbolism on their painted robes, -or the grave-posts of their chiefs, to inaugurate a literature which -should embody the orations of the Iroquois Demosthenes, and the songs of -a native Homer, for whom a vehicle of thought was already prepared, rich -and flexible as poet could desire. - -So far as the physical traits of the American aborigines furnish any -evidence of ethnical affinity they unquestionably suggest some common -line of descent with the Asiatic Mongol; and this is consistent with the -agglutinate characteristics common to a large class of languages of both -continents. But, on the other hand, the characteristic head-form of the -Huron-Iroquois, as well as that of Algonkin and other northern tribes, -deviates alike from the brachycephalic type of the southern Indians and -from that of the Asiatic Mongols. Humboldt, who enjoyed rare -opportunities for studying the ethnical characteristics of both -continents, but to whom, nevertheless, the northern races, with their -dolichocephalic type of head were unknown, dwells, in his _American -Researches_, on the striking resemblance which the American race bear to -the Asiatic Mongols. Latham classes both under the common head of -Mongolidæ; and Dr. Charles Pickering, of the American Exploring -Expedition, arrived at the same conclusion as the result of his own -independent study of the races of both continents. Nevertheless, however -great may be the resemblance in many points between the true Red Indian -and the Asiatic Mongol, it falls short of even an approximate physical -identity. The Mongolian of Asia is not indeed to be spoken of as one -unvarying type any more than the American. But the extent to which the -Mongolian head-form and peculiar physiognomy characterise one widely -diffused section of the population of the eastern continent, gives it -special prominence among the great ethnical divisions of the human race. -Morton assigns 1421 as the cranial capacity of eighteen Mongol, and only -1234 as that of 164 American skulls other than Peruvian or Mexican. Dr. -Paul Topinard, in discussing the American type, adds: “If we are to rely -on the method of cubic measurement followed by Morton, the American -skull is one of the least capacious of the whole human race.”[123] But -Dr. Morton’s results are in some respects misleading. The mean capacity -yielded by the measurements of 214 American skulls in the Peabody Museum -of Archæology, including a considerable number of females, is 1331; and -with a carefully selected series, excluding exceptionally large and -small crania, the results would be higher. Twenty-six male California -skulls, for example, yield a mean capacity of 1470. The Huron-Iroquois -crania would rank among such exceptional examples.[124] The forehead is, -indeed, low and receding, but the general cerebral capacity is good; and -Dr. Morton specially notes its approximation to the European mean.[125] - -But the assumption of uniformity in the ethnical characteristics of the -various races of North and South America is untenable. All probabilities -rather favour the idea of different ethnical centres, a diversity of -origin, and considerable admixture of races. All evidence, moreover, -whether physical or philological, whatever else it may prove, leaves no -room for doubt as to a greatly prolonged period of isolation of the -native races of the New World. Whether they came from the Mediterranean, -in that old mythic dawn the memory of which survived in the legend of a -submerged Atlantis; or the history of their primeval migration still -lingers among fading traces of philological affinity with the Basques; -or if, with the still more remote glimpses which affinite Arctic -ethnology has been assumed to supply, we seek to follow the palæolithic -race of Central Europe’s Reindeer period in the long pilgrimage to -Behring Straits, and so to the later home of the American Mongol; this, -at least, becomes more and more obvious, that they brought with them no -arts derived from the ancient civilisations of Egypt or of Asia. So far, -at least, as the northern continent is concerned, no evidence tends to -suggest that the aborigines greatly differed at any earlier period from -the condition in which they were found by Cartier when he first entered -the St. Lawrence. They were absolutely ignorant of metallurgy; and -notwithstanding the abundance of pure native copper accessible to them, -they cannot be said even to have attained to that rudimentary stage of -metallurgic art which for Europe is spoken of as its “Copper Age.” -Copper was to them no more than a malleable stone, which they fashioned -into axes and knives with their stone hammers. Their pottery was of the -most primitive crudeness, hand-fashioned by their women without the aid -of the potter’s wheel. The grass or straw-plaiting of their basket-work -might seem to embody the hint of the weaver’s loom; but the products of -the chase furnished them with skins of the bear and deer, sufficient for -all purposes of clothing. They had advanced in no degree beyond the -condition of the neolithic savage of Europe’s Stone age when, at the -close of the fifteenth century, they were abruptly brought into contact -with its cultured arts. The gifted historian, Mr. Francis Parkman, who -has thrown so fascinating an interest over the story of their share in -the long-protracted struggle of the French and English colonists of -North America, says of them: “Among all the barbarous nations of the -continent the Iroquois stand paramount. Elements which among other -tribes were crude, confused, and embryotic, were among them systematised -and concreted into an established polity. The Iroquois was the Indian of -Indians. A thorough savage, yet a finished and developed savage. He is -perhaps an example of the highest elevation which man can reach without -emerging from his primitive condition of the hunter.” Yet with this high -estimate of the race as pre-eminent among Red Indian nations, he adds: -“That the Iroquois, left under their institutions to work out their -destiny undisturbed, would ever have developed a civilisation of their -own, I do not believe.”[126] They had not, in truth, taken the first -step in such a direction; and, were it not for the evidence which -language supplies, it would be conceivable that they, and the whole -barbarian nations of which they are a type, were Mongol intruders of a -later date than the Northmen of the tenth century; who, it seems far -from improbable, encountered only the Eskimo of the Labrador coast, or -their more southern congeners, then extending to the south of the St. -Lawrence. The prevalence of a brachycephalic type of head among southern -Indian tribes, while dolichocephalic characteristics are common to the -Eskimo and to the Huron-Iroquois and other northern nations, lends -countenance to the idea of an intermixture of Red Indian and Eskimo -blood. The head-forms, however, though both long, differ in other -respects; and a divergence is apparent on comparing the bones of the -face, with a corresponding difference in their physiognomy. - -Dr. Latham recognised the Iroquois as one of the most typical families -of the North American race, and Mr. Parkman styles them “the Indian of -the Indians.” The whole Huron-Iroquois history illustrates their -patient, politic diplomacy, their devotion to hunting and to war. But -their policy gave no comprehensive aim to wars which reduced their -numbers, and threatened their very existence as a race. Throughout the -entire period of any direct knowledge of them by Europeans, there is -constant evidence of feuds between members of the common stock, due in -part, indeed, to their becoming involved in the rivalries of French and -English colonists, but also traceable to hereditary animosities -perpetuated through many generations. The strongly marked diversities in -the dialects of the Six Nations is itself an evidence of their long -separation, prior to their confederation, in the earlier half of the -fifteenth century. By far the most trustworthy narrative of this famous -league is embodied by Mr. Horatio Hale in _The Iroquois Book of Rites_, -a contribution to aboriginal American literature of singular interest -and value. Among the members of this confederacy the Tuscaroras occupy a -peculiar position. They were reunited to the common stock so recently as -1714, but their traditions accord with those of the whole Huron-Iroquois -family in pointing to the Lower St. Lawrence as their original home; and -the diversity of the Tuscarora dialect from those of the older nations -of the league furnishes a valuable gauge of the significance of such -differences as evidence of the length of period during which the various -members of the common stock had been separated. On the other hand, the -manner in which, in the absence of any hereditary feud, the Iroquois -respected the bonds of consanguinity, and welcomed the fugitive -immigrants from North Carolina, throws an interesting light on the -history of the race, and the large extent of country occupied by it in -the time of its greatest prosperity. - -The earliest home of the whole Huron-Iroquois stock was within the area -of Quebec and Eastern Ontario, and they have thus a claim on the -interest of Canadians as their precursors in the occupation of the soil; -while, in so far as its actual occupancy by the representatives of the -common stock is concerned, the Hurons were welcomed to a friendly, if -fatal, alliance with the early French colonists; and the Iroquois of the -Six Nations have enjoyed a home, under the protection of England, on the -western Canadian reserves set apart for their use upwards of a century -ago. - -There is one notable inconsistency in the traditions of the -Huron-Iroquois which is significant. The fathers of the common stock -dwelt, according to their most cherished memories, in their northern -home on the St. Lawrence, and beside the great sea. It ranked also among -the ancient traditions of the “Wampum-keepers,” or official annalists, -that there came a time when, from whatever cause, the -Caniengas—Ka-nyen-ke-ha-ka, or Flint people, _i.e._ the Mohawks,—the -“eldest brother” of the family, led the way from the northern shore of -the St. Lawrence to their later home in what is now the State of New -York. But the prehistoric character of this later tradition is shown by -the fact that the Oneidas, Onondagas, and Senecas, all claimed for -themselves the character of autochthones in their later home. The -precise spot where, according to the cherished legend of the Oneidas, -they literally sprang from the soil, is still marked by “the Oneida -Stone,” a large boulder of flesh-coloured syenite, from which the latter -called themselves Oniota-aug, “the people begot from the stone.” It -occupies a commanding site overlooking a fine expanse of country -stretching to the Oneida Lake. But, according to Mr. Hale, the name of -the Oneida nation, in the council of the league, was _Nihatirontakowa_, -usually rendered the “great-tree people,” or literally “those of the -great log.” This designation is connected, most probably as an -afterthought, with a legendary meeting of their people with -Hiawatha.[127] The beautiful legend of this benefactor of his people has -been embalmed in the Indian epic of Longfellow, and dealt with as a -chapter of genuine history in Mr. Horatio Hale’s _Iroquois Book of -Rites_. At a period when the tribes were being wasted by constant wars -within and without, a wise and beneficent chief arose among the -Onondagas. His name is rendered: “he who seeks the wampum belt.” He had -long viewed with grief the dissensions and misery of his people, and -conceived the idea of a federal union which should ensure peace. The -system which he devised was to be not a loose and transitory league, -such as the Indian tribes were familiar with; but a permanent -organisation, foreshadowing as it were the federal union of the -Anglo-American Colonies. “While each nation was to retain its own -council and its management of local affairs, the general control was to -be lodged in a federal senate, composed of representatives elected by -each nation, holding office during good behaviour, and acknowledged as -ruling chiefs throughout the confederacy. Still further, and more -remarkably, the confederation was not to be a limited one. It was to be -infinitely expansive. The avowed design of its proposer was to abolish -war altogether. He wished the federation to extend until all the tribes -of men should be included in it. Such,” says Mr. Hale, “is the positive -testimony of the Iroquois themselves, and their statement is supported -by historical evidence.”[128] The league survived far on into the -eighteenth century; but the dream of universal peace among the nations -of the New World, if it ever found any realisation, had vanished in the -reawakening of the demon of strife. - -In all the accounts of the Iroquois their league is noted as -distinguishing them from the Algonkins and other ruder tribes of North -America. The story of this league has been reproduced by successive -historians, not without rhetorical exaggerations borrowed from the -institutions of civilised nations, both of ancient and modern times. The -late Hon. L. H. Morgan says of this tribal union: “Under their federal -system the Iroquois flourished in independence, and capable of -self-protection, long after the New England and Virginia races had -surrendered their jurisdictions, and fallen into the condition of -dependent nations; and they now stand forth upon the canvas of Indian -history, prominent alike for the wisdom of their civil institutions, -their sagacity in the administration of the league, and their courage in -its defence. When their power and sovereignty finally passed away, it -was through the events of peaceful intercourse, gradually progressing to -this result.”[129] Schoolcraft in like manner refers to “their -advancement in the economy of living, in arms, in diplomacy, and in -civil polity,” as evidence of a remote date for their confederacy.[130] -But while thus contrasting the “power and sovereignty” of the Iroquois -with the “dependent nations” to the south, Schoolcraft leaves it -manifest that, whatever may have been the extent of the ancient -confederacy, in the seventeenth century their whole numbers fell short -of 12,000; and in 1677 their warriors or fighting men were carefully -estimated at 2150. The diversity of dialects of the different members of -the league is a source of curious interest to the philologist; but the -fact that, among a people numerically so small, local dialects were thus -perpetuated, is a proof of the very partial influence of the league as a -bond of union. It serves to illustrate the general defect of native -American polity. “Nothing,” says Max Müller, “surprised the Jesuit -missionaries so much as the immense number of languages spoken by the -natives of America. But this, far from being a proof of a high state of -civilisation, rather showed that the various races of America had never -submitted for any length of time to a powerful political -concentration.[131] The Iroquois were undoubtedly pre-eminent in the -highest virtues of the savage; and could they have been isolated in the -critical transitional stage, like the ancient Egyptians in their Nile -valley, the Greeks in their Hellenic peninsula, or the Anglo-Saxons in -their insular stronghold— - - . . . . set in the silver sea - Which serves it in the office of a wall - Or as a moat defensive— - -until they learned to unite with their courage and persistency in war -some of the elements of progress in civilisation ascribed to them, they -might have proved the regenerators of the continent, and reserved it for -permanent occupation by races of native origin. “Wherever they went,” -says Schoolcraft, “they carried proofs of their energy, courage, and -enterprise. At one period we hear the sound of their war-cry along the -Straits of the St. Mary’s, and at the foot of Lake Superior; at another, -under the walls of Quebec, where they finally defeated the Hurons under -the eyes of the French.”[132] And after glancing at the long history of -their triumphs, he adds: “Nations trembled when they heard the name of -the Konoshioni.” - -In older centuries, while the Huron-Iroquois still constituted one -united people in their ancestral home to the north of the St. Lawrence, -they must have been liable to contact with the Eskimo, both on the north -and the east; and greatly as the two races differ, the dolichocephalic -type of head common to both is not only suggestive of possible -intermixture, but also of encroachments on the Eskimo in early centuries -by this aggressive race. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as -probably at a much earlier date, when the Iroquois had parted from the -Hurons, they became unquestionably _the_ aggressive race of the northern -continent; and were an object of dread to widely severed nations. Their -earliest foes were probably the Algonkins, whose original home appears -to have been between Lake Superior and Hudson Bay. Nevertheless, there -was a time, according to the traditions of both, apparently in some old -pre-Columbian century, when Iroquois and Algonkins combined their forces -against the long-extinct stock whose name survives in that of the -Alleghany Mountains and river. But if so, their numbers must have then -vastly exceeded that of their whole combined nations at any period -subsequent to their first intercourse with Europeans. For if the growing -opinion is correct that the Alligéwi were the so-called “Mound-Builders” -of the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, they must have been a numerous -people, occupying a territory of great extent, and carrying on -agriculture on a large scale. So far as metallurgy—that crucial test of -civilisation,—is concerned, they had not advanced beyond the stage of -Iroquois progress. Their pottery and ingenious carvings in stone have -already been noted, along with their singular geometrical earthworks -which still puzzle the American archæologist, from the evidence they -show of skill in a people still practically in their Stone period. The -only conceivable solution of the mystery, as already suggested, seems to -me the assumption of some “Druidic” or Brahminical caste, distinct from -the native Alligéwi stock, who ruled in those great northern -river-valleys, as in Peru; and, like the mythic Quetzalcoatl of the -Aztecs, taught them agriculture, and directed the construction of the -marvellous works to which they owe their later distinctive name. But for -some unknown reason they provoked the united fury of Iroquois and -Algonkins; and after long-protracted strife were driven out, if not -wholly exterminated. A curious phase of incipient native civilisation -thus perished; and, notwithstanding all the romance attached to the -league of the Iroquois, it is impossible to credit them at any stage of -their own history with the achievement of such a progress in agriculture -or primitive arts as we must ascribe to this ancient people of the Ohio -valley. To the triumph of the Iroquois in this long-protracted warfare -may have been due the haughty spirit which thenceforth demanded a -recognition of their supremacy from all surrounding nations. Their -partial historians ascribe to them a spirit of magnanimity in the use of -their power, and a mediatorial interposition among the weaker nations -that acknowledged their supremacy. They appear, indeed, to have again -entered into alliance with an Algonkin nation. Their annalists have -transmitted the memory of a treaty effected with the Ojibways, when the -latter dwelt on the shores of Lake Superior; and the meeting-place of -the two powerful races was at the great fishing-ground of the Sault Ste. -Marie rapids, within reach of the copper-bearing rocks of the Keweenaw -peninsula. The league then established is believed to have been -faithfully maintained on both sides for upwards of two hundred years. -But if so, it had been displaced by bitter feud in the interval between -the visits of Cartier and Champlain to the St. Lawrence. - -The historical significance given to the legend of Hiawatha by the -coherent narrative so ingeniously deduced by Mr. Horatio Hales from _The -Iroquois Book of Rites_, points to a long-past era of beneficent rule -and social progress among the Huron-Iroquois. But the era is -pre-Columbian, if not mythic. The pipe of peace had been long -extinguished, and the buried tomahawk recovered, when the early French -explorers were brought into contact with the Iroquois and Hurons. The -history of their deeds, as recorded by the Jesuit Fathers from personal -observation, is replete with the relentless ferocity of the savage. War -was their pastime; and they were ever ready to welcome the call to arms. -La Salle came in contact with them on the discovery of the Illinois; and -Captain John Smith, the founder of Virginia, encountered their canoes on -the Chesapeake Bay bearing a band of Iroquois warriors to the -territories of the Powhattan confederacy. They were then, as ever, the -same fierce marauders, intolerant of equality with any neighbouring -tribe. The Susquehannocks experienced at their hands the same fate as -the Alligéwi. The Lenapes, Shawnees, Nanticokes, Unamis, Delawares, -Munsees, and Manhattans, were successively reduced to the condition of -dependent tribes. Even the Canarse Indians of Long Island were not safe -from their vengeance; and their power seems to have been dreaded -throughout the whole region from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. - -It thus appears probable that in remote centuries, before the discovery -of America by European voyagers, the region extending westward from the -Labrador coast to Lake Ontario, if not, indeed, to Lake Huron, had been -in occupation by those who claimed to be autochthones, and who were -known and feared far beyond their own frontiers. But though thus -maintaining a haughty predominancy; so far as their arts afford any -evidence, they were in their infancy. The country occupied by them, -except in so far as it was overgrown with the forest, was well adapted -for agriculture; and the Iroquois and Hurons alike compared favourably -with the Algonkins in their agricultural industry. A confirmatory -evidence of exceptional superiority among this remarkable race is that -their women were held in unwonted respect. They had their own -representatives in the council of the tribe; and exercised considerable -influence in the choice of a chief. But on them devolved all domestic -labour, including the cultivation of their fields. This work was -entirely carried on by the women, while the share of the men in the -joint provision of food was the product of the chase. The beautiful -region was still so largely under forest that it must have afforded -abundant resources for the hunter; but it furnished no facilities for -the inauguration of a copper or bronze age, such as the shores of Lake -Superior in vain offered to its Algonkin nomads. Of metallic ores they -had no knowledge; and while they doubtless prized the copper brought -occasionally from Lake Superior, copper implements are rare in the -region which they occupied. Their old alliance with the Algonkins of the -great copper region had long come to an end; and when brought under the -notice of the French and English colonists, the Algonkins had joined -with the Hurons as the implacable foes of the Iroquois confederacy. - -In the ancient warfare in which Algonkins and Huron-Iroquois are found -united against the nation of the great river valleys, we see evidences -of a conflict between widely distinct stocks of northern and southern -origin. It is an antagonism between well-defined dolichocephalic and -brachycephalic races. In the dolichocephalic Iroquois or Huron, we have -the highest type of the forest savage; maintaining as his own the -territory of his fathers, and building palisaded towns for the secure -shelter of his people. The brachycephalic Mound-Builder, on the other -hand, may still survive in one or other of the members of the -semi-civilised village communities of New Mexico or Arizona. But if the -interpretation of native traditions have any value, they carry us back -to pre-Columbian centuries, and tell of long-protracted strife, until -what may at first have been no more than the aggressions of wild -northern races, tempted by the resources of an industrious agricultural -community, became a war of extermination. The elaborately constructed -forts of the Mound-Builders, no less abundant throughout the Ohio valley -than their curious geometrical earthworks, prove the dangers to which -they were exposed, no less than the skill and determination with which -the aggressors were withstood, it may be through successive generations, -before their final overthrow. - -The palisaded Indian town of Hochelaga, one of the chief urban centres -of the Huron-Iroquois tribes in the older home of the race, and a sample -of the later Huron defences on the Georgian Bay, stood, in the sixteenth -century, at the foot of Mount Royal, whence the city of Montreal takes -its name; and some of the typical skulls of its old occupants, as well -as flint implements and pottery from its site, are now preserved in the -Museum of M’Gill University. The latter relics reveal no more than had -long been familiar in the remains which abound within the area of the -Iroquois confederacy, and elsewhere throughout the eastern states of -North America. Their earthenware vessels were decorated with -herring-bone and other incised patterns; and their tobacco pipes and the -handles of their clay bowls were, at times, rudely modelled into human -and animal forms. Their implements of flint and stone were equally rude. -They had inherited little more than the most infantile savage arts; and -when those were at length superseded, in some degree, by implements and -weapons of European manufacture, they prized the more effective weapons, -but manifested no desire for mastering the arts to which they were due. -To all appearance, through unnumbered centuries, the tide of human life -has ebbed and flowed in the valley of the St. Lawrence as -unprogressively as on the great steppes of Asia. Such footprints as the -wanderers have left on the sands of time tell only of the unchanging -recurrence of generations of men as years and centuries came and passed -away. Illustrations of native art are now very familiar to us. The -ancient flint pits have been explored; and the flint cores and -rough-hewn nodules recovered. The implements of war and the chase were -the work of the Indian brave. His spears and arrow heads, his knives, -chisels, celts, and hammers, in flint and stone, abound. Fish-hooks, -lances or spears, awls, bodkins, and other implements of bone and deer’s -horn, are little less common. The highest efforts of artistic skill were -expended on the carving of his stone pipe, and fashioning the pipe-stem. -The pottery, the work of female hands, is usually in the simplest stage -of coarse, handmade, fictile ware. The patterns, incised on the soft -clay, are the conventional reproductions of the grass or straw-plaiting; -or, at times, the actual impressions of the cordage or wicker-work by -which the larger clay vessels were held in shape, to be dried in the sun -before they were imperfectly burned in the primitive kiln. But the -potter also indulged her fancy at times in modelling artistic devices of -men and animals, as the handles of the smaller ware, or the forms in -which the clay tobacco pipe was wrought. Nevertheless the northern -continent lingered to the last in its primitive stage of neolithic art; -and its most northern were its rudest tribes, until we pass within the -Arctic circle and come in contact with the ingenious handiwork of the -Eskimo. Southward beyond the great lakes, and especially within the area -of the Mound-Builders, a manifest improvement is noticeable. Alike in -their stone carvings and their modelling in clay, the more artistic -design and better finish of industrious settled communities are -apparent. Still further to the south, the diversified ingenuity of -fancy, especially in the pottery, is suggestive of an influence derived -from Mexican and Peruvian art. The carved work of some western tribes -was also of a higher character. But taking such work at its best, it -cannot compare in skill or practical utility with the industrial arts of -Europe’s Neolithic age. This region has now been visited and explored by -Europeans for four centuries, during a large portion of which time they -have been permanent settlers. Its soil has been turned up over areas of -such wide extent that the results may be accepted, with little -hesitation, as illustrations of the arts and social life subsequent to -the occupation of the continent by its aboriginal races. But we look in -vain for evidence of an extinct native civilisation. However far back -the presence of man in the New World may be traced, throughout the -northern continent, at least, he seems never to have attained to any -higher stage than what is indicated by such evidences of settled -occupation as were shown in the palisaded Indian town of Hochelaga; or -at most, in the ancient settlements of the Ohio valley. Everywhere the -agriculturist only disturbs the graves of the savage hunter. The -earthworks of the Mound-Builders, and still more their configuration, -are indeed suggestive of a people in a condition analogous to that of -the ancient populace of Egypt or Assyria, toiling under the direction of -an overruling caste, and working out intellectual conceptions of which -they themselves were incapable. Yet, even in their case, this inference -finds no confirmation from the contents of their mounds or earthworks. -They disclose only implements of bone, flint, and stone, with some rare -examples of equally rude copper tools, hammered into shape without the -use of fire. Working in the metals appears to have been confined to the -southern continent; or, at least, never to have found its way northward -of the Mexican plateau. Nothing but the ingeniously sculptured tobacco -pipe, or the better-fashioned pottery, gives the slightest hint of -progress beyond the first infantile stage of the tool-maker. - -Whatever may have been the source of special skill among the old -agricultural occupants of the Ohio valley, their Iroquois supplanters -borrowed from them no artistic aptitude. No remains of its primitive -occupants give the slightest hint that the aborigines of Canada, or of -the country immediately to the south of the St. Lawrence, derived any -knowledge from the old race so curiously skilled in the construction of -geometrical earthworks. Any native burial mounds or embankments are on a -small scale, betraying no more than the simplest operations of a people -whose tools were flint hoes, and horn or wooden picks and shovels. -Wherever evidence is found of true working in metals, as distinct from -the cold-hammered native copper, as in the iron tomahawk, the copper -kettles, and silver crosses, recovered from time to time from Indian -graves, their European origin is indisputable. Small silver buckles, or -brooches, of native workmanship are indeed common in their graves; for a -metallic currency was so unintelligible to them that this was the use to -which they most frequently turned French or English silver coinage. - -But notwithstanding the general correspondence in arts, habits, and -conditions of life, among the forest and prairie tribes of North -America, their distinctive classification into various dolichocephalic -and brachycephalic types points to diversity of origin and a mingling of -several races. So far as the native races of Canada are considered, it -has been shown that they belong to the dolichocephalic type. The -Alligéwi, or Mound-Builders, on the contrary, appear to have been a -strongly marked brachycephalic race; and the bitter antagonism between -the two, which ended in the utter ruin of the latter, may have been -originally due to race distinctions such as have frequently been the -source of implacable strife. - -The short globular head-form, which, in the famous Scioto-mound skull, -is shown in a strongly marked typical example with the longitudinal and -parietal diameters nearly equal, appears to have been common among the -southern tribes, such as the Osages, Ottoes, Missouries, Shawnees, -Cherokees, Seminoles, Uchees, Savannahs, Catawbas, Yamasees, Creeks, and -many others. This seems to point to such a convergence, of two distinct -ethnical lines of migration from opposite centres, as is borne out by -much other evidence. In noting this aspect of the question anew, the -further significant fact may also be once more repeated, that the Eskimo -cranium, along with certain specialties of its own, is pre-eminently -distinctive as the northern type. - -Among what may be accepted as typical Canadian skulls, those recovered -from the old site of Hochelaga, and from the Huron ossuaries around Lake -Simcoe, have a special value. They represent the native race which, -under various names, extended from the Lower St. Lawrence westward to -Lake St. Clair. The people encountered by Cartier and the first French -explorers of 1535, and those whom Champlain found settled around the -Georgian Bay sixty-eight years later, appear to have been of the same -stock. Such primitive local names, as Stadaconé and Hochelaga, are not -Algonkin, but Huron-Iroquois. Native traditions, as well as the -allusions of the earliest French writers, confirm this idea of the -occupation by a Huron-Iroquois or Wyandot population of the “region -north-eastward from the mouth of the St. Lawrence, at or somewhere along -the Gulf coast, before they ever met with the French, or any European -adventurers,” as reaffirmed in the narrative of their own native -historian, Peter Dooyentate.[133] But whatever confirmation may be found -for this native tradition, it is certain that the European adventurers -bore no part in their expulsion from their ancient home. The aborigines, -whom Jacques Cartier found a prosperous people, safe in the shelter of -their palisaded towns, had all vanished before the return of the French -under Champlain; and they were found by him in new settlements, which -they had formed far to the westward on Lake Simcoe and the Georgian Bay. - -Questions of considerable interest are involved in the consideration of -this migration of the Hurons; and the circumstances under which they -deserted their earlier home. They were visited by Champlain in 1615, and -subsequently by the missionary Fathers, who, in 1639, found them -occupying thirty-two palisaded villages, fortified in the same fashion -as those described by the first French explorers at Stadaconé and -Hochelaga. Their numbers are variously estimated. Brebeuf reckoned them -at 30,000; and described them as living together in towns sometimes of -fifty, sixty, or a hundred dwellings,—that is, of three or four hundred -householders,—and diligently cultivating their fields, from which they -derived food for the whole year. Whatever higher qualities distinguished -the Iroquois from Algonkin or other native races, were fully shared in -by the Hurons; and they are even spoken of with a natural partiality by -their French allies, like Sagard, as a patrician order of savages, in -comparison with those of the Five Nations. When first visited by French -explorers, after their protracted journey through the desolate forests -between the Ottawa and Lake Huron, their palisaded towns and cultivated -fields must have seemed like an oasis in the desert. “To the eye of -Champlain,” says Mr. Parkman, “accustomed to the desolation he had left -behind, it seemed a land of beauty and abundance. There was a broad -opening in the forest, fields of maize with pumpkins ripening in the -sun, patches of sun-flowers, from the seeds of which the Indians made -hair-oil, and in the midst the Huron town of Otouacha. In all essential -points it resembled that which Cartier, eighty years before, had seen at -Montreal; the same triple palisade of crossed and intersecting trunks, -and the same long lodges of bark, each containing many households. Here, -within an area of sixty or seventy miles, was the seat of one of the -most remarkable savage communities of the continent.”[134] The Hurons, -thus settled in their latter home, consisted of several “nations,” -including their kinsmen to the south, as far as Lake Erie and the -Niagara river. They had their own tribal divisions, still perpetuated -among their descendants. The Rev. Prosper Vincent Sa∫∫atannen, a native -Huron, and the first of his race admitted to the priesthood, informs me -that the Hurons of Lorette still perpetuate their ancient classification -into four _grandes compagnies_, each of which has its five tribal -divisions or clans, by which of old all intermarriage was regulated. The -members of the same clan regarded themselves as brothers and sisters, -and so were precluded from marriage with one another. The small number -of the whole band at La Jeune Lorette renders the literal enforcement of -this rule impossible; but the children are still regarded as belonging -to the mother’s clan. The five clans into which each of the four -companies is divided are:—1. The Deer, _Oskanonton_; 2. The Bear, -_Anniolen_; 3. The Wolf, _Annenarisk∫∫a_; 4. The Tortoise, _Andia∫∫ik_; -5. The Beaver, _Tsotai_. There were two, if not more dialects spoken by -the old Hurons, or Wyandots; and that of Hochelaga probably varied from -any form of the language now surviving. This has to be kept in view in -estimating the value of the lists of words furnished by Jacques Cartier -of “le langage des pays et Royaulmes de Hochelaga et Canada, aultrement -appellée par nous la nouvelle France.” - -Of the condition of the region to the west of the Ottawa prior to the -seventeenth century nothing is known from direct observation. Before -Champlain had an opportunity of visiting it, the whole region westward -to Lake Huron had been depopulated and reduced to a desert. The fact -that the few natives found by Champlain occupying the once populous -region of the Hochelaga Indians were Algonkins, has been the chief -ground for the assumption that the expulsion of that old Wyandot stock -was due to their hostility. But such an idea is irreconcilable with the -fact that the latter, instead of retreating southward to their -Huron-Iroquois kinsmen, took refuge among Algonkin tribes. According to -the narrative of their own Wyandot historian, Peter Dooyentate, -gathered, as he tells us, from traditions that lived in the memory of a -few among the older members of his tribe, the island of Montreal was -occupied in the sixteenth century by Wyandots or Hurons, and Senecas, -sojourning peaceably in separate villages. The tradition is vague which -traces the cause of their hostility to the wrath of a Seneca maiden, who -had been wronged by the object of her affections, and gave her hand to a -young Wyandot warrior on the condition of his slaying the Seneca chief, -to whose influence she ascribed the desertion of her former lover. -Whatever probability may attach to this romance of the Indian lovers, -the tradition that the Hurons were driven from their ancient homes on -the St. Lawrence by their Seneca kinsmen is consistent with ascertained -facts, as well as with the later history of the Senecas, who are found -playing the same part to the Eries under a somewhat similar incentive to -revenge, and appear to have taken the lead in the destruction of the -Attiwendaronks. The native tradition is of value in so far as it shows -that the fatal enmity of the Iroquois to the Hurons was not originally -due to the alliance of the latter with the French; but Senecas and -Hurons had alike disappeared before Champlain visited the scene of -Cartier’s earlier exploration. The Attiwendaronks, who dwelt to the -south of the later home of the Hurons, on the shores of Lakes Ontario -and Erie, may have formed another of the nations of the Wyandot stock -expelled from the valley of the St. Lawrence. Situated as they were in -their later home, midway between the Hurons and Iroquois, they strove in -vain to maintain a friendly neutrality. Charlevoix assigns the year 1635 -as the date of their destruction by the latter. Certain it is that -between that date and the middle of the century their towns were utterly -destroyed; and such of the survivors as lingered in the vicinity were -incorporated into the nation of the Senecas, who lay nearest to them. - -The Eries were another Huron-Iroquois nation who appear to have -persistently held aloof from the league. They were seemingly a fiercer -and more warlike people than the Attiwendaronks; they fought with -poisoned arrows, and were esteemed or dreaded as warriors. Their numbers -must have been considerable, since they were an object of apprehension -to the nations of the league whose western frontiers marched with their -own. They are affirmed by the native historian, Cusick, to have sprung -from the Senecas; but, if so, their separation was probably of remote -date, as they were both numerous and powerful. The country which they -occupied was noted among the French _coureurs des bois_ for its lynx -furs; and they gave accordingly to its people the name of “La Nation du -Chat.” Their ancient home is still indicated in the name of the great -lake beside which they dwelt. But, for some unknown reason, they refused -all alliance with the Senecas and the league of their Iroquois kin, and -perished by their violence within seven years after the Huron country -was laid waste. “To the Eries, and to the Neuter nation,” or -Attiwendaronks, says Schoolcraft, “according to tradition, the Iroquois -offered the alternative of admission into the league or extermination; -and the strangeness of this proposition will disappear, when it is -remembered that an Indian nation regards itself as at war with all -others not in actual alliance.”[135] Peace, he adds, was the ultimate -aim of the founders of the Iroquois oligarchy; and, for lovers of peace -on such terms of supremacy, the _casus belli_ would not be more -difficult to find than it has proved to be among the most Christian of -kings. In the case of the Eries, as of the elder Wyandots of Hochelaga, -the final rupture is ascribed to a woman’s implacable wrath. - -Father Le Moyne, while on a mission to the Onondagas in 1654, learned -that the Iroquois confederacy were excited to fury against the Eries. A -captive Onondaga chief is said to have been burnt at the stake after he -had been offered, according to Indian custom, to one of the Erie women, -to take the place of her brother who had been murdered while on a visit -to the Senecas. It is a characteristic illustration of how the feuds of -ages were perpetuated. The traditions of the Iroquois preserved little -more than the fact that the Eries had perished by their fury. But a -story told to Mr. Parkman by a Cayuga Indian, only too aptly illustrates -the hideous ferocity of their assailants. It represented that the night -after the great battle in which the Eries suffered their final defeat, -the forest was lighted up with more than a thousand fires, at each of -which an Erie was being tortured at the stake.[136] The number is -probably exaggerated. But it is only thus, as it were in the lurid glare -of its torturing fires, that we catch a glimpse of this old nation as it -vanished from the scene. Of the survivors, the greater number were -adopted, according to Indian fashion, into the Seneca nation. - -Some of the earthworks met with to the south of Lake Erie show proofs of -greater constructive labour than anything found in Canada. Still more -interesting are the primitive hieroglyphics of an inscription on -Cunningham’s Island, ascribed to the Eries, and which Schoolcraft -describes as by far the most elaborate work of its class hitherto found -on the continent.[137] But the rock inscription, though highly -interesting as an example of native symbolism and pictographic writing, -throws no light on the history of its carvers; and of their language no -memorial is recoverable, for they had ceased to exist before the great -lake which perpetuates their name was known to the French. - -More accurate information has been preserved in reference to the Hurons, -among whom the Jesuit Fathers laboured with self-denying zeal, from time -to time reporting the results in their _Relations_ to the Provincial of -the Order at Paris. One of the most characteristic religious ceremonies -of the Hurons was the great “Feast of the Dead,” celebrated apparently -at intervals of twelve years, when the remains of their dead were -gathered from scaffolded biers, or remote graves, and deposited amid -general mourning in the great cemetery of the tribe. Valuable robes and -furs, pottery, copper kettles and others of their choicest possessions, -including the pyrulæ, or large tropical shells brought from the Gulf of -Mexico, with wampum, prized implements, and personal ornaments, were all -thrown into the great trench, which was then solemnly covered over. By -the exploration of those Huron ossuaries, the sites of the palisaded -villages of the Hurons of the seventeenth century have been identified -in recent years; and there are now preserved in the Laval University at -Quebec upwards of eighty skulls recovered from cemeteries at St. Ignace, -St. Joachin, Ste. Marie, St. Michael, and other villages, the scenes of -self-denying labour, and in some cases of the cruel torturings, of the -French missionaries by whom they were thus designated. Other examples of -skulls from the same ossuaries, I may add, are now in the Museums of the -University of Toronto, the London Anthropological Society, and the -Jardin des Plantes at Paris. The skulls recovered from those ossuaries -have a special value from the fact that the last survivors were driven -out of the country by their Iroquois foes in 1649; and hence the crania -recovered from them may be relied upon as fairly illustrating the -physical characteristics of the race before they had been affected by -intercourse with Europeans. The Huron skull is of a well-defined -dolichocephalic type, with, in many cases, an unusual prominence of the -occipital region; the parietal bones meet more or less at an angle at -the sagittal suture; the forehead is flat and receding; the superciliary -ridges in the male skulls are strongly developed; the malar bones are -broad and flat, and the profile is orthognathic. Careful measurements of -thirty-nine male skulls yield a mean longitudinal diameter of 7.39 to a -parietal diameter of 5.50; and of eighteen female skulls, a longitudinal -diameter of 7.07 to a parietal diameter of 5.22.[138] - -Who were the people found by Cartier in 1535, seemingly long-settled and -prosperous, occupying the fortified towns of Stadaconé and Hochelaga, -and lower points on the St. Lawrence? The question is not without a -special interest to Canadians. According to the native Wyandot -historian, they were Wyandots or Hurons, and Senecas. That they were -Huron-Iroquois, at any rate, and not Algonkins, is readily determined. -We owe to Cartier two brief vocabularies of their language, which, -though obscured probably in their original transcription, and corrupted -by false transliterations in their transference to the press, leave no -doubt that the people spoke a Huron-Iroquois dialect. To which of the -divisions it belonged is not so obvious. The languages, in the various -dialects, differ only slightly in most of the words which Cartier gives. -Sometimes they agree with Huron, and sometimes with Iroquois -equivalents. The name of Hochelaga, “at the beaver-dam,” is Huron, and -the agreement as a whole preponderates in favour of a Huron rather than -an Iroquois dialect. But there was probably less difference between the -two then, than at the more recent dates of their comparison. In dealing -with this important branch of philological evidence, I have been -indebted to the kindness of my friend, Mr. Horatio Hale, for a -comparative analysis of the vocabulary supplied by Cartier, embodying -the results of long and careful study. He has familiarised himself with -the Huron language by personal intercourse with members of a little band -of civilised Wyandots, settled on their reserve at Anderdon, in Western -Ontario. The language thus preserved by them, after long separation from -other members of the widely scattered race, probably presents the -nearest approximation to the original forms of the native tongue, as -spoken on the Island of Montreal and the lower St. Lawrence. In -comparing them allowance has to be made for varieties of dialect among -the old occupants of the lower valley of the St. Lawrence, and also for -the changes wrought on the Huron language in the lapse of three and a -half centuries, not simply by time, but also as the result of -intercourse and intermixture with other peoples. The habit of recruiting -their numbers by the adoption of prisoners and broken tribes could not -fail to exercise some influence on the common tongue. The _k_ or hard -_g_ of Cartier is, in the Wyandot, frequently softened to a _y_; and on -the other hand, the _n_ is strengthened by a _d_ sound, as in Cartier’s -pregnant term _Canada_, the old Hochelaga word for a town, which has -become in the Wyandot _Yandata_; and so in other instances. - -The revolution which, at the critical period of the advent of the Trench -in the valley of the St. Lawrence, in the interval of sixty-eight years -between the visits of Cartier and Champlain, displaced the fortified and -populous Indian capital of Hochelaga and left the surrounding regions a -desolate wilderness, is a mysterious event. Had Champlain been curious -to learn the facts of an occurrence then so recent there could have been -little difficulty in recovering the history of the exodus of the -Hochelagans. But it had no interest for the French adventurers of that -day. The well-fortified Wyandot towns had given place to a few ephemeral -birch-bark wigwams belonging to another race; and the readiest solution -of the mystery has been to ascribe the expulsion of the Wyandots, or -Hurons, from their ancient home in Eastern Canada, to the Algonkins. -This, as already shown, is irreconcilable with the fact that Champlain -found them in friendly alliance with the latter against their common -foe, the Iroquois. If, however, the Wyandot tradition of the expulsion -of the Hurons from the island of Montreal by the Senecas be accepted, it -is in no degree inconsistent with the circumstances subsequently -reported by Champlain; but rather serves to account for some of them, if -it is assumed that the Senecas were, in their turn, driven out by the -Algonkins, and then finally withdrew beyond the St. Lawrence. - -But there is another kind of evidence bearing on the question of the -affinities of the people first met with by Cartier in 1535, which also -has its value here. The descriptions of the palisaded towns of the -Hurons on the Georgian Bay very accurately reproduce that which Cartier -gives of Hochelaga. Ephemeral as such fortifications necessarily were, -the construction of a rampart formed of a triple row of trunks of trees, -surmounted with galleries, from whence to hurl stones and other missiles -on their assailants, was a formidable undertaking for builders provided -with no better tools than stone hatchets, and with no other means of -transport than their united labour supplied. But the design had the -advantage of furnishing a self-supporting wall, and so of saving the -greater labour of digging a trench, with such inadequate tools, in soil -penetrated everywhere with the roots of forest trees. It was the -Huron-Iroquois system of military engineering, in which they contrasted -favourably with the Algonkins, among whom the absence of such evidence -of settled habits as those secure defences supplied, was characteristic -of these ruder nomads. But such urban fortifications no less strikingly -contrast with the elaborate and enduring military earthworks to the -south of the great lakes. The pottery and implements found on the site -of Hochelaga are of the same character as many examples recovered from -the Huron ossuaries. On the other hand the peculiar rites, of which -those ossuaries are the enduring memorials, appear to have distinguished -the western Hurons from the older settlers on the St. Lawrence. The -great Feast of the Dead, with its recurrent solemnities, when after the -lapse of years the remains of their dead were exhumed, or removed from -their scaffold biers, was the most characteristic religious ceremonial -of the Hurons; and was practised with still more revolting rites by the -kindred Attiwendaronks. Festering dead bodies were kept in their -dwellings, preparatory to scraping the flesh from their bones; and the -decaying remains of recently buried corpses were exhumed for reinterment -in the great trench, which was prepared with enormous labour, and -furnished with the most lavish expenditure of prized furs, wampum, and -other possessions. - -In all ages and states of society unavailing sorrow has tempted the -survivors to extravagant excesses in the effort to do honour to the -loved dead; and sumptuary laws have been repeatedly enacted to restrain -such demonstrations within reasonable bounds. _The Book of Rites_ -suffices to suggest that the ancient funeral rites of the Iroquois were -of the same revolting and wasteful character, until their mythic -reformer, Hiawatha, superseded them with a simpler symbolical funeral -service. “I have spoken of the solemn event which has befallen you,” are -the introductory words to the thirteenth paragraph of “The Condoling -Council,” and it thus proceeds: “Every day you are losing your great -men. They are being borne into the earth; also the warriors, and also -your women, and also your grandchildren; so that in the midst of blood -you are sitting.” It is therefore enacted, in the twenty-seventh -paragraph, evidently in lieu of older practices: “This shall be done. We -will suspend a pouch upon a pole, and will place in it some mourning -wampum, some short strings, to be taken to the place where the loss was -suffered. The bearer will enter, and will stand by the hearth, and will -speak a few words to comfort those who will be mourning; and then they -will be comforted, and will conform to the great law.” - -A string of black wampum sent round the settlement is still, among the -Indians of the Six Nations, the notice of the death of a chief, as a -belt of black wampum was a declaration of war. It seems not improbable -that the people of Stadaconé and Hochelaga had submitted to the wise -social and religious reforms by which the ancient rites of their dead -were superseded by the symbolism of the mourning wampum, and hence the -absence of ossuaries throughout the island of Montreal and the whole -region to the east. But when the fugitive Wyandots fled into the -wilderness, and reared new homes around Lake Simcoe and in the western -peninsula, they may have revived traditional usages of their fathers, -and resumed rites which had been reluctantly abandoned. Among the -civilised Indians of the Six Nations some memorials of their ancestral -rites of the dead still survive. A visitor to the reserve at the time of -the death of a late highly esteemed chief told me that on the event -being known it was immediately responded to by all within hearing by the -prolonged utterance, in a mournful tone, of the cry _Kwé_, and this, -passing from station to station, spread the news of their loss -throughout the reserve. Nearly the same sound, uttered in a quicker -note, _Quaig!_ is the salutation among the Hurons of Lorette. - -The later history of the Hurons and Iroquois is not without its special -interest. One little band, the Hurons of Lorette, the representatives of -the refugees from the massacre of 1648, has lingered till our own day in -too close proximity to the French _habitants_ of Quebec to preserve in -purity the blood of the old race. But great as are the alterations which -time and intermixture with the white race have effected, they still -retain many intellectual as well as physical traits of their original -stock after an interval of two hundred and thirty-six years, during -which intimate intercourse, and latterly frequent intermarriage with -those of European blood, have wrought inevitable change on the -race.[139] Other more vigorous representatives of the old Huron stock -occupy a small reservation in the Township of Anderdon, in Western -Ontario, from whom the vocabulary was derived which furnished a test of -the language of the Hochelagans in the sixteenth century. But the Hurons -of Lorette have also preserved their native tongue; and an ample -vocabulary[140] of the older form of their language survives. A third -modification of the ancient tongue no doubt exists; for the larger -remnant of the survivors of the Hurons, after repeated wanderings, is -now settled, far from the native home of the race, on reserves conceded -to them by the American Government in Kansas. - -The Hurons have thus, for the most part, disappeared from Canada; but it -is not without interest to note that the revolution which, upwards of a -century ago, severed the connection of the old colonies to the south of -the St. Lawrence with the region to the north, restored to Canada its -ancient Iroquois. This race of savage warriors acquired the mastery of a -region equal in extent to Central Europe; and by a system of warfare, -not, after all, more inherently barbarous or recklessly bloody than that -of Europe’s Grand Monarch, reconstructed the social and political map of -the continent east of the Mississippi. Their influence acquired a novel -importance when, in the seemingly insignificant rivalries of French and -English fur-traders, they practically determined the balance of power -between the two foremost nations of Europe on this continent. Their -indomitable pertinacity proved more than a match alike for European -diplomacy and military skill; and, as they maintained an uncompromising -hostility to the French at a time when the rival colonists were nearly -equally balanced, the failure of the magnificent schemes of Louis XIV. -and his successors to establish in North America such a supremacy as -Charles V. and Philip II. had held in Mexico and Peru, is largely -traceable to them. It is natural that the Anglo-American student of -history should estimate highly the polity of savage warriors who thus -foiled the schemes of one of the most powerful monarchies of Europe for -the mastery of this continent. The late Hon. L. H. Morgan thus writes of -them: “They achieved for themselves a more remarkable civil -organisation, and acquired a higher degree of influence, than any other -race of Indian lineage except those of Mexico and Peru. In the drama of -European colonisation they stood, for nearly two centuries, with an -unshaken front against the devastations of war, the blighting influence -of foreign intercourse, and the still more fatal encroachments of a -restless and advancing border population. Under their federal system the -Iroquois flourished in independence, and capable of self-protection, -long after the New England and Virginia races had surrendered their -jurisdictions, and fallen into the condition of dependent nations; and -they now stand forth upon the canvas of Indian history, prominent alike -for the wisdom of their civil institutions, their sagacity in the -administration of the league, and their courage in its defence.”[141] -But in this their historian applies to the Iroquois a European standard, -similar to that by which Prescott unconsciously magnified Mexican -barbarism into a rivalry with the contemporary civilisation of Spain. -The romance attached to the Hodenosauneega, or Kononsionni, the famous -league of the Long House or United Households, more truly derives its -chief interest and value from the fact that its originators remained to -the last savages. It is, at any rate, important to keep this fact in -view, and to interpret the significance of the league in that light. -When the treaty which initiated it was entered into by the Caniengas and -the Oneidas, they were both in that primitive stage of unsophisticated -barbarism to which the term “Stone Period” has been applied. In the -absence of all knowledge of metallurgy, their implements and weapons -were alike simple and rude. Agriculture, under such conditions, must -have been equally primitive; and as for their wars, when they were not -defensive, they appear to have had no higher aim than revenge. Gallatin, -no unappreciative witness, says of them: “The history of the Five -Nations is calculated to give a favourable opinion of the intelligence -of the Red Man. But they may be ranked among the worst of conquerors. -They conquered only in order to destroy, and, it would seem, solely for -the purpose of gratifying their thirst for blood. Towards the south and -the west they made a perfect desert of the whole country within 500 -miles of their seats. A much greater number of those Indians, who since -the commencement of the seventeenth century have perished by the sword -in Canada and the United States, have been destroyed by that single -nation than in all their wars with the Europeans.”[142] - -To characterise the combination effected among such tribes as one -presenting elements of wise civil institutions; or indeed to introduce -such terms as league and federal system, in the sense in which they have -been repeatedly employed, as though they referred to a confederation -akin to those of the ancient Achæans or Ætolians, is to suggest -associations altogether misleading. Though an interesting phase of -American savage life, to which its long duration gives a marked -significance, the Iroquois league was by no means unique; though it was -the oldest, and may have been the model on which others were framed. The -Creek confederacy embraced numerous tribes between the Mobile, Alabama, -and Savannah rivers, and the Gulf of Mexico. At the head of it were the -Muskhogees, a numerous and powerful, but wholly savage race of hunters. -Like the Oneidas, Onandagas, and the still older Wyandots, they and the -Choctaws claimed to be autochthones. The Muskhogees appealed to a -tradition of their ancestors that they issued from a cave near the -Alabama river; while the Choctaws pointed to the frontier region between -them and the Chickasaws, where, as they affirmed, they suddenly emerged -from a hole in the earth, a numerous and mighty people. The system of -government amongst the members of this southern confederacy seems to -have borne considerable resemblance to that of the Iroquois; if it was -not borrowed from it. Every village was the centre of an independent -tribe or nation, with its own chief; and the restraints imposed on the -individual members, except when co-operating in some special enterprise -or religious ceremonial, appear to have been slight. - -Mr. Hale has shown that the language of the Cherokees has a grammar -mainly Huron-Iroquois, and a vocabulary largely recruited from some -foreign source. From this he infers that one portion of the conquered -Alligéwi, while the conflict still lasted, may have cast in their lot -with the conquering race, just as the Tlascalans did with the Spaniards -in their war against the Aztecs, and hence the origin of the great -Cherokee nation. The fugitive Alligéwi, he surmises, may have fled down -the Mississippi till they reached the country of the Choctaws, -themselves a mound-building people; and to the alliance of the two he -would thus trace the difference in the language of the latter from that -of their eastern kindred, the Creeks or Muskhogees.[143] On the -assumption of such a combination of ethnical elements, the origin of the -Creek confederacy is easily accounted for. It is to this same element of -language that we have to revert for guidance in the interpretation of -the history of this remarkable race. It would be an evasion of the most -essential evidence on which any reliable conclusions must be based, if -the fact were overlooked that the Iroquois never emerged beyond the -primitive stage of the Stone period. Nevertheless in one element of -intellectual development their progress had been great. Each nation of -the Iroquois league had its chief, to whom pertained the right of -kindling the symbolic council-fire, and of taking the lead in all public -assemblies. When the representative chiefs of the nations gathered in -the Long House around the common council-fire of the league, it was no -less necessary that they should be able and persuasive speakers than -brave warriors. Rhetoric was cultivated in the council-house of the -Iroquois no less earnestly than in the Athenian ekklesia or the Roman -forum. Acute reasoning and persuasive eloquence demanded all the -discriminating refinements of grammar, and the choice of terms which an -ample vocabulary supplies. The holophrastic element has been noted as a -peculiar characteristic of American languages. The word-sentences thus -constructed not only admitted of, but encouraged, an elaborate nicety of -discrimination; while the marked tendency of the process, so far as the -language itself is concerned, was to absorb all other parts in the verb. -Time, place, manner, aim, purpose, degree, and all the other -modifications of language are combined polysynthetically with the root. -Nouns are to a large extent verbal forms; and not only nouns and -adjectives, but adverbs and prepositions, are regularly conjugated. -Elaborated polysyllables, flexibly modified by systematic internal -changes, give expression, in one compounded word-sentence, to every -varying phase of intricate reasoning or emotion; and the complex -structure shows the growth of a language in habitual use for higher -purposes than the mere daily wants of life. The vocabulary in use in -some rural districts in England has been found to include less than -three hundred words; and in provincial dialects, thus restricted, the -refinements of grammatical expression disappear. Among such rustic -communities speech plays a very subordinate part in the business of -life. But upon the deliberations of the Indian council-house depended -the whole action of the confederacy. Hence, while in all else the -Iroquois remained an untutored savage, his language is a marvellously -systematised and beautiful structure, well adapted to the requirements -of intricate reasoning and persuasive subtlety. - -Professor Whitney says, in reference to American languages generally, -what may more especially be applied to the Huron-Iroquois: “There are -infinite possibilities of expressiveness in such a structure; and it -would only need that some native American Greek race should arise, to -fill it full of thought and fancy, and put it to the uses of a noble -literature, and it would be rightly admired as rich and flexible, -perhaps beyond anything else that the world knew.”[144] Yet, on the -other hand, the Iroquois dispense with the whole labials, never -articulate with their lips, and throw entirely aside from their -alphabetical series of phonetics six of those most constantly in use by -us. - -In this direction, then, lies an ethnological problem which cannot fail -to awaken ever-increasing interest. To the native languages of the New -World we must look for a true key to the solution of some of the most -curious and difficult questions involved in the peopling of the -continent. “There lies before us,” says Professor Whitney, “a vast and -complicated problem in the American races; and it is their language that -must do by far the greatest part of the work in solving it.” - -Of the languages of the Huron-Iroquois, the Huron appears to be the -oldest, if not the parent stock. When this aggressive race had spread, -as conquerors, far to the south of the St. Lawrence, the mother nation -appears to have held on to the cradleland of the race, where its -representatives were found still in possession when the first European -explorers entered the St. Lawrence. Colonists, of French or English -origin, have been in more or less intimate intercourse with them ever -since, yet the materials for any satisfactory study of the Huron -language, or of a comparison between it and the various Iroquois -dialects, are still scanty and very inadequate. The languages of the -Five Nations that originally constituted the members of the Iroquois -league, are, in the strictest sense of the term, dialects. In their -council-house on the Grand river, the chiefs of the Mohawks, Oneidas, -Onandagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, speak each in their own language and -need no interpreter. Nevertheless, the differences are considerable; and -a Seneca would scarcely find the language of a Mohawk intelligible to -him in ordinary conversation. But the separation of the Tuscaroras from -the Iroquois on the Mohawk river had been of long duration, and their -language differs much more widely from the others. - -The Mohawk language was adopted at an early date for communicating with -the Indians of the Six Nations. The New England Company, established in -1649, under favour of the Lord Protector, Cromwell, “for the propagation -of the Gospel in New England,” was revived on the restoration of Charles -II. under a royal charter; and with the eminent philosopher, Robert -Boyle, as its first governor, vigorous steps were taken for the -religious instruction of the Indians. The correspondence of Eliot, “the -Apostle of the Indians,” with the first governor of the Company, is -marked by their anxiety for the completion of the Massachusetts Bible, -which, along with other books, he had translated for the benefit of the -Indians of New England. The silver Communion Service, still preserved at -the reserve on the Grand river, presented to the ancestors of the Mohawk -nation by Queen Anne, is an interesting memorial of the early efforts -for their Christianisation. It bears the inscription: “A. R., 1711. -=The Gift of Her Majesty, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, -France, and Ireland, and of her Plantations in North America, Queen: to -her Indian Chappel of the Mohawks.=” The date has a special -interest in evidence of the transforming influences already at work; for -it was not till three years later that the Tuscaroras were received into -the confederation, and the Iroquois became known by their later -appellation as the Six Nation Indians. In accordance with the efforts -indicated by the royal gift, repeated steps were taken for translating -the Scriptures and the Prayer-Book into their language. In a letter of -the Rev. Dr. Stuart, missionary to the Six Nations, dated 1771, he -describes his introduction to Captain Brant at the Mohawk village of -Canajoharie, and the aid received from him in revising the Indian -Prayer-Book, and in translating the Gospel of St. Mark and the Acts of -the Apostles into the Mohawk language. The breaking out of the -revolutionary war arrested the printing of these translations. The -manuscripts were brought to Canada in 1781, and placed in the hands of -Colonel Clause, the Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs. This -gentleman subsequently carried them to England, where they were at -length printed. A more recent edition of the Mohawk Prayer-Book, -prepared under the direction of the Rev. Abraham Nelles, a missionary of -the New England Company, with the aid of a native catechist, issued from -the Canadian press in 1842. The Indian text is accompanied with its -English equivalent on the opposite page, and this _Kaghyadouhsera ne -Yoedereanayeadagwha_, or Book of Common Prayer, is still in use in the -religious services of the Six Nation Indians at their settlement on the -Grand river. - -Some characteristics of the language, such as the absence of labials, -constitute not only a distinctive difference from the old Huron speech, -but afford proof of the latter being the older form. “It is a fact,” -says Professor Max Müller, in referring to his intercourse with an -intelligent native Mohawk, then a student at Oxford, “that the Mohawks -never, either as infants or as grown-up people, articulate with their -lips. They have no _p_, _b_, _m_, _f_, _v_, _w_—no labials of any -kind.”[145] The statement, so far as the Mohawk infants are concerned, -is open to further inquiry; but Dr. Oronhyatekha, the Mohawk referred -to, who pursued his studies for a time in the University of Toronto, and -to whom I have been largely indebted in this and other researches in -Indian philology, not only rejects the six letters already named, but -also _c_, _g_, _l_, _z_. The alphabet is thus reduced to seventeen -letters. Professor Max Müller notes in passing, that the name “Mohawk” -would seem to prove the use of the labial. But it is of foreign origin, -though possibly derived from their own term: _oegwehokough_, “people.” -The name employed by themselves is “Canienga.” The practice of speaking -without ever closing the lips is an acquired habit of later origin than -the forms of the parent tongue. A comparison of any of the Iroquois -dialects with the Huron as still spoken by the Wyandots of Ontario, -shows the _m_ in use by the latter in what is no doubt a surviving -example of the oldest form of the Huron-Iroquois language. This Huron -_m_ frequently becomes _w_ in the Iroquois dialects, _e.g._ -_skatamendjaweh_, “one hundred,” becomes in Mohawk _unskadewennyaweh_; -_rume_, “man,” Mohawk, _ronkwe_, etc. These and other examples of this -interchangeable characteristic of Indian phonology, and the process of -substitution in the absence of labials, are illustrated in the table of -Huron-Iroquois numerals on the following page. The habit of invariably -speaking with the lips open is the source of very curious modifications -in the Iroquois vocabularies when compared with that of the Wyandots. -The _m_ gives place to _w_, _nw_, _nh_, or _nhu_; also to _ku_ and -_nkw_, and so frequently changes the whole character of the word by the -modifications it gives rise to. - -A comparison of the numerals of cognate languages and dialects is always -instructive; and with the growing disposition of American philologists -to turn to the Basques, as the only prehistoric race of Europe that has -perpetuated the language of an Allophylian stock with possible analogies -to the native languages of America, their numerals may be placed -alongside of those of the Huron-Iroquois. The permanency of the names -for numerals, and their freedom from displacement by synonyms, - - COMPARATIVE TABLE OF NUMERALS. - -────┬──────────┬──────────────────┬─────────────────────┬───────────────── - │ │ │ │ - │HOCHELAGA.│ HURON. │ │ - │(Cartier.)│ (Lorette.) │ WYANDOT. │ MOHAWK. - │ │ │ │ -────┼──────────┼──────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────── - │ │ │ │ - 1│segada} │ │ │ - │secata} │skāt │scat │unska - 2│tigneny} │ │ │ - │tignem } │tendi │tendee │dekenih - 3│asche │chin │shaight │ahsunh - 4│honnacon │ndak │andaght │kayerih - 5│ouiscon │wisch │weeish │wisk - 6│indahir │wahia │waushau │yayak - 7│ayaga │tsotaré │sootaie │jadah - 8│adigue │ateré │autarai │sadekonh - 9│madellon │entson │aintru │tyodonh - 10│assem │asen │aughsagh │oyerih - 11│ ... │asenskatiskaré │assan escate escarhet│unskayawenreh - 12│ ... │asentenditiskaré │asanteni escarhet │dekenihyawenreh - 13│ ... │āsenachinskaré │ ... │ahsunhyawenreh - 14│ ... │asendakskaré │ ... │kayerihyawenreh - 15│ ... │asenwischskaré │ ... │wiskyawenreh - 16│ ... │asenwahiaskaré │ ... │yayakyawenreh - 17│ ... │asentsotaréskaré │ ... │jadahyawenreh - 18│ ... │asenateréskaré │ ... │sadekonhyawenreh - 19│ ... │asenentsonskaré │ ... │tyodonhyawenreh - 20│ ... │tendi eouasen │tendeitawaughsa │dewasunh - 30│ ... │achink iouasen │ ... │ahsunhniwasunh - 100│ ... │enniot iouasen │scutemaingarwe │unskadewennyaweh -1000│ ... │asenate ouendiaré │assen attenoignauoy │oyerih- - │ │ │ │ nadewennyaweh - │ │ │ │ -────┴──────────┴──────────────────┴─────────────────────┴───────────────── - -are seen in the universality of one series of names throughout the whole -ancient and modern Aryan languages of Asia and Europe. But the Basque -numerals bear little or no resemblance to either, unless such can be -traced in the _bi_, “two,” and the _sei_, “six,” as in the _assem_, -“ten” (_decem_), of the old Hochelaga, the _ahsen_ of the later -Wyandots. The _ehun_ of the Basque has also its remote, and probably -accidental resemblance; but the _milla_, “one thousand,” is certainly -borrowed, and serves to show that the higher numerals, with the evidence -they afford of advancing civilisation, were the result of intrusive -Aryan influences in the natives of the Iberian peninsula. With the -growing tendency to turn to the prehistoric Iberians of Europe for one -possible key to the origin of the races and languages of America, it is -well to keep this test in view for comparison with the widely varying -native numerals. But the correspondence is slight, even with probable -Turanian congeners. One Biscayan form of “three,” _hirun_, is not unlike -the Magyar _harom_; while the _eyg_, “one,” of the latter, seems to find -its counterpart in the inseparable particle that transforms the Basque -radical _ham_, “ten,” into the _hamaika_, “eleven.” But such fragmentary -traces are in striking contrast to the radical agreement of Sanskrit, -Zend, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Slavonic, and Teutonic numerals. Mr. Hale -has drawn my attention to the curious manner in which the names of the -first five Hochelaga numerals in Cartier’s list are contracted and -strengthened in the modern Wyandot; and some of the modifications in the -Iroquois dialects are no less interesting. _Secata_, the Hochelaga -“one,” survives in the Onondaga _skadah_, while it becomes _skat_ in the -modern Huron, the Cayuga, and the Seneca. But in the compounded form of -the Wyandot “one hundred,” _skatamendjawe_, as in the Onondaga -_skadahdewennyachweh_, the terminal _a_ reappears. _Tigneny_, the old -form of “two,” is abridged and strengthened to _tendi_; _asche_, “three” -(originally, in all probability, _aschen_, or, as still in use by the -Hurons of Lorette, _achin_), survives as _ahsunh_ or _ahsenh_ in nearly -all the Iroquois dialects, including the Tuscarora. In the Nottoway it -is still discernible in the modified _arsa_. The exceptions are the -Seneca, where it becomes _sen_, while one Wyandot form is _shenk_; which -reappears in the Seneca compounded form of “thirty,” _shenkwashen_. -_Honnacon_, “four,” loses both its initial and terminal syllables, and -becomes _dak_ in the Wyandot, and _keih_ or _kei_, an abbreviation of -the Mohawk _kayerih_, in the Cayuga and the Seneca dialects. The ancient -form of “five,” _ouiscon_, has partially survived in the Huron _ouisch_. -It becomes _wisk_, _whisk_, _wish_, or (in the Seneca) _wis_, in all the -Iroquois dialects,—the Wyandot and Cayuga once more agreeing in form. -The _ayaga_, “seven,” of the old Hochelaga, nearly resembles the _jadah_ -of several of the Iroquois dialects, as in the Cayuga _jadak_, in the -Tuscarora _janah_, and in the Nottoway _oyag_; whereas in the Wyandot it -is _tsotaré_. The _adigue_, “eight,” in its oldest form is _sadekonh_ in -the Mohawk, and _dekrunh_ in the Cayuga; with the substitution of the -_l_ for _r_ it becomes _deklonh_ in the Oneida; and after changing to -_tekion_ in the Seneca, and _nagronh_ in the Tuscarora, it reappears in -the Nottoway as _dekra_. The ancient _madellon_, “nine,” curiously -survives in abridged form, with the substitute for the labial, in the -Oneida _wadlonh_ and the Onondaga _wadonh_, while one Wyandot form is -_entron_, and that of the Hurons of Lorette _entson_. In the Hochelaga -_assem_, “ten,” we have the old form which is perpetuated in the Wyandot -_ahsen_, the Onondaga and Cayuga _wasenh_, the Tuscarora _wasunh_, and -the Nottoway _washa_; while the Mohawk and the Oneida have the diverse -_oyerih_, or _oyelih_, with the characteristic change of _r_ into _l_. -The form of the Mohawk for “one thousand,” _oyerihnadewunnyaweh_, is an -interesting illustration of the progressive development of numbers. _Na_ -is probably a contraction of _nikonh_, “of them,” or “of it,”—the whole -reading “of them ten hundred.” - -In comparing the languages of the different members of the Iroquois -confederacy with the Wyandot or Huron, some of the facts already noted -in the history of the former have to be kept in view. Two and a half -centuries have transpired since the three western nations of the -confederacy, the Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas received great -additions to their numbers by the successive adoption of Attiwendaronk, -Huron, and Erie captives, while the Caniengas, or Mohawks, and the -Oneidas remained unaffected by such intrusions. There is direct evidence -that the Onondaga language has undergone great change; as a Jesuit -dictionary of the seventeenth century exists which shows a much nearer -resemblance between the Mohawk and Onondaga languages at that date than -now appears. Allowance must be made for similar changes affecting the -Hurons in their enforced migration from the St. Lawrence to their later -homes. Here, as in so many other instances, it becomes interesting to -note how the language of a people reflects its history. - -In tracing out slighter and more remote resemblances, such as may be -discerned on a close scrutiny, where the variation between the Hochelaga -and the modern Wyandot numerals is widest, the different sources of -change have to be kept in view. In all such comparisons, moreover, -allowance must be made for the phonetic reproduction of unfamiliar words -learned solely by ear, as well as for the peculiar representation of the -nasal sounds in their reduction to writing by a French or English -transcriber. - -The tradition, mentioned by Dooyentate, of Senecas and Wyandots living -in friendly contiguity on the Island of Montreal in the sixteenth -century, naturally suggests the probability that their dialects did not -greatly differ. Certain noticeable resemblances between the Seneca and -the Wyandot numerals have been noted above, but it is only their modern -forms that are thus open to comparison; and in the process of phonetic -decay the Seneca has suffered the greatest change. But after making -every allowance for modifications wrought by time, by adoption of -strangers into the tribe, and other internal sources of change, as well -as for the imperfection of Cartier’s renderings of the Hochelaga tongue, -and for subsequent errors of transcribers and printers, there still -remains satisfactory evidence of relationship between nearly half of -Cartier’s vocabulary and the corresponding words of the Wyandot tongue. -A comparison has been made between the Hochelaga numerals and those of -the Wyandots of Anderdon. In the comparative table of numerals given on -page 292, I have placed alongside of the old Hochelaga series derived -from Cartier’s lists those now in use among the Hurons of Lorette, as -supplied to me by M. Paul Picard, the son of the late Huron chief. In -the third column another version of the Wyandot numerals is given, from -Gallatin’s comparative vocabulary. It is derived from different sources, -including the United States War Department; and therefore, no doubt, -illustrates the changes which the language has undergone among the -Wyandots on their remote Texas reserve. Gallatin also gives another -version of Huron numerals derived from Sagard. It will be seen that M. -Picard used the _t_ as in Cartier’s lists, and in that of the southern -Wyandots, where the _d_ is employed in others, except in the Nottoway -numerals, where the use of both is, no doubt, due to the English -transcriber. In comparing the different lists, this variation in -orthography and also the interchangeable _k_ and _g_ have to be kept in -view. Thus the Cayuga has _dekrunh_, in the Oneida _dekelonh_, where the -Tuscarora has _nagronh_. But the Huron _tendi_, in use now both at -Lorette and Anderdon, shows the result of long intercourse with -Europeans begetting an appreciation of their discrimination between the -hard and soft consonants. Had the whole series been derived from one -source, such orthographic variations would have disappeared. The lists -have been furnished to me by the Rev. J. G. Vincent and M. Picard, -educated Hurons; L. A. Dorion, an educated Iroquois; Dr. Oronhyatekha, -an educated Mohawk; Mr. Horatio Hale; and also from Gallatin’s valuable -comparative tables of Indian vocabularies in the _Archæologia -Americana_. In the _Synopsis of the Indian Tribes_, to which these -vocabularies form an appendix, Gallatin classed both the Tuteloes and -the Nottoways, along with the Tuscaroras, as southern Iroquois tribes. -But recent researches of Mr. Hale have established the true place of the -Tuteloes to be with the Dakotan, and not the Huron-Iroquois family. It -is otherwise with the Cherohakahs, or Nottoways, whose home was in -south-eastern Virginia, where their memory is perpetuated in the name of -the river on which they dwelt. At the close of the seventeenth century -they still numbered 130 warriors, or about 700 in all; but twenty years -later, of the whole tribe only twenty souls survived. At that date two -vocabularies of the language were obtained, which furnish satisfactory -evidence of the correctness of their classification among southern -Iroquois tribes. Their numerals, as shown in the tables, approximate, as -might be anticipated, to those of the Tuscaroras, at least in the -majority of the primary numbers; whereas those of the Tuteloes are -totally dissimilar. As to the Basque numerals introduced alongside of -them in the comparative tables, they only suffice to show that the -pre-Aryan language still spoken, in varying dialects, on both slopes of -the Pyrenees, differed equally widely from the Aryan languages of -Europe, and from the Iroquois or any other known American language, -except in so far as the latter are agglutinative in structure. Van Eys, -in his _Basque Grammar_, draws attention to the words _buluzkorri_, and -_larrugori_, “naked”; the first of which literally signifies “red hair,” -and the second “red skin.” They are interesting illustrations of the way -in which important historical facts lie embedded in ancient languages. -But the colour of the hair forbids the inference that the ruddy Basques -of primitive centuries were akin to the “Redskins” of the New World. - -The phonology of the Iroquois languages is notable in other respects -besides those already referred to. According to M. Cuoq, an able -philologist, who has laboured for many years as a missionary among the -Iroquois of the Province of Quebec, the sounds are so simple that he -considers an alphabet of twelve letters sufficient for their indication: -_a_, _e_, _f_, _h_, _i_, _k_, _n_, _o_, _r_, _s_, _t_, _w_. The -transliterations noticeable in the various Iroquois dialects, follow a -well-known phonetic law. Thus the _l_ and _r_ are interchangeable, as -_ronkwe_, “man,” in the Mohawk, becomes in the Oneida _lonhwe_; _raxha_, -“boy,” becomes _laxha_; _rakeniha_, “my father,” becomes _lakenih_, etc. -The same is seen throughout the compound numerals from “eleven” onward. -The Cayuga and Tuscarora most nearly approach to the Mohawk in this use -of the _r_. A characteristic change of a different kind is seen in the -grammatical value of the initial _r_ in the Mohawk in relation to -gender. For example, _onkwe_ is applied to mankind, as distinguished -from _karyoh_, “the brute.” It becomes _ronkwe_, “man,” _yonkwe_ -“woman.” So also _raxah_, “boy,” changes to _kaxha_, “girl”; -_rihyeinah_, “my son,” to _kheyenah_, “my daughter,” etc. The change of -gender is further illustrated in such examples as _raohih_, his apple; -_raoyen_, his arrow; _ahkohih_, her apple; _ahkoyen_, her arrow; -_raonahih_ (masc.), _aonahih_ (fem.), their apples; _raodiyenkwireh_ -(masc.), _aodiyenkwireh_ (fem.), their arrows, etc. But this arrangement -of the formative element as a prefix is characteristic of American -languages, though not peculiar to them. Thus _Seshatsteaghseragwekough_, -Almighty God (literally, “Thou who hast all power, or strength”), -becomes, in the third person, _Rashatsteaghseragwekough_. - -The vowel sounds are very limited. No distinction is apparent in any -Huron-Iroquois language between the _o_ and the _u_. In writing it the -_e_ and _u_ sounds are also often interchangeable. Where, for example, -_e_ is used in one set of the Tuscarora numerals supplied to me, another -substitutes _u_ for it wherever it is followed by an _n_; e.g. _enjih_, -_unjih_; _ahsenh_, _ahsunh_; _endah_, _undah_, etc. So also the word for -“man” is written for me in one case _onkwe_, and in another _unkweh_. It -requires an acute and practised ear to discriminate the niceties of -Indian pronunciation, and a no less practised tongue to satisfy the -critical native ear. Dr. Oronhyatekha, when pressed to define the value -of the _t_ sound in his own name, replied “It is not quite _t_ nor _d_.” -The name is compounded of _oronya_, “blue,” the word used in the -Prayer-Book for “heaven,” and _yodakha_, “burning.” In very similar -terms, Asikinack, an educated Odahwah Indian, when asked by me whether -we should say Ottawa, or Odawa—the Utawa of Morris’s “Canadian Boat -Song,”—replied that the sound lay between the two,—a nicety -discernible only by Indian ears. - -The euphonic changes which mark the systematic transitions in the Mohawk -language, though by no means peculiar to it, cannot fail to awaken an -interest in the thoughtful student, who reflects on the social condition -of the people among whom this elaborated vehicle of thought was the -constraining power by means of which their chiefs and elders swayed the -nations of the Iroquois confederacy with an eloquence more powerful and -persuasive than that of many civilised nations. They have been -illustrated in the verb; but the same systematic application of euphonic -change through all the transitions of their vocabulary is seen in the -elaborate word-sentences, so characteristic of the extreme length to -which the incorporating mode of structure of the Turanian family of -languages is carried in many of those spoken by the American nations. -The habitual concentration of complex ideas in a single word has long -been recognised, not only as giving a peculiar character to many of the -Indian languages, but as one source of their adaptability to the aims of -native oratory. From the Massachusetts Bible of Eliot, Professor Whitney -quotes a word of eleven syllables; and Gallatin produces from the -Cherokee another of seventeen syllables. This frequently embodies a -descriptive holophrasm, and so aids the native rendering of novel -objects and ideas into a language, the vocabulary of which is -necessarily devoid of the requisite terms. But in such cases the -agglutinative process is obvious, and the elements of the compounded -word must be present to the mind of speaker and hearer. The English word -“almighty” is itself an example of the process. It becomes in the Mohawk -Prayer-Book _seshatsteaghseragwekonh_, from _seshatsteh_, “you are -strong,” and _ahkwekonh_, “all,” or “the whole.” When the missionaries -first undertook to render into the Mohawk language the Gospels and -Service-Books for Christian worship, it may be doubted if many of their -converts had ever seen a sheep. But they had to reproduce in Mohawk this -general confession: “We have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost -sheep.” They did it accordingly in this fashion: -_Teyagwaderyeadawearyesneoni yoegwathaharagwaghtha tsisahate tsiniyouht -yodiyadaghtoeouh teyodinakaroetoeha_, which may be literally rendered: -“We make a mistake, and get off the track where your road is, the same -as strayed animals with small horns.” The extreme literalness of the -rendering may probably strike the mind of the English reader in a way -that would not occur to the Indian, familiar with such descriptive -holophrasms. But it illustrates a difficulty with which Eliot was very -familiar when engaged on his Massachusetts Indian Bible. In translating, -for example, the song of Deborah and Barak, where the mother of Sisera -“cried through the lattice,” the good missionary looked in vain in the -Indian wigwam for anything that corresponded to the term. At length he -called an Indian and described to him a lattice as wicker-work, and -obtained in response a rendering of the text which literally meant: “The -mother of Sisera looked through an eel-pot.” It was the only kind of -wicker-work of which the Indian had any knowledge. - -Evidences of an exceptional development of the æsthetic faculty among -the nations of the New World have already been noted; but the Iroquois -cannot be included among those specially noticeable for their imitative -powers, or in other ways furnishing evidence of any highly developed -artistic faculty. They cannot compare in this respect with the Zuñi or -others of the Pueblo Indians, among whom the arts of long-settled -agricultural communities have been developed for purposes of ornament as -well as utility; nor is their inferiority less questionable when we -compare them with some of the tribes of the north-west coast and the -neighbouring islands. Their languages confirm this; for while, as Mr. -Cushing has shown, the Zuñi language possesses many words relating to -art-processes, the Iroquois and Algonkin dialects supply such terms for -the most part only in descriptive holophrasms, and not in primitive -roots. - -In Iroquois, the word _kar_ or _kare_ signifies “to paint” or “draw.” -The initial _k_ in Iroquois words is usually not radical, and so rarely -enters into composite terms. The root of _kar_, is _ar_ or _are_, which -added to _kaiata_, or _oiata_, “living thing, person, body,” makes -_kaiatare_, “image” or “likeness,” _i.e._ “pictured body,” or as a verb -“to paint” or “depict anything.” To this is added the verbal suffix _ta_ -or _tha_, which occasionally becomes _stha_, and has different meanings, -causative and instrumental. The Mohawk supplies such words and terms of -art as _ahyeyatonh_, “to grave”; _rahyatonhs_, “an engraver”; -_ahyekonteke_, “to paint”; _rakonteks_, “a painter”; _s’hakoyatarha_, -“an artist”; _rahkaratahkwas_, “a carver”; _rateanakerahtha_, “a -modeller,” or “one who models figures in clay.” In the Iroquois version -of the Gospel of St. John, chap. viii. verse 6 reads thus: _Nok tanon ne -Iesos wathastsake ehtake nok rasnonsake_ (more correctly, _rasnonkenh_) -_warate wahiaton onwentsiake_, lit. “But instead Jesus bent low and with -hand used, wrote,” or “engraved, on the earth.” The version of the -second commandment in the Mohawk Prayer-Book affords another -illustration, in the holophrasm _asadatyaghdoenihseroenyea_. It is -compounded of _ahsonniyon_, “make”; _ahsadadonnyen_, “to make for -yourself”; _kayadonnihsera_, “an image” or “doll.” _Toghsa -asadatyaghdoenihseroenyea, shekonh othenouh taoesakyatayerea nene enekea -karouhyakouh, neteas eghtake oughweatsyakonh_, etc., lit. “Do not make -an image or idol for yourself, even anything like above in the sky, nor -below in the earth,” etc. - -The word _kaiata_, or _oiata_, as already noted, signifies “a living -thing, person,” or “body”; _kakonsa_ or _okonsa_, is the “face” or -“visage”; and from those come many derivatives. Bruyas gives _gaiata_, -“a living thing”; _gaiatare_ (or _kaiatare_) “image,” and as a verb, “to -paint.” There is also _gaiatonni_, “a doll” or “puppet,” _i.e._ “a made -person,” from _oiata_ and _konnis_, “to make.” From the same root we may -probably derive _kiaton_, “to write,” as in the Iroquois Gospels, -_wahaiaton_, “wrote”; _kahiaton_, “it is written,” etc. The original -meaning was, no doubt, picture-writing, _i.e._ making images of things. -In the old Onondaga dictionary of the Jesuit Fathers is the word -_kiatonnion_, “I keep writing.” The same authority also gives -_guianatonh_ (_kianatonh_), “I paint,” apparently from another root, -_oiana_ (_kaiana_) “track, walk, gait,” etc., which has many -derivatives. The remarkable compass and minute nicety of expression -which the Iroquois grammar had acquired in the various languages of the -Six Nations, approximates to the wonderful expansion effected on the -crude Anglo-Saxon verb by the evolution of the auxiliaries out of vague -active verbs. This has been effected through the habitual resort to -oratory as a source of combined action in the councils of the tribes, -which constituted one of the most remarkable characteristics of this -representative Indian stock. In this respect the expressive flexibility -and rhetorical aptitude of the Iroquois languages stand out in striking -contrast to the limited compass of grammatical discrimination in those -of Europe’s Scandinavian and Teutonic races by whom the Roman empire was -overthrown. They had indeed their “tun-moot,” the council meeting of the -village community for justice and government; but the deliberations on -the moot-hill, though they embodied the germ of all later parliaments, -gave birth to no such development of language. It is when entering on -the history of the grand constitutional struggle for a free parliament -that Carlyle, in quaint irony, exclaims, or assigns to his apocryphal -Dryasdust the exclamation: “I have known nations altogether destitute of -printers’ types and learned appliances, with nothing better than old -songs, monumental stone heaps and quipo-thrums to keep record by, who -had truer memory of their memorable things. . . . The English, one can -discern withal, have been perhaps as brave a people as their neighbours; -perhaps, for valour of action and true hard labour in this earth, since -brave peoples were first made in it, there has been none braver any -where or any when:—but also, it must be owned, in stupidity of speech -they have no fellow!”[146] It suited the purpose of the satirist to -ignore for the moment that Shakespeare came of that same speechless -race. But in its earlier stage when any comparison with Indian nations -is permissible the irony is not extravagant. - -But apart from the great compass of the Iroquois verb as illustrative of -grammatical development in the languages of unlettered nations, another -characteristic feature is the distinction between masculine and feminine -forms both in speaking of and to a man or woman. In the study of the -minute niceties of the Iroquois verb I have been largely indebted to Dr. -Oronhyatekha, and to the Rev. Isaac Bearfoot, both educated Mohawks. -When tracing out the comprehensive power of the Mohawk verb, I had in -view at the same time the recovery of evidences that the language might -supply of an inherent recognition of the artistic faculty. This is much -more strongly manifested in other American races in all stages of -progress, from the ingenious Haidahs and Tawatins of British Columbia, -and the Pueblo Indians of Arizona, to the semi-civilised nations of -Mexico and the lettered races of Central and Southern America. -Nevertheless the Iroquois recorded in primitive picture-writing the -deeds of their departed braves, and have left records in the same crude -hieroglyphics, such as the graven rock on Cunningham Island, Lake Erie. -Their pipes were carved, and their pottery modelled into representations -of familiar objects indicative of a habitual, though simple practice of -imitative art that could not fail to beget some counterpart in their -languages. Hence the choice of the verb _kyadarahste_, “to draw.” -_Kayadareh_, or _kyadareh_, signifies “a body or form _in_,” _e.g._ “in -a frame” or “group”; _kyadarastonh_, on the other hand, implies “a body” -or “form transferred _on_ to something,” _e.g._ a board or canvas. The -latter is therefore the more expressive and correct term to use for -drawing or painting, while it illustrates the process of augmenting the -vocabulary to meet the requirements of novel acquisitions in art. But -its chief value consists in its affording illustration not only of the -inherent capacity of the language to express with minute nicety of -detail the manifestations of an æsthetic faculty, as yet very partially -developed, but of the compass of its grammar to indicate every -distinctive variation of form expressive of time, place, action, object, -or subject. The latest results of philological research in this -direction are set forth in the _Lexique_ and the _Études philologique_ -of Abbé Cuoq, and in an admirable _résumé_ in Mr. Horatio Hale’s -introduction to _The Iroquois Book of Rites_.[147] The systematic -processes by which the moods and tenses are indicated, either by changes -of termination or prefixed particles, or by both conjoined, are -carefully indicated by Mr. Hale; but he adds: “A complete grammar of -this speech, as full and minute as the best Sanscrit or Greek grammars, -would probably equal, and perhaps surpass those grammars in extent. The -unconscious forces of memory and of discrimination required to maintain -this complicated intellectual machine, and to preserve it constantly -exact, and in good working order, must be prodigious.” This tendency to -elaborate niceties of discrimination is in striking contrast to that of -the modern cultivated languages of Europe; and it is not without reason -that it is spoken of as a “complicated intellectual machine.” The -contrast, for example, between the Mohawk or other Iroquois verb, in all -its complex variations, and the extreme simplicity of the Anglo-Saxon -verb, with only its Indefinite and Perfect Tenses,—the former -predicated either of the present, or of a future time, and the latter of -any past time,—can scarcely fail to impress the thoughtful student who -keeps in view the relative civilisation of the Iroquois, and of the -English people at the period when Anglo-Saxon in its purely inflectional -stage was still the national language. The English verb has since then -acquired wonderful power and compass by means of the auxiliary verbs; -but its whole tendency is at variance with the elaborations in number -and gender of the Iroquois verb. These are only partially illustrated in -the above example, and might easily have been carried further. For -example, the rendering of the Active, Indicative, Past Progressive, with -Feminine Object is really a verb in the passive voice. To realise the -full inflectional niceties of such minute grammatical distinctions, the -two genders should be given; and also a mixed gender, _i.e._ the two -genders together, as the artists may consist of both sexes. This is -indicated in the two forms of the Future Indefinite, by -_eas’hakodiyadarahste_, “they (mas.) shall draw her,” -_eayaktodiyadarahste_, “they (fem.) shall draw her.” But a study of the -paradigm of the Mohawk verb will be found to illustrate in a variety of -interesting aspects the process of unpremeditated grammatical evolution -among an unlettered people, with whom the influence of oratory in the -councils of the tribe was one of their most powerful resources as a -preliminary to war. - -The grand movement of the barbarian races of Northern Europe in the -fifth and following centuries is spoken of as the wandering of the -nations. The natural barriers of the continent seemed for a time to have -given way, and the unknown tribes from beyond the Baltic and from the -shores of the North Sea poured into the valley of the Danube, and swept -beyond the Alps and the Pyrenees to the furthest shores of the -Mediterranean Sea. The physical geography of the New World presents -fewer barriers to be surmounted. But if the student of North American -ethnology spread before him a map of the continent, and trace out the -wanderings of the Huron-Iroquois, he must revert in fancy to that remote -era when confederated Iroquois and Algonkins swept in triumphant fury -through the wasted valley of the Ohio, and repeated there what Goth and -Hun did for Europe, in Rome’s decline and fall. The long-settled and -semi-civilised Mound-Builders fled before the furious onset, leaving the -great river-valley a desolate waste. The barrier of an old-settled and -well-organised community, which, probably for centuries, had kept -America’s northern barbarians in check, was removed, and the fierce -Huron-Iroquois ranged at will over the eastern regions of the continent, -far southward of the North Carolina river-valleys, where the Nottoways -and Tuscaroras found a new home. As to the Nottoways, they appear to -have passed out of all remembrance as an Iroquois tribe; yet it is -suggestive of a long-forgotten chapter of Indian history, that the name -is still in use among the northern Algonkins as the designation of the -whole Iroquois stock. The Nottawa saga is doubtless a memorial of their -presence on the Georgian Bay, and the Notaway (_Náhdahwe_) river which -falls into Hudson Bay at James Bay, is so named in memory of -Huron-Iroquois wanderers into that Algonkin region. - -Some portion of the ancient Huron stock tarried on the banks of the St. -Lawrence, in what is known to us now as the traditional cradleland of -those Canadian aborigines. Others found their way down the Hudson, or -selected new homes for themselves on the rivers and lakes that lay to -the west, till they reached the shores of Lake Erie; and all that is now -the populous region of Western New York was in occupation of the -Iroquois race. Feuds broke out between them and the parent stock in the -valley of the St. Lawrence. They meted out to those of their own race -the same vengeance as to strangers; and the survivors, abandoning their -homes, fled westward in search of settlements beyond their reach. The -Georgian Bay lay remote from the territory of the Iroquois, but the -nations of the Wyandot stock spread beyond it, until the Niagara -peninsula and the fertile regions between Lake Huron and Lake Erie were -occupied by them, and the Niagara river alone kept apart what were now -hostile tribes. But wherever the test of linguistic evidence can be -obtained their affinities are placed beyond dispute. On the other hand, -the multiplication of dialects is no less apparent, and in many ways -helps to throw light on the history of the race. - -The old Huron mother tongue still partially preserves the labials which -have disappeared from all the Iroquois languages. The Mohawk approaches -nearest to this, and appears to be the main stem from whence other -languages of the Six Nations have branched off. But the diversities in -speech of the various members of the confederacy leave no room to doubt -the prolonged isolation of the several tribes, or “nations,” before they -were induced to recognise the claims of consanguinity, and to band -together for their common interest. Some of the noteworthy diversities -of tongue may be pointed out, such as the _r_ sound which predominates -in the Mohawk, while the _l_ takes its place in the Oneida. In the -Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, they are no longer heard. The last of -these reduces the primary forms to the narrowest range; but beyond, to -the westward, the old Eries dwelt, speaking, it may be presumed, a -modified Seneca dialect, but of which unfortunately no record survives. -As to the Tuscaroras and the Nottoways, if we knew nothing of their -history, their languages would suffice to tell that they had been -longest and most widely separated from the parent stock. - -It is not without interest to note in conclusion that the main body of -the representatives of the nations of the ancient Iroquois league sprung -from the Huron-Iroquois stock of Eastern Canada,—after sojourning for -centuries beyond the St. Lawrence, until the traditions of the home of -the race had faded out of memory, or given place to mythic legends of -autochthon origin,—has returned to Canadian soil. At Caughnawaga, St. -Regis, Oka, and on the river St. Charles, in the Province of Quebec; at -Anderdon, the Bay of Quinté, and above all, on the Grand river, in -Ontario; the Huron-Iroquois are now settled to the number of upwards of -8000, without reckoning other tribes. If, indeed, the surviving -representatives of the aborigines in the old provinces of the Canadian -Dominion are taken as a whole, they number upwards of 34,000, apart from -the many thousands in Manitoba, British Columbia, and the North-west -Territories. But the nomad Indians must be classed wholly apart from the -settlers on the Grand river reserves. The latter are a highly -intelligent, civilised people, more and more adapting themselves to the -habits of the strangers who have supplanted them; and they are destined -as certainly to merge into the predominant race, as the waters of their -ancient lakes mingle and are lost in the ocean. Yet the process is no -longer one of extinction but of absorption; and will assuredly leave -traces of the American autochthones, similar to those which still in -Europe perpetuate some ethnical memorial of Allophylian races. - ------ - -[111] _Types of Mankind_, p. 291. - -[112] _The Jesuits in North America_, p. 43. - -[113] _The Indian Races of North and South America_, p. 286. - -[114] _Magazine of American History_, vol. x. p. 479. - -[115] _Archæologia Americana_, vol. ii. p. 173. - -[116] _Indian Migrations_, p. 17. - -[117] _Whitney’s Study of Language_, p. 348. - -[118] _The Tutelo Tribe and Language_, p. 9. - -[119] _Relation_, 1641, p. 72. - -[120] _Peter Jones and the Ojibway Indians_, p. 31. - -[121] _The Life and Growth of Languages_, p. 259. - -[122] Hale’s _Indian Migrations as evidenced by Language_, p. 3. - -[123] _Anthropology_, by Dr. Paul Topinard: Eng. Trans., p. 480. - -[124] “The Huron Race and Head-form:” N. S. _Canadian Journal_, vol. -xiii. p. 113. - -[125] _Crania Americana_, p. 195. - -[126] _The Jesuits in North America_, p. 47. - -[127] _The Iroquois Book of Rites_, p. 78. - -[128] _Ibid._, pp. 21, 22. - -[129] _League of the Iroquois_, p. 4. - -[130] _Notes on the Iroquois_, p. 51. - -[131] _Lectures on the Science of Language_, 5th ed. p. 58. - -[132] _Notes on the Iroquois_, p. 52. - -[133] _Origin and Traditional History of the Wyandotts_, p. 4. - -[134] _Pioneers of France in the New World_, p. 367. - -[135] _League of the Iroquois_, p. 76. - -[136] _The Jesuits in North America_, p. 441 note. - -[137] _History of the Indian Tribes_, vol. ii. p. 78. - -[138] “Huron Race and Head-form,” _Canadian Journal_, N. S., vol. xiii. -p. 113. - -[139] “Some American Illustrations of the Evolution of new Varieties of -Man,” _Journal of Anthropology_, May 1879. - -[140] The Huron vocabulary prepared by the Jesuit Father, Chaumonot, is, -as I have recently learned, still in existence, and will, I hope, be -speedily published under trustworthy editorial supervision. - -[141] _The League of the Iroquois_, p. 2. - -[142] _Archæologia Americana_, vol. ii. p. 79. - -[143] _Indian Migrations_, p. 22. - -[144] _Life and Growth of Language_, p. 261. - -[145] _Lectures on the Science of Language_, 2nd series, p. 162. - -[146] Cromwell’s _Letters and Speeches_, Introduction. - -[147] See p. 110. - - - - - VII - HYBRIDITY AND HEREDITY - - -FOUR centuries have now completed their course since the discovery of -America revealed to Europe an indigenous people, distinct in many -respects from all the races of the Old World. There, as in the older -historic areas, man is indeed seen in various stages: from the rudest -condition of savage life, without any knowledge of metallurgy, and -subsisting solely by the chase, to the comparatively civilised nations -of Mexico, Central America, and Peru, familiar with some of the most -important arts, skilled in agriculture, and with a system of writing -embodying the essential germs of intellectual progress. - -The western hemisphere, which was the arena of such ethnical -development, had lain, for unnumbered centuries, apart from Asia and -Europe; and so its various nationalities and races were left to work out -their own destinies, and to develop in their own way whatever inherent -capacities for progress pertained to them. But this done, it was -abruptly brought into intimate relations with Europe by the maritime -discoveries which marked the closing years of the fifteenth century. - -From that date a constant transfer of races from the Old to the New -World has been taking place, alike by voluntary and enforced migration; -with results involving a series of undesigned yet exhaustive -ethnological experiments carried out on the grandest scale. There alike -has been tested to what extent the European and the African are affected -by migration to new regions, and by admixture with diverse races. There -can now be witnessed the results of a transference, for upwards of three -centuries, of indigenous populations of the Old World to a continent -where they have been subjected to many novel geographical, climatic, and -social influences. There, too, has taken place, on a scale without any -parallel elsewhere, an intimate and prolonged intermixture of some of -the most highly cultured races of Europe with purely savage tribes, -under circumstances which have tended to place them, for the time being, -on an equality as hunters, trappers, or explorers of their vast forest -and prairie wilds. - -The whole question of heredity, its phenomena and results, is now in -process of review under the novel phases that affect anthropology; and -in this view the illustrations which the New World supplies in reference -to hybridity and absorption have a distinctive value. The anthropologist -recognises various elements marking diversity of race in stature, -colour, proportion of limbs, conformation of skull, colour and other -characteristics of eye and hair. He also notes no less distinctively the -diverse intellectual and moral aptitudes. Noticeable as are the -diversities of national type in Europe, the range of variation is -trifling when compared with the conditions under which the White, Red, -and Black races have met and intermingled in the West Indies and in -North and South America. The cultured and civilised races of Europe have -there united their blood with the African negro and the native Indian -savage; and both admixtures have been carried out on so great a scale as -to furnish indisputable data for determining the question how far the -half-breed is a mean between the two parents; or if there is any -inevitable preponderance of one of them, with a tendency to revert to -one or the other type. The intermarriage of fair and dark races of the -Old World has gone on throughout the whole historic period, with -apparently resultant intermediate types. The Iberians and “black Celts” -of Western Europe, and the dark brunettes of the Mediterranean shores, -stand out in marked contrast to the blondes of the Baltic shores. -Whatever may be said of other diversities of race, Professor Huxley is -led to the opinion that the Melanochroi, or dark whites, are not a -distinct group, but the metis resultant from just such a mixture of his -“Australioids” and his “Xanthocroi,” as has been going on for centuries -on the American continent between the blondes of Europe and the native -olive-skinned American, and between both of them and the dark African -race. - -Yet, on the other hand, many anthropologists insist on the survival of -distinct types, even among approximate races, as shown in the remarkable -persistency of the Jewish type, notwithstanding the modifications that -have resulted from intermarriage with fair and dark races of many lands. -Dr. F. von Luschan, in describing the Tachtadschy,[148] calls attention -to the fact that the Greeks of Lycia represent a mixture of two distinct -types. From this he draws the following inference: “At first glance it -appears remarkable and hardly probable that two disparate types should -remain distinct, although intermarriage has continued without -interruption through thousands of years. But we must acknowledge that it -would be just as remarkable if continued intercrossing should result in -the production of a middle type (_Mischform_). It is true that at the -present time the greater number of anthropologists appear to be of the -opinion that middle forms originate wherever two distinct types live in -close contact for a long time. If this is true at all, it is true only -in a very limited sense, and still needs to be proven. _A priori_, we -rather ought to expect that one or the other of these types would soon -succumb in the struggle for existence. It would become extinct, and give -way to the other type; or both types might continue to co-exist, -although intercrossing might go on for centuries. They would undergo no -other changes than those which each singly, uninfluenced by the other, -would have undergone by the agency of physical causes.” - -The evidence we possess of the physical characteristics of the -succession of races in Europe from palæolithic times is already -considerable; and in reference to neolithic and later periods is ample. -Within the recent historic period of the decline and fall of Rome, and -the influx of Northern and Asiatic barbarians, the evidence of admixture -of race is abundant; and the physical, intellectual, and moral changes -resulting therefrom have stamped their ineffaceable impress on history. -But the conditions under which the meeting of the Aryans with -Allophylians, Neolithians, or other prehistoric races took place in -older centuries, can only be surmised; and the many analogies resulting -from the intrusion of the European races on the aborigines of the -western hemisphere are calculated to render useful aid in determining -some definite results. - -History has familiarised us with the idea of sovereign and subject -races. The monuments of Egypt perpetuate the fact from its remote dawn, -Punic, Roman, Gothic, Frank, Saracenic, and Scandinavian races, have in -turn subdued others, and made them subservient to their will. Evidence -of a different kind, but little less definite, points to the intrusion -into Europe in prehistoric times of races superior alike in physical -type, and in the arts upon which progress depends, to the Autochthones, -or primitive occupants of the soil. Further indications have been -assumed to point to the contemporaneous presence, in primeval Britain, -as elsewhere, of races of diverse type, and apparently in the relation -of lord and serf: a natural if not indeed inevitable consequence of the -intrusion of a superior race of conquerors. - -But in the New World the inaptitude of the native race for useful -serfdom largely contributed to the introduction there of other and very -diverse races from Africa and Asia; so that now within a well-defined -North American area, indigenous populations of the three continents of -the Old World are displacing its native races. Still more, all three -meet there under circumstances which inevitably lead to their -intermixture with one another, and with the native races. - -Various terms, such as Iberian, Silurian, Canstadt, Cimbric, Finnish, -and Turanian, have been applied to primitive types as expressive of the -hypothesis of their origin. But on turning to the American continent we -see vast regions occupied exclusively until a comparatively recent -period by tribes of savage hunters, upon whom some of the most civilised -races of Europe have intruded, with results in many respects so -strikingly accordant with the supposed evolution of the Melanochroi of -the Old World, that we seem to look upon a series of ethnological -experiments prolonged through centuries, with synthetic results to a -large extent confirmatory of previous inductions. - -The intermingling of very diverse races at present taking place on the -American continent includes some of widely diverse types. There is seen -the Portuguese in Brazil; the Spaniard in Peru, Mexico, Central America, -and in Cuba; the African in the West Indies and the Southern States; the -Chinese on the Pacific; the Frenchman on the St. Lawrence; the German, -the Italian, the Norwegian, the Icelander, the Celt, and the -Anglo-Saxon: all subjected to novel influences, necessarily testing the -results of a change of climate, of diet, and of social habits, on the -ethnical character of each. There too, alike in the Red and the Black -races, we can study the results of hybridity carried out on a scale -adequate to determine many important points calculated to throw light on -the origin and perpetuation of diverse races of mankind. - -The growth of a race of hybrid African blood has been one of the results -of the substitution at an early date of imported negro slaves to supply -the place of the rapidly disappearing Indians who perished under the -exactions of their taskmasters. According to careful data set forth in -the United States census for 1850, the whole number of native Africans -imported cannot have exceeded 400,000. At present the coloured -race—hybrids chiefly—of African blood numbers nearly 7,000,000. In -1715 there were 58,000 negroes in British America; in 1775, when the -revolution broke out, there were 501,102. After the epoch of -independence the increase became more rapid. In 1790 the numbers were -757,208; in 1800, 893,041; in 1810, 1,191,364. At the date of -emancipation in 1865 there were, in round numbers, in slavery, -4,000,000; and at the census in 1880 the negro population in the United -States had risen to 6,580,793;[149] and in the returns thus far -published relative to the later census of 1890, in the Southern States -alone they are reported to number 6,996,116; so that with the added -numbers of the Northern States and Canada they can fall little short of -8,000,000. Of this numerous intrusive race, the larger number are -hybrids; and, as was inevitable, they include some small proportion of -mixed negro and Indian blood.[150] But it is the Metis, or White and Red -half-breed, that constitutes the subject of special interest here. - -Various causes have tended to beget more friendly relations between the -older colonists of New France, and at a later date between those of -British America and the native Indian race, than have existed either in -Spanish America or the United States. - -The great North-West, with its warlike Chippeways, Crees, Sioux, and -Blackfeet; and beyond the Rocky Mountains its Tinné, Babeens, Clalams, -Newatees, Chinooks, Cowlitz, and numerous other native tribes; had till -recently been under the control of the all-powerful fur-trading company -of Hudson Bay. The interests of the fur-traders stimulated them to fair -and honourable dealing with the native tribes; and while they had no -motive to encourage the Indians to abandon their nomadic life for the -civilised habits of a settled people, or even to interpose in the wars -which varied the monotony of the Indians’ wild hunter-life, they had so -thoroughly won the confidence of the natives, that tribes at open enmity -with each other were ready to repose equal confidence in the Hudson Bay -factors. - -The late Paul Kane, author of _Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians -of North America_, informed me that when travelling beyond the Rocky -Mountains he found no difficulty in transmitting his correspondence -home, even when among the rudest Flathead savages. His packet, entrusted -to one of the tribe, was accompanied with a small gift of tobacco, and -the request to have it forwarded to Fort Garry, or other Hudson Bay -fort. The messenger—Cowlitz, Chinook, Nasquallie, or other -Indian,—carried it to the frontier of his own hunting-grounds, and then -sold it for so much tobacco to some Indian of another tribe; by him it -was passed on, by like process of barter, till it crossed the Rocky -Mountains into the territory of the Blackfeet, the Crees, and so onward -to its destination, in full confidence that the officers of the Hudson -Bay Fort would sustain the credit of the White Medicine-man (for so the -painter was regarded), and redeem the packet at its full value in -tobacco or other equivalent. - -The personal interests of the little bands of European fur-traders thus -settled in the heart of a wilderness, and surrounded by savage hunters, -no less strongly prompted them to exclude the maddening fire-water from -the vast regions under their control. Guns and ammunition, kettles, -axes, knives, beads, and other trinkets, with the no less prized -tobacco, were abundantly provided for barter. Even nails and the iron -hoops of their barrels were traded with the Indians, and displaced the -primitive tomahawk and arrow head of flint or stone. Thus, curiously, -the Stone period of a people still in the most primitive stage of -barbarism has been superseded by the use of metals obtained solely by -barter, and without any advance either in the knowledge of metallurgy, -or in the mastery of the arts which lie at the foundation of all -civilisation. Long before the advent of Europeans, the Chippeways along -the shores of Lake Superior had been familiar with the native copper -which abounds there in the condition of pure metal. But they knew it -only as a kind of malleable stone; nor have they even now learned the -application of fire in their simple metallurgic processes. The root of -their names for iron and copper is the same abstract term, _wahbik_, -used only in compound words, and apparently in the sense of rock or -stone. _Pewahbik_ is iron; _ozahwahbik_, copper, literally the yellow -stone. It formed no part of the Hudson Bay traders’ aim to advance him -beyond the stage of a savage hunter. It was incompatible with the -interests of the fur-trader to teach him any higher use of the rich -prairie land than that of a wilderness inhabited by fur-bearing animals, -or a grazing ground for the herds of buffalo which furnished their -annual supply of pemmican; or to familiarise him with more of the -borrowed arts of civilisation than helped to facilitate the accumulation -of peltries in the factory stores. Hence the intrusive Europeans and the -native tribes met on common ground, engaged in the same pursuits, all -tending to foster the habits of hunter-life; and so presenting a close -analogy to the condition of Europe when, in its Neolithic age, its rude -hunter tribes were invaded by the Aryans. Thus engaged to a large extent -in the same pursuits, the Whites and Indians of the Canadian North-West -have dwelt together for successive generations on terms of comparative -equality, and with results of curious interest, hereafter referred to, -in relation to the intermingling of the races. - -In the long-settled provinces of Canada it has been otherwise. There the -aborigines had to be gathered together on suitable reserves, and induced -to accommodate themselves in some degree to the habits of an industrious -agricultural population; or to be driven out, to wander off into the -great hunting-grounds of the uncleared West. The exterminating native -wars, which preceded the settlement of Upper Canada, greatly facilitated -this; and the tribes with which the English colonists of Ontario have -had to deal have been for the most part immigrants, not greatly less -recent than themselves. As to the Six Nation Indians settled on the -Grand River and at the Bay of Quinté (the most numerous and the farthest -advanced in civilisation of all the Indians in the British provinces), -they are a body of loyalist refugees who followed the fortunes of their -English allies on the declaration of independence by the revolted -Colonies; and there is now in use, at the little Indian Church at -Tuscarora, the silver Communion Plate presented to their ancestors while -still in the valley of the Mohawk, in the State of New York, the gift of -Her Majesty Queen Anne, “to her Indian Chappel of the Mohawks.”[151] - -But the civilisation which has thus resulted from prolonged and intimate -relations with the Whites, has been accompanied by an inevitable -admixture of blood, of which the results are abundantly manifest in the -physical characteristics of the Indian settlers, both on the Grand river -and at the Bay of Quinté. The system of adopting members of other -tribes, including even those of their vanquished foes, to recruit their -own numbers, was practised by many of the North American tribes, and was -familiar to the Iroquois, or Indians of the Five Nations, as they were -styled before the admission of the Tuscaroras to their confederacy. In -1649, for example, the survivors of two of the Huron towns which they -had ravaged, besought the favour of the victors, and were adopted into -the Seneca nation. Nor did extreme differences of race interfere with -affiliation, as in the case of children kidnapped from the White -colonists in their vicinity. One interesting example of the latter -suffices to illustrate the extent to which such a process tended to -affect the ethnical purity of the race. - -In the year 1779, while the Mohawks still dwelt in their native valley -in the State of New York, Ste-nah, a white girl, then about twelve years -of age, was captured in one of their marauding expeditions, and adopted -into the tribe. In 1868, while still living, she was described to me by -an educated Mohawk India, as a full-blood _Sko-ha-ra_, or Dutchwoman. -She grew up among her captors, accompanied the tribe on their removal -from the Mohawk valley to the shores of the Bay of Quinté, and married -one of the Mohawk braves. She had reached mature years, and was the -mother of Indian children, when an aged stranger visited the reserve in -search of his long-lost daughter. He had heard of a captive white woman -who survived among the emigrant Mohawks there, and was able, by certain -marks, and the scar of a wound received in childhood, to identify his -long-lost daughter. But the discovery came too late. As my Mohawk -informant told me, she had got an Indian heart. She had, indeed, lost -her native tongue; had acquired the habits and sympathies of her adopted -people; and coldly repelled the advances of her aged father, who in vain -recalled his long-lost daughter Christina in the Mohawk white-blood, -_Ste-nah_. If the date of her capture and her estimated age can be -relied on, she must have been in her hundred and fifth year at the time -of her death, in December 1871. I have received through one of her -grandsons—himself a Mohawk chief,—a genealogical table of her -descendants, from which it appears that there are at the present time -fifty-seven of them living and twenty-three dead. It is thus apparent, -that by the adoption of a single White captive into the tribe, there -are, in the fourth generation, fifty-seven survivors out of eighty -members of the tribe, all of them of hybrid character. - -The influence of a single case of admixture of White blood, thus -followed out to its results in the fourth generation, suffices to show -how largely those tribes must be affected who dwell for any length of -time in close vicinity to White settlers, and in intimate friendly -relations with them. The earlier French and English colonists, like the -Hudson Bay traders of later times, were mostly young adventurers, -without wives, and readily entering into alliance with the native women. -The children of such unions were admitted to a perfect equality with the -Whites, when trained up in their settlements; and in the older period of -French and English rivalry the Indians were dealt with on very different -terms from those with which they are now regarded, though even yet some -memory of older relations survives. - -During the wars between the French and English colonists to the north -and south of the St. Lawrence, in the seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries, the alliance of neighbouring Indian tribes was courted; and -the traditions of the fidelity of the Hurons to the French, and the -loyalty of the Iroquois to the English, are cherished as incentives to -the fulfilment of obligations entered into on behalf of the little -remnant of the Huron nation remaining on the river St. Charles, below -Quebec; and to a liberal and generous policy towards the Six Nation -Indians settled on the Grand river and elsewhere in Western Canada. - -But also in the primitive simplicity of border life, the half-civilised -Indian and the rude settler meet on common ground; and in some cases the -friendly relations established between them have survived the more -settled condition of agricultural progress in the clearings. In this -respect the older colonists of Quebec fraternised far more readily with -the native population than has been the case with English settlers. The -relations in which the early French colonists stood to the Indians of -Lower Canada bore more resemblance to those of the fur-traders of the -North-West in later times, and were of a kindlier nature than those of -the intrusive European emigrants of the present century. Prior to the -accession of Louis XIV. to the throne, the French possessions in the New -World had been regarded as little more than a hunting-ground to be -turned to the same account as the Hudson Bay Company’s territory; and -the peopling of Canada had given little promise of permanent -colonisation. Priests and nuns alone varied the usual class of trading -adventurers who resort to a young colony. But soon after the King -reached his majority, a systematic shipment of emigrants to Canada was -organised under the direction of Colbert; sundry companies of soldiers -were disbanded in the colony; and then, at last, the necessity of -finding wives for the settlers was recognised. Thereupon a system of -female emigration, with bounties on marriage, was established. Colbert, -writing to the Canadian Intendant, tells him that the prosperity of the -people, and all that is most dear to them as colonists, depend upon -their securing the marriage of youths not later than their eighteenth or -nineteenth year to girls at fourteen or fifteen; and the next step was -to impose a fine on the father of a family who neglected to marry his -children when they reached the respective ages of twenty and sixteen. - -Up to this period the native women had chiefly supplied wives for the -colonists; nor was this element now ignored or slighted. In the _Mémoire -sur l’Etat Présent du Canada_, 1667, it is stated: “At this time it was -believed that the Indians, mingled with the French, might become a -valuable part of the population. The reproductive qualities of Indian -women therefore became an object of attention to Talon, the Royal -Intendant; and he reports that they impair their fertility by nursing -their children longer than is needful; but, he adds, ‘this obstacle to -the speedy building up of the colony can be overcome by regulations of -police.’” Thus it is apparent that the strongest encouragement was given -to such alliances. - -The religious element, moreover, among a purely Roman Catholic -population, helped to foster a sense of equality in the case of the -Christianised Indian; while the gentler and less progressive habits of -the French habitants have tended to prevent direct collision with the -Indians settled in their midst. Hence in the province of Quebec, -half-breeds, and men and women of partial Indian blood, are frequently -to be met with in all ranks of life; and slighter traces, discernible in -the hair, the eye, the cheek-bone, and peculiar mouth, as well as -certain traits of Indian character, suggest to the close observer remote -indications of the same admixture of blood. - -But while favouring influences in national character, political -institutions, and religion, all united to encourage a more friendly -intercourse between the native and European population of Lower Canada, -the circumstances attendant on the settlement of new clearings have -everywhere led in some degree to similar results; and experience -abundantly proves the impossibility of preserving distinct two races -living in close proximity to each other. - -Throughout the old provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and the Maritime -Provinces, where the aborigines are mostly congregated on reserves, -under the charge of Government officers of the Indian Department, they -appear, with few exceptions, to have passed the critical stage of -transition from a nomadic state to that of assimilation to the habits of -settled industry of the Whites. - -The native tribes of the old provinces of the Dominion, though bearing a -variety of names, may all be classed under the two essentially distinct -groups of Algonkins and Iroquois. Under the former head properly rank -the Micmacs, and other tribes of Prince Edward’s Island, Nova Scotia, -and New Brunswick; and the Chippeways, including Ottawas, Mississagas, -Pottawattomies, etc., of Ontario. Under the other head have to be placed -not only the Six Nations—Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, -and Tuscaroras,—but also the Wyandots, or Hurons, both of Upper and -Lower Canada; though among the one were found the faithful allies of the -English, while the other adhered persistently to the French; and to the -deadly enmity between them was due the expulsion of the Hurons from -their ancient territory on the Georgian Bay, and the extermination of -all but an insignificant remnant, including the refugees on the St. -Charles river, below Quebec. - -The Canadian census of 1871 includes the aborigines in the enumeration -of the population of the Dominion, and states the grand total of the -Indians of the Provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New -Brunswick, at 23,035. - -That the Indian population, gathered on their own reserved lands under -the care of Government superintendents, is not diminishing in numbers, -appears to be universally admitted. But as, at the same time, the pure -race is being largely replaced by younger generations of mixed blood, -the results cannot be looked upon as encouraging the hope of -perpetuating the native Indian race under such exceptional conditions; -nor can it be overlooked that the increase is partly begot by the -addition of a foreign element. At best the results point rather to such -a process of absorption as appears to be the inevitable result wherever -a race, alike inferior in numbers and in progressive energy, escapes -extirpation at the hands of the intruders. - -In the boyhood of the older generation of Toronto, hundreds of Indians, -including those of the old Mississaga tribe, were to be seen about the -streets. Now, at rare intervals, two or three squaws, in round hats, -blue blankets, and Indian leggings, attract attention less by their -features than their dress; for in complexion they are nearly as white as -those of pure European descent. The same is the case on all the oldest -Indian reserves. The Hurons of Lorette, whose forefathers were brought -to Lower Canada after the massacre of their nation by the Iroquois in -1649, are reported to have considerably increased in numbers in the -interval between 1844 and the last census. But while the Commissioners -refer to them as a band of Indians “the most advanced in civilisation in -the whole of Canada,” they add that “they have, by the intermixture of -White blood, so far lost the original purity of race as scarcely to be -considered as Indians.” In their case this admixture with the European -race has been protracted through a period of upwards of two centuries, -till they have lost their Indian language, and substituted for it a -French patois. Were it not for their hereditary right to a share in -certain Indian funds, which furnishes an inducement to perpetuate their -descent from the Huron nation, they would long since have merged in the -common stock. Yet the results would not thereby have been eradicated, -but only lost sight of. Their baptismal registers and genealogical -traditions supply the record of a practical, though undesigned, -experiment as to the influence of hybridity on the perpetuation of the -race, and show the mixed descendants of Huron and French blood still, -after a lapse of upwards of two centuries, betraying no traces of a -tendency towards infertility or extinction. - -In the Maritime Provinces the Micmacs are the representatives of the -aboriginal owners of the soil. Small encampments of them may be -encountered in summer on the Lower St. Lawrence, busily engaged in the -manufacture of staves, barrel-hoops, axe-handles, and baskets of various -kinds, which they dispose of, with much shrewdness, to the traders of -Quebec, and the smaller towns on the Gulf. So far as I have seen, the -pure-blood Micmac has more of the dark-red, in contrast to the prevalent -olive hue, than other Indians. But the Micmacs of Nova Scotia and New -Brunswick reveal the same evidence of inevitable amalgamation with the -predominant race as elsewhere. The Rev. S. T. Rand—a devoted missionary -labouring among the Indians of Nova Scotia,—on being asked to obtain a -photograph of a pure-blood representative of the tribe, had some -difficulty in finding a single example, and stated that not one is to be -found among the younger generation. - -In the old provinces the Indians are in the minority; but the same -process is apparent where little bands of pioneers leave the settled -provinces and states to begin new clearings, or to engage in the -adventurous life of hunters and trappers in the far West. The hunter -finds a bride among the native women; and when at length the wild tribe -recedes before the growing clearing and the diminished supplies of game, -it not only leaves behind a half-breed population as the nucleus of the -civilised community, but it also carries away with it a like element, -increasingly affecting the ethnical character of the whole tribe. - -The same circumstances have continued, in every frontier settlement, to -involve the inevitable production of a race of half-breeds. Even the -cruellest exterminations of hostile tribes have rarely been carried out -so effectually as to preclude this. In New England, for example, after -the desolating war of 1637, which resulted in the extinction of the -Pequot tribe, Winthrop thus summarily records the policy of the victors: -“We sent the male children to Bermuda by Mr. William Pierce, and the -women and maid children are disposed about in the towns.” Such a female -population could not grow up in a young colony, with the wonted -preponderance of males, and leave no traces in subsequent generations. - -Seeing, then, that the meeting of two types of humanity so essentially -distinct as the European and the native Indian of America, has, for -upwards of three centuries, led to the production of a hybrid race, it -becomes an interesting question, what has been the ultimate result? Has -the mixed breed proved infertile, and so disappeared; has it perpetuated -a new and permanent type of intermediate characteristics; or has it been -absorbed into the predominant European race without leaving traces of -this foreign element? These questions are not without their significance -even in reference to the policy in dealing with the Indian settlements -in old centres of population; for the traces of this intermingling of -the races of the Old and New World are neither limited to frontier -settlements nor to Indian reserves. - -Among Canadians of mixed blood there are men at the Bar and in the -Legislature, in the Church, in the medical profession, holding rank in -the army, in aldermanic and other civic offices, and engaged in active -trade and commerce. A curious case was recently brought before the law -courts in Ontario. A son of the chief of the Wyandot Indians settled in -Western Canada, left the reserves of his tribe, engaged in business, and -acquired a large amount of real estate and personal property. He won for -himself, moreover, such general respect that he was elected Reeve of -Anderdon by a considerable majority over a White candidate. Thereupon -his rival applied to have him unseated, on the plea that a person of -Indian blood was not a citizen in the eye of the law. Fortunately the -judge took a common-sense view of the case, and decided that as he held -a sufficient property-qualification within the county, the election was -valid. - -That an Indian ceases to be such in the eye of the law, and in all -practical relations to society, when he becomes an educated industrious -member of the general community, and competes not only for its -privileges but for its highest honours, is inevitable. But it is not -with the Indian as with the Negro mixed race. The privileges and the -disabilities of the Indian ward may both be cast off; but a certain -degree of romance attaches to Indian blood, when accompanied with the -culture and civilisation of the European. The descendants of Brant and -other distinguished native chiefs are still proud to claim their -lineage, where the physical traces of such an ancestry would escape the -eye of a common observer. Traces of Indian descent may be recognised -among ladies of attractive refinement and intelligence, and with certain -mental as well as physical traits which add to the charm of their -society. Similar indications of the blood of the aborigines are familiar -to Canadians in the gay assemblies of a Governor-General’s receptions, -in the halls of Legislature, in the diocesan synods and other -ecclesiastical assemblies, and amongst the undergraduates of Canadian -universities. - -But the condition of men and women of mixed blood, admitted to all the -privileges of citizenship, and mingling in perfect equality with all -other members of the community, is in striking contrast to that of the -occupants of the Indian reserves, where they are settled, for the most -part in isolated bands, in the midst of a progressive White population. -Such a condition is manifestly an unfavourable one, and one, moreover, -which cannot be regarded as other than transitional. They are -confessedly dealt with as wards, in a state of pupilage. - -A growing sense of the necessity for some modification of this system -has been felt for a considerable time; and in 1867 “An Act to encourage -the gradual Civilisation of the Indian Tribes,” received the royal -assent. This Act avowedly aims at the “gradual removal of all legal -distinctions between them and Her Majesty’s other Canadian subjects; and -to facilitate the acquisition of property, and of the rights -accompanying it, by such individual members of the said tribes as shall -be found to desire such encouragement, and to have deserved it.” - -That the ultimate result of this will involve the disappearance of the -Indian as a distinct race is inevitable. He will be absorbed into the -dominant race; not to be displaced or driven out of the community; but -to be perpetuated, as the precursors of the blonde Aryans of Europe -still survive in the “dark Whites” that now, in undisputed equality, -enjoy all the rights of citizenship of a common race. They will indeed -constitute but a small remnant of the nations of Euramerican blood. That -whole tribes and peoples of the American aborigines have been -exterminated in the process of colonisation of the New World is no more -to be questioned, than that a similar result followed from the Roman -conquest and colonisation of Britain. Nevertheless, long and careful -study of the subject has satisfied me that a larger amount of absorption -of the Indian into the Anglo-American race has occurred than is -generally recognised. - -Fully to appreciate this, it is necessary to retrace the course of -events by which America has been transferred to the descendants of -European colonists. At every fresh stage of colonisation, or of -pioneering into the wild West, the work has necessarily been -accomplished by hardy young adventurers, or the hunters or trappers of -the clearing. It is rare indeed for such to be accompanied by wives or -daughters. Where they find a home they take to themselves wives from -among the native women; and their offspring share in whatever advantages -the father transplants with him to this home in the wilderness. To such -mingling of blood, in its least favourable aspects, the prejudices of -the Indian present little obstacle. Henry, in his narrative of travel -among the Cristineaux on Lake Winipagoos upwards of a century ago, after -describing the dress and allurements of the women, adds: “One of the -chiefs assured me that the children borne by their women to Europeans -were bolder warriors and better hunters than themselves.” This idea -recurs in various forms. The half-breed lumberers and trappers are -valued throughout Canada for their hardihood and patient endurance; the -half-breed hunters and trappers are equally esteemed in the Hudson Bay -territory; and beyond their remotest forts Dr. Kane reported, as his -experience within the Arctic circle, that “the half-breeds of the coast -rival the Esquimaux in their powers of endurance.” - -Mr. Charles Horetskey, in his _Canada on the Pacific_, after remarking -on the well-known fact that Japanese junks have been known to drift on -to the Pacific coast of America, and so contribute new elements of -Mongolian character to the native population, thus proceeds to notice -another element of hybridity. “There is,” he says, “another mixture in -the blood on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and a very marked -one—the Spanish, owing to the Spaniards having long had a settlement at -Nootka. Strangely enough, the Spanish cast of countenance does not show -in the women, who have the same flat features as their sisters to the -eastward. Nor is it so noticeable among the young men, many of whom, -however, have beards—a most unusual appendage among American Indians, -and of course traceable to the cause referred to. The features are more -observable among the older men, many of whom, with their long, narrow, -pointed faces and beards, would, if washed, present very fair models for -Don Quixote.” Within the region of Alaska, Russian traders have -contributed another element to the mingling of races; and Mr. Wm. H. -Dall, in his _Alaska and its Resources_, states specifically the number -of the Creoles or half-breeds of that region as 1421. But the present -condition of society there favours their increase. In 1842, they were, -for the first time, qualified to enter the Church as priests; and in -1865, the American Expedition found Ivan Pavloff, the son of a Russian -father and a native woman of Kenai, filling the office of Bidarshik, or -commander of the post at Nulato. He was legally married to a -full-blooded Indian woman, by whom he had a large family. - -Another intrusive element, that of the Asiatic Mongol, has awakened -alarm for the possible future of the white race of settlers, both in -America and in Australia. In 1875 the number of Chinese in California -amounted to 130,000; 19,000 arrived in a single year. They speedily made -their way to the New England States, and to Eastern Canada; till it has -been deemed politic to forbid further immigration. It is the intrusion -of a type approximating to the American Mongol, and so has a special -interest in its bearing on the ethnology of the continent; for here we -see the approximate types of Asia and America brought into contact, it -may be as descendants of a common stock, separated through unnumbered -centuries by untraversed oceans. - -The Indians of Vancouver Island and British Columbia were estimated in -1860 to number 75,000. The observations of Paul Kane in 1846 showed that -a considerable half-breed population already existed then in the -vicinity of every Hudson Bay fort. But at the later date the reported -richness of the gold-diggings was attracting hundreds of settlers; and -as usual, in such cases, nearly all males. The admixture of blood with -the native population consequent on such a social condition is -inevitable; and though such a population is least likely to leave behind -it any permanent traces among settled civilised colonists, yet the -condition of things which it presents illustrates the social life of -every frontier settlement of the New World. Everywhere the colonisation -of the outlying territory begins with a migration of males, and by and -by the cry comes from Australia, Canada, and elsewhere, for stimulated -female emigration. It is a state of things old as the dispersion of the -human race, and typified in such ancient legends as the Roman Rape of -the Sabines. The abstract of the United States census of 1860 showed -that the old settled states of New England are affected even more than -European countries by this inevitable source of the disparity of the -sexes. In Massachusetts, at that date, the females outnumbered the males -by upwards of 37,000; while in Indiana, on the contrary, they fell short -of the males by 48,000. - -In the latter case, on a frontier state, where the services of the -Indian women must necessarily be courted in any attempt at domestic -life, intermixture between the native and intruding races is inevitable, -and the feeling with which it is regarded finds expression constantly -through the genuine New World lyrics of Joaquin Miller, with his “brown -bride won from an Indian town”— - - Where some were blonde and some were brown, - And all as brave as Sioux. - -Thus the same process still repeats itself along the widening frontier -of the far West, which has been in operation on the American continent -from the days of Columbus and Cabot. Hardy bands of pioneer adventurers, -or the solitary hunter and trapper, wander forth to brave the dangers of -the prairie or savage-haunted forest, and to such, an Indian bride -proves the fittest mate. Of the mixed offspring a portion cling to the -fortunes of the mother’s race, and are involved in its fate; but more -adhere to those of the white father, share with him the vicissitudes of -border life, and cast in their lot with the first nucleus of a settled -community. As the border land slowly recedes into the further West, new -settlers crowd into the clearing; the little cluster of primitive -log-huts grows up into the city, perhaps the capital of a state, and -with a new generation the traces of Indian blood are well nigh -forgotten. If any portion of the aboriginal owners of the soil linger in -the neighbourhood, they are no less affected by the predominant -intruding race. - -The transfer of the rich prairie lands of the great North-West from the -care of Hudson Bay factors and trappers, the organisation of it into the -Province of Manitoba, and the territories already in preparation for new -provinces, under the government of their own legislatures, has -necessarily brought to an end the condition of things so favourable to -friendly relations between the White and Red races. The region, -moreover, is now traversed by the Canadian Pacific Railway; and the -herds of buffalo, on which the Indian mainly depended for his supplies -of food, fur robes, and teepe skins, have finally disappeared. Railways, -telegraph lines, and other appliances of civilisation are equally -incompatible with the existence of the wild buffalo and the wild Indian. -The former inevitably vanished from the scene. It remains to be seen if -the latter can adapt himself to the novel conditions of such an -environment. - -As some preparation for the inevitable revolution, the half-breeds, -already numbering thousands, accustomed to mingle on perfect equality -with the Whites, and trained in some partial degree to agricultural -industry, entered on the possession of farms allotted to them by the -Government. But such a transitional stage, forced into premature -development, could scarcely be expected to pass through all its -revolutionary stages without a conflict, and clashing of interests; and -the efforts of the Dominion Government to deal with this novel condition -of things were only partially successful. But perhaps the most notable -feature in the results has been that the chief difficulty was, not with -the wild tribes transferred from the management of the fur-traders to -the direct jurisdiction of the Government, but with the half-breeds, -claiming civil rights, and jealously resenting encroachments on lands -appropriated for their own settlement. - -The reports of the Indian Department supply interesting glimpses of the -process of adjustment with the various tribes of natives reluctantly -yielding to the new condition of things. Returns made to an address of -the House of Commons at Ottawa, dated March 1873, disclose the -jealousies and suspicions of the native tribes, and the anxiety evinced -by the Government officials to remove all just grounds of complaint. Mr. -Beatty, a contractor for certain surveys on the Upper Assiniboine, -reports that the Portage Indians, under their chief, Yellow Quill, had -absolutely forbidden any survey of their lands, and driven him and his -party off the field. The Lieutenant-Governor thereafter held an -interview with Yellow Quill and a party of his braves, and after a long -_pow-wow_ succeeded in pacifying him. Again, a party of about two -thousand Sioux are reported to have left in high dudgeon, with a threat -to return in force next spring; and the Hon. Alexander Morris—now -Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba—writes to the Provincial Secretary at -Ottawa, that “The Red Lake Indians on the American side have been -sending tobacco to the Sioux in our territory, as it is believed, with -the view of common action with regard to the Boundary Survey.” For the -settlement of provinces, and the surveying of the prairie for disposal -to its new occupants, had necessitated the determination of a -well-defined boundary between the Canadian territories and those of the -United States. Only a few years had elapsed since the State of Minnesota -was desolated by a cruel war, carried on by the Sioux at the -instigation, as was then affirmed, of Southern agents, with a view to a -diversion in favour of the South during the great Civil War. A large -number of the Sioux have since crossed the boundary, and settled within -the British lines; and the Hon. Mr. Morris writes from Fort Garry in -December last: “Some of the Sioux assist the white settlers as labourers -in the summer. They have asked for land, and were led to believe that -they would be assigned a reserve, and, if so, they would plant crops, -and could then be removed from the settlement.” But Mr. Morris specially -draws the attention of the provincial authorities to the excited state -apparent among all the Western tribes, and adds: “I believe it to be in -part created by the Boundary Commission. They do not understand it, and -think the two nations are uniting against them.” The difficulties, -however, were overcome; and the reports of the Indian agents contain -some curious illustrations of the difficulties inevitable in the first -attempt at transforming wild Indian tribes into prairie farmers. One of -them thus writes: “The full demands of the Indians cannot be complied -with; but there is, nevertheless, a certain paradox in asking a wild -Indian, who has hitherto gained his livelihood by hunting and trapping, -to settle down on a reservation and cultivate the land, without at the -same time offering him some means of making his living. As they say -themselves: ‘We cannot tear down the trees and build huts with our -teeth, we cannot break the prairie with our hands, nor reap the harvest, -if we had grown it, with our knives.’” But even among the wild tribes of -the prairies a great diversity in habits, and in aptitude for the new -life now forced upon them as their only chance of survival, is apparent. -The Portage Indians clung to their old status as hunters living in their -buffalo-skin lodges on the prairies; the St. Peter Indians form -permanent settlements, not only of birch-bark wigwams, but many of them -have built log-houses for themselves. Even among the tribes already -settling down to steady agricultural labour, such as the Saulteux and -the Swampies of Manitoba, a very great difference both in sentiments and -customs prevail. Thirty-four Indian families from one tribe in Pembina -are reported by the agent as demanding their allocation of farms; the -chiefs and headmen of other tribes are in negotiation for farming -implements, stock, etc., and some of their demands curiously illustrate -the form in which the new life thus opening up to them presents its most -tempting aspects. Hoes, axes, and other indispensable implements have -been readily granted to them. Ploughs, harrows, and oxen are in request, -and have been conceded or promised where the Government agent is -satisfied that they will be turned to good account. But in special -demand is “a bull and cow for each chief, and a boar for each reserve.” -The incipient idea of the stock farm is indeed apparent in the universal -demand of all: “A promise,” says one of the agents, “which the Indians -never omit to mention, that they shall be supplied with a male and -female of each animal used by a farmer.” But the transformation of the -wild hunter into an industrious agriculturist is a difficult process; -and even in the new generation, born under such changed conditions, the -Indian boy shows much greater aptitude for mechanical employments; and -takes more readily to the work of the carpenter than to that of tilling -the soil, which, so long as the Indian was its lord, was practised -exclusively by the women of the tribe. - -Could the older condition of interblended prairie life have been -sufficiently long perpetuated, the results would far more fully have -presented results in close analogy to the intermingling of Europe’s -aboriginal and Aryan races in prehistoric times. A settlement begun by -Lord Selkirk in 1811, was formed on the Red River within the area now -embraced in the Province of Manitoba. It consisted of hardy Orkney men -and Sutherlandshire Highlanders; and on the amalgamation of the -North-West and the Hudson Bay Companies, the settlement received -considerable additions to its numbers. When at length the great fur -Companies’ supremacy came to an end, the community numbered upwards of -two thousand whites, chiefly occupied in farming, or in the service of -the Company. At a later date, another settlement was formed on the -Assiniboine river, chiefly by French Canadians. In those, as at the -forts and trading-posts of the Hudson Bay Company, the settlers -consisted chiefly of young men. They had no choice but to wed or cohabit -with the Indian women; and the result has been, not only the growth of a -half-breed population greatly out-numbering the Whites, but the -formation of a tribe of half-breeds, divided into two distinct bands, -according to their Scottish or French paternity, who kept themselves -distinct in manners, habits, and allegiance, alike from the Whites and -the Indians. - -This rise of an independent half-breed tribe is one of the most -remarkable results of the great, though undesigned, ethnological -experiment which has been in progress ever since the meeting of the -diverse races of the Old and New World on the continent of America; and -when the peculiar circumstances which favoured this result came to an -end, it became a matter of great interest to note the most striking -phases presented by it, before they are effaced by the influx of -European emigration. I accordingly printed and circulated as widely as -possible a set of queries relative to the Indian and half-breed -population both of Canada and the Hudson Bay territory; and from the -returns made to me by Hudson Bay factors, missionaries, and others, most -of the following results are derived. The number of the settled -population, either half-breed or more or less of Indian blood, in Red -River and the surrounding settlements was about 7200. The intermarriage -there has been chiefly with Indian women of the plain Crees, though -alliances also occur with the Swampies (another branch of the Crees), -and with Sioux, Chippeway, and Blackfeet women. But the most noticeable -differences are traceable to the white paternity. The French half-breeds -have more demonstrativeness and vivacity, but they are reported to take -less readily to the steady drudgery of the farm than those of Scotch -descent. But, at best, the temptations of a border settlement, with its -buffalo hunts and its chief market for peltries, were little calculated -to develop the industrious habits of a settled community; and the -intrusion of farmers from the old provinces, and immigrants from Europe, -ignorant of their habits and wholly indifferent to their interests, -necessarily interfered with the healthful process of transformation into -a settled industrious community of civilised half-breeds. - -Some of the results elicited by the inquiries are of value in their -bearing on the question of mixed races, and the apparent tendency to -develop permanent varieties; and all the more so as the data thus -obtained show the condition of the North-West community immediately -prior to the formation of the Province of Manitoba, and the inauguration -of the revolution which inevitably followed in its train. The -half-breeds are a large and robust race, with greater powers of -endurance than the native Indian. Mr. S. J. Dawson, of the Red River -Exploring Expedition, speaks of the French half-breeds as a gigantic -race as compared with the French Canadians of Lower Canada. Professor -Hind refers in equally strong language to their great physical powers -and vigorous muscular developments; and the venerable Archdeacon Hunter, -of Red River, replied in answer to my inquiry: “In what respects do the -half-breed Indians differ from the pure Indians as to habits of life, -courage, strength, increase of numbers, etc.?” “They are superior in -every respect, both mentally and physically.” Much concurrent evidence -points to the fact that the families descended from mixed parentage are -larger than those of the whites; and though the results are in some -degree counteracted by a tendency to consumption, yet it does not amount -to such a source of diminution on the whole as to interfere with their -steady numerical increase. One of the questions circulated by me was in -this form: “State any facts tending to prove or disprove that the -offspring descended from mixed White and Indian blood fails in a few -generations.” To this the Rev. J. Gilmour answered: “I know many large -and healthy families of partial Indian blood, and have formed the -opinion that they are likely to perpetuate a hardy race.” The venerable -Archdeacon Hunter, familiar with the facts by long residence as a -clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church among the mixed population of the -Red River Settlement, answered still more decidedly: “The offspring -descended from mixed White and Indian blood does not fail, but, -generally speaking, by intermarriages it becomes very difficult to -determine whether they are pure Whites or half-breeds.” Living, however, -for many years among a people in whom the Indian traits are more or less -traceable, it is probable that Archdeacon Hunter is less attracted by -the modified, ample black hair, the large full mouth, and the dark, -though gentle and softly expressive eye, which strikes a stranger on -first coming among any frontier population of mixed blood. The -half-breeds also retain much of the reserved and unimpressible manner of -the Indian; though a good deal of intercourse with the native race has -led me to the conclusion that this is more of an acquired habit than a -strictly hereditary trait: a piece of Indian education akin to certain -habits of social life universally inculcated among ourselves. When off -his guard, the wild Indian betrays great inquisitiveness, and when -relaxing over the camp-fire after a laborious day gives free play to -mirth and loquacity. - -So far, however, much that has been said applies to the mixed population -of the Red River Settlement, living on a perfect equality with the white -settlers, and constituting an integral part of the colony. They are -neither to be confounded with the remarkable tribe of half-breed -hunters, nor with the Indians of mixed blood already described, on older -Canadian reserves. Remote as this settlement has hitherto been from -ordinary centres of colonisation, and inaccessible except through the -agency of the Hudson Bay Company, every tendency has been to encourage -the introduction of the young adventurer, trapper, or _voyageur_, rather -than the married settler. The habits of life incident to the fur trade -made the distinction less marked between the Indian and the white man; -and thus a people of peculiar type grew up there as intermediate in -habits and mode of life as in blood from those of the old settled -provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. Much property is now possessed by -men of mixed blood. Their young men have in some cases been sent to the -colleges of Canada, and, after creditably distinguishing themselves, -have returned to lend their aid in the progress of the settlement. Thus -a favourable concurrence of circumstances in all respects tended to give -ample opportunity for testing the experiment of intermingling the blood -of Europe and America, and raising up a civilised race peculiar to its -soil. With the rapid influx of emigrants; the settling of the prairie -lands with a population of yeomen farmers; and the rise of villages and -towns along the railways and river highways; the ultimate absorption of -this half-breed population, and its merging into the homogeneous -community that will ultimately be fashioned out of a meeting of very -diverse settlers, is inevitable. Icelanders and Danes, Germans, -Russians, Italians, French, Highland crofters, and Irish Celts, are all -being interfused into the new community of which the half-breed element -will form no unimportant factor. - -But a greater interest attaches to that other class of half-breeds -already alluded to, which the new order of things has inevitably tended -to efface, though not necessarily to eradicate, as an element in the -population of the future province. Besides the civilised race of -half-breeds, mingling on a perfect equality with the Whites; brought up -in many cases in full enjoyment of such domestic training as the Hudson -Bay factor and hunter could furnish in the wilderness; there remained -apart from them a half-breed race, the offspring born to native women as -the inevitable results of such a social condition as pertains to the -occupants of the forts and trading-posts of that remote region. These -half-breed buffalo hunters were wholly distinct from the civilised -settlers, and yet more nearly related to them than to the wild Indian -tribes. They belonged to the settlement, possessed land, and cultivated -farms, though their agricultural labours were very much subordinated to -the claims of the chase, and they scarcely aimed at more than supplying -their own wants. The two bands numbered in all between 6000 and 7000. -Each division had its separate tribal organisation and distinct -hunting-grounds, extending beyond the British American frontier. In 1849 -the White Horse plain half-breeds on the Strayenne river, Dakota -territory, rendered the following returns to an officer appointed to -take the census: “700 half-breeds, 200 Indians, 603 carts, 600 horses, -200 oxen, 400 dogs, and 1 cat.” This may illustrate the general -character of a people partaking of the nomad habits of the Indian, and -yet possessed of a considerable amount of movable property and real -estate. They are a hardy race, fearless horsemen, and capable of -enduring the greatest privations. They have adopted the Roman Catholic -faith, and specially coveted the presence of a priest with them when on -their hunting expeditions. The mass was celebrated on the open prairie, -and was prized as a guarantee of success in the hunting-field. On such -expeditions, it has to be borne in view, they were not tempted by mere -love of the chase or by the prospect of a supply of game. Winter-hunting -supplies to the trapper the valued peltries of the fur-bearing animals; -but they depended on the summer and autumn buffalo hunts for the supply -of pemmican, which furnished one of the main resources of the whole -Hudson Bay population. The summer hunt kept them abroad on the prairie -from about the 15th of June to the end of August, and smaller bands -resumed the hunt in the autumn. With this as the favourite and -engrossing work of the tribe, it is inevitable that farming could be -carried on only in the most desultory fashion. Nevertheless, the -severity of the winter compelled them to make provision for the numerous -horses and oxen on which the summer hunt depended; and thus habits of -industry and forethought were engendered. - -The half-breed hunters regarded the Sioux and Blackfeet as their natural -enemies, and carried on warfare with them much after the fashion of the -Indian tribes that have acquired fire-arms and horses; but they gave -proof of their “Christian” civilisation by taking no scalps. In the -field, whether preparing for hunting or war, the superiority of the -half-breeds was strikingly apparent. They then evinced a discipline, -courage, and self-control, of which the wild Sioux, Crees, or Blackfeet -are wholly incapable; and they accordingly looked with undisguised -contempt on their Indian foes. - -Such are some of the most noticeable characteristics of this interesting -race, called into being by the contact of the European with the native -tribes of the forest and prairie. With so many of the elements of -civilisation which it is found so hard to introduce among the most -intelligent native tribes, an aptitude for social organisation, and a -thorough independence of all external superintendence or control, there -seems no reason to doubt that here is an example of an intermediate -race, combining characteristics derived from two extremely diverse types -of man, with all apparent promise of perpetuity and increase, if they -could have been secured in the exclusive occupation of the region in -which they have originated. But the railway has traversed the trail of -the buffalo; and they have been compelled to make their choice between -conformity to the industrial habits of agricultural settlers, or follow -the herds of the buffalo in search of some remote wilderness beyond the -shriek of the locomotive and the hail of the pioneer immigrant. - -The inevitable revolution was not permitted to be inaugurated without -very practical protest. The Red River Expedition of Sir Garnet Wolseley -in 1870 was directed to put down a revolt of the half-breeds, under -their leader, Louis Riel, resolute to oppose the intrusion of immigrant -settlers. The struggle was renewed in 1885 under the same leader, but -with the more legitimate grievance of neglected land claims, and the -assertion of their rights to property in the prairie lands and on the -river fronts. They were encountered by a Canadian volunteer force; -Batoche, their little urban stronghold, was captured; and the North-West -rebellion was brought to an end. But it was freely acknowledged that, -poorly armed and ill-provided with the indispensable requisites for -meeting a well-organised force of militia, under an experienced British -soldier, General Middleton, they displayed unflinching courage, and held -out bravely against overwhelming numbers furnished with the deadly -appliances of modern warfare. - -It could not be supposed that the invasion of the western hemisphere by -the wanderers from the later homes of the Aryans beyond the Atlantic -could reproduce in all respects the old phenomena that marked the -displacement of Europe’s prehistoric races. But making due allowance for -the changes wrought on the Aryan stock by the civilising influences of -twenty centuries or more; and the consequent disparity between them and -the rude hunter tribes of the American forests and prairies; much -remains to aid us in the interpretation of the past. Ethnological -investigation and induction enable us to realise the condition of Europe -when its thinly-dispersed population consisted of a dark-skinned race, -small in stature, and, as we may conceive, with hair and eyes of -corresponding hue. Sepulchral deposits and the chance disclosures in -their old cave-shelters have made us familiar with their physical form. -Their modern representatives survive on the outskirts of Europe’s -civilised centres. Still more, their ethnical characteristics have been -perpetuated by the very same process as may now be seen in progress in -the frontier states of America and the newest provinces of the Canadian -Dominion. Not only are the modern representatives of Europe’s Allophyliæ -to be found among the Lapps, Finns, and the Iberians of Northern and -Western Europe; but everywhere in the British Isles, and throughout -Western Europe, the Melanochroic elements stand out distinctly from the -predominant Xanthocroic stock, among a people unconscious of any -diversity of race. Here then we see evidences of the intermingling and -the partial absorption of the Australioid savage of prehistoric Europe -by the later Xanthocroi, the product of which survives in the brunette -of Britain, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. In Britain the -contrasting characteristics of the diverse ethnical elements attracted -the attention of Tacitus in the first century of our era. In Spain the -Iberian still preserves the evidence of an individuality apart from the -Indo-European races in the vernacular Euskara, while a large Moorish -element in the southern portion of the peninsula perpetuates the results -of another foreign intrusion and interblending of races within historic -times. - -The diversity apparent in some of the results of the meeting of -dissimilar races in the Old World and the New, is due to the -geographical characteristics of the two hemispheres. Alike by sea and -land, Europe could be entered by invading colonists, gradually, and at -many diverse points. Hence, the aggression of the higher races may be -assumed to have begun while the difference between them and the -aborigines of Europe was much less than that which distinguishes the -European from the Bed Indian savage. The conquest would thus be -protracted over a period probably of many generations, and so would -involve no such collisions as inevitably result in the destruction of -savage races when brought into abrupt contact with those far advanced in -civilisation. - -But the peculiar relations of the frontier populations of the New World, -and especially of the factors, trappers, and _voyageurs_ of the Hudson -Bay Company, with the native tribes, helped to create a partial equality -between the civilised European and the savage, and so to beget results -akin to those which have left such enduring evidences of the mingling of -diverse races in the population of Europe. - -This accordingly suggests a question affecting the whole relations of -British and European colonists generally to the native population of new -lands settled and colonised by them. Not only English, Scotch, and -Irish, but German, Norwegian, Icelandic, French, Polish, Russian, and -Italian emigrants flock in thousands to the New World, merge in the -common stock, and in the third generation learn to speak of themselves -as “Anglo-Saxon!” The investigations of ethnologists have well-nigh put -an end to the supposed purity of an Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Scandinavian -population in all but the assumed purely Celtic areas of the British -Islands; and the latest system of ethnical classification is based on -the recognition of the survival in the mixed population of modern -Britain of a race-element which still perpetuates an enduring influence -derived from aborigines of Europe anterior to the advent of Celt or -Teuton. The power of absorption and assimilation of a predominant race -is great; and ethnological displacement is no more necessarily a process -of extinction now than in primitive times; though intermixture must ever -be most easily effected where the ethnical distinctions are least -strongly marked, and the conditions of civilisation are nearly akin. - -The permanent survival of a disparate type in America perpetuating the -evidences of the interblending of the Red and White races may be -doubted. That some ineffaceable results will remain I cannot doubt; but -the enormous disparity in numbers between the millions of European -nationalities, and the little remnant of the native race brought in -contact with them, precludes the possibility of results such as have -perpetuated in the modern races of Europe elements derived from some of -its earliest savage tribes. - -It has indeed been such a favourite idea with some physiologists that in -the undoubted developments of something like a distinct Anglo-American -type, there is a certain approximation to the Indian, that Dr. -Carpenter, in his _Essay on the Varieties of Mankind_, lays claim to -originality in the idea “that the conformation of the cranium seems to -have undergone a certain amount of alteration, even in the Anglo-Saxon -race of the United States, which assimilates it in some degree to that -of the aboriginal inhabitants.” This he dwells on in some detail, and -arrives at what he seems to regard as an indisputable conclusion, that -the peculiar American physiognomy to which he adverts presents a -transition, however slight, toward that of the North American Indian. -But the long-cherished opinion, to which Dr. Morton gave currency, of -the existence of one special type of skull-form common to the whole -aborigines of America, has been abandoned by all who have given any -attention to the evidence which Dr. Morton’s own _Crania Americana_ -supplies. I doubt if the idea of such an approximation of the -Anglo-American to the Red Indian type would ever have occurred to a -physiologist of Canada or of New England, to whom abundant opportunities -for comparing the Indian and Anglo-American features, and of noting the -actual transitional forms between the two, are accessible. But if such -examples can be clearly recognised, they may be assigned with -probability to a reverting to the type of some Bed ancestress whose -blood is transmitted to a late descendant. - -But it is otherwise with the millions of the Coloured race who now -constitute the indigenous population of the Southern States. They are at -home there in a climate to which the White race adapts itself with very -partial success. The offspring of white fathers and of mothers of the -African races, they have multiplied to millions; and now with the -recently acquired rights of citizenship, and with the advantages of -education within their reach, the country is their own. The very social -prejudices against miscegenation protect them from the effacing -influences to which the Indian half-breed is exposed by ever recurrent -intermarriage with the dominant race. As yet, there are discernible the -various degrees of heredity from the Mulatto to the Quinteron. But the -abolishing of slavery has placed the Coloured race on an entirely new -footing; and left as it now is, free to enjoy the healthful social -relations of a civilised community, and protected by the very prejudices -of race and caste from any large intermixture with the White race, it -can scarcely admit of doubt that there will survive on the American -continent a Melanocroi of its own, more distinctly separated from the -White race, not only by heredity, but also by climatic influences, than -the “dark Whites” of Europe are from the blonde types of Hellenic, -Slavic, Teutonic, or Scandinavian stocks. - ------ - -[148] _Reisen in Lykien_, etc., Vienna, 1889. - -[149] Vide _History of the Negro Race in America_. G. W. Williams. - -[150] _Science_, Feb. 13, 1891. A. F. Chamberlain. - -[151] See p. 290. - - - - - VIII - RELATIVE RACIAL BRAIN-WEIGHT AND SIZE - - -CONSISTENTLY with the recognition of the brain as the organ of -intellectual activity, it seems not unnatural to assume for man, as the -rational animal, a very distinctive cerebral development. One of the -most distinguished of living naturalists, Professor Owen, has even made -this organ the basis of a system of classification, by means of which he -separates man into a sub-class, distinct from all other mammalia. But -while a comparison between man and the anthropoid apes, as the animals -most nearly approximating to him in physical structure, lends -confirmation to the idea not only that a well-developed brain is -essential to natural activity, but that there is a close relation -between the development of the brain and the manifestation of -intellectual power; the distinctive features in the human brain, as -compared with those of the anthropomorpha, prove to be greatly less than -had been assumed under imperfect knowledge. The substantial difference -is in volume. “No one, I presume,” says Darwin, “doubts that the large -size of the brain in man, relatively to his body, in comparison to that -of the gorilla or orang, is closely connected with his higher mental -powers”;[152] and it might not unfairly be reasoned from analogy, that -the same test distinguishes the intellectual man from the stolid, and -the civilised man from the savage. A careful study of the subject, -however, shows some remarkable deviations from such a scale of -progression. Attention is indeed directed to greatly more ample proofs -of inequality between the organic source of power and the manifestations -of mental energy; as, for example, in the ant, with its cerebral ganglia -not so large as the quarter of a small pin’s head, displaying instincts -and apparent affections of wonderful intensity and compass. Viewed in -this aspect, “the brain of an ant is one of the most marvellous atoms of -matter in the world, perhaps more marvellous than the brain of man.” -Here, however, we look on elements of contrast rather than analogy; and -seek in vain in this direction for any appreciable test of the soundness -of the popular belief in the size of the brain as a measure of -intellectual power. It is otherwise when we turn to the anthropomorpha. -There, alike in the scientific and in the popular creed, very special -and exceptional affinities to man are admitted; and a careful study of -their anatomical structure tends to increase the recognised points of -analogy. - -Mr. Lockhart Clarke, in a contribution to Dr. Maudsley’s work on the -Physiology and Pathology of Mind, gives a minute description of the -concentric layers of nervous substance which combine to form the -convolutions of the human brain; and of the forms and disposition of the -various nerve-cells of which its vesicular structure consists. Comparing -the human brain with those of other animals, he says: “Between the cells -of the convolutions in man and those of the ape tribe I could not -perceive any difference whatever; but they certainly differ in some -respects from those of the larger mammalia: from those, for instance, of -the ox, sheep, or cat.”[153] Apart from the difference in volume (55 to -115 cubic inches), the only distinctive features, according to Professor -Huxley, between the brain of the anthropomorpha and that of man, are -“the filling up of the occipito-temporal fissure; the greater complexity -and less symmetry of the other sulci and gyri; the less excavation of -the orbital face of the frontal lobe; and the larger size of the -cerebral hemispheres, as compared with the cerebellum and the cerebral -nerves.” - -The brain of the orang is the one which seems most nearly to approximate -to that of man. In volume it is about 26 or 27 cubic inches; or about -half the minimum size of a normal human brain. The frontal height is -greater than in that of other anthropomorpha; the frontal lobe is in all -respects larger as compared with the occipital lobe; and certain folds -of brain-substance, styled “bridging convulsions,” which in the human -brain are interposed between the parietal and occipital lobes, also -occur, though greatly reduced, in the brain of the orang; while they -appear to be wholly wanting in the chimpanzee, the gibbon, and other -apes which superficially present a greater resemblance to man. Referring -to the convolutions of the central cerebral lobe, Huschke says: “With -their formation in the ape, the brain enters the last stage of -development until it arrives at its perfection in man”; and the higher -class of brains may be arranged between the extremes of poorly and -richly convoluted examples. - -But it must not be overlooked that, apart from structural differences, -relative, and not absolute mass and weight of brain has to be -considered, otherwise the elephant and the whale would take the foremost -place. “The brain of the porpoise,” Professor Huxley remarks,[154] “is -quite wonderful for its mass, and for the development of the cerebral -convolutions”; but it is the centre of a nervous system of corresponding -capacity, while as compared with the size of the animal, the brain is -not relatively large. Vogt states the weight of the human body to be to -the brain, on an average, as 36 to 1; whereas in the most intelligent -animals the difference is rarely less than 100 to 1. - -Assuming the existence of some uniform relation between the size of the -brain and the development of the intellectual faculties, along with -whatever is recognised as most closely analogous to them in the lower -animals, it might be anticipated that we should find not only a -graduated development of brain in the anthropomorpha as they approximate -in resemblance to man; but, still more, that the progressive stages from -the lowest savage condition to that of the most civilised nations should -be traceable in a comparative size and weight of brain. Dr. Carl Vogt, -after discussing certain minor and doubtful exceptions, thus proceeds: -“We find that there is an almost regular series in the cranial capacity -of such nations and races as, since historic times, have taken no part -in civilisation. Australians, Hottentots, and Polynesians, nations in -the lowest state of barbarism, commence the series; and no one can deny -that the place they occupy in relation to cranial capacity and cerebral -weight corresponds with the degree of their intellectual capacity and -civilisation.”[155] But the position thus confidently assigned to the -Polynesians receives no confirmation from the evidence supplied by the -measurements of Dr. J. B. Davis, in his _Thesaurus Craniorum_; and a -careful study of the subject reveals other remarkable deviations from -such a scale of progression, not only in individuals but in races. To -these exceptional deviations, with their bearing on the comparative -capacity of races, the following remarks are chiefly directed. The -largest and heaviest brains do indeed appear, for the most part, to -pertain to the nations highest in civilisation, and to the most -intelligent of their number. But this cannot be asserted as a uniform -law, either in relation to races or individuals. The more carefully the -requisite evidence is accumulated, the less does it appear that the -volume of brain, or the cubic contents of the skull, supply a uniform -gauge of intellectual capacity. In the researches which have thus far -been instituted into the characteristics of the human brain among the -lowest races, the development is in many respects remarkable; and, as -was to be expected, no organic differences between diverse races of men -have been traced. - -Professor C. Luigi Calori has published the results of a careful -examination of the brain of a negro of Guinea. It presented the marked -excess of length over breadth so characteristic of the negro cranium; -but in other respects it corresponded generally to the fully developed -European brain. The distribution of the white and gray substances was -the same; the cerebral convolutions were collected into an equal number -of lobes; and the only special difference was that the convolutions were -a little less frequently folded, and the separating sulci somewhat less -marked than in the average European brain. But even in those respects -the complication was great. The actual weight of the brain, according to -Professor Calori, was 1260 grammes, equivalent to 44.4 cubic inches. The -complexity of convolution, and consequent extension of superficies of -the encephalon, appears to be an essential element in the development of -the brain as the organ of highest mental capacity; and to the cerebrum, -apparently, the true functions of intellectual activity pertain. -Professor Wagner undertook the measurement of the convex surface of the -frontal lobe in a series of brains. The heaviest, as a rule, had also -the greatest development of surface. But the two elements were not in -uniform ratio. Some of the lighter brains presented a much greater -degree of convolution and consequent extent of convex superficies than -others which ranked above them in weight. It is thus apparent that in -estimating the comparative characteristics of brains, various elements -are necessary for an exhaustive comparison. Besides the functional -differences of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and pons varolii, they have -different specific gravities, so that brains of equal weight may differ -widely in quality. Dr. Peacock, taking distilled water as 1000, gives -the values of the subdivisions of the brain thus: cerebrum, 1034; -cerebellum, 1041; pons varolii, 1040. Again, Dr. Sankey states the mean -specific gravity of the gray matter of the brain in either sex as -1034.6, and of the white matter as 1041.2. The variations from these -results, as given by Bastian, Thurnam, and others, are trifling. But it -is significant to note that recent researches show that where greater -specific gravity of brain occurs in the insane, it appears to be limited -to the gray matter.[156] Professor Goodsir maintained that symmetry of -brain has more to do with the higher faculties than bulk of form. It is, -at any rate, apparent that two brains of equal weight may differ widely -in quality. - -Nevertheless, the popular estimate embodied in such expressions as “a -good head,” “a long-headed fellow,” and “a poor head,” like many other -popular inductions, has truth for its basis. Up to a certain stage the -growth of the brain determines the capacity of the skull. Then it seems -as though more complex convolutions accompanied the packing of the -elaborated cerebral mass within the fixed limits of its osseous chamber. - -A comparison of races, based on minute investigation of an adequate -number of brains of fair typical examples, may be expected to yield -important results; but in the absence of such direct evidence, the chief -data available for this purpose are derived from measurements of the -internal capacity of their skulls. Among English observers who have -devoted themselves to this class of observations, the foremost place is -due to Dr. J. Barnard Davis, who, in 1867, summed up the results of his -extensive researches in a contribution to the Royal Society, entitled -“Contributions towards determining the Weight of the Brain in different -Races of Man.”[157] Inferior as such evidence must necessarily be, if -compared with the examination of the brain itself, nevertheless the -number of skulls of the different races gauged unquestionably furnishes -some highly valuable data for ethnical comparison. The evidence, -moreover, is obtained from a source in some respects less variable than -the encephalon; and will always constitute a corrective element in -estimating results based on direct examinations of the brain. Dr. Davis, -indeed, claims “that the examination of a large series of skulls in -ascertaining their capacities and deducing from those capacities the -average volume of the brain, affords in some respects more available -data for determining this relative volume for any particular race than -the weighing of the brain itself.” The defect is, that its most -important results are necessarily based on the assumption of a uniform -density of brain; whereas some notable ethnical differences, hereafter -referred to, may prove to be due to the fact that certain races derive -their special characteristics from a prevailing diversity in this very -respect. - -But the extensive observations of Dr. Davis, as of Dr. Morton, have a -special value from the fact that each furnishes results based on a -uniform system of observation; for the diverse methods and materials -employed by different observers in gauging the human skull have greatly -detracted from their practical value. In a communication by the late -Professor Jeffreys Wyman to the Boston Natural History Society,[158] he -presented the results of a series of measurements of the internal -capacity of the same skull with pease, beans, rice, flax-seed, shot, and -coarse and fine sand. From repeated experiments he arrived at the -conclusion that the apparent capacity varied according to the different -substances used, so that the same skull measured respectively, with -pease 1193 centimetres, with shot 1201.8, with rice 1220.2, and with -fine sand 1313 centimetres. Professor Wyman was led to the conclusion -that, for exactness, small shot, as employed latterly by Dr. Morton, is -preferable to sand, were it not for its weight, which, in the case of -old and fragile skulls, is apt to be destructive to them. With a view to -avoid the latter evil, Dr. J. B. Davis has used fine Calais sand of -1.425 specific gravity. The diversity in apparent volume, consequent on -the employment of different substances in gauging the internal capacity -of the skull, necessarily detracts from the value of comparative results -of Morton, Davis, and others. But the elaborate measurements of their -great collections of human crania furnish reliable series of data, each -uniform in system, and sufficiently minute to satisfy many requirements -of comparative craniometry and approximate cerebral development. - -Without assuming an invariable correspondence in cubical capacity and -brain-weight, there is a sufficient approximation in the cubical -capacity of the skull and the average weight of the encephalon to render -the deductions derived from gauging the capacities of skulls of -different races an important addition to this department of comparative -ethnology. For minute cerebral comparisons, however, it is apparent that -much more is required; and the special functions assigned to the various -organs within the cranium have to be kept in view. Of these the medulla -oblongata, in direct contact with the spinal cord, is now recognised as -the centre of the vital actions in breathing and swallowing; and is -believed also to be the direct source of the muscular action employed in -speech. Next to it are the sensory ganglia, arranged in pairs along the -base of the brain. To the cerebellum, which the phrenologist sets apart -as the source of the emotions and passions embraced in his terminology -of amativeness, philoprogenitiveness, etc., physiologists now assign the -function of conveying to the mind the conditions of tension and -relaxation of the muscles, and so controlling their voluntary action. -But above all those is the cerebrum, or brain-proper, consisting of two -large lobes of nervous substance, which in man are so large that, when -viewed vertically, they cover and conceal the cerebellum. To this organ -is specially assigned emotion, volition, and ratiocination. It is the -assumed seat of the mind; and, in a truer sense than the skull— - - The dome of thought, the palace of the soul; - -if indeed it be not, to one class of reasoners, the mind itself. Certain -it is that no acute disease can affect it without a corresponding -disorder of the functions of mind; and with this organ much below the -average size, intellectual weakness may always be predicated. But at the -same time, it is significant to note that the human brain, stinted in -its full proportions, and reduced to a seeming equality with the -anthropomorpha, exhibits no corresponding capacities or instincts in -lieu of the higher mental qualities. Microcephaly is the invariable -index, not of mere limited intelligence and mental capacity, but of -actual mental imbecility. If the augmentation of the brain of the -anthropomorpha from 55 to 115 cubic inches be all that is requisite for -the transformation of the irrational ape into the reasoning man, it -would seem to be in no degree illogical to look for the accompaniment of -the inversion of the process by an approximation, in some instances, to -certain capacities and functions of the ape. But there are no -indications of this. In some examples of microcephaly, the so-called -animal propensities do indeed manifest themselves to excess; but there -is no reproduction of the animal nature, instincts, or capacities, -analogous to the scale of cerebral development of the orang or -chimpanzee. A microcephalous idiot, who died at the age of twenty-two, -in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, had a brain weighing only 13.125 -oz., or 372 grammes. In describing this case, Professor Owen remarks: -“Here nature may be said to have performed for us the experiment of -arresting the development of the brain almost exactly at the size which -it attains in the chimpanzee, and where the intellectual faculties were -scarcely more developed. Yet no anatomist would hesitate in at once -referring the cranium to the human species.” And so is it with the -encephalon. The brain of the chimpanzee is a healthy, well-developed -organ, adequate to the amplest requirements of the animal; whereas the -microcephalous human brain is inadequate for any efficient, continuous -cerebral activity: not merely limited in its range of powers. Much, -however, may yet be learned from a careful attention to the imperfect -manifestations of activity in certain directions, in cases of -microcephalic idiocy, and noting the predominant tendency in each case, -with a view to subsequent examination of the brain. By this means it may -be found possible to refer certain forms of mental activity to special -variations in the structure of the organ, or to distinct members of the -encephalon. - -Dr. Laennec exhibited to the Anthropological Society of Paris a -microcephalous idiot of the male sex, aged fourteen years. “This child -is entirely unconscious of his own actions, and his intellectual -operations are very few in number, and very rudimentary. His language -consists of two syllables, _oui_ and _la_, and he takes an evident -pleasure in pronouncing them. He takes no heed in what direction he -walks. He would step off a precipice, or into a fire.” Attention was -specially directed to the idiot’s hands: “The thumbs are atrophied, and -cannot be opposed to the other fingers. The palms of the hands have the -transverse creases, but not the diagonal—the result of the atrophy of -the thumbs. Hence the hand resembles that of the chimpanzee. The -dentition too is defective. Though fourteen years of age, the child has -only twelve teeth.” Here it is curious to note the analogies in physical -structure to the lower anthropomorpha in other organs besides the brain, -for it only renders more striking the absence of any corresponding -aptitudes. - -Dr. J. Barnard Davis, in his interesting monograph on _Synostotic Crania -among Aboriginal Races of Man_, produces some remarkable illustrations -of the effect of premature ossification of the sutures of the skull in -arresting the full development of the brain, and so rendering it unequal -to the due performance of its functions. “I have,” he says, “the cranium -of a convict who was executed on Norfolk Island, which I owe to the -kindness of Admiral H. M. Denham. This man was executed there when that -beautiful isle was appropriated to the reception of the most dangerous -and irreclaimable convicts from the other penal settlements. It is a -microcephalic skull, rather dolichocephalic, of a man apparently about -forty years of age. It exhibits a perfect ossification of the sagittal -and of the greater portion of the lambdoidal sutures. The coronal suture -is partially obliterated at the sides in the temporal regions, and can -only be distinguished by faint traces in all its middle parts. In this -case there has not been any compensatory development of moment in other -directions. The calvarium is not abridged in its length, which is 7.1 -inches, equal to 179 millimetres; probably it is a little elongated. It -is, however, very narrow being only 4.8 inches, or 122 mm. at its widest -part, between the temporal bones. So that the result is a very small, -dwarfed, almost cylindrical calvarium. The internal capacity is only 59 -ounces of sand,[159] which is equal to 71.4 cubic inches, or 1169 cubic -centimetres.” Here is a skull considerably below the lowest mean of the -crania of any race in Morton’s enlarged tables, or in the more -comprehensive ones furnished in Dr. Davis’s _Thesaurus Craniorum_. -Another skull nearly approximating to it is that of a Cole, one of the -savage tribes of Nagpore, in Central India, who are said to go entirely -naked. It is described in the supplement to the _Thesaurus Craniorum_ as -that of “Chara,” a Cole farmer, aged fifty, and its internal capacity is -stated as 59.5 oz. av., equivalent to 71.7 cubic inches. The Coles -appear to be small of stature. The heights of three of them, whose -skulls are in the same collection, were respectively 5 ft. 5 in., 5 ft. -2 in., and 5 ft., and the average internal capacity of five male skulls -is only 66.6. The small stature in this and others of the native races -of Central India, has to be taken into account in estimating the -relative size of the brain. But, after making all due allowance for -this, the Cole skulls are remarkable for their small size, being smaller -even than the ordinary Hindoos of Bengal. Yet one of them, “Cootlo,” -whose skull is among those included in the above mean, commanded a band -of insurgents in the Porahant rebellion of 1858, and made himself a -terror to the district. - -The microcephalism of races, as well as of individuals, of small -stature, must not be confounded with the true microcephaly of a dwarfed -or imperfectly developed brain, which is invariably accompanied with -mental imbecility. The Mincopies of the Andaman Islands are spoken of by -Professor Owen as “perhaps the most primitive, or lowest in the scale of -civilisation, of the human race.”[160] Mr. G. E. Dobson, in describing -his first visit to one of their “homes,” says: “Although none of the -tribe exceeded 64 inches in height, so that on first seeing them we -thought the shed contained none but boys and girls, I was especially -struck by the remarkable contrast between the size of the males and -females.”[161] Dr. J. B. Davis has given, in the supplement to -_Thesaurus Craniorum_, the dimensions of a male Mincopie skeleton in his -collection. The age he assumes to have been about thirty-five. The -internal capacity of the skull is 62 oz. (Calais sand), equivalent to -75.5 cubic inches, and the entire height of the skeleton is 58.7 inches. -It belongs, says Dr. Davis, to a pigmy race, is small in all its -dimensions, and is particularly small in the dimensions of the pelvis. -Of their skulls, moreover, he adds, “it is somewhat difficult to -determine the sex with confidence. They are all small (but this is a -character of the race), they are delicate in development, and they have -that fulness of the occipital region, and smallness of the mastoid -processes, which are marks of femininism.” - -Mr. Alfred R. Wallace connects the Mincopies with the Negritos and -Semangs of the Malay peninsula, a dark woolly-haired race, dwarfs in -stature. Dr. Davis says of the six Mincopie skulls in his collection, -four male and two female, as well as of others which he has seen: “They -are all remarkably and strikingly alike, not merely in size but in form -also. They are all small, round, brachycephalic crania of beautiful -form.” Moreover, though classed as “lowest in the scale of -civilisation,” the Mincopies betray no deficiency of intellect. The -admirable photographs which illustrate Mr. Dobson’s narrative show in -the majority of them good frontal development. The brain is not, indeed, -relatively small. Their canoes are made of the trunk of a tree, hollowed -out; and Mr. Dobson remarks: “The construction of their peculiar arrows -and fish-spears with movable heads exhibits much ingenuity, and the use -of no small reasoning power in adapting means to an end.” - -We are indeed too apt to apply our own artificial standards as the sole -test of intellectual vigour; whereas it is probable that in the amount -of acquired knowledge and acuteness of reasoning many savage races -surpass the majority of the illiterate peasantry in the most civilised -countries of Europe. Mr. Wallace, in viewing the subject in one special -light, remarks: “The brain of the lowest savages, and, as far as we yet -know, of the prehistoric races, is little inferior in size to that of -the higher types of man, and is immensely superior to that of the higher -animals; while it is universally admitted that quantity of brain is one -of the most important, and probably the most essential of the elements -which determine mental power. Yet the mental requirements of savages, -and the faculties actually exercised by them, are very little above -those of animals. The higher feelings of pure morality and refined -emotion, and the power of abstract reasoning and ideal conception, are -useless to them; are rarely, if ever, manifested; and have no important -relations to their habits, wants, desires, and well-being. They possess -a mental organ beyond their needs.”[162] - -Here, however, it may be well to guard against the confusion of two very -distinct elements. The higher feelings of pure morality and refined -emotion are not manifestations of intellectual vigour in the same sense -as is the power of abstract reasoning and ideal conception. It is not -rare to find an English or Scottish peasant with little intellectual -culture or capacity for abstract reasoning, but with an acutely -instinctive moral sense. On the other hand, among the criminal class, it -is by no means rare to find examples of wonderfully vigorous -intellectual power applied to the planning and accomplishing of schemes -which involve as much foresight and skill as many a triumph of -diplomacy; but which at the same time seem to be nearly incompatible -with any moral sense. Moreover, it is needless to say that intellectual -vigour and high moral principle are by no means invariable concomitants -in any class of society; nor can they be traced to a common source. Mr. -Wallace recognises that “a superior intelligence has guided the -development of man in a definite direction, and for a special purpose”; -and such guidance involves much more than the mere evolution of a higher -animal organisation. But, appreciating as he does the difficulties -involved in any acceptance of a theory of evolution which assumes man to -be the mere latest outgrowth of a development from lower forms of animal -life, Mr. Wallace points out that “natural selection could only have -endowed savage man with a brain a little superior to that of an ape, -whereas he actually possesses one very little inferior to that of a -philosopher.” - -Yet neither Mr. Wallace, nor Professor Huxley when controverting this -argument, withholds a due recognition of the activity of the intellect -of the savage. No one indeed can have much intercourse with savage races -wholly dependent on their own resources without recognising that, within -a certain range, their faculties are kept in constant activity. The -savage hunter has not merely an intimate familiarity with all the -capabilities and resources of many regions traversed by him in pursuit -of his game; his geographical information includes much useful knowledge -of the topography of ranges of country which he has never visited. I -found, on one occasion, when exploring the Nepigon River, on Lake -Superior, that my Chippeway guides, though fully 500 miles from their -own country, and visiting the region for the first time, were -nevertheless on the lookout for a metamorphic rock underlying the -syenite which abounds there; and they made their way by well-recognised -land-marks to this favourite “pipestone rock.” While moreover the -Indian, like other savages, is devoid of much of what we style “useful -knowledge,” but which would be very useless to him, he is fully informed -on many subjects embraced within the range of the natural sciences; and -has a very practical knowledge of meteorology, zoology, botany, and much -else which constitutes useful knowledge to him. He is familiar with the -habits of animals, and the medicinal virtues of many plants; will find -his way through the forest by noting the special side of the trunks on -which certain lichens grow; and follow the tracks of his game, or -discover the nests of birds, by indications which would escape the most -observant naturalist. The Australian savage, stimulated apparently to an -unwonted ingenuity by the privations of an arid climate, is the inventor -of two wonderfully ingenious implements, the _wommera_ or throwing -stick, and the _bomerang_, which, when employed by the native expert, -accomplish feats entirely beyond any efforts of European skill. -Moreover, as Professor Huxley remarks, he “can make excellent baskets -and nets, and neatly fitted and beautifully balanced spears; he learns -to use these so as to be able to transfix a quartern loaf at sixty -yards; and very often, as in the case of the American Indians, the -language of a savage exhibits complexities which a well-trained European -finds it difficult to master.” Again he goes on to say: “Consider that -every time a savage tracks his game he employs a minuteness of -observation, and an accuracy of inductive and deductive reasoning which, -applied to other matters, would assure some reputation to a man of -science, and I think we need ask no further why he possesses such a fair -supply of brains. In complexity and difficulty, I should say that the -intellectual labour of a good hunter or warrior considerably exceeds -that of an ordinary Englishman.” Hence Professor Huxley is not prepared -to admit that the American or Australian savage possesses in his brain a -mental organ which he fails to turn to full account. But without -entering on the questions of evolution and natural selection in all -their comprehensive bearings, it is still apparent that the brain of the -savage is an instrument of great capacity, employed within narrow -limits. - -In estimating the comparative size of the brain, it is seen to be -necessary to discriminate between individuals or races of small stature -and cases of true microcephaly. On the other hand, it is not to be -overlooked that examples of idiocy are not rare where the head is of a -fair average size, and where the mental imbecility is regarded as -congenital. But in this as in other researches of the physiologist, he -is limited in his observations mainly to the chance opportunities which -offer for study; and not unfrequently the prejudices of affection arrest -the hand of the student, and prevent a _post-mortem_ examination in -cases where science has much to hope for from freedom of investigation. -Hence the data thus far accumulated in evidence of the actual structure, -size, and weight, of the human brain fall far short of what is requisite -for a solution of many questions in reference to the relations between -cerebration and mental activity. From time to time men of science have -sought by example, as well as by precept, to lessen such impediments to -scientific research. Dr. Dalton left instructions for a _post-mortem_ -examination in order to test the peculiarity of his vision, which he had -assumed to be due to a colouring of the vitreous humour; Jeremy Bentham -bequeathed his body to his friend Dr. Southwood Smith, for the purposes -of anatomical science; and the will of Harriet Martineau contained this -provision: “It is my desire, from an interest in the progress of -scientific investigation, that my skull should be given to Henry George -Atkinson, of Upper Gloucester Place, London, and also my brain, if my -death should take place within such distance of his then present abode -as to enable him to have it for purposes of scientific investigation.” -The will is dated March 10, 1864; but by a codicil, dated October 5, -1871, this direction is revoked, with the explanation which follows in -these words: “I wish to leave it on record that this alteration in my -testamentary directions is not caused by any change of opinion as to the -importance of scientific observation on such subjects, but is made in -consequence merely of a change of circumstances in my individual case.” -The natural repugnance of surviving relatives to any mutilation of the -body must always tend to throw impediments in the way of such -researches; though it may be anticipated that, with the increasing -diffusion of knowledge, such obstacles to its pursuit will be -diminished. Thus far, however, notwithstanding the persevering labours -of Welcker, Bergmann, Parchappe, Broca, Boyd, Skae, Owen, Thurnam, and -other physiologists, their observations have been necessarily limited -almost exclusively to certain exceptional sources of evidence, embracing -to a large extent only the pauper and the insane classes; and in the -case of the latter especially, the functional disorder or chronic -disease of the organ under consideration renders it peculiarly desirable -that such results should be brought, as far as possible, into comparison -with a corresponding number of observations on healthy brains of a class -fairly representing the social and intellectual status of a civilised -community. - -The average brain-weight of the human adult, as determined by a numerous -series of observations, ranges for man from 40 oz. to 52½ oz., and for -woman from 35 oz. to 47½ oz. But some indications among ancient crania -tend to suggest a doubt as to whether this difference in cerebral -capacity was a uniformly marked sexual distinction among early races; -due allowance being made for difference in stature. Dr. Thurnam made the -race of the British Long Barrows a special subject of study; and Dr. -Rolleston followed up his researches with valuable results. Amongst -other points, he noted that the males appear to have averaged 5 ft. 6 -in., and the females 4 ft. 10 in. in height. But while the difference of -stature between the male and the female exceeds what is observable in -most modern races, the variation in the size and internal capacity of -their skulls appears to be less than among civilised races. The like -characteristics are noticeable in the larger race of Europe’s -Palæolithic era. Nothing is more striking in the discovery of those -ancient remains of European man than the remarkable development of the -skulls and the good brain capacity of the race of the palæotechnic dawn, -where man is proved, by his works of art and all the traces of his -hearth and home, to have been still a rude hunter and cave-dweller. The -Canstadt type of skull is assumed to be that of the earliest European -race of which traces have thus far been discovered; and it is -unquestionably markedly inferior in development to that of the artistic -Troglodytes of the French Reindeer period. Yet remarkable examples of -atavism, as in the skull of St. Mansuy, the missionary bishop of Toul, -in Lorraine, in the fourth century, and in that of Robert the Bruce, -show a reversion to this early type, in accompaniment with exceptional -intellectual capacity. The Neanderthal skull, an extreme example of the -primitive type, is pronounced by Professor Schaaffhausen to be the most -brutal of all human skulls; though this impression is mainly due to the -abnormal development of the superciliary ridges, in which it undoubtedly -approximates to the chimpanzee or the gorilla. But it has an estimated -capacity of 75 cubic inches, and a corresponding cerebral development in -no degree incompatible with the idea that the remains recovered from the -Neanderthal cave may be those of a skilled hunter; and one apt in the -ingenious arts of the primitive tool-maker. - -Whatever other changes, therefore, may have affected the brain as the -organ of human thought and reasoning, it does not thus far appear that -the average mass of brain has greatly increased since the advent of -European man. Important exceptions have indeed been noted. Professor -Broca’s observations on the cerebral capacity of the Parisian population -at different periods, based on nearly 400 skulls derived from vaults and -cemeteries of dates from the eleventh or twelfth to the nineteenth -century, appear to him to show a progressive cerebral development in -that centre of European civilisation.[163] But though the assumption is -not inconsistent with other results of civilisation, and is the -necessary corollary of the postulate that intellectual activity tends to -development of brain, the fact that the crania presented a still greater -diversity in type than in size reminds us of the intermixture of races -on the banks of the Seine, and the consequent necessity for much more -extended observations before so important a deduction can be received as -an established truth. - -Taking the average brain-weight of the human adult as already stated, -all male brains falling much below 40 oz. or 1130 grammes, and female -brains below 35 oz. or 990 grammes, may be classed as _microcephalous_; -and all above the maxima of the medium male and female brain, viz. 52½ -oz. or 1480 grammes, and 47½ oz. or 1345 grammes, may be ranked as -_megalocephalous_, or great brains. - -Professor Welcker, who devoted special attention to the whole subject -under review, assumes another and simpler test when he says that skulls -of more than 540 to 550 millimetres, or 21.26 to 21.65 inches in -circumference—the weight of brain belonging to which is 1490 to 1560 -grammes (52.5-55 oz. av.)—are to be regarded as exceptionally large. -But while an excess of horizontal circumference may be accepted as -indicating good cerebral capacity, it must not be overlooked that the -adoption of it as the key to any definite or even approximate -brain-weight ignores the important elements of variation involved in the -difference between acrocephalic and platycephalic head-forms. The volume -of brain in Scott, and probably in Shakespeare, appears to have depended -more on its elevation than its horizontal expansion. The same was also -the case with Byron. The intermastoid arch, measured across the vertex -of the skull from the tip of one mastoid process to the other, furnishes -an accurate gauge of this development. Of thirteen selected male English -skulls in Dr. Davis’s collection, the mean of this measurement is 15.1; -and of thirty-nine male and female English skulls, it is only 14.4. Of -the whole number of eighty-one English skulls described in the -_Thesaurus Craniorum_, three exceptionally large ones are: No. 123, that -of an ancient British chief, of fully 6 ft. 2 in. in stature, from the -Grimsthorpe Barrow, Yorkshire; No. 905, a calvarium of great magnitude, -very brachycephalic, and with the elevation across the middle of the -parietals apparently exaggerated by compression in infancy, from Hythe, -Kent; and No. 1029, another male skull, remarkable alike for its size -and weight, and with a peculiarity of conformation ascribed by Dr. Davis -to synostosis of the coronal suture. The intermastoid arch in those -exceptionally large skulls measures respectively 16.0, 16.2, and 16.9, -whereas the same measurement derived from the cast of Scott’s head taken -after death, yields the extraordinary dimensions of 19 inches. This last -measurement is over the hairy scalp. But after making ample allowance -for this, the vertical measurement of the skull and consequently of the -brain is remarkable. - -Full value has been assigned at all periods to the well-developed -forehead. It is characteristic of man. The physiognomist and the -phrenologist have each given significance to it in their respective -systems; and it has received no less prominent recognition from the -poets. A fully developed forehead is assumed as distinctive of the male -skull. But Juliet, in _The Two Gentlemen of Verona_, when depreciating -her rival, exclaims, “Ay, but her forehead’s low”; and the jealous Queen -of Egypt, in _Antony and Cleopatra_, is told of Octavia that “her -forehead is as low as she would wish it.” “The fair large front” of -Milton’s perfect man is the external index of an ample cerebrum: the -organ to which the seat of consciousness, intelligence, and will is -assigned. It is therefore consistent with this that a low, retreating -forehead is popularly assumed to be the characteristic index of the -savage, and of the unintellectual among civilised races. But the -cerebral characteristics of both ancient and modern civilised races have -still to be studied in detail; and the influence of race and sex on the -form of the head and the mass and weight of the brain, involves some -curious questions in relation to the oldest illustrations of the -physical characteristics of man, and to the effect of civilisation on -the relative development of the sexes. - -Early observations led Dr. Pruner-Bey and other ethnologists of France -to recognise in certain ancient Gaulish skulls of a brachycephalic type -the evidences of a primitive race, assumed to represent the inhabitants -of France and of Central Europe during its Reindeer period, and which -appeared to be assigned with reasonable probability to a Mongol origin. -But in the Cro-Magnon cavern, and in other caves more recently explored, -the remains of a race of men have been brought to light markedly -dolichocephalic, and no less striking in cranial capacity. Dr. Broca -speaks of these ancient cave-dwellers of the valley of the Vézère as -characterised by “sure signs of a powerful cerebral organisation. The -skulls are large. Their diameters, their curves, their capacity, attain, -and even surpass, our medium skulls of the present day. The forehead is -wide, by no means receding, but describing a fine curve. The amplitude -of the frontal tuberosities denotes a large development of the anterior -cerebral lobes, which are the seat of the most noble intellectual -faculties.” - -This primitive race of hunters, marked by such exceptional -characteristics, belonged to the remote Reindeer period of Western -Europe, and was contemporary with the mammoth, the tichorine rhinoceros, -and the fossil horse, as well as with the cave-lion, the cave-bear, and -other long-extinct carnivora of Europe. The remarkable evidence of their -intellectual capacity has already been reviewed, in considering the -manifestations of the artistic faculty among primitive races. Their -weapons and implements, including carved maces or official batons, as -they are assumed to be, contribute additional evidence of skill and -latent capacity among a primitive race of hunters and cave-dwellers. Dr. -Broca, after a consideration of the merits of their ingenious arts, -says: “They had advanced to the very threshold of civilisation”; and Dr. -Pruner-Bey thus comments on their characteristics: “If we consider that -its three individuals had a cranial capacity much superior to the -average at the present day; that one of them was a female, and that -female crania are generally below the average of _male_ crania in size; -and that nevertheless the cranial capacity of the Cro-Magnon woman -surpasses the average capacity of male skulls of to-day, we are led to -regard the great size of the brain as one of the more remarkable -characters of the Cro-Magnon race. This cerebral volume seems to me even -to exceed that with which at the present day a stature equal to that of -our cave-folks would be associated; whilst the skulls from the Belgium -caves are small, not only absolutely, but even relatively in the rather -small stature of the inhabitants of those caves.” - -The Canstadt head is undoubtedly an unintellectual type suggestive of an -inferior, though not necessarily an older savage race; for the evidence -of climate, contemporary fauna, and other indices of the environments of -the Cro-Magnon cave-dwellers, all point to an early Post-Glacial era. -Dr. Isaac Taylor, in his _Origin of the Aryans_, assuming the priority -of the Canstadt man, speaks of him as “this primitive savage, the -earliest inhabitant of Europe.” The forehead in this type is low and -receding, and the cerebral capacity generally correspondingly inferior. -The relative superposition in some discoveries of ancient human remains, -as in the alluvium and gravels of a former bed of the Seine, at -Grenelle, lends confirmation to the idea that in this poorly-developed -cranial type we recover the physical characteristics of the earliest -type of the European savage thus far brought to light. But no disclosure -of regular sepulture, or of implements or carvings assignable to him, -have hitherto furnished the means of determining his condition or mode -of life. - -The disclosures of the rock-shelters in the valley of the Vézère are, on -the contrary, replete with interest, from the evidence they furnish of a -race of savage hunters, in whom ingenious skill and great artistic -aptitude gave evidence of latent intellectual capacity of a high order. -The remarkable size of crania accompanying those examples of primitive -art seemingly pertaining to the Troglodytes of the Mammoth and Reindeer -periods of Central Europe, is the more significant from its bearing on -the evidence of progressive cerebral development adduced by Dr. Broca -from skulls recovered from ancient and modern cemeteries of Paris. It -appears, indeed, to conflict with any theory of a progressive -development from the Troglodyte of the Post-Glacial age to the civilised -Frenchman of modern times. Professor Boyd Dawkins has accordingly been -at some pains in his _Cave Hunting_ to show that the conclusions formed -by previous observers as to the epoch of their burial are not supported -by the facts of the case; and he sums up his review of the whole -evidence by expressing a conviction that he “should feel inclined to -assign the interments to the Neolithic age, in which cave-burial was so -common. The facts,” he adds, “do not warrant the human skeletons being -taken as proving the physique of the palæolithic hunters of the -Dordogne, or as a basis for an inquiry into the ethnology of the -palæolithic races. Professor Boyd Dawkins also pronounces the same -doubts in reference to the equally characteristic male skeleton found in -a cave at Mentone, and to others obtained in the Lombrive and other -caves. It is not to be overlooked that the possibility of the intrusion -of human remains into earlier strata constitutes an important element -suggesting caution in reasoning from such evidence. For the remains of -man differ from those of other animals found in such series of deposits -as mark a succession of periods, in so far as they pertain to the only -animal habitually given to the practice of interment. Human skeletons -found under such circumstances may have been artificially intruded long -subsequent to the accumulation of the breccia in which they lay. -Happily, however, any doubts as to the contemporaneity of the human -remains with the other cave relics has been removed by the discovery of -skeletons, similar in type, in other caverns in the same valley—and -especially in that of Laugerie Basse,—in positions which seem to leave -no room for questioning their being of the same age as the works of art -found along with them. - -Other examples of the ancient man of Europe show him in like manner -endowed with a cerebral development in advance of the rudest races of -modern times. The skull found by Dr. Schmerling in the Engis cave, near -Liège, along with remains of six or seven human skeletons, was embedded -in the same matrix with bones of the fossil elephant, rhinoceros, hyæna, -and other extinct quadrupeds. It is a fairly proportioned, -well-developed dolichocephalic skull; and, like others of the ancient -human skulls of different types thus far found, has signally -disappointed the expectations of those who count upon invariably finding -a lower type the older the formation in which it occurs. “Assuredly,” -says Professor Huxley, “there is no mark of degradation about any part -of its structure. It is, in fact, a fair average human skull, which -might have belonged to a philosopher, or might have contained the -thoughtless brain of a savage.” Even the famous Neanderthal skull, of -uncertain geological antiquity, but pronounced to be “the most brutal of -all human skulls,” acquires its exceptional character, as already noted, -chiefly from the abnormal development of the superciliary region. - - * * * * * - -It is a universally accepted fact that the size of the male head and the -weight of the brain are greater than those of the female. The average -weight of the male brain is found to exceed that of the female by about -10 per cent; or, as it is stated by Professor Welcker, the brain-weight -of man is to that of woman as 100 to 90. But the difference of stature -between the two sexes has to be taken into account. The average, based -on various series of observations to determine the mean stature for man -and for woman, shows the latter to be about 8 per cent less than the -former; or, as Dr. Thurnam has stated it more precisely: - - RATIO OF STATURE AND BRAIN-WEIGHT IN THE TWO SEXES - - MALE. FEMALE. - Stature 100 92.0 - Weight of brain 100 90.3 - -Here again, however, it becomes important to take into consideration -other elements of difference besides weight; for, as Tennyson insists, -“Woman is not undevelopt man, but diverse.” The results of Wagner’s -observations on the superficial measurements of the convolutions of the -brain point to the conclusion that in the female the lesser brain-weight -may be compensated by a larger superficies. Ranked in the order of their -relative weights in grammes, six average brains of men and women were -found to stand thus:— - - 1. Male (_a_) 1340 - 2. Male (_b_) 1330 - 3. Male (_c_) 1273 - 4. Female (_d_) 1254 - 5. Female (_e_) 1223 - 6. Female (_f_) 1185 - -But the same brains, when tested by the degrees of convolution of the -frontal lobe, measured in squares of sixteen square millimetres, -irrespective of the question of relative size, ranked as follows, -advancing the female (_d_) from the fourth to the first place, and -reducing the male (_c_) from the third to the sixth place:— - - 1. Female (_d_) 2498 - 2. Male (_a_) 2451 - 3. Male (_b_) 2309 - 4. Female (_f_) 2300 - 5. Female (_e_) 2272 - 6. Male (_c_) 2117 - -But, as already indicated, some modern disclosures tend to raise the -question whether the difference between the sexes, in so far as relative -volume of brain is concerned, has not been increased as a result of -civilisation. The disparity in size between the Cro-Magnon male and -female skeletons is quite as great as that of modern times, but the -capacity of the female skull is relatively good. - -Other observations, such as those of Professor Rolleston “On the People -of the Long Barrow Period,” seem to indicate a nearer approximation in -actual cranial capacity of the two sexes in prehistoric times than among -modern civilised races. On the assumption that intellectual activity -tends to permanent development of brain, it is consistent with the -conditions of savage life that it should bring the mental energies of -both sexes into nearly equal play. They have equally to encounter the -struggle for existence, and have their faculties stimulated in a -corresponding degree. As nations rise above the purely savage condition -of the hunter stage, this relative co-operation of the sexes is -subjected to great variations. The laws of Solon with reference to the -right of sale of a daughter or sister, and the penalties for the -violation of a free woman, show the position of the weaker sex among the -Greeks at that early stage to have been a degrading one. But the change -was great at a later stage; and much of our higher civilisation is -traceable to the early establishment of the European woman’s rights, -which Christianity subsequently tended to enlarge. The position of woman -among the ancient Britons appears to have been one of perfect equality -with man. Among the Arabians and other Mohammedan nations, including the -modern Turks, the opposite is the case; and the whole tendency of the -creed of the Koran, and the social life among Mohammedan nations, must -be towards the intellectual atrophy of woman. Hence it is consistent -with the diverse conditions of life that, in so far as cerebral -development is the result of mental activity, a much closer -approximation is to be looked for in the mass and weight of brain in the -two sexes among savage races, than among nations where woman -systematically occupies a condition of servile degradation, or of -passive inertness. - - * * * * * - -Some interesting results of the actual brain-weights of Negroes and -other typical representatives of inferior savage races have been -published, including examples of both sexes; and although the -observations are as yet too few for the deduction of any absolute or -very comprehensive conclusions, they furnish a valuable contribution -towards this department of ethnical comparison. In 1865, Dr. Peacock -published the results of observations on the brains of four Negroes and -two Negresses; and to those he subsequently added a seventh -example.[164] Others are included in the following table. But I have -excluded some extremes of variation, such as the two given by Mascagni, -one of which weighed 1458 grammes, or 51.5 oz. av., and the other only -738 grammes, or 26.1 oz. av. In addition to such actual brain-weights, -Morton, Tiedemann, Davis, Wyman, and others, have gauged the skulls of -Negroes, American Indians, Mincopies, Tasmanians, Australians, and other -savage races, as well as those of many civilised and semi-civilised -nations, and thereby contributed valuable data towards determining their -relative cranial capacity. In his _Crania Ægyptiaca_, Dr. Morton, when -discussing the traces of a Negro element in the ancient Egyptian -population, says: “I have in my possession seventy-nine crania of -Negroes born in Africa, for which I am indebted to Drs. Goheen and -M’Dowell, lately attached to the medical department of the colony of -Liberia, in Western Africa; and especially to Don Jose Rodriguez -Cisneros, M.D., of Havana, in the island of Cuba. Of the whole number, -fifty-eight are adult, or sixteen years of age and upwards, and give -eighty-five cubic inches for the average size of the brain. The largest -head measures ninety-nine cubic inches; the smallest but sixty-five. The -latter, which is that of a middle-aged woman, is the smallest adult head -that has hitherto come under my notice.”[165] - - TABLE I - - NEGRO BRAIN-WEIGHT - - ─────┬────────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────┬──────── - │ │ │ - Sex. │ Race. │ Authority. │Weight. - │ │ │ - ─────┼────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────── - │ │ │ - M. │African, Mozambique │Peacock │ 43.80 - M. │ „ │ „ │ 45.80 - M. │ „ Buenos Ayres │ „ │ 44.00 - M. │ „ Congo │ „ │ 46.25 - M. │ „ │ „ │ 42.80 - M. │ „ │Sœmmering │ 45.40 - M. │ „ │Tiedemann │ 35.20 - M. │ „ Congo │C. Luigi Calori │ 44.40 - M. │ „ │Barkow │ 50.80 - M. │ „ │ „ │ 45.90 - M. │ „ │ „ │ 38.90 - M. │ „ │Sir A. Cooper │ 49.00 - F. │Hottentot Venus │Marshall │ 31.00 - F. │Bushwoman │ „ │ 30.75 - F. │ „ │ „ │ 31.50 - F. │ „ │ „ │ 31.00 - F. │ „ │Flower and Murie │ 38.00 - F. │African │Peacock │ 46.00 - F. │ „ │ „ │ 41.00 - │ │ │ - ─────┴────────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────┴──────── - -The influence of race on the volume, weight, disposition, and relative -proportions of the different subdivisions of the human brain, and so of -brain on the character of races, has thus far been very partially -tested. But the diversities of race head-forms—brachycephalic, -dolichocephalic, platycephalic, acrocephalic, etc.—are now -well-recognised, though their relation to cerebral development still -requires much research for its elucidation. The ancient Roman forehead, -as illustrated by classic busts, and confirmed by genuine Roman skulls, -was low but broad, and the whole head was platycephalic. The Greek had a -high forehead, and the works of the Greek sculptors show that this was -regarded as typical. But contemporary with the classic races were the -Macrocephali of the Euxine and the Caspian Seas, who, like many modern -tribes of the New World, purposely aimed at depressing a naturally -receding forehead, and thereby exaggerated the typical forehead -characteristic of certain ancient barbaric races. - -In the case of hybrids the interchange of physical and mental -characteristics of the parents, including modifications of head-form, is -a familiar fact. The English head-form appears to be an insular product -of intermingled Briton, Teuton, and Scandinavian elements, which has no -continental analogue; and its subdivisions, or sub-types, vary with the -ethnical intermixture. The Scottish head appears to exceed the English -in length, while the latter is higher. Where the Celtic element most -predominates, the longer form of head is found; but even in the most -Teutonic districts the difference between the prevailing head-form and -that of the continental German is so marked that the latter finds it -difficult to obtain an English-made hat which will fit his head.[166] -Here the diversities of head-form are accompanied with no less marked -differences of individual and national character. - -Professor Welcker determined the average capacity of the German male -skull as 1450 cubic centimetres, equivalent to 88 cubic inches, and -representing an average brain-weight of 49 oz. Dr. Davis, by a similar -process, assigns to the Germans, male and female, the larger mean -brain-weight of 50.28 oz.; but by combining the means of both sexes, as -derived from his own tables and those of Huschke and Wagner, we obtain a -mean weight of German brain of 1314 grms., or 46.37 oz. The results of -an extensive series of observations by Dr. Broca, on the male French -skull, yield a mean capacity of 1502 cubic centimetres, or 91 cubic -inches, representing an average brain-weight of 50.6 oz. Morton, taking -his average from five English skulls, gives the great internal capacity -of 96 cubic inches; while Davis arrives at a capacity of only 90.9 cubic -inches from the examination of thirty-two skulls, male and female; and -for the Scottish and Irish, each of 91.2 cubic inches, from an -examination of thirty-five skulls. But unfortunately the Davis -collection, so rich in other respects, derived its chief English -specimens from a phrenological collection; and, along with a few large -skulls, contains “many small and poor English examples.”[167] The -average weight of the English brain may therefore, as Dr. Davis admits, -be assumed to be higher than the mean determined by him. “Still a -comparison with actually tested weights of brains shows that there -cannot be any material error.” The average brain-weight of twenty-one -Englishmen, as given by him, is 50.28 oz., that of thirteen women is -43.13; and of the combined series, 47.50. The results determined by the -same process in relation to the other nationalities of Europe are -exhibited in detail in Dr. Davis’s tables, printed in the _Philosophical -Transactions_. - -Such averages are, at best, only approximations to true results; and -when obtained, as in Morton’s English race, from a very few examples, or -in Davis’s, from exceptional skulls, collected under peculiar -circumstances or for a special purpose, they must be tested by other -observations. According to Dr. Morton, for example, the mean internal -capacity of the English head is 96 cubic inches, while that of the -Anglo-American is only 90 cubic inches. Such a conclusion, if -established as the result of comparison of a sufficiently large number -of well-authenticated skulls, would be of great importance in its -bearing on the influence of change of climate, diet, habits, etc., as -elements affecting varieties of the human race. But determined as it was -in the Morton collection, from five English and seven Anglo-American -specimens, it can be regarded as little more than a mere chance result. -Ranged nearly in the order of mean internal capacity of skull, the -following are the results arrived at, mainly by gauging the skulls in -various collections available for such comparisons of different races of -mankind. In presenting them here, I avail myself of Dr. Thurnam’s -researches, augmenting them with other data subsequently published, -including results deduced from Dr. Davis’s minute reports of his own -extensive collections, and taking Tiedemann’s capacity of 92.3 for the -European skull as 100. - - TABLE II - - RATIO OF CUBICAL CAPACITY OF SKULLS OF DIFFERENT RACES - - ────────────────────┬────────────────────┬────────── - │ │ - Race. │ Authority. │Capacity. - │ │ - ────────────────────┼────────────────────┼────────── - │ │ - European │Tiedemann │ 100.0 - Asiatic │Davis │ 94.3 - African │ „ │ 93.0 - American │Tiedemann │ 95.0 - „ │Davis │ 94.7 - „ │Morton │ 87.0 - Oceanic │Davis │ 96.9 - Chinese │ „ │ 99.8 - Mongol │Morton │ 94.0 - „ │Tiedemann │ 93.0 - Hindoo │Davis │ 89.4 - Malay │Tiedemann │ 89.0 - American Indian │Morton │ 91.0 - Esquimaux │Davis │ 98.8 - Mexican │Morton │ 88.5 - Peruvian │Wyman │ 81.2 - „ │Morton │ 81.2 - Negro │Tiedemann │ 91.0 - „ │Peacock │ 88.0 - Hottentot │Morton │ 86.0 - Javan │Davis │ 94.8 - Tasmanian │ „ │ 88.0 - Australian │Morton │ 88.0 - „ │Davis │ 87.9 - │ │ - ────────────────────┴────────────────────┴────────── - -The tables of Dr. Morton and Dr. Davis furnish materials for drawing -comparisons between diverse nations of the great European family; but -though they are of value as contributions to the required means for -ethnical comparison, they fall far short of determining the average -cranial capacity of the different nationalities. Whilst, for example, -the tabular data in the _Thesaurus Craniorum_ show a mean internal -capacity of 94 cubic inches for the combined Teutonic family, the Finns -yield the higher mean capacity of 96.3 cubic inches. Again, Dr. Thurnam -found that the results of the weighing of fifty-nine brains of patients -at the Friends’ Retreat near York, mostly persons of the middle class of -society, yielded weights considerably above those which he subsequently -obtained from testing those of pauper patients in Wilts and Somerset. -But this has to be estimated along with the undoubted ethnical -differences which separate the population of Yorkshire from that of -Somerset and Wiltshire. An interesting paper in the West-Riding Asylum -Reports gives the results of the determination of 716 brain-weights, -rather more than half being males. The average is 48.149 oz. for the -male, and 43.872 for the female brain; whereas the average weights of -267 male brains of a similar class of patients in the Wilts County -Asylum, as given by Dr. Thurnam, is 46.2 oz., and of 213 female brains, -41.0 oz. The results of the observations carried on by Dr. Boyd at St. -Marylebone yield, from 680 male English brains, a mean weight of 47.1 -oz., and from 744 female brains a mean weight of 42.3 oz.; whereas Dr. -Peacock determined, from 183 cases in the Edinburgh Infirmary, the -weight of the male Scottish brain to average 49.7, and that of the -female brain to average 44.3 oz. Here the results are determined by so -numerous a series that they might be accepted as altogether reliable, -were it not that in the former case they are based to a large extent on -a purely pauper class; whereas the patients of the Royal Infirmary of -Edinburgh include respectable mechanics and others from many parts of -Scotland, among whom education is common. It is not to be doubted, -indeed, that a considerable difference in the form and size of the head, -and no doubt also in brain-weight, is to be looked for amongst English, -Scotch, Irish, German and French men and women, according to the county -or province of which they are natives, and the class of society to which -they belong. - -The comparative ratio of the cubical capacity of the skull, or the -average brain-weight, in so far as either is indicative of ethnical -differences among members of the European family of nations, has thus to -be determined by numerous examples; or dealt with in detail in reference -to the different nationalities. Even in single provinces or counties, -social position, and probably education, must be taken into account; so -that a series of observations on hospital and pauper patients may be -expected to fall below the general average; and fallacious comparisons -between European peoples may be based on data, correct enough _per se_, -but unjust when placed alongside of a different class of results. The -great mass of evidence in reference to brain-weight has thus far been -mainly derived, in the case of the sane, from one rank of life. A -comparison of the results with those derived from the insane of various -classes of society shows less discrepancy than might have been -anticipated. But there are certain cases of hydrocephalous and other -abnormally enlarged brains which have to be rigorously excluded from any -estimate of the size or weight of the brain, either as a race-test or as -an index of comparative mental power. - -Were it possible to select from among the great intellects of all ages -an adequate series of representative men, and ascertain their -brain-weights, or even the cubical capacity of their skulls, one -important step would be gained towards the determination of the relation -between size of brain and power of intellect. But we have little other -data than such hints as the busts of Æschylus, Pericles, Socrates, -Plato, Aristotle, and other leaders of thought may supply. Malcolm -Canmore—Malcolm of the great head, as his name implied,—stands forth -with marked individuality from out the shadowy roll of names which -figure in early Scottish history. Charlemagne, we should fancy, merited -a similar designation. But the portraits of his modern imperial -successor, Charles V., show no such loftiness of forehead. Judging from -the portraits and busts of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Cromwell, -Napoleon, and Scott, their brains must have considerably exceeded the -ordinary size. In the report of the _post-mortem_ examination of Scott, -the physicians state that “the brain was not large.” But this, no doubt, -means relatively to the internal capacity of the skull in its then -diseased condition. The intermastoid arch, as already noted, shows a -remarkably exceptional magnitude of 19 inches, whereas the average of -fifty-eight ancient and modern European skulls, as given in the -_Thesaurus Craniorum_, is only 14.60. The portraits of Wordsworth and -Byron show an ample forehead; and the popular recognition of the “fair -large front” of Milton’s typical man as the index of superior intellect -is an induction universally accepted. But, on the other hand, examples -of intellectual greatness undoubtedly occur with the brain little, if at -all, in excess of the average size. On the discovery of Dante’s remains -at Ravenna in 1865, the skull was pronounced to be ample, and exquisite -in form. But its actual cubical capacity and estimated brain-weight fall -considerably below those of the highest ascertained brain-weights of -distinguished men. Again, looking at the casts of the skulls of Robert -the Bruce and the poet Burns, the first impression is the comparatively -small size of head, and the moderate frontal development in each. Robert -Liston, the eminent surgeon, remarked of the former: “The division of -the cranium behind the meatus auditorius is large in proportion to that -situated before it. The skull is also remarkably wide and capacious in -that part, whereas the forehead is rather depressed”;[168] and more -recent observers have not hesitated to recognise in it a reversion to -the Canstadt type of the primitive European savage. Other -characteristics so markedly indicate the elements of physical rather -than intellectual vigour, that Liston expressly pointed out the analogy -to “the heads of carnivorous animals.” The Bruce was indeed -pre-eminently distinguished for courage and deeds of personal prowess; -but it was no less by statesmanlike qualities, calm, resolute -perseverance, and wise prudence, that he achieved the independence of -his country. - -George Combe, the phrenologist, to whom the original cast of Burns’s -skull was first submitted, thus states the case in reference to the -frontal development of the poet: “An unskilful observer looking at the -forehead might suppose it to be moderate in size; but when the -dimensions of the anterior lobe, in both length and breadth, are -attended to, the intellectual organs will be recognised to have been -large. The anterior lobe projects so much that it gives an appearance of -narrowness to the forehead which is not real.”[169] The actual -dimensions of the skull are, longitudinal diameter, 8 inches; parietal -diameter, 5.95; and horizontal circumference, 22.25. - -In the year 1865 the bones of Italy’s greatest poet, Dante, were -submitted to a minute examination under the direction of commissioners -appointed by the Italian Government to verify the discovery; and careful -measurements were taken of the skull. Dr. H. C. Barlow, describing it -from personal observation, says: “The head was finely formed, and the -cranium showed, by its ample and exquisite form, that it had held the -brain of no ordinary man. It was the most intellectually developed head -that I ever remember to have seen. The occipital region was prominently -marked, but the frontal was also amply and broadly expanded, and the -anterior part of the frontal bone had a vertical direction in relation -to the bones of the face” (_Athenæum_, September 9, 1865). But however -intellectually developed and exquisite in form the poet’s skull may have -appeared, the actual measurements fall short of the amplitude here -assigned to it. The dimensions are as follows: Internal capacity, -determined by filling the calvarium with grains of rice, 3.1321 lbs. -av., or a little over 50 oz.; circumference, 52 cent. 5 mill.; -occipito-frontal diameter, 31 cent. 7 mill.; transverse diameter, taken -between the ears, 31 cent. 8 mill.; height, 14 cent. If the internal -capacity is accepted without any correction, it would yield 57 oz., but -if allowance be made, as in the actual weighing of the brain, for the -abstraction of the dura mater and fluids, of say 8 per cent, this would -reduce it to about 52.5, or nearly the same weight as that of the -mathematician, Gauss. Professor Welcker deducts from 11.6 to 14 per -cent, according to the size of the skull; Dr. J. B. Davis recommends a -uniform deduction of 10 per cent. If we apply the latter rule, it will -reduce the estimated weight of Dante’s brain to 51.3 oz.[170] - -Another interesting example of the skull of an Italian poet is that of -Ugo Foscolo, a cast of which was taken on the transfer of his remains to -the Church of Santa Croce at Florence. Though only fifty years old at -the time of his death, the skull was marked by “the entire ossification -of the coronal, sagittal, and lambdoidal sutures, and that atrophy of -the outer table, manifested by a depression on each side in the -posterior half of each parietal, leaving an elevated ridge in the -middle, in the position of the sagittal, which is but rarely observed -except in extremely advanced age.”[171] Sir Henry Holland, who knew the -poet intimately, describes him as resembling in temperament the painter -Fuseli, “passionately eccentric in social life.” Full of genius and -original thought, as the writings of Foscolo show him to have been, he -“was fiery and impulsive, almost to the verge of madness.”[172] He died -in England in obscurity and neglect; but a regenerated Italy recalled -the memory of her lost poet, and transferred his remains to Santa -Croce’s consecrated soil. The estimated size of his brain is given as -1426 cubic cents., equivalent to 87 cubic inches internal capacity, -which corresponds to a weight of brain of 48.44 oz. The longitudinal -diameter is 6.90; the parietal diameter 5.70; the intermastoid arch -15.0; and the horizontal circumference 520 mm., or 20.5 inches. The -brain capacity of the poet was thus little more than the European mean -deduced by Morton from the miscellaneous examples in his collection. - -Dr. J. C. Gustav Lucae, in his _Zur Organischen Formenlehre_, furnishes -views and measurements of two other skulls of men of known intellectual -capacity. One of these is Johan Jacob Wilhelm Heinse, the author of -_Ardinghello_, a work of high character in the elements of æsthetic -criticism, though as a romance fit to rank with _Don Juan_ in subjective -significance and morality. He wrote another romance entitled -_Hildegard_; in addition to numerous articles and translations of -Petronius, Tasso, etc., which won for him the high commendation of -Goethe, and the more guarded admiration of Wieland. His skull, as -figured by Dr. Lucae, shows the frontal suture still open at the age of -fifty-three, at which he died. The internal capacity of the skull is -stated as 41.4 oz., equivalent to 1173 grms. In this, as in other -examples hereafter referred to, Dr. Lucae has gauged the capacity of the -skull with peas, and gives the weight in “unzen.” In the results deduced -from them here the _unzen_ are assumed to be Prussian ounces, the lb. of -12 oz. equal to 350.78348 grms. As already noted, the determination of -the internal capacity of the skull by varying tests, such as pease, -rice, and sands of diverse degrees of fineness, leads to uncertain -results. In those here deduced from the data furnished by Dr. Lucae, the -unzen have been tested by a series of experiments made with a view to -correct the error necessarily resulting from the fact that peas do not -entirely fill the cavity. The results show that 82.5 grms. of ordinary -sized peas occupy the space of 100 grms. of water. Deducting 10 per cent -for membranes and fluids, the estimated brain-weight of Heinse is 1379 -grms. or 48.7 oz. av. The dimensions of the skull are given thus:— - - ───────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────── - │ │ │ - │ Height. │ Length. │ Breadth. - │ │ │ - ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── - │ │ │ - Fore part │ 4.9 │ 4.00 │ 4.1 - Middle part │ 4.1 │ 3.11 │ 5.3 - Hind part │ 3.9 │ 3.60 │ 4.1 - │ │ │ - ───────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴────────── - -The other example produced by Dr. Lucae is that of Dr. Christian -Heinrich Bünger, Professor of Anatomy in the University of Marburg. In -this skull the frontal suture is still more strongly defined at the age -of sixty than in that of Heinse. The internal capacity of the skull is -stated as 42.8 oz., equivalent to 1213 grms., which, dealt with as above -stated, yields 1410 grms. or 49.8 oz. av. Other dimensions of the skull -are given as follows:— - - ───────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────── - │ │ │ - │ Height. │ Length. │ Breadth. - │ │ │ - ───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── - │ │ │ - Fore part │ 4.8 │ 4.1 │ 4.2 - Middle part │ 4.9 │ 4.1 │ 5.0 - Hind part │ 3.7 │ 3.1 │ 4.1 - │ │ │ - ───────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴────────── - -The premature ossification of the sagittal suture, by arresting the -expansion of the brain laterally, is a frequent source of abnormal -elongation of the head. On the other hand the frontal suture, which -ordinarily closes in the man-child before birth, though persistent in -the lower animals, is occasionally found to remain open in man till -maturity, as in the two notable cases here described. Darwin refers to -it as a case of arrested development. “This suture,” he says, -“occasionally persists, more or less distinctly, in man after maturity, -and more frequently in ancient than in recent crania; especially, as -Canestrini has observed, in those exhumed from the Drift, and belonging -to the brachycephalic type. In this and other instances the cause of -ancient races approaching the lower animals in certain characters more -frequently than do the modern races, appears to be that the latter stand -at a somewhat greater distance in the long line of descent from their -early semi-human progenitors.”[173] It may be permissible to express a -doubt as to this relative frequency of the occurrence of the frontal -suture in ancient and modern races, since the great naturalist does not -state it as a result of his own observations. Not only am I led to do so -from repeatedly noting its occurrence in modern crania; but its effect -can in no way favour arrested development. It must rather admit of the -free expansion of the frontal lobes of the brain, the decrease of which -in a progressive ratio is characteristic of the orang, chimpanzee, and -baboon. - -On the general question of cranial development as an index of cerebral -capacity, Professor Welcker assigns a standard, which was accepted by -Dr. Thurnam, thus: “Skulls of more than 540 to 550 millimetres in -horizontal circumference (the weight of brain belonging to which is 1490 -to 1560 grms., or 52.5-55 oz. av.), are to be regarded as exceptionally -large. The designation of _kephalones_, proposed by Virchow, might -commence from this point. Men with great mental endowments fall, for the -most part, under the definition of kephalony. If we consider the -relations of capacity, 1800 grms. (63.5 oz.) appears to be the greatest -attainable weight of brain within a skull not pathologically enlarged.” -But the brain of Cuvier—the heaviest healthy brain yet -recorded,—exceeded this. Its weight is stated by Wagner as 1861 grms., -or 65.8 oz.; but this M. Broca corrects to 1829.96 grms. Even thus -reduced it exceeds the limits assigned by Professor Welcker to the -normal healthy brain. But a curious commentary upon this is furnished by -the fact that the modern English skull which Dr. Davis selects as -presenting the most striking analogy to the Neanderthal skull—“the most -ape-like skull which Professor Huxley had ever beheld,”—though marked -not only by the prominence of the superciliary ridges, but by great -depression of the frontal region, appears to have a cubical capacity -equivalent to that of Dr. Abercrombie, whose brain is only surpassed by -that of Cuvier among the ascertained brain-weights of distinguished -men.[174] Its capacity is 94 oz. of sand, or 113 cubic inches, -equivalent—after making the requisite deduction for membranes and -fluids,—to a brain-weight of 63 oz. - -I have attempted in the following table to reduce to some common -standard such imperfect glimpses as are recoverable of the cranial -capacity of some distinguished men, of whose actual brain-weights no -record exists:— - - TABLE III - - CRANIAL CAPACITY OF DISTINGUISHED MEN - - ────────────────────┬────────┬──────────┬───────────────┬─────────────── - │ │ │ │ - │Length. │ Breadth. │Circumference. │ Estimated - │ │ │ │ Brain-Weight. - │ │ │ │ - ────────────────────┼────────┼──────────┼───────────────┼─────────────── - │ │ │ │ - Dante │ — │ — │ — │ 51.3 - Robert the Bruce │ 7.70 │ 6.25 │ 22.25 │ — - Burns │ 8.00 │ 5.95 │ 22.25 │ — - Scott (head) │ 9.00 │ 6.40 │ 23.10 │ — - Heinse │ — │ 5.30 │ — │ 48.0 - Bünger │ — │ 5.00 │ — │ 49.8 - Ugo Foscolo │ 6.90 │ 5.70 │ 20.50 │ 48.4 - │ │ │ │ - ────────────────────┴────────┴──────────┴───────────────┴─────────────── - -Some of the examples adduced in the above table appear to exhibit -instances of mental endowment of high character, without the -corresponding degree of cranial, and consequently cerebral development. -The following table exhibits recorded examples of a series of actual -brain-weights of distinguished men. It seems to lend confirmation to the -idea that great manifestation of mental endowment is correlated, in the -majority of observed cases, to a brain above the normal average in mass -or weight. But even here intellect and brain-weight are not strictly in -uniform ratio. Several of the following brain-weights, including that of -Tiedemann, are furnished by Wagner, in the _Vorstudien des Menschlichen -Gehirns_; but in an elaborate table of brain-weights given in the -_Morphologie und physiologie des Menschlichen gehirns als Seelenorgan_, -the brain of Byron is classed above all except Cuvier; while Vogt gives -the same place, by estimate, to Schiller’s, as next in rank to that of -the great naturalist among highly developed brains. Dr. Thurnam states -his authorities for others, when producing them in his valuable -contribution to the _Journal of Mental Science_ “On the Weight of the -Brain.” For that of Webster he refers to “the unsatisfactory article on -the brain of Daniel Webster, _Edin. Med. Surg. Journ._, vol. lxxix. p. -355.” Dr. J. C. Nott, in his “Comparative Anatomy of Races” (_Types of -Mankind_, p. 453), says: “Dr. Wyman, in his _post-mortem_ examination of -the famed Daniel Webster, found the internal capacity of the cranium to -be 122 cubic inches, and in a private letter to me, he says: ‘The -circumference was measured outside of the integuments before the scalp -was removed, and may, perhaps, as there was much emaciation, be a little -less than in health.’ It was 23¾ inches in circumference; and the Doctor -states that it is well known there are several heads in Boston larger -than Webster’s. I have myself, in the last few weeks, measured half a -dozen heads as large and larger.” The circumference, it will be seen, -exceeds the corresponding measurement of Scott’s head, taken under -similar circumstances. But the statement of 122 cubic inches as the -internal capacity of Webster’s skull seems open to question. If correct, -instead of 53.5 oz. of brain-weight as stated in the following table, it -is the equivalent of a brain-weight of fully 65 oz., or one in excess -even of that, of Cuvier. The brain-weights of Goodsir, Simpson, and -Agassiz, are given in the following table from the reported autopsy in -each case:— - - TABLE IV - - BRAIN-WEIGHTS OF DISTINGUISHED MEN - -─────┬────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┬──────┬──────┬────── - │ │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ Age. │Oz. │Grms. - │ │ │ │ │ -─────┼────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┼──────┼──────┼────── - │ │ │ │ │ - 1│Cuvier │Naturalist │ 63 │64.5 │ 1830 - 2│Byron │Poet │ 36 │63.5? │ 1799 - 3│Abercrombie │Philosopher, Physician │ 64 │63. │ 1785 - 4│Schiller │Poet │ 46 │63.? │ 1785 - 5│Goodsir │Anatomist │ 53 │57.55 │ 1629 - 6│George Brown │Statesman (Canadian) │ 61 │56.3 │ 1595 - 7│Harrison │Chief Justice │ 45 │56. │ 1586 - 8│Spurzheim │Phrenologist, Physician │ 56 │55.06 │ 1575 - 9│Simpson │Physician, Archæologist │ 59 │54. │ 1530 - 10│Dirichlet │Mathematician │ 54 │53.6 │ 1520 - 11│De Morny │Statesman │ 50 │53.6 │ 1520 - 12│Napoleon I. │General, Statesman │ 52 │53.5 │ 1516 - 13│Daniel Webster │Statesman │ 70 │53.5 │ 1516 - 14│Campbell │Lord Chancellor │ 80 │53.5 │ 1516 - 15│Agassiz │Naturalist │ 66 │53.4 │ 1512 - 16│Chalmers │Author, Preacher │ 67 │53. │ 1502 - 17│Fuchs │Pathologist │ 52 │52.9 │ 1499 - 18│De Morgan │Mathematician │ 73 │52.7 │ 1493 - 19│Gauss │Mathematician │ 78 │52.6 │ 1492 - 20│Broca │Anthropologist │ — │52.5 │ 1488 - 21│Dupuytren │Surgeon │ 58 │50.7 │ 1436 - 22│Grote │Historian │ 76 │49.75 │ 1410 - 23│Whewell │Philosopher │ 71 │49. │ 1390 - 24│Hermann │Philologist │ 51 │47.9 │ 1358 - 25│Tiedemann │Physiologist │ 80 │44.2 │ 1254 - 26│Hausmann │Mineralogist │ 77 │43.2 │ 1226 - │ │ │ │ │ -─────┴────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┴──────┴──────┴────── - -Dr. Thurnam, in producing fifteen of the above examples, remarks: -“Altogether, they decidedly confirm the generally received view of the -connection between size of brain and mental power and intelligence”; and -he adds his conviction that if the examination of the brain in the upper -ranks of society, and in men whose mental endowments are well known, -were more generally available, further confirmation would be given to -this conclusion. The converse, at least, is certain, that no great -intelligence or unwonted mental power is possible with a brain much -below the average in mass and weight But while the above list exhibits a -series of exceptionally high brain-weights of distinguished men, the -relative weights in some cases—as in Napoleon—are calculated to excite -surprise if viewed as an index of comparative intellectual capacity. On -the other hand, those lowest in the scale, and below the mean weight, -include men of undoubted eminence in letters and science; while the -proofs are no less unquestionable that a large healthy brain is not -invariably the organ of unwonted intelligence or mental activity. - -In the _Philosophical Transactions_ of 1861, Dr. Boyd published an -elaborate series of researches illustrative of the weight of various -organs of the human body, including the weights of two thousand brains. -Most of the healthy brains are those of patients in the St. Marylebone -Infirmary, and have already been referred to as necessarily representing -the indigent and uneducated classes of London. Here, therefore, if an -unusually large brain is the index of intellectual power, every -probability was against the occurrence of brains above the average size -or weight. But the results by no means confirm this assumption. Among -the patients in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, in like manner, though -including the better class of artizans and others from country -districts, we might still look for a confirmation of M. Broca’s -assumption, based on extensive observations of French crania, “that, -other things being equal, whether as the result of education, or by -hereditary transmission, the volume of the skull, and consequently of -the brain, is greater in the higher than in the lower classes.” But Dr. -Peacock’s tables include four brain-weights, three of them of a sailor, -a printer, and a tailor, respectively, ranging from 61 to 62.75 oz.; and -so surpassing all but two, or at the most three, of the heaviest -ascertained brain-weights of distinguished men. Tried by the posthumous -test of internal capacity, three skulls of nameless Frenchmen, derived -from the common cemeteries of Paris, in like manner showed brains -equalling in size that of Cuvier. The following are the maximum -brain-weights among the St. Marylebone patients apparently unaffected by -cerebral disease:— - - TABLE V - - MAXIMUM BRAIN-WEIGHTS—ST. MARYLEBONE - - ───────────────┰─────────────────────┰───────────────────── - ┃ ┃ - AGE. ┃ MALE. ┃ FEMALE. - ┃ Oz. Grms. ┃ Oz. Grms. - ┃ ┃ - ───────────────╂─────────────────────╂───────────────────── - ┃ ┃ - 7-14 ┃ 57.25 1622 ┃ 52.00 1473 - 14-20 ┃ 58.50 1658 ┃ 52.00 1473 - 20-30 ┃ 57.00 1615 ┃ 55.25 1565 - 30-40 ┃ 60.75 1721 ┃ 53.00 1502 - 40-50 ┃ 60.00 1700 ┃ 52.50 1488 - 50-60 ┃ 59.00 1672 ┃ 52.50 1488 - 60-70 ┃ 59.50 1686 ┃ 54.00 1530 - 70-80 ┃ 55.25 1565 ┃ 49.50 1403 - 80 ┃ 53.75 1523 ┃ 48.00 1360 - All Ages. ┃ ┃ - 7-80 ┃ 60.75 1721 ┃ 55.25 1565 - ┃ ┃ - ───────────────┸─────────────────────┸───────────────────── - -The stature, or relative size of body, has already been referred to as -an element in testing the comparative male and female weight of brain; -and it is one which ought not to be overlooked in estimating the -comparative size and weight of the brains of distinguished men. From my -own recollections of Dr. Chalmers, who was of moderate stature, his head -appeared proportionally large. The same was noticeable in the cases of -Lord Jeffrey, Lord Macaulay, Sir James Y. Simpson, and very markedly so -in that of De Quincey. The philosopher Kant was also of small stature; -and Dr. Thurnam refers to the observation of Carus that he had a head -not absolutely large, though, in proportion to the small and puny body -of that eminent thinker, it was of remarkable size. Among the -large-brained artizans of the Marylebone Infirmary, on the contrary, the -probabilities are in favour of a majority of them being men of full -muscular development and ample stature. Nevertheless, with every -allowance for this, it still remains probable, if not demonstrable, that -from the same humble and unnoted class, examples of megalocephaly could -be selected little short in cerebral mass, and apparently in -brain-weight, of the group of men whose large brains are recognised as -the concomitants of exceptionally great mental capacity and intellectual -vigour. Unless, therefore, we are contented to accept the poet’s dictum, -“Their lot forbad,”[175] and assume that “chill penury repressed their -noble rage, and froze the genial current of the soul,” it is manifest -that other elements besides those of volume or weight are essential as -cerebral indices of mental power. Dr. Thurnam, after noting examples -that had come under his own notice of brain-weights above the -medium—but which, as those of insane patients, may be assigned to other -causes than healthy cerebral development,—adds: “The heaviest brain -weighed by me (62 oz., or 1760 grms.) was that of an uneducated butcher, -who was just able to read, and who died suddenly of epilepsy, combined -with mania, after about a year’s illness. The head was large, but -well-formed; the brain of normal consistence; the _puncta vasculosa_ -numerous.” In cases like this, of weighty brain with no corresponding -manifestation of intellectual power, something else was wanting besides -an ampler sphere. The mere position of a humble artizan or labourer will -not suffice to mar the capacity to “make by force his merit known,” -which pertains to the “divinely gifted man.” - -Arkwright, Franklin, Watt, Stephenson, Farraday, Hugh Miller, and others -of the like type of self-made men, are not rare. Among the large-brained -artizans, scarcely one can have had a more limited sphere for the -exercise of mental vigour than the poet Burns, the child of poverty and -toil, who refers to his own early years as passed in “the unceasing moil -of a galley-slave.” In his case the very means essential to a healthy -physical development were stinted at the most critical period of life. -His brother Gilbert says: “We lived sparingly. For several years -butcher’s meat was a stranger to the house; while all exerted themselves -to the utmost of their strength, and rather beyond it, in the labours of -the farm. My brother, at the age of thirteen, assisted in thrashing the -crop of corn, and at fifteen was the principal labourer on the farm.” -Such premature toil and privations left their permanent stamp on his -frame. “Externally, the consequences appeared in a stoop of the -shoulders, which never left him; but internally, in the more serious -form of mental depression, attended by a nervous disorder which affected -the movements of the heart.” He had only exchanged the toil on his -father’s farm for equally unremitting labour on his own, when the finest -of his poems were written; nor would it be inconsistent with all the -facts to assume that the privations of his early life diminished his -capacity for continuous mental activity; as it undoubtedly impaired his -physical constitution. But, while the possession of a brain much above -the average in size might have seemed to account for his triumph over -the depressing influences of his limited sphere, the fact that his brain -appears to have been below the average size, points to some other -requisite than mere cerebral mass as essential to intellectual vigour. - -The brain is influenced in all its functions by the character and the -amount of blood circulating through it, and promptly manifests the -effects of any deleterious substance, such as alcohol or opium, -introduced into its tissues. It depends, like other portions of the -nervous system, on an adequate supply of nourishment. In both respects -the brain of the Ayrshire poet was injuriously affected, in so far as we -may infer from all the known circumstances of his life. - -The human brain is large in proportion to the body in infancy and youth; -and the opinions of leading anatomists and physiologists early in the -present century favoured the idea that it attained its full size within -a few years after birth. Professor Sœmmering assumed this to take place -so early as the third year. Sir William Hamilton explicitly stated his -conclusion thus: “In man the encephalon reaches its full size about -seven years of age”; and Tiedemann assigns the eighth year as that in -which it attains its greatest development. But the more accurate and -extended observations since carried on rather tend to the conclusion -that the brain not only goes on increasing in size and weight to a much -later period of life; but that it is healthfully stimulated by habitual -activity, and under exceptionally favouring circumstances it may -increase in weight long after the body has attained its maximum. - -The largest average brain-weights, as determined by observations on the -brains of upwards of 2000 men and women in different countries of -Europe, have indeed been found in those not above twenty years of age; -and from a nearly equal number of English examples, Dr. Boyd determines -the period of greatest average weight to be the interval between -fourteen and twenty years of age; but this includes cases in which death -has ensued from undue or premature brain development. - -Other evidence leaves no room for doubt that cases are not rare of the -growth, or increased density of the brain up to middle age; while the -observations of Professor Welcker indicate this process extended to a -later period of life. The average brain-weights, as given by Boyd, -Peacock, and Broca, from healthy or sane cases, along with those of -Welcker, include the weights of 47 male brains from ten to twenty years -of age, giving an average of 49.6 oz., or 1405 grms.; and of 112 male -brains from twenty to thirty years of age, giving an average of 48.9 -oz., or 1384 grms.; and the results of a nearly equal number of female -brains closely approximate. They embrace English, Scotch, German, and -French, men and women. Dr. Welcker’s results indicate the period of -maximum brain-weight to be between 30-40, as shown in the following -table:— - - TABLE VI - - AVERAGE WEIGHT OF THE BRAIN AT DIFFERENT AGES - - ───────────────┰─────────────────────┰───────────────────── - ┃ ┃ - AGE. ┃ MALE. ┃ FEMALE. - ┃ Oz. Av. Grms. ┃ Oz. Av. Grms. - ┃ ┃ - ───────────────╂─────────────────────╂───────────────────── - ┃ ┃ - From 10-20 ┃ 47.5 1346 ┃ 43.1 1221 - 20-30 ┃ 49.5 1404 ┃ 44.1 1251 - 30-40 ┃ 49.5 1404 ┃ 44.8 1272 - 40-50 ┃ 48.6 1379 ┃ 43.5 1234 - 50-60 ┃ 48.1 1365 ┃ 43.5 1234 - 60-70 ┃ 46.1 1306 ┃ 42.8 1213 - ┃ ┃ - ───────────────┸─────────────────────┸───────────────────── - -In the female examples, amounting to thirty-one between seventy and -eighty years of age, and six between eighty and ninety, the continuous -diminution of brain-weight corresponds with the increasing age; but in -the male examples, sixty-five cases between sixty and seventy years of -age yield an average brain-weight of 46.1 oz., while twenty-seven cases -between seventy and eighty years of age give 47.9 as the average; -falling in the next decade to 43.8. - -It may be inferred from the number of cases pointing to an early -attainment of the highest average brain-weight, not that the brain -differs from all other internal organs of the human body in attaining -its maximum before the period of puberty; but that physical as well as -mental vigour are dependent on the maintenance of a nice equilibrium -between the brain and the other organs while in process of development. -The observations of Dr. Boyd, including the results of 2614 -_post-mortem_ examinations of sane and insane patients of all ages, -showed that the average weight of the brain of “still-born” children at -the full period was much greater than that of the new-born living child. -It is a legitimate inference, therefore, that death in the former cases -was traceable to an excessive premature development of the brain. Again, -when it is shown from numerous cases that the highest average weights of -brain in both sexes occur not later than twenty years of age, it appears -a more legitimate inference to trace to exceptional cerebral development -towards the period of adolescence, the mortality which rendered -available so many examples of unusually large or heavy brains, than to -assume that the normal healthy brain begins to diminish at that age. - -It is a fact familiar to popular observation that a large head in youth -is apt to be unfavourable to life. A tendency to epilepsy appears to be -the frequent concomitant of an unusually large brain; and with the -congestion accompanying its abnormal condition, this may account for the -weights of such diseased brains as have been repeatedly found in excess -of nearly all the recorded examples of megalocephaly in the cases of -distinguished men. But a greater interest attaches to a remarkable -example of healthy megalocephaly recorded in the _British Medical -Journal_ for 1872. The case was that of a boy thirteen years of age, who -died in Middlesex Hospital from injuries caused by a fall from an -omnibus. His brain was found to weigh 58 oz. He had been a particularly -healthy lad, without any evidence of rachitis, and very intelligent. -This is a strikingly exceptional case of a healthy brain, at the age of -thirteen, exceeding in weight all but two of the greatest ascertained -brain-weights of distinguished men. - -From the evidence already adduced of relative cubical capacity of the -skulls of different races, it appears, as was to be expected, that there -is a greater prevalence of the amply-developed brain among the higher -and more civilised races. But all averages are apt to be deceptive; and -the progressive scale from the smallest up to the greatest mass of brain -is by no means in the precise ratio of an intellectual scale of -progression. The results of Dr. J. B. Davis’s investigations, based on -the study of a large, and in many cases a seemingly adequate number of -skulls, bring out this remarkable fact, that, so far from the -Polynesians occupying a rank in the lowest scale, as affirmed by -Professor Vogt, the Oceanic races of the Pacific generally rank in -internal capacity of skull, and consequent size of brain, next to the -European. - -But it is of more importance for our present inquiry to note that, as -exceptionally large and heavy brains occur among the most civilised -races, in some cases—and in some only—accompanied with corresponding -manifestations of unusual intellectual power; so also it becomes -apparent that skulls much exceeding the average, and some of remarkable -internal capacity, are met with among barbarian races, and even among -some of the lowest savages. Taking the crania in the elaborate series of -tables in Dr. J. B. Davis’s _Thesaurus Craniorum_, with an internal -capacity above 100 cubic inches, they will rank in order as follows:— - - Chinese 111.8 - Maduran 110.6 - Marquesan 110.6 - Kanaka 108.8 - Javan 107. - Negro 105.8 - Australian 104.5 - Kafir 104.5 - Bakele 103.3 - Tidorese 103.3 - Bhotia 102.7 - Bodo 100.9 - Hindoo 100.9 - Sumatra 100.9 - -Among the European series the largest is an Irish cranium of 121.6 cubic -inches, and next to it comes an Italian, 114.3, and an Englishman, -112.4; an ancient Briton from a Yorkshire Long Barrow, 109.4; an ancient -Roman, 106.4; a Lapp, 105.8; an ancient Gaul, 103.7; a Briton of Roman -times, 103.3; a Merovingian Frank, 101.5; and an Anglo-Saxon, 100.9. -Those and other examples of the like kind are full of interest as -showing the recurrence of megalocephalic variations from the common -cranial and cerebral standard among ancient races; and among rudest -savages as well as among the most cultivated classes of modern civilised -nations. But the order shown in the above instances is derived from -purely exceptional examples, and is no key to the relative capacity of -the races named. - -Opportunities for testing the size and weight of the brain among -barbarous races are only rarely accessible to those who are qualified to -avail themselves of them for the purposes of science. Some near -approximation to the relative brain-weight of the English, Scotch, -German, and French, may now be assumed to have been established. Dr. -Thurnam instituted a comparison between those and two of the prehistoric -races of Britain—the Dolichocephali of the Long Barrows, and the -Brachycephali of the Round Barrows of England.[176] The results are -curious, as showing not only a greater capacity in the ancient British -skulls than the average modern German, French, or English head; but an -actual average higher than that of all but five of the most -distinguished men of Europe, whose brain-weights have been recorded. On -comparing the ancient skulls with those of modern Europeans, as -determined by gauging the capacity of both by the same process, the -following are the results presented, according to the authorities -named:— - - TABLE VII - -───────────────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────┬──────────┬──────── - │ │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ │Capacity. │ Brain- - SKULLS OF MEN. │ No. │ Weight │ Cubic │ Centi- │ weight - │ │ of Sand. │ In. │ metres. │oz. av. - │ │ │ │ │ -───────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────┼──────────┼──────── - │ │ │ │ │ -Anc. British, L. │ 18 │ 82 │ 99 │ 1622 │ 54.0 -Barrows │ │ │ │ │ -Anc. British, R. │ 18 │ 80½ │ 98 │ 1605 │ 53.5 -Barrows │ │ │ │ │ -Mod. English, _Morton_ │ 28 │ 77 │ 94 │ 1540 │ 52.2 -Mod. French, _Broca_ │ 357 │ 74 │ 91 │ 1502 │ 50.6 -Mod. German, _Welcker_ │ 30 │ 72 │ 88 │ 1450 │ 49.0 - │ │ │ │ │ -───────────────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴────────┴──────────┴──────── - -The highest average of any nationality, as determined by Drs. Reid and -Peacock from the weighing of 157 brains of male patients, chiefly -Scottish Lowlanders, in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, is little more -than 50 oz., or 1417 grammes; whereas the estimated average brain-weight -in the ancient British skulls is 54 oz. for the Dolichocephali of the -Long Barrows, which equals that of Sir James Simpson, and exceeds all -but six of the most distinguished men adduced in Table IV. For the -Brachycephali of the Round Barrows it is 53.5 oz., which is in excess of -the brain-weights of Agassiz, Chalmers, Whewell, and other distinguished -men, and exactly accords with that of Daniel Webster and Lord Chancellor -Campbell. In so far, moreover, as this illustrates the cerebral capacity -of ancient races, it is in each case an average obtained by gauging -eighteen skulls, and not the cranial capacity of one or two -exceptionally large ones. Dr. Thurnam does indeed suggest that the -Barrows may have been the sepulchres of chiefs; nor is this unlikely; -but the superior vigour and mental endowment which this implies fails to -account for a cerebral capacity surpassing all but the most -distinguished men of science and letters in modern Europe referred to in -the above table. Rather may we conclude from this, as from other -evidence, that quality of brain may, within certain limits, be of more -significance than mere quantity; and that brains of the same volume, and -agreeing in weight, may greatly differ in minute structure and in powers -of cerebration. - -In the case of the ancient British Barrow-Builders we seem to have large -heads and remarkable development of brain, without any indications of an -equivalent in intellectual power; and although the estimated -brain-weight derived from gauging the capacity of the empty chamber of -the skull proceeds on the assumption of mass and weight agreeing, -sufficient data exist to justify the adoption of this for approximate -results. The average weight of brain of twelve male Negroes of -undetermined tribes, deduced from gauging their skulls, has been -ascertained to amount to 1255 grammes, or 44.3 oz. The actual weight of -brain of the Negro of Guinea, described by Professor Calori, was 1260 -grammes; and other examples vary considerably from the average. Mascagni -gives 1458 grammes as the weight of one Negro brain weighed by him; -equivalent to an actual brain-weight of 51.5 oz., which is greater than -that of Dupuytren, Whewell, Hermann, Tiedemann, or Grote. Nevertheless, -although the extremes are great, and are confirmed by a like diversity -in measurements of the horizontal circumference and of internal -capacity, the average result given above appears to be a fair and -reliable one. - -Thus far the inquiry into data illustrative of comparative size and -weight of brain has dealt chiefly with the races of the eastern -hemisphere. The compass is great in point of time in so far as it -embraces savage and civilised peoples, including the barbarians of -Europe’s Palæolithic era, along with modern tribes of Asia, Africa, and -Australia, and some of the most notable among the prehistoric races of -the British Isles. The compass is equally great in the range of -intellectual development, when to those are added data illustrative of -the average brain-weight of some of the leading nations of modern -Europe, and a series of examples derived from noted instances of the -highest exceptional types of intellectual power and activity in recent -times. Some general conclusions of a comprehensive kind seem to follow -legitimately from this evidence. Notwithstanding the prominence given to -the assumed evidence of a low type of skull, depressed forehead, and -poor frontal development, in the assumed primitive European Canstadt -race, when we keep in view the enormous interval of time assumed to -separate “those savages who peopled Europe in the Palæolithic age” from -our own era, the amount of difference in size and apparent brain-weight -is not remarkable. Compared with those of contemporary savage races it -suggests no more than the accompanying development of the brain in a -ratio with the intellectual activities of progressive civilisation, and -even then the relative brain-mass of the lowest type is suggestive of -latent powers only needing development. But the old and later races of -the New World stand in a different relation to each other; and the -process thus far employed when applied to determine the comparative -cranial capacities of the native American races, discloses results of a -different character, and widely at variance with those above described -relating to the ancient races of Britain. On the continent of America -the native ethnical scale embraces a comparatively narrow range, and any -intrusive elements are sufficiently recent to be easily eliminated. The -Patagonian and the Fuegian rank alongside of the Bushman, the Andaman -Islander, or the Australian, as among the lowest types of humanity; -while the Aztecs, Mayas, Quichuas, and Aymaras, attained to the highest -scale which has been reached independently by any native American race. -We owe to the zealous and indefatigable labours of Dr. Morton, alike in -the formation of his great collection of human crania, and in the -published results embodied in the _Crania Americana_, a large amount of -knowledge derived from this class of evidence in reference to the races -of the New World. In one respect, at least, those results stand out in -striking contrast to the large-headed barbarian Barrow-Builders of -ancient Britain. Dr. Morton subdivides the American races into the -Toltecan race, embracing the semi-civilised communities of Mexico, -Bogota, and Peru, and the barbarous tribes scattered over the continent -from the Arctic circle to Tierra del Fuego. His latest views are -embodied in a contribution to Schoolcraft’s _History of the Indian -Tribes of the United States_, entitled “The Physical Type of the -American Indians.” In treating of the volume of brain, he draws special -attention to the Peruvian skulls, 201 in number, obtained for him from -the cemeteries of Pisco, Pachacamac, and Arica. “Herera informs us that -Pachacamac was sacred to priests, nobles, and other persons of -distinction; and there is ample evidence that Arica and Pisco, though -free to all classes, were among the most favoured cemeteries of Peru.” -Dr. Morton accordingly adds: “It is of some importance to the present -inquiry, that nearly one-half of this series of Peruvian crania was -obtained at Pachacamac; whence the inference that they belonged to the -most intellectual and cultivated portion of the Peruvian nation; for in -Peru learning of every kind was an exclusive privilege of the ruling -caste.” In reality, however, later additions to our knowledge of the -physical characteristics of the ancient Peruvians tend to confirm the -idea of the existence of two distinct races: a patrician order occupying -a position analogous to the Franks of Gaul or the Normans of England, -though more aptly to be compared to the Brahmins of India; and a more -numerous class, constituting the labouring and industrial orders of the -community, abundantly represented in the Pacific coast tribes of Peru, -the cemeteries of which have furnished the larger number of crania to -European and American collections. - -To such a patrician order or caste the intellectual superiority and -privileges of the governing race pertained. But whatever may have been -the exclusive prerogatives of the patrician and sacerdotal orders, there -is no doubt that the Peruvians as a people had carried metallurgy to as -high a development as has been attained by any race ignorant of working -in iron. They had acquired great skill in the arts of the goldsmith, the -engraver, chaser, and modeller. Pottery was fashioned into many artistic -and fanciful forms, showing ingenuity and great versatility of fancy. -They excelled as engineers, architects, sculptors, weavers, and -agriculturists. Their public works display great skill, combined with -comprehensive aims of practical utility; and alone, among all the -nations of the New World, they had domesticated animals, and trained -them as beasts of burden. It is not, therefore, without reason that Dr. -Morton adds: “When we consider the institutions of the old Peruvians, -their comparatively advanced civilisation, their tombs and temples, -mountain roads and monolithic gateways, together with their knowledge of -certain ornamental arts, it is surprising to find that they possessed a -brain no larger than the Hottentot and New Hollander, and far below that -of the barbarous hordes of their own race. For, on measuring 155 crania, -nearly all derived from the sepulchres just mentioned, they give but 75 -cubic inches (equivalent, after due deduction for membranes and fluids, -to a brain of 40.1 oz. av. in weight,) for the average bulk of the -brain. Of the whole number, only one attains the capacity of 101 cubic -inches, and the minimum sinks to 58, the smallest in the whole series of -641 measured crania. It is important further to remark that the sexes -are nearly equally represented, namely, eighty men and seventy-five -women.” - -Other collections subsequently formed have largely added to our means of -testing the curious question thus raised of the apparent inverse ratio -of volume of brain to intellectual power and progressive civilisation -among the native races of the American continent. In 1866, Mr. E. G. -Squier presented to the Peabody Museum of American Archæology and -Ethnology at Harvard, a collection of seventy-five Peruvian skulls, -obtained by himself from various localities both on the coast and in the -interior. “The skulls from the interior represent the Aymara on Lake -Titicaca, as well as the Quichua, Cuzco, or Inca families; and the -skulls of every coast family from Tumbes to Atacama, or from Ecuador to -Chili.”[177] Subsequently the curator, the late Professor Jeffreys -Wyman, made this collection, along with two others, of skulls from the -mounds of Kentucky and Florida, the subject of careful comparative -measurements. The following are the results: The crania from Florida -were chiefly obtained from a burial place near an ancient Indian shell -mound of gigantic proportions, a few miles distant from Cedar Keys. They -are eighteen in number, and have a mean capacity of 1375.7 cubic -centimetres, or nearly 84 cubic inches. The skulls from the Kentucky -mounds, twenty-four in number, show a mean capacity of 1313 cubic -centimetres, 80.21 cubic inches, with a difference of 125 cubic -centimetres, or 7.61 cubic inches in favour of the males. Yet, small as -the Kentucky skulls are, they exceed the Peruvian ones. Keeping in view -the varied sources of the latter, Professor Wyman remarks: “Although the -crania from the several localities show some differences as regards -capacity, yet in most other respects they are alike.” And the numbers, -when viewed separately, are too few to attach much importance to -variations within so narrow a range. Nevertheless it is noteworthy that -the highest mean is that of the Aymaras of Lake Titicaca; and this -difference is considerably increased by measurements derived from -subsequent additions to the Harvard collection, received since the death -of Professor Wyman from the high valley of Lake Titicaca. In other -respects besides their marked superiority in size, the latter crania -differ from those of the Coast tribes, and confirm the earlier deduction -of an ethnical distinction between the more numerous race so abundantly -represented in the Coast cemeteries, and that which is chiefly -represented by crania brought from the interior. The numbers from the -several localities selected by Professor Wyman as fair average specimens -of the whole stand thus: six from burial towers, or chulpas, near Lake -Titicaca, 1292; five from Cajamaquilla, 1268.75; fourteen from Casma, -1254; four from Truxillo, 1236; four from Pachicamac, 1195; sixteen from -Amacavilca, 1176.2; and seven from Grand Chimu, 1094.28. - -In 1872, the collection of Peruvian crania in the Peabody Museum was -augmented by a large addition from 330 skulls obtained by Professor -Agassiz, through the intervention of Mr. T. J. Hutchinson, British -Consul at Callao, in Peru. From those contributed to the Harvard Museum, -Dr. Wyman selected eleven as apparently the only ones unaffected by any -artificial compression or distortion, and therefore valuable as -illustrations of the normal shape of the Peruvian head. They are quite -symmetrical. The occiput, instead of being flattened or vertical, as in -the distorted crania, has the ordinary curves, and in some of them is -prominent. Two of them are marked by a low, retreating forehead; but in -all the others the forehead is moderately developed. As, moreover, the -larger half appear to be the skulls of females, this accounts for the -mean capacity falling below the Peruvian average. But they are all -small. The largest of them is only 1260 cubic centimetres, or less than -74 cubic inches; and the average capacity of ten of them is 1129 cubic -centimetres, or 69 cubic inches. - -The collection, as a whole, differs from that of Mr. Squier, in having -been derived from the huacas, or ancient graves of one locality, that of -Ancon, near Callao. Professor Wyman stated as the result of his careful -study of them: “The average capacity obtained from the whole collection, -including those having the distorted as well as the natural shape, -varies but little from that of previous measurements,” including those -of Morton and Meigs, and his own results from the Squier collection. - -Another collection of 150 ancient skulls, obtained by Mr. Hutchinson -during his residence in Peru, and presented to the Anthropological -Institute of London, has the additional value, like that of Squier, of -having been carefully selected from different localities, including -Santos, Ica, Ancon, Passamayo, and Cerro del Oro; and the same may be -said of those enumerated in the _Thesaurus Craniorum_ of Dr. Davis. We -have thus unusually ample materials for determining the cranial -characteristics of this remarkable people, and the results in every case -are the same. After a careful examination of the Peruvian skulls, in the -London anthropological collection, Professor Busk states his conclusions -thus: “The mean capacity of the larger skulls, which may be regarded as -males, appears, as far as I have gone, to be about 80 cubic inches, -equivalent to a brain of about 45 ounces, roughly estimated. This -capacity, and the measurements above cited, show that the crania -generally are of small size”; and he adds: “this is in accord with the -statements of all observers.”[178] - -Dr. Davis has added to the valuable data included in his _Thesaurus -Craniorum_, a series of measurements of skeletons. Unfortunately that of -a male Quichua, procured by him in the form of a “Peruvian mummy,” -proved to be affected with carious disease about the last dorsal and -upper lumbar vertebræ; and consequently the length of the vertebral -column essential for comparison with the skeletons of other races, is -wanting; but the other measurements indicate in this example a stature -below the average, while the skull exceeds it. The average internal -capacity of eighteen Quichua male skulls, as given by Dr. Davis, is -seventy-three, whereas this is 78.5. That the ancient Peruvian skulls -are, with rare exceptions, of small size, is undoubted; and in view of -this it becomes a matter of some importance to determine whether this -was in any degree due to a correspondingly small stature. Obscure -references are found in the legendary history of Peru to a pigmy race. -Pedro de Cieza de Leon, whose travels have been translated by Mr. -Markham, refers to the first emigration of the Indians of Chincha to -that valley, “where they found many inhabitants, but all of such small -stature, that the tallest was barely two cubits high” (p. 260). -Garcilasso de la Vega repeats another tradition heard by himself in -Peru, of a race of giants who came by sea to the country, and were so -tall that the natives reached no higher than their knees. They lived by -rapine, and wasted the whole country till they were destroyed by fire -from heaven. Traditions of this class may possibly point to the -existence of an aboriginal race of small stature. The aborigines of -Guatemala, Salvador, and Nicaragua, are described as below the middle -size (Bancroft, vol. i. p. 688); and Von Tchudi divides the wild Indians -of Peru into the Iscuchanos, the natives of the highlands, a tall, slim, -vigorous race, with the head proportionally large and the forehead low; -and those of the hot lowlands, a smaller race, lank, but broad -shouldered, with a broad face and small round chin. There appear, -therefore, to be traces of one or more aboriginal races of small -stature. But Dr. Morton says expressly of the Peruvians: “Our knowledge -of their physical appearance is derived solely from their tombs. In -stature they appear not to have been in any respect remarkable, nor to -have differed from the cognate nations except in the conformation of the -head, which is small, greatly elongated, narrow its whole length, with a -very retreating forehead, and possessing more symmetry than is usual in -skulls of the American race.” Some of the characteristics here referred -to are, in part at least, the result of artificial modifications; but -the small head appears to be an indisputable characteristic of the most -numerous ancient people of Peru. - -It may not unreasonably excite surprise that Dr. Morton should have -adduced results apparently pointing to the conclusion that civilisation -had progressed among the native races of the American continent in an -inverse ratio to the volume of brain; and yet passed it over with such -slight comment. The only hint at a recognition of the difficulty is -where, as he draws his work to a close, he indicates his observation of -a greater anterior and coronal development in the smaller Peruvian -brain. “It is curious,” he says, “to observe that the barbarous nations -possess a larger brain by 5½ cubic inches than the Toltecans; while, on -the other hand, the Toltecans possess a greater relative capacity of the -anterior chamber of the skull in the proportion of 42.3 to 41.8. Again, -the coronal region, though absolutely greater in the barbarous tribes, -is rather larger in proportion in the demi-civilised tribes.”[179] But -Dr. Morton also noted that the heads of nine Peruvian children in his -possession “appear to be nearly if not quite as large as those of -children of other nations at the same age”;[180] so that he seemed to -recognise something equivalent to an arrested cerebral development -accompanying the intellectual activity of this remarkable people at some -later stage, yet without apparently affecting their mental power. But it -was characteristic of this minute and painstaking observer to accumulate -and set forth his results, unaffected by any apparent difficulties or -inconsistencies which they might seem to involve. - -Important advances have been made in craniometry, as in other branches -of anthropology, since Dr. Morton formed the collection which now, with -many later additions, constitutes an important department in the -collections of the Academy of Science of Philadelphia. Zealous and -well-trained labourers are following in his steps; but the value of his -services to science are more fully appreciated with every addition to -the work he inaugurated. Researches have been prosecuted for some years -by a committee of the British Association with a view to securing -reliable data relative to the tribes of the Canadian North-West and -British Columbia. In following out their instructions, Dr. Franz Boas -has prepared valuable tables of measurements, both of living examples of -the Haidah, Tsimshian, Kwakintl, and Nootka tribes, and of crania of -those and other natives of the Pacific coast; but unfortunately he has -omitted the cerebral capacity. But a large collection of crania of -tribes lying to the south of British Columbia, now in the Peabody Museum -of Harvard University, has furnished to Mr. Lucien Carr opportunities -for a series of careful measurements showing some very distinctive -diversities among tribes of the coast and the islands of Southern -California. From those the following table is derived. The capacity is -given in cubic centimetres; and shows not only a marked diversity in -cerebral capacity distinguishing different island tribes, but also notes -the relative difference of the male and female head. Among the Indians -of the Pacific coast are the Haidahs and others noted for exceptional -ingenuity and skill in their carvings, pottery, and other handiwork. But -besides the fair-skinned Haidahs and Tsimshians of the north, there are -essentially diverse tribes of Southern California, noticeable for -swarthy and almost black colour; and not only inferior, but essentially -differing in the style of their arts. - - TABLE VIII - - CRANIA OF PACIFIC COAST TRIBES - _Santa Catalina Island, California._ - -───────────────┬──────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────── - │ │ │ │ -No. of Crania. │ Sex. │ Capacity │ Capacity │ Capacity - │ │ Average. │ Maximum. │ Minimum. - │ │ │ │ -───────────────┼──────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────── - │ │ │ │ - 26 │ Male │ 1470 │ 1719 │ 1282 - 12 │ Female │ 1279 │ 1451 │ 1098 - │ │ │ │ -───────────────┴──────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────── - - _San Clementé Island, California._ - -───────────────┬──────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────── - │ │ │ │ -No. of Crania. │ Sex. │ Capacity │ Capacity │ Capacity - │ │ Average. │ Maximum. │ Minimum. - │ │ │ │ -───────────────┼──────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────── - │ │ │ │ - 9 │ Male │ 1452 │ 1747 │ 1300 - 6 │ Female │ 1315 │ 1352 │ 1268 - │ │ │ │ -───────────────┴──────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────── - - _Santa Cruz Island, California._ - -───────────────┬──────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────── - │ │ │ │ -No. of Crania. │ Sex. │ Capacity │ Capacity │ Capacity - │ │ Average. │ Maximum. │ Minimum. - │ │ │ │ -───────────────┼──────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────── - │ │ │ │ - 45 │ Male │ 1365 │ 1625 │ 1144 - 35 │ Female │ 1219 │ 1528 │ 1040 - │ │ │ │ -───────────────┴──────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────── - - _Santa Barbara Islands and Mainland._ - -───────────────┬──────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────── - │ │ │ │ -No. of Crania. │ Sex. │ Capacity │ Capacity │ Capacity - │ │ Average. │ Maximum. │ Minimum. - │ │ │ │ -───────────────┼──────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────── - │ │ │ │ - 9 │ Male │ 1324 │ 1441 │ 1167 - 5 │ Female │ 1247 │ 1316 │ 1175 - │ │ │ │ -───────────────┴──────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────── - -Among exceptional features claimed as more or less a racial -characteristic of American crania, the _os Incæ_, or epactal bone in the -occiput, has been noted as present in various stages of manifestation in -3.81 per cent; and among ancient Peruvian crania in 6.08 per cent; while -it does not apparently exceed 2.65 per cent in the Negro; and only -reaches 1.19 per cent in Europeans.[181] In so far as this may be -regarded as a sign of arrested development, it is noteworthy as thus -occurring in excess in the small-headed, yet highly ingenious and -civilised Peruvian race. Dr. Morton noted as a remarkable fact that the -skull of the Peruvian child appeared to equal in size that of other -races; so that in a much ampler sense than in the perpetuation of a -suture of the occiput beyond the stage of fœtal development, the -small-sized skull and brain of the adult Peruvian is abnormal. But he -followed out his observation of the phenomena no farther than to state, -in summing up his investigations “On the internal capacity of the -cranium in the different races of men:”[182] “Respecting the American -race, I have nothing to add, excepting the striking fact that of all the -American nations, the Peruvians had the smallest heads, while those of -the Mexicans were something larger, and those of the barbarous tribes -the largest of all,” namely:— - - { Peruvians, collectively 75 cubic inches. - Toltecan Nations { - { Mexicans, „ 79 „ „ - Barbarous Tribes 82 „ „ - -The enlarged tables given in the catalogue of Dr J. Aitken Meigs, -increase this inverse ratio of cerebral capacity, thus:— - - Peruvians 75.3 - Mexicans 81.7 - Barbarous Tribes 84.0 - -“The great American group,” he says, “is, in several respects, well -represented in the collection. It includes 490 crania and 13 casts, -making a total of 503 from nearly 70 different nations and tribes. Of -this large number 256 belong to the Toltecan race (embracing the -semi-civilised communities of Mexico, Bogota, and Peru), and 247 to the -barbarous tribes scattered over the continent. Of 164 measurements of -crania of the barbarous tribes, the largest is 104 cubic inches; the -smallest 69; and the mean of all 84. One hundred and fifty-two Peruvian -skulls give 101 cubic inches for the largest internal capacity, 58 for -the smallest, and 75.3 for the average of all.”[183] - -The results which Professor Jeffreys Wyman arrived at from a careful -comparative measurement of the Squier collection, were confirmed by his -subsequent study of that of Professor Agassiz, and may be quoted as -applying to both; for he sums up his later investigations with the -remark: “These results agree with all previous conclusions with regard -to the diminutive size of the ancient Peruvian brain.”[184] Of the -Squier collection he says: “The average capacity of the fifty-six crania -measured agrees very closely with that indicated by Morton and Meigs, -namely, 1230 centimetres, or 75 cubic inches, which is considerably less -than that of the barbarous tribes of America, and almost exactly that of -the Australians and Hottentots as given by Morton and Meigs, and smaller -than that derived from a larger number of measurements by Davis. Thus we -have, in this particular, a race which has established a complex civil -and religious polity, and made great progress in the useful and fine -arts,—as its pottery, textile fabrics, wrought metals, highways and -aqueducts, colossal architectural structures and court of almost -imperial splendour prove,—on the same level, as regards the quantity of -brain, with a race whose social and religious conditions are among the -most degraded exhibited by the human race. All this goes to show, and -cannot be too much insisted upon, that the relative capacity of the -skull is to be considered merely as an anatomical and not as a -physiological characteristic; and unless the quality of the brain can be -represented at the same time as the quantity, brain measurement cannot -be assumed as an indication of the intellectual position of races any -more than of individuals.”[185] - -The only definite attempt of Dr. Morton to solve the difficulty thus -presented to us, curiously evades its true point. “Something,” he says, -“may be attributed to a primitive difference of stock; but more, -perhaps, to the contrasted activity of the two races.” Here, however, it -is not a case of intellectual activity accompanied by, and seemingly -begetting an increased volume of brain; but only the assumption of -greater activity in the small-brained race to account for its triumph -over larger-brained barbarous tribes in the attainment of numerous -elements of a native-born civilisation. The question is, how to account -for this intellectual activity, with all its marvellous results, -attained by a race with an average brain of no greater volume than that -of the Bushman, the Australian, or other lowest types of humanity. - -The Nilotic Egyptian race, of composite ethnical character, presents -striking elements of comparison, in the ingenious arts and constructive -skill of the ancient dwellers in the Nile valley; but whether we take -the Egyptian of the Catacombs, the Copt, or the Fellah, we seek in vain -for like microcephalous characteristics. Among modern races the Chinese -exhibit many analogies in arts and social life to the ancient Peruvians; -but their cerebral capacity presents no correspondence to that of the -American race. Dr. Morton gives a mean capacity for the Chinese skull of -85, as compared with the Peruvian 75.3, while Dr. Davis derives from -nineteen skulls a mean internal capacity of 76.7 oz. av., or 93 cubic -inches. - -But another Asiatic race, that of the Hindoos—also associated with a -remarkable ancient civilisation, and a social and religious organisation -not without suggestive analogies both to ancient Egypt and Peru,—is -noticeable for like microcephalous characteristics. In completing the -anatomical measurements with which Dr. Morton closes his great work, he -places the Ethiopian lowest in the scale of internal capacity of -cranium; but, while including the Hindoo in his Caucasian group, he -adds: “It is proper to mention that but three Hindoos are admitted in -the whole number, because the skulls of these people are probably -smaller than those of any other existing nation. For example, seventeen -Hindoo heads give a mean of but 75 cubic inches.”[186] The Vedahs of -Ceylon, the Mincopies, the Negritos, and the Bushmen, appear to vie with -the Hindoos in smallness of skull; but all of them are races of -diminutive stature. This element, therefore, which has been referred to -as important in individual comparisons, is no less necessary to be borne -in view in determining such comparative results as those which -distinguish the Peruvians from other American races. Certain races are -unquestionably distinguished from others by difference of stature. -Barrow determined the mean height of the Bushman, from measurements of a -whole tribe, to be 4 ft. 3½ in. D’Orbigny, from nearly similar evidence, -states that of the Patagonians to be 5 ft. 8 in. The internal capacity -of the Peruvian skull, as derived from eighteen male and six female -Quichua skulls in Dr. Davis’s collection, is 70, while he states that of -the Patagonian skull as 67 and of the Bushman as 65; but it is manifest -that the latter figures, if taken without reference to relative stature, -furnish a very partial index of the comparative volume of brain. - -Professor Goodsir, as already noted, held that symmetry of brain has -more to do with the higher faculties than mere bulk. In the case of the -Peruvians the systematic distortion of the skull precludes the -application of this test. But in the small Hindoo skull the fine -proportions have been repeatedly noted. Dr. Davis, in describing one of -a Hindoo of unmixed blood, born in Sumatra, says: “His pretty, -diminutive skull is singularly contrasted with those of the races by -whom, alive, he was surrounded”;[187] and he adds: “The great agreement -of the elegant skulls of Hindoos in their types and proportions, -although not in dimensions, with those of European races, has afforded -some support to that widespread and learned illusion, ‘the Indo-European -hypothesis.’ The Hindoo skulls are generally beautiful models of form in -miniature.” - -Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, in his _Malay Archipelago_, discusses the value -of cranial measurements for ethnological purposes; and, employing those -furnished by Dr. J. B. Davis in his _Thesaurus Craniorum_ as a “means of -determining whether the forms and dimensions of the crania of the -eastern races would in any way support or refute his classification of -them,” he finally selected as the best tests for his purpose—1. The -capacity of the cranium; 2. The proportion of the width to the length -taken as 100; 3. The proportion of the height to the length taken as -100. But here again, unfortunately, the systematic distortion of the -Peruvian skull limits us to the first of those tests. There are, indeed, -the eleven normal Peruvian crania selected as such from the numerous -Ancon skulls brought by Professor Agassiz from Peru. But those are -stated by Professor Wyman to be on an average less by six inches than -the ordinary skull. Some partial results embodied in the following table -admit of comparison with those based on the more ample data of Table X. -Dr. Lucae, in his _Zur Organischen Formenlehre_, gives the cranial -capacity of single skulls of different races, selected as examples of -each. In these, as in others already referred to, the capacity was -determined with peas; and the results—assumed to be given in Prussian -ounces,—are dealt with here, as in the skulls of Heinse and Bünger. The -experiments carried on for the purpose of testing the process fully -confirmed the results stated by Professor Wyman as to the differences in -apparent cubical capacity according to the material employed. Taking a -sound Huron Indian skull, a mean internal capacity of 1490 grms. was -obtained by repeatedly gauging it with peas, and of 1439.5 with rice. -The position of the Negro, heading the list, serves to show the -exceptional nature of the evidence; though this is rather due to the -inferiority of other examples, such as the Chinese and Greenlander, than -to its capacity greatly exceeding the Negro mean. In the first column -the unzen, as Prussian ounces, are rendered in grammes. The second -column gives the nearer approximation to the true specific gravity, -according to the standard referred to, based on a series of experiments -carried out under my direction in the laboratory of the University of -Toronto, and assuming 82.5 grms. of peas to occupy the space of 100 -grms. of water. The third and fourth columns represent the estimated -brain-weight, after the requisite deductions, on the basis of s.g. of -brain as 1.0408. - - TABLE IX - - LUCAE - -───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬────────── - │ │ │ │ - │ Internal │ Internal Cap. │ Brain-Weight. │ Brain- - │ Capacity. │ Corrected. │ Grms. │ weight. - │ Grms. │ Grms. │ │ Oz. Av. - │ │ │ │ -───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼────────── - │ │ │ │ -Negro │ 1169.28 │ 1424.12 │ 1281.71 │ 45.2 -Chinese │ 1081.58 │ 1364.48 │ 1228.04 │ 43.4 -Nubian │ 1041.24 │ 1313.54 │ 1182.19 │ 41.7 -Floris │ 1033.93 │ 1304.38 │ 1173.94 │ 41.4 -Papuan │ 1030.42 │ 1299.95 │ 1169.96 │ 41.3 -Greenlander │ 1023.12 │ 1290.74 │ 1161.67 │ 41.0 -Javanese │ 995.06 │ 1254.54 │ 1129.91 │ 39.8 - │ │ │ │ -───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴────────── - -In the following table the examples are derived from Dr. J. B. Davis’s -tables, with the exception of the Peruvians. For these I have availed -myself of Dr. Jeffreys Wyman’s careful observations on the large -collection in the Peabody Museum, the results of which confirm Dr. -Morton’s earlier data. One further fact, however, may be noted as a -result of my own study of Peruvian crania, amply confirmed by the -published observations of others, namely, that while the Peruvian head -unquestionably ranks among those of the microcephalous races, the range -of variation among the Peruvian coast tribes appears to be less than -that even of the Australian. Of this there is good evidence, based on -the comparison of several hundred crania. But exceptional examples of -unusually large skulls may be looked for in all races; and a few of such -abnormal Peruvian or other skulls would modify the mean capacities and -weights in the following table. Nevertheless the average results, as a -whole, are probably a close approximation to the truth:— - - TABLE X - - COMPARATIVE CEREBRAL CAPACITY OF RACES - - ────────────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────── - │ │ │ - │ │ Capacity. │ Brain-Weight. - Race. │ Number. │ Cubic Inches. │ Oz. Av. - │ │ │ - ────────────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────── - │ │ │ - European │ 299 │ 92.3 │ 47.12 - English │ 21 │ 93.1 │ 47.50 - Asiatic │ 124 │ 87.1 │ 44.44 - Chinese │ 25 │ 92.1 │ 47.00 - Hindoos │ 35 │ 82.5 │ 42.11 - Negroes │ 16 │ 86.4 │ 44.08 - Negro Tribes │ 69 │ 85.2 │ 43.47 - American Indians │ 52 │ 87.5 │ 44.64 - Mexicans │ 25 │ 81.7 │ 41.74 - Peruvians │ 56 │ 75.0 │ 38.25 - Eskimos │ 13 │ 91.2 │ 46.56 - Oceanic │ 210 │ 89.4 │ 45.63 - Javans │ 30 │ 87.5 │ 44.64 - Australians │ 24 │ 81.1 │ 41.38 - │ │ │ - ────────────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────── - -Looking for some definite results from the various data here produced, -the deductions which they seem to suggest may be thus stated. While -Professor Wyman justly remarks that the relative capacity of the skull, -and consequently of the encephalon, is to be considered as an anatomical -and not as a physiological characteristic, relative largeness of the -brain is nevertheless one of the most distinguishing attributes of man. -Ample cerebral development is the general accompaniment of intellectual -capacity, alike in individuals and races; and microcephaly, when it -passes below well-defined limits, is no longer compatible with rational -intelligence; though it amply suffices for the requirements of the -highest anthropomorpha. Wagner thus definitely refers the special -characteristics which separate man from the irrational creation to one -member of the encephalon: “The relation of the lobes of the cerebrum to -intelligence may, perhaps, be expressed thus: there is a certain -development of the mass of the cerebrum, especially of the convolutions, -requisite in order to such a development of intelligence as divides man -from other animals.” - -The important data accumulated by Morton, Meigs, Davis, Tiedemann, -Pruner-Bey, Broca, and others, by the process of gauging the skulls of -different races, proceeds on the assumption of brain of a uniform -density. But it seems by no means improbable that certain marked -distinctions in races may be traceable to the very fact of a prevailing -difference in the specific gravity of the brain, or of certain of its -constituent portions; to the greater or less complexity of its -convolutions; and to the relative characteristics of the two -hemispheres. Moreover, it may be that some of those sources of -difference in races may not lie wholly out of our reach, or even beyond -our control. The diversity of food, for example, of the Peruvians and of -the American Indian hunter tribes was little less than that which -distinguishes the Eskimo from the Hindoo, or the nomad Tartar from the -Chinese. The remarkable cerebral capacity characteristic of the Oceanic -races is the accompaniment of well-defined peculiarities in food, -climate, and other physical conditions; and Australia is even more -distinct in its physical specialties than in its variety of race. - -Looking then to the unwonted persistency of the Peruvian cranium within -such narrow limits, so far at least as the physical characteristics of -the predominant population of Peru are illustrated by means of the great -Coast cemeteries; and to the striking discrepancy between the volume of -brain and the intellectual activity of the race; I am led to the -conclusion that, in the remarkable exceptional characteristics thus -established by the study of this class of Peruvian crania, we have as -marked an indication of a distinctive race-character as anything -hitherto noted in anthropology. - ------ - -[152] _The Descent of Man_, Part I. chap. iv. - -[153] _Insanity and its Treatment_, by G. F. Blandford, M.D., p. 10. - -[154] _Mr. Darwin’s Critics: Critiques and Addresses._ - -[155] Vogt, _Lectures on Man_, Lecture III. - -[156] _Journal of Mental Science_, vol. xii. p. 23. - -[157] _Philosophical Transactions_, vol. clviii. p. 505. - -[158] _Proceedings of the Boston Natural History Society_, vol. xl. - -[159] The internal capacity of 59 oz. is given here from the _Thesaurus -Craniorum_, p. 40, in correction of that of 50 oz. stated in the memoir -in _Transactions of the Dutch Society of Sciences_, Haarlem, p. 21, -which may be presumed to be a misprint. Dr. Davis adds, in the -_Thesaurus Craniorum_: “An early closure of the sutures has occasioned a -stunted growth of the brain, especially of its convolutions, and thus -prevented the development of those structures and faculties which might -have given a different direction to his lower propensities”; and he -justly adds his conviction that this was a case rather for timely -treatment as a dangerous idiot, than for punishment as a criminal. - -[160] _Report of British Association_, 1861. - -[161] _Journal Anthrop. Inst._, vol. iv. p. 464. - -[162] _Limits of Natural Selection, as applied to Man._ - -[163] _Bull. de la Soc. d’Anthropologie de Paris_, 1861, ii. p. 501; -1862, iii. p. 192. - -[164] _Mem. Anthropol. Soc. London_, vol. i. p. 65. - -[165] _Crania Ægyptiaca_, p. 21. - -[166] _Vide_ “Physical Characteristics of the Ancient and Modern Celt”: -_Canadian Journal_, vol. vii. p. 369. - -[167] _Thesaurus Craniorum_ (Appendix), p. 347. - -[168] _Archæologia Scotica_, vol. ii. p. 450. - -[169] _Phrenological Development of Robert Burns_, by George Combe, p. -7. - -[170] The use of different standards of weights and measures, and of -diverse materials for determining the capacity of the skull in different -countries, greatly complicates the researches of the craniologist. Some -pains have been taken here to bring the various weights and measurements -to a common standard. In attempting to do so in reference to the weight -of brain of Italy’s great poet, the following process was adopted: It -was ascertained by experiment that 912.5 grms. of rice, well shaken -down, occupied the space of 1000 grms. of water. Hence 3.1321 lbs. -rice = 3.4324 water. Multiplying this by 1.04, the s.g. of brain, the -result is the capacity of the skull, viz. 3.5697 lbs., or 57 oz., as -given above. In this and other investigations embodied in the present -paper, I was indebted to the valuable co-operation of my late friend and -colleague, Professor H. H. Croft. - -[171] Dr. J. B. Davis, Supp. _Thesaurus Craniorum_, p. 7. - -[172] Sir H. Holland’s _Recollections of Past Life_, p. 254. - -[173] _The Descent of Man_, vol. i. p. 120. Appleton ed. - -[174] _Memoirs of Anthrop. Soc. London_, vol. i. p. 289. _Thesaurus -Craniorum_, p. 49. - -[175] Grey’s _Elegy_. - -[176] _Mem. Anthropol. Soc. London_, vol. i. p. 465. - -[177] _Peabody Museum Annual Report_, 1868, p. 7. - -[178] _Journal of Anthropol. Inst._, vol. iii. p. 92. - -[179] _Crania Americana_, p. 260. - -[180] _Ibid._, p. 132. - -[181] _Crania Americana_, p. 261. - -[182] Same as Footnote 181. - -[183] _Introductory Note, Catalogue_, p. 10. - -[184] _Peabody Museum Report_, 1874, p. 10. - -[185] _Ibid_. 1871, p. 11. - -[186] _Crania Americana_, p. 261. - -[187] _Thesaurus Craniorum_, p. 148. - - - - - INDEX - - -Abbeville, bones of extinct mammalia at, 154 -Abbot, Dr. Charles C., _Primitive Industry of the Native Races_, quoted, - 89, 98; - discoveries at Trenton, 100, 158, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 167, 180 -Abercrombie, Dr., 374, 376 -Adam, M. Lucien, papers by, 19 -Africa, circumnavigation of, in 611 B.C., 9 -African hybrid, the, 311 -Agassiz, Professor, 20, 150, 216, 375, 376, 385, 390, 396, 399 -Akkad, language of the Sumerian class, 27 -Alaska, peopled by Eskimo, 66, 234 -Aleutian Island, 66, 117 -Algonkins, 18, 66, 106, 173, 206, 207, 216, 229, 234, 237, 241, 243, 244, - 248, 252, 254, 265, 268, 270, 274, 275, 276, 280, 281, 282, 300, 304, - 318 -Alleghans, 106, 172, 174, 175 -Alligéwi, 103, 172, 215, 251, 253, 267, 269, 273, 287 -Alphabet, Indian, 237 -Alton, find of flint implements, 97 -Andaman Islander, 348, 387 -Andastes, 253 -Andastogues, 253 -Anderdon, Indian reserve, 280, 284, 295, 306 -Anne, Queen, gift to the Mohawks, 314 -_Antiquitates Americanæ_, 51, 57, 58, 61 -Apaches, 175, 229 -Arapahoes, 235 -Arifrode’s Icelandic Saga, 51 -Arnold, Dr., 137 -Arrowhead-makers, 224 -Artist, the Indian, 193 -Ashbrandsson, Biorn, 37 -Assiniboins, 120, 121 -Athabaska river, 121, 126 -Athabascan, language of, 18 -Atkinson, Henry George, 353 -Atlantis, legend of, 1; - supposed geographical position, 2 -Attiwendaronks, 177, 220, 254, 256, 277, 278, 282, 294 -Aughey, Professor, 148 -Avalldamon, Skræling chief, 69 -Aymaras, 387, 389 -Aztecs, 20, 103, 238, 268, 287, 387 - -Babeens, 90, 121, 207, 312 -Bacon, quoted, 34 -Bancroft’s _Native Races of the Pacific States_, quoted, 6, 70 -Barlow, Dr. H. C., 369 -Basket-work, 224 -Bastian, 343 -Bateman, 83, 188 -Batoche, 334 -Bauchman’s Beach, arrow-makers of, 128 -Bay of Quinté, 314 -Bearfoot, Rev. Isaac, 302 -Bear Skin, a Haidah chief, and Judge Pemberton, 211 -Beatty, Mr., 326 -Beechy, Captain, 204 -Belgium caves, 357 -Bell, Dr. Robert, 101, 120, 125, 126 -Bentham, Jeremy, 352 -Berkeley landed at Rhode Island in 1728, 79 -Bertram, the Cherokees described by, 173 -Bible, Indian, translation of, 298, 299 -Blackfeet, 120, 175, 178, 206, 226, 229, 234, 312, 329, 333 -Blankets, drawings on Haidah, 211 -Boas, Dr. Franz, 393 -Bone implements, 167 -Borlase, 83 -Boucher de Perthes, M., 5, 88, 91, 112 -Boyd, Dr., 367, 377, 380, 381, 382 -Boyle, Robert, 289 -Brain, the weight in proportion to the body, 341 -Brain, the average weight of, 353, 360 -Brant, a native chief, 321 -Brasseur de Bourbourg, Abbé, 5 -Brazil, discovery of, 13, 38; - caves, 148, 149 -Brewster, Sir David, 182 -Brinton, Dr., 14, 20, 28, 241, 243 -British Association at Montreal, 61, 69 -British Columbia, tribes of, 115, 324 -Brown, George, 376 -—— J. Allan, 88 -Brownell’s _Indian Races_, 251 -Broca, Professor, 354, 357, 358, 373, 376, 377, 381, 402 -Bronze, sword, leaf-shaped, 85; - workers in, 95 -Bruce, King Robert the, 354, 369, 374 -Buckland’s, Dean, _Reliquiæ Diluvianæ_, 145 -Buffalo, 178, 325 -Buffalo robe, pictured, 35, 89 -Bulmer, J. Y., 55 -Bünger, Professor, 372, 374 -Burns’s head, 369, 374, 379 -Busk, Professor, 390 -Buslyde, Hierome, 76 -Byron, 355, 375, 376 - -Cabral, Pedro Alvares de, 12, 45 -Caliban, references to, 74, 84, 247 -Calori, Professor C. L., 342 -Campbell, Lord Chancellor, 376, 385 -Canarses of Long Island, 269 -Caniengas, or Flint People, 264, 285, 294 -Cape Breton Island, 53, 54, 69 -Cape Cod, 62 -Carantouans, 253 -Caribbees, shell-workers of the, 94 -Caribs, 190 -Carpenter, Dr., 336 -Carr, Lucien, 393 -Cartier, Jacques, 53, 176, 253, 262, 268, 274, 275, 277, 280, 281, 282, - 295 -Carved lodge-poles, 210, 212 -Cassiterides, 181 -Catawbas, 103, 173, 274 -Catlin, Mr., artist, 123 -Caughnawaga, 306 -Cave-men, 152, 153, 165, 195, 196 -Cayugas, 253, 278, 289, 294, 297, 305, 318 -Centennial Exposition of Philadelphia in 1876, 166 -Chalmers, Dr., 376, 378, 385 -Champlain, 252, 268, 274, 275, 276, 277, 281 -Charlevoix, Père, 117, 277 -Charles River, 49 -Charlton, B. E., 220 -Chattahoochee River, 97 -Chatta-Muskogees, 103, 173 -Cherohakahs, 253, 296 -Cherokees, 103, 172, 173, 174, 253, 274, 287, 298 -Chesapeake Bay, 269 -Cheyennes, 175, 229 -Chickasaws, 103, 286 -Chichenitza sculptured tablets, 34 -Chimpseyans, 121, 138, 207, 208 -China, money of, 22 -Chincha, Indians of, 391 -Chinooks, 130, 134, 227, 234, 312 -Chippeways, 121, 124, 134, 225, 312, 318, 329, 351 -Choctaws, 103, 173, 286, 287 -Chuakouet, grape vine at, in 1606, 53 -Cisneros, Dr., 362 -Cissbury, flint pits at, 92 -Clalam Indians, 121, 138, 312 -Clarke, Hyde, _Examination of the Legend_, quoted, 2; - _Khita and Khita-Peruvian Epoch_, quoted, 4, 26 -Clarke, Lockhart, 340 -Clatsops, 130, 226, 234 -Claussen, M., 148 -Cliff dwellings, 135 -Cloyne, Bishop of, 77 -Colbert, shipment of emigrants under direction of, 316 -Coles, the, 348 -Columbus, 1, 7, 11, 13, 37, 40, 72, 73, 74, 77, 131, 325 -Columns, ornamental, 209 -Comanches, 175 -Combe, George, 369 -Comparative cerebral capacity of races, 400, 401 -Compass, the, of the Norse rovers, 12 -Conestogas, 253 -Cook, Captain, 14 -Copan, statue at, 34, 35 -Copenhagen, rune-stones at, 42, 56 -Copper of Lake Superior, 35, 115, 170, 179, 262, 313; - of Mexico, 179, 181 -—— implements, 106, 116, 179, 182, 212, 262 -—— ornaments, 116, 212 -—— smelting, 180 -Coral islands of the Pacific, 21 -Correa, Pedro, 74 -Corvo, coins found at, 9, 36 -Cowlitz, 130, 226, 227, 312 -Crania of Pacific coast tribes, 394 -Creeks, 103, 274 -Crees, 175, 178, 206, 227, 229, 312, 329, 333 -Cresson, H. T., 99, 100, 162 -Cristineaux, 143, 323 -Cromagnon cavern, 85, 357, 358, 361 -Cross-ness, 61 -Cumshewa, 115 -Cunningham’s Island, 177, 278 -Curtius, Professor, 10 -Cushing, Mr., 244, 300 -Cusick, David, 252, 277 -Cuvier, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377 -Cuoq, M., 297 -Cuzco, 389 - -Dakota, 229, 256 -Dakotan, language of, 18, 296 -Dall, W. H., 117, 152, 205, 323 -D’Allyon, Father, 177 -Dalton, Dr., 352 -Dante, 368, 369, 374 -Darwin, 339, 372 -Davis, Dr. J. Barnard, 117, 342, 344, 345, 347, 348, 349, 355, 362, 365, - 366, 370, 373, 383, 390, 391, 397, 398, 400, 402 -—— Straits, 65 -Dawkins, Professor Boyd, 150, 151, 152, 165, 358, 359 -Dawson, Dr. G. M., 114, 120, 125 -—— S. J., 330 -Dawson’s, Sir W., _Fossil Men_, 219 -Delaware gravel beds, 98, 158 -Delawares, 103, 175, 251, 269 -De Leon, Pedro de Cieza, 391 -Denham, Admiral H. M., 347 -Designs on pottery, Indian, 121, 189, 190, 195, 220; - by cave-men, 196 -De Quatrefages, Professor, 206, 215, 216 -De Quincey, 378 -_Descriptio insularum aquilonis_, 52 -De Soto, 173 -Dighton Rock, 46, 47, 54, 61, 79, 206 -Dirichlet, the mathematician, 376 -Dobson, G. E., 348, 349 -Donnelly’s _Atlantis_, 6 -Dooyentate, Peter, 252, 274, 276, 295 -D’Orbigny, 143, 398 -Dordogne cave, 239; - valley, 64 -Dorion, L, A., 296 -Dowler, Dr., 149, 150, 154 -Drawings of Animals, Indian, 217 -Dupuytren, Surgeon, 376, 386 -Dyes employed by Indians, 240-243 - -Ealing, palæolithic workshop at, 88 -Earthworks, 105, 117 -Edda, Red Indian, 178 -Egilsson, Sveinbiorn, 51 -Eider ducks, 59 -Eliot, Indian Bible of, 298 -El Moro rock, 231 -Emigrants to New York, 32; - to Canada, 316 -Engis cave, 359 -Eric Saga, 165 -Eric the Red, 41, 44, 52, 59, 62 -Eries, 172, 177, 254, 277, 278, 294 -Eriksson, Leif, 44, 49, 51, 53, 58, 59, 62, 71 -Eriksson, Thorwald, 49, 54, 66 -Erlendsson Hauk, 71 -Eskimo: a typical Mongol, 17, 18; - in Greenland, 43, 64; - migrations of, 65; - in Alaska, 66; - implements of, 84; - pedigree, 133; - half-breed in Labrador, 144, 151; - implements of, 152, 153, 159, 165, 204; - and cave-men, 203; - designs by, 213, 234, 240, 247, 248, 267, 272; - cranium of, 274; - powers of endurance, 323 -Evans, Sir John, 81, 155 -Ewaipanoma, 247 -Eyrbyggja Saga, 70 - -Farish, Dr. J. G., 54, 55 -Farms, allocation of, 328 -Fijians, 192 -Figuier, M., 193 -Five Nations, the, 260, 275, 286, 289 -Flathead Indians, 130, 312 -Flint as a fire-producer, 81 -Flint Ridge, 101, 102, 111 -Flint River, 126 -Flint-workers, 92 -Flores, island, 74 -Flower, Professor, 17, 18 -Forbes, Edward, 216 -Fort M’Leod, Alberta, 115 -Foscolo, Ugo, 370, 374 -Foster, Dr. J. W., 149, 179, 180 -Fox, Colonel A. Lane, 92 -Franklin, 379 -Fredericksburg, 118 -French half-breeds, 330 -Frere John, 87, 88 -Freydisa, 62, 68 -Fuchs, pathologist, 376 -Fuegians of Tierra del Fuego, 84 -Furdustrandir, 59, 63 - -Gallatin, 173, 253, 256, 286, 295, 296, 298 -Gama, Vasco da, voyage of, 9, 12 -Gamlison Thorhall, 58 -Ganton, flint flakes at, 95 -Garcilasso de la Vega, 391 -Garnett, Rev. Richard, 28 -Garonne, valleys of, 150, 151 -Garrison, W. Lloyd, 225 -Gauss, the mathematician, 370, 376 -Geikie, Professor, 154 -Gellisson Thorkell, 51 -Gesture-language, 229, 233, 235 -Gibbs, General Alfred, 221 -Gibbs, George, 227 -Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 50 -Giles, Peter, 76 -Gilmour, Rev. J., 330 -Gold, first metal wrought, 35 -Goheen, Dr., 362 -Gold ornaments, 181, 212, 223, 388 -Gomara, 74 -Goodsir, Professor, 343, 375, 398 -Gosse, Dr. L. A., 188 -Grænlendingathàttr, 62 -Grand river reserves, 306, 314, 316 -Grapes, wild, of North America, 48, 53, 60, 62 -Grave Creek Stone, 214 -Grave mounds, 116 -Grave-posts, pictured, 35 -Graves, flint implements in, 95, 96 -Greenland, 41, 43, 53, 60, 63, 65 -Greenwell, Rev. Canon, 83, 93, 95, 96 -_Grenlands Historiske Mindesmærker_, 40 -Grimolfson Bjarne, 58 -Grinnel Leads, 97 -Grote, 376, 386 -Grupson, Erik, 49 -Gudleif, a Norse leader, 38 -Gudrida, Karlsefne’s wife, 67 -Guysborough, 53 -Gwyneth, Owen, 38 - -Haidahs, of Queen Charlotte Islands, 90, 115, 116, 121, 130, 134, 138, - 204, 207, 208, 209, 211, 393 -Hake, the Scot, 58, 59, 60, 61 -Haki, a Scot, 59, 60 -Hakluyt, 50 -Hale, Horatio, on currency in China, 22; - grammar of the Hurons, 103; - _Indian Migrations_, 140, 172, 235; - _Iroquois Rites_, 237, 252, 253, 256, 263, 264, 268, 280, 287, 293, 296, - 303 -Half-breeds, 143, 144; - powers of endurance, 323 -Halliburton, R. G., 69 -Hamilton, Sir. W., 380 -Hamlet, quoted, 96 -Hanno, voyage of, 9 -Harkussen, 58, 60, 61 -Harriot, 74 -Harrison, Chief Justice, 376 -_Hauks Vók_, 71 -Hausmann, 376 -Hawkins, Sir John, 50 -Heinse, J. J. W., 371, 374 -Helluland, 45, 52, 59, 62, 70 -Henry the Navigator, 11 -—— a traveller of last century, 143, 323 -Herjulfson, Bjarni, 44, 60, 71 -Hermann, 376, 386 -Hiawatha, quoted, 265, 268 -Hieroglyphics, Indian, 230, 231 -Hind, Professor, 330 -Hindoos, 397 -Hittite capital, Ketesh, 30 -Hoare, Sir R. C., 82, 83 -Hochelaga, 221, 270, 272, 274, 275, 276, 278, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, - 293, 295 -Hodges, Robert, 84 -Hoffman, Dr. J. W., 195, 205, 210, 233 -Holland, Sir Henry, 371 -Holy Island, 42 -Hóp, Mount Hope Bay, 60, 61, 63 -Horetskey, Charles, 323 -Horn, engraving on, 94, 197 -Horsford, Professor E. N., 49 -Hoxme, flint implements found at, 89 -Huidœrk inscription, 57 -Humboldt, 35, 169, 248, 260 -Hunter, Archdeacon, 330, 331 -Hurons, 65, 101, 176, 177, 224, 280, 318, 319 -Huron-Iroquois, language of, 18, 64, 65, 66, 139, 172, 246 _et seq._ -Huschke, 341, 364 -Hutchinson, T. J., 390 -Huxley, Professor, quoted, 248, 308, 340, 351, 352, 359, 374 - -Iceland, 41, 43, 44 -Icelandic Sagas, 51, 70 -Idols of the Haidah, 209 -Igalikko runic monuments, 36 -Ilium, 168 -Illinois, 175 -Incas, 389 -Indians of California, money of, 23 -Indian lodge, 211 -Innuit designs, 213 -Iroquois, 103, 106, 107, 172, 173, 175, 176, 177, 229, 234, 237, 244, 245, - 316, 318 -Isle de Bacchus, 53 -—— of Orleans, 53 -—— Royale, 116 -Ivory, 94, 138, 151, 153, 197, 217 - -Jeffrey, Lord, 378 -Jemez Indians, 232 -Jones, Colonel C. C., 148, 180 -Jossakeeds, 224 -Jowett’s, Professor, _Dialogues of Plato_, quoted, 1 -Jugs, double-necked, 223 -Julian calendar, 34 - -Kablunet, 65 -Kalapurgas, 227 -Kane, Paul, 121, 130, 227, 228, 312, 324 -—— Dr., 144, 323 -Kanienga, 174 -Karlsefne, Thorfinn, 41, 49, 58, 62, 63, 66, 67, 68, 71 -Karlseven, 54 -Keel-ness, 61 -Keenan, Mr., 119 -Kent’s Hole, 84 -Kentucky skulls, 389 -Kettle, stone, 84 -Kewenaw peninsula, 106, 116 -Khita or Hittites, 10 -Kialarnes, 68 -Kiatégamut Indians, 205 -Kiawakaskaia, 226 -Kingiktorsoak runic monuments, 36, 57 -Kingsborough, Lord, 239 -Kioosta village on Graham Island, 212 -Kjalarnes, 53 -Klaskane Indians, 130 -Klikatat, 227 -Kona, 65 -Konegan, 66 -Krossanes, 63 - -Labrador (Helluland), 62 -La-crosse clubs, 224 -Laennec, Dr., 347 -La Jeune Lorette, 276 -Lake-dwellings of Switzerland, 90 -Lake Simcoe, 283 -La Madeleine cave, 213 -Lamb, Charles, quoted, 235 -Lane, 74 -Languages—Huron-Iroquois, 257, 281; - Indian, 66, 255; - Mohawk, 291; - significance of, 15; - of uncivilised races, 17 -La Salle, 110, 269 -Latham, Dr., 182, 248, 260, 263 -Laugerie Basse, cave at, 206, 359 -League of the Hodenosauneega, 174 -Leavenworth, 111 -Left-hand drawings, 197 -Leidy, Professor Joseph, 89, 156 -Le Moyne, Father, 278 -Lenape, 172, 214, 229, 241, 269 -Lenni-Lenape, 251 -Les Eysies, cave of, 216 -Lewis, Professor H. C., 99, 163 -Lewis, Edmonia, 225 -Lindsay, Sir David, 76 -Lion from Marash, 30 -Lion of Piræus, 30 -Liston, Robert, 369 -Little Falls, Minnesota, 148 -Locke’s _Journal_, 176 -Lombrive cave, 359 -Longfellow, quoted, 178 -Long, Major J. H., 123 -Lorette, 275, 283, 295, 319 -Los Ojos Calientes, 232 -Lucae, Dr. J. C. Gustav, 371, 399 -Lukins, Mr., 123 -Lund, Dr., 148, 149 -Luschan, Dr. F. von, 309 -Lyell’s, Sir Charles, _Principles of Geology_, quoted, 6, 145, 154 -Lynx or wild cat, 177 - -Macaulay, Lord, 378 -M’Dowell, Dr., 362 -MacEnery, J., 147 -Mackenzie, Major Colin, 83 -Macrocephali, 363 -Madoc, a Welsh prince, 38 -Maeshowe, Orkney, 30, 42 -Magnusen, Finn, 51 -Malay race, 192 -Malformation, artificial, 24 -Mammoth, bones of, 88; - carvings of, 213, 217 -Mandans, 175 -Mangue language, 28 -Manhattans, 269 -Manitoba, 184 -Maps, earliest, 53 -—— by Rafn, 62 -—— of Vinland, 49 -Marchand’s voyage, 208 -Markham, Mr., 391 -Markland, 57, 59, 69 -Martin, Hugh, 240 -Martineau, Harriet, 352 -Mascagni, 362, 385 -Massat, cave of, 216 -Massénat, M., 215 -Mayas, 13, 25, 31, 387 -Meigs, Dr. J. Aitken, 247, 395, 396, 402 -Melanochroi or dark whites, 308 -_Mémoires de la Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord_, 51 -Mentone, skeleton found at, 359 -Mercer, H. C., 214 -Metallurgy, American, 35 -Metis, the, 311 -Mexican calendar, 33, 169 -—— sculptured monuments, 39 -—— terra-cotta human masks, 215 -Mexicans, 190 -Mexico, ruins of, 137 -Micmacs, 55, 64, 65, 125, 242, 318, 319 -Middleton, General, 334 -Miller, Joaquin, 325 -Millicet Indians, 55, 65 -Milton’s _Paradise Lost_, 50 -Minsi, 175 -Mississagas, 318 -Missouries, 274 -Moccasins, 224 -Mohawks, 174, 253, 264, 289, 290, 294, 297, 299, 302, 305, 314, 318 -Money, Origin of Primitive, 22 -Montgomery’s _Greenland_ epic, 46 -More, Sir Thomas, 75, 76, 77 -Morgan, Hon. L. H., 174, 265, 285 -Moro rock, 230 -Morris, Hon. Alexander, 326, 327 -—— William, quoted, 37, 71 -Morton, Dr., 247, 261, 337, 344, 345, 348, 362, 365, 366, 371, 387, 392, - 395, 396, 397, 400, 402 -Mound builders, 102, 103, 104, 108, 167, 214, 215, 267, 270, 273 -Mount Hope Bay, 46 -Müller, Professor Max, 19, 266, 290, 291 -Munch, Professor, 51 -Musical instruments in the form of animals, 222 -Muskogees, 106, 173, 286 - -Naaman’s Creek, rock shelter, 99 -Nanticokes, 254, 269 -Nantucket, 45 -Napoleon, 376, 377 -Narraganset Bible, 28 -Nasquallie, 312 -Natchez, 103, 106, 173 -Naticokes, 175 -Navajo Expedition, 230, 231 -Neanderthal skull, 354, 359, 373 -Neepigon River, 119, 121, 236, 351 -Negroes, brain-weights of, 362, 363, 385, 395 -Neolithians, 309 -Newark earthworks, 102 -Newatees, 130, 312 -New England, 64 -Newfoundland, 53 -New Jersey, old implement-maker at, 90, 98 -New Orleans, skeleton of, 161 -Newport in Narragansett Bay, 79 -“Nina,” the, 75 -Nipissing, Lake, 125 -Nisqually, 227 -Nootkas, 134, 227 -North Fork, 117 -Norumbega, ancient city of, 50 -Nott, Dr. J. C., 247, 375 -Nottawa saga, 304 -Nottoways, 253, 296, 305 -Nova Scotia, 45, 47, 53, 54, 59, 61, 64 - -Oar, with runic inscription, 43 -Ohio Holy Stone, 214 -Ohio Valley, earthworks of, 38, 101 -Ojibways, 206, 242, 243, 245, 252, 257, 268 -Oka, 306 -Olaf, the Saint, 37 -O’Meara, Rev. Dr., 236 -Oneidas, 174, 253, 264, 285, 286, 289, 294, 297, 305, 318 -Onondagas, chief, 178, 237, 253, 260, 264, 278, 286, 289, 294, 305, 318 -Ontonagon, 116 -Orang, brain of, 340 -Orinoco River, 72 -Oronhyatekha, Dr., 296, 298, 302 -Osages, 274 -Otouacha, 275 -Ottawas, 318 -Ottoes, 274 -Owen, Professor, 339, 346, 348 - -Pabahmesad, the old Chippewa, 224 -Pacasset River, 46, 62 -Paisley Block, 101 -Palenque, sculptured tablets, 34, 35 -Parker, Rev. Samuel, 227 -Parkman, Francis, 248, 262, 275, 278 -Patagonians of Tierra del Fuego, 84 -Paton, Sir Noel, 197 -Patterson, George, 126 -Pattison, Rev. Mark, _note_ 228 -Pavloff, Ivan, 324 -Peacock, Dr., 343, 362, 367, 377, 381 -Peat mosses of Denmark and Ireland, 90 -Pequot, 320 -Perkins, Mr., 179, 180 -Peruvian, natives, 190; - pottery, 215; - skulls, 387, 388; - crania, 395 -Petun Indians, 101 -Philadelphia gravel beds, 99 -Phillips, H., jun., 57, 59, 60 -Phœnician, Cadmus, 35 -Picard, Paul, 295, 296 -Pickering, Dr. Charles, 24, 227, 260 -Pictou harbour, 54 -Picture-writing, 33, 40, 233, 238, 239, 244 -Pierce, William, 320 -“Pinta,” the, 75 -Piræus, lion of, 42 -Plato’s _Critias_, quoted, 1, 2, 75 -Point Oken, 122 -Population, and number of villages, 275; - coloured, 311, 318, 324, 329 -Porpoise, brain of, 341 -Port Dover, implements at, 101 -Potomac, rock at the, 57 -Pottawattomies, 318 -Pottery, 153, 167, 168, 171, 189, 192, 194, 218, 219, 220, 240, 262, 267, - 271, 273, 282, 388 -Powell, York, 62 -Powhattan, 269 -Pre-Aryan Man, 130 _et seq._ -Pre-Columbian America, Copenhagen volume on, 43, 131; - intercourse between Europe and America, 7 -Prescott, 285 -Prestwich, Professor, 162 -Pritchard, Dr., 16 -_Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society_, 57 -Pruner-Bey, Dr., 356, 402 -Pueblo Indians, 190, 231, 236, 240, 244, 299 - -Quebec and the Huron Indians, 251 -Quichuas, 387, 389; - skulls, 398 -Quiriqua sculptured tablets, 34 - -Race-types, 18 -Rae, Dr., 144 -Rafn, Professor Christian, 40, 46, 47, 51, 52, 61, 78 -Ragnvald, Earl, 42 -Rainy River, 126 -Raleigh, 74, 77 -Rand, Rev. Silas T., 242, 319 -Rau, Charles, 118, 119, 180 -Red Lake Indians, 327 -Red River, 328, 330, 334 -Reeve of Anderdon, 321 -Reeves’ _The Finding of Wineland the Good_, 49, 51, 52, 71 -Reid, Dr., 385 -Reindeer’s horn, engraving on, 215 -Rhode Island, 52, 54, 60, 61, 62, 78 -Riel, Louis, 334 -Rink, Dr. Henry, 18, 66, 144 -Rites, revolting, 282 -Riverview Cemetery, 118 -Rocky Dell Creek, 231 -Rolleston, Dr., 353, 361 -Rosehill, Lord, 82 -Royal Society of Canada, 60 -Rune-stones, 42 -Runic inscriptions, 42, 131 -Russians in Alaska, 323 - -Sa∫∫atannen, Rev. P. W., 275 -Sachem, chief, 177 -Saco, 53 -Saga of Barthar Snæfellsass, 70 -Saga of Eric the Red, 71 -Saga of Halfdan Eysteinsson, 70 -Sagard, 296 -St. Brandon, Island of, 37 -St. Charles river reserves, 306, 316, 318 -St. John, New Brunswick, 53 -St. Mansuy, 354 -St. Molio’s Cave on the Clyde, 30 -St. Olaf, 44 -St. Peter Indians, 328 -St. Regis, 306 -Saline River, 108 -Salmon River, 54, 115 -San Esteban, convent of, 73 -Sankey, Dr., 343 -Saulteux, 328 -Savannahs, 274 -Schaaffhausen, Professor, 354 -Schiller, 375, 376 -Schliemann, Dr., 136 -Schmerling, Dr., 359 -Schumacher, Paul, 112 -Scioto-mound skull, 273 -Scott, Sir Walter, brain of, 355, 368, 374 -Sculptured figures, 23; - monuments of Mexico, Central America, and Peru, 39 -Seal hunting, 65 -Sea-rovers, literary memorials of, 11 -Selkirk, Lord, 328 -Sellers, G. E., 106, 107, 109, 122, 123 -Seminoles, 274 -Senecas, 253, 264, 276, 277, 278, 280, 281, 289, 294, 295, 305, 318 -Seven Islands, the, 37 -Shakespeare, brain of, 355 -Shaler, Professor, 98, 99 -Shawnees, 101, 175, 240, 241, 269, 274 -Sheep, mountain, 115 -Shell, mounds, British and Danish, 90; - workers of the Caribbees, 94; - ornaments on, 195 -Ships of the Norse rovers, 12 -Short, J. T., 180 -Shoshones, 89, 97, 156 -Sigurd, King of Norway, 42 -Simpson, Lieut. James K., 230, 231, 232 -Simpson, Sir James Y., 375, 376, 378, 385 -Sioux, 120, 175, 178, 312, 325, 326, 327, 329, 333 -Six Nation Indians, 143, 174, 176, 254, 256, 263, 264, 283, 289, 290, 301, - 305, 314, 316, 318 -Skrælings, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 157, 165 -Skulls, Mound-Builders, 105; - cave-men, 153; - Red Indian, 161; - comparison of, 187; - capacity, 261; - Canadian, 274; - Huron, 279; - table of cubical capacity, 366 -Smith, Captain John, 269 -Smith, Dr. Southwood, 352 -Snorrason, Thorbrand, 68 -Snorre, 67 -Snovri, 41 -Snow Bird, 243 -Snow-shoes, 224 -Sœmmering, Professor, 380 -Solon, 3, 75, 361 -Soto, Dr., 103, 104 -Southey, quoted, 38 -Spenser, Edmund, quoted, 77 -Spider Islands in Lake Winnipeg, 101 -Spurzheim, Dr., 376 -Squier, E. G., 118, 243, 388, 390, 396 -Squier and Davis’ _Ancient Monuments_, 117, 180 -Stadaconé, 274, 275, 280, 283 -Ste-nah, capture of, 315 -Stephens’ _Old Northern Runic Monuments_, 42, 56 -Stirling, whale at, 199 -Stone implements, 82, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 95, 97, 110, 111, 112, 116, 118, - 122, 126, 147, 152, 153, 157, 167, 224, 262, 271; - manufacture of, 88-92, 122, 124 -Stone ornaments, 125, 214 -Storm, Professor Gustav, 45, 46, 51, 52, 53 -Straumey (Stream Isle), 59 -Straumfiordr (Stream Firth), 59, 63, 68 -Stuart, Rev. Dr., 290 -Sturluson, Snorro, 78 -Sun-worshippers, 103 -Survey, Government, 326, 327 -Susquehannocks, 175, 269 -Swampies, 328, 329 -Swan, James G., 211, 212 -Symbols of the clans, 210 - -Tadmor, 168 -Tahiti, traditions of, 14 -Talavera, Prior Fernando de, 73 -Talligew, or Tallegewi, 103, 106, 107, 172 -Taunton River, 61 -Tawatins, 138, 204, 207, 208 -Taylor, Dr. Isaac, 30, 358 -Tchudi, Von, 391 -Thelariolin Zacharee, 224 -Temagamic, Lake, 125 -Temissaming, Lake, 126 -Texas reserve, 296 -Thales, a Greek astronomer, 33 -The Snake Land, 243 -Thlinkets, 204, 207, 210 -Thomsen of Copenhagen, 81 -Thomson’s, Professor Wyville, _Depths of the Sea_, quoted, 5 -Thorbrandson, Snorre, 58 -Thorfinn, 58, 61 -Thorgilsson’s _Iselandinga Vók_, 71 -Thorhall, 59, 60 -Thorvald, 58, 61, 62, 63 -Thurnam, Dr., 343, 353, 360, 365, 366, 367, 373, 375, 376, 378, 384, 385 -Tiedemann, 362, 375, 376, 380, 386, 402 -_Timæus_ of Plato, 1, 15, 75 -Timucuas, 173 -Tin-mines of Spain and Cornwall, 9, 95 -Tinné Indians, 18, 115, 312 -Tiontates, 254 -Tiontonones, 177 -T’kul, the wind spirit, 212 -Tlascalans, 103 -Toad, emblematic of an evil spirit, 213 -Tobacco in Queen Charlotte Islands, 115 -Tobacco-pipes, 120, 167, 168, 178, 190, 195, 207, 219, 271, 272, 273 -Toivats and the “King of the Bears,” 210 -Topinard, Dr. Paul, 261 -Toscanelli, Paolo, 72 -Toys, ingenious, 223 -Traffic, ancient routes of, 113 -Trenton, gravel beds, 99, 158, 161 -Tryggvason, King Olaf, 59 -Tshugazzi, 66 -Tshimsians, 115 -Tshuma Indians, 195 -Tubal-cain, art of, 17, 168 -Tulare River, rock at, 233 -Tuscaroras, 253, 254, 289, 296, 297, 305, 314, 318 -Tuteloes, 28, 130, 254, 256, 296 -Tylor, Dr. E. B., 61 - -Uchees, 173, 274 -Unamis, 175, 269 -Unitah Mountains, 156 -Usher, Dr., 161 -Uvaege, 69 -Uxmal sculptured tablets, 34 - -Valdidida, 69 -Vancouver Island, Indians of, 324 -Vases, native art, 221 -Vespucci, Amerigo, 13, 74 -Vespuce, Amerike, 75 -Vethilldi, 69 -Vézère, valley of, 357, 358 -Vigfusson, Gudbrand, 62 -Vincent, Rev. J. G., 296 -Vinland, or Vineland, 41; - origin of name, 46; - booths in, 49; - coast of, 54, 57, 60, 69 -Virchow, Professor, 373 -Virginia, 74 -Vogt, Dr. Carl, 341, 375, 383 - -Wabenos, 224 -Wagner, Professor, 343, 364, 373, 375 -Wallace, A. R., 192, 349, 350, 351, 398 -Walla-walla, 227 -War-sling of the Skrælings, 67 -Webster, Daniel, 375, 376, 385 -Welcker, Professor, 355, 360, 364, 370, 373, 381 -Welsh Indians, 38 -Weston, T. C., 115 -Whale at San Diego, 127 -Whewell, 376, 385, 386 -Whipple, Lieutenant, 231, 236 -White Man’s Land, 38 -White Owl, 243 -Whitney, Professor, 16, 149, 255, 257, 288, 289, 298 -Wilde, Sir William, 183 -Wild goat, carvings of, 217 -Wilson, Thomas, 156, 165 -Wilts County Asylum, 367 -Winslow, Dr. C. F., 149 -Winthrop, Mr., 320 -Wolseley, Sir Garnet, 334 -Wright, Professor G. F., 99 -Wyandots, 103, 172, 176, 249, 276, 277, 278, 280, 283, 286, 293, 295, 305, - 318, 321 -Wyman, Professor Jeffreys, 149, 344, 362, 375, 389, 390, 396, 399, 400, - 401 - -Yamasees, 274 -Yarmouth, inscribed rock at, 54, 59, 60 -Yellowstone Park, 115 - -Zuñi Indians, 190, 244, 299, 300 - - THE END - _Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_ - - - - - TRANSCRIBER NOTES - -Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple -spellings occur, majority use has been employed. - -Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors -occur. - -A cover was created for this eBook. - -[The end of _The Lost Atlantis and Other Ethnographic Studies_, by -Daniel Wilson.] - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Atlantis and Other -Ethnographic Studies, by Daniel Wilson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOST ATLANTIS, OTHER ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDIES *** - -***** This file should be named 51881-0.txt or 51881-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/8/8/51881/ - -Produced by Larry Harrison, Cindy Beyer and the online -Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at -http://www.pgdpcanada.net with images provided by The -Internet Archives-US - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - |