The Serpent Symbol and the worship of the reciprocal symbols of nature in America

Front matter

AMERICAN ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCHES. NO. I. AMERICAN ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCHES, NO. I. THE SERPENT SYMBOL, AND THE WORSHIP OF THE RECIPROCAL PRINCIPLES OF NATURE IN AMERICA. BY E. G. SQUIEE, A.M. K)REI3N MEMBER OP THE BRITISH ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION ; MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETV THE PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES; THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION POR THE ADVANCEMENT OF KIENCE; THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK; THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OP MASSACHU SETTS; THE TENNESSEE HISTORICAL AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, STC., KTC, ETC. " If the human mind can ever flatter itself with Laving been successful in discovering the trulh, it is when many facta, and thoae facts of different kinds, unite in producing the Bame results." — Higcins' Celtic Druids. NEW YORK: GEORGE P. PUTNAM, 166 BROADWAY.

M D C CC LI. Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1851, By E. G. SQULER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. EDWARD 0. JENKINS, Psnrr«K, 114 Nassau street, New York. TO THE Cjnttalin 3nmarir; MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, AND 'gresfaeitt of ttie eUeoarapljical SocittD of Claris, THIS MEMOIR IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR.

Preface

. I have been for some years engaged upon a work of comprehensive design, in which I propose to bring to gether, under a single view, all such leading and well authenticated facts as may be accessible, relating to the aboriginal monuments of the American continent, which shall serve to illustrate not only their character and origin, but also the ancient and as yet unwritten history of the New World, and the relation which its aboriginal inhabitants sustained to the great primitive families of the other Continent. A work of this scope and magnitude, it can readily be understood by every one at all acquainted with the subject, must require many years to its completion, especially when, as in my own case, it can only be prosecuted in the intervals of other and more practical duties. Pending, therefore, the submission of this work to the public judgment, I have thought it not improbable that service might be done to the cause of science, by the publication of some of its parts, — if not by adding directly to the stock of new facts and demonstrated results, at least by direct ing the attention of investigators to subjects hitherto but little considered, but possessed of high interest, and having an important bearing on the grand Archæologi cal and Ethnological problems connected with the his-

PREFACE.

. VIII tory of man in America. In separating these parts from their original connections, where they sustained an intimate relation to other and mutually illustrative chapters, they have necessarily assumed a somewhat fragmentary character, with frequent abrupt transitions, some repetitions, and numerous references to foregoing facts and deductions. Circumstances have prevented me from reconstructing them, — the only mode in which these defects might be remedied, — and in these respects I must crave the indulgence of the critical reader. The points which I have attempted in some degree to illustrate in the following pages, are the essential identity of some of the elementary religious conceptions of the primitive nations of the Old and New Worlds, and the similarity in their modes of expressing them, or rather the similarity in their symbolical systems, of which I regard the machinery of creation, the multi plication of gods, and the investing of them with attributes, as parts.

Upon some of these points the aborigi nal monuments of the continent are eminently sug gestive ; and, as illustrated by the recorded conceptions, known doctrines and rites, and trasmitted traditions of the ancient inhabitants, in many respects, conclusive. Upon these unimpeachable witnesses I have for the most part relied, in arriving at the hypothetical con clusions put forward in these chapters. It has been remarked by the illustrious Humboldt, that in investigating these subjects, " we shall be sur prised to find, towards the end of the fifteenth century, in a world which we call new, those ancient institutions, those religious notions, and that style of building which seem in Asia to indicate the dawn of civilization."* * Researches, vol. p. 2.

PREFACE.

. IX The conclusion from this discovery would naturally be, that these institutions, notions, and monuments, are founded in an original connection, — especially as such a conclusion is in strict harmony with popular preju dices. But the philosophical mind will hesitate in ac cepting it, without inquiring how far similar conditions, and like constitutions, mental, moral, and physical, may serve to approximate institutions, religions, and monu ments to a common or cognate type. The opinions of former scholars cannot be taken as conclusive in this inquiry ; for at no previous period of the world's history have the materials for prosecuting it been so abundant as now. The great collateral questions of natural science which have been settled within a few years, the knowledge which maritime and land discoveries have given to us of nearly every nation and people on earth, of their religions, institutions, history, habits, and customs, enabling us to institute comparisons between them all, and to weigh the relations which they sustain toeach other, — these are advantages which students have not hitherto enjoyed, and for the want of which no ability could adequately compensate.

For no sciences are so eminently inductive as Archæology and Ethnology, or the sciences of Man and Nations ; none which require so extensive a range of facts to their elucidation. In pursuing my investigations, I have sought only to arrive at truth, however much it may conflict with pre conceived notions, or what are often called " established opinions." I have no system to sustain, no creed to defend ; but entertain as many hypotheses as there are possibilities, and claim to be ready to reject or accept according to the weight of evidence and the tendency of facts. In this spirit, I neither fear nor deprecate criticism, but on the contrary, desire it ; and so far X

PREFACE.

. from regarding him with hostility, who shall, in a proper temper, point out what is false in fact or erroneous in deduction, shall esteem the act as a service, and one imposing an obligation deserving of acknowledgment. I reserve to myself, moreover, the privilege of revising, altering, and if need be, of wholly rejecting, whatever may be advanced in this or succeeding volumes ; and shall value nothing which may be published, except in so far as it shall meet the rigid requirements of philosophy and truth. The following numbers of this series are prepared, or far advanced in preparation : I. The Archæology and Ethnology of Central America. Illustrated. II. The Mexican Calendar. Illustrated. III. The Mythological System of the Ancient Mexicans. Illustrated. IV. The Semi-Civilized Nations of New Mexico. New York, April, 1851. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Introductory Observations. — The coincidences in man's religious beliefs and conceptions the result of similar constitutions and conditions. Note — A. On the results of physiological and philological researches on the question of the unity of the American race, Opinions of Humboldt, Gallatin, Morton, Prichard, Pickering, Du Ponceau, Orbigny, and Von Martius. The results of psychological inquiry on the same question. ... . . . 11 — 35

Chapter II

The Doctrine of the Reciprocal Principles in America. Phallic Worship in the Old and New Worlds. — Doctrine of the Reciprocal Principles deduced from the ancient religions of Asia and Europe. Ouranus and Gia. Osiris and Isis. The Lingham and Yoni of Hindustan, and the rationale of their worship. Dulaure on Phallic Worship in America. Conclusive evidences of such worship presented by Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood. Phallic emblems in Peru — in Central America. Probable Phallic design of the Monoliths of Copan. Evidences of Phallic worship in the Mississippi Valley. Probable worship of the Reciprocal Principles in Yucatan — in Mexico — Nicaragua. Illustrations from the Mythokwry of the Hindus. Notes — B. Prichard on the connection of the Reciprocal Principles with the religious systems of Greece and Rome. C. Cosmological notions of the savage nations of America, . . 36 — 71

Chapter III

The Sacred " High Places " or Teocalli of America ; their Purposes, and the Primitive Ideas wiucii they Illustrate. — "High Places" of Mexico and the United States. Identity in the principles of their construction ; used both as CONTENTS. XII Temples and Tombs. Correspondence in the names given to them in various parts of the world. These names explanatory of their purposes. Principles of their construction, and the reasons influencing their forms. Symbolical in their primitive design. The Mcru-sringas of Hindustan. The temple of Belus. Buddhist temples and those of Central America. Temple of Bora- Bodu. Temple of Suku. Temple of Xochicalco. The Dagobas of Ceylon. Altars at Palenque. Notes — D. Accounts of some extraordinary monuments in the United States, now for the first time described. — E. Sacred works of the Creeks. — F. The pyramidal structures of Mexico.

Tomb-temples at Mitlan — at Chila — at Mount Alvan. Relations sustained by them to the Pyramids of Egypt. The Pyramids of Teotihuacan. The Morais of Polynesia. — G. Sym bolical design of the pyramidal structures of Mexico. Mexican notion of nine heavens, etc. — H. Singular relic from Uxmal in Yucatan. Mexican sign of the year, ........ 72—110

Chapter IV

Sun or Fire Worship in America. Its Rationale and Attendant Rites. — lighting of the " New Fire" a solar rite. Fire worship among the Creeks and Cherokees. The ceremonials of the worship. Adair. Bartram. The " Boosketau." Mr. J. H Payne on the Solar Festivals of the Cherokees. The solar rites practised in Mexico. Mode of lighting the New Fire. Rites of the Hurons and Pawnee Loups ; of the Ancient Britons; of the Hindus ; of the Ancient Egyp. tians. Notes — I. The prevalence of Sun Worship in America, illustrated by authorities. — J. Altar-mounds among the ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley, and their purposes, as also the light which they reflect on the nature of the worship of the mound-builders, 111—136

Chapter V

Ancient Serpentine Earth- Works of the United States.— The Great Serpent in Adams county, Ohio. Analogous ones in Iowa and Wisconsin, with other extraordinary works hitherto undescribed, 137—144

Chapter VI

The "Mundane Egg." The Serpent Symbol in the Old and New Worlds, and its Application, particulary in the Mythological System of Mexico.— Introductory Observations. The rationale of symbolism. Hindu Cosmogony. The CONTENTS. XIII Orphic Cosmogony. That of Assyria, and of the Scythie nations—of the Chinese — Polynesians. The supreme Monad, and the subordinate demiurgic powers in the Oriental Cosmogonies. Brahm, Cronus, Kneph, Teotl, Vari eocha, Stunah-Ku. The vivification of the Mundane Egg. The Serpent a symbol of the Active Power of Nature. Rationale of the symbol. Sanchoniathon and Horapollo on the serpent emblem. Tezcatlipoca, the principal god of Mexi co, symbolized by the serpent. His various names and their etymological signi ficance. Cihuacohuatl, the "Female Serpent," the principal goddess of Mexico, and consort of Tezcatlipoca.

The serpent a conspicuous symbol in the Mexican Mythology. Notes — K. Mr. Gliddon on the hieroglyphical serpents of Egypt. — L. The great, superlative Unity of the primitive religions. — M. Tezcatlipoca ; his place in the Mexican Pantheon, his powers, attributes, and distinctive symbols, . . . . . * . . . 145—183

Chapter VII

The great Incarnation of God, Mediator between God and Man, and Teacher of Men. His attributes and symbols in America. — A demi-god in every mythology, who is the Great Instructor of men ; called Buddha, Fo-hi, Zoroaster, Schaka, Osiris, Taut, Hermes, and Odin in the Old World ; in Mexico called Quetzalcoatl — his origin and history ; in Yucatan called Itzamna and Kukulcan ; in Nicaragua, Theotbilahe ; in Colombia, Bochica ; in Peru, Manco Capac ; in Guatemala, Votan ; in Paraguay, Payzume ; amongst the Tamanacs, Amalivaca ; among the Cherokees, Wasi ; among the Algonquins, Manabozho, etc., etc. Notes — N. Zoroaster, Buddha, Odin, etc. — 0. Huitzlipochtli, the personification of the Reproductive and Destroying Power of Nature amongst the Mexicans, ........ 184—198

Chapter VIII

The Serpent Symbol ln the Temples of Central America. The Resemblances sustained by these Structures to the Buddhist Temples of India, etc. — Sculptured Serpents at Chichen-itza. The temples of Quetzalcoatl The temples of Cuculcan. Etymological signification of Cuculcan. The Buddhist temple of Anarajapura. The Thousand Pillars. The " Caracol" at Chichen-itza. The ruins of Mayapan. The ruins of Uxmal, Palenque, etc. . . 199 — 214

Chapter IX

Sculptures of the Serpent in Mexico, Central America, and from the Mounds. Superstitious regard for Serpents among the American Aborigines. — Coatlan, CONTENTS. or Serpent Place, the name of the great temple of Mexico. Sculptured Serpents found by Du Paix, or now existing in the city of Mexico. Painted representations of the Serpents in Nicaragua. Superstitions of the Floridian and Algon quin Indians respecting the Serpent. Sculptures of the Serpent found in the Mississippi Valley. Probable representation of the Serpent and the Egg at Copan. Note — P. Algonquin tradition of Manabozho and the Evil Serpent Meshekenabek, . ...... 215 — 231

Chapter X

Serpentine Structures in the Old World. Abury, Mervaie, Stanton Drew, Karnac. Similar works, Portsmouth, Ohio. Note — Q. Dracontia among the Ancients. The Dragon of Colchis. The Dragon of the Hesperides, etc. 232 — 242

Chapter XI

The Serpent Symbol in the Old World. — Universality of Serpent Worship Various applications of the Serpent Symbol; an emblem of the Primary Powers of Nature ; of Evil Force. Typhon, Kaliya, Python, Midgard. Signicance of the allegory of a conflict between the Sun and the Serpent. The sect of Ophites. The Sacred Hierogram of the Serpent and Egg, or Globe and Wings. This Hierogram found in Egypt and Assyria, and, perhaps, in America. Note— R. The Serpent of the Zodiac, or Astronomical Serpent, 242—250

Chapter XII

Concluding and General Observations, 260—254 LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. Page. No. 1. Lingham and Yoni of Hindustan, . . . . .42 2. Pyramidal Structures at Uxmal, ..... 76 3. Example of Pyramidal Structures in Mexico, . . . .78 4. Example of Pyramidal Structures in Mexico, arranged in the form of a square, . . . . . . . .82 5. Ancient Works, Lafayette County, Miss. .... 91 6. Temple Mound, Marietta, Ohio, . . - . .93 7. Temple Mound, Lovedale, Ky. ..... 93 8. " Chunk Yards" of the Creeks, .... 95 9. Plan of Subterranean Sepulchral Chamber at Mitlan, Mexico, . 98 10. Section of the same, . . . . ■ • .99 11. Section of another Subterranean Sepulchral Chamber, . . 99 12. Plan and section of a Sepulchral Chamber, at Chila, Mexico, . . 100 13. Section of Pyramid at same place, ..... 101 14. Section of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, Egypt, . . .101 15.

Section of the Pyramid of Sakkara, Egypt, . . .102 16. Plan of Temple-tomb at Mount Alvan, Mexico, . . .102 17. Section of same, ....-•• 103 18. Ancient Mexican MSS. illustrating the aboriginal ideas of Heaven, . 107 19. Symbolical pyramidal structure in Oaxaca, Mexico, . . 109 20. Stone Pedestal at Uxmal, . . . . • -HO 21. Mexican Sign of the Year, . . . • .110 22. Mexican method of lighting New Fire, . . . .119 23. Great Pyramidal Temple at Suku, Java, . . . .127 24. Astronomical Serpent from Mexican MS., preserved at Dresden, . 136 25. Great Serpentine Earth Work, Adams county, Ohio, facing, . 137 26. Section of same, ....... 138 27. Great Serpent Effigy in Iowa, . . . . .140 28. Mounds arranged in Serpentine Form, Iowa, .... 140 29. Great Serpentine Earth Work on St. Peter's River, Iowa, . 141 30.

Remarkable Circle and Pentagon, Prairie du Chien, . . .143 31. Ancient Symbolical Earth Work on Kickapoo River, Iowa, . 143 32. Ancient work, Pike county, Ohio, . . . - .144 33. Tezcatlipoca, the principal Deity of Mexico, . . .162 34. Cihuacohuatl, his consort, and principal Goddess of Mexico, . .165 LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. Page, No. 35. Cinteotl, the Mexican Goddess of Fecundity, . . . 166 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43. Hieroglyphical Serpents of Egypt, . 169 44. Tezcatlipoca in his descent on Mount Tezeatepec, . . . 175 45. Head, Distinctive Crown, and Amphisbæna of Tezcatlipoca, . . 181 46. Bas-relief from the Temple of Xochicalco, Mexico, . . 183 47. Double-headed Serpent from the Mexican Ritual, . . .198 48. Sculptured head of Serpent from the ruins of Chichen-itza, . 200 49. Temple of Quetzalcoatl, from a Mexican MS. .... 202 50.

Stone Ring, with Serpents from Chichen-itza, . . . 210 51. Cohuatl, sign of the fifth day of Mexican month, . . .214 52. Serpent carved in Basalt, in the University of Mexico, . . 217 53. Feathered Serpents from Mexico, ..... 218 54. Serpent carved in Porphyry, from Chochimilco, Mexico, . . 219 55. Serpent carved in Basalt, from Quauhquechula, Mexico, . . 220 56. Serpent found at Tepeyaca, Mexico, .... 220 57. Painted Serpent on the rocks near Managua, Nicaragua, . . 221 58. Sculptured Serpent from the Mounds, .... 224 59. Sculptured Serpent and Egg, from Copan, .... 225 60. Sculpture at Uxmal, ...... 226 61. Serpent swallowing a Human Figure, from Mexico, now in the Louvre, Paris, ....... 231 62. Great Serpentine Structure, Abury, England, . . . 233 63. Parallelitha at Mervale and Moreton, England, . . . 233 64.

Serpentine Stone Temple, Stanton Drew, England, . . 237 65. Ancient work in Kentucky, opposite Portsmouth, Ohio, . . 240 66. The Egyptian Hierogram of Serpents, Globe, and Wings, . 247 67. Serpents, Globe, and Wings, from Nakshi Rustam, Persia, . . 248 68. Ornament, Globe, and Wings, from Oeosingo, Mexico, . . 248 ERRATA. Page 21, 9th line from top, for " Suyra" read " Surya." " 40, 11th line of note, for "Iris" read "Isis." " 43, 11th line of note, for " Vira'j," read " Viraj." " 60, 15th line from top, for " Budra," read " Rudra." " 70, 18th line from top, for "■Mandns,"'read "Mandans." " 71, 4th line from bottom, for "Son," read "Sun." " 82, 14th Line from bottom, before "purposes," insert "the." " 83, 4th line from bottom^ for "temple," read "chapel." " 159, 13th line from top, for "Tonaeacihua," read " Tonacacihua. 169, 11th line from bottom, for " Kueph or Cunphis," read " Kneph or Cnuphis." 202, in title of engraving, for "Mss.," read "Ms." 224, "Fig. 57" should be "Fig. 58."

Chapter I. Introductory Observations

The discovery of America, in the fifteenth century, constitutes a grand era in the history of the world. From that pe riod we may date the rise of that mental energy and physical enterprise which have since worked so wonderful changes in the condition of the human race. It gave a new and powerful impulse to the nations of Europe, then slowly rousing from the lethargy of centuries. Love of adventure, hope, ambition, avarice — the most powerful incentives to human action — di rected the attention of all men to America. Thither flocked the boldest and most adventurous spirits of Europe ; and half a century of startling events sufficed to lift the veil of night from a vast continent, unsurpassed in the extent and variety of its productions, abounding in treasures, and teeming with a strange people, divided into numberless families, exhibiting many common points of resemblance, yet differing widely in their condition, manners, customs, and social and civil organi. zations.

Along the shores of the frozen seas of the North, clothed with the furs of the sea-monsters whose flesh had supplied them with food, burrowing in icy caverns during the long polar nights, were found the dwarfed and squalid Esquimaux. In lower latitudes, skirting the bays and inlets of the Atlantic, pushing their canoes along the shores of the great lakes, or chasing the buffalo on the vast meadows of the West, broken up into numerous families, subdivided into tribes, warring constantly, and ever struggling for ascendancy over each other, were the active and fearless Hunters, falling chiefly within the modern extended denominations of the Algonquin and Iroquois families. Still lower down, in the mild and fertile regions bordering the Gulf of Mexico, more fixed in their habits, half hunters, half agriculturists, with a systematized religion, and a more consolidated civil organization, and constituting the connecting link between the gorgeous semi-civilization of Mexico and the nomadic state of the Northern families, were the Floridian tribes, in many respects one of the most interesting groups of the continent.

Beneath the tropics, around the bases of the volcanic ranges of Mexico, and occupying her high and salubrious plains, Cortez found the Aztecs and their dependencies, nations rivalling in their barbaric magnificence the splendors of the oriental world, far advanced in the arts, living in cities, constructing vast works of public utility, and sustaining an imposing, though bloody, religious system. Passing the nations of Central America, whose architectural monuments challenge comparison with the proudest of the old world, and attest the advanced condition and great power of their builders, Pizarro found beneath the equator a vast people, living under a well organized and consolidated government, attached to a primitive Sabianism, fixed in their habits and customs, and happy in their position and circumstances.

Still beyond these to the southward, were the invincible Araucanians, together with numerous other nations, with distinctive features, filling yet lower places in the scale of advancement, and finally subsiding into the squalid counterparts of the Esquimaux in Patagonia. These numerous nations, exhibiting contrasts so striking, and institutions so novel and interesting, it might be supposed, would have at once attracted the attention of the learned of that day, and insured at their hands a full and authentic ac count of their government, religion, traditions, customs, and modes of life. The men, however, who subverted the em pires of Montezuma and the Incas, were bold adventurers, im pelled for the most part by an absorbing avarice, and unfitted by habit, as incapable from education and circumstances, of transmitting to us correct or satisfactory information respecting the nations with which they were acquainted.

The ecclesi astics who followed in their train, and from whom more might have been expected, actuated by a fierce bigotry, and eager only to elevate the symbol of their intolerance over the emblems of a rival priesthood, misrepresented the religious conceptions of the Indians, and exaggerated the bloody observances of the aborigi nal ritual, as an apology, if not a justification, for their own bar barism and cruelty. They threw down the high altars of Aztec superstition, and consecrated to their own mummeries the solar symbols of the Peruvian temples. They burned the pictured historical and mythological records of the ancient empire in the public square of Mexico ; defaced the sculptures of her monu ments, and crushed in pieces the statues of her gods. Yet the next day, with an easy transition, they proclaimed the great impersonation of the female, or productive principle of Nature, who in the Mexican, as in every other system of mythology, is the consort of the Sun, to be no other than the Eve of the Mo saic record, or the Mother of Christ ; they even tracked the vagrant St. Thomas in the person of the benign Quetzalcoatl, the Mexican counterpart of the Hindu Buddha and the Egyp tian Osiris !

All these circumstances have contributed to throw doubt and uncertainty over the Spanish accounts of the aboriginal nations. Nor were the circumstances attending European adventure and settlement in other parts of the continent much more favorable to the preservation of impartial and reliable records. The Puritan of the North and the gold-hunter of Virginia and Carolina, looked with little interest, and less complacency, upon the " wilde salvages " with which they were surrounded, and of whom Cotton Mather wrote, that "Although we know not when nor how they first became inhabitants of this mighty con tinent, yet we may guess the devil decoyed them hither, in hopes that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ would never come to destroy his absolute empire over them." The Jesuits and other enthusiasts, the propagandists of the Catholic faith among the Northern tribes, were more observant and correct, but their accounts are very meagre in matters of the most consequence, in researches concerning the history and religion of the aborigines.

All treated the religious conceptions and practices and transmitted traditions of the Indians with little regard. Indeed, it has been only during the last century, since European communication with the primitive nations of Southern Asia, and a more intimate acquaintance with Oriental literature, have given a new direction to researches into the history of mind and man, that the true value of the religious notions and the recorded or transmitted traditions of various nations, in determining their origins and connections, and illus trating their remote history, has been ascertained. And even now there are few who have a just estimation of their importance in these respects. It may, however, be claimed, in the language of the traveller Clarke, " that by a proper attention to the vestiges of ancient superstition, we are sometimes en abled to refer a whole people to their original ancestors, with as much if not more certainty than by observations made upon their languages, because the superstition is engrafted upon the stock, but the language is liable to change."

" And however important," says an eminent writer upon the history of India, •' may be the study of military, civil, and political history, the science of nations is incomplete without mythological history, and he is little imbued with the spirit of philosophy, who can perceive in the fables of antiquity nothing but the extravagance of a fervid imagination."* It is under this view, in investi gating the history of the American race, its origin, and the rank which it is entitled to hold in the scale of human developement, that the religious conceptions and observances, and authentic traditions of the aboriginal nations become invested with new interest and importance. Not that I would be understood as undervaluing physical or philological researches, in their bearings upon these questions ; -' for if the human mind can ever flatter itself with havin°- dis * Tod's Rajasfhaa-«The existence of similar religious ideas in remote regions inhabited by different races, is an interesting subject of study, furnishing as it does' one of the most important links in the great chain of communication which binds' together the distant families of nations."— (Prescotfs Mexico, vol. i. p 59 ) covered the truth, it is when many facts, and those facts of different kinds, unite in producing the same result."

In these departments, fortunately, we have had able and enthusiastic in vestigators. Humboldt, Vater, Prichard, Morton, Gallatin, Duponceau, and Pickering, have thrown a flood of light upon the subjects of which they have respectively treated, and it is a fact worthy of remark, that although pursuing different paths of research, they have nevertheless arrived at substantially the same results — the unity of the American race, and its radical difference in respect to all the other great families of the globe. ( See note A, at end of Chapter) No doubt wide disparities exist, and have existed, between the various nations and families of the continent. When, how ever, we separate what is radical from what is incidental, or the result of circumstances, it will be found that, elementarily, the various nations of the continent exhibit identities of a most striking kind.

This is true not only of their physical charac teristics, but of their languages and religions. If the savage tribes have retrograded from a higher condition of society ; if, on the other hand, the semi-civilized nations have advanced from a savage state ; or if, indeed, both the hunter and agricultural families are descended from a common stock, we may expect to find the greatest differences between them in such particulars as are affected by changes in modes of life, resulting from physical conditions, such as climate, food, and conformation of country ; and expect to find the strongest signs of affinity in religious beliefs and conceptions, in traditions, and in such cus toms as are arbitrary, and not the spontaneous or the natural growth of a particular condition of things. Upon the plains of the West, Nature's grand pasture ground, we find the roving hunter, chasing the buffalo from one extremity of its vast range to the other, and in his habits and equipments exhibiting an entire harmony with his condition and circumstances.

His necessities require fleetness, and all accommodating Nature has bestowed upon him a form of proper muscular developement, and capable of the requisite endurance. The skins of the buffalo he has slain, form the covering of his lodge, his bed, and his robe ; its flesh sustains him, and from its hoofs, horns, and bones he fashions his implements of the chase, his ornaments and do mestic utensils. Its white skull, bleaching on the open plain, has become his " medicine ;" shadowy buffaloes fill his wild legends ; and the black bull is an emblem of evil and malignant portent, while the white cow is a token of auspicious sig nificance. Among the thick forests, darkened with the pine and the hemlock, on the shores of the great lakes, are the hardy canoe-men, unsurpassed for their activity and endurance.

Their fragile vessels are formed of the bark of the birch, while that of the hemlock and pine shut out the rains of summer and the snows of winter. Fish and wild fowl from the lakes, deer and bears from the mountains, supply them with food, and the furs of the beaver and otter protect them from the cold. The long nights of winter encourage the social sentiment, and are fruit ful in stories of adventure ; and the active fancy peoples the hills with gray, elfin creatures, and moulds the vague remembrances of primitive traditions into extravagant and often ludicrous forms, without, however, entirely effacing their original features. In the gloom of the " medicine lodge," are taught the mysteries of the Wabeno, and the potency of the mnemonic signs by which the supreme powers may be successfully invoked, and their traditional songs perpetuated.