The origin of the North American Indians : with a faithful description of their manners and customs ... including various specimens of Indian elequence ... among the Indians of North America

Contents

Preface, ...«••

Introaoction, . . . • . ]3

Creation of the World, . . . > .1*3

Preface

To trace the descent of nations and travel through the regions of antiquity, is universally admitted to be a difficult task, and consequently not unworthy the attention of the lovers of science. Our present subject, it is true, has fre¬ quently attracted the curiosity of the learned, both of the old and new world; and although their researches have been both plausible and ingenious, yet the result of their inquiries is evidently so adverse and inconsistent, that a wide field is still open to the antiquary and historian. Nay, the obscuri¬ ty in which the origin of the Aborigines of America has, hitherto, been involved, demands and calls forth all the in¬ genuity which the most enlightened philosophy can bring to its aid, in order to satisfy the public mind on so intricate a subject.

In this arduous undertaking, therefore, it becomes us to solicit the indulgence of our readers, especially of those who may not, perhaps, feel disposed to reason on matters, which, as they might likely imagine, exceed so far the reach and testimony of authentic history, that the origin of the North American Indians must, as a matter of course, remain for

X

PREFACE.

ever hidden from the curiosity of mankind. The Red Men, it is true, nad not, when first visited by Europeans, any his¬ tory of themselves, either written or traditional, which could throw any light on their national affairs. With re¬ gard to oral tradition, which consists of recitals made by the first men to their children, of whatever happened worthy ot notice during their lifetime, so that these recitals are multi¬ plied in every generation, and transmitted down to posterity, without the assistance of writing, we must candidly acknow¬ ledge that the Indians were found to be miserably destitute, even of this errant vehicle of knowledge. Hence, amidst the clouds which envelop the history of this ill-fated race, we are furnished by themselves with nothing but uncertain¬ ty. We shall not then, venture to affirm, on their testimony, .either what is true or what is false, or seek for certainty among such uncertain authorities. On the contrary, our witnesses are of the most unimpeachable character, while the testimony of travellers of undoubted veracity, and mis¬ sionaries no less distinguished for their learning than reli¬ gious zeal, who dwelt for many years in the north-eastern regions of Asia, and among the Indian tribes of North America, shall form our principal guides in this inquiry.

In,the absence, therefore, of written or traditional history, however erroneous the latter may frequently prove, but neither of which the Indians possessed, it seems to us, that there cannot be a more rational way of arriving, with any degree of accuracy and certainty, at the original source, whence, in the remoteness of time, those numerous and powerful tribes first migrated to the Western Continent, than to offer a faithful comparison of the Indians with the Asiatics, in religion, language, manners, habits and custom?

PREFACE.

XI

On the aulhori.y of wiiters and travellers, ancient and modern, and of distinguished ability, whose observations, in Asia, and America, written at different periods, should merit the greatest confidence and attention from the scientific and the curious, we have ventured to prove beyond the possibili¬ ty of doubt, that the North American Indians are of Asiati origin.

As it is generally allowed that the uniformity or agree¬ ment of the manners and customs of two nations, is the most authentic monument of their original connection, we have offered an extensive catalogue of coincidences, so singular and indicative of the identity of people, that we will, at once, be induced to believe this theory to be the most rational of all the systems that have been formed on the subject. If we meet, therefore, with many customs, religious, military, and civil, practised only by some nations in Asia, and followed up by the earliest inhabitants of the Western Continent, we may fairly conclude that the Aborigines of this country must have derived their origin from those Asiatic tribes to whom they bear the greatest resemblance in language, reli gion, manners, habits and customs.